Whale Macpherson. Waiting.
C'mon Busby... your wardrobe awaits!Saturday, January 19, 2008
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
choo choo choo choo beep beep
A little late pulling this together but better the later than the never never. These songs were hand picked by my own ears mostly while trying to block out the sound of some random commuter from Portlaoise ingesting their greasy stinking Supermacs while sitting mere inches from my grimacing, exhale-only face on the choo choo choo choo (beep beep). Hence the liberal references to my fellow commuters (who I love nearly as much as they love their chicken burgers).
I've discovered this holiday season that traditions are mostly a pain in the ass. As soon as these Audio Christmas Cards for the Blind become painful (for me .......it's already painful for you :) I will desist. I promise. In the meantime I hope y'all enjoy the free and hopefully new for some of you music. Contact me privately if you wish to be taken off the Christmas Card list ;) I've stuck up only the covers I like from some of the records to relieve the visual monotony a little.
choo choo choo choo beep beep 1 Christmas 2007
1. menomena..............................wet and rusting
"I made you a present, you never expected And when you unravel the secret will travel". I love this album. This is the first song I heard from it. We've been having great fun re-writing the chorus with things like....It's hard to eat crisps, when you've broke your wrists.....etc. All good things come from Portland. Sometimes good things go to Portland.
2. animal collective.....................grass
A rollicking oldie. Saw these guys again this year but they were only operating on 1 cylinder. Poor oul Avey Tare - he who sings Peacebone - had the flu so all he could do was abuse the cowbell. If busby isnt a runner, what about noah?
3. the unicorns............................sea ghost
Who Islands used to be. If you can get over the really annoying tin whistley bit at the start (particularly annoying at full volume through tinny headphones when everyone else on the train thinks you're a member of the provisional IRA marching band) this is a great tune. islands are playing here this year aswell...
4. the weakerthans....................psalm for the elks lodge last callA Canadian throwback. First heard them in a coffee shop on Commercial Drive in Voncoover and politely enquired of the waitress what it was. They live and work from Winnipeg I believe and they apparently make cleverly melodic guitar music to lift the soul. "Let the toast to absent members push through the ceiling". Breakfast time meltdowns are great cos you get them out of the way early and don't get embarrassingly ambushed in bank queues or while being vox popped on Talbot Street. Who is less present - someone who has left, or someone who hasn't arrived yet?
5. band of horses........................the funeral
Epic whinery. Graham is gonna burn me the new album. When he gets the chance. What I have heard is very amazing. We have the cant-waits.
6. bowerbirds.............................in our talons
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee. From the album Hymns for a Dark Horse. Proof that measured use of the accordion is possible in folk tunes. This landed in my inbox via a feed from some music blog just after we got home from our away spell. And I've been enjoying it ever since.
7. the breeders..........................off youAhh the Breeders. I did not show love when I harboured repeatedly lustful thoughts for Kim Deal and her great skin. Until she resurfaced with the Pixies wearing several wintercoats and a couple of gilets. I love the farty techno noise that loudly gate crashes the acousticness at the start of this song and is never heard from again. Not sure what it's all about but it's kind of haunting and quirky, the words are nice and it has been on many exotic road trips with us not to mention several trips on the Dublin Portlaiose train.
8. mccarthy trenching..............wedding song
Apropriate enough given we're currently auditioning the ether for members of our own Bluegrass .....Bayyyyynd. A dobro daughter OR a mandolin pickin' son will suffice :) I found this as I was putting the CDs together so if it gets really old really soon I had nothing to do with it, time was agin me.
9. black kids...............................i'm not going to teach your boyfriend how to dance
M found this one and it melts her heart every time. From the loveliliy titled Wizard of Ahhhhs EP. I don't think these guys are actually black but man do they like reverb. Ohh the irony.
10. meat puppets......................lost
Sung by the mad brother (appears here in the stone wash denim jacket) who has just recently been released from prison for attacking a security guard in a post office with his own baton whilst on a crack cocaine binge. The Kirkwood brothers have a similar relationship to the Deal sisters it would appear. What is it about wayward bass players? Anways, he got shot a couple of times and was given a prison sentence for his trouble. They're currently reformed and touring again. This song is from Meat Puppets II (1983) during the height of their cowpunk phase and everyone should have a copy of this in their home.
11. modest mouse.....................missed the boat
Ohhhhhhh. The only thing Johnny Marr has added to Modest Mouse is some lovely vocal harmonies. Isaac Brock is still writing great lyrics. Saw them finally at the Electric Picnic in 2007 and despite the soundman really letting them down twas a good gig. Even if Martini and M were blocking every disabled ramp in the place :)
12. menomena..........................rotten hell
More menomena.
13. my first earthquake..........designer boyfriend
Another one of those tunes you'll probably get sick of really quickly but it made me smile the first 3 times. I know absolutely nothing about these guys either.
14. dead milkmen ...................punk rock girl
A classic. From "Beelzebubba". We could of course also name it Mini-Pearl but neither of our dads are the Duke of Earl. Pity. More biblically restrained accordion playing from Rodney Anonymous in the face of much temptation as the rest of the band freaks out.
15. the national........................the geese of beverley road
Great drumbeat. "Hey Love we will get away with this. We'll run like we're awesome totally genius. Hey Love". Another band we saw live this year. The Ambassador is the worst venue I've ever ever been in. The National were great though even if they have graduated to wearing shiny showbiz shirts onstage. I have this theory about it all being Tom Dunne's fault. I'll offload my Tom Dunne psychosis offline to anyone who cares to listen.
16. pedro the lion....................when they really get to know you
Another bequest of the random button. Great guitar music from Seattle.
17. q and not u........................wonderful people
Dischord does disco.
18. sleater kinney..................modern girlI really like this one despite the horrendous mastering on the Woods album (it gets really loud and distorted at the end of this song for example). I've been trying for months to get M to dress up as Sleater Kinney complete with strap on SG and do the washing up so I can photograph her. As soon as I have it I'll throw it up here :) In the meantime here are the sapphic punkers in action on one of the Burn to Shine DVDs - an *excellent* series of DVDs the brainchild of Brendan Canty drummer from Fugazi where he picks a condemned house (which is due to be demolished) in Washington DC and gets his freinds' bands to come around and play one song live for the cameras. The idea was brought to Chicago a year later by Bob Weston - Shellac's bass player and bands like Tortoise played. The Sleater Kinney one is taken from Burn to Shine 03 shot in Portland. Ahhh Portland. I love the bit where the drummer comes in the window to play her harmonica bit :)
19. sparta................................the host
Read this. It's kinda scary.
20. youngblood brass band.....brooklynGalway sometime in 2004. We wander into Cuba during the Jazz festival and get blown away by a group of about 15 young American college students toting various weapons of percussion and brass destruction. Acoustic hip hop. Neat party trick of generating amazing beats with seperate people playing bass drum, snare and toms. Blow man, Blow!
choo choo choo choo beep beep 2 Christmas 2007
1. animal collective....................peaceboneOne of my top 3 musical moments of 2007.
2. deerhoof.................................believe ESP
Cowbell alert. Pookey Ookey to you too.
3. rollerskate skinny.................goodnight diamondGalavant your ankle free. Advice for life. Get Marc to tell you about that hitch hiker we picked up and decapitated with this song once upon a time in a misty bog far far away.
4. the breeders..........................huffer
Ahhhh ahhhhh. New album iminent and playing Vicar Street in April. Hopefully I'll be allowed go...... Also from Title TK. Great pop song.
5. the clash.................................safe european home"Wouldnt it be luvallay?" Best breakdown of any rock song ever. Mick Jones' clever arrangements within the limits of simple 3 chord punk tunes never fails to delight me. After our now mostly forgotten adventures in the Southern hemisphere this song will always remind me of 3 bed semi-detatched living in a flesh coloured housing estate somwehere on the plains of Leinster, Ireland.
6. wipers.....................................i'll be around
More snotty nosedeness from the Pacific North West *blesses himself*
7. the weakerthans...................the reasons
Yadda yadda yadda.
8. neutral milk hotel.................aeroplane over the sea
"But for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see" Amaaaazing hurling. Judicious use of the saw AND the trumpet.
9. midlake..................................roscoe
Fleetwood Mac for the 21st century. Thanks to Graham for convincing me that not only are midlake not shite, they're actually great.
10. wilco.....................................jesus etcHere they are on the Chicago "Burn To Shine". What's that saying about too many guitarists? Not a huge Wilco fan but we likes this song.
11. hayden.................................home by saturday
Great song. Know absolutely nothing about him. But fair feckin play dough.
12. the evens............................around the corner"There is no around the corner any more". Marco Van brought this to me on my wedding day and we listened to it in synchronised head nodding silence while we solemnly passed a bottle of champagne over and back as we drove to the church contemplating the end of life as we knew it.
13.tommy guerrero............... .today like every day
Brought to you in association with the random button from Winamp.....Constantly rediscovering interesting noises in my badly catalogued collection of digital recordings.
14.pulse programming............blooms eventually
Cher totally ripped these dudes off. Do you Believe in life after love?
15.mum....................................dancing behind my eyelids
I love the way mum's music sounds like it was made by kids. And their judicious use of Michael Flatley.
16.why?....................................darlaBecause we're fuckin groovin. A smile out loud song featuring the most innovative use of a cock in recorded music history :)
17.tortoise................................seneca
The best hand clapping bit of any song ever. Once you get it you'll be very pleased with yourself and you'll secretly use it to applaud every wedding speech you hear from now on.
18.q and not u.........................L.A.X
Cowbell alert. Whatever that means.
19. the jesus lizard..................rope
This gets included purely on the merit of the following piece of Agatha Christie-esque lyrical envelope pushing :
"He lay beneath a broken branch face down in the grass | No mason or bricklayer he, a trowel was in his ass " And also because its a great example of how to fill 2 minutes with masterfully focused agression and dexterity and because I will always be a dirty snot nosed punker at heart.
20. meat puppets...................six gallon pieWhat happens when the bluegrass band you've raised discovers drugs.
21.ween...................................ocean man
From the legends Dean and Gene Ween. This is the song which makes me dangerously elated in very restricted spaces on the train. How can you all just sit there reading free newspapers half asleep when there's DANCING to be done!? Discos on the Train = Commuting 2.0. You heard it here first. This song is also known as the bipolarity test song. One meeeeelion dollars to anyone who knows what this pitch-shifted freakshow song is about. Here they are pitch shifted in the other direction. Some of the bizzarest shit you'll see on youtube this week (other than this of course - Hi Aine!) - watch out for the "surprise" Prince sample :)
22. deerhoof.......................... +81Saw these at the Electric Picnic. For such a group of dysfunctional looking and acting individuals they're exceptionally tight live. Their drummer is a wizard of syncopation.
I've discovered this holiday season that traditions are mostly a pain in the ass. As soon as these Audio Christmas Cards for the Blind become painful (for me .......it's already painful for you :) I will desist. I promise. In the meantime I hope y'all enjoy the free and hopefully new for some of you music. Contact me privately if you wish to be taken off the Christmas Card list ;) I've stuck up only the covers I like from some of the records to relieve the visual monotony a little.
choo choo choo choo beep beep 1 Christmas 2007
1. menomena..............................wet and rusting
"I made you a present, you never expected And when you unravel the secret will travel". I love this album. This is the first song I heard from it. We've been having great fun re-writing the chorus with things like....It's hard to eat crisps, when you've broke your wrists.....etc. All good things come from Portland. Sometimes good things go to Portland.
2. animal collective.....................grass
A rollicking oldie. Saw these guys again this year but they were only operating on 1 cylinder. Poor oul Avey Tare - he who sings Peacebone - had the flu so all he could do was abuse the cowbell. If busby isnt a runner, what about noah?3. the unicorns............................sea ghost
Who Islands used to be. If you can get over the really annoying tin whistley bit at the start (particularly annoying at full volume through tinny headphones when everyone else on the train thinks you're a member of the provisional IRA marching band) this is a great tune. islands are playing here this year aswell...4. the weakerthans....................psalm for the elks lodge last callA Canadian throwback. First heard them in a coffee shop on Commercial Drive in Voncoover and politely enquired of the waitress what it was. They live and work from Winnipeg I believe and they apparently make cleverly melodic guitar music to lift the soul. "Let the toast to absent members push through the ceiling". Breakfast time meltdowns are great cos you get them out of the way early and don't get embarrassingly ambushed in bank queues or while being vox popped on Talbot Street. Who is less present - someone who has left, or someone who hasn't arrived yet?
5. band of horses........................the funeral
Epic whinery. Graham is gonna burn me the new album. When he gets the chance. What I have heard is very amazing. We have the cant-waits.
6. bowerbirds.............................in our talons
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee. From the album Hymns for a Dark Horse. Proof that measured use of the accordion is possible in folk tunes. This landed in my inbox via a feed from some music blog just after we got home from our away spell. And I've been enjoying it ever since.
7. the breeders..........................off youAhh the Breeders. I did not show love when I harboured repeatedly lustful thoughts for Kim Deal and her great skin. Until she resurfaced with the Pixies wearing several wintercoats and a couple of gilets. I love the farty techno noise that loudly gate crashes the acousticness at the start of this song and is never heard from again. Not sure what it's all about but it's kind of haunting and quirky, the words are nice and it has been on many exotic road trips with us not to mention several trips on the Dublin Portlaiose train.
8. mccarthy trenching..............wedding song
Apropriate enough given we're currently auditioning the ether for members of our own Bluegrass .....Bayyyyynd. A dobro daughter OR a mandolin pickin' son will suffice :) I found this as I was putting the CDs together so if it gets really old really soon I had nothing to do with it, time was agin me.
9. black kids...............................i'm not going to teach your boyfriend how to dance
M found this one and it melts her heart every time. From the loveliliy titled Wizard of Ahhhhs EP. I don't think these guys are actually black but man do they like reverb. Ohh the irony.
10. meat puppets......................lost
Sung by the mad brother (appears here in the stone wash denim jacket) who has just recently been released from prison for attacking a security guard in a post office with his own baton whilst on a crack cocaine binge. The Kirkwood brothers have a similar relationship to the Deal sisters it would appear. What is it about wayward bass players? Anways, he got shot a couple of times and was given a prison sentence for his trouble. They're currently reformed and touring again. This song is from Meat Puppets II (1983) during the height of their cowpunk phase and everyone should have a copy of this in their home.
11. modest mouse.....................missed the boat
Ohhhhhhh. The only thing Johnny Marr has added to Modest Mouse is some lovely vocal harmonies. Isaac Brock is still writing great lyrics. Saw them finally at the Electric Picnic in 2007 and despite the soundman really letting them down twas a good gig. Even if Martini and M were blocking every disabled ramp in the place :)
12. menomena..........................rotten hell
More menomena.
13. my first earthquake..........designer boyfriend
Another one of those tunes you'll probably get sick of really quickly but it made me smile the first 3 times. I know absolutely nothing about these guys either.
14. dead milkmen ...................punk rock girl
A classic. From "Beelzebubba". We could of course also name it Mini-Pearl but neither of our dads are the Duke of Earl. Pity. More biblically restrained accordion playing from Rodney Anonymous in the face of much temptation as the rest of the band freaks out.
15. the national........................the geese of beverley road
Great drumbeat. "Hey Love we will get away with this. We'll run like we're awesome totally genius. Hey Love". Another band we saw live this year. The Ambassador is the worst venue I've ever ever been in. The National were great though even if they have graduated to wearing shiny showbiz shirts onstage. I have this theory about it all being Tom Dunne's fault. I'll offload my Tom Dunne psychosis offline to anyone who cares to listen.
16. pedro the lion....................when they really get to know you
Another bequest of the random button. Great guitar music from Seattle.
17. q and not u........................wonderful people
Dischord does disco.
18. sleater kinney..................modern girlI really like this one despite the horrendous mastering on the Woods album (it gets really loud and distorted at the end of this song for example). I've been trying for months to get M to dress up as Sleater Kinney complete with strap on SG and do the washing up so I can photograph her. As soon as I have it I'll throw it up here :) In the meantime here are the sapphic punkers in action on one of the Burn to Shine DVDs - an *excellent* series of DVDs the brainchild of Brendan Canty drummer from Fugazi where he picks a condemned house (which is due to be demolished) in Washington DC and gets his freinds' bands to come around and play one song live for the cameras. The idea was brought to Chicago a year later by Bob Weston - Shellac's bass player and bands like Tortoise played. The Sleater Kinney one is taken from Burn to Shine 03 shot in Portland. Ahhh Portland. I love the bit where the drummer comes in the window to play her harmonica bit :)
19. sparta................................the host
Read this. It's kinda scary.
20. youngblood brass band.....brooklynGalway sometime in 2004. We wander into Cuba during the Jazz festival and get blown away by a group of about 15 young American college students toting various weapons of percussion and brass destruction. Acoustic hip hop. Neat party trick of generating amazing beats with seperate people playing bass drum, snare and toms. Blow man, Blow!
choo choo choo choo beep beep 2 Christmas 2007
1. animal collective....................peaceboneOne of my top 3 musical moments of 2007.
2. deerhoof.................................believe ESP
Cowbell alert. Pookey Ookey to you too.3. rollerskate skinny.................goodnight diamondGalavant your ankle free. Advice for life. Get Marc to tell you about that hitch hiker we picked up and decapitated with this song once upon a time in a misty bog far far away.
4. the breeders..........................huffer
Ahhhh ahhhhh. New album iminent and playing Vicar Street in April. Hopefully I'll be allowed go...... Also from Title TK. Great pop song.
5. the clash.................................safe european home"Wouldnt it be luvallay?" Best breakdown of any rock song ever. Mick Jones' clever arrangements within the limits of simple 3 chord punk tunes never fails to delight me. After our now mostly forgotten adventures in the Southern hemisphere this song will always remind me of 3 bed semi-detatched living in a flesh coloured housing estate somwehere on the plains of Leinster, Ireland.
6. wipers.....................................i'll be around
More snotty nosedeness from the Pacific North West *blesses himself*
7. the weakerthans...................the reasons
Yadda yadda yadda.
8. neutral milk hotel.................aeroplane over the sea
"But for now we are young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see" Amaaaazing hurling. Judicious use of the saw AND the trumpet.
9. midlake..................................roscoe
Fleetwood Mac for the 21st century. Thanks to Graham for convincing me that not only are midlake not shite, they're actually great.
10. wilco.....................................jesus etcHere they are on the Chicago "Burn To Shine". What's that saying about too many guitarists? Not a huge Wilco fan but we likes this song.
11. hayden.................................home by saturday
Great song. Know absolutely nothing about him. But fair feckin play dough.
12. the evens............................around the corner"There is no around the corner any more". Marco Van brought this to me on my wedding day and we listened to it in synchronised head nodding silence while we solemnly passed a bottle of champagne over and back as we drove to the church contemplating the end of life as we knew it.
13.tommy guerrero............... .today like every day
Brought to you in association with the random button from Winamp.....Constantly rediscovering interesting noises in my badly catalogued collection of digital recordings.
14.pulse programming............blooms eventually
Cher totally ripped these dudes off. Do you Believe in life after love?
15.mum....................................dancing behind my eyelids
I love the way mum's music sounds like it was made by kids. And their judicious use of Michael Flatley.
16.why?....................................darlaBecause we're fuckin groovin. A smile out loud song featuring the most innovative use of a cock in recorded music history :)
17.tortoise................................seneca
The best hand clapping bit of any song ever. Once you get it you'll be very pleased with yourself and you'll secretly use it to applaud every wedding speech you hear from now on.
18.q and not u.........................L.A.X
Cowbell alert. Whatever that means.
19. the jesus lizard..................rope
This gets included purely on the merit of the following piece of Agatha Christie-esque lyrical envelope pushing :
"He lay beneath a broken branch face down in the grass | No mason or bricklayer he, a trowel was in his ass " And also because its a great example of how to fill 2 minutes with masterfully focused agression and dexterity and because I will always be a dirty snot nosed punker at heart.
20. meat puppets...................six gallon pieWhat happens when the bluegrass band you've raised discovers drugs.
21.ween...................................ocean man
From the legends Dean and Gene Ween. This is the song which makes me dangerously elated in very restricted spaces on the train. How can you all just sit there reading free newspapers half asleep when there's DANCING to be done!? Discos on the Train = Commuting 2.0. You heard it here first. This song is also known as the bipolarity test song. One meeeeelion dollars to anyone who knows what this pitch-shifted freakshow song is about. Here they are pitch shifted in the other direction. Some of the bizzarest shit you'll see on youtube this week (other than this of course - Hi Aine!) - watch out for the "surprise" Prince sample :)
22. deerhoof.......................... +81Saw these at the Electric Picnic. For such a group of dysfunctional looking and acting individuals they're exceptionally tight live. Their drummer is a wizard of syncopation.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year (binary finery)
here's a nice new years gift to you all.
and some freaky arithmetic :
2 + 0 + 0 + 8 = 1 0
1 + 9 + 7 + 4 = 2 1
1 + 9 + 7 + 6 = 2 3
________________________
5 4
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