SIGUR ROS - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust 2008

I'd seen a lot of people I know getting all googly eyed over Sigur Rós but I just didn't get it at the time. I listened to a little of the music but it didn't grab me like I expected...expected only because so many others were into SR, I thought I must have been missing something. After a couple of years I found a rare Icelandic pressing of the CD Von in a Goodwill thrift store (I still wonder who must have dumped it there) and then it happened - I became what I never thought I would become - the owner of a Sigur Rós CD. Icelandic no less! While Von is definitely more ambient and experimental than the current release, I can't help but like this too. Sometimes I can hear a little Mercury Rev in Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - roughly translated in English means "We play endlessly with a buzz in our ears."

And here's a little goodie from the Sigur Rós website about a competition for the Goobledigook single:

gobbledigook competition
6 September 2008

sigur rós have set up a gobbledigook remix competition on youtube. they’ve provided an instrumental mp3 of gobbledigook and the icelandic and english lyrics for you to use in the remix in any way you please. the “most gratifying” entry as judged by the band will receive a signed copy of the deluxe edition of með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. head over here for all the details on the competition.


1 Gobbledigook (3:05)
2 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur (4:05)
3 Góðan Daginn (5:15)
4 Við Spilum Endalaust (3:33)
5 Festival (9:24)
6 Suð í Eyrum (4:56)
7 Ára Bátur (8:57)
8 Illgresi (4:13)
9 Fljótavík (3:49)
10 Straumnes (2:01)
11 All Alright (6:21)

Hver maður er borinn frjáls

SPACEHEADS self titled CD 1995

Spaceheads is one of the most unusual and original bands to hit the music scene of the 1990's. Seriously. The quirky trumpet and rat a tat tat of the drums mesh together surprisingly well. You definitely won't hear anything like this anywhere else but on a Spaceheads CD. Andy Diagram's trumpet is played through electronics (whammy harmonizer pedal and echo machine loops) and somehow he manages to sing in between blasts of brass. You won't hear a bass player on this record and there is no need for one - you'll hear why. Onstage they have no need for fancy hype like go-go girls dancing inside cages. You'll just need to expect unbridled weirdness that only Spaceheads could master!

" The Spaceheads are among the most compelling projects of the past decade, naturally bringing together several different vital elements of the underground music zeitgeist in a remarkably organic, refreshingly original, and completely addictive fashion. The collaboration features trumpeter Andy Diagram, a onetime member of the classic British psych-pop ensemble James who also records with ex-Pere Ubu frontman David Thomas as 2 Pale Boys, and percussionist Richard Harrison, who has worked with everyone from God Is My Co-Pilot to Graham Massey (of 808 State) to Stereolab. They formed their partnership while playing in a noisy new wave/post-punk band called Dislocation Dance during the '80s. Following this, the duo formed a band called The Honkies which featured the two of them plus a pair of sax players and which recorded intermittently before burning out in the mid '90s. Then in 1989 Diagram and Harrison started recording alone as Spaceheads.
Diagram's echo-looped trumpet is the comet darting across the hot star-flecked night sky, while a wash of skittering techno sounds creeps below. Spaceheads tunes are funky and deep, they're dangerous and tense, they're spacey and cosmic, and they're peaceful and meditative, all at once. " Jesse Ashlock on Epitonic.com

Down In Outer Space  

DASTAN TRIO Journey To Persia 2003

Dastan Trio's release, Journey To Persia, is simply incredible. I've been privileged to listen to many Persian artists' CDs, but I'd have to say this is the best one I've heard. The music is absolutely beautiful and addicting.
It's also interesting to hear and experience the parallels between this music and Spanish flamenco compositions. The Tar is a wonderful instrument that has a soul and a heart and you can hear the emotion in each vibration of its strings. At times, I could swear it actually has a voice and is singing.
"Founded in 1991, "the almighty Dastan is perhaps the most forward-thinking group of its kind, re-establishing a repertoire of Persian classical music while using its fundamentals of melodic, rhythmic and dynamic variation to develop new forms and combined sonorities. The ensemble's structured improvisations are performed by several of the very best of the contemporary Persian musicians including Hamid Motebassem on Tar and Setar, Hossein Behroozi-Nia on barbat, and Pejman Hadadi on tombak" (John Payne, LA Weekly)

Thanks to We Love Music blog for this.

Track Listing
1. Prelude to Dastgah-E Mahur
2. Seven-Beat Rhythm
3. Gousheh Daad
4. Gousheh Khosravani
5. Gousheh Neyriz and Shekasteh
6. Modulation to Maqaam-E Afshari
7. Shirazi Song
8. Shurideh
9. Modulation to Dastgah-E Homayoon
10. Midnight Sun
11. Finale in Dastagh-E Mahur

Journey To Persia

ELMORE JAMES King of the Slide Guitar box set 1994

King of the Slide Guitar was released as a box set which included 3 CDs and a gorgeous and informative booklet filled with photos and stories about Elmore James. It's long out of print and there are plenty of goodies here including Dust My Broom.

Dust Elmore's Broom

TALKIN TRASH Lookey Dookey 1956 - 1964

Oh Lawdy! It's been a long long time since I heard these gems released by Crypt Records, a record label that is still going strong today! About 10 years ago when I was slaving away at a record store grudgingly selling NOFX and Pennywise CDs and being asked which Pennywise CD was the best one (I'd just pick the one with the prettiest cover), I got hooked like heroin to most anything that Crypt Records released, especially the compilations of rare old R&B that was greasy, sleazy and damned sinful! Grab you a slab o' ribs and some cornbread and turn this up loud! It's lip smackin' greasy good music that'll stick to your ribs!

1. Bunker Hill: The Girl Can't Dance
2. Guitar Crusher: The Monkey
3. Rex Garvin: Oh Yeah!
4. Continentals: Don't Do It Baby
5. King Coleman: Lookey Dookey
6. L.C. McKinley: Nit Wit
7. Louis Jones: Rock 'N' Roll Bells
8. Premiers: Run Along Baby
9. Sammy Fitzhugh: Sadie Mae
10. Nightriders: Lookin' For My Baby
11. Bobby Louis: Fire Of Love
12. Bobby Long & His Satellites: Mojo Workout
13. Big Jay Mercer: Bermudas
14. Olympics: Talkin' Trash
15. Pigmeat Markham: Your Wire's Been Tapped
16. King Coleman: Alley Rat
17. Evelyn Freeman: Didn't In Rain
18. Mr. Wiggles: Homeboy
19. Morine & The Zercons: Let A Woman Through
20. John Tee: Roll Dem Bones
21. Reverend Lofton & His Holy Travellers: Look To Jesus
22. Morine & The Zercons: Show Me Where It's At
23. Melvin Smith: Ugly George
24. Claude Cloud: Hobo
25. Rudy Ray Moore: Step It Up And Go
26. The Royal Jokers: You Tickle Me Baby
27. McKinley Mitchell: Rock Everybody Rock
28. Wailin Bill Dell: You Gotta Be Loose
29. Little Cameron: She's Leaving
30. Volcanoes: Oh Oh Mojo
31. Portuguese Joe: Teenage Riot
32. Bill Johnson: You Better Dig It
33. Billy Lamont: Hear Me Now
34. Emmet Lord: Women


Your Wire's Been Tapped

TOTALITÄR Sin Egen Motständare 1994

I just heard this band for the first time about 2 months ago and loved it from the get go. Totalitar is a political crust band from Sweden which formed back in 1985 and has released over 18 albums.

Hudiksvall

CRIMPSHRINE Demos

If you don't know who Crimpshrine is and you love punk rock, you are probably just listening to poseur bands like My Chemical Romance and wearing black nail polish because it's so emo. That ain't punk, that's poseurs! Crimpshrine was a very early 80's San Francisco Bay area punk band who later influenced all the guys who made the world love pop punk - the frontmen of Operation Ivy and Green Day among others. Aaron Cometbus, one of the most well known zine editors, writers and book publishers in the underground literary world, was the drummer of Crimpshrine along with none other than guitarist Jeff Ott of Fifteen. You've probably seen Aaron's handwritten font on many punk LPs and 7 inch records over the years. Unfortunately for its fans, Crimpshrine had only one tour in 1988 which turned out to be their last.
(I hope Aaron doesn't come back to Pensacola and kick my ass for posting these. If he does I will blame it on Al Barkley!)

1. Walk Away
2. Wake Up
3. Another Day
4. RDC
5. Over The Years
6. Can You Feel That
7. I Don't Know Why
8. My Friend
9. Tomorrow

(I fixed the link! 8/29/08)


Can You Feel That

SWIZ No Punches Pulled 1993

Former Dag Nasty vocalist Shawn Brown helped form DC hardcore standouts Swiz in the early 90's and then Bluetip. You can't go wrong with DC hardcore. I've personally heard very little that sucked from DC. After listening to Swiz, go listen to Sweetbelly Freakdown and Jesuseater.


Won't Breathe For You

THE DICKS 1980 - 1986

"Hate the Police" 7 inch


You got to love any band that calls itself The Dicks! They have some of the funniest song titles like "Dicks Hate the Police" and "Shit on Me" and "I Hope You Get Drafted." Snotty and obnoxious!




Shit On Me

Punk's Not Dead 2007

This is one of those documentaries I can watch over and over and not get tired of it!
Old and newer punk bands are featured in this great movie, including all time favs The Ramones, The Damned, Sex Pistols, UK Subs, Anti-Nowhere League, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion and Phil Donahue. Plus tons more bands! It'll make you laugh, it will make you feel nostalgic and make you wish you hadn't have sold all of those old punk LPs you had a few years ago. It's also a relief to know that whenever Wattie Buchan speaks, there are captions to translate what he's saying into English.

KILLED BY DEATH Volume 1 1977 - 1982

If you're into punk rock, especially the earlier and more obscure bands, then you'll know all about the KBD releases. They sell like mad on eBay and now any goon with an old punk record will put "KBD" or "Killed By Death" next to whatever punk LP or 7 inch they are trying to sell, even when it has nothing to do with KBD, maybe to try and squeeze out a few more bucks from some poor sap. I'm still waiting to see an old Green Day 7 inch show up on eBay with a "KBD" next to it. I'm sure someone will do it one day.

Track List:
1. Mad - I Hate Music
2. Hollywood Square - Hillside Strangler
3. The Slugs - Problem Child
4. Vox Pop - Cab Drive
5. The Controllers - (The Original) Neutron Bomb
6. The Dogs - Slash Your Face
7. Gasoline - Killer Man
8. Kraut - Matinee
9. Child Molesters - (I'm The) Hillside Strangler
10. Cold Cock - I Wanna Be Rich
11. The Authorities - Radiation Masturbation
12. The Authorities - I Hate Cops
13. The Nuns - Decadent Jew
14. The Users - Sick Of You
15. Vicious Visions - I Beat You

Linked fixed 1/16/2009


I Hate Music

DECONSTRUCTION self titled 1994

In the Dream 6 blog, Johnette Napolitano also mentioned the only full length release by Deconstruction, a CD that got very little airplay except for the occasional nod from college radio. Dave Navarro played guitar along with his childhood friend Eric Avery on bass and Michael Murphy on drums. Check this out - it's dark, heavy and damned good. Gibby Hanes from The Butthole Surfers makes a guest appearance on the record in the song Fire in the Hole. Deconstruction was produced by Rick Rubin, most well known for his work with The Beastie Boys.

Fire In The Hole

And here are 5 demos from Deconstruction.

1. Iris
2. America
3. Jealous Song
4. One
5. Untitled

Deconstruction demos