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New Order Reissue Factory Albums via Rhino

Brian Geoghagan — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:27:51 -0800

Last year Rhino did a fantastic job remastering and reissuing Unknown Pleasures, Closer and Still from Joy Division, each with a bonus disc featuring a different live show. This year they've decided to remaster/reissue/repackage New Order's catalogue, starting with the five albums they released on Factory Records in the 1980s. Instead of using a live show on disc 2, Rhino have decided to fill the bonus discs with remixes, b-sides and rarities to entice fans. Unfortunately, the verdict on the remastering job has been overwhelmingly negative. The US release dates were delayed until November 11, so hopefully those issues have been resolved.

To help celebrate the occasion, Rhino are going to give one fan an autographed guitar from Peter Hook. I'm entering more bogus names than ACORN! This baby's mine!

Tracklists after the jump...

Venture in the Blipstream

Dave Segal — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:10:50 -0800

Van Morrison will be performing live in its entirety his 1968 album, Astral Weeks at Hollywood Bowl, and Santa Monica, California radio station KCRW is going to webcast it. You can hear the show Fri. Nov. 7, 8 pm Pacific time here.

Lester Bangs� Desert Island album, Astral Weeks is regarded by tens of thousands of people with really excellent musical taste as a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, a poetic epic of pastoral jazz folk and soulful Irish vocalese. Download it into your DNA at your earliest convenience.

Press release after the jump; video of "Astral Weeks" below.

The Sonics

Grant Brissey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:00:17 -0800

In case you haven't heard, The Sonics are playing this Friday at the Paramount Theatre. KEXP DJ and all-around great guy Greg Vandy conducted an interview last week with the archetypal Northwest garage rockers, who haven't played a show (in Seattle - ed.) since 1972. The interview doesn't happen until about halfway through his (October 22) show, but Vandy always puts together excellent episodes of The Roadhouse (Wednesdays, 6-9 pm), and this particular show is dedicated to Northwest garage bands from the 60s. Getting to the beginning of this interview is half the fun.

Cover Versions That Surpass the Originals

Dave Segal — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:42:59 -0800

Hearing LCD Soundsystem�s rendition of Harry Nilsson�s �Jump Into the Fire� on KEXP this morning prompted me to ponder the phenomenon of covers that may be better than the originals (totally subjective, of course, but it�s fun to play). As fantastic as Nilsson�s �Jump� is, I think James Murphy & Co. just may have nudged out the blueprint.

Off the top of my head, I give you a few more examples:

Aretha Franklin topping Otis Redding�s �Respect�
Spacemen 3 over the Red Krayola�s �Transparent Radiation�
Bauhaus surprisingly besting T.Rex�s �Telegram Sam�
Anything the Byrds did from the Bob Dylan songbook
Jimi Hendrix�s �All Along the Watchtower� over Dylan�s
Mercury Rev soaring over David Bowie�s �Memory of a Free Festival�
Skylab triumphing over Kim Fowley�s �The Trip�
Loop edging out the Pop Group�s �Thief of Fire�
Stevie Wonder beating by a nose the Beatles� �We Can Work It Out�
And some days I think Devo�s version of �Satisfaction� is better than the Rolling Stones� and Primal Scream�s �Slip Inside This House� is superior to the Thirteenth Floor Elevators�.

What are your picks?

Nilsson�s �Jump Into the Fire�

80808:State

Brian Geoghagan — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:56:01 -0800

To celebrate the 8, Manchester's Acid House kings, 808 State, have announced the remaster/reissue treatment in deluxe 2CD format.

London/Manchester, 8.08.08
The date of this press release is no coincidence! On 8.08.08, ZTT announces four deluxe reissues from one of the UK's most important electronic outfits - 808 State - celebrating the band's 20th anniversary, the 20th anniversary of acid house, and the 25th anniversary of ZTT itself. (Release date for all four is 06.10.2008)

The four albums getting reissued are: 808:90, EX:EL, Gorgeous and Don Solaris. Gorgeous is probably my favorite 808 State album but EX:EL has been imprinted on my brain permanently. Cubik, In Yer Face, Olympic, Spanish Heart, Oops...they all feel like nursery rhymes or ancient scrolls. Perhaps I just mean classic.

In honor of this day and the start of the Olympics, 808 State - Olympic

My Biggest Regret

Charles Mudede — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:00:09 -0800

How in the world did I manage to miss Cornell Campbell at Nectar on July 12th? How? The man has a voice that instantly fills my heart with sweet, sweet melodies. And his old age has had little or no impact on the heartbreaking soul of his craft--listen to Rhythm and Sound's "Empire." Is it the air? Is it something in the water? What could it be that makes the small island of Jamaica produce so many great singers?

Future Conditional - We Don't Just Disappear

Brian Geoghagan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:26 -0800

Bobby Wratten has just entered my top 5 songwriters list. Other four to be named at a later date. I've just started listening to some of his output as The Field Mice, Northern Picture Library and Trembling Blue Stars. Since my two favorite bands are The Smiths and New Order, I find it odd that The Field Mice were never recommended to me by either a smarty pants record store clerk or one of my friends. As a fan of Saint Etienne, I was aware of The Field Mice but hadn't explored them beyond their original take of Lets Kiss and Make Up. I originally heard it on the Rough Trade bailout compilation A Historical Debt but preferred the St. Etienne version and didn't bother exploring further. I recently acquired their double disc retrospective, Where'd You Learn To Kiss That Way through illegal means. I couldn't stop listening to it for days. All 36 tracks sound like i've known them all my life. Instant classic. An obsession was born. I've since spent just under $100 buying Field Mice and Northern Picture Library CD's around town. I've decided Bobby Wratten is a musical genius who's songs are laced with equal parts wit and sadness. Actually, maybe it's closer to 70/30 sadness/wit but that's my preferred split anyway. I very recently purchased a 2007 album by a Piano Magic alias called Future Conditional that features members of The Wake and Nouvelle Vague as well as Bobby Wratten. The album reminds me of Wasps' Nest by the 6ths but more electro-pop than jangle. I'm just getting into it but I can tell this is going to get multiple spins. Today has been all about the title track, We Don't Just Disappear. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

We Dont Just Disappear - Future Conditional

Future Conditional review via brainwashed.com

Update: Found this on the Future Conditional MySpace page. I think it explains my interest in We Don't Just Disappear.

What You've Been Waiting For

Charles Mudede — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:36:25 -0800

Long and hard thought has finally produced an answer to this question: What is the greatest rap record in the history of hiphop?
The answer? It's one you can't disagree with: "Follow the Leader" by Eric B. and Rakim.

Everything that is great about hiphop is in that track: futurism, lyricism, politics, modernism, and experimentalism. It's at once a revolution in sound and a reaffirmation of traditional hiphop themes and tropes. And it's spacy sample and hyperdrive beat transport the listener to a vector of the imagination that is outside of the limits of time. The track will never grow old.

RE: The Oldest School aka Manchester Computer Music

Brian Geoghagan — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:42:26 -0800

Yesterday I was trying to come up with a good reason to post a video of a very sweaty Tony Wilson discussing the importance of the computer and synth technology in Manchester music. Now Charles has given me one. I believe the computer in the background in this video is the same one that was used to record the Ba Ba Black Sheep and In The Mood bits. I could be wrong but so what. It's still great to see Tony sweating like a pig, answering a phone call from his son Oliver and singing the praises of New Order. Wish you were here with us now Tony.

This clip reminds me that Mr. Anthony H. Wilson deserves both the "genius" and "wanker" tags.

Keymatic's Utopia

Charles Mudede — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:41:04 -0800

After all these years, after the death of the space race...

...I still believe in and long for Keymatic's vision of utopia: breakers in space. "Living in space is the thing of the 80s."

The Minimal

Charles Mudede — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:41:45 -0800

If you happen to be in Shanghai this Saturday:

Saturday June 7th: Robert Hood plays The Shelter, located at 5 Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Xi Lu (永福路5号，近复兴西路). 50 RMB gets you in the door starting at 10 PM. Shanghai_Ultra, Nat Alexander, and Ben Huang ope

Robert Hood's Minimal Nation (1994) is black thought in its purest condition. It is nothing but thought. Nous qua nous.

My minimal techno list:
"Enforcement" by Basic Channel
Minimal Nation by Robert Hood
Metropolis Jeff Mills
"Bubble Metropolis" by Drexciya
Coldest Season by Deep Chord

That's The Way I Feel About Ya

Larry Mizell, Jr. — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:52:10 -0800

Fuck a duck! I guess I should start checking Pitchfork more often. I just read that yesterday saw not only a release of a new Best Of for one of my Top 3 favorite singers of all time- BOBBY FUCKIN WOMACK- but a first-time digital release of classics such as 1968's Fly Me to the Moon, 1969's My Prescription, 1971's The Womack Live, 1973's Lookin' for a Love Again, 1975's Safety Zone, 1975's I Don't Know What the World Is Coming To, and 1976's BW Goes C&W. GODDAMN!

Not only THAT:

What's more, May 27 will also see the digital release of recently unearthed recordings of a previously unavailable 1972 Womack gig under the title Live at the Apollo.

Oh lordy lord, I'm there. I actually need all of these in my life! I can only pray to baby black jesus that this will coincide with a TOUR, and that it comes to Seattle. Shit scratch the last part, if I have to I will fucking fly to LA if he comes at least that far. I will not miss another chance to see The Womack! (Last time he was here- at The Paramount- it was the same night as Cancer Rising's first show.)

Check the shit I ran down on my personal favorite album of his, 1973's Facts Of Life.

Also peep the man sangin "Woman Gotta Have It":

Chuch!

A Love Connection

Charles Mudede — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:11:38 -0800

Love is like a butterfly As soft and gentle as a sigh The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings Love makes your heart feel strange inside It flutters like soft wings in flight Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

How I love this line, this string of words: "...a rare and gentle thing." So simple, yet I feel them so powerfully. I repeat the line over and over, and with each return I love the words even more. I can say them forever. They open me to the infinite: "...a rare and gentle thing."

Was ist dub?

Charles Mudede — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:59:28 -0800

It's common to describe the affect that dub has on one's senses as aquatic. Dub, however, is not watery but atmospheric. Dub is nothing else than what we experience during course of an ordinary day.
A day is never clear. A day is an amazing light show. Light is bent and distorted by distance, dust particles, random hexagonal ice crystals, heating gases, and the vibrations of vapors. Sunlight bounces from droplet to droplet. Blue rays concentrate here. Orange rays disperse there. The shadows, sun ripples, sun dogs, fog, smog, solar halos, coronas, mountains of clouds, glories, rainbows, inferior mirages, superior mirages, green flashes--what we daily see in our agitated atmosphere has its match in what hear in the agitated sounds of dub. Was ist dub? Dub is a day.

On Stockhausen

Christopher DeLaurenti — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:31:26 -0800

The March issue of Artforum has an excellent article on avant garde avatar Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007).

Bj�rk, Morton Subotnick, and Robin Maconie reflect on Stockhausen's multifarious contributions to music. Maconie, author of Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, leads with a terrific essay ("For Stockhausen, the issue was not just how art in the modern world can respond to the presence of evil but whether art deserves to survive.") though I have to disagree with his aside that Stravinsky's "Movements for piano and orchestra (1958-59) owes much of its �lan to Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte (1952-53) for similar forces." While the post-Webern language of Movements was created by Stockhausen, Boulez, and others, the �lan derives from Stravinsky's rhythmic language, a raw intervallic impulse in place since The Firebird of 1909.

Bj�rk, who interviewed Stockhausen several years ago, and Subotnick, composer of Touch and several other classics of electronic music, contribute personal reminiscences ("I remember very well sitting in his studio in Cologne...") and sensible insights ("Stockhausen�s work solidified major ideas in the history of the avant-garde.").

The print edition has additional reflections by musicians Irvine Arditti, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and composers La Monte Young and Maryanne Amacher.