Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Mix # 89

Well this is the first mix to be published in 2012! There are no 2012 songs on the list but that's okay because there are no less than three covers on this one!




1. Immigrant Song by Karen O and trent Reznor
What this song says is that no mortal man can sing like Robert Plant and a woman must be brought in to sing the Led Zeppelin cover, also it was the reason why the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was so good. This song makes me want to rape and pillage but not really.
2. Who's Gonna' Ride Your Wild Horses by Garbage
This is a great song but I never liked the arrangement U2 used, I preferred some of the stripped down remixes. Garbage takes this song and goes trippy with it. 
3. I Think The World Of You by Two Wounded Birds
This song is a Radiohead rip but it's good and lets me pu the next song on here without guilt.


4. Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead
There was a time when they still made music that normal people liked to listen to, not the crap they do now which is little more than  weird impulse and beats.
5. Morning Glory by Oasis
If you know this album at all, you know that song is a alarming when it hits. Nothing else on the album is like this and that makes it really f'ing cool. I love the helicopter!
6. I Am The Walrus by The Beatles
Without the Beatles there is no Oasis or countless other English, Brit pop bands
7. Nightcall by Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx
This gem is from the, Drive  soundtrack and is a beautiful synth song! It sounds like the dark side of the early 80s.
8. Villains of The Moon by Cold Cave
More 80's synth inspired music, it's cool.

You knew they would look likes this!
9. Your Silent Face by New Order
The real deal.
10.Something To Die For by The Sounds
They're too good to be this unknown but that's life. They also sound influenced by 80s synth bands.
11.Suffragette City by The Horrors
After their last album I thought the Horrors were done and would float away on their stupid soundscapes but this cover of Bowie is awesome! Good job!
12.World Up My Ass by The Circle Jerks
Can an 80s LA hardcore punk band be seminal? Well these guys were. They were a reason that scene was what it was. You can see them in The Decline of Western Civilization being loud and fast if you're curious, probably on YouTube as well.


13.Civliization's Dying by The Hives
They kept it real with a punk cover. Can the Hives really be punk though? Can Sweden be punk? Black Metal, yes but punk?
14.Casino El Camino (parte 1) by Guadeloupe Plata
Fun lovin' Spanish dudes playing roots rock!
15. Ghost Towns by Radical Face
Somber Rock that reminds me of The Shins and The Decemberists
16.So Lonely by The Police
They used to be a tough English band that played Ska but then they matured and got quite different. Before they grew up, before the money, before the world tours.
17.Simmer Down by Bob Marley
Before he got Reggae down perfect he was playing ska and it was cool
18.Our Day Will Come by Amy Winehouse
Unfortunately it did not and it makes this song much more sad than it was ever intended to be. It's a little difficult to ignore her passing when listening.
19.Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding
The man! The Soul! The good advise.
20.Grey Cell Green by Ned's Atomic Dustbin
This band was huge in the UK but never caught on too big in the States, maybe you saw them on 120 Minutes one Sunday night. They had a big sound and big hair. They were the next thing after Manchester.


 

Thursday, January 12, 2012

And the Wheel Chair Will Rock?

So the wait is over for the first taste of new Van Halen. It's the first music David Lee Roth has released with Eddy and Alex since those two tracks (Me Wise Magic, Can't Get This Stuff No More) on a greatest hits compilation some fifteen years ago.
Now after a very successful and kick ass show a couple years back they did a whole album together. The first single, Tattoo is weak and a I really hope isn't the best they could come up with. It's as though David Lee Roth forgot who he was, in a lazy way. If Diamond Dave belted out more of the song instead of his talk/croon it would be far more enjoyable. Let's face it when Dave's excited we're excited. When he wails, "Sexy dragon magic!"  it's awesome but then he loses it. Meanwhile musically instead reaching back to 1984 or before they only reached back to 1986 and pulled out a some 5150 scraps but I'm not sure this has even got what it takes. The solo isn't quite distinguishable as an Eddy solo but seeing as he's been copied for the past thirty-five years it's forgivable.
I understand they're musicians and they don't want to rehash the things they did before and I respect that but since Duran Duran put out their 2010 release, All You Need Is Now there's no excuse why a band of such age can't recapture what made them great and build on that sound to deliver an enjoyable album.



I'm not saying that this song is horrible or it won't grow on me but it is clear the boys are getting old. I hope the rest of A Different Kind of Truth is better than this.