Sorry For Laughing



Released (and then re-released with 4 bonus tracks) last year in Europe, Nouvelle Vague's self titled LP finally got a US release a couple of weeks ago courtesy of Luaka Bop Records. For those of you who don't know, it's a set of new wave classics (songs by Depeche Mode, Dead Kennedys, The Undertones and more) done in a smoky, bossa nova jazz style. It's helmed by Marc Collins (Ollano, Volga Select, Suburbia) and Oliver Libaux, and includes the vocals of several different chanteuses. It's fabulous of course, and now that it's domestic there's no excuse for US readers to not go and get it! The US release also contains the bonus tracks, minus the version of the Flock Of Seagulls gem Wishing (If I Had A Photograph) which is one of the Euro release bonus tracks but failed to make the US record for some reason. I was very happy to see that this reissue includes this snazzy version of the Josef K classic Sorry For Laughing. Too bad I didn't have this when I posted the original & Propaganda's version last October!

Remastered Antmusic Part 3



Last year Columbia Records began reissuing the Adam & The Ants back catalogue, starting with the first 3 LPs. The entire process has been guided by Marco Pirroni, guitarist and co-writer for so much of Adam's career. They are beautifully packaged, and all contain a wealth of bonus material. I posted a couple of tunes from Dirk Wears White Sox and Kings Of The Wild Frontier last year. The final 3 albums are now available, either for purchase individually or packaged together in a lovely box (pictured above), with room to fit the first 3 CDs too. The key with buying the box is that you get a bonus disc full of never before released stuff - demos and the like. I personally passed on the box - I don't think I need a remastered copy of Strip - but a co-worker of mine bought it so I got to peruse it's loveliness - and it is lovely. I did however pick up a copy of Friend Or Foe, and today's tunes are taken from the bonus material. Most of the bonus stuff is the demos for the records, and they are often a fascinating listen, stripped of all the big tribal percussion and production. I particularly enjoy these two - Goody Two Shoes (Demo) with it's simple drum machine, and a much scruffier sounding Place In The Country (Demo). If you are a fan of any of this old Antmusic you would be well advised to invest in a couple of these reissues - they're fantastic. Anf if you are a real Antmusic geek, you've got to get the box.

I Started A Dance Craze Based On My Anxieties



Mark Oliver Everett, AKA Eels is an emotional alchemist - he is an ace at taking human misery and turning it into audio gold. His latest LP is a double disc sackful of woes called Blinking Lights And Other Revelations. It's a fascinating listen, full of scruffy pop gems that are all based on the unhappy things that have happened in E's life over the years. It has it's hit-or-miss moments, but overall it's a pretty memorable set of tunes. I mean, who else is going to write an uptempo, goofy groovin' rocker like Going Fetal? The title of this post is a line from the lyrics - very amusing words they are too. Also of interest is the featuring of Tom Waits, who is credited with "weeping" and also namechecked in the lyrics.

Funky Friday With Lyrics Born




Today brings a couple of cool hip hop tunes from Lyrics Born. He recently released Same !@#$ Different Day, a set of 8 remixes and five new songs. I'm loving the groove of I Changed My Mind (Stereo MC's Rattlesnake Mix). The backing track is typically Stereo MC's - repetitive, uptempo, smooth and very funky. I think that Lyrics' laid back, blue-sy flow on this track is a good fit for the Stereo MC's style. The album comes with a DVD which has a very cool Shynola video for this track as well as a couple of other vids and some live performances. Remix packages are usually not so great but I'd give this one a thumbs up - I'm especially digging Pack Up Remix with it's hard ass beats and energized raps from KRS-One and Evidence.

Lyrics also makes a guest appearance on the new DJ Z-Trip record Shifting Gears. The Get Down has a great old skool feel to it - the electro beats, the vocoders, the party-going-on-in-the-background. Old skool is definitely what the Z-Trip album is musically all about, and it features other raps from Chuck D, Murs & Supernatural, and Aceyalone and Mystic. All in all it's a pretty entertaining listen, altho' I'm not really feeling the Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) collabo.

A '90s Obscurity



Eggstone - a Swedish trio, formed in the late '80s. Their 94` LP Somersault contains a quirky blend of twee pop (which has been kind of a recurrent theme around here this week), American indie pop (think Pixies), British indie pop (think XTC or Blur) and the kind of softer stuff Kings Of Convenience excel at. The Dog is built on a great set of angular riffs, the chorus is hugely catchy, and I really enjoy the xylophone versus guitar solo thing at the end. This screams hit to me, but alas, not so. The rest of the album is equally melodic and entertaining.

Loopy Psychedelic Electro Pop



Of Montreal - Oslo In The Summertime
A crusty, lo-fi hippy hoppy beat coupled with springy, lush electronics. Wonderfully multi-tracked vocals. Funny lyrics about summertime life in Oslo. A chorus that sounds like it's being sung by muppet chickens. A dash of twee pop. It's all of that, and a really fun listen to boot. The rest of the album The Sunlandic Twins is equally entertaining and diverse in it's scope, taking in sunny power pop, much psychedelia, disco and electro and even a bit of new wave. I've been very surprised at how much I'm actually digging this album.

Chicks On Speed Ditch Electroclash



Wax My Anus

"Wax My Anus, inspired by Courtney Love, sounds like Macbeth's three witches trying to make a record by the Fall."
(The Guardian UK)

You've Got To Hold Your Head Up High



New Order have a new LP called Waiting For The Sirens' Call. Reviews have been mixed, though they've tended towards mostly positive. There have been a lot of comparisons to Technique, which is accurate in it's balance between clubby tracks and rock, though Technique remains the better record. I've spent a couple of weeks with Waiting For The Sirens' Call now and I like it. It's a pretty typical New Order record, split between dance-y techno-pop and rockers. It really doesn't go anywhere they haven't been before, but after 25 years I'm amazed thay can still even get this far - who knew it would last this long? As always there are a couple of not so stellar moments, and some of the lyrics are going to make you cringe, but then they almost always have, eh? Hey Now What You Doing stood out to me right away, and after a few listens has revealed itself as one of the better moments. It fits into the "classic N.O. rocker" mold - big Hooky bass riff, lots of guitars, and a catchier than ever melody and chorus. I love it. I give the record a thumbs up, but then I've found something redeeming on most of their albums to date. If you're a fan it's worth a shot.

Funky Friday - Uncle Louie and Snoop




I've got a couple of groovy disco tunes for you today. First up is a T.K.Records gem from 1979, Uncle Louie's Full Tilt Boogie. This arrived in my email inbox this week courtesy of Jockohomo (he has a classic John Foxx era Ultravox tune up for you to grab - go now!). He had just gotten it off a disco news group and thought I might enjoy it. He was right. Despite the somewhat dodgy band name, it's a fun tune. Uncle Louie's is an alias of Walter Murphy, best known for the monster '76 hit A Fifth Of Beethoven - you know, Beethoven's biggest riff over a disco beat. He also released records with his Big Apple Band, which included Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards who of course went on to form Chic. Full Tilt Boogie has got a great springy bass line, some killer wacka wacka guitars, big horns and the "do it, do it, do it's" in the chorus are fab - all in all a very tasty little number.

I was watching VH1Jams or VH1Soul last week when they aired the latest Snoop Dogg video for the tune Signs. It has an uptempo disco backing track that instantly had me grooving - it's pure Neptunes gold. It's embellished with Justin Timberlake's blue-eyed soul falsetto (oops, there goes my "street cred"), and also features the great, gruff vocals of one Charlie Wilson, of The Gap Band fame. When he appeared in the video I jumped - he's singing lyrics from Early In The Morning over the bumping Snoop track! That was the last straw. After having dug the previous singles from the record, I knew it was time to buy the album. Of course it's a lot of fun, though due to it's somewhat edgy lyrical content I definitely can't play it around my kids.

Spooky's Schmoo And Little Bullet (Two)



Fancy a bit of prog house, circa '93? Then you're in luck with today's post from Brit duo Spooky's classic album Gargantuan. When you read about this record it's often in comaparison to another prog house classic, Leftfield's Leftism. One thing for sure is that Gargantuan isn't as consistently good as Leftism, which is one of my most favorite electronic records ever. The other thing about that comparison that gets me is that, to my mind, they sound a lot more like Orbital than Leftfield. There's the same repetition of melody and sampled, girly vocals, and none of the reggae and dub flavor that Leftism has in spades. That having been said, I still love the Spooky record a lot - it's fun and warm and makes me smile. It's finally sunny and 72º in Minneapolis today, and this stuff is going down a treat...
Schmoo
Little Bullet (Part Two)

Teapot Tempest



Polara are a Minneapolis rock band that is now in it's 11th year of existence. Formed in 1994 by local scenester Ed Ackerson they are a group unafraid to experiment with electronics, straddling the fine line between raging wall-of-sound noise and poptastic melody. Drawing inspiration from Britpop and the shoegazers (and having a singer who reminds me a lot of Roger McGuinn from The Byrds), they've crafted a handful (or two) of records - catchy, scuzzy, shiny rock and pop. The earliest records were released on various indie labels, then they did a brief stint on a major before returning to the indie fold and releasing their records on Susstones, a label started by bandleader Ed Ackerson. They are gearing up to release a new album later this year and have just put out a great little EP called Green Shoes + 4. Teapot Tempest is a catchy rocker with some nice big riffs and cool little electronic noises embellishing it all, and is a pretty good indicator of what this band is all about. There are more mp3s over on the label's website, and if you go do check out some of the other bands - they're all pretty good!

Marbles



Robert Schneider is best known as the lead singer & song writer in fuzzy, scuzzy, psychedelic twee-pop rockers the Apples In Stereo. Marbles is his solo side project, and he's just released a new LP called Expo. There has been one previous album released - 1997's Pyramid Landing and Other Favorites, which is a compilation of the material he had recorded up to that point. Although I haven't heard that one, a friend who has it confirms that it's much like the Apples - twee pop. Expo has moments that could be classified like that too, but here the music has been synthetically enhanced with lots of electronic sheen. It's the Apples In Stereo meets Gary Numan, especially on album opener Circuit
with it's Numan circa 1981 keyboard riff. This is a pretty good indication of what the album has to offer - sunny melodies with a nice mix of scuzz and technology.