6/27/2010

Music from My Mailbox

Could I just copy the words to The Sun Also Rises, throw in some fresh adjectives and updated references and get it published as the remixed version? Honestly, I’m so tired of remixes. I go through my inbox and see remix after remix after remix. Are you serious? Make your own damned music if you’re so talented. And not to be hateful, but I don’t even care if you disagree.

So, that said, here’s what I found that wasn’t just someone else’s music with a couple of echo effects and a drum loop thrown in: While this mailbox purge is short on my beloved garage punk, there are still a few interesting things here. The first I want to mention is The Emotron. I’m not sure what’s up with this guy. He lights his pubic hair on fire during live performances and claims to be some kind of synth-punk G.G. Allin, a feat I’m sure no one could really pull off. This song, “Drink A Beer for Me,” sounds more like a novelty song than it does anything from G.G.’s catalogue. See what you think.

There are a couple of reggae-type bands represented: 10ft. Tall Ganja Plant (ha! Like you wouldn’t have guess they were reggae!) and Indofin. Both are great for a relaxing on a summer evening.

“Neon for You” comes from My First Earthquake’s just released EP Crush. The disk hearkens back to 80’s pop and is very enjoyable. In a wide-open field, this track is one of my favorites.

As always, follow the links for more information.

My First Earthquake
Indie / Electro / Rock
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band MySpace
Neon for You.mp3

10ft. Ganja Plant
Reggae / Dub / Roots Music
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band MySpace
Bonny & Clyde.mp3

Love Crushed Velvet
Rock / Alternative / Pop
From: New York, N.Y.
Band MySpace
Love Crushed Velvet.mp3

Electric Tickle Machine
Indie / Alternative
From: East Village, N.Y.
Band MySpace
Honest Injun.mp3

Joy Ike
Indie / Soul / Pop
From: Pittsburgh, Penn.
Band MySpace
Sweeter.mp3

Indofin
Reggae / Ska / Punk
From: Austin, Texas
Band MySpace
Bluelight.mp3

Imagine Dragons
Indie / Pop / Rock
From: Las Vegas, Nev.
Band MySpace
Selene.mp3

Upstation
Pop / Indie
From: Moscow, Russian Federation
Band MySpace
No More Promises.mp3

The Emotron
Punk / Rock / New Wave
From: West Fuckin’ Philly/Georgia/Pennsylvania
Band MySpace
Drink a Beer for Me.mp3

Eagle Winged Palace
Acoustic / Indie / Classical
From: The Deepest Darkest Corners of California
Band MySpace
Movin’ on to Avalon.mp3

~~~~~
(pictures, top-to-bottom: My First Earthquake, Joy Ike, The Emotron)

~~~~~
As a reminder, there is a little less than two weeks left on my host, so if there is anything you want to hear, you need to act quickly.


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posted by aikin @ 12:16 PM 3 Comments

12/05/2009

Music From My Mailbox

Say you’ve got four lanes of traffic, all going the same direction. The far outside lane exits, the next one over has the option to exit or go straight. What the hell is that causes Miami drivers in the two inside lanes to come to a complete stop? During my commute I go through these traffic jams daily and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it happens. Please, if you can explain this mystery, drop me a note.

In other more relevant news, there turned out to be some pretty decent things in my mailbox. Particularly, I want to mention Acrassicauda. These guys were featured in the 2007 film Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Acrassicauda formed in Iraq, fled that country because of the war, first going to Syria then to Turkey. Earlier this year they were resettled in the U.S. with assistance from a relief agency. The song here, “Garden of Stones” will be on their debut EP, Only the Dead See the End of the War, which is scheduled for release in March.

A couple other things worth mentioning: The Getdown! offers up the oft-covered “Leave My Kitten Alone,” a tasty slice of garage rock from their forthcoming EP. I also sorta liked the tracks from The Stone Foxes and I’m Not A Band. There’s also some other pretty decent things here. Have a listen and see what you think.

As always, follow the links for more information.

Acrassicauda
Metal / Rock / Death Metal
From: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Band MySpace
Garden Of Stones.mp3

Bear Ceuse
Rock
From: St. Louis, Mo.
Band MySpace
American Wit.mp3

iChoRa
Alternative / Rock
From: Western Australia, Australia
Band MySpace
Lunafire.mp3

Codeine Velvet Club
Alternative
From: United Kingdom
Band MySpace
I Am the Resurrection (Stone Roses cover).mp3

Le Corps Mince de Françoise (LCMDF)
Pop / Pop / Pop
From: Helsinki, Finland
Band MySpace
Something Golden (Zebra and Snake remix).mp3

Zambri
Rock / Soul / Other
From: New York, New York
Band MySpace
From the Starts.mp3

The New Fidelity
Powerpop / Soul
From: Long Beach, Calif.
Band MySpace
2nd Once in a Lifetime Girl.mp3

Blackmarket
Rock / Indie
From: Lake Havasu, Ariz.
Band MySpace
Tongue Twister Typo.mp3

The Stone Foxes
Rock / Blues / Soul
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band MySpace
Sweep a Road.mp3

Gooding
Rock
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band MySpace
Make the Devil Cry.mp3

Church
Indie
From: Portland, Ore.
Band MySpace
Opposite People.mp3

The Getdown!
Rock / Rock / Rock
From: Denver, Colo.
Band MySpace
Leave My Kitten Alone (Little Willie John cover).mp3

I’m Not A Band
Electro / Indie
From: Berlin / Leipzig, Germany
Band MySpace
Crazy.mp3

~~~~~
pictures, top-to-bottom: Acrassicauda, LCMDF, The Stone Foxes, I’m Not A Band


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posted by aikin @ 6:17 PM 1 Comments

11/29/2009

Nothing but a Heartache

I woke up this morning with the song “Nothing but a Heartache” stuck in my head. It was puzzling because I couldn’t remember when or where I last heard it. But the song stayed there, refusing to leave.

I had to research a little to find who performed it; turns out it was a 60’s girl group called the Flirtations. While I was looking this up, I saw a YouTube comment that had me laughing and nodding my head at the same time: “Once upon a time, they wouldn't let you on stage unless you had talent. Those days are gone.”

Anyway, the Flirtations started life in 1962 as quartet called the Gypsies. Within a few years they had become a trio, won a Supremes sound-alike contest, and changed their name to the Flirtations. In 1968 they released “Nothing but a Heartache,” which would be the girls’ biggest hit.

All of which reminds me I need to clear some of the crap off my iPod to make room for music like this.

Nothing but a Heartache.mp3


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posted by aikin @ 9:56 AM 1 Comments

8/30/2009

Music from My Mailbox

Oops – looks like it’s been a couple of weeks since I purged the mailbox. There was a lot of stuff in there, but probably half of it was either random PR things or music you probably don’t want to hear.

From the surviving half I managed to pull several decent items. Of particular note is Spider Problem, a rock band out of El Lay. They are without a doubt my pick of this post, with a sound that kinda sorta reminds me of X.

Another interesting band is The Bad Dogs. The Bad Dogs are fronted by two teenage girls (one is 16 years old and the other is 18 years old), who, rather than going the power pop route a la Avril Lavigne, they’ve instead turned out a tasty little garage rock number, “Power to My Amp.”

A couple of bands are making encore appearances in my mailbox: Amanda Zelina just released her version of “Try a Little Tenderness,” the oft-recorded track made big in 1966 by Otis Redding. Also returning with another track from their soon-to-be-released debut is garage super group The Almighty Defenders.

As always, follow the links for more information.

The Bad Dogs
Rock / Soul / Indie
From: Brunoy, Ile-de-France, France
Band MySpace
Power to My Amp.mp3

The Wooden Birds
Indie
From: Austin, Texas
Band MySpace
Hometown Fantasy.mp3

Sean Bones
Indie / Pop
From: Cobble Hill, U.S.
Band MySpace
Dance Hall (Bodega Girls remix).mp3

Electric Tickle Machine
Psychedelic / Garage / Pop
From: e. vill, NY
Band MySpace
Part of Me.mp3

The Antlers
Indie / Ambient
From: Brooklyn, NY
Band MySpace
Two.mp3

Tiny Vipers
Gothic / Acoustic / Ambient
From: Seattle, Wash.
Band MySpace
Development.mp3

Spider Problem
Rock / Rock / Rock
From: Los Angeles, Calif.
Band MySpace
Bullet.mp3

The Radiant
Rock / Indie
From: New York, NY
Band MySpace
I Don’t Need a Reason.mp3

The Almighty Defenders
Rock / Garage
From: Beverly Hills, Calif.
Band MySpace
Cone of Light.mp3

Amanda Zelina
Pop / Soul / Alternative
From: swamp water, Canada
Band MySpace
Try a Little Tenderness.mp3

Boat
Indie / Pop / Soul
From: Seattle, Wash.
Band MySpace
Prince of Tacoma.mp3

Logan Lynn
Indie / Pop / Emotronic
From: Portland, Ore.
Band MySpace
Feed Me to the Wolves.mp3

~~~~~
(Pictures, top-to-bottom: The Bad Dogs, Electric Tickle Machine, Spider Problem, Amanda Zelina)


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posted by aikin @ 12:14 PM 0 Comments

4/05/2009

Music from My Mailbox

Time again for the purging of the perpetually packed Licorice Pizza mailbox.

It seems like there are more and more two-piece bands these days. Maybe it’s the economics of maintaining a four- or five-piece group; maybe it’s just a trend, I dunno. The lack of a stage full of musicians isn’t keeping the duos from putting out some decent music, as you’ll find here with Dynasty Electric and The Boy Least Likely To. And what’s cool is that these bands play totally different styles of music, so it’s not like they’re derivative or stuck within one genre.

I was surprised (to say the least) to see the single from Wendy & Lisa show up in my mailbox. I say that because as former protégés of Prince, they don’t seem like they’d need to go the indie promotion route. But I’m glad they did and I’m happy to share this song with you.

My pick of the week (month? whatever) has to be Children. They’re not really ghettotech or Japanese classical, but straight-ahead, guitar-driven heavy rock. And lastly is Sweden's very own Kaka. I included it because I detected some Adam Ant influence. I'll let you decide for yourself on that one.

As always, follow the links for more info.

The Traditionist
Indie / Folk / Experimental
From: Huntington Beach, Calif.
Band MySpace
Driftwood Doll.mp3

Love Like Fire
Rock / Indie
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band MySpace
Signs.mp3

Wendy & Lisa
Pop / Funk / Other
From: United States
Band MySpace
Niagra Falls.mp3


Clara Bellino
Pop / Soul / Indie
From: San Francisco, Calif.
Band MySpace
Potential Criminal.mp3


Trey Green
Rock / Comedy
From: Boston, Mass.
MySpace
Mad Crush.mp3

Children
Ghettotech / Healing & Easy Listening / Japanese Classic Music
From: New York, NY
Band MySpace
Power Spirit.mp3

Grand Lake
Indie / Rock / Other
From: Oakland, Calif.
Band MySpace
She’s a Hater.mp3

Milophobia
Alternative / Alternative / Alternative
From: Edinburgh, UK
Band MySpace
Soul in a Soulless City.mp3

The Boy Least Likely To
Alternative / Pop / Country
From: United Kingdom
Band MySpace
Saddle Up.mp3

Pree
Indie / Glam / Americana
From: Washington, D.C.
Band MySpace
In the Parlor.mp3

Dynasty Electric
Psychedelic / Electro / Rock
From: Brooklyn, NY
Band MySpace
One Small Push.mp3

Kaka
Pop
From: Sweden
Band MySpace
What a Frame.mp3
~~~~~
(photos, from top to bottom: Love Like Fire, Trey Green, Milophobia, and Dynasty Electric)


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posted by aikin @ 5:48 PM 2 Comments

12/02/2008

The Dark End of Cat Power's Street

I thought it’d be kind of cool tonight to lay some new Cat Power on you. Her latest, an EP titled Dark End of the Street, will be out next Tuesday.

The disk is composed of cover songs recorded for Jukebox but not released on that album. As on the previous full-length album, Cat Power turns each song into something totally her own. At times so much so it’s hard to even refer to these disks as “cover” albums. For instance, if you could take CCR’s swamp sound further and make it a midnight walk through that swamp by yourself, Chan Marshall does it with her version of “Fortunate Son.”

Alongside “Fortunate Son,” Chan takes five other tracks – by artists as diverse as the Pogues and Otis Redding – to the dark end of her street making a transformation Rolling Stone calls “an emotive indie rocker [turning] into a bona fide soul singer.” The title track, a classic cheatin’ song recorded by, among others, Aretha Franklin and The Allman Brothers, is just one instance of how beautifully Chan’s voice adapts to this soulful and bluesy music.

Matador Records will issue Dark End of the Street December 9 digitally and as a deluxe double-gatefold 10-inch vinyl EP. If you visit their site, you can not only order Cat Power’s album, but you can download a free 13-track sampler of other upcoming releases. Do it!

Dark End of the Street.mp3

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posted by aikin @ 9:04 PM 2 Comments