Sunday, September 28, 2008

AIDS Wolf- Cities of Glass

AIDS Wolf ain't pretty. No hooks, no choruses, no singalongs. Filthy out of tune guitars in the vein of Arab on Radar. Vocals sound like Yoko Ono in a bathtub full of electronic appliances. Discordant Canadian punk rock avant-garde improv fucking cataclysm. The soundtrack to intravenous needles being shoved in and out of raw flesh. You'll leave feeling dirty, uncomfortable, and violated.

Aids Wolf myspace


Sunday, September 21, 2008

Girl Talk- Feed the Animals

Mash-ups aren't anything new, DJs have been mixing up records for nearly three decades now. But as technology has advanced and music has become more digital, dance and electronic music is being spit out from computers like bilious fluids. If you have a computer and the internet you can download beats and become another shitty laptop DJ. But out of the sea of Macbooks comes a DJ who's less interested in rehashing beats and more interesting in rocking the party. Girl Talk is Gregg Gillis, the whitest DJ I've ever seen, but damn can he get you moving. This is his fourth release on Illegal Art records.

Instead of making his own music he's quite content with stealing some of the most popular hits from the last fifty or so years and crushing them up on the table and snorting them up his nose. Why make new music when people want to hear what's already popular?

Take all the most ridiculous mainstream rap songs ever made and insert subliminal hints of classic rock, electronica, soul, punk, old school hip-hop, and anything elese that may have made the pop charts. It's a mix-tape for the attention deficit. One second youre hearing Lil' Jon, which turns into BLACKstreet as electronics from Radiohead fizzle in the background and then BOOM!, you're listening to The Band. The first listen is great because you don't know what to expect, what embarrassing nostalgic moment will be conjured up from hearig a certain song? With repeated careful listens you can pick out subtle moments of songs, like the organ from Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" playing in the background of Kanye West and T-Pain.

I hate mainstream music, but presented in a fresh way like this, it's hard not to enjoy yourself. No matter how hard you think you are, I guarantee if you listen to this some song will pop up and you'll be like, "Hey, used to love that song in 4th grade!"

Girl Talk myspace

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lagwagon- I Think My Older Brother Used To Listen To Lagwagon

Fat Wreck Chord's first signed band is back with a brand new EP full of hard hitting heartfelt ballads, punk rock prowess, and genuine emotion.

Lagwagon seem to have reached a mature stage in their lives with this release and their last full length, Resolve, which paid tribute to their longtime drummer Derrick Plourde, who committed suicide in 2005. Gone are the quirky punk gems of Trashed and Duh (the only humor you'll find here is in the title of the record), the speedy punk anthems of Hoss and Double Plaidinum; you won't find any LL Cool J covers on this one. In the vein of singer Joey Cape's former electic side project Bad Astronaut, this EP is a little mellower than you Lagwagon heads may be used to. But speed and rockability have not been sacrificed my friends. Songs about surviving life, touring, memories, and falling flat on your face, Cape's lyrical wisdom shines as always.

Lagwagon may be becoming grandpas in the punk scene that they helped create, but they are still consistently putting out amazing records. With Cape so busy with the Gimme Gimmes and his solo shit, I hope to see another full length Lagwagon album soon.

Lagwagon myspace