Between trying -- not very successfully -- to rid my gutters and yard of leaves, and attempting, simultaneously, to get my mind around a sudden and utterly stunning "opportunity" in my life, I haven't had much time or energy for music lately.
Nonetheless, here are some songs that didn't quite make my Best of October mix. Mere also-rans? Well, sure. But you might just enjoy them more than the ones that made the final cut...
[MP3] Saint Etienne/"Lightning Strikes Twice"
[MP3] James Dean Bradfield/"Still a Long Way to Go"
[MP3] Math and Physics Club/"Darling, Please Come Home"
[MP3] Pete Yorn/"Bandstand in the Sky"
[MP3] Boyskout/"Fantastic"
[MP3] Nicolas Makelberge/"Dying in Africa"
Off to Sweden we go for more of that ever-satisfying, ever-slightly guilt-inducing Swedish pop.
Marit Bergman just recently released her third full-length, I Think It's a Rainbow. Alas, unless you live in a Nordic country, you may have to work a little harder and pay a little extra to grab ahold of it.
Ms. Bergman's sound incorporates both '60s and '80s pop sounds, and maybe that's why it sounds just a bit more "sophisticated" -- and just a bit less "slick" -- to my ears than the sort of thing that Britney and her silicone ilk are known for.
Marit Bergman on MySpace.
[MP3] "No Party"
[MP3] "Alone Together"
[Wow. Had to love that Tigers sweep of Oakland in the World Series this year. (Anybody know who won the Mets/Cardinals consolation match?)]
As for the music, seems we've let a few more girls into the club this month. Hope you find a few to enjoy (the songs, not the girls).
Please left-click [HERE] to initiate your download sequence.
TRACKLIST >>>
01) Monster Movie/Driving Through the Red Lights
02) Polar Eyes/Hey Mary
03) Royal Treatment Plant/You Don't Need Me
04) Mark Mallman/Substances
05) Shiny Toy Guns/Don't Cry Out
06) Nightmare of You/My Name is Trouble
07) Valeze/Search and Destroy
08) Moi Caprice/Drama Queen [single edit]
09) Imogen Heap/Glittering Cloud
10) Badly Drawn Boy/One Last Dance
11) Pernice Brothers/Conscience Clean (I Went to Spain)
12) The Features/Contrast
13) Monster Movie/Vanishing Act
14) The Killers/Bones
15) Starflower/Dance Til Morning Light
16) Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Sealings
17) doublePark/I Don't Want to Party
18) Anna Ternheim [w/Max Peezay]/Bring Down Like I
19) Nemo/Metropolitan
20) The Positions/Back to Me
The Bluetones are one of those British bands that got lost in the mid-to-late-'90s, post-Britpop shuffle. They were simply never destined to attain the almost mythic status of the Stone Roses. They would never break through to the commercial mainstream the way that Oasis did. They would never reach the artistic heights of Radiohead. And it occurs to me: I'm referring to these guys entirely in the past-tense, as if they're already dead, buried, and disbanded.
Well, not so. In fact, they're about to release their self-titled fifth album on November 14. You can pre-order it [here] (though Americans may have to go the import route [here]).
The Bluetones on MySpace.
The Bluetones' upcoming busking >>>
Nov 3 8:00P/Knust/Hamburg
Nov 5 8:00P/Mau Club/Rostock
Nov 8 8:00P/Lopen/Copenhagen
Nov 9 8:00P/Paradiso/Amsterdam
Nov 12 8:00P/Cockpit/Leeds
Nov 13 8:00P/Fez Club/Reading
Nov 14 8:00P/Junction/Cambridge
From their self-titled LP, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "Head on a Spike"
[MP3] "Surrendered"
From the LP RETURN TO THE LAST CHANCE SALOON, 1998 >>
[MP3] "If..."
From the LP EXPECTING TO FLY, 1996 >>>
[MP3] "Slight Return"
[MP3] "Bluetonic"
I was first alerted to the band Polar Eyes by the German blog Coast is Clear back in early September. I found the songs that were available there highly promising, but was once again frustrated by the 96 kbps-quality of the MP3s. (It seems I'm becoming increasingly greedy in this area; and MySpace and EZArchive can kiss my pale, white ass.)
Regardless, I dashed off yet another urgent and imploring e-mail to a band that I knew next-to-nothing about. As happens only rarely, the band actually responded to said e-mail (perhaps out of pity). Turns out, they were in the midst just then of some serious music-making and picture-taking and bio-crafting. In short, they implored me to be patient and promised to get back to me.
I was. And they did.
So, now, we can present you with a couple of fresh and gleaming Polar Eyes tunes -- in top-notch quality. These should give you at least some idea what the band is capable of [though I'd also recommend that you mosey on over to their MySpace page (that damned, quality-skimping whorehouse of a site; it's got its hooks sunk into me still) and check out the slower, "softer" "Wait" -- for yet another angle on their audio].
Okay now, a bit of "Who," "What," "Where," "What's Next"...
Polar Eyes are T (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Phil Bellemare (lead guitar), Julian Woods (drums), and Elliot Kerr (bass and backing vocals). On the one side of their sound, they cite Weezer and Coldplay. On the other: Elliott Smith and Neil Young. They harken from the suddenly-it's-a-music-hotbed, Montreal. If all goes well, they'll have a single out by December, and an EP sometime in the spring.
[Till then, look for their "Hey Mary" to make a repeat appearance on my "Best of October" mix sometime this Friday. That guitar lick is positively Iggy-licious, circa 1979's "Five Foot One."]
[MP3] "Hey Mary"
[MP3] "Gabrielle"
Why do so many remixes suck such major windage? It's a question for the ages... kind of like the one about the tree that falls next to the bear shitting next to the woodchuck chucking wood while no one is listening (in the woods). (I am paraphrasing.)
As usual, I suppose, context is everything. If you're out on the dancefloor, hopped up on poppers or all touchy-feely, Give-Peace-a-Chance/All-We-Need-is-E, then most remixes will probably sound just swell (if not utterly life-altering). All one needs in that case (besides the artificial stimulants) is that reassuring, chest-echoing bass beat, some soaring (perhaps "burbling") synthesizer lines, and a Glo-stick or two to light your way to Heaven or Hell or whatever-the-hell theme you may be chasing that particular evening.
When it comes to more "active" listening, however, remixes have a way of courting tedium and pointlessness -- even when you're a fan of the original song or single. Maybe that's what mash-ups were intended to remedy. Bored by one extended, repetitive, melodically static soundscape? Well, here's ANOTHER one, unimaginatively intersperced with the FIRST one. Clever is as clever does.
Even so, such remixes and reimaginings will likely remain a part of our popular culture (certainly for as long as Madonna keeps kicking). And, perhaps even more alarming, the occasional "remix CD" will continue to drop upon us -- often when we least expect it; almost always when we least desire it.
So, it is within this rather bleak context that I remind any and all of you who give a hoot about such things that Goldfrapp released just such a remix CD, We Are Glitter, back in October. Now, please understand, I like a number of Goldfrapp tracks, including a few that appeared on their last "regular" release, Supernature. But for one exception, all of the remixes on Glitter are spun from Supernature's songs and are done by artists other than the Goldfrapp duo.
Frankly, I'll have to leave it to you fine folks to decide whether or not this sort of thing is your cup of tea. For this particular, forever-banished-from-the-dancefloor outsider (I was recently exiled for my SUPER-funky rendition of the "Funky Chicken" and my Rush Limbaugh-inspired, Michael-J.-Fox-off-his-meds "remix" of the Macarena), it's almost impossible to judge the quality on display here. But for all you dancin' fools -- or those of you who just enjoy driving (or sitting in gridlock) to a driving beat -- this disc might be just the ticket to Heaven or Hell or those Woods with the Tree (falling) and the Bear (shitting) and the Woodchuck (chucking).
Just remember to stay hydrated.
Goldfrapp on MySpace.
From the LP We Are Glitter, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "Satin Chic" [Bombay Mix] [by The Shortwave Set]
[MP3] "Ooh La La" [Extended Remix] [by Benny Benassi]
From the LP Supernature, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "Ooh La La"
From the LP Black Cherry, 2003 >>>
[MP3] "Strict Machine"
From the LP Felt Mountain, 2000 >>>
[MP3] "Utopia"
