Records Purchased 011009

Finally Punk Hypertension EP 7" (M'Lady Records)
Lover! No More Reasons 7" (Hozac)
The Wax Museums Magnet Part II 7" (Fashionable Idiots Records)
Tyvek Needles Drop 2x7" (What's Your Rupture?)
caUSE Co-MOTION! Baby Don't Do It 7" (What's Your Rupture?)
Wicked Witch s/t LP (EM / Honest Jon's)
Les 5 Gentlemen Plus Grands Succes LP (Belle Amie)
Pandit Prannath Earth Groove LP (Mississippi)
Various Artists Oh Graveyard, You Can't Always Hold Me LP (Mississippi)
Quincy Jones Plays Hip Hits LP (Mercury)
The Oh Sees/The Intelligence Split 12" (Mt. St. Mtn.)
Comet Gain Beautiful Despair 12" (What's Your Rupture?)
Gentleman Jesse & His Men s/t LP (Douchemaster Records)
Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Volume ONE "The Vodoun Effect" - Funk And Sato From Benin's Obscure Labels 1972-1975 CD (Analog Africa)

Serge Gainsbourg "La Javanaise"

I've had this song sitting on my computer desktop, waiting to post for about two months. So, here it is...one of my favorite early Serge songs. A great mix of chanson and a early 60's girl group, doo-wop sound.

Lyrically the song seems to be about Serge's of the letter "V." The letter, and it's sound, dominate the song. I did a bit a Googling and found one reference to the song being about a trend amongst French teenagers to add additional v's to words. A bit like a few years back when everyone was adding "-izza" to everything.

Watch serge sing the song, hold the cigarette, but never smoke it. Amazing. I'm pretty anti-smoking, but I'll be damned if he doesn't make it look so fucking cool.



Download Serge Gainsbourg "La Javanaise"

Joki Freund "Yogi Jazz"

I don't like jazz much, as a rule. And the jazz that I do like tends to fall into two distinct categories.

The first category includes reocrds that go "Bomp BOMP Zing WHIZZZZZZ HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOnKKKKKKKkkKkKkkK! Shhhuuuuuuuuufffflelele SSSSSSsssSSShuuuuufflffflffle...Crack Crack Crack BANG!" You know, the kind of thing you listen to once and then file away in the iTunes only to have it either #1. pop up unexpectedly; scaring the crap out of you while you are trying to read or #2. pop up unexpectedly while you are doing the dishes and mix really well with the sounds of the wet dishes clinking together.

The other category is what I like to call "Charlie Brown" jazz. Basically light jazz that wouldn't sound out of place in an animated film about 1950's Paris.

So why in the world I own this piece of rare 1960's German jazz? Quite simply, it comes down to one factor: Jonny Trunk.

Jonny Trunk operates a small cult record label in London called, appropriately enough, Trunk Records. I adore this label and feverishly gobble up everything it releases, from horror film soundtracks to BBC Radiophonics to airy folk. But my most treasured records from the label tend to be these odd bits of British Jazz that toe the line right in between my two favored schools of jazz. Sort of like if Pig Pen played the piano in the Peanuts band instead of Schroeder.

This album was featured on Trunk's "Recommended" page in April with the following praise: "There is no way on earth I am ever going to get a real one of these Lps, so when I heard the Japanese had issued it on compact disc I went and got one. And very pleased I am too. Not only does it have one of the great, iconic jazz sleeves but it has to be one of the great, faultless sessions ever recorded. It's the unexpected rhythms that get me here."

And, as it was the only one of his recommendations that month that I could easily find, I bought it. And here it is.

RE-UPPED HERE: Download Joki Freund Yogi Jazz

Download Joki Freund Yogi Jazz

Something Else Mix #2

A unique and decidedly mopey mix featuring: "OMGZ THAT ZOMBIES SONG FROM THAT RUSHMORE-GUY'S MOVIE ABOUT BEING UNDERWATER!", a maybe more beautiful version of an already beautiful song, my favorite vocalist of all time, a song of calm, groovy 60's country, one of Dylan's simplest and most elegant lyrics rendered with a bit of soul, a Spiritualized song that repeats the same thing over and over and over an what's with that because it gets better everytime, a song deceptively simple from my favorite record as a child, "I heard and old girlfriend/has turned to the church/she's trying to replace me/but it will never work", a great song with a better title, soul/lounge explosion (or as much as something like that can explode), my 100&, all-time favorite "loser" song, the best song on my least favorite B&S album, and a song displaying an almost depressing level of devotion.

Tracklist:
1. The Zombies "The Way I Feel Inside"
2. Jens Lekman "A Little Lost" (Arthur Russell Cover)
3. Scott Walker "Duchess"
4. Bill Fay "Be Not So Fearful"
5. Porter Wagoner "Lonely Comin' Down"
6. Rod Stewart "Mama, You Been On My Mind" (Bob Dylan Cover)
7. Spiritualized "Baby I'm Just A Fool"
8. Harry Nilsson "Think About Your Troubles"
9. Pulp "Bad Cover Version"
10. Beulah "My Horoscope Said It Would Be A Bad Year"
11. The Sapphires "Let's Break Up For A While"
12. Frank & Nancy Sinatra "Somethin' Stupid"
13. Belle & Sebastian "Don't Leave The Light On Baby"
14. Eef Barzelay "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" (Live) (Ink Spots Cover)

Download Something Else Mix #2 (M4A version for iTunes with artwork and chapter titles) here.

Download Something Else Mix #2 (MP3 version with artwork) here.

I Met The Walrus

An elegant, charming and wonderfully literal piece of animation based upon a 14-year-old Beatles fanatic's interview with John Lennon about peace.

Delia Derbyshire Gives Aphex Twin The Two-Fingered Salute.

This sort of stuff never ceases to amaze me. The existence of 267 tapes of the electronic music of Delia Derbyshire, the woman responsible for the electronic realization of the theme to Dr. Who, was just confirmed by an archivist at the BBC. Amongst those tapes was at least one "experimental dance" piece that sounds pretty much exactly like an Aphex Twin song. Only it was recorded in 1969!

Read the article and check out some terrific sound clips here.

And if you don't know who Delia Derbyshire is, click here.

Something Else Mix #1

Here it is. A mix that I totally made with my bare hands. On a computer. I've never used GarageBand to make a mix before, so it might seem a little rough as I'm still figuring everything out.

The mix itself must be pretty great because I listened to it about 10 times while putting it together and I don't hate it. It's mostly comprized of stuff from the Nuggets boxsets and some new, like minded bands. It's also all one continuous track which I like because it sort forces the listener to listen to every single song without skipping around. And that makes me feel a bit like a supervillian who controls people's iTunes. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Tracklist:
1. Coconut Coolouts "(Please Don't Break Me Out Of) Party Jail"
2. Van Morrison "I Can Only Give You Everything"
3. The Move "I Can Hear The Grass Grow"
4. Count Five "Psychotic Reaction"
5. Reigning Sound "Your Love Is A Fine Thing"
6. 13th Floor Elevators "You're Gonna Miss Me"
7. The Sonics "The Witch"
8. The Deadly Snakes "Closed Casket"
9. King Khan & The Shrines "Land of the Freak"
10. We The People "Mirror of Your Mind"
11. Chocolate Watchband "Sweet Young Thing"
12. The Monks "Complication"
13. Pop Levi "Sugar Assault Me Now"
14. April March "Chick Habit"
15. King Khan & BBQ "Too Much In Love"
16. The Black Lips "Boomerang"
17. Jay Reatard "Always Wanting More"

Download Here

The Kinks > The Beatles > The Rolling Stones

The Kinks are, quite simply, the greatest band ever to walk the face of the Earth. They could make "Powerman" the National Anthem and somehow this band would still be under appreciated.

It's tough to say exactly why The Kinks aren't given the same kind of massive respect that seems to be reserved solely for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. By my count, The Kinks wrote just as many genre-defining anthems as either of those bands. Sure, they weren't as attractive as The Beatles, or as delightfully sleazy at The Rolling Stones (but they were, generally, more attractive than the Stones and sleazier than the Beatles. Although, it would arguably be harder to NOT be sleazier than the Beatles).

My infinity for The Kinks might stem from my overwhelming, unwavering and unabashed love for The Beatles. From about 6th through 10th grade I listened virtually exclusively to The Beatles. I think the only other music I took in at the time came from Seattle's only oldies station (unless you count KIXI, which I don't) the sadly re-formatted 97.3 KBSG. And at a certain point things that once seemed shocking and innovative, just seem, well, dull.

The Kinks touched on subjects that other bands of the time seemed to just gloss over. Without being overly preachy or heavy-handed, they crafted touching odes to an England that had never fully rebuilt itself after World War II. They had plenty of songs that went "yeah, yeah, I love you, yeah." But they also had songs like "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Get Back In Line" which touched on deeper topics like personal isolation and the startling number of British people who were facing the day to day embarrassment of being "on the dole."

This is a two CD "best of"-ish collection. The first disc handles the generally poppier material and has all the singles that you are likely to know. And the second disc highlights the obscure gems and odd music-hall pieces.

Here's some tracklistings and download links:
Disc #1
1. You Really Got Me
2. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
3. Tired Of Waiting For You
4. Who'll Be The Next In Line
5. Well Respected Man
6. Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
7. You're Looking Fine
8. Sunny Afternoon
9. Party Line
10. Dead End Street
11. David Watts
12. Love Me Till The Sun Shines
13. Waterloo Sunset
14. The Village Green Preservation Society
15. Do You Remember Walter
16. Picture Book
17. Animal Farm
18. Victoria
19. Drivin'
20. Lola
21. Powerman
22. 20th Century Man
23. Muswell Hillbilly
24 Celluloid Heroes

Download here

Disc #2
1. Just Can’t Go to Sleep (Mono)
2. Stop Your Sobbin’ (Mono)
3. Nothin' In The World Can Stop Me From Worryin' 'bout That Girl
4. Don't Ever Change
5. The World Keeps Going Round
6. I'm On An Island
7. Holiday In Waikiki
8. Too Much On My Mind
9. Fancy
10. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
11. A House In The Country
12. This Is Where I Belong
13. Lazy Old Sun
14. Death Of A Clown
15. Autumn Almanac
16. Starstruck
17. People Take Pictures Of Each Other
18. Johnny Thunder
19. Days
20. She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
21. Get Back In Line
22. Strangers
23. This Time Tomorrow
24. Apeman
25. Skin & Bone
26. Alcohol
27. Sitting In My Hotel

Download here

(Note: Unfortunately the only way I could get iTunes to export these playlists was in .XML format. So...just load the MP3s into your iTunes like normal...then...choose FILE and then IMPORT from the top drop down in iTunes...and then...choose the .XML file. That should plop the playlist into your iTunes. If you don't have iTunes...um...good luck...)