The Smiths Project

 I stumbled onto Janice Whaley's Smiths Project last week (via Slicing Up Eyeballs, which is a cool 80s sorta alternative music blog). She's basically trying to cover every Smiths song by the end of this year, and it looks like she's on track to hit that goal. You can go to the blog and listen, and you also can download tracks here. As of this writing, there are 32 tracks for your downloading pleasure. I also grabbed her widget thingy (man, that sounds dirty) from which you can listen here, as well. That is, if you're lazy and don't want to navigate away from Pop Molecule. Anyway, I think her endeavor is very cool and anyone who is a fan of The Smiths should give it a listen. And really, who doesn't like The Smiths?

Trying to scrounge a dime

I've been listening quite a bit lately to Karen Elson's debut album, The Ghost Who Walks. The album has a kinda alt-country noir vibe to it which, for me, recalls Neko Case's classic album, Blacklisted (except without The Voice). Spare, haunting, eerie, dark and brooding. And I'm not saying they're equals, just that Elson is pointing in this direction. Mouths to Feed is one of my favorite tracks (so far) on the album. It seems to be a depression-era dust bowl story about the rich getting richer while the poor are left standing beside the road. I particularly love her voice on this track and the violins, for me, really round out the feel of the music. I could lose myself for days in a song like this.

Karen Elson > Mouths To Feed

The Haunting of Ariel Pink

When my turn came to chime in on Before Today, the much-discussed but perhaps not very well understood new album by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, I thought I'd try digging a little deeper than usual. Results at The Line of Best Fit here.

Here's the video for his/their cover of the Rockin' Ramrods' 1966 single "Bright Lit Blue Skies":

Dock Ellis

Forty years ago today in 1970, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres while under the influence of LSD.

Keven McAlester's excellent story about the incident and Ellis' life is here; the Baseball Reliquary's entry on the pitcher is here. Ellis died in 2008 at age 63.

In 1993, Barbara Manning's S.F. Seals (taking their name from San Francisco's legendary old Pacific Coast League team) released The Baseball Trilogy EP, from which this pretty kickass song is taken.

S.F. Seals - Dock Ellis



Image: Got Me Floating (2008) by Jay Kaplan.

I don't know how to stop

I convinced D, the other day, to listen to some of the earlier Peter Gabriel albums. She was checking his new album, Scratch My Back, which is on my playlist. She had told me her dad used to listen to Genesis and Gabriel in the car when she was young, but she wasn't overly familiar with it. So I brought in a few albums for her to peruse. My favorite is the one with Peter Gabriel's melting face, which is his third self-titled solo album.

In any case, the point of this is that I listened to this album again, and it brought back a flood of memories. Lying on the bed and reading while listening. Studying the personnel list, which eventually and inevitably led to other exciting musical discoveries.Tony Levin and Robert Fripp pointed the way to King Crimson. Paul Weller opened the door to The Jam. In addition to producing this album, Steve Lillywhite produced U2, Big Country (laugh if you must, but I loved those first couple albums), and XTC, who were other bands I was getting into around that time.

Although I vaguely knew her name from singing backup on Gabriel's melty face album, a few years would pass before I discovered who Kate Bush really was. We didn't have cable television back then, my dad refused to pay for TV. I used to go over to Peter's, his mom was pretty cool and she worked nights which meant she was generally asleep during the day and we could watch whatever we wanted, usually some retarded horror flick or a baseball game. This one particular day, I think Peter was distracted by something. Maybe a girl on the phone, or whatever. I was flipping through the channels when I stumbled upon this gorgeous girl wearing chain mail and brandishing a sword. I was captivated, and when Peter was done with his distraction, I wouldn't let him change the channel until I found out the name of this warrior woman. The song was Babooshka, the name of the program was The Single File (which was a compilation of her videos), and the singer turned out to be Kate Bush. Amazing. I rushed out as soon as I could and picked up Hounds of Love, which was her current release at the time.

Strange how the mind works, this started out as an ode to Peter Gabriel, and I end up gushing over Kate Bush. Complete lack of discipline. I'm gonna leave it as it is, however, and I'll leave with these tunes. Peter Gabriel's No Self Control, on which you can hear Kate Bush singing backup. Kate Bush's Babooshka, which pretty much is the starting point of my lifelong Kate Bush odyssey. I actually have to belatedly thank the USA Network for airing that video. Who would have thought that one could see obscure Kate Bush videos on American network television?

And sometime soon, I will have to write up a little post on my favorite duet ever, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush singing Don't Give Up, which appears on Gabriel's 1986 album, So. I'll save that one for later.

Peter Gabriel > No Self Control


Kate Bush > Babooshka


Lastly, as a little bonus, here is the video for Kate Bush's spellbinding Babooshka:

I'd make wine from your tears

I can't say I was ever a huge fan of INXS' Never Tear Us Apart when it originally dropped. At the time, thought it was too melodramatic, too bombastic and, worst of all, overplayed. I hear the original every now and then and it's really a decent song. I think my dislike for it stemmed from the fact that it was just a product of its time coupled with my distaste for chart music. That said, I really dig this cover by Beck's Record Club. The Record Club appears to be a rotating cast of whomever he can gather to come hang out in his studio to cover random albums. They've already done Skip Spence, The Velvet Underground and Nico, and Leonard Cohen. Right now, they're in the middle of INXS. You can check out the rest of the Record Club entries by clicking here.


Record Club: INXS "Never Tear Us Apart" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Jukebox il topo

It's mixtape time again, kids!

Something of a linguistically confused blind mole's grapple in the dazzling spring sun for cultural sure footing, calling to mind this fucked up Jodorowsky film, but without the Wild West and more sex and art-damaged Italian shoes instead? A still from Antonioni's La Notte provides the cover image, and a few shots of cachaça, euro politico-financial anxiety, and a helping of Kubrickian ultraviolence spike the punch bowl of my melted mental topography map, pop-musically speaking, circa May 2010.

Download here; tracklisting after the jump.

I was not sitting with the gargoyles

I don't know where it came from or how, but I am completely obsessed with Hiding All Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. It's got this menacing lurch, like a monster looming in the distance, its shadow cast upon you as it slowly moves in your direction. I'm not sure what to make of the lyrics, it seems sorta like a stream-of-consciousness rant. Maybe about God, and how he is everywhere no matter what is going on? Nick Cave has never shied away from religious imagery, so I wouldn't doubt it. I like the part where the backup singers sorta lose it and start laughing. Finally, when there is no more tension to build, the climax of the song hits. The band practically explodes and all of the voices are shouting "THERE IS A WAR COMING!", and it makes me either want to take shelter or run out in the streets, screaming along with them.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds > Hiding All Away

Happy Mother's Day

For all you mothers and mothers-to-be, here's an amusing little story from the legendary Tom Waits.

Tom Waits > Untitled #2

Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays

Happy (belated) birthday to Willie Mays (May 6, 1931), one of the best ever to play the game.

Grab The Baseball Project's underrated Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails album, on which you can find this track. Thanks to Madmadcat, die hard San Francisco Giants fan, for steering me to this album.

The Baseball Project > Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays

Funeral for Churchill

In honour of Britain's freshly hung parliament, I pass along a fine mixtape made by my brother a couple weeks ago: "An admittedly tenuous blend of old British imperialism and full-on freakout psychadelia," he writes. "Preferably listened to while wearing a Victorian military jacket of some sort (and, uh, lined with acid.) Good times."

It is worth noting that Churchill himself was never once elected prime minister with a popular vote greater than 50 percent. David Cameron, carrying on the peculiar tradition of British politics, thinks he should now be PM with 36 percent. Proportional representation in parliament, with all the messy coalition-building that entails, is the core demand being made by the monkeywrench in this election, the Liberal Democrats. Seems to be an idea whose time has definitively come...

I'm in the middle of a picture

It's been quiet around here, lately, and it's about to get even more quiet. I'm hitting the road for a couple weeks and it is doubtful that I'll have much of a connection. I'll leave you with this, however. A video of Bat For Lashes covering Radiohead's All I Need was floating around the internets a little while back, and I am guessing that this file was ripped straight from the video. It sounds a bit tinny or thin, but that doesn't detract from the performance. If you know me, you probably know that I love Natasha Khan, so her plus Radiohead is a winning combination in my book. She'd have to go to great lengths, really, to fuck up this song. Enjoy, and see you soon.

 Bat For Lashes > All I Need

Looking back, it seems so strange

I was having lunch, yesterday, in this place across the street from where I work. I like going in there late because it's usually empty and they usually have some anonymous classic rock radio station going. The cool thing about the music is it's not always the usual suspects that come to mind when you hear the phrase, "classic rock". Sometimes they're deeper cuts, and perhaps bands that you might have to go out of your way to find. I think you know what I mean.

So I'm sitting there and they bust out with Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song, which I haven't heard in ages. It totally took me back to when I was a kid and I walked over to The Wherehouse (does anybody remember that chain of record stores?) to buy Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town b/w Jailbreak on 7". I played that 45 to death, and I eventually picked up that Jailbreak album, which I loved. And those three tracks; The Boys Are Back In Town, Jailbreak and Cowboy Song were probably my favorites. I was slow to recognize the song at first, but I think I got a little emotional when I realized I was listening to Cowboy Song. Good thing the joint was empty.

Thin Lizzy > Cowboy Song

Let's stay awake tonight

The very cool new Lali Puna video for That Day. Find this song on their new album, Our Inventions, which officially drops next week.

Fuzishen na Girl

I'm digging the new Perfume track, Fushizen na Girl. It's no Puppy Love or Dream Fighter, but I do like it more than last summer's One Room Disco. I haven't really been keeping up with the Perfume news, but it looks like the single is gonna drop this month. I might just wait for the next album, however, as it seems like their singles and b-sides end up on their albums anyways. In any case, you can check out about a minute and a half of the PV here, and listen to the whole thing below. Also, the girls look splendid in red ruffles.

Perfume > Fushizen na Girl

Polaroid Piano

A couple years ago, someone from the old Bowlie board hipped me to Akira Kosemura via a mixtape trade. I liked the track and I grabbed the album, but only recently have I begun to further investigate Kosemura. Last month, I ran into his album, Polaroid Piano, which is quite lovely. It's like the sound of a lazy spring day lying in the sun; dreamy, quiet and warm. With that in mind, you can just look at the album cover above and imagine you're lying somewhere in there while listening to the album. I also quite like the fact that you can hear the creak of the piano pedals, as if you might be sitting in the same room in which he's playing. Also, the album is very short (the longest song is 4 minutes and change) which makes it a pleasant listen, and leaves you wanting a little bit more. Sorta like that nap in the sun, you wish it would go on and on but it always ends too soon and is never enough.

After you listen to April, you can stream more Akira Kosemura here, if you're so inclined.

Akira Kosemura > April

Unloveable

I just caught this Babybird video (via Popmatters), Unloveable. The video is directed by Johnny Depp, who also apparently plays guitar on the track. The track is from a new Babybird album, Ex-Maniac, which dropped earlier this month. Nice to see Babybird is still going, I haven't really kept up with them. Listen to more Babybird here and check out the official site here.

I got the wanderin' blues

There are a couple things that remind me of springtime. One thing is an allergy attack. I had a particularly nasty one this past weekend. Suffice it to say that my entire body was sore from sneezing, not to mention the headaches afterward. Another reminder of springtime is The Be Good Tanyas' song, The Littlest Birds, which I happened to hear the other day. This song may not be specifically about spring, but it sure sounds like something you'd hear on a lovely March day. Give it a listen and pass me a box of tissues, please.

Banksy

A collection of Banksy images, see more over here.

Yusaku Kamekura

A poster by Yusaku Kamekura (1915-1997), visionary graphic designer from Japan. See more here.