Hot Chip have a new EP out called Dark & Stormy. You can get it at your local record store or online.
Not much new in my music world right now so, on with the show...
Man or Astro-Man? – Possession By Remote Control
This is the first released from MOAM. It was released in
1992 and was way ahead of its time. It was released on translucent blue vinyl
only. There were about six variants that were pressed on solid grayish purple.
This was because of the previous pressing. These six records also had a variant
in the sleeve where the name of the record was not printed at the bottom of the
cover graphic. There were 800 copies pressed at 33 and 1/3 RPM. The outer
sleeve was a folded card. The inside of the card was a single graphic that
spread across both halves of the card.
The back was a picture of the band playing live with a short
paragraph stating this, “Transmissions are coming through! TV's are everywhere.
You're supposed to watch them. You must watch them. Spewing their enchanting
radiation on our children, there's no turning back. They're here to stay for
the glazed eyes of generations to come. But their influence extends beyond the
family room. They're affecting our young people in all ways. As seen here on
this record, Man or Astro-Man? are captive slaves to the idiot tube. Completely
enraptured by the uncompromising rays, they have become mindless teens playing
the music that the cable god orders them to. And now with the channel changer,
sometimes called a flipper or zapper, all hope is lost for the boys. Possession
by Remote Control is the music of zombies controlled by distant and unknown
broadcasting centers. In no case has anyone ever spent such a gross waste of
time on a device such as television. But just wait until they get a satellite
dish!”
From Astro-Man ad nauseam, “The alien-holding-a-guitar
graphic on the front cover was a cleverly shopped image of a space man taken
from the lobby card for a 1957 sci-fi film called Invasion of the
Saucer-Men. In the original image the alien was holding some sort of a
space tool.”
There was also a few different inserts that were possible to
get with this record. I point you over to Astro-Man ad nauseam for more
information about it.
There are four songs on this EP. Those song titles are EricEstrotica, Landlocked, Adios Johnny Bravo and Joker’s Wild. The first track, Eric Estrotica
can also be found on their first full length album and seems like the same
recording. Landlocked can also be found on Destroy All Astro-Men. The version
on Destroy All Astro-Men sounds like the same version found here also. Adios
Johnny Bravo can also be found on the compilation called What Remains Inside A
Black Hole. This compilation can only be found on CD that I am aware of and seems
a bit cleaned up from Possession By Remote Control. The last track, Joker’s
Wild, can also be found on Destroy All Astro-Men. I believe this is also the
same version.
Where I am going with this is that if you are interested in
these songs or in the band, go after the regular albums then after the
compilation albums. You will find that most of their music can be gotten that
way. There are quite a few other B-sides that can be only gotten by the
original pressings but you will have most of their music.
Special thanks to James B. and other contributors of
Astro-Man at nauseam for the detailed information on this 7” and others like
it.
This is the third album from Dessa. It was released in late
June of 2013. Dessa is a member of the Minneapolis
hip hop collective Doomtree. I had hear a couple of tracks from this album both
at a local record store while I was flicking through some records and on my
local radio station. I liked the beats that I heard and expected the record to
be mostly vocals and electronic music. This was not the case. It has taken a
few listens to decide if I like the record or not. I am siding with the record
being good because it is actually musically more than just some rap beats with
vocals and spoken word. There is some very good musicality and most of these
songs could be released to the radio and get good air play.
There are two singles from this album so far. The first
single is called Call Off Your Ghost. This is the track that sparked my
interest in the album. The drum beat is all electronic. It really reminded me
of the Music that Foxes has put out. I know that Dessa has been around longer
than Foxes but I heard music from foxes first. I think that the vocals on this
track are different than what Foxes has done in the past though.
The second single is called Warsaw. This song is dirtier than the first
single. The bass line is solid but very noisy distorted. The drums are clean
electronic and fun. The vocals are more spoken word on this track. I have never
been a big fan of rap or spoken word for that matter. That being said, I can
listen to this track when it comes on but I will not be listening to the track
repeatedly.
There are a couple of unexpected gems on this album too. The
down tempo track called I’m Going Down is super cool. The chorus works very
well with a great hook. Fighting Fish is a high point especially since it is a rap song.
And last, The Lamb hits hard with a super heavy bass line and electronic drums.
This is the fourth album from Faith No More. It was released
in early June of 1992. It was the final album with Jim Martin and the second
for vocalist Mike Patton. It is the groups best selling album to date. This was
a very influential album for me. It was way out of normal even for grunge
standards at the time. I found something special in the vocal style of Mike
Patton and have never heard anything to rival him since. I even went so far as
to get albums from his other band, Mr. Bungle. I loved the rubbery effect that
he has with his vocals bouncing from nearly classical to scream to just a deep
throaty sound. He has such awesome range and style. Billy Gould’s bass playing
I always thought was amazing too. He ranged from the simple to the hard core
flash. It was always amazing to me.
The album spawned an amazing four singles with a fifth being
released on a special sampler. The first of which was Midlife Crisis. The song
starts off with a drum intro that kind of sticks in your head. The synth comes
in with whispered vocals. The bass then kicks in with the guitar in the chorus.
The guitar has a nice sounding distortion, not to overpowering. The verse
vocals are not exactly whispered or screamed either but come off as strained
none the less. It is a cool sound for a vocalist I think. Mike Patton was heard
to say that, “The song is based on a lot of observation and a lot of
speculation. But in sort of a pointed way it's kind of about Madonna... I think
it was a particular time where I was being bombarded with her image on TV and
in magazines and her whole shtick kind of speaks to me in that way... like
she's going through some sort of problem. It seems she's getting a bit
desperate”
The second single is called A Small Victory. This track as
an Asian influence to it. The song is about wanting to win at everything and
the realization that you can’t win every thing but still letting that idea
bother you. There are a lot of samples used in this song and has a very
danceable vibe to it. The video shows this as the band hired Marcus Nispel to
direct the video. It really is one of their most up beat tracks and a great
song to listen to.
The third single from the album is called Everything’s Ruined. This track is very drum and bass driven. This is one of the songs that
has always impressed me with the bass playing. It is not the mellow plucking
that most bass players are known for. It is very sharp with that disco slap
bass sound. But the style has been changed just to fit in a rock group. The
chorus has this amazing vocal hook that I like so much. This is one of the
greatest songs that the group has put out.
The last single that was included on all versions of the
album except for here in North America was a
cover of Lionel Richie’s Easy. I live in North America
so I had to hunt down the Songs To Make Love To EP to get this song. The band
as a whole did a fantastic job recreating this song the way that Richie did. It
really is amazing how close that they came to an exact replica of the original
song. The only difference is that a group did the cover instead of session
musicians. There are real small differences between the two versions.
Obviously, the vocals are different but the sound of the guitar is slightly
different. I would say that it is fuller than the original. Also the synth is
added to fill out the background. I almost like this version better than the
original.
There were two tracks on this album that did not go out as
singles that I really like a lot. The first is a song called Kindergarten. It
is a song about starting school and looking forward to the next twelve years
and how far away it is to get to graduation and the end of school. These were
thoughts that went through my head as a kid. Now that I am out of school I look
back and think to myself, “why couldn’t I just enjoy my time in school?” I
guess that this is just a part of man’s lot in life, to constantly wish that
something could have been different or that we could skip a section of time
only to wish later that we had taken the time to enjoy it.
The other track that I really liked from this album is
called Be Aggressive. It is a faster track that the keyboardist, Bottum, wrote
as a joke at Patton’s expense, enjoying the potential humiliation a straight
vocalist would subject himself to onstage. That being said, the song is
supposedly about a gay blowjob. I never listened to the lyrics with this track
except for the chorus really. I had no idea until I looked up the song meaning
what the song was about. I still think it is a good song though. My view may
have changed just a bit though now that I know what the song is about. The
group has always bent gender rolls and talked about sex so it doesn’t change my
view of the band itself.
It is musically a great album and should be heard at least
once by everyone.
This is the ninth album from Hall & Oates. It was
released in late July of 1980.
This was a slow one to make hits but it did and I had to
have the album because of the hits that the album put out. The album marked the
change in direction that the band took that helped to get them their success in
the early 80s. This was also the first album that they produced themselves.
There are also a few variations in the covers of the albums. The originals were
black and white photos with the sound wave graphic embossed; later versions
were different pictures without the embossment and still later were a color
picture with out the white bar down the center.
There were four singles released from this album. The song
Everytime You Go Away was actually covered by Paul Young in 1985 where it went
to number one in the charts. This is where most people know this song from. The
first single from the album is called How Does It Feel To Be Back. The song
didn’t chart very well. The song is very forgettable but still better than most
of the soft rock dribble that was out at the time.
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and is a cover of the
original song by The Righteous Brothers. It was a minimalist version compared
to The Righteous Brothers version and the difference in style garnered the
group some attention. This was needed attention with the next single.
The third single is called Kiss On My List. I remember
hearing this on the radio as a kid and liked the way that the song sounded. It
was easy to sing along to and as a young kid that was important as I did not
have a huge vocabulary. More importantly it was an easy hook to memorize both
verbally and musically. I really liked top 40 music in the 80s and, for the
most part, top 40 music was good music to listen to.
The last single from the album did well in the charts. The
song is called You Make My Dreams. Most people label it as You Make My Dreams
Come True. The multilayered guitar really makes the music stand out. The bass
playing on the opposite beat for part of the song makes the music pop that much
more. It is a sweet song about a girl that makes her man happy, simple as that.
It is a good song that is really just as good as Kiss On My List in my opinion.
This is another great album that Hall & Oates has
released. You can get it for cheap from your local used record store, just a
couple of bucks really.
That is all I have for now...
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