FoeWeel !!! ???

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)

Build Up, or Build Around, San Francisco, 2008

This is a two parter, so pay attention, if you can. First off, it was announced a few weeks back that Aphex Twin is playing at Coachella. The truly original Rick James. He hardly ever tours, so I might have to go just to check him out, but here’s hoping that he stops over in San Francisco to deliver his ambient-sub-bass-wretched genius. Maybe, he’ll get added to the Outside Lands Festival. The Radiohead driven festival at Golden Gate Park, due to last minute planning has a lack of talent. At least they have Regina Spektor, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, and Bon Iver.

As far as Bon Iver, with so much hype of indie rock music by the blogging community, who for the most part just take music from another blog and then repost it, or for some, just take verbatim what the another person wrote, and post it as their own thoughts, I gave it a quick listen awhile back and it fell through the cracks. I listened to it again this morning because of a recommendation from a friend, and it is one of those special albums that actually deserves the accolades.

I can’t tell you why I like one piece of music over another and how I sometimes agree with the greater majority, or just sometimes completely deviate to outer space, but I guess it’s similar to that quote about porn from the supreme court judge who said something to the effect that he can’t define it, but he knows it when he sees it. I hear it and I don’t care if it’s popular on pitchfork, or some blog, it connects to who I am from the music that I’ve experienced already. I can’t say it is the melody, or the rhythm because my music taste varies so much, but I think the one thing that connects all of the music that I like is the genuineness of the music from the artist, and how the delivery, or the message is unique to that artist. I don’t know how I can sense that, but I think most people can tell the difference between what is real and what is fake. You can see the emotional painting the artist creates through their words, music, or both.

I love music and I enjoy discovering new music, and not just rock music. Good music is good music ,whether it’s techno, jazz, ambient, classical, or 2 people banging chopsticks against cans in the corner of a room. People need to open their minds and not be stuck in one genre of music. I think Radiohead is helping people open up to new types of music because of their support of bands like modeselektor, four tet, liars, and burial, so hopefully we’ll see some blogs and Favorite10 lists change it up a bit. It seems like most of them are too influenced by Pitchfork. I can only name a handful of blogs that have a variety of music and one of them is Motel De Moka which through various contributors covers the spectrum of music. I’m done with my rant. Now, steal the music I love and add it to your great collection.

Adem – To Cure A Weakling Chile (Boy Girl Song) (Singer Songwriter) – part of Fridge with Four Tet. he makes quirky guitar based music with nice melodies. his latest album Takes is a covers album, but one that covers everyone from Bjork, Tortoise, Pinback, PJ Harvey to this song by Aphex Twin. The man has good taste. And he played all of the instruments on the album.

Aphex Twin – To Cure A Weakling Child (IDM, Ambient, Abstract) – one of the few artists i need to see before i die. i think the only artist to refuse a touring spot with radiohead. one of the most influential and original artists in music and probably the single person who has progressed music further than anyone today.

Bon Iver – The Wolves (Act I And II) (Singer Songwriter) – there’s no manufactured pain here. everything seems to work. the arrangements, the songs, the truth. one of the best things to come along in a long time. and it should get better with age.

Bon Iver – re: Stacks (Singer Songwriter) – ” Everything that happens is from now on” . what an incredible song. it’s as good as the trapeze swinger from iron and wine. unique perspective not quite fully understood, but it seems to create the mood from a lost love to the point of moving on…

smokey moon, 2007

hola. i hope you had a great end of the ear and hopefully this ear will be a well formed one with inspiring sounds entering the correct hemisphere of your brain.

Aphex Twin – Nanou2 (Piano)

Why? – Good Friday (Boards of Canada Remix) (Hip Hop)

Coldcut – True Skool w. Roots Manuva (Spank Rock BBC Soundsystem Remix) (Hip Hop)

Thom Yorke, Binaural Recording ?

if you’re a music fan, by now, you probably have a feeling that you can’t get away from all of the radiohead news and up to the minute, literally in some cases, feelings and conjecture on ‘in rainbows’. i don’t know how people are anointing it the greatest album ever, or even the greatest radiohead album only after a few listens. i find that my favorite, or my greatest albums of all time come about after time. 6 months to a year, at least. also, after all of these reviews from every type of source, i’ve come to realize even more that record reviews are entirely subjective. there is no way to be objective. yes, you can say about an album that it is an original piece of music going beyond convention and all of the critics can agree and fawn over the originality and purpose, but music is so personal and for true music enthusiasts, who is it to say that their favorite album or piece of music is not a greatest album of all time ?

what do i think about ‘in rainbows’ ? i don’t know yet. it’s engaged me enough to want to experience it in different environments and on different systems. only time will tell if it is one of my favorites. i saw this documentary on the pixies and frank black was talking about how he once had this car with a tape deck that had the ‘they might be giants ‘flood’ tape stuck in the deck and how he initially hated the album, but after awhile he realized how good it was and how much he loved it.

listen to ‘in rainbows’. give it a chance and you make the call. that’s part of the reason the release was done simultaneously to everyone. although it is a radiohead album, it is still a unique offering especially in the recording technique.

from the picture above, and from a listen through flat monitor headphones, some of the recordings are binaural which is a recording technique used to basically create a three dimensional sound as if you were experiencing the music in a live environment. when i first started listening to the album, i kept thinking that everything sounded so loud and chaotic. this was on my home stereo which is mainly configured for movies. i then listened on a normal pair of earphones which didn’t sound that much better. there’s definitely a full sound in my car, but still somewhat displaced. yesterday, i used my sennheiser hd-25 headphones which are basically flat monitor phones and i could hear such depth and nuances in the music and a spacial clarity. i don’t know for sure which songs were recorded using this technique, but i suspect at least ‘nude’, ‘house of cards’ and ‘videotape’. and i suspect that any good pair of headphones will bring out the sound even more than on a conventional stereo setup, but does this make the actual recording great. no it doesn’t, but at least it makes it interesting for your ears, and for your mind.

say what you will about radiohead, but they continue to challenge the listener’s imagination of what popular music should sound like today. they make timeless music by taking tools of the past and creating sounds of the future.

Here are some more artists that continue to push music in new directions:

Akufen – Severed Finger Samba (Techno) – a good workout for you car stereo. the king of the slice and dice. stop playing with the radio and pick a station.

Snax featuring Jamie Lidell – Honeymoon’s Overdose – i think i got this on from modifyer. sounds like old school lidell beats with the his voice over it.

Aphex Twin – Avril 14th – a nice piano piece that was featured (stolen) for a snl digital short. richard d james, a genius. the original rick james, …………………