the OCMD Mixtape: “Sayulita”

A few days of that and you get this – my Sayulita Mixtape.  Yup, this suits my state of mind right now. Just add surf, sand and cerveza and hit play. Enjoy.

1. Washed Out – “Feel It All Around”
2. Here We Go Magic – “Tunnelvision”
3. Atlas Sound – “Quick Canal”
4. The Ruby Suns – “There Are Birds”
5. Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words”
6. LCD Soundsystem – “Someone Great”
7. Flaming Lips – “Sagittarius Silver Announcement”
8. Built To Spill – “Done”
9. The XX – “Shelter”
10. Speck Mountain – “Angela”
11. The Shortwave Set – “Harmonia”

I was listening to the flaming lips and I heard somebody in the background
I turned it off and there was a tiny little frog talking to me
It was sat, legs crossed, and rambling in some incoherent sound
And I decided either I had been working too hard or my perception of reality had shifted
To an inverted stream of dimension and animal incomprehension.
Only one thing for it!
I sat down crossed legs and said ‘Hi’.
The frog uncrossed his/her legs and started to threaten me
Now, let me see
How did I know the frog was threatening me?
I am not really sure but I think it was the way that it motioned its body
And began something akin to the haka
Or maybe it was the fact that suddenly it was bigger than me!
I had become a micro-version of a macro-mini-hobbit
And sat on that floor with everything bigger than me, including the frog,
And in that moment everything made better sense
It is in losing oneself that we find
And in that moment the moral code of kindness
Just felt irrelevant
What mattered was that the haka-king-frog was about to crush me
With her/his mighty arms and bulging feet
I waved my arms and gave the universal, cross/language sign of peace
And
It hit me and I fell to my knees
I stayed there with my head bowed for a long time
I stayed there until I knew that frog had long died and in fact the house had long been replaced
I stayed until the last fragments of light faded across the universe
I stayed until my body was no longer part of me and I was just a word from the past
I stayed until I fell off the floor
And the next thing I knew
I was sat staring at the window frame and I felt the ground start to move
The flaming lips were down low but it was my time to go
And in a typical time bandit way a new door stood open for me.

50. Super Tarantas- Gogol Bordello
WonderlustKing

49. Return to cookie mountain- TV on the Radio

48. Pixel Revolt- John Vanderslice

TranceManual

47. Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
Nantes

46. Emotionalism- Avett Brothers

45. Sung Tongs- Animal Collective
LeafHouse

44. Vespertine- Bjork

43. Andrew Bird and the mysterious production of eggs- Andrew Bird
TablesAndChairs

42. Quiet is the new loud- Kings of Convenience
IDon’tKnowWhatICanSaveYouFrom

41. Michigan- Sufjan Stevens

40. ( )- Sigur Ros

39. Yellow House- Grizzly Bear
Easier

38. Hazards of love- Decemberists

37.Extraordinary Machine- Fiona Apple

NotAboutLove

36 Broken Social Scene- Broken Social Scene
7/4Shoreline

35. Antics- Interpol
NextExit

34. Eraser- Thom yorke

33. Lifted orthe story is in the soil- Bright eyes
LoverIDon’tHaveToLove

32. Boxer- The National

31. Everything all the time- Band of Horses
TheFuneral

30. Visitor- Dodos
RedAndPurple

29. Illinois- Sufjan Stevens
Chicago

28.Apologies to the queen mary- Wolf Parade
YouAreARunner

27. Plans- Death Cab for Cutie

26. You forgot it in people- Broken Social Scene
AnthemForASeventeenYearOldGirl

25. Neon Bible- Arcade Fire
AntiChristTelevisionBlues

24. Sea Changes- Beck

23. Feels- Animal Collective
PurpleBottle

22. Mignonette- Avett Brothers

21. Is this it?- Strokes
Someday

20. 3 rounds and a sound- Blind Pilot
OneRedThread

19. Hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?- Of Montreal
HeimdalsgateLikeAPrometheanCurse

18. Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant- Belle and Sebastian
There’sTooMuchLove

17. Alligator – The National
AllTheWine

16. Dear Science- TV on the Radio

15. Armchair Apocryphia- Andrew Bird

14. Chutes too narrow- The Shins
KissingTheLipless

13. Kid A- Radiohead
NationalAnthem

12. Sharpen your teeth- Ugly Casanova
ThingsIDon’tRemember

11. Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes
WhiteWinterHymnal

10. Turn on the bright lights- Interpol
NYC

9. Hail to the thief- Radiohead

8. Give up – Postal Service
SuchGreatHeights

7. Takk- Sigur ros
Hoppipolla

6. Yoshimi battles the pink robots- Flaming Lips
FightTest

5. In rainbows- Radiohead
HouseOfCards

4. Moon in Antarctica- Modest mouse
3rdPlanet

3. Funeral- Arcade fire
RebellionLies

2. For emma, forever ago- Bon Iver
ForEmma

1. I’m wide awake, it’s morning- Bright Eyes
FirstDayOfMyLife

Com os robos rosas e a garota Yoshimi eles fizeram o “Yoshimi battles the Pink robots” um dos melhores cds da decada certamente. Dessa vez a mistura envolve : pelados+bolhas+floresta+”oh oh oh”+letra fantástica+todos os outros indie-psicodelicos que uma banda tem direito. Essa é a formula da música “Watching the Planets”, do novo cd da banda “Embrionik”, que como já é de praxe, é muito bom. O fantástico clip ainda só foi disponibilizado no site da NME, então nós facilitamos a sua vida e trazemos o link : http://www.nme.com/video/bcid/49582897001

Guilherme.

This was my third Flaming Lips gig.

If you like Flaming Lips and even if you don’t like them (can’t consider you don’t know them if you are reading this), a Flaming Lips gig is a must view experience. Probably one of the best visual, party-feeling, live show you can attend nowadays. Any concert goer must get to see their live bash once.

Twice is still OK if you are a fan, three times only if you are a photographer and you finally managed to get a pass, but don’t insist if you have not other reasons. To avoid disappointment, trust me.

Flaming Lips live, my experience at least, repeat again and again the same show. Indoor or open air, festival or their tour, small or big venues, the show is pretty much the same.

The first time gets you overexcited because is beautiful, the second you wonder if it has been a coincidence, the third you go like… “again?”. It makes you feel like you have been eating too much of that wonderful cake and now you feel stuffed.

I wonder why Flaming Lips do this. They clearly don’t lack fantasy, budget or a huge back catalogue.

Bands should know nowadays that people go to gigs more than once, I don’t know the percentage of multiple goers, but I know quite a few people doing this.

Why not changing something?!
I understand the light show, the special effects, the balloons are cool ideas and worth repeating, but the chats, the songs, the dancers, the videos… make an effort.

If I reviewed Flaming Lips first time I would write about an amazing, excellent show.
Reviewing them at the third experience it’s harder to keep the excitement as high. I will do my best, because in the end gigs must be commented for what they are, I guess… do they?

The anticlimax happens from the beginning. Wayne Coyne is on stage setting his instruments and his odd machines with the technicians. An anti-rockstar ego from a rockstar with a huge ego is a bit of a contradiction.
He leaves no surprises, even the few people unaware of what’s going to happen learn from his voice that he is going to inflate the transparent ball and roll inside it, why telling? Bizarre.

So while the band enters the stage coming out from a kind of multicolor vagina of a woman-shaped spaceship (that is it), Wayne Coyne is inside the inflating big transparent ballon. He salutes the woman from inside the ball and takes his walk towards the crowd. Undoubtedly it is one of the most “wow effect” to open a gig since Pink Floyd.

The big ball rolls on the head of the fans, hundreds of raised hands trying to touch it. Smoke machines try their best to make the event not photographable hiding the object and its guest in a thick fog. (why?)

Music is loud and orchestral, people don’t put attention to it. Both sides of the stage fill up with many people dressed up as weird animals, they will dance relentlessly throughout the show.

When the ball rolls back on to the stage, and Wayne Coyne comes out of it, the proper carnival begins.
He his the star, he is the kid, he is the director. He has fun shooting his rifle loaded with streamers while huge cannons shoot millions of confetti in the air who pour down on the people. It snows colourful flakes.
A myriad of inflated balloons inundate the stalls, pushed by the fans they start an endless dance that persists during the entire show, some burst, some come back to the stage, some defy gravity and reach the gallery.

It does not feel as a concert. It is a party with live music. Everyone is having fun and going nut. The music soundtracks the event.

Race For The Prize is the opening track. The first and only song they play from their masterpiece, The Soft Bulletin. With the on-purpose out of tune organ that tries to emerge from the chaos telling a story of two determined scientists that could do something dangerous.

Silver Trembling Hand follows from Embryonic, their latest album. I am quite curious and hopeful that tonight set is going to be Embryonic oriented, since it is a gem of an album.
A brave, crazy experimental jam, that dares to go everywhere the band feel like, with no rules, no constraints, no fixed direction except the passion of playing together.

From their own pop-psychedelia to Miles Davis’ free jazz. There are no proper songs in but one (I Can Be A Frog, not played tonight) and there is a track in the middle, (Powerless, not played tonight), which is the most adventurous, almost suicidal recording a successful pop band has ever tried.

Recording such an album is possible either you are very confident, or you are very famous. Flaming Lips are both that must be why the album it’s a double! Eighteen tracks that if coming from Radiohead instead, music magazines would be reviewing the album of the decade lists at the very last minute.

Back to the gig, back to the already seen, unfortunately. The videocamera mounted on the microphone pole records Wayne face with a wideangle distorted effect which is projected on the back, checked.
He says something about war and peace and Yeah Yeah Yeah song, checked.
The speech was already too long, but meaningful, during George Bush era; it still sounds too long, but meaningless, in the Obama peace Nobel prize winner era.

If Race For The Prize opens the Soft Bullettin, and Yeah Yeah Yeah song opens At War With The Mystics now arrives Fight Test which opens Yoshimi Battle and the Pink Robot. They must love opening tracks.
Another classic, a beautiful tune that would shine if Wayne Coyne had some voice left to sing.

We enter the big question here, of the entire night and of Flaming Lips present and future. Wayne Coyne can’t sing anymore. He has never had the deepest voice of the circus but live is now sounding as a problem. The use of megaphones, effects, tricks can’t always cover the truth. On the record, limiting the vocal parts and asking for help to a good sound engineer it is still possible to do something, but live the reality is in front of everyone.
Is this why he tries to distract people exploding balloons in the face of everyone? Do something, give him some voice back!

An Embryonic miniset arrives. Convinced of The Hex (of course, the opening track) is a guitar going mad shaping a wobbling tale into differences between ex lovers… if I got it. Evil slows down the Flaming Lips way and See The Leaves brings the fun back as anyone can see having a look at the side stage dancers.

Not sure how this new stuff goes down well with fans who loved the band on the golden pop songs period around Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi but I would pay to see the Lips playing Embryonic in its entirety live. Even renouncing to balloons and confetti for more musical substance.

Instead the gig reverts back to classics. Yoshimi Battle and the Pink Robots (the song) is lovely as always.
Pompeii am Götterdämmerung is probably my favourite song from At War With The Mystics and live becomes even more what it says from the title: an open, sincere, unhidden homage to Pink Floyd pre Dark Side of The Moon. Back to the Live at Pompei era.
The opening melody, the sweet singing and most of all the drumming ending any verse on crushing cymbals bring back to life those Meddle atmospheres.
Live (not tonight but everytime) green laser light beams do the Pink Floyd thing tout court.

The news that Flaming Lips have recorded the entire Dark Side Of The Moon, which is due to follow Embryonic sometimes in the future, left fans of both bands awaiting anxiously. I hoped that something magic was going to happen now, it would have been the perfect moment to play Breathe or Eclipse, but it did not happen. Shame!

Instead The W.A.N.D., despite the reverse tracklisting, keeps things on At War With The Mystics.
The set is clearly concentrated on the albums of this decade, as usual.

It’s only with the closing track, She Don’t Use Jelly, they remind everyone to have been active since the early 90s. A live classic, probably the song that opened the world to them. Tonight it closes the gig on a high. Cannons shoot millions more confetti in the air, streamers all around, balloons exploding, animals dancing and the party closes with the band disappearing. But the band is the last thing to put your attention on at this show.

Predictably, as all the rest, Flaming Lips come back for a (quick) encore to sing, what everyone is waiting. Do You realize???
Yes you do, I know.

Gig is over, a girl swims in a sea of yellow and orange confetti left on carpet (?) floor of the retro London venue, the Troxy.
Balloons disappear, party is over. A great party, not a great concert, though. Still a must see experience if you haven’t seen the Lips, don’t miss your chance to be part of this.

Follow Flaming Lips touring on [website] [myspace] and listen to their entire, huge discography on [spotify] if you are in the right country.

Photo tip

Photographing Flaming Lips requires a phototip of its own. It’s more like photographing the samba schools parade during Rio Carnival than any other rock show.

On the first 15 minutes that the pit is open to photographers, you are suffocated by smoke, submerged by confetti, hit by huge rubber balloons (bouncing everywhere and getting in the middle between your lens and anything you may shoot) and, of course, Wayne Coyne rolling into the huge ball over you, over the crowd with his security guys in the pit with photographers. Forget the band.

All is in Technicolor, so don’t follow my radicalism. Shoot Flaming Lips in colour, because when colour has a meaning, when colour talks, there is no reason to deprive the images of it.

To get the best out of the confetti’s rain, wait for a backlight that will stand them out of the background.

To shoot the balloons you don’t have to do anything, they are so many your problem will be how to avoid them. It would be beautiful to freeze one of the many Wayne explodes releasing their colourful content, but again, that’s more about luck than technique.
Don’t forget to turn yourself to the crowd with a wide angle to get some shots of a myriad of bouncing balls over the head of dancing people.

To catch Wayne Coyne inside the big ball is tricky.
The journey lasts few seconds, the ball gets inflated on stage, than quickly passes over your head immersed in a thick smoke with the security keeping photographers away from it. Correct focusing, a short time and bad lights are the main problem.
Soon he will be rolling over the crowd, too far for a wideangle. A zoom in the range 24-80 is the ideal lens.

If you are after just this shot, or you have already shot the Lips from the pit, I’d suggest to go on an elevated position. Outside the pit on the balcony for example, and take photos from there. That is perfect to get the ball over the audience and include the colourful stage. Next time I’ll do. My first time I wanted to be close.

Next time I will also give you more tips, because despite having shoot hundreds of rock concerts there is nothing like being in the pit when Flaming Lips are on stage.
It was a first time, I need more experience and I’ll be back to you, you know I will.

A Place To Bury Strangers – exploding head (vinyl)
Bomp 2: Born In The Garage (boek over Bomp! Records)
Culture – chant down babylon (midprice)
Diane, Alela – alela & alina (10″ vinyl)
Eek-a-mouse – peenie walli (midprice)
Flaming Lips – embryonic (2cd + 1 dvd versie)
Hammill, Peter – in the passionkirche, Berlin 1992 (2cd live)
Israel Vibration – feelin irie (midprice)
Kane – no surrender
King, Carole – tapestry (vinyl re-issue)
McCartney, Paul – good evening NYC (2cd + dvd)
No-Man – mixtaped (dvd)
Rolling Stones – get yer ya-ya’s out deluxe (box met 2 cd/1 dvd)
Segall, Ty -my sunshine (7″ op Troube in Mind)
Skatalites – occupation ska – the very best of (mooie, goedkope 2cd)
Taylor, Chip – yonkers NY (luxe 2 cd)
Transatlantic – live in Europe (dvd)
Tricky -meets south rakkas crew (dancehall remake van Knowle West Boy)
Wolves in the Throne Room – live at Roadburn (cd + dvd)

Vanaf 1 december tellen we op onze weblog de 31 beste platen van 2009 af!

You’d be forgiven at the moment for thinking we were nearing the end of a decade. The interwebs have been awash of late with more countdowns, best ofs, top tens and general reminiscences of the 2000’s then you could poke a digital stick at. Suddenly everybody is a critic, and while some of the countdowns have been insightful and thought-provoking, others have been….well, like this one. For the nostalgic, these countdowns are practically memory-heaven. But for those who don’t buy into that sort of stuff, it gets a little tiring. So, what better than to list some of the best (and worst) ‘best-of’ lists currently clogging up cyber-space?

Pitchfork: P2K

Over the past months American music site Pitchfork have taken an in-depth look at the decade in music. Way back in the dark ages of 2001 the site barely existed, but since then has grown to be one of the most formidable online music news and reviews sites on the net. Not only does P2K count down the best albums, songs and music videos, it also features a series of essays detailing some of the more interesting developments in music over the past ten years. Of particular note is the ‘Decade in Indie’ and the social history of the mp3.

Highlights
Best Album: Radiohead- Kid A
Best Song: Outkast- B.O.B.

Paste Magazine: The 25 best Album Covers

Slightly more obscure is Paste magazine’s countdown of the best album covers. It has been argued that as digital sales boom and physical CD sales decline, the quality of modern album art is going steadily downhill (as this cover would seem to prove). Regardless, Paste have put together an interesting countdown, which includes the likes of The Flaming Lips, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire and Lil Wayne. Whoever decided to award Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone cover as number 1 though needs to go back and re-take primary school art classes.

Highlights
Number 1: Neko Case- Middle Cyclone
Number 2: Animal Collective- Merriweather Post Pavilion (and rightly so)

The A.V. Club: The 30 best TV Shows

The problem with critics is often that their views on what is ‘good’ differs from the majority of the viewing public. Which is a shame, but it’s also the reason why most of the shows on the A.V. Club’s list of best TV shows of the decade have either ended or been cancelled. Still, it’s a formidable list. The top 3 (The Wire, Arrested Development and the Sopranos) are undoubtedly some of the finest productions since television’s inception, let alone in this decade. Other notable shows include Mad Men, Lost and The West Wing, just scraping in at number 30. The best part of this countdown though is the shitfight in the comments as to what constitutes a ‘decade’. Hilarious.

Highlights
Number 1: The Wire
Number 15: Veronica Mars
Number 22: Six Feet Under

News.com.au: Moment of the Decade

Oh, News.com.au. Purveyor of fine, quality journalism. Not content with simply telling Middle Australia what the best bits of the noughties were, good old Rupert has gone and encouraged everyone to name their own favourites! For anyone that’s ever read the comments to any article on the site, that should be enough to click your way on over. In case you need any more incentive though, today’s category is ‘Killers, Haters, Tools: Choose the Villian of the decade’. Apparently Kyle Sandilands and John Mayer are in the same league as Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Who would have thought? The fun doesn’t stop there. Oh no siree, it doesn’t. For you creative types, you can even have a go at naming what the next decade should be called! An issue of utmost importance, of course. Seriously, the sooner this site becomes paid-only, the better.

Lowlights
Pop Culture
Money
Sex & Life
…actually, just spend a good 15 minutes trawling through the site. It’ll make your day.

Times Online: The 100 Best Movies of the Noughties

Slightly more classy news outlet Times Online went all out and counted down the top 100 cinematic releases of the decade. With everything from political drama Milk to Roman-epic Gladiator to comedy Knocked Up, the list does well to cater for everyone…up until the odd choice of The Bourne Supremacy/Ultimatum at number 2 (So really it should have been the best 101 movies). And Team America World Police in the top 5? You must be joking.

In Brief
Number 1: Hidden
Number 16: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Number 34: Finding Nemo
Number 64: Anchorman

Well that’s about it. Some of the best (and worst) countdowns of the best (and worst) things to happen in the noughties. Of course, a quick google search will reveal thousands more best-ofs then the ones here. But really, is there much point? When it comes down to it, who gets to decide that Franz Ferdinand is better than Hot Chip? Or that Monsters, Inc. deserves to place ahead of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Perhaps the best countdown of the decade should go to Hungry Beast. They look at the ten best years of the 2000’s. You can check that out here.

]]> http://geraldwitt.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/be-my-head-my-tuesday-mental-playlist/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:51:24 +0000 Gerald http://geraldwitt.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/be-my-head-my-tuesday-mental-playlist/

I’m feelin’ jammy today. So plug in the headphones and dig this:

And I’m climbing up on a mountain – so, here’s my bro’s favorite Allman Brothers Song:

Another nice little jam that’s live:

Give this one a second to settle in, as the guy with the camera gets the levels right, but it’s a good recording:

And, boo-ya, in HD and super clean (with awesome light goodness, too):

… what a great recording! Awesome people of the world, take note!

1 TEGAN AND SARA Sainthood Sire-Vapor-Warner Bros.
2 FLAMING LIPS Embryonic Warner Bros.
3 AVETT BROTHERS I And Love And You Columbia
4 NOAH AND THE WHALE The First Days Of Spring Interscope
5 WOLFMOTHER Cosmic Egg Interscope

6 HEADLIGHTS Wildlife Polyvinyl
7 WEEZER Raditude Interscope
8 MONSTERS OF FOLK Monsters Of Folk Shangri-La
9 BUILT TO SPILL There Is No Enemy warner
10 TOM WAITS Glitter And Doom Live Anti
11 RAVEONETTES In And Out Of Control Vice
12 BAD LIEUTENANT Never Cry Another Tear Original Signal
13 FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS I Told You I Was Freaky SUB POP
14 BOAT Setting The Paces Magic Marker
15 NORAH JONES The Fall Blue Note
16 GIRLS Album True Panther Sounds
17 XX The Xx XL-Young Turks
18 YO LA TENGO Popular Songs Matador
19 THAO WITH THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN Know Better Learn Faster Kill Rock Stars
20 KING KHAN AND BBQ SHOW Invisible Girl In The Red
21 GOV’T MULE By A Thread Evil Teen
22 SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Temporary Pleasure Wichita
23 KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS Kitty Daisy And Lewis Downtown
24 SYSTEMS OFFICER Underslept Temporary Residence
25 ETTES Do You Want Power Take Root
26 DEVENDRA BANHART What Will We Be Warner Bros.
27 JULIAN CASABLANCAS Phrazes For The Young RCA
28 JAMES HUSBAND A Parallax I Polyvinyl
29 CRIBS Ignore The Ignorant Warner Bros.
30 A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS Exploding Head Mute

ADDS
1 THEM CROOKED VULTURES Them Crooked Vultures Interscope
2 JEZABELS  She’s So Hard Self-Released
3 TIN HUEY Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes Smog Veil
4 K-OS Yes! Last Gang
5 ARCTIC MONKEYS Humbug Domino

This dang ol’ blog has never had any real focus. It has opened many doors (and a few windows?) so I’ll keep on doing it and let it change and morph and be whatever it wants to be.

So what’s next?

For starters, there’s a lot of info I get on new music and whatnot that I can’t really cover with EU (yet) and there’s the little vinyl gems I find every now and again. So we’ll start with that and maybe get back to checking out some comics and stuff.

First up, here’s some new videos I’ve found that are pretty ridiculously awesome:

The Flaming Lips – “Watching the Planets” video (NSFW)

Naked cyclists! What’s the deal with the XXX music videos lately? Not complaining although I do prefer this one to that Girls’ “Lust For Life” video. I still haven’t seen Embryonic released on vinyl yet. Thoughts on the album?

The Decemberists – “Here Come the Waves” (Hazards of Love visualized) trailer

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, this shit looks crazy-dope! The animation alone looks to make this project something spectacular. A lot of people have hated on this album and while I don’t know that I’d say it’s their best work, I still like it. I appreciate how they are taking things to the next level.

Passion Pit – “Little Secrets” video

Normally I would hate music like this, but Passion Pit does it right. So right. I hate this video though. If I’d seen this before I’d seen live footage of the band, I’d probably hate them.

Enjoy. I figured out a way to embed mp3s on this sumbitch and I gets lots of those, so stay tuned music-lovers (and haters).

Happy week before Thanksgiving! As always, I go through a period of not buying any new music for a while, then splurge all at once. My last post was about the great debut from Them Crooked Vultures, which I would probably give 3.5 out of 5 stars to, at least according to the Tfronky Rating System. While at ZIA Records off the I17 Freeway and Thunderbird on Wednesday I found some used stuff I wanted, including the new Flaming Lips disc Embryonic, and found the latest Echo and the Bunnymen disc The Fountain new.

Flaming Lips – Embryonic – 1 star
It pains me to write that, because I really do like this band. The Soft Bulletin was incredible, and Do You Realize is one of my all-time favorite tracks. I will have that song played at my funeral. But Embryonic is 18 songs of pure noise that if I did drugs at all still would not improve the quality of listening to this album. I may play frisbee with this.

Echo and the Bunnymen – The Fountain – 3 stars
A wonderful, plesant surprise. Echo is my all-time favorite band, and this album may keep them there for a while. I have been really disappointed in this band since 3/4 of the original line-up reunited in 1997. The four albums they have released since then have been, in my opinion, sub-par at best. Well, The Fountain may not be Ocean Rain or Porcupine, but I think it is the band’s best work since 1987’s self-titled fifth album, the last with the original line-up.

The Fountain is actually an album that sounds very similar to Echo and the Bunnymen, particularly to the lead track from that album The Game. Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant are the surviving original members, and although Ian’s voice sounds a bit strained today and Will’s guitar work is not what is was during the band’s prime, the ten songs on this disc are welcome additions to the Bunnymen’s catalog. The Fountain is simply classic, mid-tempo Britpop, done Bunnymen style with plenty of Ian’s witty lyrics and Will’s guitar hooks.

Needless to say I am excited, it is great to hear the Echo I fell in love with over twenty years ago. I have not seen them since 1988, here is to that changing in 2010!

Cheers!
Frank

Video still from the Flaming Lips music video 'Watching The Planets'

Watch it on NME to see what Wayne Coyne looks like nekkid! “It’s naked bodies galore as everyone bares all to run, cycle and chant around the forest in Flaming Lips’ excellent new video to ‘Watching The Planets’.” My favorite part is the big furry ball with some kind of fleshy opening.

<<<<<<<>>>>>

Midge © Allyson Mitchell, 2006

In term of big furriness, check out Allyson Mitchell’s Lady Sasquatch series. Allyson is a self-described “maximalist artist working predominantly in sculpture, installation and film”.

It Ain't Gonna Lick Itself © Allyson Mitchell, 2005

<<<<<<<>>>>>

Ducky Doolittle

If you live in Toronto, you are lucky to have regular access to the Come As You Are workshops going on at the awesome sex toy boutique and bookstore (Montreal lost it’s short-lived version, Venez Tels Quels a few years ago). Check out the Creative Sex workshop offered by Ducky Doolittle, author of the book Sex With The Lights On.

This week’s theme was a toughie: SONGS TO MAKE SANDWICHES TO was inspired by a forum on music mag Word’s site. While Word readers couldn’t take the subject seriously I figured there was room for someone who did. And who better than little ol’ obsessive me? So sandwiches it was, but I made it easier by also including hamburgers, hot-dogs and the like. I even allowed songs about stuff that goes into a sandwich, like honey, tomatoes, chicken. Still I suffered some abuse. Impossible, you emailed. Why not make it broader and include all food pleaded Lynden. Crap theme, too hard, moaned Zoe. Oh you listeners of little faith.

We opened with a novelty song: SANDWICHES ARE BEAUTIFUL from Bob King, but in case you’re worried about this setting a tone for the rest of the show, be assured – rockers, r&b artists and especially the alternative pop singers all delivered some edgy songs on sandwiches.

Do you know where the word sandwich was born?  London. 1762. An English nobleman, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich was too busy gambling to stop for a meal even though he was hungry for some food. The legend goes that he ordered a waiter to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to continue his gambling while eating his snack; and from that incident, we have inherited the fast-food product that we now know as the sandwich.

Today, our favourite version of meat between bread is called a hamburger. So we got the show rolling with the Whitlams’ brilliant  I MAKE HAMBURGERS followed by The Flaming Lips and SHE DON’T USE JELLY. New York based, Japanese duo Cibo Matto were next with LE PAIN PERDU. The name of the band is Italian for crazy food and the title of the song is French for Toast. The lyrics in their songs are all primarily concerned with food, well seemingly anyway, and I liked them so much I also played another of their tunes, KNOW YOUR CHICKEN later in the program. Here’s the crazy video clip of that track and, although he doesn’t appear in the clip, that’s Sean Lennon on bass.

Two items that elevate ordinary old toast to dessert status are marmalade and honey. So any excuse to play Patti Labelle’s LADY MARMALADE and Aretha Franklin’s HONEY and I’m there. Yum yum.

Louis Jordan loves his BEANS AND CORNBREAD while Lil Johnson pushes metaphor to it’s limits with SAM THE HOT DOG MAN. Neil Young is partial to TUPELO HONEY on his sandwich, while  Jimmy Buffet can’t stop singing about a CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE.

When it comes to cheeseburgers, whether we like it or not, the burger with the highest profile has got to be MacDonald’s. Hell, there was a whole conversation about their burgers in the film PULP FICTION. Ah yes, how could we not include that iconic scene where John Travolta and Samuel Jackson discuss the merits of the French McDonald’s – ROYALE WITH CHEESE?

Two tunes that pay homage to the fact that a good cuppa is needed to wash down a sandwich or piece of toast were next.  Canadian Jeff Healey, gave Gertrude Lawrence’s A CUP OF COFFEE, A SANDWICH, AND YOU a burl and  then it was TOAST AND MARMALADE FOR TEA, a nice piece of bubblegum from the band Tin Tin.

Kaiser Cheifs reminded us of that vital sandwich ingredient – tomatoes –   with TOMATO IN THE RAIN. And then it was the hilarious TOAST from Paul Young and the Streetband. Classic. Take a look at this clip from 1978.

In Mexican cuisine, a sandwich is either a taco or a burrito. Beck didn’t sound too happy when he sang SATAN GAVE ME A TACO. It seems taking delivery of that snack had all kinds of repercussions. Meanwhile, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention went CRUISING FOR BURGERS. As you do.

All girl group Care Bears on Fire let loose with the precautionary BARBIE EAT A SANDWICH. Nice animated clip too. Check it out:

Let’s talk chicken. Here’s a question: What’s a chicken sandwich without MAYONNAISE? Smashing Pumpkins offered up a track dedicated to the condiment of all condiments. Mmmmm mmmmm: chicken, lettuce and mayo on white bread – can’t get better than that. The Detroit Grand Pubahs reinforced the fact that all songs, but especially those about food, are really about sex. The tune? The very cheeky WE CAN MAKE SANDWICHES. Here we go: another crazy video clip:

Out of the disco and out on the road: Little Feat are sang all about HAMBURGER MIDNIGHT and then John Mellencamp reckons that life is like choosing between HOTDOGS AND HAMBURGERS, (not sure what he’s getting at there).

Comedian Mitch Hedberg does a great skit on sandwiches and I particularly liked the bit about the Club Sandwich. We followed that with a dangerous piece of radio: Metal band Psychostick with THIS IS NOT A SONG, IT’S A SANDWICH!

After Psychostick we needed to calm down and what better way than with Feist and a song about the calming qualities of HONEY? You wouldn’t exactly call The Sugarcubes, (with Bjork), a calming influence. They can’t decide what to put on their sandwich and are threatening to EAT THE MENU. Check out the very young Bjork and a fabulous floating burger, all in one clip!

We closed the show with an oldie but a goodie: I LIKE BREAD AND BUTTER by the New Beats. Check out the clip from 1964:

Next week the show will feature Songs about Elvis; not by Elvis – although that would be good too – Songs about Elvis. Come on this one is easy, so start sending those requests in.

But for now, here’s this week’s playlist:

This is about a week of catch up or so, so this is one fucking long list!

2009 – The Future Is Soon
Aggrolites, The – IV
Andrew W.K. – Close Calls With Brick Walls
Anti-Flag – The People or The Gun
As Tall As Lions – You Can’t Take It With You
Ataris, The – …Anywhere But Here
Ataris, The – Welcome The Night
Avail – Front Porch Stories
Avail – One Wrench
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
Barry, Tim – Manchester
Big D and the Kids Table, Brian Failure – Beijing to Boston
Black Keys, The – The Big Come Up
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Briggs, The – Back To Higher Ground
Cloak Dagger – Lost Art
Common Enemy – Living The Dream
Converge – Axe To Fall
Death By Stereo – Into The Valley Of Death
Dost, Andrew – Columbus
Drive Like Jehu – Drive Like Jehu
Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime
Flaming Lips, The – Silent Night
Full of Fancy – Sweet Baby Jesus
Gabel, Tom – Anna is a Stool Pigeon
Ghostlimb, Fischer – Split
Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
Hatebreed – For The Lions
Hot Chip – The Warning
Jizz Kids, Guts – A Safe Return To The Forest
Judas Priest – Hero, Hero
Lawrence Arms, The – The Greatest Story Ever Told
Longfellow – And So On
Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
Mad Caddies – Just One More
Mars Volta, The – Is Anybody There
Mars Volta, The – Live At The Electric Ballroom
Max Levine Ensemble, The – Ok Smarty Pants
Monikers – Wake Up
Morrissey – Years of Refusal
Motley Crue – Girls Girls Girls
MxPx – Secret Weapon
Naked Raygun – Jettison
Naked Raygun – Understand
Nerf Herder – American Cheese
Nine Pound Hammer – Sex, Drugs and Bill Monroe
No Use For A Name – Hard Rock Bottom
No Use For A Name – Keep Them Confused
No Use For a Name – More Bitterness
Only Crime – To The Nines
P.O.D. – Payable On Death
Protest the Hero – Kezia
Prozacs, The – Playing The Chords We Love
Real McKenzies, The – 10,000 Shots
Real McKenzies, The – Oot and Aboot
Rehasher – High Speed Access to My Brain
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
Revolutionary Youth – Bleed Decay
Scorch, Al – This Lonesome World…
Sick Of It All – Call To Arms
Sick Of It All – Life on the Ropes
Sick Of It All – Yours Truly
Skatalites – Stretching Out Vol. 1
Skeletonwitch – Breathing The Fire
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
Star Fucking Hipsters – Never Rest In Peace
Strung Out – An American Paradox
Swellers, The – My Everest
Tool – 10,000 Days
Used Kids – Yeah No
Vandals, The – Play Really Bad Original Country Tunes
Vandals, The – Sweatin’ To The Oldies
Various Artists – Glory Daze
Various Artists – Mallrats
Various Artists – New Tales To Tell
Wrister, North Trolls – Split

It seems there have been a lot of music videos featuring cyclists lately. Here’s one that won’t ruin your appetite:

Thanks for alerting me to the great sounds of Die Goldenen Zitronen, WFMU. Good luck with the one day marathon!

November I’ve always thought was kind of okay. It’s the start of the chilly season, so short days, wrapping up warm and eating big hearty meals by the fire in my fictional country home that lives in my mind, seems all cosy and romantic. Come February you’ll find I have a rather different attitude to the colder season, which is generally one of ‘FUCK THE FUCK OFF!’. But for now, get a woolly jumper on, drink some warm cider and make the most of the insane amount of live music going on right now.

Last week (as an example of November being heavy on the live music) was insanely gigtastic for myself. It went down like this:

Flaming Lips at The Troxy

Wednesday - Incredible scenes at Oh, Inverted World at the Old Queens Head. It was such a special night, so huge thanks to Player Piano, Mariners Children and Treetop Flyers. Thanks also to Dave Depares for his awesome DJing – the boy has skillz.

Thursday – The Mighty Mighty Biffy Clyro at Brixton Academy: Amazing amazing amazingness.

Friday – Tegan and Sara at Shepherds Bush Empire: Brilliant girly fun.

So all that music was nice. There’s also been a few new tunes rocking my world in these newly chilly days. First is the pretty wonderful Think About Life from Montreal. A cross between Black Kids, TV On The Radio, and, er something very pop. They’re just amazing and I’ve pretty much not stopped playing ‘Havin’ My Baby’ for the past two weeks. They released an album earlier this year called ‘Family’ that I don’t think is available in the UK, but those lucky American and Canadians can purchase away.

Here are two tracks from the new album:

Havin’ My Baby – Think About Life

Johanna – Think About Life

Some time ago a band called Venice Is Sinking from Athens, Georgia contacted us. They were nice enough to send over a copy of their new album ‘Azar’ and it’s actually really great. It’s college orchestral indie-rock, if such a genre exists, and is definitely worth some of your listening time.

Here they are!

oh, and an mp3 too! Man, do we spoil you…
Compass – Venice is Sinking

So that’s it for today. We’ll hopefully have some news for you guys soon about the next Oh, Inverted World night that’s going to come and make your life worth living. We promise it won’t be long.

 a) Mac Gyver

 b) Beck

 c) Stephen Hawking

 d) Flaming Lips

 e) Devo

 f) Megan Gale

La

risposta

è

sul

rolling blog.

(Insonnia)

Well…..long time no speak, how you all doing?

Sorry been busy growing a moustache:

Haha, for 16 days, thats quite rubbish isnt it?

Mind you, given the amount of hair on my head…thats not a bad return!

So yeah, just been busy with other stuff – the old man is still ticking away…he loves that big TV but is not happy about the inability to get a Disney Blu-Ray DVD to work.

I’ve been to a couple of gigs; Kasabian and Flaming Lips. The Lips, as usual, was one heck of a show but its starting to get a bit samey if you have seen them a few times – it could be tighter and not playing “Waiting for Superman” is a tragic decision.

If I can get the sound sorted on the video, I’ll post some clips from the show in the next few days…

Another reason for my lack of updating here has been the new blogs I have launched; two football ones:
Footballs football
and
World Cup 2010

feel free to check them and make some comments on the site…..please….and then dig them.

BBC, BB King and Doris Day, Matt Busby, Matt Busby dig it!

And just to reinforce how rubbish my moustache is, check this one out:

Of course, thats the man who lifted the big cup, so theres no shame in not being as good as him.

Funny story, McNeill’s nickname was Cesar…not after the Emperor but after the actor Cesar Romero. Turns out that Romero was the driver in the original Oceans Eleven and when the film came out, McNeill was the one out of the young Celtic players that had a car, hence the nickname. A bit more inventive than the usual footballer nickname.

A few years later, Romero landed the part of the Joker in the campy Bang, Thwack, Kerpow Batman TV show – featuring the Mayor of Quahog Adam West. Romero was asked to shave off his moustache but he refused and if you look (not even that) closely, you can see his moustache underneath his white face paint.

I’ve now raised over £100 (£115 to be exact) for the cause and Im absolutely delighted – if you want to see more and check out my page:
My Movember page

O novo clipe do Flaming Lips tem a maior galera pelada no meio da mata. Considere-se avisado (a).

Babelor,

Prima dată în viaţă când nu reuşesc să dau embed. Dar nu contează. Clipul anului, cântecul anului, după mintea mea de babă. Mă piş pe Rammstein. Vedeţi aici:

Flaming Lips – Watching the Planets.

Ser visionário é pouco na época da web integrada a todas as formas de comunicação em áudio, vídeo e texto. Simultaneidade é o que forma o raciocínio dos múltiplos sentidos trafegando em várias pistas do conhecimento.

A banda Flaming Lips, em 1997, lançou o experimento musical Zaireeka, um álbum de 4 CDs que se completam sonoramente. Todos tem as mesmas faixas, que devem ser ouvidas ao mesmo tempo, para sentir a atmosfera sonora provocada pelo surround forçado criado pela banda. Se ouvir isoladamente um CD, algumas faixas ficam com “buracos” que só podem ser completados pelo conteúdo que está em outro CD. E dai se passeia por solos de guitarra, vocais, giros de bateria, subwoofer de baixo e efeitos sonoros produzidos por sintetizadores. Basicamente, os Flaming Lips anteviram a experiência dos meios digitais que hoje usufruímos. Mas é só o começo da nossa própria convivência com multimeios.

Abaixo, vídeo explica o álbum. Realizado por um grupo de japoneses, uma demonstração prática na sala com o acionamento de 4 players de CD ao mesmo tempo.

I was debating with a friend of mine about who was the best live band in the world.  My answer was, without a shadow of a doubt, the Flaming Lips.

You see, for me, live music is not just about the technicality of playing.  Some artists are technically perfect on stage, but where is the fun in that?  It’s not just about audience interaction or pyrotechnics either, because that’s no good without decent songs.

For me, the Flaming Lips are the perfect live experience.  I went to see them at East London’s glorious pastel painted, Art Deco music and cage fighting venue on Tuesday this week.  It was an all singing, all dancing spectacular.  Lovely Silver Fox Wayne Coyne is a wonderful, engaging frontman.  We had singalongs, we had chats, we had him sitting on the shoulders of a gorilla monster.  We saw up his nose with his on-microphone camera, we held up our fists for peace, he walked across us in a giant plastic ball.  We were sprayed with confetti, we were covered in smoke and when it was all over, we frolicked in spilled confetti as it was being blown from the stage by an industrial leaf blower.

From the emergence of the band from a giant on-screen flashing lady-part to the final bars of ‘Do You Realize?’, to which everyone cheerfully sang about everyone they know dying some day, a great time was had by all.

Granted, the material on their new album ‘Embryonic’ is not as accessible as some of their other stuff, descending sometimes into overblown proggy solos, but it was delivered by a band so charming  and obviously pleased to be there that it doesn’t really matter.  Even the poor security guards, who had spent their night being blown at by smoke machines, and batting aside balloons, were smiling by the end of the night.

Balloons went in people’s faces, drinks were spilled and feet stepped on, but there was no malice or fighting.  We were having too much fun for that.

“You may have been told by other bands that you have been to see that they have the best audiences in the world” Said Coyne as he was closing  “but they’re lying, we have the best audiences”