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Underground > Radio & Music >

2003: What's your current musical obsession?

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16:57 / 31.01.03

currently listening to:
celestial impressions feat elusive and josh koslow
sixtoo
el-p - fantastic damage
sun ra
vandegraf generator
anything off the nonesuch label circa 1960's
prefuse 73
adeem
the rentals

nothing has really grabbed me lately. i'm so out of all media loops i don't know what's out there and i'm not sure if i want to know. my solution? make my own music because i fucking rawk.

05:04 / 02.02.03

I can't stop listening to Norah Jones. This is not AT ALL what I usually listen to, but is it a good thing? I think mostly I just wish she wrote her own songs. Then I would unabashedly, unquestionably love her.

Back on the usual (i.e. indie) kick, I saw Division of Laura Lee last night and I think I'm in love. Doesn't hurt that they're Swedish. Burning Brides opened, and I could really do without them, but the Catheters were good in that "nu r'n'r" (who dubbed it that? Me like) sort of way, like if the Panthers and the Strokes had love children. And I don't even like the Strokes.

Also: Desaparecidos and Cub Country and Sleater-Kinney. Everything old is new again. Uh, or something.

And I need to download that Eminem song from '8 Mile'. Don't laugh at how behind I am, I've been in Oz for four months and the movie just came out there...

11:19 / 02.02.03

As of now I am listening mostly to;

Oneida - Each One Teach One
Oneida / Liars - Atheists, Reconsider
Cat Power - You are Free (finally getting into it in a big way)
Kid 606 - the action packed mentalist brings you the fucking jams (just borrowed this off someone yesterday.. how fucking good is it??)
The Fall - Grotesque and Perverted by Language
Pavement - all the new bits on the S & E reissue
Numbers / Erase Errata - split 3" CD which I paid too much for
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
The Donnas - self titled
Captain Beefheart - Clear Spot / The Spotlight Kid (I've had this for ages but have only just got round to listening to it properly - nobody seems to have much good to say about these two albums, but, er, I think they're really good - more laidback and hypnotic than the full-on mentalist Beefheart stuff, but not boring like his MOR period)
Radio 4 - Gotham (not as good as their live performance - overproduced and not enough bass! Still some killer tunes though)

Matthew Fluxington

11:59 / 02.02.03

I like Norah Jones a lot too, though I haven't really been listening to her all that much in the past few months. Don't get hung up on the fact that she didn't write the majority of the songs she performs, Straylight - the tradition she's coming from isn't about singer-songwriters so much as gifted performers and interpreters, and there's no shame in that at all.

I really don't get why so many of you all dig Radio 4. I saw them live over the summer, and I thought they were just awful.

I've been very into Max Tundra's Mastered By Guy At The Exchange album, which is one of the most bizarre pop records that I've ever heard. I'm not even sure how to describe this stuff - the most straight ahead song on the record is like a glitchy electro r+b song, not all that far removed from Timbaland or the Neptunes, but the music goes a lot further out there than either of them would ever be willing to go. The lyrics are about food chemistry. There's other songs which sound like frantic videogame music - in fact, I'm fairly sure a lot of this album is made from videogame music samples (primarily old school Nintendo). Other songs shift drastically from lucid mainstream pop and r+b and manic electronic weirdness. I've never heard anything quite like this stuff.

If you want to check Max Tundra out, I've got two mp3s from the album over on my blog.

13:15 / 02.02.03

Max Tundra is nuts. I've been hearing his stuff on and off for years, and always liked it, but I've never bought any of his records. From that description it sounds like he might have, um, matured a bit, but his music's always sounded to me like the kind of thing somebody reasonable skilled might make whilst fooling around on lo-fi equipment whilst stoned - a bit sort of "ha ha - dude that's great", rather than something you'd actually want to buy and repeatedly listen to..

I'm probably doing him a great disservice by saying that, mind. My opinion only.

And Radio 4 are like early PIL trying to do marketable alterna-disco-rock. To which I say: cool.

Matthew Fluxington

13:36 / 02.02.03

I haven't heard any other Max Tundra records, and there are a few songs on this album that meet the description you have pretty well, but most of the album is really good pop stuff that stands up to repeated listening very well.

I don't about Radio 4 - I think they sound more like Third Eye Blind covering Gang Of Four, personally. There's something very....lightweight?...about them, I think.

Locust No longer

17:38 / 02.02.03

What I'm into now a days:

Hession/Wilkinson/Fell 'Foom, Foom' (got it used for £7, which is cool because everything in London is around 20 American or something ridiculous. Oh and it's one of the most hardcore screeching free jazz albums I've heard in a long time)

The Nels Cline trio (nice stuff)

No Parade new 12" (Great, fast, loud, political punk rock which doesn't get boring)

Reversal of Man/Combat Wounded Veteran split (crazy stuff from both)

Mirror (great drone, playing in London soon. Must go, Must go, Must go)

18:30 / 02.02.03

REM's first album proper, Murmur, has been the subject of my affections this week. Early REM can't be beat. I also dug out Lava by Silver Sun and felt very, very nostalgic for the times I danced (snigger) to it at Club V. Sniff.

18:42 / 02.02.03

Flux - of course I don't think there's any shame in the tradition Norah Jones is coming from - nor am I going to get so hung up on the songwriting thing that I would remove the CD from the space it's occupying in my CD player - but I do have a longstanding habit of leaning more toward writers than interpreters. Doesn't mean I like her voice any less.

Radio 4, though. Blah. Not the most overrated of the hipster bands, but not my favorite, either. Though I'd rather listen to them than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs any day.

Also in heavy rotation, though not new: Beth Orton, 'Central Reservation', and Doves, 'The Last Broadcast'. It's a quieter mood these days than usual.

10:46 / 03.02.03

Currently kicking out the fucking jams chez Paleface:

Junior/Senior - Move Your Feet.

Fuck the Avalanches. This is discoclash 2K3 stylee. It's SO good.

(I don't know much Radio4 bar Dance to the Underground, which does rock verily. Especially when you crank the bass.)

11:00 / 03.02.03

Yeah, when I saw them live I went absolutely nuts for the interplay between the bass and the guitar, but sadly that doesn't come across at all on the album.. still like where they're coming from though.

The Return Of Rothkoid

23:56 / 03.02.03

Dirty Three. I'm falling in love with 'em all over again. I just got an advance copy of their newie, She Has No Strings Apollo, and it's fucking superb. I lament the lack of an all-pervasive relaxing feel, a-la Ocean Songs, but the fire's back under the gypsy tail here, and it's good. Loose, ragged-assed and still alternately wistful and anthemic. Motorin' stuff, with additional basswork, though not in quite the obvious way it appeared in earlier tracks like "Jim's Dog". There's a bit more sleaze in here - "Rude (and then some slight return" is awesomely dirty. I can only exhort anyone who hears this to seek them out live - and they ARE playing around soon. March for Australia, April for US, and probably sometime thereafter for the UK. You haven't lived until you've seen Warren Ellis givin' it some stick.

Aw, what the hell. I just fucking love this band. More emotive stuff from a trio who know exactly, for me, what buttons to press.

And I'm interviewing Warren later this week...

freelance hairdresser

01:09 / 04.02.03

There's not much new out that's intersting me at the moment. I've been a latecomer to the delights of the DFA crew - Losing My Edge was on constant play for a while, as was House Of Jealous Lovers (best record I've heard in yonks). I've been trawling through Mansun B-sides a bit, and Wire's Pink Flag LP has never been far away either, along with the first two discs from the Police box set - my god there are some ace songs on there... Next To You, Bring On The Night, It's Alright For You... oh yesh.

What else? The Raveonettes "Do You Believe Her" is cool if not exactly ground breaking. Also I'd recommend "The Superposition" EP by Liverpool outfit Kling Klang - the track Heavydale in particular... detuned guitar, mental drums and loads of distorted cheap Yamaha keyboards creating a kraut/Sabbath epic of an instrumental with just one simple riff.

...and listening to loads of Led Zep and Beatles bootlegs. As per normal.

The Return Of Rothkoid

22:23 / 17.02.03

I'm listening to Louis Prima again after a long time. And the man straight-up fuckin' rocks. His "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley puts hairs up every time.

Old brown-eye is back

23:01 / 17.02.03

I was a sucker for early Smashing Pumpkins, and thusly am now a sucker for Billy Corgan's all-the-melodic-chunky-goodness-with-none-of-the-whine new band Zwan.

(Adopts Mrs Doyle voice): Zwan, Zwan, Zwan, Zwan, ZWAN!

23:17 / 17.02.03

Ach, have been picking up vibes on Kling Klang for a while now - my ears perked up at the obvious Kraut nod - but my Stateside brothers and sisters seem to be off staring at something shiny in the corner, and their stuff's not to be found. Damn.

Have been giving the spin to the White Stripes' new Elephant and I can't say it's doing much for me, despite the "Four Horsemen" riffage of "Black Math".

Also taking lessons from The Pupils, that duo-istic offshoot of stalwarts Lungfish. They have a way with the low-fi tattoo-folkiness that makes me want to drink alcoholic tea. Hrm. Guess that's it.

06:50 / 18.02.03

I'm having to rummage through my music collection in order to make tapes to play in my new car, so I'm finding a few gems: my Gene pool, as it were - Olympian and the demos album To See The Lights at times rock but mostly make me cry. Love lost and all that - certainly relevant to what's going on in my life right now. It's also reminded me to cadge tapes of stuff I like but cannot afford to buy cds off - Stoatie and Cholister, expect grovelling PMs very shortly - Black Heart Procession, Rammstein and Current 93 would all be fabulous for driving with.

And I need to borrow a record player for a day, so I can get The Mob, The Poison Girls and Crass on tape. I'm feeling very close to these folk these days.

A

06:14 / 19.02.03

In no particular order- Chicks On Speed, the Easybeats, New Order, Primal Scream, Sekiden, Screeching Weasel, Lolita Storm, April March, Carter USM, Ladytron, the Faint, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Fischerspooner, Leatherface, Modern Lovers, OK2Cry, the Donnas... that'll do for now.

07:17 / 19.02.03

Tune of the moment - Being Nobody, Richard X vs Liberty X, for all manner of pop-credential reasons and because it's this superb slice of electro that might chart-well, and yet it doesn't really sound like a chart song at all. Richard X album soon... yum. Just as long as he stays away from the samples...

Old brown-eye is back

09:11 / 19.02.03

Oh, and The Beatles' White Album which I've just re-bought cheap on CD.

09:59 / 19.02.03

Jack Teagarden - a rediscovery. Plays trombone like an angel and his laid-back singing voice has been described as "between a drawl and a yawn." He was a bit of a drinker so there's a bit of slurring in there too. Just heard his version of "The Christmas Song", one of the tiredest songs there is, and it was extraordinary - like an alcoholic department store Santa breathing whisky fumes at you with a drunken twinkle in his eye.

11:53 / 19.02.03

joy division 'heart and soul' box set. Goddamn it's good. 'feel it closin in -feel it closin in-'

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

13:31 / 20.02.03

Well, I've just shaped up a nice playlist called Tommorow's Producers Today. It's got every track I got from Timbaland (all Missy is gold), The Neptunes (Snoop's new track is incred). Scott Herren's Prefuse 73 and Savath & Savalas (all of it), Rjd2 (Soul Position with Blueprint. Mwah!), Caural (best album art ever? sure), Beneath Autumn Sky, Madlib (Quasimoto), Daedelus (Household EP. great), Fat Jon (Five Deez and then some) and Jel (10 seconds? not enough).

It's great all set up in alphabetical order mixing everything together.

I also discovered a good ftp browser and promptly downloaded seven Soul Coughing shows, bringing me full nostalgia circle after throwing their lead vocalist Mike Doughty into a fiction suit and putting him in my comic. Best live band ever to take a stage, bar none.

I also finally scrounged together my perfectly designed Radiohead playlist and remembered how good they are.

Rounding out the 'Pod is full Built To Spill & Bjork catalogues.

But, yeah, mostly I've been obsessed with those producers.

And Once More With Feeling

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

14:51 / 20.02.03

Oh, and El-P and the whole Def Jux crew in a steel cage match with Anticon.

15:23 / 20.02.03

Been replaying, rediscovering and falling in love again with: Joy Division (especially the Substance collection - Atmosphere really is one the most heart-crackingly beautiful songs ever recorded), The God Machine (One Last Laugh in a Place of Dying, specifically In Bad Dreams), The Jesus and Mary Chain (esp. the Psychocandy album) and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Shocking gap in musical taste recently rectified: A combination of new housemate, Donnie Darko and some references here have finally got me to listen to Echo and the Bunnymen. Eep. They're fucking amazing. And all this time I hadn't realised.

Obligatory trendy new band: absolutely fucking love The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Um, looking at all this Gothy-type music I've listed it may well possibly be because they sound like The Birthday Party, but still...

Alright, non-Goth stuff: The Streets, Nina Simone, The Vines (non-ballads only), The Coral, David Bowie and Kristin Hersh.

But, dammit, must get the new Bad Seeds album.

09:49 / 21.02.03

This week's musical obsessions:

Themselves - The No Music
I like this album soo much.. it's got all the invention and weird beauty of cLOUDEAD, but where the latter tended to get a bit incomprehensible and monotonous, this is dynamic and accessible and fun to listen to. Ranges from ambient psychedelia and muttered dream memories to straight-up conventional hip-hop (no, really), with wonderful use of samples and found sounds throughout. Plus this time 'round you can actually hear what Dose One is saying, and he proves himself to be a truly great MC, flawlessly adapting his lyrics to the constantly mutating music. My only gripe is - why has it taken so long for Burroughs-inspired stoner beatniks to start making hip-hop records?? It's clearly a match made in heaven.

I've also been slain once more by the sounds of The Mountain Goats after hearing them in session on the radio - "New Chevrolet in Flames", "Linda Blair was Born Innocent" - oh man, I don't think anything will be able to hold me back the next time I see their new album in the shops..

Additionally, John Peel's been playing a load of fantastic 'tronica over the past few weeks, which has been exciting my ears no end. Scribbled down names whose records I might have to seek out include;

DJ Skud, Knife-Hand-Chop, Donna Summer (not THE Donna Summer, just some smartass who's called hirself that for kicks), Vlad, DJ Broken Window and various bits from the "The Fire This Time" anti-war compilation..

Locust No longer

18:28 / 21.02.03

Hey Rizla:
I went to see the Mountain Goats on Grant and your recommendation of them on this board a while back and was really surprised. I like anything where the chorus is 'Goddamit! I love John Coltrane'. Anywho, good stuff, thanks. Oh, and you should have a mix cd (at least a year in the making) on the way, tell me when you get it. I actually forget what I've put on it so I can't promise you anything. And Grant, if you're reading this, I still owe you one in exchange for a tape, as well. I haven't forgotten, I'm just fucking slow, and am out of the States 'till May.

The Return Of Rothkoid

01:40 / 25.02.03

Tampa Red. In the boxes of CDs that've been unpacked recently, I discovered Tampa Red: The Bluebird Recordings 1934-1936. And the man's a champ. Amazing slide guitar, barrelhouse piano, clarinets and kazoo solos. And songs called "Let's Get Drunk And Truck" and "I'll Kill Your Soul (And Dare Your Spirit To Move)". Songs about being cheated on, cheating, getting drunk, or generally shoehorning double-entendres in-between tasty guitar picking. There's so much energy and joy in these recordings; amazing stuff. The guy's just a genius.

I'm also digging that Rounder disc of supernatural calypso from Trinidad, too - it's mighty fine.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:03 / 14.04.03

Eyvind Kang. I'm listening to two of his Tzadik CDs, and they're just fucked-up. Violinist who writes stuff that sounds like incidental music from the most fucked-up camp Imperial China stage-show ever made. The Story Of Iceland is winning at the moment, because it tends a little more towards ambient, but ends in a glorious Bowie-style, rippling tune... just phenomenal. Bass clarinets. Crumhorns. Marimbas. It's all rock.

13:12 / 14.04.03

Current playlist=
Lee Hazelwood- Complete MGM Recordings,
United States of America,
Numbers- Life and Eeh-Uh,
Prefuse 73- One Word Extinguisher
Kraftwerk- Tour De France
and loads of assorted electro/electronica. Oh, and the Fall. Always The Fall.

14:40 / 14.04.03

My current playlist:

Oneida - Enemy Hogs
The Donnas - spend the night
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Neil Young - After the Goldrush
Meanwhile Back in Communist Russia - my elixior, my poison
The Mountain Goats - all hail West Texas
Acid Mothers Temple - Absolutely Freakout (Zap your Mind!)
Love - Forever Changes
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Bal-Sagoth - Battle Magic
Explosions in the Sky - live bootleg
Nina Nastasia - the blackened air

Regrettable Juvenilia

19:05 / 14.04.03

All Lists Are Inherently Evil

Wire - 'I Don't Understand'
Hint Hint - 'Harry's Ass Is A Picnic'
Public Image Ltd - 'Flowers Of Romance'
The Slits - 'In The Beginning There Was Rhythm'
Blur - 'Ambulance'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell (whole album)
Nick Cave - 'John Finn's Wife'
The Rapture - 'Out Of The Races & Onto The Tracks' (in my head)
Royal Trux - 'Sunshine & Grease'

A

02:36 / 15.04.03

At the moment, I simply can not get enough of Andrew W.K.. He's the new Billy Idol, the new Ramones, the new Phil Spector and the new Bhuddah, all at once.

Also, I'm digging- Add N to (X), Dillinger 4, Team Plastique, Gene Defcon, Spod, Lifter Puller, Uresei Yatsura, that'll do...

No star here laces

07:37 / 15.04.03

So I have a new obsession, it's name is italo-disco and it is glorious.

Seemingly the foundation upon which all of electroclash is built this is basically Italian dance music from the early to mid 80s and it's all electro beats, huuuuuge synth washes a la Cosmos "Take me with you" and ridiculous vocals that come in halfway and utterly ruin the effect of the song.

It's a perfect genre for me because it's stupidly obscure, inherently flawed and of dubious cultural value, but if you investigate it for long enough you find some utter gems. I've been buying up stacks of the stuff on eBay for the last couple of weeks, and now the packages are starting to arrive.

But one of the best things is the art - the records all come with hand-painted 'futuristic' images of pod cars, piano-playing robots and women with unfeasible haircuts...

08:12 / 15.04.03

The Jesus and Mary Chain. Something's never change... Specifically Psychocandy and Barbed Wire Kisses, and rarities like Vegetable Man etc...

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