Vol. 2 Episode 31

Here is my 1980 play list:

Artist Billy Joel David Bowie Devo The J. Geils Band John Lennon and Yoko Ono Joy Division Judas Priest Oingo Boingo The Police Queen Steely Dan Talking Heads U2 The Vapors

Album Glass Houses Scary Monsters and Super Creeps Freedom of Choice Love Stinks Double Fantasy Closer British Steel Oingo Boingo 10" EP Zenyatta Mondatta Greatest Hits Gaucho Remain In Light Boy New Clear Days

Song Sometimes a Fantasy Fashion Whip It Love Stinks Watching The Wheels Heart and Soul Living After Midnight Only A Lad Don't Stand So Close To Me Another One Bites The Dust Hey Nineteen Once In A Lifetime I Will Follow Turning Japanese

Abandoned Pools – Humanistic
This is the first album from Abandoned Pools (AP). This album was released in 2001. This is a solo project from Tommy Walter. The music comes from material he had been working on with a previous group and material that he came up with after the breakup of said group. The album was released on a record company called Extasy Records. The band toured until the record company folded. There were a couple of singles from the album too. The first was called The Remedy. The second was Mercy Kiss. This album came out when I was just getting into the indie sounds. I had not even heard the word indie before ad would not know that it was a reference to music fro years to come. I can’t remember where I heard the first single, if it was on TV or the radio. I do remember getting on line and looking up the band. I found the record company and put in a request to get some music from the band through them. This was still a time when companies would send out physical products. They gladly sent me a promo disc of a few tracks from the album. They also sent me a computer disc from another band called Sub.Bionic. This was how I learned about the latter group. I listened to that demo disc for the few months before the album came out. I went to Best Buy to pick up the album when it came out. Best Buy was at the time the best music source I had with out going into the city for the independent record stores. I loved this album, it has sounds that remind me of industrial music but it is so laid back that I don’t get tired of it. I was very happy when I heard the first single on the TV show ER. I thought that was some great exposure for the band because I wanted them to succeed. When the record company folded I was very worried for the two groups that I really liked that were on the record label. I was happy that AP continued to make music after this but was saddened that Sub.Boinic couldn’t find a way out. I have not heard anything about Sub.Bionic after the record label went down. AP went on to Universal Records after Extasy Records folded.

Ben Folds – Rockin’ The Suburbs
This is Ben Folds first solo album. He had previously been a part of Ben Folds Five and they released four albums, one of which was a rarities and b-sides disc. This album, Rockin’ The Suburbs, was released in 2001. Despite the use of profanity on the album the Parental Advisory sticker was never added to the album. There were two singles from this album. The first was the title track to the album, Rockin’ The Suburbs. The song pokes fun at white youngsters and their woes of life. It is a really funny track. There are a few American swears in the song especially at the break of the song. Ben sings repetitively, “Ya better watch out cause I’m gonna say fuck.” The video is just as great as the song is. “Weird Al” Yankovic directed the video so you know it is going to be a riot. I pulled this information from Wikipedia about the video:

The music video for "Rockin' the Suburbs" was directed by friend "Weird Al" Yankovic, who also plays the role of a producer who fixes Folds' "shitty track," directly riffing on one of the song's lyrics.
The video, which closely reflects the joke-heavy style of Yankovic's own videos, features Folds playing multiple members of an angry rock band in a suburban den and in front of a white background.
After the song's bridge, Folds is shown outside in a suburban neighborhood wearing a backwards red Yankees cap, the trademark of Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst. During this part of the video, Folds does suburban things such as jumping in pools and flipping burgers.
Near the end of the video, Folds can be seen playing a keytar. On occasion, he also plays the keytar for live performances. The make and model he uses is a red Roland AX-1.
At the end of the video, the "band" (all Ben again) plays in front of a black background with holes punched in it, a style that matches the live-action parts of the Korn video for "Freak on a Leash." A subliminal message reading "Korn Sucks" briefly appears.

The next single from this album is Still Fighting It. It is a dedication to his son Louis. It is supposed to be a bitter sweat ode to adolescence. The album is just as good as any of the Ben Folds Five albums. This should be plain as Ben did all of the writing for the lyrics in Ben Folds Five. The album was actually very perfect for the time considering that the album was released on the day of the terrorist attacks. The only super up beat song on the album is the title track. I think that this was a much needed track for the US considering the incident at the time and the following back lash. I use to think that the attacks did not really hit me as hard as most. I think that I was in denial. I think that the music that I listened to helped me get through this hard time but I also think that the attack aggravated my depression so badly that I ended up in a divorce and as a result lost my job and house. It makes me wonder what my life would have been like had the attacks not happened. There is nothing I can do about this but it is still a wonder.

Man or Astro-Man – EEVIAC
This is the sixth album from Man or Astro-Man? I like to view it as the fifth album since one of the albums, Intravenous Television Continuum, is mainly a covers and remixes album. It was released in 1999. I got my copy as a repressing in 2010. This is an album that came later in their career so it has more of an experimental edge to it. The albums full name is EEVIAC Operational Index and Reference Guide, Including Other Modern Computational Devices. The word EEVIAC is also an acronym meaning Embedded Electronic Variably Integrated Astro Console. It is a play on the ENIAC which is hailed as the first modern computer. The band actually built a mockup of the super computer for use on stage. I don’t believe that there were any singles officially released from this album. There is a lot more noise on this album than have been on any of their previous albums. This doesn’t mean that there couldn’t have been any singles from the album but that radio stations may have been turned off from playing anything from the album because of the noise. I can’t say that it is a great album or a bad album. It hangs somewhere in the middle. I like that they don’t put out many songs with lyrics. It makes me happy when I hear that rare track with vocals. There are only a couple of tracks with lyrics on this album of thirteen tracks. For me it is an extra when I get to hear lyrics from the band, unlike almost every other band where you expect to hear lyrics for every song on an album. Sometimes I don’t want to be told what to think and I want to think for myself.

Snow Patrol – Final Straw
This is the third album from Snow Patrol. It was released in 2003 (UK) and 2004 (US). There were four singles that were released from this album, one of them was released twice as strange as that sounds. The first was Spitting Games. This song was also re-released as the fourth of five singles. The video of the song is just the group playing back to back in a circle with the camera spinning round them. It is still an interesting concept and the song itself keeps you watching because it is so good. The next single is Run. This is the song that intrduced me to the band. It is a slow song that has a great chorus. I first saw the video for the song. The video was filmed at night with the boys using red colored hand flairs to light up the video. The group waived them in their hands and tossed them back and forth. There was also a motorcycle that was driven in the video, not exactly sure what that is supposed to represent except that they were having a great time filming the video. The next single released was Chocolate. The video for this one was sort of strange in my opinion. Everyone runs rampant based on this hourglass timer. When it runs out they all stop waiting for the world to stop but the lead singer just walks over and flips the hour glass over and mayhem ensues again. The song itself is very good. It has a nice driving beat with some bells accentuating the guitar. The next and last single is How To Be Dead. The song is basically about a conversation between a couple. It is a down-tempo song that brings the listener into the conversation as a witness. It is an interesting song. The whole album is very interesting. I had just started coming out of my depression but was still very much into the depressing music that was indie at the time. Well, I guess it was more that I was into the music that was on the edge of indie but more crossing over into pop music. I think that the whole album has a great driving beat and is part of why it crossed over to the mainstream.

That is all I have for now...

Vol. 2 Episode 30

I am happy to say that I have found a guitarist/vocalist to start making music with. He has a lot of learning to do both with guitar playing and in singing regarding theory. But I have not been playing music regularly lately either. I think that he will learn quickly though and has made strides to do so by going to a vocal instructor. He can learn chords and note names from a book quite easily I think. His roots are mainly in the rap/rock genre but likes a lot of other styles too. I am more into the indie rock stuff personally. I will keep you all posted as to if anything comes of this further. We did play together a little bit this past week and I could follow what he was playing. We had some fun.

On to the good stuff.

The B-52’s – The B-52’s
This is the first album from the group. It was released in 1979. This is a great album in my opinion but it was also the beginning of the new wave genre and is a little bit abstract for some. The first single from this album was Rock Lobster. It is one of the most well known songs from the group. The first song from the album was the second single released. That single is called Planet Clare. The song has a cool retro sound with futuristic lyrics. This is my favorite song from the album because of that spy/sci-fi sound. The Third single from this album is called Dance This Mess Around. It is a slower start of to the song but progressively picks up in speed. The album as a whole is great. I was lucky enough to find a copy of this album in great condition for a good price at one of my favorite used record shops. When I found out that this was the album that has Rock Lobster on it I had to have it. After I had a chance to listen to it I fell in love with it. The album has a great 40s/50s beach party or sci-fi sound. I think that I like it so much because of the Man or Astro-man? (MOAM) music that I love so much. This album and most of the stuff that MOAM has put out are very similar. It takes me back to a place that I would imagine my mother would have been in her hey day. I many be a little bit off and it should be my grandmother but still I think that you get my meaning. I would have imagined a time after WWII when movies were delving into the unknown. The ideas of outer space and the bazaar things that could have happened hear on earth with new ideas in science. There is also the unknown world of spies and all the cool things that they were able to do with miniaturization, records and weapons. The ideas from those golden years are fascinating to me but they are also not really things that I want to spend money on myself. It is just the mystery behind them that has a slight pull for me.

Filter - Short Bus
This is the first album from Filter. It was released in 1995. There were two singles released off this album. The first is Hey Man, Nice Shot. It was thought to be about the suicide of Curt Cobain. It was found, later, that it was actually about a public suicide that took place on January 22, 1987. This was the Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer. This song was also used in the soundtrack for the movie Tails From The Crypt: Demon Nite. The song was released on the radio a few months before the album was released. I saw the movie in the theater with my girlfriend, later to be my x-wife. We both loved the movie. I liked to song so much that I had to have more from the group. The second single from the album was Dose. I don’t recall hearing the song on the radio or seeing a video for the song on MTV. I guess that I am not surprised since it is a slower track with nowhere near the same pop appeal as the first single. I waited the few agonizing months to get the album. It was one of the first albums that bought that had a slip case over the CD. I thought this was a unique idea but it certainly made it hard to get the CD out of the case because the outer slip case was very tight. I had started getting into Nine Inch Nails (NIN) a year or two previous to this album. When I got this album I found out that the lead singer was a part of NIN. He was the guitarist that was used during the touring of Pretty Hate Machine. He was also used for the videos from Broken. He left during the recording of the NIN album The Downward Spiral to form this band with friend Brian Liesegang. The album has the sound of NIN but on more of a lighter side. Later albums become even lighter in sound than this first album.

Stone Temple Pilots – Core
This is the first album from the group. It was released in 1992. The band went with the name Stone Temple Pilots because they liked the logo for the oil company STP. The album released four singles. The first single was Sex Type Thing. The song is an anti-rape statement. It is about a girl that he was dating that was gang raped by a group of football players after a party. The next single was Plush. This is one of their biggest hit singles to date. The lead singer has given two different definitions of what the song could be about. One, they could be about a metaphor for a failed relationship. Two, It could be about a story that he read about a girl that was found dead in an area around San Diego CA. Plush is the song that got me into the group. There is something special about this song. I remember driving around the city with a group of friends. It was that period of time in a teenagers life when the only way to get away from the house was to go out driving with friends; no destination, just to be away from family. The third single from this album was Wicked Garden. This song was not officially released as a single but was released as a promo single. The lead singer, Scott Weiland, stated that "'Wicked Garden' is a song about people allowing all their innocence and purity to be lost from their lives." This song could easily be misunderstood as a sexual reference of losing ones virginity. The last single released from this album was the song Creep. This is a sad song and a slow song. This was quite a popular song and out of the ordinary for most groups. It worked at the time for STP. I had always been a slightly depressed kid as far back as middle school (late 80s), This was the type of song that would bring me down farther than I wanted to be. It was hard not to listen to the song though because it was so good. If you are a rock fan but have not heard this album you should. Once you do you may want to buy it because it is that good.

The Black Keys – The Big Come Up
This is the first album from The Black Keys. It was released in 2002. The name of the band comes from a schizophrenic friend of theirs; he would leave strange messages for the two of them but would refer to their fathers as “the black keys” The album was recorded in the drummers’ basement. There were two singles released from the album. They were both covers of other artists’ songs. The first was Leavin’ Truck. It was originally recorded by Sleepy John Estes. The Black Keys version has heavy distortion on the guitar but with smooth blues playing. The next single was She Said, She Said originally from The Beatles. This song originally caught my ear because it was so catchy. I later realized that it was from The Beatles. As with everything, it seems, from The Black Keys, the guitar is heavily distorted. It is for sure an interesting take on the song. It is probably one of the better covers of the song that I have heard. There is just something about the heavy distortion in a guitar that I like. I am sure that I have said this in the past but it reminds me of the feel of AC current going through your body. That even pulse of feeling with out the pain that comes with actual AC current going through the body. It is a lovely album that I think everyone should hear. I don’t think that everyone should buy this unless you are into it of course. I am not a fan of the blues so much but I do like this album a lot. I did only buy this one on CD though.

Talking Heads – 77
This is the first album from The Talking Heads. It was released in 1977 (go figure right). The only single from the album was Psycho Killer. I loved this song. I couldn’t tell you when I first heard it since it was released in 77. It was in the top one hundred singles so I would assume that I would have heard it on the radio at some point after it was released (I was alive then). For me, it took some getting use to David Byrne’s vocal style. He has a smooth sounding voice but his style seems to be kind of herky jerky to me. Over the years it has gotten easier but It was only a few years ago that I actually got most of the albums from the band. It is still hard for me to listen to at times but the music that they have created is just brilliant. I can’t say that everyone should run out and get this album but I do think that everyone should run out and down load Psycho Killer for sure. This song will knock your socks off for sure. Even if you have never herd of this band (if you haven’t you have been living under something hard and dark) you should buy it sight unseen. The song is really that good.

That is all I have for now...

Vol. 2 Episode 29

Sigur Rós – ( )
This is the third album from Sigur Rós. The album was released in 2002. All eight songs on the album were released with out titles. The first half of the album is lighter and more open where as the later half of the album is a bit darker. It has bee written that the album starts and stops with a “click” of distortion. For me that is not specific enough. It is more specifically a click of guitar distortion. I feel that this description is more musical. If it were say, a click of white noise it would be some what if a let down to me. There is also, on the CD, 36 seconds of silence at the end of the fourth track. This is to split up the two halves of the album. There was a single released from this album. Track number one. The name of this song is Vaka. The single was released on both a 3” CD and a 5” CD. The 5” version of the single came with a DVD with a few music videos that the band put together about their thoughts about certain aspects about the state of the world. The videos are very touching. The tracks on the single are listed as Untitled 1, Untitled 9A, Untitled 9B, and Untitled 9C. I thought that it was unique to get extra tracks that were not on the full album that could have been. This is usually the way that a b-side works but to have them labeled as they are brings those tracks closer to the album for me some how. The album as a whole is brilliant. It is very atmospheric, more so than their previous album. It is an album that almost anyone could fall asleep to. I know of one person that seems to do so every night. I can’t seem to fall asleep to any album for more than a month. I need to change the music up every now and again. Then again I haven’t fallen to sleep with an album playing for months now. I find falling asleep with ear phones in annoying and painful at times. I would prefer to have a stereo on in the bedroom if I am going to listen to music there. When I was growing up I use to listen to music through my boombox. I listened to cassette tapes in the 80s. I had a select few tapes that I would listen to every night. I would only get to hear half of an album but I would usually be asleep by the second track. I would have to keep the volume down because my father claimed that he could hear the bass coming through the walls. The speakers in my boom box could not have been larger than 3” in diameter and they were contained in a hard plastic enclosure. They hardly produced any bass at all. I am sure that he was hearing something but it seemed ridiculous with all of his hearing loss over the years that he could hear anything at all. I think he just wanted something else to complain about.

Steely Dan – Aja
This is the sixth album from the band. It was released in 1977. The songs Peg and Deacon Blues were released as singles from the album. Peg is an excellent song with great instrumentation. The guitar solo in particular had seven session guitarist try out before Jay Graydon’s solo was picked to be the best of all seven. He worked on that solo for another six hours before it was deemed good enough to be recorded on the track. Deacon Blues is about a feeling at a specific time for the group. It is also about winners having a great name. The losers then feeling left out give themselves a great name in response. It helps to have a special name sometimes (PurelyHim for example). I also remember hearing the song Black Cow frequently. I am not sure if I heard it on the radio or if my mother had this album. Either way that song stands out to me as a third single even if it was not officially released as a single. This album is quite short but there is also so much tonality and instrumentation on this album that it is just great with out adding more to the album. I do remember that my mother had the Gold greatest hits album from the group and that this album has Black Cow on it. This could be where I got the idea that the song was or should have been a single. I have always loved jazz and rock n’ roll music. This is a great fusion of the two of these genres and is probably why I am so drawn to the music form the group. The group has never been drawn to the heavy driving sound of the hard rock sound. They are just a nice relaxing group that, when you listen to the music, just seems to roll over you like the oceans waves on a nice sunny day. They are going to play at the state fair this year. I would love to go but I don’t think that I will have the money to go this year. They were here last year too but I did not find out until after the state fair was over. It is in an outdoor coliseum too so I would be subject to the weather too. I did find that my father-in-law had a copy of this album on vinyl in a standard format. It spurred me on to find a copy for my self. I found a copy of this album in a gate fold format. I sort of out did my father-in-law that way.

Travis – The Man Who
This is the second album from the band. It was released in 1999 but not in the US until 2000. Waiting To Reach You was the first single from the album and the first track on the album. The song was based on the chord structure for the song Wonderwall by Oasis. It also features the lyric “what’s a Wonderwall anyway?” The second single is called Driftwood. The song has great references to ways to help people. What the song is saying is to get up and do what you dream of but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You can’t learn with out making mistakes. The next single from the album is called Why Does It Always Rain On Me? For me this song came off as depressing. In a time when I was already depressed I saw things like this song as something that would keep me down. I loved the song, I loved the whole album, but I was depressed and I couldn’t see a way to get out of the depression so I stayed there at the bottom of my created blackness and turmoil and enjoyed every dismal second of that depression. I did not want to kill myself because I liked where I was. I had locked everyone out and loved that dark pit of despair that I was in. Some my think that it was strange but I had my music and I had DVDs of MASH and The Simpsons to keep me company. I think that I lived there for about two years. It was until my now x-wife decided that she wanted a divorce that I decided that I should find a way to get out of the depression that was keeping me down. It did not save my marriage by any means but it saved my life. Moving on to the next single from this album. The fourth single was called Turn. It is a song about learning and passing on that knowledge along to future generations. This is something that mankind has become very good at to some degree. Some things get buried and others are brought forward. I think that we should strive to always bring the truth to bear. All in all this is a great album that can easily be misunderstood. I can’t recommend this album to every one but if you like mellow brit pop this may be the thing for you.

Foo Fighters – One By One
This is the fourth album by the Foo Fighters. It was released in 2002. The album was released in two different cover versions; both are black and white but reversed from each other; i.e. black on white and white on black. The song All My Life was the first single released from the album. The band decided that they wanted a harder or heavier sounding single to be released because of the more middle-of-the-road singles that had been previously released on the last album. This song went through a few changes before it got to what it is now. Dave Grohl said this about the song, “was originally an instrumental and it went through a few different versions. At first it was really dissonant and noisy. The middle section sounded like "Wipe Out" [by The Surfaris]. It was just nuts! We recorded the instrumental and I had no idea how I was gonna sing it. Again, that was another one that our manager said, "That's the song!" And we said, "Really? You think that's the one people will like?” The next single from the album is Times Like These. The song is very good. The song was also re-recorded as an acoustic version. It was aired in this format on the “adult contemporary” stations with fair success. The next song is called Low. This is a song that features heavily distorted guitars but is creative in that the song utilizes heavy left right transitions between two different distorted guitars. This is a great sounding song if not for the simplicity in the left right trade off. The fourth single from the album is Have It All. This song has a guitar riff that I wish that I would have thought of first. I love it. It is two different guitars overlapped and each playing something slightly different from the other. It works beautifully. The song itself is a little bit slowed down from the other singles from the album but still works. I remember one of my friends who were not into the Foo Fighters that found the first single. I was so surprised that he had no idea about the song considering it was from 2002. I also forget that this kid is was and will always be heavy into the Christian music scene. So, things that are common to me will usually be new to him. What really drives me nuts is that I know that the musicians that are a part of these bands are listening to the music that I know and love and are getting their influences from those bands that everyone else is listening to. All music is based on God’s influence; there and back again a musicians tail.

Julie Brown – Goddess In Progress
This is her first release in music. It is an EP released in 1984. Some of the songs on the EP are early works that would be re-recorded for the full album that would follow this EP. The first to songs on the EP were released as singles. The first was I Like’em Big and Stupid. This song was later re-recorded and used in the movie Earth Girls Are Easy. The second song is The Home Coming Queen’s Got A Gun. This song was featured on the Dr. Demento show back in the 80s. The next single from this EP is Cause I’m A Blond. This song was also re-recorded for the movie Earth Girls Are Easy. There is a whole scene in the movie dedicated to this song. The last song on this EP is called Earth Girls Are Easy. You can guess what movie it was used in. I was very excited to find this EP used in one of my favorite used record shops. I picked it up for my wife even though I wanted to hear the songs on them. It is a lot of fun to hear these songs even though I remember the re-recorded versions of them better.

That is all I have for now...

Vol. 2 Episode 28

The Clash – The Clash (US) (UK)
This is the first album by the band released in the UK in 1977. It was not released in the US until 1979. The US version has 4 tracks removed from the UK version and adds 5 different tracks. In the UK the singles were White Riot and Remote Control. White Riot was the first ever single released from the band. It was based on the Ramones style with three chords in the song. It is a fun punk song about giving the white youths a reason to start a riot. The song was written after members of the band were involved with the riots at the Notting Hill Carnival in 1976. The second single, called Remote Control, is about the bands bad tour called the “Anarchy Tour”. The record company that they were signed with, CBS, pulled the plug half way through the tour. CBS then decided to release the song as a single and did not bring it up with the band. Needless to say, they were not very happy with this. The band wanted to release Janie Jones as the second single. The song Remote Control became a symbol of what the band was fighting for because of this. The song that was later released on the US version called Complete Control gives mention to this issue between the record company and the band.

The US version of the album had different singles released. The first single was Complete Control. As I already stated, the single was written about the way that the record label released the song Remote Control and how the band was furious about said release. It is also about how the band managers want complete control of what the band does and how laughable the idea is. The next single is called Clash City Rockers. This song has a riff similar to The Who song called Can’t Explain. The song is about dead end employment and having direction in life. The next single is called (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais. The song takes the group in a new direction. That direction is called reggae. This song alienates a lot of fans at the time. The Clash are a punk group. Punk groups are supposed to have big fat riffs. This song broke that mold. The last single from this album was the US favorite called I Fought The Law. This is a cover song originally written by Sonny Curtis and first recorded in 1959 by Curtis with The Crickets, of Buddy Holly fame, backing. The Clash’s version of this song is one of the most famous versions released.

Aside from those singles there are also some really great songs on these two albums. Some of my favorites include the songs London’s Burning, I’m So Bored With The U.S.A and Career Oportunities. All of which could have been singles in their own right. This is a really great album that everyone should hear if they like punk or not. Yes, the album is that important in the history of music.

My parents were not into the punk music scene when I was just a toddler but I remember hearing some of these songs on the radio, especially the cover of I fought The Law. There is something that is just super catchy about that version. Everybody knows it and everybody loves it.

Korn – Issues
This is the fourth album from the band. It was released in 1999. The cover art for the album was from an artist who won a contest that was held by MTV. There were three additional covers that were from the contest as well. They were obviously from the second, third and fourth prize winners in the contest. There were three singles released from this album and a video for each of these three songs. The first was Falling Away From Me. This song was given away as an MP3 download on the internet from the bands web page. The page sited that this download was for the fans of the band. The video for this song starts out like it left off from a video on the previous album. It then converts from a cartoon to real life. After this change the video depicts a young girl getting beaten by who I assume would be her father. Then shows tens of hundreds of kids that come to her rescue as the band somehow appear in her bedroom to stop her father from future beatings and help the girl escape from the horrible situation that she was in. This is a very painful video to watch but this exact thing happens in some homes around the country/world. I think that the band just wanted to bring awareness to the people of the world that this kind of thing still happens to children. The next single is called Make Me Bad. This song may or may not be about the lead singers decision to stop his drinking and drug abuse. His decision to do this happened about a year before this album was released. The way that the lyrics are written this could very well be fact or fiction. The video for this song is very interesting. It depicts the band having some type of alien creature in each of their bodies. There is a doctor that seems to be able to control when the alien is able to be active. At the end of the video it shows what this alien looks like as a doctor is extracting one from the singers’ body. It is some kind of fish looking being. It is a very strange and interesting idea. The third single is called Somebody Someone. This is a really great heavy thumping alternative metal song. This was not as popular as the previous two songs. There is some great screams from the lead singer in this song too. The video, for the most part, is a performance video with CGI additions. They seem to be playing in some kind of concrete shelter, possibly a fallout shelter that hasn’t been in use for a very long time. As the band is playing the camera seems to be shaking from the heavy vibrations created by the band. The viewer is also placed inside the head of a common house fly and we see from the perspective of said fly as it flies around the room. It is an interesting take on a performance video but it is still a performance video. The only other standout track for me is a song called Let’s Get This Party Started. I like this song because of the music in the chorus. It is heavy and melodic at the same time. I would not recommend this album or any of the others to anybody under the age of 16 though. There are some topics and words that are used in the music that the band creates that are just inappropriate in my opinion. It is a great album that needs parental guidance.

Jónsi – Go Out EP
This EP was originally released for record store day 2011 on vinyl in the UK and Europe only. On the web page it was released in limited quantity on vinyl after record store day and you can get download copies still. I wanted to get a copy but I was too late. I then found out that it was getting a US release. I was very excited about that but disappointed that I was not informed by the web site that there was going to be a US release. I ended up ordering from a record store that I local to where I live, The Electric Fetus. There are four tracks from the album Go that are all remixed to perfection. The two A side tracks are Go Do and Tornado. The first is a reinvention that follows the animalistic/organic sound that Jónsi put on the album Go. The second adds to the existing song a strong punchy techo drum track with some great synth sounds that put an urgency into the song. It is a remix that makes me what to get up and do something, maybe dance. There is also a classic techno breakdown that I really like a lot. For those of you who do not know what a breakdown is, it is where all of the music just stops and slowly builds itself back up to the full song again. In this case the vocals are the only part of the song that continues in the breakdown. It is really beautiful to hear just Jónsi’s vocals by themselves. The B side tracks are Around Us and a different version of Go Do. Around Us has that paper thin sampled drum kit with a beautiful music box sounding melody. There is also a really cool sounding synth part that floats between the drums and the melody. The thin sounding drums sound really nice next to the music box sound. Although the music gets repetitive it sounds really nice with Jónsi’s vocals on top of all of it. This song also features a really nice sounding breakdown but after the breakdown the drum samples become a little fuller and push the song on through to the end. It is really a lovely version of the song. The last song starts off with strings and a synth version of a wood xylophone. Then a saw tooth sounding synth bass part is added to the song. The one thing that I don’t like is that there is an additional synth part that follows the vocals as jonsi sings them. The song drags on a little because of the over simplified drum track. I think that this song could have been left off of the EP all together. It is not a good slow version of the song and does not leave the listener where they left off. I think this song leaves off on too low of a mood. Like I said, it is too simple and drags on. Jónsi’s vocals are great but the music on this last track leaves something to be desired.

Radiohead – Little By Little/Lotus Flower Remixes
This is a two track vinyl release of the songs from the new album, The King Of Limbs. The A side of this LP has a super deep drum track with a thumping bass drum and the light tinkle of a Harp. The vocals are really the only thing that remains from the original track and they are cut up to fit the new sounds on the track. The vocals are also sent through a processor of some kind because they do not sound the same as what is on the original track. I love this remix. It makes me proud to have a stereo that can handle the output. This song would sound so muddied coming from a car and the listener would be missing so much of the punch that comes from the drums if it was listened to on a stereo that could not handle the out put. The B side track is good too but it does not have that kick that the A side track has. The B side is pushed on by some really cool synth sounds though. The drums are more thin and lacking in the bass section. The vocals are also run through a processer to make it seem more like they should be a part of the song. All in all it is a good song but lacks the punch that was added to Little By Little RMX. This is surprising to me since Lotus Flower was released as the actual single from the album. It is an interesting turn of events I think.

I am excited for the next three remix singles that are scheduled to be released. The next one will contain three remixes and should be released in a week plus a few days. I believe that the tracks to be remixed will be Morning Mr. Magpie, remixed by Nathan Fake, and Bloom, Remixed by Mark Pritchard. Bloom will have two different remixes making the next vinyl three tracks. The US release dates are Tuesdays and everywhere else is Mondays.

I would like to bring to your attention that the last two albums, Jónsi and Radiohead, are extremely limited in quantities but can both be downloaded from the bands sights for little monies.