A one suburbanbatherson has been putting together tons of videos for all kindsa great songs using odds and ends from British TV’s past and posting them on Youtube. The results are great and there are tons of stuff i’ve never heard of too, which is always exciting. So check out his full list of videos here and you are welcome for giving you yet another source of life sucking internet entertainment. May we all enjoy our eyes being burned out of our heads in the next few years.
and now you still have almost 150 more videos to watch…
Pugh Rogefeldt is one of Sweden’s most well known psychedelic hit makers which might seem to make him a little fish in a puddle but that isn’t really true. I kinda want to call him the Swedish Caetano Veloso, but even i haven’t sold myself on that call, so i’ll leave it as a hypothesis in progress. It’s folky, goofy, psyched out but not too far out and has the always wily flash of fuzz sneaking through. Of the two albums, i’m a much bigger fan of the second “Pugish” but it’s worth noting that the first album “Ja, Dä Ä Dä!” apparently won a Swedish Grammy for best album the year it came out and the opening drum break from the first song on the album has some renown as it was sampled by the always corny DJ Shadow. What a doof that guy is. Pugh also spent three months in prison for going AWOL from his army duties to record it. Anyway, for my tastes “Pugish” hits in all the right places and the more goofy parts get on my nerves less while the dreamy melodies really sink in and happily hang around for a while. Let’s get a little euro and like it. Thanks Carlos!
Wanna hear the weirdest “garage” band that’s existed in years? Cheveu showed up a couple years ago with a few great singles that turned heads all over the place and last year they came through big time by putting out one of the best albums of the year. They are one of the weirdest bands that cannot be described without using the “garage” tag about their sound, a descriptor not often used when discussing interestingly and highly creative modern bands. Do they even have garages in Paris? I’d like to say it’s because they’re French, but that country has proven itself to produce plenty of real dull “garage” rock over the years, so while these are three dudes are very very French and that’s a big part of their charm, they obviously tapped into some spring of creativity most are clueless to. So what do they sound like? Well they got this singer who saunters around like a belligerent cro-magnnon desperate to get his rocks off usually mumbling incoherently in broken English about everything from Superman’s cum to James Bond as a model while another dude rips away away at a perfectly distorted guitar seeming to have an endless supply of killer riffs and a third dude who looks confused while tinkering with a blown out drum machine and occasion killer organ hook. A little of something for everyone, no?
He is a wild eyed basement dwelling eccentric loony and what’s more angelic than that? He’s something that this world has very very few of; a unique (an true understatement), highly motivated, exceptionally creative, completely autonomous, righteously sincere, unpretentious artist who has dedicated his life to his craft and has produced mounds of exceptional work that the world will get unjustly more enjoyment from than will ever send in praise and respect back to it’s creator. I know heaping this much praise and hype towards one person most often ends in disappointment once someone actually hears/sees/tastes whatever it the hype is hyping but it’s how I feel about the guy, and hope you do too. What i’m offering today, after going back and forth about the morality of posting something the guy would happily sell you cheap, is a quick comp some one did of a real slew of R. Stevie’s hits. Not a greatest hits package because any legit greatest hits from this guy would occupy two to three albums at least! It’s called Hobbies Galore and judging by the prolificness of this guy, there is some serious irony involved in that title. 400 albums since 1968 and still going, amazing dude.
Volume 3 has landed and i think it’s the best of the bunch. Sonny & the Sunsets got the top slot and being San Francisco’s best reclusive homebody band they deserve a little attention. “Chapters” is a hit in every sense of the word, its timeless boogie woogie and doe eyed earnest positivity is just as undeniable as it is adorable. I’ve been listening to it everyday, rain or shine, and it has its best effect under duress of sunshine. Just something to keep in mind. The rest of the mix is pretty much drowning in killer tunes, some of which being featured on this site before and others not. Also, if you haven’t noticed yet each of the three volumes end with a special dreamy come down jam that is meant to hit right as that sun sets or rises after some life affirming fun that the squares just couldn’t and wouldn’t ever understand. Here’s to a lovely summer where ever you are.
Sonny & The Sunsets – Chapters
Victims – Anette
Tall Dwarfs – Nothing’s Going To Happen
Van Dyke Parks – The Attic
Surf City – Headin’ Inside
Velvet Underground – Guess I’m Falling In Love
Som Imaginario – Morse
The Troggs – The Raver
The Strapping Fieldhands – Battle Down The Quarter Mile
Tomorrow - Now Your Time Has Come
Yoko Ono & The Plastic Ono Band – I Felt Like Smashing My Face In A Clear Glass Window
Sparks – Talent Is An Asset
Television Personalities – This Time There’s No Happy Ending
Alrite, volume two up now and the third in the trilogy coming next week. Hope everyone enjoyed number one, if that wasn’t enough to keep you satiated for the week i’ll plug Summr Jams 2k8 one more time. Give them a try on for size, you might like them better than 2k9. Magic first track is by the totally riteous Further, introduced to me by Monsieur Matthew Correia a little while back. They were some of the folks who went on to be in Beachwood Sparks and The Tyde, never really listened to either but i hear some good things. Anyway, “California Bummer” is total shredder that’s perfectly distorted and catchy with that amazing twitchy spazzed out guitar and helium vocals. Pretty perfect video, too. Go get ‘em, ya yahoos!
Three volumes, 65 Songs, 3.4 hours (thanks iTunes) of sunburn inducing, curl ripping, beach ball bopping good times! Babes, Beaches, Bikes, Basketball, BBQ, Brews… Intentions for the mix’s were first and foremost to command and conquer bad vibes. Secondary intentions were to hopefully turn some ears on to some new favorites, maybe incite a dance party, provide ambiance to an already killer event or simply give you a break from whatever you are bored of listening to.
Each volume is roughly alphabetically sectioned to cut down on the silly task of organizing and sequencing 65 songs and the first on each volume is an specially chosen tune that i wanted to highlight for it’s all encompassing qualities of everything i wanted these mix’s to be. This first song by Happiness, called Track 13 because it came off of a cdr with no song titles, is the best thing i’ve heard from one of San Francisco’s best kept secrets Gerard Padwan. I hope i’m spelling that right. His old band Kool Teen ruled real hard and he’s been using the Happiness moniker for a few years now recording pretty consistently in his house, i do believe. The dude is a real talent with a heart’o gold. Enjoy!
So you have three highly artistic young ladies who want to start a band. Some members know how to play and some don’t, the main instruments for the band is a ukulele, toy piano and toy drum set. Blend this all together in New York’s early eighties music scene with direct associations with Glenn Branca and 99 records and guess what? The results are fantastic, yeah, go figure. But it’s not really fair to use hindsight in this case to declare that Y Pants was going to be great even before their first practice. The charm these songs have, using limited abilities and instruments as a leash to simplicity, is up there with the best of Rough Trade ladies catalog, an association i don’t make lightly. Keeping things minimal and simple yet maintaining interest and intelligence is a delicate balance and is usually the result of honest artistic vision and a good amount of heart. Y Pants got that shit on lock.
This rascally group of savagely passionate and dangerously excitable young ladies really came into the worlds view a couple years back when Rhino released the wonderful Girl Groups box set, from which the Tammys were shining stars even amongst some all time greats of the hormonally imbalanced and infinitely talented teenage girls musical pantheon. Their big hit (but never an actual hit) “Egyptian Shumba” is spine tingling, mesmerizing, hair raising, mind blowing, and every other worthy cliche you can think of. It’s the musical equivalent of two (three?) suppressed sixteen year olds having sex like ferocious animals. Imagine a drunk Shangri-Las singing like their life depended on it and you’re getting closer. Other hits on this comp “Guitars & Bongos,” “Too Many Miles,” “Part Of Growing Up” are more excellent numbers with great catchy chorus’ and determined vocals, all penned my Mr. “Lightning Strikes” Lou Christie himself. What he did to rile these girls up and inspire these performances is truly a mystery best left to the imagination.
From Yoko’s rap as the Beatles killer to her very bizarre “art” career whether it be fluxus, music, painting most people are understandably baffled if you tell them that at one point she made a a truly rocking pop record. But it’s true and most importantly it’s good! It’s reeeaaalllyyy good, actually! Needless to say this isn’t your standard whiz, bang, pow fluffed up radio schlock pop, but it none the less goes down easy and it’s plenty tasty. She has an ace backing band in Elephant’s Memory and she really does have an ability to write tunes that seem to come from deep within her strange strange soul. The opening track, “Yang Yang” on the (double!) LP is a psyched up jam that really makes ya want to let your hair hang down, while “I felt like smashing my face in a clear glass window” is a monumentally great pop song about teen frustrations and botched home life. Other album highlights are “Move On Fast” which is a serious ripping tune that would go swimmingly sandwiched between the Pink Fairies and 13th Floor Elevators on a mix tape, and also the title track, “Approximately Infinite Universe” is a spaced out (pun intended) hit the Shocking Blue should be seriously jealous they never wrote.
