Much as I enjoyed Hot Chip’s third album, Made In The Dark, I’ll admit that it was a slightly cluttered, claustrophobic listen. There was a lot going on in some of the tracks – “Shake A Fist” and “Don’t Dance” in particular – and though this was offset by the sparser, more low-key numbers (the title track, for instance, was a masterpiece of concision), the overall vibe was very busy and slightly unfocused. Which is why I’m very excited by the literature surrounding the band’s forthcoming fourth album, entitled One Life Stand because a range of sources have suggested that it will be a more stripped-down and focused affair – an album’s album, if you will.
The album’s release is being preceded by a digital release of the title track which, in truncated form, occupies a radio-friendly three-and-a-half-minutes. And it’s a great pop song, in the catchy mould of “Ready For The Floor”, albeit with an added jaggedness and bite. “Tell me where you’ve been… where you’ve been staying” whispers Alexis Taylor in his most conspiratorial tone, backed by clattering steel drums and a synth line rich in overtones. After a time, synth-wizard Joe Goddard pipes in with a somewhat supernatural moan which continues throughout the chorus, followed by one of the most glorious, buzzing synth melodies I’ve heard in a long time. “One Life Stand” is foreboding and seductive; its relatively simplistic structure belies the love of pop music beating at its core. It’s a wonderful addition to the band’s catalogue of cult classics, and I really do expect it to break high into the charts.
Hot Chip - One Life Stand (embedding disabled by Parlophone, joyless souls that they are)
CULPRITS: Morrissey (Vocals, Piano), Johnny Marr (Guitar, Keyboards, Mandolin, Bass, Harmonica), Andy Rourke (Bass, Cello), Mike Joyce (Drums, Backing Vocals), Craig Cannon (Bass, Rhythm Guitar, 1986)
ALBUMS: The Smiths (1984), Hatful of Hollow (1984), Meat Is Murder (1985), The Queen Is Dead (1986), Strangeways, Here We Come (1987), Louder Than Bombs (1987)
HOW: The first time I’ve heard about The Smiths was on some “50 essential albums” list of a French magazine in 2002. The Queen Is Dead ranked 48. I was at this time of my life in my quest of having good musical tastes so I tried hard to find all those 50 albums. I bought it some months later and give it a listen with enthusiasm. Meh. I didn’t like what I was hearing, it lacked manly power (!!), Morrissey’s suave voice was hard to appreciate after a first listen, at least in my case, and I guess I was too young to fully appreciate the lyrics. Years pass and one night Alain Delon on the sleeve of The Queen Is Dead won’t stop yelling at me: “Play me! Play Me!” OK, OK, you certainly deserve another try. This time again, not a particularly good listen — I really enjoyed the eponymous song though.
The revelation came not so long ago; I guess it was in May of this year, discovering my favorite Smiths song, “The Headmaster Ritual.” From that moment I had a totally different vision and understood all the catchiness and true essence of The Smiths. I came back to all their releases, and they became one of my top 5 bands. Funny how things can change.
WHY: First of all I must say: I love The Smiths entire discography, and there’s very few artists in this category. Every single they’ve released is a pop gem. And believe me, I don’t use to word “gem” lightly. Their songs are gems because they catch perfectly the atmosphere of the UK at the time with a great sense of humor.
I must confess Morrissey’s lyrics are really among the greatest I know, and his neo-romantic, full-of-emotion voice is at first disturbing, then you get used to it, and you’re in love with it.
Johnny Marr is in my opinion the greatest pop guitarist, because of his shimmering sound and for his ability to find catchy melodies that go perfectly with Morrissey. Dare I say … poetry!
Behind this hypnotizing guitar-voice combo you’ll find one of my favorite rhythm sections, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce. Rourke is my favorite in The Smiths — his sound enhances the whole poppy perfection and his bassline are always on the top; plus he can get really funky (“Barbarism Begins at Home“). Mike Joyce is just perfect and solid behind the drums. Together they are the best band making pop. To me, they are the definition of pop.
SONGS: I try to sum up here the essence of The Smiths. The songs come from all their studio releases, I only excluded Rank (1988) — being a live album it doesn’t seem to fit in.
I also did my best not making a “singles list,” as you probably know how hard it is to find a Smiths song that’s actually not a single. Of course you’ll find here classic Smiths songs because they simply cannot be avoided, but you’ll also find poppy B-Sides and juicy non-single material. I must have missed a lot of essential Smiths songs, but hey, 80 minutes is the rule! So here’s 80 minutes with the Smiths. Hope you’ll enjoy this perfect introduction!
LINK: Click on the list below to hear THE SMITHS for free on Lala.com!
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Marius Messinese is a 22 year old creator from France, making funky and colorful shirts who loves to have everybody on the streets wearing great clothes ans listening to quality music. He spends all of his time finding new songs and artists and all of his nights listening to them.
Is that beep beep beep of the Dump Truck still fresh in your head? Still got pieces of a decidedly douchey ex still stuck in your teeth and looking for a bone to pick with? Well search no longer and open this sweepstakes because you’ve won an all inclusive trip for the forlorn and unexpectedly single- a pop therapeutic musical safari!!
This is the second installment of the Pop Therapy series, and apparently the shoe is now on the other foot. If you’re lucky, like I sometimes am, and find yourself wearing a pair of those Karl Lagerfelds and needed an excuse for just one last dance down memory lane kicking up your heels the entire way (bang bang!!), well here’s a soundtrack to set your interpretive dance routine to.
For this self healing journey I unprofessionally recommend bringing your favorite hairbrush to sing and scream into. Let the emotions rise up like an embittered sour dough and then when you’re all worked up and a hot hot mess, enjoy being able to give a toast to the memories. And that’s it. Just the memories because if you and the significant other broke up it was because the relationship was broken to begin with.
We’re classy consumers over here so the next stop for anything broken is naturally the dump. Toss it all out. Or burn it down. I know I did. And they’ll never be able to pin it on me because I know enough not to use accelerants nor to burn a pair of Nikes in a bathtub.
This program is a 12 step because, well, getting dumped sucks a lot more than having to break up with someone- the shit end of the stick always stinks, let’s face it, and that requires at least 2 more steps if not more. So here are the tracks and below them a link to the .zip file. This time it’s for free because when someone flips you and the ‘relationship’ the bird, and leaves you all alone sometimes you have to give in order to realize that you are fine how you are, and if you can provide for others, you can definitely provide for yourself and make it on your own. Or something.
Truce – The Dresden Dolls
Destroy Everything You Touch – Ladytron
Killing A Boy – Melody Club
Blue Monday – New Order
Despicable Whore – Cyanide Valnetine
I Don’t Give A Fuck – Peaches
What Else Is There – Röyksopp
All That Bad – Lifestyle
You Don’t Really Love Me – Cyanide Valentine
Thank You For Nothing – Kleerup
On My Own Again – Kleerup
Happy Without You – Annie
Download available via Mega Upload
You aren’t alone because you have us, your Teletypists, and together we can work it out. Those of us in the lonely hearts club, as much as we shun the Beatles, are really better off alone than in a relationship that probably wasn’t going to go much further. And now, it’s a little more peaceful without the screaming and fighting and hopefully this mix can offer a means to begin your own self-healing journey.
So it looks like the Dr. Dre’s “white knight” can’t leave hiphop alone. Not only did Eminem come back earlier this year with an album (Relapse) that sold nearly 900 thousand in the first week, he is returning once again. This time Eminem is going to have bonus tracks that weren’t on the original Relapse album. Eminem’s Relapse: Refill will come out on Dec. 21st. I plan on doing a full review. For a full track listing and more information go here. To look at pricing information or buy the album on Amazon.com click the picture as always. That will be all for today. Peace *Johnny D.*
So the promo video for Namie Amuro’s “LOVE GAME” was posted on facebook either yesterday or the day before and it took a few listens before I was able to fully appreciate it. Despite my seeming inability to learn another language, I have a weird affinity for music in languages I don’t understand. And if I didn’t like it at first, somehow it grows on me.
For the most part, I’m liking the dance-pop trend going on in the music industry, being that my favorite music genre is electronica. The genre for Namie’s upcoming album, “PAST
安室奈美恵 – PAST
2009.12.16
CD & CD+DVD format avex trax
Japanese
01. FAST CAR
02. COPY THAT
03. LOVE GAME
04. Bad Habit
05. Steal my Night
06. FIRST TIMER | feat. DOBERMAN INC
07. WILD
08. Dr.
09. Shut Up
10. MY LOVE
11. The Meaning Of Us
12. Defend Love
I’m hoping that this album won’t be a let-down, seeing that I have been deleting a ton of music from my laptop as of lately. There have been too many albums with only a few good songs coupled with album-filler-songs. Hopefully “PAST
Is that beep beep beep of the Dump Truck still fresh in your head? Still got pieces of a decidedly douchey ex still stuck in your teeth and looking for a bone to pick with? Well search no longer and open this sweepstakes because you’ve won an all inclusive trip for the forlorn and unexpectedly single- a pop therapeutic musical safari!!
So it looks like the Dr. Dre’s “white knight” can’t leave hiphop alone. Not only did Eminem come back earlier this year with an album (Relapse) that sold nearly 900 thousand in the first week, he is returning once again. This time Eminem is going to have bonus tracks that weren’t on the original Relapse album. Eminem’s Relapse: Refill will come out on Dec. 21st. I plan on doing a full review. For a full track listing and more information go here. To look at pricing information or buy the album on Amazon.com click the picture as always. That will be all for today. Peace *Johnny D.*
安室奈美恵 – PAST