Happy birthday Neil Young!

Neil is 64 today!

Ellie Greenwich

eMusic July 2009

Haven't posted these lists of what I picked up on eMusic in a while ... Fast forward to July

Lots of girl group this month. Emusic just added the Sony/CBS back catalog, so some stuff from that label as well.

Hearts of Palm UK - For Life

This all-female group hails from LA, in spite of the name. Relaxing but definately not ambient or leisurely. Reminds me of early 80s electronica, without the disco.

It's My Party - R.S.V.P.

Girl group retro in sound and image. Released in 2007 but looks and sounds like 1961.

KO and the Knockouts - KO & The Knockouts

Detroit garage.

Ludella Black and the Masonics - From This Witness Stand

Vaguely garagish.

The Angels - Love, The Angels

Like the song "My Boyfriend's Back"? Don't be tempted by the 2008 version. Yes, original artists and all, but unfortunately ... Well, it's just not good. The rest of the album is harmless,at least.

The Epoxies - Stop The Future

New wave, but less synth.

Various Artists - The Shangri-Las And The 60s Girl Group Garage Sound

70 tracks! The cover omits the word "garage". Some of this will be already familiar to even casual listeners, but plenty of rarities. Not all what I would consider girl group, but the rest is entertaining as well.

Some individual tracks ...

Aldo Nova - "Fantasy"

A minor hit when I was in 8th grade! I hadn't heard this song in ages. I bought it so now I've heard it. Probably would not bother me if it was ages until I hear it again.

The Clash - "This Is Radio Clash"

I have pretty much everything ever released by the Clash, but somehow managed to not purchase this song. Not even sure where it was originally released. Knew it from the video.

Mp3 shuffle - 5/6 & 5/8

Here's a fun little idea: I put my mp3 player on shuffle and write down the first 10 or so songs that play. I usually completely refresh the 300-400 songs on it every couple weeks, so you get a fairly good idea of what I'm listening to at the moment.

5/6/9:

Dio - Don't Talk to Strangers (live)
Laurie Macallister - I'm Only Sleeping
Entombed - Wolverine Blues
Carolann Solebelo - Ophelia
Looker - Spit for your Shine
Music Go Music - Walk Alone
Motorhead - Lost Johnny
Girls on Film - Vaporized
The Steal - What's Your Name?
Dio - Rainbow in the Dark (live)
Antje Duvekot - Judas
Solas - Seven Curses
Ani Difranco - Lost Woman Song
Juliana Hatfield - New Waif

5/8/9

Dio - Heaven and Hell (live)
Charlotte Martin - Cars on Crescent
Abbie Gardner - You Got to Move
Red Aunts - Baby Tough Luck
Miss Tammy Fae Starlite - I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Superstar
Red Molly - Seven Years
Oi Polloi - The Earth is our Mother
Long Blondes - Lust in the Movies
Red Aunts - Brian Has a Car
Miss Tammy Fae Starlite - Surrender
The Launderettes - No Good
Alice Rock - Mail Order Bride

Interesting that both days started with live Dio.

payplay.fm

I've recently started using a download service in addition to eMusic - payplay.fm. You can read a review from PC Magazine.

eMusic is still my primary download service. It has a much larger selection than payplay and better pricing (my eMusic plan breaks down to .25/track while payplay is .88/track). With eMusic you pay a subscription fee for X downloads/month. Payplay is pay as you download. The flexability is nice even if pricier than a subscription.

Even though eMusic has a larger selection payplay is sometimes more comprehensive. For example the material that got me to try payplay in the first place - Red Molly and related artists. I had picked up Red Molly's Love and Other Tragedies on eMusic. It was good enough to make me want to try the various members solo projects. eMusic did have Laurie Macallisters These Old Clothes and Abbie Gardners self-titled EP. Payplay has quite a bit more - Macallisters The Things I Choose to Do, Gardners Honey on my Grave, and Carolann Solebellos Just Across the Water as well as Red Mollys self-titled EP and first album Never Been To Vegas.

Two other albums I consider 'scores', though. Buckner and Garcias Pac Man Fever album (I bought this on vinyl in '82!) and Barnes and Barnes' Voobaha. I'd been casually looking for that last one for 28!!!! years.

Very casually, obviously.

Not Fade Away

Charles Hardin Holley September 7 1936-February 3 1959

eMusic recommends

eMusic has a new recommendation engine which uses information from past purchases to post items on the front page you might like to download.

So far I'm mostly impressed. Some of the albums recommended I either am already planning to pick up or already have. Really impressive is that it has correctly been surmised that I am interested in rockabilly when I have downloaded very little from that genre so far.

Less impressive is that, apparently based on my download of a Twisted Sister Christmas album, 80s hair metal is pretty consistantly recommended. Nothing's perfect I guess ...

Joan Jett

Happy birthday Joan! It is either her 50th or 48th depending on who you ask. Either way, happy birthday!

And God I feel old now ...

eMusic August 08

Some actually from September, I think ...

7 Year Bitch - Viva Zapata

Well, what genre would you think? There's a story behind this one.

Abigail Washburn - The Sparrow Quartet EP

Trad. With cello. And some of it is in Mandarin.

Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet - Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet

See above.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country

Indie pop with vocals best described as "sweet".

Hyperbubble -Solid Pop

Synthpop, with robots and everything.

Po' Girl - Vagabond Lullabies

Trad.

Rasputina - Cabin Fever

Goth. I guess. It features cellos. Cellos are cool. Not as cool as basses, but still cool.

The Be Good Tanyas - Hello Love

Oh how I dig this band. Trad.

The Gits - Frenching The Bully

A companion of sorts to Viva Zapata

The Wailin' Jennys - 40 Days

But how I do like harmony. Trad.

eMusic July 08

I started off July intending to concentrate on Japanese bands, but ended up getting some non-Japanese stuff, as well as springing for some extra downloads.

5, 6, 7, 8s Bomb the Twist

Japanese. Very reminisciant of late 60s pop. Mostly known in the US for performing in the movie Kill Bill.

The Arrows and Friends "I Love Rock & Roll"

Re-recording, but at least some of the original Arrows.

Funsong Band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Kids

Gito Gito Hustler Love Roll

Japanese. All-female pop punk.

Guildo Horn Party with Sven Parker "Ich Find' Schlager Toll"

German language rewrite of "I Love Rock & Roll".

Guitar Wolf Jet Generation
Guitar Wolf Planet of the Wolves

Japanese. Loud 50s-style garage.Guys, but they get away with it cuz they're so dang cool. Absolutely icebox. They cover Eddie Cocharan, pretty much worship Joan Jett, sing about UFOs, and in Wild Zero they fought zombies. Guitar Wolf pretty much drip cool from every pore..

Hayseed Dixie "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bluegrass. Band name is a play on AC/DC.

Hit Crew "I Love Rock & Roll

Kids.

Lenni Jabour "I Love Rock & Roll"

Anabella Lwin "I Love Rock & Roll"

Lwin was the vocalist with Bow Wow Wow.

Kizooks! band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Kids.

Kirsty Maccoll The Stiff Years

Stiff was her record label in the 70s and early 80s, and shame on you for thinking anything else was implied.

Malaria! Compiled 1981-1984

German. The '!' is part of the band name.

Pickin' On Series studio band "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bluegrass.

Musique "I Love Rock & Roll"

Raleigh Ringers "I Love Rock & Roll"

Bells.

Shonen Knife 712

Japanese. Pop-punk. Well-liked in the 'alternative' scene, deserved to be more widely known in the West.

Julia Stjerneskudd "I Love Rock & Roll"


Supersnazz Diode City

Japanese.

The Pebbles First Album

Japanese. Think 60s go-go club music.

Uncle Earl Going to the Western Slope

Very American. Trad harmony and bluegrass.

Victoria Williams "Love "On Time"

Trad, although "Love" is more of a standard.

Happy 50 Kate!

Happy birthday to Kate Bush, 50 today.

30 Years Ago Today ...

Prince has his first chart appearance, with the single "Soft and Wet". Even his recent attempts to replace Lars Ullrich as the definitive example of how NOT to treat fans don't dent my enthusiasm for some of his work. Notice I said FANS. Not thinking of folks looking to rip the guy off. Problem is, Prince (and Lars, etc) does not differentiate between the two. But oh well, the 4-album stretch from Dirty Mind to Purple Rain still stands as an incredible achievement.

In other chart news, the Grease soundtrack hit #1 this day in 1978. This was the first LP I ever purchased ...

The Beatles' Influence on Medical Technology

The Wikipedia entry for Madonna includes a section labeled 'Madonna's Influence On Taxonomy'. Although I would hardly call it 'influence', Madonna is one of the music personalitys to have their name immortalized in the scientific literature by makingup part of a species latin designation. A more legitimate 'influence' in a surprising technological area is seen in the effect the Beatles had on medical technology. Well, EMI's windfall from signing the Beatles anyway ...

See http://epidemix.org/blog/?p=265 for details.

"Hard & Heavy" - no, not really

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with those multi-disc sets Time-Life sells on TV. I actually enjoy the infomercials. Fun seeing some of the live footage, even if it is just in snippets. And anything that keeps the music in memory is a good thing - unfortunately much of the collection is generally made up of available, well known material. Probably a good fit with their customer base. Those of us interested in a bit more depth probably aren't buying our music from TV infomercials any way.

So when I came upon an infomercial for a set I had never before seen I settled down for some (slight) entertainment. The 11 CD + 2 DVD set was called Hard & Heavy. Somebody someplace should be embarrassed. Much of the collection is neither hard nor heavy.

Each CD seems to have 1 to 3 or so songs that can be legitamately called heavy. For example, Megadeth is included with a track and Dio (who is the absolute KING of pseudomystical gobbledygook, and a favorite) is represented twice. Most of the rest is a mixture of questionable 80's hair 'metal' (Poison, Ratt, and so on), good groups who fail the 'heavy' test spectacularly (Scandal? The Tubes?), and groups that are best forgotten altogether (White Lion, Nelson ...).

I try to stay positive around here. For the most part I'd rather talk about the things I have or want than ramble on about things that are best kept far away from me. Time-Life's Hard & Heavy collection is painful enough to inspire me to make an exception.

Starpulse's top 10 songs sung by eomen

www.starpulse.com has posted a list of the top 10 songs sung by women in the rock era. My list would be almost completely different. That doesn't prevent me from commenting on their list.

10 - Sinead O'Conner - "Nothing Compares to You" [sic]

Solid choice. O'Conner has an incredible voice. I prefer "Mandinka", but this song will be familiar to more casual listeners. This is a problem throughout the list - popular, well known choices are given more attention than arguably better or more important songs.

9 - Sheryl Crow - "Strong Enough"

I can't really comment. Not familiar with this one.

8 - Janis Joplin - "Bobby McGee" [sic]

"Me and Bobby McGee" is a fine song. Very nice. But "Piece of my Heart" pretty much defines a particular vocal style. I would have given that song the nod.

7 - Mazzy Starr - "Fade Into You"

Again, not one I know. Mazzy Starr is on my "listen to some time" list, but I haven't tried them out yet.

6 - Blondie - "Heart of Glass"

This is a difficult one. "Call Me" is more favored, but "Heart of Glass" probably more important. "Rapture" gets the nod for historical import.

5 - Heart - "Crazy on You"

Hello, "Barracuda"? At least they didn't pick "What About Love".

4 - Hole - "Doll Parts"

Full disclosure: I really dislike this song. Why not something by Babes in Toyland? Sleater-Kinney? Heavens to Betsy? Anything but "Doll Parts" ...

3 - Tracy Chapman - "Fast Car"

Nice song. One of the best, I'm not so sure, but nice nevertheless.

2 - Fleetwood Mac - "Gold Dust Woman"

Bucks the trend. This time *I* pick the more well known song - "Rhiannon".

1 - Carole King - "Feel Like a Natural Woman"

If I was making a list of top female songwriters of the rock era, King wins first place. Heck, she could make a solid claim at #1 songwriter of either gender. But the actual recording? Well, King is a better writer than vocalist. She's not a bad vocalist, but #1?

I've tried to stick to comments about the list as it appeared. But no Ronnie Spector? The barbarians.

June eMusic

Used up my 100 dls a little early ...

Girl in a Coma Both Before I'm Gone

Released on Joan Jett's Blackheart label. All-latina, fairly straightforward rock.

Go Betty Go Worst Enemy EP

All-latina pop punk.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Sinner

Joan'a first domestic release of the 2000s.

Period Pains BBC Session EP

Punk. Punkish, at least.

Shitbirds Famous Recording Artists

Elinore Blake is the vocalist. AKA multilingual girl-pop icon April March. Pretty far from the French pop she is known for under that name, though.

Skinned Teen/Raooul Bazooka Smooth!/Jail-bait Core

Released on the west coast's Lookout! Records. Pretty much the pop-punk you'd expect from Lookout!.

The Be Good Tanyas Chinatown
The Be Good Tanyas Scattered Leaves EP
The Be Good Tanyas "Opal's Blues"

Trad. The album is their 2nd full-length, the EP the band's debut, the track from a movie soundtrack.

The Carter Family "No Depression in Heaven"

The sole male vocal I downloaded in June.

The Coathangers "Dreamboat"

60s flavored 'clean' garage.

The Detroit Cobras Mink Rat or Rabbit

Garage. Mostly covers of mostly obscure R&B.

Couple of interesting download patterns in June. I bookended the month with trad stuff, starting with TBGT and ending the month with the Carter Family. Almost accidentally I picked up releases from two different all-latina groups. 99% of what I picked up features female vocalists, with several of the groups being in fact entirely made up of that gender.

5 most intriguing vocalists of the moment

If you've been reading this blog it should be fairly obvious that I pay alot of attention to vocals in songs. By 'vocals' I mean the actual performance of the lyrics, not just the content. I'm also a pretty big enthusiast of lists. So why not a list of vocalists? In reverse order here are the five most intriguing vocalists I've been listening to lately:

5 - Kate Jackson, The Long Blondes

On the Long Blondes latest release, Couples, Kate makes very able use of falsetto in some places. What really impresses me though is her ability to use the lower end of her vocal range. One example is "Giddy Stratospheres" from their previous album. She pulls off singing one portion of the bridge in a very low register while maintaining a fairly straightforward delivery. Very impressive. Her delivery in and of itself is interesting, being almost like a speaking voice, but not quite.

4 - Angela Gossow, Arch Enemy

Angela also has ... interesting ... delivery. She uses what are often called 'cookie monster' style vocals. Normally I don't go in for this easily parodied extreme metal style. When those sounds come out of a female throat, though, I find it a lot more interesting. When I first heard Arch Enemy I had never heard a woman pull this off. I've since heard others, but you always remember the first :).

3 - Frazey Ford, The Be Good Tanyas

Imagine a vocalist who ate an entire jar of peanut butter before singing. That is not Frazey. Frazey sounds like she is actually eating the peanut butter WHILE SINGING. A unique and very enjoyable style. Takes a little getting used to a delivery that has as much in common with mumbled rambling as more common vocal styles. But worth getting used to.

2 - Melora Creager, Rasputina

With Melora we go in a completely different direction. Her voice is crystal clear, with only the faintest vibratto on sustained notes. That warble is used to great effect. The Rasputina cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is definitive, nearly dripping melancholy. The cellos of course account for some of this, but much of the credit for outdoing the original must go to the vocal performance.

1 - Ali Howard, Lucky Soul

Lucky Soul are one of my favorite bands at the moment. Ali Howard's vocals get much of the credit for this. They are velvety like honey, except this honey has begun to crystallize a bit so is a little gritty. Ali is far from Kim Carnes/Bonnie Tyler throaty vocals territory but you get a definate feeling she could play on that field. At the same time she hints at the stylings of a vocally talented 12 year old. In some respects reminisciant of an early 60s Ronnie Spector. The combination of sandpaper breathiness and little girl exubriance makes for a very intriguing result.

Catching up

Bo Diddley passed away recently. You can read about him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Diddley. Bo was in the uncomfortable position of being incredibly influential but often being treated as a mere footnote. What was interesting for me was that the word 'hambone' was never used in describing the 'Bo Diddley beat ' - which is widely acknowledged as a hambone variant. But apparently the public can't be trusted with that knowledge ...

One downside of listening to a variety of styles is that it can be easy to lose track of happenings in one area because a different area was being focused on. For example, I've been reading about riot grrrl lately - completely missing the overhaul in the Pipettes front line! Wasn't keeping up on indie pop. But it is true. Becki and Rose have both moved on to other projects. That means 2 of the 3 Pipettes vocalists have been replaced. Hope to hear material with the newbies (Anna and Ani) soon. In other Pipettes news, they recently did a show with REO Speedwagon. I feel unclean now ...

U2 should can their manager (Paul McGuinness). I mean, really, the guy is just embarassing. Pretty much monthly he natters on someplace about how the music recording industry is being hurt ... by everybody else. This time he targets ISPs (old hat, there), cellphone manufacturers, and telecoms in general.

eMusic makes recomendations based on past download history. How embarassing that my 'new releases' list included an album by ... Tiffany. I only previously downloaded one song by Tiffany! I swear!

On the subject of eMusic, material by the band Po' Girl is split between different spellings of the name - with or without the apostrophe. This annoys me much more than it should.

Still on the topic of eMusic, I have discovered they have some Joan Jett stuff I don't have yet. That is beyond cool, and something I just stumbled upon. Never would have thought to look.

May eMusic

Just in case you aren't familiar with all the stuff I download I've put little descriptions on each.

Aje'h "Kids In America"

-This months cover project was the Kim Wilde classic.

Baby Guts Gasoline

-Twin Cities riot grrrls.

BP vs. Effcee "Kids In America"

-Cover project.

Harpies Deep EP
Harpies Lie Down Station EP

-Could just as well be considered singles. Doom metal, pretty much.

I Hate Sally Don't Worry Lady

-Metalcore. Probably not technical enough for the headbangers but too metal for the punks.

Kizooks! "Kids In America"

-Think Kids Bop. Cover project.

The Be Good Tanyas Blue Horse

-Trad.

The Indelicates American Demo

-British indie pop/rock. Not a demo despite the name.

The Long Blondes Couples

-British indie pop/rock, trending towards indie dance.

The Long Blondes "Fulwood Babylon"

-A B-side I didn't have yet.

Various Artists Backcomb 'N' Beat - Dream Babes Volume 3
Various Artists Let's Go: Joe Meeks Girls!

-British mostly early/mid 60s girl group.

Two highly anticipated releases downloaded in May - Couples and American Demo. I'm doing a better job of balancing my downloads to match my interests, so all around good month for emusic here!

eMusic April 08

1/3 through May and I'm just getting around to posting a list of my April eMusic downloads.

All Girl Summer Fun Band All Girl Summer Fun Band
Bodies Of Water Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink
Julie Ruin Julie Ruin
Lucky Soul "I Gots The Magic" "Give Me Love" "One Kiss Don't Make A Summer (Radio Edit)" "That Hollywood Glow"
Shebang "Kids In America"
Suffrajets Everything You Do EP
The Choir Practice The Choir Practice
The Dials Flex Time
The Eyeliners Confidential
The Gathering Mandylion
The Langley Schools Music Project "Good Vibrations" "God Only Knows" "Space Oddity"
The Muffs "Kids In America"
The New Pornographers "Failsafe"
Tiffany "Kids In America"
We Start Fires "Play You (12" Mix)"