Brown paper packages tied up with string...

Okay, just to reiterate: I srsly can't get enough of that LCD Soundsystem track I posted below. It's, like, a near-perfect piece of music man! It's all I want to listen to right now.

Prior to this, the last piece of music that I couldn't get enough of was Joanna Newsom's Ys, and since it still doesn't come out for another 3 weeks or so, I've upped the whole damn thing for all you lovely people. Now this one actually I could imagine many people disliking...but oh well. Sounds kinda like a medieval Bjork. Will maybe write more about it, but I think my main point is that while this is coming from a very similar place as most indie rock, I think it manages to completely rise above most of the dreck that gets put out. I think it's really pushing things forward in an interesting direction, while still being quite accesible and tuneful. Anyway, make up your own mind:

Joanna Newsom - Ys

The Knife - Like a Pen

?

Srsly, how great is this video? More creativity in three frames than the entire thursday night primetime television schedule. But what does it all mean? For one thing, that is clearly a pencil.

What to the running

LCD Soundsystem - 45:33: Nike+ Original Run


So many reasons why this is good.

1. It's a solid 45+ min track of space disco gold, shifting through numerous stages of wonderful kick-assitude.
2. It was commissioned by Nike specifically for the purpose of being a soundtrack to jogging, and is available only as a DRM-protected mp3 on iTunes. This song couldn't be more sold-out. (For those who are confused, selling-out is the opposite of all that rock, and especially indie rock, stands for in this day and age, and is therefore good).
3. I actually really want to try jogging to this. This music is so wonderfully calculated in its pure functionality: it's made for dancing and/or jogging, none of this being artistic crap.
4. Despite/because of all this it's actually alternatively beautiful, hypnotic, funky and calming.
*edit* 6. I forgot: it's also loosely inspired by Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4, whichi is, like, the greatest peice of post-krautrock, pre-techno dance music ever!

Love it.


(yes posting's have been a bit slack round here, i'm still on the downward slope of that graph posted below. Hopefully I'll have a good post up soon about the use of liberal critiques of Muslim and Arab society as a tool for racist oppression...fun!)

This one should be a hit: Planet of the Arabs!

Via brownfemipower via lenin's tomb via some other websites. Ah internet memes. Still, a pretty disturbing viewing.

Bonanza!

Negative correlation between start of class and amount of blog posting, p < .05.

In apologia, here's a brief summary of what i've been into recently, because I've been balls deep in good music this last little while. also, please download the robag wruhme track, it will bring joy to your life, honest!


Recent Purchases:

burial - s/t [finally got my hands on a copy of this]
ali farka toure - savane [somewhat embarrassingly only heard about him when he died, but checking out his stuff, i really liked it. 'african blues' they call it, which sorta describes it, but not really]
fuckpony - s/t [a bit undistinguished, but with some nice highlights]
rhythm & sound - see mi yah remixes [a couple of duds, but mostly gold]
keith fullerton whitman - lisbon [update of one of my all-time favs Playthroughs. not quite as good (unsurprisingly), but very interesting nonetheless]


Other Albums I've been feeling:

gene clark - white light [tip off from Woebot's excellent rundown of 60's and 70's folk/rock from LA]
the knife - silent shout [should have cottoned on to this when it came out in january, but man! super dark and mean sounding, yet still quite pop and catchy. Very interesting sound, here's a taster: the title track]
junior boys - so this is goodbye [I think I like this better than their first one, not quite as r&b influenced, more of a house/disco vibe too it. Still very polished and melodic though]
hot chip - coming on strong [still enjoying this, still haven't bothered to write anything about it, may never get around to it, oh well]


joanna newsom - ys [this is the one, something else entirely. not out until november, but it will be huge. so lovely. i may have completely underestimated freak-folk as a movement].



Trax I've been feeling:

robag wruhme feat helge schneider, rocko schamoni, lenja fina and dorle - katze geil [was expecting more minimal from wruhme, but instead he turns in something reminiscent of St. Germain at his best (think "So Flute" and "Rose Rouge") except touched with an oddball minimal aesthetic. Sorry, I didn't make it clear: IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS SONG YOU DON'T LIKE FUN! Really, this should be very appealing to normal techno-phobes, the beat is super happy-catchy. Sounds like it should be soundtracking George Clooney committing a sophisticated diamond robbery while a bunch of germans party it up in the room next door. really, DONWLOAD THIS TRACK. your head will bob]

renegade legion - torsion [pure darkness. good for clearing out the webs if you've been listening to too much sad-sack music]
dillard & clark - the radio song [favorite song off the dillard & clark collab mention in the Woebot piece. Much of the rest of the album gets a little too country for me, but this is pure folk beauty].
justin timberlake ft t.i. - my love [already posted it, but still, sooooo good]
jojo - too little too late [classic r&b ballad--what a chorus! also, i totally love saying her name. JoJo...JoJo]
cassie - me & u [kick ass r&b minimalism]
azzido da bass feat. johnny blake - lonely by your side (booka shade deep mix) [grabbed from ohmygosh -- oh my gosh do i love booka shade]
fred falke - omega man [another forgotten gem on my harddrive unearthed by random play. classic big french house, reminds me how good that alan braxe album was from last year]
audion - mouth to mouth [aka "the swarm of bees track" large, large tune]
agoria - les violons ivres [classic strings plus bleepy chuggy beat == heaven!]
the knife - we share our mothers health (radio slave's secret base rmx) [now THIS is minimal. dark epic and grooving. kicks a whole lot of ass]

booka shade - essential mix 07/02/06 [the first half of this is a live set that completely makes up for their rather disappointing album. absolutely awesome. if you ask nice i'm might up this]



oof. this post went epic.