Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Shoegazer Sunday: Skies of Ember Covers Slowdive’s “Catch the Breeze”

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014

I really am on a Slowdive cover kick. Skies of Ember is a Filipino band, and although it says so nowhere in the title or description, this video is actually a live instrumental cover of Slowdive’s “Catch the Breeze.”

Dream Diary: My Non-Shootout With Michael Jackson

Tuesday, February 18th, 2014

I dreamed I was in the process of buying a bank. One customer I knew was telling me she was going to sue me, even though I didn’t even own the bank yet. I think she was doing it out of spite.

Then I was riding in a car with someone I think wanted to sell some sort of service to my bank. While we drove I was worried about what level of fractional reserve the bank should have in these tough economic times. (Yes, I dreamt about fractional reserve banking; I’m just a wild and crazy guy). But then the guy driving drove up and over an unfinished overpass, despite my warning, and we landed with a crash in a closed Target parking lot at night.

I was walking along after that, and I had to go into a convenience store to use the bathroom (yes, one of those dreams), but I was worried my dog would run off while I was inside.

Inside it was more like a hotel or bank lobby, and when I went into the restroom, it was some sort of cave (more like a video game cave than a real one).

For some reason, Michael Jackson was holding a ridiculously long antique wooden rifle on me, something like 15-20 feet long, saying he wanted to die as a woman and as a defender of the Alamo. (I guess he was channeling Phil Collins here.)

The gun was so close to my face that I swept the barrel aside with my left hand while I pulled my own gun out of my pocket with my right. But I couldn’t fire it because there was a beef jerky packet stuck to it that prevented operating the trigger.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson had turned into a friend of mine, and not only was the rifle he holding normal sized, but it turned out to be made of beef jerky packets connected together in the shape of a gun as well.

Then I woke up.

Sunday Shoegazer: Center of the Sun Covers Slowdive’s “Machine Gun”

Sunday, February 16th, 2014

Evidently I just can’t get enough of Slowdive covers. Here’s the now defunct (or on hiatus) Center of the Sun doing a crunchy, guitar-drenched cover of “Machine Gun.”

They also did a cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You.” Obviously this is a band on my wavelength…

Shoegazer Sunday: Silvania’s “Trilce”

Sunday, February 9th, 2014

Silvania is Peruvian duo currently resident in Spain (and not a manufacturer of inferior lightbulbs). “Trilce” is from the “floaty, spacy” branch of Shoegaze.

I hope you like religious statuary…

Shoegazer Sunday: Airiel’s “Funerals”

Sunday, February 2nd, 2014

Chicago-based Airiel’s newest EP, Kid Games, features some truly beautiful work. including “Funereals,” which has an ethereal wall-of-sound that reminds me of Popol Vu’s soundtrack to Aquirre: The Wrath of God.

Shoegazer Sunday: The Asteroid Shop’s “Dandelion”

Sunday, January 26th, 2014

Here again is Austin’s own The Asteroid Shop with a live version of their song “Dandelion.” Imagine a cross between Mazzy Star and The National.

The guitar sound is fine, but they would be helped by having a female co-singer to harmonize with. They could really use a Hope Sandoval…

Steam Powered Giraffe

Monday, January 20th, 2014

Every now and then you run across something curious enough that you go “Hmm, people should know about this!’

The band Steam Powered Giraffe is just such an entity. I mean, how many other retro pantomime Steampunk harmony bands are there out there?

An example:

Here’s “Fire Fire,” a little outer-space disaster ditty:

I like the harmonies, but overall they’re a little softer than the mainstream of music I care for.

You wonder what the popularity plateau for a band like this is. There are a surprising number of Steampunk conventions popping up around the country, but the answer may be something like the Asylum Street Spankers, who had almost a two decade career where they both made a living and never had a song or album chart.

Shoegazer Sunday: Bleach’s “Surround”

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

Here’s old-school UK Shoegaze band Bleach with “Surround.”

Shoegazer Sunday: The High Violets’ “Sparkle”

Sunday, January 12th, 2014

Time for another dose of the High Violets:

The Longest Version of U2’s “Bad” Ever

Friday, January 10th, 2014

“Bad” is my favorite U2 song. This version, recorded in East Rutherford, NJ, on April 15th, 1985, is far from my favorite, but at 18 minutes and 17 seconds its certainly the longest. It has a winning batshit crazy intensity, with Bono throwing in riffs to “Waiting For My Man,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Hide Your Love Away” and “Sympathy for the Devil,” plus freeform lyrics that seem to have improvised on the spot, since they show up nowhere before or after.

And it all pretty much works against the base “Bad” riff.

Come on down…