The Lampshade Special

Image Courtesy of Handmade Paper Lampshades


Whether you're covering up that lampshade to set a mood, or wearing one on your head because you're trying to forget that mood, these songs are tributes to the various applications of the lampshade.


Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World (Soul, Comedy) - from the full length self-titled LP. they can copy any genre. it's a "funky jam". prince would be proud.

Otis Redding - You Don't Miss Your Water (Soul) - they recently reissued Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul which has to be one of the greatest soul albums of all time. a definite post lampshade album.

Brael And Tokyo Bloodworm - Seed (Ambient) - for the morning where you're still in a daze, but you know it's going to be a good day because you can't remember a thing about the previous evening.

Bell @ Mercury Lounge in NYC...TONIGHT

Picture taken from Stereogum


If you're in The New York area, please go check out Bell at the Mercury Lounge TONIGHT.

From a whisper, to a vein popping yell that teeters on the brink of tears, Olga Bell is about as real as it gets in music.


More to come soon...............

Covers from Jeff Buckley

image courtesy of Merri Cyr, 1995

Besides Grace, which was Jeff Buckley's only officially completed album, the legacy of songs and material that remain comes mainly from his incredible live shows which consisted of playing various covers from a vast array of artists. His vocal range was such that he took on many songs from powerful female singers. Many times, he took the originals and made them his own, as is the case with his version of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Here are some unique covers with the originals, or the version that he was inspired by. He has inspired, and continues to inspire other artists, as is the case with Radiohead.

from the recent Word magazine interview with Radiohead:
It's funny how their own records are often punctuated by seeing other bands, he (Colin Greenwood) says. "Making The Bends in spring 1994, we were having a crap day in the studio so John Leckie said, 'Come on, let's go and see Jeff Buckley at the Garage.' Then we went back to the studio and Thom recorded Fake Plastic Trees straight away. It was genuinely, properly inspiring."


Bob Dylan - Mama, You've Been On My Mind - this track is from the Bootleg series

Jeff Buckley - Mama, You've Been On My Mind - from the Grace Legacy Edition

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Nina Simone - Lilac Wine - from the 1966 Wild Is The Wind album.

Jeff Buckley - Lilac Wine (Live)- from the Palais Theatre in Melbourne Australia, on the Mystery White Boy release. a great slowed down version of the song.

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Big Star - Kangaroo - written by Alex Chilton who also inspired Paul Westerberg from the Replacements to write the song Alex Chilton from the excellent Pleased To Meet Me album.

Jeff Buckley - Kangaroo (Live) - live form the Logo Club in Hamburg Germany. recorded February 22, 1995

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Van Morrison - The Way Young Lovers Do (Live) - live from the Fillmore in San Francisco, recorded 4/26/1970 (((link removed at the request of the publisher)))

Jeff Buckley - The Way Young Lovers Do (Live)- from the Live From The Bataclan (Paris) release. he takes the original jazzy version of the song and turns it into bluesy guitar fueled rant.

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Genesis - Back in N.Y.C. (demo #4) - from 1974, a demo of this track from the classic Lamb Lies Down On Broadway release. this was the period when Peter Gabriel fronted the band.

Jeff Buckley - Back In N.Y.C. - a demo from the Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk release.

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Nina Simone - The Twelfth Of Never (Live) - from the out of print Nina Simone At Carnegie Hall. Buckley covered more tracks by Nina Simone than any other artist. I think he related to the soulfulness and the unique phrasing from her voice.

Jeff Buckley - The Twelfth Of Never (Live) - from Live At Sin-e´. he rarely altered Nina Simone's version of the songs.

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For more Buckley stuff, click HERE

A Wah Wah Pedal To Your Soul

Spiritualized - Fucked Up Inside (Cover)

When I was working at a record store (Discovery Discs) in Philly around 1993/94, I was a big fan of Spiritualized's Lazer Guided Melodies and somehow our shop got a few copies of this limited edition live, mail-order only Spiritualized disc called Fucked Up Inside (see cover above). For some reason, I didn't get a copy and I soon found out that they only made 1000 copies, plus another 5000 for general pressing, so copies have been going for bank (north of $100) from various online resellers. Well, the other day, I found a copy at a record store I frequent, and it was fairly reasonably priced, so I got it. Now, I just need to find the limited pill case version of Ladies and Gentlemen....

I saw Spiritualized open for Radiohead in 1997 which was just a wall of distortion, and not the feedback Sonic Youth type of distortion, but a high frequency horror movie soundtrack type of noise. Most of the people had a look of disgust, or that look of, i just soiled my pants. I saw them recently again for the Acoustic Mainline tour (read here), and being in the minority, I thought it was pretty bad and bland, so I left early, which I have only done a handful of times. And for their new album, Songs in A+E, we're still in that "get to know each other" phase. Also, Ladies and Gentlemen... is still one of my favorites. This featured release is a 7 track Live EP from Nov 21, 1992 at the Hollywood Palladium as well as a show at the Warfield in San Francisco from the previous evening, so it has a multitude of significances in my life. And besides the Royal Albert Hall release, this is the only way to hear the band at, or near it's peak. (Note: the new release, Songs in A+E will come with a limited poster of syringes)

Spiritualized - Take Good Care Of It - the non-distorted original version.

Spiritualized - Walking With Jesus - the first live version and a bit slower than the Royal Albert Hall version.


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Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Original Demo) Cover

The other rarity I found was this 1 track CD single of Windowlicker with a different take from the original cover. It has the demo version of the song as well as the video. I know you can find everything, in terms of music through the internet these days, but there's still something about finding it on the shelves and owning an actual physical copy. I probably sound like my elders when they were referring to vinyl, or 8 tracks.

Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Original Demo)

American Teen

Last night, I went to see American Teen at the soon to be defunct San Francisco International Film Festival. Well, that's what I was told by the guy sitting next to me, and the presenter alluded to "the waning days of the festival" before the screening. I hope this isn't true. It would be a sad fact that the Mill Valley festival would be the only premiere film festival in the area. A town known for being the pinnacle of blandness and conformity. So, I went into this movie knowing next to nothing besides The Breakfast Club like poster above. It's basically a documentary on teen life, specifically senior year at Warsaw High School in Warsaw Indiana. It portrays the popular kid, the jock, the artist, and the social misfit. Basically, every stereotype that exists in the high school setting.

Is it truly a "documentary, or is it reality-television in a movie format ? I hope, no, I think people have many different sides of their personality and when filming something like this, with the hundreds of hours of footage, I think you have to create, through editing, a hero and a villain. You have to create that drama and support the roles you've created with the footage you have available. The film is enjoyable. The gamut of emotions run through the viewer which is a good sign that the film is connecting with the audience, but I just felt as though I was being fed a so-called real life CW/WB dystopian tv show with that glimmer of hope as to keep the viewer interested and cheering for the lives of these kids. We all know the insecurities and the awkwardness involved in teenage life and whether it's in the midwest or on either coast, everyone is trying to find comfort in their own self. And some people still spend their whole lives trying to find that comfort. So, I would say the movie was more like a docu-drama.

After the premiere at Sundance, the movie was picked up by a studio, and it will be released widely at the end of the year. It wouldn't surprise me if it became a big hit. It relates to everyone who has been through high school and it has that feel-good story that everyone always champions. I guess we can thank John Hughes, or Nanette Burstein, the director can thank him for the blueprint.



Now, onto reality,

Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground (Live) - from a bootleg from a London show in 1974, it starts out with a slow funky jam, and not of the Flight of the Conchords variety, and around 2:45, higher ground kicks in.

Aretha Franklin - Medley: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)/I Say a Little Prayer - from a live show in Philly in 1972. they don't call her the queen of soul for nothing.

Ben Harper - Waiting On An Angel (Live) - from the defunct REV 105 Archive in Minneapolis. this was before harper got all jam-band on us. from his first album, welcome to the cruel world. a great album full of sparse instrumentation and soulful integrity.

Pick Neck Table

The Bridge and The House...picture taken by TG

Thanks to everyone who voted for my quick remix of Nude. My personal favorite was the Spor Remix. I liked the pitch and tempo change and how he kept the overall feel of the song.


Martina Topley-Bird - Razor Tongue (Downtempo) - one of the most anticipated releases, at least for me, for this year. still waiting for the doves and madvillain. and like the others that have come and gone (lidell, portishead), it disappoints. well, at least compared to her previous release. another danger mouse production. geezus, this guy is everywhere. there are some good songs, but what mtb had on quixotic/anything was that smokey flavor. it was like you were let into a door for a seedy, sultry, almost dangerous experience. maybe that's why greg dulli covered a track. here, you get a collection of post lexapro pop songs. i do like this track which has more of that past quality. (correction: the track is not Poison, it was labeled incorrectly)

Santogold - I'm A Lady (featuring Trouble Andrew) (Pop) - she's been everywhere and has Bjork as a major fan. she's rapped alongside Spank Rock and been compared often to MIA from the few tracks that have been out there. these comparisons are true for the tracks heard, as they were reworkings by the same producers that have worked with MIA in the past. for her first release, miss santi white shows her 80's chops with almost every genre covered including dub, punk, rock, hip hop, beats, etc.. the track above is a pop song which also features mister trevor andrew, pro snowboarder extraordinaire and leader of the band trouble.

Plastikman - Spastik (Dubfire Rework) (Techno) - take a member of the progressive house group Deep Dish, have him release a track (Rib Cage) off of what is arguably one of the best, and most influential techno labels (m-nus) and then have that label head, (Richie Hawtin) play said track for the final track of the 2006 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. And then to further add the imaginary fuel to the fire, have this member of Deep Dish rework a classic track for a series of special releases (Nostalgik 3) from the Plastikman days. It's kind of like having Radiohead ask Coldplay to play on one of their albums, and then have them cover Let Down and release it as a song on a Radiohead single. the backlash has begun. "house music all night long ? say what ?" people are raising their hands in the air and waving them because they do care.

A Cage In A Bird: Bringing Back NOT

Corona Heights Park, 2008

Boris - Afterburner (Metal) - from the album Pink which has to be the best offering so far from this Japanese musical outfit. they cannot be pigeonholed into any one genre, especially metal. the album offers up shoegazed drones to ambient textures while also throwing in the heavy distorted guitar riffs that make this one of the best guitar based releases in a long time. think heavier Sonic Youth with more melody.

Noze - Ethiopo (House) - from Songs On The Rocks..., which is being released off of Get Physical, the humorous french duo keep going down the strange path of mixing in the brass with anything else to make them sound like no one else in the music. it feels like world music with a house shuffle, but in a domestic sort of way.

Booka Shade - Comacabana (Electro) - speaking of the Get Physical label, here is one of the founding groups to offer up their new full release. it's a new path which sees the duo straying away from the groove based electro which i think made them a standout, but it's still an interesting direction as you can tell by this track.

The Replacements - You're Getting Married (Solo Home Demo) - Rhino will finally release all of the Twin/Tone releases from the Mats which is one of my favorite bands, and probably the greatest american rock band ever. Westerberg was? so good with words i think he could have worked for hallmark or better yet, an ad agency (NOT). this track is from the Stink era and it was supposedly the first introspective mid/slow tempo song that Westerberg wrote, and when he presented it to the band, they told him to save it for his solo album.

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