Man or Astro-Man?/Chrome – Gearhead Magazine #5 Insert
This is a split seven inch record that was released in 1996 with Gearhead Magazine issue number five. There were 7000 copies of this seven inch record. There are two tracks on this record. The A side has the Man or Astro-Man? track called 400,000.37 Miles (Breaking the Sanity Barrier). The track was named as such to honor the odometer reading of their original touring van. The song starts out with a slow build of a jet engine then cuts into the song. The song is classic MOAM? space/surf style. At the end of the track there is a clip of a guy talking at a race track about the hazards of racing. The announcer at the track cuts in asking for a meatball for the upcoming race. I have no idea why a meatball would be needed in a race. The sound clip is very funny and probably taken out of context. The B side of this Seven inch is from a band named Chrome. The track is called Torque Pound. I have never heard of this band. The song that was put on this record is pretty good though. There are no words on the song but there are vocals. This song has a cool late 60s sound. Each side of the cover has a different picture of a car. Each band got information about their song put on one side of the cover.
Man or Astro-Man?/Teenage Cavemen – Kill Geeksville
This is a split seven inch record that was released in 1994 on Worry Bird records. The actual title of this 7” is Man or Astro-Man? meet Teenage Cavemen. The reason that most call this the Kill Geeksvill record is that in the bottom left corner there is a box with the words Kill Geeksville written inside. Some say that Teenage Cavemen was a side project seeing as members of Teenage Cavemen were in some way related to MOAM? on future releases of their music. I don’t really see it as a side project considering that all members of Teenage Cavemen were not involved with MOAM? at the time except the drummer. I don’t believe that this was the drummers’ band. There for it is not a side project for MOAM? Each band put two tracks on this record. The first track on the A side, the MOAM? side, is Bombora. This is a cover song originally from Surfaris. This is a great surf song with lots of bending of notes that is typical of surf music. The next song is called Surf Terror. This song starts out with a clip taken from a movie. In the clip they are talking about a monster that lives in the water but may be able to walk on land for short periods too. The song has just as much surf in it as the cover of Bombora. The B side songs start off with the track Phantom Stranger of Your Heart. This seems to be of that gritty 60s simple rock or something of the early punk sound of the mid 70s. It is a real cool sound, maybe likened to what The Stooges had but with more of a pop sound. The second track from Teenage Cavemen is called Sidekick. The sound is very similar to the first track from them. All that they did was change some of the words around it would seem. It is still a good track though.
Man or Astro-Man? - Postphonic Star Exploration
This record was released in 1995. It is a five inch record with two songs on it. That is right folks I said 5” record. There were not many of these records made. I believe that they were all made in the early to mid 90s as a way to combat the CD. It was not really much of a fight considering that you could only get two songs on a record of that size. The record is just so darn cute though. I know that there are at least a few other bands out there that have put out five inch records too. This record was released on either black or clear green vinyl. The one that I found was on black, the more common pressing. I was just happy to find it honestly. Both of the tracks found on this record can be found on What Remains Inside A Black Hole, the Australian B side album. The A side has the track Polaris. The song features some great sounds from a Theremin. The song itself is a great sci-fi surf rock song. The B side track is called War of The Satellites. This track has a very fun guitar riff on it. It is a very short song though. I would recommend getting the Australian album before hunting this tiny record down unless you are looking for unique items.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – The Body
This is the latest single from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. It is obviously released in 2011. There are two tracks on this yellow/orange colored vinyl. This is a European only single released through PIAS. You can purchase the single through the bands website for a reasonable price considering that it will be shipped from overseas. The A side is The Body. It is a great song from the album Belong. It has some very catchy lyrics. The B side of this record has the track Tomorrow Dies Today. This song was released on the Japanese version of the album Belong along with three other B sides. One of which has not yet been released to the rest of the world. This song is called Steel Daughter. I am hoping that this will be released on the next single for the US. Slumberland Records has told me that there will be one more single released from Belong this fall. This song is just as good as the A side of this record. It is just as infectious as the A side track. The song is not as strong as The Body but still as good.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Heart In Your Heartbreak (Twin Shadow RMX)
There is a free remix of the song Heart In Your Heartbreak from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. The remix was done by the group Twin Shadow, who has bee touring with TPOBPAH periodically through their touring around the world this year. If you go to the TPOBPAH website there is a link to download the song at the top of the front page. The remix is very interesting. This version of the song uses an 80s style hand clap that stands out like crazy. There is also a piano that is used in the remix. I like the piano sound. It is a refreshing take on the song. I am a big fan of the remix. I would love it if they put out another remix album.
Philip Selway – Running Blind
This is a four track EP released only on vinyl or download. The four songs were songs that were played live on his tour. He wanted to capture them after the tour was finished. You can get the EP directly from his website now but they are limited pressings on vinyl. They are slow songs that are very depressing but very good at the same time. I don’t really have much to say about them since they are not on the top of my list to be listening to at the moment. I wanted to bring up the EP since he is the drummer to my favorite band Radiohead.
Radiohead – Morning Mr Magpie RMX/Bloom RMX
This is the second remix vinyl in the Radiohead remix series. It features different artwork than the first release but only slightly. There are two remixes of bloom and one of Morning Mr Magpie. The strangest thing about this record is that one side of the record is at 33 and the other is at 45 RPMs. This release was delayed in the US and I think it is for this very reason that the delay happened. This is just a guess and I can not prove it in any way shape or form. There has been a lot of complaints about the quality of these remixed tracks. I haven’t had a problem with any of them yet, especially if they are listened to back to back. I love the music that this group produces. I wish that they would put out more than just two B sides from the album but I like remixes too as I stated earlier with the Pains remix. The other interesting thing about this set is that the two Bloom remixes are remixed by the same guy. He apparently has an alias as a music writer and has remixed the track two different ways, once as himself and once as his music alias. I think that is very cool.
Radiohead – Feral RMX/Morning Mr. Magpie RMX/Separator RMX
This is the third installment from the Radiohead remix series. The cover art on this one differs greatly than the previous two in this release. The first and the last tracks on this on are just about as perfect as can possibly be. The second track, not so much. The second track is good for breaking up the two on the ends though. The first track never had any actual vocals so this was an easy one to remix in my opinion. The remix for this track was not sloppy at all though. It is beautiful perfection I think. The second track seems very rough and is nearly difficult to listen to on its own. Besides, I already have a good remix version of Morning Mr Magpie from the second remix record. The last track, Seperator, was remixed from a very good electronic artist named Four Tet. This is the best yet from this series of remixes. The track uses some really cool soaring/modulated synth keyboards that make the song unbelievably beautiful. It is my new favorite remix from this series bumping the Little By Little remix done by Caribou from the first record.
At the time of this post you can still get the two Pains of Being Pure At Heart releases, the Phil Selway EP and the Radiohead remix LPs. All Man or Astro-Man? stuff is for the most part out of print. Although, I have heard rumors that they are writing new material.
That is all I have for now...
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