Radiocures: because radio just plain sucks

Cinematic Orchestra

2006-03-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

Brian Eno-The Big Ship
This song is from Brian Eno's solo album "Another Green World" and proves that he is not only one of the greatest ambient/instrumental artists of the 20th century but one of the best period. Eno can evoke so much emotion with just his instrumental pieces than most artists can do with words. "The Big Ship" is a has so much drama and emotion in its short three minutes span that you get caught up in the song by the time its over you're left wanting so much more. That sort of begs the question, does this song go anywhere? It builds up with no real ending or resolution but I think that in this context the journey is much more important that the final destination. Its amazing, how this song can make you feel tense, foreboding, and euphoric all at the same time with the keyboards skipping all over the space while the organ provides the wave-like foundation for the track. This song would be perfect, if nobody's done it yet, for a key moment in a film because its such a cinematic piece on its own. Here's a nice little scenario: a woman in a long coat is waiting in line to board a train looking over her shoulder every so often. You can tell she's in a hurry to get on he train, as she gets closer and closer to boarding. Cut to a car pulling into the driveway of a picturesque two story home. Then cut to a man entering the home, taking off his jacket and hanging throwing his keys onto the table. There he finds a note. As he's reading the music reaches a climax as the camera cuts to a close-up of his eyes widening in disbelief. The last shot then shows the woman on the train looking out the window with a soft smile on her face. As the music fades out we see the train race into the distance. So what have we learned here? Brian Eno + cliche ending=Academy Award gold. sweet!

Chicken Soup for the Hypochondriac's Soul

2005-10-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Antony and the Johnsons-For Today I Am a Boy
So I haven't blogged in bit so this entry might be a bit rusty. Like a nail. Left sitting in the rain...enough of that. Man I need an editor.

Antony and the Johnsons. What's so good about this band you ask? Well, if you're asking me I'd say it's the fact that the songs sound spare and heavy at the same time. It's Antony's aching bell-like voice that immediately sends chills shooting down the back of your neck. It's only second that you realize there are other instruments creeping in and creating the shadows in the song. This is some of the most gorgeous music I have ever heard. I just love the way his voice has an insane vibrato that is exaggerated at the end of every emotion-filled line. "For todayayayaya I am a chiiiiiiiiild, for todaaaaayayaya I am a booooy". Pretty damn gorgeous. And let it be noted, I don't throw the word gorgeous around like an old leather football...man I need an editor. Enjoy.

riotrrrrock

2005-07-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Sleater-Kinney-The Woods
Sleater-Kinney were never a "nice" girl band. They were part of the who riotgrrl(sic) scene, built up a cult following, and were loved by all the critics. I respected Sleater-Kinney but never really got what was so so great about them. Unitl now. This is one of the hardest songs I've heard since Refused's "New Noise". Its that heavy. The beginning of "The Fox" is one big FUCK YOU! and I love it! The drums are kick like mule as dissonant chords shift under the pissed off vocals. What's not to like about this song? Nothing thats what. Sleater-Kinney proves that a band can still rock-out without a bass holding down the low end(and no, The White Stripes never did prove that, if that makes any sense). Go out, buy "The Woods", you will not be dissapointed. Toodles.

Classical Gas

2005-06-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Letting Up Despite Great Faults-Maybe I'll Hide With You
Letting Up Despite Great Faults-If You're Here Today
You know, I don't really understand the name of this guy's one-man band. To me it doesn't make sense am I missing something. But who really gives a fuck if I don't understand the name, what's important is if the music is good or not. It is. Its not really anything new or pushing the limits. Its some nice music from a guy with classical backgrounds in guitar/piano who uses a sweet drum machine. The lyrics are forgettable but his voice sounds interestnig and comfortable in the musical context. Its really just another instrument adding textures to an overall sound and feel. My favorite song here is "If You're Here Today". The guitar is like a pendulum swinging back and forth while the keyboards and drum machine storm under it; creating a soft and sad atmosphere. Check out more of his music at his website. Its pretty stuff.

Hey Ma! Get-off the Roof!

2005-05-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

Yo-Yo Ma-Libertango
Sometimes you just need some classical music. This tango composed by the late Astor Piazzolla is awe inspiring. The amount of drama that is shoved into these 3:10 doesn't seem humanly possible. The open of the song is already thick with tension but when Yo-Yo Ma's cello enters into the song, it just slices through all the other sounds smoothly but also draws them closer together. It feels like he's playing with the lightest touch, but it is filled with fury and intensity that sometimes when I listen to this I unconsciously clench my jaw. Also, note the understated guitar at the end ducking in out of the the viola, bandoneon, percussion, and the cello. It only adds to the jawesomeness that is this song. This is from the Yo-Yo Ma album "The Soul of the Tango" where he plays the compositions of Piazzolla. note: This is a great album and I must thank Ben for lending it to me for the last two...going on three years.

Monsters?

2005-05-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Andrew Bird-Fake Palindromes
Why is it whenever I hear something that sounds Eastern/Indin my intial thoughts are of George Harrison? It's kind of annoying in a way because when I first heard "Fake Palindromes" all I was thinking about was "Within You, Without You" from Sgt. Pepper's. But then I got over that and realized that this was a great and succinct song, ending before it wears out it's welcome, I'm looking at you prog-rock. Metaphorically speaking of course.

Anyway, "Fake Palindromes" sucks you in with those shape-shifting layers of violin, mammoth and chaotic drumming and then meditates on an simple bass/guitar figure. It's this simple musical bed that's perfect for Bird's languid voice to rest on. And you know, I can't decide if it's the delivery that makes the lyrics great or visa versa. Whether he saying slightly paranoid "Monsters?" or almost passionately "She's got blood in her eyes and her eyes for you" it kicks ass and makes me laugh becasue it's so ridiculously well crafted. Although, sadly the album from which this hails, "The Mysterious Production Eggs", is not so great. I don't know if I'm missing something but nothing on the CD even comes close to "Fake Palindromes". The innovation and the energey found in this song are nowhere to be found. I'm gonna keep listening to this album though, and hope I (or it) comes around.

Corwood Industries

2005-05-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jeff Tweedy-Crack a Smile (Jandek Cover)
I've been meaning to get into Jandek after reading about him for a while but never followed through. If you want to learn more than what I have to say about him go here. Jandek's albums, numbering at 40, are supposed to be diffcult, dissonant, and terrifying to listen to. This description matches up with what Jeff Tweedy has to offer for the Jandek tribute album "Down in a Mirror: A Second Tribute to Jandek. The out of tune guitar, Tweedy's whispery and cavernous voice(due to all the reverb), and his son Spencer on the drums, and that weird piano thing makes for one of the creepiest things I've ever heard. Certaintly its the creepiest thing from the Wilco frontman I've ever heard. Jandek's own recordings are supposed to be way scarier than this, "Crack a Smile" was the impetus I needed to get up and actually get a Jandek CD. Oh and by the way another of my favorite artists, The Mountain Goats, also contribute a track to this tribute album. Cool beans, enjoy.

Music for Robots

2005-05-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Aphex Twin-4
I like to listen to Aphex Twin or just electronic music in general after I listen to a bunch of acoustic or laid back stuff, it's nice to switch it up every once in a while. Listen to this is like hearing hundreds muscle spasms at once. The so is wound so tight that every time you think the song is just going to lay back, the drum machine kicks in and twitches all over the place. Another thing about "4" that I like is the mix of machine and human sentimentality in the instruments, the synths provide the warmth and the drum machine feels like something out of a manufacturing plant. Oh and the title of today's post is actually the name of a terrific mp3 blog called music for robots that post everything from electronic music to indie stuff.

The Fearless Freaks

2005-05-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

Transmission from the Satelltie Heart- How have I never heard this album before? Almost everyone says that "The Soft Bulletin" is their best album but I was never blown away by that. This entire album kicks my ass. The insane sounds that they force out of studio effects and then paste them all over a song with a gorgeous pop melody blow me away. Right now I'm having a hard time deciding whether I like this album better or "Yoshi Battles the Pink Robots", another stellar effort.

The Flaming Lips-Turn It On
This is the opener to "Transmissions From the Satellite Heart". Dirty guitar beating the song ahead with tons of wierd sonic shit going on in the backgound. Excellent music happens when this paired with Wayne Coyne's strained voice. The best word I can think of to decribe their music is: bipolar. Theres all this disordley sound crashing throughout the song, manic energy, while Waynes' singing and his melodies are calming and beautiful. It creates an inimitable dynamic that makes me proud to wear my Flaming Lips t-shirt today(even though it has an ink stain right smack on the front).

BuzzBin

2005-05-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

Bloc Party-This Modern Love
So chances are you've at least heard of Bloc Party by now. But what are the chances of them living up to all the buzz surrounding them? For me they haven't, at least not yet. But "This Modern Love" was the standout track on "Silent Alarm". This song is all about tension. The singer/guitarist Kele Okereke's slurring vocals(I can't tell if its on purpose or because of his British) try and make the song drag while the drums try push on ahead. The lyrics gripe about modern romance, trying to get a hold of eachother, "I'll pay for you" etc. This makes for an intersting dynamic as the they combat eachother, the guitar seduces you into to nodding your head along with it's brilliantly simple two note melody. The best part of this song is at the end while Kele wails "This Modern Love" again and again as the waves of harmonies rise and fall. Then the instruments begin to organize some chaos only to tone it down in the end for a nice little outro.

"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love.
Music is the Best." -Frank Zappa

Fuck Elvis Costello

2005-05-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Slowdive-Alison
This song is like watching a cigarette burn, following the blue smoke twist around itself. I'm not sure what "Alison" is all about but I love the line "Alison I'll drink you wine". Most of the time it doesn't even matter what the singers are saying-Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell. The sound of their voices fit so perfectly with the lazy beauty of the instruments circling them. "Alison" came out on Slowdive's second record "Souvlaki", named after their favorite Jerky Boys skit, and is better than anything Mr. Costello ever put his name on. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friends Jillian and Mariah!

Echo's of the Bunnymen

2005-04-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Cloud Room-Hey Now Now
This band the Cloud Room. They like the eighties, from the drums, to the guitars, to the vocals, its all there. Their sound is quite floaty. Like a cloud perhaps?

Real Art for the Real People

2005-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Refused-New Noise
"The Shape of Punk to Come" was made in 1998 and it still sounds new. Refused's music is full of pretantious pseudo-intellectual art-speak. I love it. Whenever you're pissed off at anything (conformity, capitialism, whatever) this is your kind of music. This song is so hard.

Woke up, got outta bed

2005-04-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Temptations-All I Need
A couple days ago I woke up and I had this song in my head. I fell in love with the Temptations in the 7th grade when that made for TV movie aired on NBC. Now if I had to make a list of the greatest groups of the '60s there's no doubt that the Temptations would be second on my list, right under the Beatles. David Ruffin's voice is one of my favorite of all time. It's so powerful, emotive, rough, and beautiful. Every single note he sings is a blessing. When he gets to the chorus and the background vocals go way up high, it's sublime. The Funk Brothers, Mowtown's band, hold it down like no other. Especially the bass, its the driving force of the song, its bounce and funk are unmatched. It doesn't get any better than this.

I'm happy and I'm counting...1,2,3

2005-04-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

Jim O'Rourke is the man who can do everything. He can play anything, produce records, mix them( big 'ol props for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), write great lyrics, and he can sing...umm make that kinda. The thing with O'Rourke is that he can hit all the notes perfectly but it's just not in a special way. He has a perfectly normal singing voice, nothing special nothing bad. His lyrics do make up for this, they are hilarious in that deadpan/dry kinda humour. O'Rourke once stated that his lyrics we're about "the sexual misadventures of decrepit people" whoa. That specific. Yes, listen to the songs. The album that these songs come from, "Insignificance", is his '70s rock album and it's quite good and super normal for a man usually know for his avant-garde, noise-rock leanings.

Jim O'Rourke-Therefore I Am
This first song starts of with a pretty straight ahead guitar and drums thing but when you get to the chorus, that's when it gets special. His voice goes into the upper register and the high notes give something to his voice that his regular tenor cannot. At the same time the instruments stay the same but change up to create this really hazy atmoshpere. Listen to the drums here, they make the mood, his playing brings out all kinds of textures and the feeling of variety to the song. They are courtesy of Glenn Kotche, Chicago sesssion musician and WILCO drummer!
Jim O'Rourke-Memory Lame
This song is funny as hell. In this one he describes how an ex-lover is excruiating to his senses( sight, hearing etc.). The instrumentation completely serves the song in this one, and as much as I hate to make comaprisons to other bands, part of the instrumental breakdown sounds like Modest Mouse(AAARRRRRGGHHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST TYPED THAT! IT'S EVERYTHING I HATE ABOUT MUSIC WRITING). Alright, sorry for the outburst, enjoy these songs, I hope you find them as funny as I do.

Water water everywhere...

2005-04-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posting regularly. It's just that I'm having rouble finding new/exciting music to post that people aren't already familiar with. It also doesn't help that for the past couple weeks I've only been listening to the Drive-By Truckers (yes, they are that good) along with steady diet of Wilco and the Mountain Goats. You know, a good song to put up with this post would be "Doing the Unstuck" by The Cure but everybody's already heard them before. Well back to searching for stuff to post.

How to fight loneliness

2005-04-18T00:11:00.000-07:00

Jeff Tweedy-Black Eye(live)
This is a live track from his solo shows in Chicago in Sept of 2003. This version waaaaaay slower than the studio version that Uncle Tupelo did. There's so much space in the song and Jeff's voice feels like whiskey-smooth and harsh. It contributes to the immense feeling of loneliness I get whenever I listen to this song. But damn, it's really pretty. Although you do have to concentrate when you listen to it, when I first tried listening to it it took about 5 times because I was so easily distarcted form something so soft and at first listen, unassuming(or whatever).

I like twins and I and love you too

2005-04-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

On!Air!Library!-feb.
This song is an exercise in brevity, it is the perfect length for what it is. This song creates the kind of atmosphere that some bands thrive on, indulge in, and overdo, like Sigur Ros. On!Air!Library! however, is a much better band, they leave you wanting more. The band is composed of a drum machine, a guy who plays keyboards/drums, and twin sisters that play keyboards and guitar. The one who plays guitar sings. In case you're wondering, yes they are hot. Go to their website and check them out. My favortie part of the song is her melody, especially when she says "And you're the only one, I wanna talk to, in this crowd", my head is bobbing right along with the undualtions of the melody. Oh and thanks to Andrew W.K. for the lame ass title to this entry, but remeber just because it's stupid doesn't make it untrue.

M83-Unrecorded
M83-Run Into Flowers
M83 is all about layering, and being named after a galaxy, but its mostly layering. You really have to turn this thing up to hear all the intricate little sounds he throws in throughout the song. These songs are very similar in mood to On!Air!Library!. When I listen to them I imagine walking underwater and looking at a submerged skyline. It also makes me feel open and claustrophobic at the same time. Weird, music can do that?

Why Hip-Hop Sucks in '96

2005-04-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

cLOUDDEAD-Apt. A Pt. 1
I used to love Hip-Hop, a lot when I was in 7th grade up until my sophomore year of highschool. But then it just got boring. Right about then I discoverd the Beatles which is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Recently I've been listening to more and more Hip-Hop artists like Buck 65, Talib Kwali, and cLOUDDEAD are refreshing and different. cLOUDDEAD was given to me on a data cd about 6 months ago but I never got around to listening to it until now. It is...I don't know. The beats are a mix of droneing keyboards, a sick drumbeat, and who knows what. The rappers' vocies weave and flow around eachother, its so natural. The lyrics are impressive, self depricating, and funny too "do you know how many times I've thought about writing about the paper I'm writing on?". What!? I love that. The rhyme schemes are also something else, you know how Eminem will kepp the same rhyme scheme sometimes for an entire song? It's a feat in a way but it can also be tiring. These guys will switch up their flow midsentence and do it so well it will make you laugh. At least it made me laugh. They also switch the song up mid song and do it well. Get this album.

Toy Story

2005-04-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Randy Newman-I Think It's Going to Rain Today
For me, growing up, Randy Newman was the guy who sang the awesome songs in movies like "Toy Story" and one of the greatest feats of cinema, "The Little Rascals". He always sounded so upbeat, jaunty, and optimistic. The excat opposite of this song. I had no idea until this year that Randy Newman was a serious singer/songwriter. I had no idea he could sound so heavy and defeated, blue and slow. I had no idea he was this good. This is the studio version, when I first heard this song it was a live performance. It didn't have the strings like this one, but I thought it was a plus, wihtout them there's more space for everything. This is almost as breathtaking as the live version and it'll do until I track that one down.

That shit's for girls yo...listen to it anyway

2005-03-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

Tori Amos-Silent All These Years (piano solo demo)
Some people would term this music "vagina rock". Although this is quite a hilarious term I would like to use a different one to describe it; good. Tori's albums up until "Scarlet's Walk" have been challenging, intense, beautiful, nasty, ugly and immensely rewarding. Scarlet's walk seems like she has mellowed out, like there's no fire inside her anymore. Her new music feels like it lacks the intimacy of albums like "Under the Pink" and Little Earthquakes". Sad to say some of it feels and sounds a great deal of crap that they throw on easy listening radio stations. This song comes from the "Little Earthquakes" demos, the album is what I feel is her best. "Silent All These Years" is definetly one of my favortie songs and is the song that first caught my ear when my friend Hallie burned "Little Earthquakes" for me. Its a lot of fun listening to this demo without any thing but her and a piano. I especially love to hear her playing with the syllables, stretching them out, and giving them a differnt emphasis then what appeared on the album.

Heavy walking

2005-03-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

Sun Kil Moon-Glenn Tipton
This song is so much more than the sum of it's parts. Just his voice just a guitar. His voice, god, it wavers sometimes, I can't tell if its intentional but its moving nonetheless. He creates this incredibly heavy mood for him to contemplate his father, his heroes, death, friends and lost love-"I claimed my first victim when I was nineteen", and loneliness-"I stay up all night watching cable" and damn near anything you can think of. For some reason I find Mark Kozelek's, former frontman fo the Red House Painters, music very powerful. It's kind of like Dylan Thomas' poetry, sometimes I can't read more than two in a row because it so overwhelming. This is Sun Kil Moon's only album, and when I checked their website it says presently they have no plans to record which is shame. The album which this comes from "Ghosts of the Great Highway" stays very much in the same mood as this song, its opener, but the music is varied adding in drums, electric guitars, and other things along the way. They only accent the beauty of the music, its never smeared onto the song unpurposefully.

Sun Kil Moon-Gentle Moon
Here's another song. Reminds me of a transient walking down an empty road with light of the full moon being his only friend.
Kind of sad, but beautiful.

Please be kind

2005-03-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well today I decided to post some of the music I made over spring break. It was fun to make but for you it might be markedly less fun to listen to. My roomate said liked it that's a plus but he also has to live with me. I've done these songs because even though I'm in college and there's about 3 billion people who play music, I still have managed to not form a band or meet more than 1 serious guitar player. So I've been forced to become a laptop musician. If I were in a band, I'm not sure that this is the kind of music that I would be making. Oh well. It'll do for now. On to the Bedroom Tapes!
Richard Dahl-sinking city ver.2
This song I recorded onto my laptop using only my guitar and voice, afterwards I manipulated the it on the computer. I think this turned out the best of what I've done so far
Richard Dahl-city sound byte ver.2
I'm particularly proud of the middle section of this song, before i processed the sound, it was just me tapping on a coffee table and making weird sounds with my mouth. yay.
Richard Dahl-cities lost at sea
The title of this song is what I plan on using as my next band name if I'm in another one. And if I join a band, they're gonna hafta change their name. Its just too funky fresh to be thrown to the wayside. Also, same deal with the song; me, a guitar, and me laptop. I hope you enjoy this.

Back in the Fire

2005-03-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back, I now have server space courtesy of my dad. On to todays post. German people. Real German people are scary. If you don't believe me listen to this song. The vocals are absolutely terrifying. The music however, is beautiful but also helps to set a pretty creepy mood within the song. The band is Neu!. The German duo repsonsible for what is referred to as the "motorkik" sound not heard on this song. If you're looking for that listen to "Hallogallo" instead of this:
Neu!-Lieber Honig
Another note on this song, its the last track from the first album if the ending to it confuses you, in context it makes sense...kinda.

dammit

2005-03-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, my hosting ran out, so Im gonna have to scare up a hundred dollars to pay for a host for the mp3's. I'll have it sorted out in about a week. Keep checking back please.

Kind of Blue

2005-03-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

Everything is Fine-1000 seconds

Everything is fine is a band that I know nothing about except that I like the name and one of their songs. I don't even know where I got this song, probably from another mp3 blog. The song moves very slowly, never speeds up, you're just kind of along for the ride. Whenever I listen to this song I always imagine sheets of blue color drifting around inside my head. The singer sounds detatched, sad, and a little hopeful while various keyboards and a trebley guitar drift around the song. I like it for when I'm feeling languid, which is pretty often now seeing as how its finals week, there's nothing to do and doing nothing can make you tired. You know, it'd be cool if this song were actuall a 1000 seconds long. No wait...that would suck. Have fun.

Keep your distance

2005-03-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

Wilco-Venus Stop the Train

This comes from the sessions for "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" out of which came my favorite album of all time. This didn't make it on the album and I'm glad it didn't. Not because it blows but because it would have been out of place. The dark piano underneath really amtches the mood of the lyrics which might be about child abuse(I may be waaay off on that but its what i think). I love the melody, the harmonies that come in at just the right time, and especially the word coupling "soft saddness". Lyrics don't get much better than that. Sorry for the brevity of my post, I'm tired. enjoy. Hi mom and dad.

Clouds taste metallic

2005-03-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

Mum's(pronounced Moom, it has a thingy over the U that i can't type) music feels like a dream to me. It's filled with space, colors, and it doesn't make any sense. The music comes to us all the way from Iceland home to other groups like the Album Leaf and Sigur Ros. Mum is better than both of these. One night I tried to fall asleep to Sigur Ros and it was soooo boring that it kept me awake, so instead I listened to Wilco and was able to fall asleep. But that's not that important. What is, however, is the twin sisters who provide the vocals. They sound ethereal, kind of like how you'd expect the ghost of a small girl to sound. The voices swim in the instrumentaion so you feel like you're floating. The cello, the treated keyboards, whatever else, and the drum machines all have a very natural feel to them. With those voices mixed with the music it seems like music from another world but its somehow familar and comfortable. Sorry if I'm repating myself, here's the song , see if you agree with me.

Mum-Green Grass of Tunnel

The song is from "Finally We are No One", an album far better than any of Sigur Ros' efforts.

Speakers speakin in code

2005-03-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

M.I.A.-10$

You know I can't really understand what M.I.A. is saying but I like it. She's a Sri Lankan rapper who now lives in England(I think). There aren't many words except buzzwords to describe her music. If I were to describe it using those it would go a little soemthing like this: M.I.A.'s music is an eclectic mish-mash of British garage, house, and grime music thats suits her cryptic yet enticing vocals to a tee. How was that, pretty shitty huh? Speaking of shitty, that is the word some of my friends would choose to describe this song. However, they have no taste and think that the Backstreet Boys are reperesentative of high art. So, don't listen to them, listen to me. I say this is fanstastic. Her debut album, "Arular", is due out...soon.

Dark Reminder

2005-03-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

Xiu Xiu-Clowne Towne

Xiu Xiu is a band that challenges it's listeners with every song it makes. But Xiu Xiu's great strength is that while making challenging music they make music that has a kind of scarred beauty to it. Jaime Stewart's lyrics are intense, morose, and over the top. His voice, filled with pain and exigency. All the while electronic blips skitter around drums machines and exploding keyboards and guitars. All thses factors come together to make some of the best music I heard in 2004. This song is from their last album "Fabulous Muscles", there new one "La Foret" is due July 12th on 5RC.

Watchin' the river flow

2005-03-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

M. Ward's voice is a bittersweet sigh. M. Ward's voce is a bittersweet whisper. His music is a kind of melancholy happiness. His songs sound old but have freshness to them that I find umm...refreshing. His songs fell comfortable and like a contradiction. When I hear his voice, his acoustic guitar, with a buzzing electric guitar in ther background I'm reminded of sepia-tone photographs of a small wooden house with a dusty porch, an empty rocking chair, and a muddy river crawling across the picture. It never ceases to amaze me when just the tone of a song can bring up all sorts of images in your head, M. Ward is able to do this consistently. These two songs make me smile a real soft smile and I hope they'll bring the same to you.

M. Ward-Vincent O'Brien

and

M. Ward-Outta My Head
These songs are from his old album "The Transfiguration of Vincent O'Brien" and it is very good.

Let it Be

2005-03-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Replacements-Answering Machine

The Replacemnts are one of music's best kept secrets. This sucks considering they're one of the best bands I've ever heard. Paul Westerberg, the groups leader, has an amazing ability to write rock songs chock full of punk energy. But he also has that Lennon/McCartney kind of talent that allows him to write acoustic and introspective songs. This song combines both these sensibilities. It's just Westerberg, his tobacco scared voice(is that redundant?), and his electric guitar with tons of reverb and nasty distortion piled on. I love every single lyric in this song especially "try and breathe some life into a letter", the chorus, and "try and teach a whore about romance". So if you can't tell that I wish I could've written this song, then maybe you should go back to preschool. If you like this song, get the album "Let it Be" there's no filler on there, its all good.

Nobody knows my name

2005-02-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Television Personalities-Look Back in Anger

Not many people know about this band. But I do and I'd like to share their music with you. This band was part of the 'no-wave" movement in the '80s, whatever that means. The guy who I worked with at the record store told me that when he reccomended them. Anyhow, they recorded a couple of albums, never had a hit, the lead singer/songwriter got addicted to heroin, and the band broke up up. This song comes from the album "And don't the kids just love it". It's a mix of power-pop stuff and punk, kinda like the Replacements but more English. The guitars are really springy with little rhythmic flourishes all around. Behind it are some chaotic drums that sound like they were recorded a mile away but somehow keep the song in its place. The best part of the song is when the singer says "I'm very sorry", he has some weird kind of speech inpediement that makes his delivery special and like nothing else I've heard. This song makes you want to dance...and I hate to dance. When I do it looks like a 100 year old man trying to get to his wheelchair, very wobbley.

PS-Blogger changed the comments system so you dont have to register now to make one. That means yYOU can make a comment. Even my Auntie Irene can make one. It's easy.

PPS-If you don't like this song you suck.

This is your favorite band's favorite band

2005-02-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

Big Star-Thirteen

It's true. Every band thats any good loves Big Star (ie: Wilco, The Replacements) and I want to love them too. The only problem I have is that most of their music sucks. These guys played '70s rockers and quite acoustic ballads, were ignored by the public, worshipped by the critics, and influenced mine( and your) favorite bands. Of the two aforementioned song categories, this song falls in the latter. There seems like there's only one or two guitars here but its actually three or four swimming around each other to create a beautiful and sweet song that looks back on 8th grade, girls, and rock n roll. Although I dont love Big Star like I wish I could, this song is definitely one of my favorites of all time. Just check my Itunes top played list. Or dont. Just listen to the song and take in those harmonies that sound as if they were recorded underwater; they WILL kick your ass.

Gimme Spoon

2005-02-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

So I just got a hold of the new Spoon record "Gimme Fiction" due out May 10th and I like it, but I just don't know how much. Has it been worth the threee year wait? Their last record "KIll the Moonlight" was filled with infectious keyboards, melodies, and beatboxing which I'm not sure this record can top. There are however, lots of fuzzed out guitar solos and fills throughout the songs which remind me of Jeff Tweedy's style on Wilco's latest, "a ghost is born"... thats good. My biggest complaint so far is that the songs don't have enough room to breathe, some songs feel way too cluastrophobic to be completely likeable. Here is the song.

Spoon-Sister Jack

This song fucking rocks, its catchy, has a BIG propolsive beat, and cool guitar and strange sounds all around. I haven't listened enough to the song to know what its about yet but I'm enjoying it anyway and I hope you do to. If anyone from Merge sees this and hates me for posting it, just email me at rhdahl@ucsc.edu and tell me to take it down. Otherwise it'll be gone in about a week.

St. Valentine was not a real guy..at least that's what they tell me

2005-02-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

So once upon a time there was a kid at college without any reason to acknowledge Valentine's Day but he did anyway by posting this song for the people who feel sad or mad on this Hallmark Holiday.

Beck-True Love Will Find You in the End

This song is a cover of Daniel Johnston tune, a schizophrenic comic book enthusiast and musician who writes emotionally honest songs about pretty much everything. This performance comes from last years Cochella music festival and Beck's cover is the best that I've heard. Jeff Tweedy and Wilco have done this song but for some reason's Beck's is better but I don't know why. That last sentence was pretty hard for me to write seeing as how a). Wilco is my favorite band and should also be your favorite band and that b). Wilco is the best band...ever. Well actually the Beatles were better but I'm way off topic now. Hope you enjoy this song, its just Beck, his cool voice, and an acoustic guitar. For more songs relating to love and Valentines Day check out the post from Feb. 6. Bye now.

Just to stay

2005-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

Jolie Holland-Sascha
When I heard this track, the first second of it, when her voice entered, I knew there was something special about it and that I would buy this album. It's beautiful, ghostly sounding, and ancient. It doesn't fit in with 2004, its more like 1804 than anything else. The song is simple and and breathtaking. Sometimes less is more. The best, actually there is no best way to describe this song, is a woman with a haunting jazz/twang kind of voice singing a folk song with minimal accompaniment anmd that its a fine piece of music.

The Casiogoats?

2005-02-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone-Jeane, if you're ever in Portland
Catchy, blippy, synthy, and well done. Those were my first thoughts when I heard this one man band. But after a second go round the phrase "hugely derivative" comes to mind. I like this music but i cannot get it out of my head that this guy is ripping off the Mountain Goats, from the super low-fi production to the lyrics and his phrasing, its all too similar to John Darneille's work. Buth the thing is that Darnielle's work is far superior to his, just listen to "Blues in Dallas" from "All Hail West Texas" note the similarities and then note how much better the Mountain Goats are. Well enough bitching here's another song.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone-Rice Dream Girl
This song is the best one of his that I've heard. It's funny"in an attempt to get my groove on, I offered you my White Castle coupon" and I think most eveybody can identify with the theme of seeing someody who's quite good looking and then experienceing a brief infatuation with them. It'a human nature...I guess.

Take the Greyhound home

2005-02-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

I hate today's country music. It's abiltity to induce vomiting never ceases to amaze me. But i sure do love me some country rock. Some people call it alt. country but whatever you call it its good stuff. Ryan Adam's first album, the Old 97s, Uncle Tupelo and today's post, The Drive-By Truckers. Its all country rock and its all really good

Drive-By Truckers-Goddamn Lonely Love
This is one of those "gimme a drink im depressed and sick of love and its sick of me" kind of song. But its really pretty even if it doesn't really offer any hope except for the comfort that somebody feels like you do. The songs of the Drive-By Truckers aren't really giving people hope, they're more about telling how fucked up everything in the South and everywhere else is. But whatever its still one of the best songs Ive heard in the past two months. I bought this CD, the dirty south, in a discount bin because I had heard so much about them. Needless to say I wasnt dissapointed.

We took a weekend...

2005-01-29T16:23:00.001-08:00

To whomever cares, all five of you who come here, Ive taken down all the other files because they haven't been working for people with PC's. I suspect that for some reason these files are only working with Macs which sucks because 98% of all computers run on Windows. So, on to today's post.

The Mountain Goats-The Mess Inside

The Mountain Goats have been around for a while and when I say that I actually mean John Darnielle, the only guy in the Mountain Goats. Anyway the point is that this guys writes really good songs on acoustic guitar and then records them on a shitty department store boombox. But that isn't a a downside to his music it's part of its immense charm. This song comes from his 2003(I think) effort "All Hail West Texas". This is an album filled with funny and heartbreaking stories of frienship, distance, loneliness, and of course heartbreak. This is a song about the latter. The couple in this song keep taking trips trying desperately to salvage their love but it doesn't work out. It sounds simple because on the surface it is, but as you listen to the song more and more you realize just how smart and true everything he says is. Whatever. Buy this album. I hope some people are actually able to listen to this song. If you can please post comment telling me it was successful.

What if I...

2005-01-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well I've decided to take down "Sunken Treasure" and "AFK" to make room for more MP3's and "Sunken Treasure didn't seem to be working for some people, a shame considering it's one of the best songs I've ever heard. Anyhow the next song up is :

Justin Farren-The Pig Farm(La Granuja Del Puerco)
This is by Sacramento(my hometown) folk musician Justin Farren. The nice jaunty acoustic guitar opens up the song with some minimal drmming that gets your foot tapping. But really pulls you in is his voice. It's high, sweet, and somehow familiar. This song, for me anyway, is about not really wanting to get older and take on the responsibilites and the pressures that come with age. Instead, all he wants to do is live in Hawii(except for that pig farm job on the side) and live from from all of society's pressures. And while he's singing this the drums pick up and some "la la" harmonies are added invoking images of palm trees and blue-crystal water in our heads. Whenever I listen to this song it never fails to relax me its so pretty. Aside from the song itself, I remind you again that this is by a LOCAL musician who is actually struggling. So, if you like this song, the album and the cut itself is avaliable on ITUNES for $9.99 and $.99 respectively. Yup. Buy it Cheapo.

Beatles anyone?

2005-01-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Beatles-Dear Prudence(demo)

This comes from what was called the Esher Demos/Sessions. This came about after the Beatles came back from India and just recorded a bunch of songs that they had written down by the Ganges. All the performance consists of is John, Paul, and George sitting around with acoustic guitars and singing into a pretty low quality tape recorder; no George Martin no Ringo. This is an amazingly intimate look at this song in it's developing stages. Even though it doesn't have Paul's hypnotic bass or the incredibly high harmonies that were stcked on later, it's still breathtaking to listen to. Near the end of the recordeing someone flubbs a note and says "Oops!" as Lennon is spouting non-sequiters that thankfully did not make it onto the final version. It's these kind of things that make demos exciting to listen to, especially when it's made by one of the greatest bands of all time. oh yeah.

autumn fires

2005-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

http://homepage.mac.com/radiocure3/.cv/radiocure3/Public/
03%20Sunken%20Treasure.m4a-binhex.hqx

i wish i knew how to link these things in a more attractive way but i don't know anything about computers. but i do like music and this song, WILCO'S-SUNKEN TREASURE, is one of my favorite songs of all time. its a live version from 2002 and everything is perfect. it's basically just jeff tweedy with his guitar for the first half of the song with some VERY subtle keyboards shadowing him. by the end it he's furiously strumming away as drummer glenn kotche lays down a stark and abstract drum beat. this is what i feel is the defintive performance of this song, the dynamics are perfect, you can hear the genuine melancholy in his voice as he questions the importance of music in his life. god i love this song.

This one actually works

2005-01-22T18:48:00.000-08:00

Alright, for some stupid reason the nickle creek thing didnt load right onto my host so..i'll post a different track, it's off of Pinkbacks new album.

http://homepage.mac.com/radiocure3/.cv/radiocure3/
Public/10%20AFK.m4a-binhex.hqx

this song, AFK, is all about distance "no one uses the phone anymore!" and the anger that comes with it. But by the end of the song anger turns to longing as everything calms down as he whipsers "and i miss you, not in a little way". its a good song off of a really solid effort.
ps-to download the track just cut and paste the link and it wilol take you to the place with the music.

take two

2005-01-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

http://homepage.mac.com/WebObjects/FileSharing.woa/wa/default?user=radiocure3&templatefn=FileSharing1.html&xmlfn=
TKDocument.1.xml&sitefn=
RootSite.xml&aff=consumer&cty=US&lang=en

that link didnt work, hope this one will

wilco creek

2005-01-22T17:54:00.000-08:00

http://homepage.mac.com/radiocure3/.cv/radiocure3/Public
/i%20am%20trying%20to%20break%20your%20h425A-binhex.hqx

well even though you cant tell its nickel creek doing wilco's 'i am trying to break your heart" it is. the bluegrass trio's interpretation of this song is very dynamic and it is very good. this version is great simply for the huge peaks and valleys it adds to the song, not to mention the great instrumentation of the guitar, fiddle, and mandolin all playing off of eachother.

problems

2005-01-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

Man, I don't even know if i can post Mp3's or maybe I just can't figure it out.

Hello

2005-01-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

This is my first post, I'm just seeing if this works. I intend to post some good music every other day. I'm really excited about sharing music with other people that I enjoy. Hope somone actually reads this.