Prodigy and Justice

So, today I have some moderate excitement about some new stuff and some exuberance over some not-so-new stuff.

First up, the new: The Prodigy. Invaders Must Die is the new album, and it's a fun one....if you like The Prodigy. Basically, I'm not disappointed that I own the album, but I'm not jumping up and down the way I was in my last entry. If you already like The Prodigy you'll like Invaders Must Die. It's essentially the same vibe as Fat of the Land infused with older-style (eg, Music for the Jilted Generation) samples and synths. For staying awake while driving or for getting pumped up for a night on the town it's at least as good as anything else they have released. For intrigue, creativity, and caché...don't get Invaders Must Die. Instead get.....

CROSS! This album by Justice was released a year ago, but it blows my mind so much that I just had to mention it here. I had heard several Justice songs in various DJ mixes (in fact, I mentioned them in a blog entry several months ago), but I hadn't yet gotten this album for myself until recently. I have been listening to it a little every day since then, and I'm still not tired of it. You may recognize the introductory track from some recent car commercials, and you may recognize a few of the later tracks from some recent films and TV shows. However, the songs that aren't commercial enough for movies and TV are the ones that really leave a mark. Each of their songs evokes thoughts and emotions so strongly that I swear they are speaking directly to my mind. Sometimes the message is a little disturbing and I have to put it down for a little while, but often I just can't resist the smile or violent headbang that their music elicits. I hope to catch these guys live some time, since previews of their live concert DVD Across the Universe seems to indicate that they rock as hard as any rock 'n' roll band both on and off stage.

Happy Day

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy sycophant I feel I must shout from the rooftops my joy at the new U2 album No Line on the Horizon! I can't remember the last time I was more enthralled when listening to an album the first time through. Oh, wait, now I remember, it was when Achtung Baby came out!

Seriously, as most of you know, U2 is my all time greatest guilty pleasure. The rebel in me hates that I love a band that is so commercial and popular, but I just can't stop. With this album in particular my joy is complete. With How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and All That You Can't Leave Behind I was actually starting to think that the band was settling into late-career mode. You know, the period where they all look at each other and say, "You know what? We're old. Let's just write some pretty songs and put out an album to prove we can still play our instruments." However, it is my great pleasure to announce that this seems NOT to be the case with U2. As they have done over and over in the past they have reinvented themselves in a way that is familiar and yet new and exciting.

I'm particularly enthusiastic about Brian Eno's involvement in the album. His influence can clearly be heard (by those with discerning ears) in the strange but lilting organs and blips and beeps that pervade but never dominate the production. While Bono's voice has indeed lost a little of the dynamic intensity that his youth afforded, it has been replaced with the emotional intensity of maturity. Here is a man who makes clear through his lyrics that he has traveled the world, lived the high life as a pop star and yet spent countless hours working for and in behalf of the underprivileged, the wrongfully accused, and the starving and orphaned.

Go buy this album!

Still going

I realized the other day that it's been eons since I posted anything here, and I almost decided to delete the blog. However, I've really enjoyed having a reason to listen to and think about new music, so I'm going to pick it up once more.

Anyone here a fan of My Morning Jacket? I have just recently started to get into them. I haven't decided which album to buy on my limited budget. Any suggestions?

In terms of recent music I feel like I have to comment on The Killers' "Day and Age". I have been surprised at how much I like this poppy-sounding album. I don't know if it's the lyrics or the voice or just everything, but I'm really enjoying it. I don't laud it among the best of the best, but I think I might actually buy the album.

New Tricky!

Finally, something to really get excited about in my random ramblings! Tricky has a new album (this time I'm 90% sure it really is new) called Knowle West Boy. I must say, it is sa-weeet. Tricky is the granddaddy macdaddy father of trip hop, and he does not disappoint with this album. He seems to have taken a slightly different track than other great trip hop groups like Massive Attack and Portishead. His song construction is less experimental and more conforming to early trip hop style. However, his sound production and mixing don't disappoint and he still conveys an unparalleled etherealness and cool vibe in every track. I'm looking forward to exploring every little nuance to this album in the coming weeks. Right now I'm just smiling at having finished the first pass and feeling relieved that this man is still making music.

Too Old

OK, anonymous caught me yet again. I wish I knew who that person was, since they seem to have all the facts that I don't. Apparently I rely too heavily on iTunes to find new music. The Eraser was out for a loooong time before it was available on iTunes, hence my confusion.

Fortunately, this blog really only has two purposes, and neither of them is to alert the public to new and awesome music. First, it helps me stay in touch with a few people scattered around the world; and second, it forces me to listen to more music than my daily grind would otherwise permit so that I have something to write about.

So, what's the music connection of the day? I don't really have any. I spent the weekend camping in Door County, WI where they only listen to oldies and country. I didn't have any mindblowing experiences there musically, but I sure did have a good time. My kids slept in a tent, avoided poison ivy, avoided falling in the lake with their clothes on, and generally made this the first bona fide success in full Kennedy-family vacationing.

AFI and Thom Yorke

Two radically different directions to take today. First, the good news: Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser is out (has been for about a month now) and I don't think it disappoints in the least. It's basically Radioheadish, but focuses on Thom's voice and amazing electronic production instead of the rock sounds of the rest of the band. From what I hear he's not ditching the group, just needed to get some stuff out of his head. I, for one, am happy he did.

Now for the bad news. Apparently I am a closet goth/emo kid. For months now I have been rocking out to a song on the radio and in Guitar Hero 3 without knowing the name of the song, the name of the band, or the content of the lyrics. I was appalled when I finally looked it up this week only to find out the band is AFI, the song is Miss Murder, and it's basically about suicide. Blargh. I feel dirty.

Radio Blues

Ever since moving to the land of never ending drama involving football players with strange, frenchy last names I've been mildly impressed with the quality of the radio stations here. There are at least three stations that don't make me want to cry with their repetitive playlists and poorly concealed editorial allegiances to the corporate powers-that-be, which is three more than most other places I've lived.

But my most favorite radio station 102.1 disappointed me this week. They have a nightly "cage match" between new songs, asking listeners to call in and vote for which song they like more. There are several problems with this style of polling, but it's not at all uncommon in radio, so I just have to grin and bear it. No, my problem is not that respondents are self-selected by their availability and access to phones. Nor is it that the quality of a song can rarely, if ever, be ascertained in one listening (and over such a low-fidelity device as an FM radio). No, my problem is that when the radio station tells me they have a new song I expect it to be NEW.

My knuckles turned white and my eyes got all squinty as I heard the radio DJ announce that the contender in the cage match would be none other than MGMT. The song, sadly, was not a new single, not even the now-available single off their forthcoming album. It was Time To Pretend off of their first album and that also appears on the 21 soundtrack.

On the plus side, the song rocks and I enjoyed myself. If you haven't listened to MGMT, check out this quote from their official site about the band's beginnings:

Andrew and Ben began staging a series of "these obnoxious, noisy live electronic shows -- we never planned on having it be a recorded project -- where we would write these weird techno loops and arrangements that we could play with live. Most of it was running live off the computer and we had a turntable plugged into some guitar pedals, a radio, and a tape player. It was all electronically generated at that point. We would write a new song for each show and our shows would be 15 minutes long."

MGMT is currently on tour with Beck. (this is erroneous - see the anonymous contributor's comment)

More Fair Fare

Got out to see another county fair concert a week and a half ago. It was a triple bill: Blues Traveler, Collective Soul, and Live.

Blues traveler is still traveling, and still kicking ass. That Popper dude sure knows how to blow the old mouth organ. Seriously, it was mindblowing how much air that guy has. Highlight of their show: a rendition of Devil Went Down to Georgia where he played the fiddle parts on the harmonica. Crazy.

I've heard Collective Soul on the radio before and I was kind of hoping they would rock. They didn't.

Live rocked the house, though they didn't rock quite as hard as I would have liked. As much as I was looking forward to seeing Live I think I liked Blues Traveler more for overall entertainment. However, they did play I Alone and a bunch of other old hits and I have to admit I stood next to the speakers and, uh, let loose with my inner headbanger. It was somewhat embarassing, but worth it.

NOW....on to more electronic matters....

I found a great album to run with. Ursula 1000 :Here Comes Tomorrow. It's not the newest thing on the block (released in 2006), but man is it fun. He's got this nice modern twist on old-school funk/soul samples and original vocal recordings that makes him stand out from the million other remixers out there in my opinion. You may recognize the first track "Kaboom!" from a cell phone commercial last year (or something like that). The rest of the album isn't quite as fun/jumpy/pop sounding as that one, though. He does some very interesting and subtle things throughout. For example, "Electric Boogie" (track 4) sounds like some seriously retro trash even before you get past the title. However, to me it sounds like a sweet combination of Prince and Justin Timberlake, both in the production and in the vocal style. I have no idea who he uses for his vocals (it might be Ursula himself) but it hits my workout right around the time I'm getting warmed up (somewhere in the middle of my second mile) and gets me juiced for the run.

Where Are They Now?

Remember that old VH1 show? Its aim was to catch us up on the activities of music stars of yore. I felt like I was in an episode last night.

Wisconsin has an incredibly large number of opportunities for live music, not least of which are the county and state fairs. At the county fair last night I got to see both Soul Asylum (remember Runaway Train?) and Everclear. Despite the mosquitos and hint of goat in the air it was a great time. Mostly it was fun because Jodi is an Everclear fan and she danced oh-so-cutely while they were on.

Neither band's performance really wowed me. Soul Asylum's music has always been a little tame for my taste, and Everclear's songs all sound alike (literally, when they started playing their encore I asked "Haven't they already played this one?"). However, what really struck me was the enthusiasm and sincerity that both bands displayed. Neither of them seemed to be overly depressed at having to play the Waukesha County Fair, despite not being able to pronounce "Waukesha" and making, by my estimation, barely enough to cover the busses and booze for the show. It was fun seeing a couple of once-big-time bands still enjoying what they do and making ends meet the best way they can.

Summerfest Report

One of the nice things about being in Wisconsin is Summerfest. I finally had a chance to get down there and it was a blast. Many thanks to Chris and Dan for organizing things and getting tickets for us.

Ironically, Matisyahu (the artist we went to see) doesn't really fit well with the usual musicofsound fare. There was very little electronic influence, no processing, nothing really innovative sonically at all. In fact, his music is very much a message of peace and understanding, perhaps more pertinent to a musicofmeaning blog. That being said, it was nonetheless the best time I've had in the city since moving here. Matisyahu was energetic, entertaining, and very talented. He sang, rapped, beat-boxed, and danced...all while wearing his orthodox jewish attire (complete with hat and shawl). I was keenly aware of the positive message of his songs (even though in many songs I could only understand half the words or fewer), and Chris mentioned to me how he feels uplifted when listening to his music. I'll definitely be purchasing some for my own listening. In fact, at my son's birthday party yesterday we used some of his free music online to play musical chairs with the kids.

Pass me some more trip-hop...I'll pass on the pop....

Two noteworthy albums to discuss (neither is terribly new). First, Portishead is amazing. One of history's quintessential trip-hop bands has done it again with their album Third, and it's truly amazing. Listening to Third reminds me of the first time I heard Massive Attack's Mezzanine.....first, this sounds horrible....then, hmmm there's something interesting going on here....and finally, this speaks to my soul! They have reinvented trip-hop for this decade and I'm betting that soon other bands will be stealing once again from this staple of good electronic music.

Second, Madonna's Hard Candy makes me about as sick to listen to as looking at her 50-year-old self in the dominatrix outfit on the cover. There's nothing new here. In fact, it takes the worst of Madonna's admittedly impressive career and smears it together with a hodgepodge of half-hearted efforts from some of the world's best producers. Forgive me if you disagree, but I simply can't afford to give this album a second listen (I didn't even bother to give you a link). The most recognizable track, 4 Minutes, is fairly catchy (I think it's also the first single from the album), but it's JT who makes it shine, not the matriarch of fake british accents. Maybe her nursing home neighbors will appreciate it more than me.

On the plus side, Ace finally sent me some JUSTICE to listen to and I'm digging it. It's from the Essential Mix series on UK radio. Not only did they find time to mix in the Chemical Brothers, some classic funk, and some of their own modern european techno, but they did it with such style I am forced to overlook the fact that they are french... If you want your ears tickled, check them out. The most amazing thing to me about JUSTICE is how their music speaks to me. I can actually hear a message/emotion/signal/whatever you want to call it that seems very intentional and purposeful in each of their songs. It reminds me of how some classical music is supposed to be heard. Why I have an ear for JUSTICE and not for Mozart with regards to the "meaning" of the song I cannot say.

Running and Music

I found something on iTunes a couple of weeks ago that I'm ashamed to admit I bought. When I hear someone mention using "techno" in some sort of workout routine (think cheesy, thumping, aerobics instructor music) it makes me cringe. It lumps things like Paul-Oakenfold-ten-thousand-person-rave-music with truly amazing electronic music like the Chemical Brothers in the same way that "Indie Rock" is the new catch-all genre for anything that doesn't play on pop radio (remember "Alternative Rock"?).

So, when I saw Drive, a release by the Crystal Method that iTunes calls a Nike+ Original Run, I was skeptical. It's 40ish minutes of Crystal Method music, mostly previously released, mixed with the idea of creating a tempo and mood suitable for a good run. Since I'm a fan of the CM, though, I decided to give it a try, and I have to say I was not disappointed. The music seems to build and kick exactly when I need it to, so for me it accomplished exactly what it claims. For the most part it's not mind-blowing electronic music, but it is a cool idea and one that I think iTunes will continue.

Of course, my power song is still Knights of Cydonia by MUSE. Nothing beats it for pumping me up when I hit the wall....yet.

Change of Pace

OK, I know its been ages since I posted anything, and several of you have been on my case to change that. So, here goes...

I'll no longer be doing my weekly radio show. Had a little falling out with the station management at WCCX. I wish them the best, but they are going a bit more commercial and poppy than I care for.

That being said, I still have a lot of music to share. Since my last post I've discovered MUSE and MGMT. I can highly recommend both. Today, however, I'm particularly excited about a rapper out of DC named Wale. The main elitaste website is pretty ugly and clunky to my eyes (maybe the myspace generation likes them like that), but you can get the direct download of Wale's Seinfeld-based mixed tape here.

Anyway, I think I'll pick up with this blog and use it to keep track of cool stuff I come across. Feel free to send me cool stuff via email or comments.

Music Musings

OK, so I have realized a couple of things these last few weeks.

1) Radiohead is possibly the greatest band of my generation.

2) There is still good music being made, and still boundaries being pushed. I found out that I really like *some* of the music coming out of Iceland these days. I thoroughly enjoyed that track by mum a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to try to get some more of that. Just don't try to shove any Bjork down my throat.

3) I forgot how cool Pandora is. They have become a bit more commercialized since last I was there. But, hey, everyone's gotta eat. Can't begrudge them some revenue.

Speaking of Bjork - I am enthralled by the reactable. I want to build one. Anyone else interested? I figure I can get some undergrad research money to do it if I can get some music or computer science people involved.

Playlist 10/19

Firestarter - The Prodigy
Distractions - Zero 7
Sunbeams - UKO
Hunting Bears - Radiohead
Moisture Seekers - Tipsy
sadness of adness - Alexandra Kirkilis
Some Men - Darkel
Cramp Yo Style.... - Thievery Corporation
Beautiful Woman - Darkel
Ooh La La - The Wiseguys
Just Slide - Supertweeker
Let Forever Be (Radio Edit) - The Chemical Brothers
Obscure - Voodoo Child
Voodoo Doll - Danny Tenaglia
Tokyo/Better Day (Ming + FS Remix) - STS9
P45 - Space Monkeyz
Boop - Ursula 1000
Eye for an Eye Backwards - UNKLE
Sunrise - Joshua Kennedy
Rebel Music - Wyclef Jean

Playlist 10/12

Knee 1 - Phillip Glass
Put a Straw Under Baby - Brian Eno
Suitcase in Hand - CFTPA
Face a la Mere (Massive Attack Remix) - Les Negresses Vertes
Echo Vibes - Outfunk
Listen to the Rythmn - Aphrodite
Dancing Behind My Eyelids - mum
Not Enuff Love - Faithless
The Way I Am - Casbah 73
Olympic (Flutey Mix) - 808 State
Scorpion - William Orbit
Party Crashers - Radio 4
Furthest Moment - Quantic
Freefall - Pitch Black
Jardim Di Alma - Arto Lindsay
Storm Coming - Gnarls Barkley
Casanova '70 (The Secret of Cool Brendan Lynch Remix) - Air
Unleash the Comfort (Original) - Cristian Paduraru
Thinking About Tomorrow (lpg D) - Beth Orton
The Way I Am - Timbaland (feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.)

Playlist 10/5

Remember, every song (almost) has a direct connection with the last. If you missed the show and you want to know how they're related send me an email.

Bring It On Down (VIP Mix) - Aquasky and the Drumattic Twins
Backdrifts - Radiohead
Butterfly Caught (RJD2 Remix) - Massive Attack
I Against I - Mos Def with Massive Attack
Untitled - Kid Koala and Amon Tobin
Dare (Soulwax Remix) - Gorillaz
Enuff - DJ Shadow with Q-Tip and Lateef the Truth Speaker
Girls - The Prodigy
Candy - Riton
Micronesia - Moby
Always Forever Now - Brian Eno w/ U2
Lemon (Oakenfold Jeep Mix) - U2
Your Retro Career Melted (Ursula 1000 Remix) - The Faint
Seven Years (Matrix Remix) - Nu:Tone w/Natalie Williams
Manteca (Funky Lowlives Remix) - Dizzy Gillespie
Roads - Portishead

Degrees

I'm trying a new format this week, I think it'll be fun. Every song will be linked in some way to the song before and after. This is sort of how I organize my club DJ sets - one song reminds me of something in another. Though, for the radio show I'll have more than just musical style to connect the playlist. Tune in to see what Massive Attack and U2 have in common!

First Impressions

I like the studio at Carroll. Plenty of volume in the monitors, so I can kick back and rock out to the jams if I want. However, they don't have a delay dump, and my show isn't in safe harbor, so I may have caused some FCC problems with a couple of those songs. I hope I don't have to pay a fine....

It turns out that the station manager in training is in my Physics 203 class along with the music manager. Maybe I can pull some professor leverage.

Playlist 9/28/07

Chemical Beats (Dave Clark Remix) - The Chemical Brothers
Tahiti Rain Song - Cocorosie
Butter for the Soul - Cornershop
Searching - DJ Icey
Marvel - Mix Master Mike
Into the Blue (Summer Wind Remix) - Moby
Awake Enough - Deep Dish
Our Spring Is Sweet Not Fleeting - Of Montreal
Sci-Fidelity (Ish) - Ph10
Shake Your Coconuts - Junior Senior
Gold Digger - Kanye West
Music Plus 1 - Cornershop
Ten Miles Back - The Crystal Method
Mushaboom (Postal Service Mix) - Feist
Everything Will Be Better Tomorrow - Faithless
Mi Bebe Masoquista - Fatboy Slim
Backroom Speakers - Subjekt
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Something About Us - Daft Punk
Simple Things - Dirty Vegas
I Am Tha Freshmaka (Static Revenger Remix) - Freshmaka
Dirty Harry - Gorillaz