Toonsday in Toonville

[Davey]

Any jam kickers the past week for you? I've been listening lots to Eleventh Dream Day Beet in recent days, the one from way way back in 1989, and these guys were great, and still are. And speaking of kicking out the jams, they even mention the MC5 in the first song :) Very nice mix of Neil Young and Television and Lou Reed and maybe a bit of Sonic Youth. Not sure which one I would call their best album cause I only have three now, I think. I know Jar has cranked them in the past and the Ex Lion Tamer has spun a couple of them. Rick Rizzo learned well from the Neil Young songbook and really knows how to bend some strings and use that feedback, and Doug McCombs (also of Tortoise) on bass is stellar as always, and Janet Beveridge Bean (also of Freakwater) on drums and backup vox andpiano, and another guitar and lapsteel by somebody else I don't know. Being late to the party in about 1999, the first one I got was Eighth...and I loved it immediately. And then they released a new one in 2000 called Stalled Parade that easily became one of my favorites of the year. Wow, what a great, raw, sloppy, turmoil filled album! Can't think of any other album in recent memory that so well captures that Neil Young/Crazy Horse/Lou Reed/Velvet Underground sound I like so much, except for maybe that great 2-CD set from Steve Wynn a few years ago. Some of their older ones were a bit hard to find at the time I was digging those two since they had fallen OOP so I kind of forgot to look anymore. But I scored a used copy of Beet not too long ago for the cheaps and have been regularly assaulting my sensibility with it ever since. And apparently from what I read, it was reissued with some of the other old ones in 2001 so I guess is much easier to find now, although mine is the original big label debut on Atlantic, via Columbia House. Great stuff. Trust me ;)

[-Jar-]

I listened to some of my all time favorite comps this week:

Ex-Lion Tamer's THE SOUND OF DREAMS. All winners here with me. Great flow and variety, but all very dreamy at the same time. That old Creatures track always brings a big wide smile to my face. And then I get to "Consequence" by Notwist, and I'm like, man, I've heard this in the past couple days, what the hay.. ah.. it's on Slosh's MIDSUMMER SET. Awesome stuff. Speaking of them, great kickoff track on another favorite comp..

Davey's HOLIDAY MIXER. ("Pilot" - Everyone loves this song!) I think I got this around the exact same time as the maf comp above (Dec. 2002?). Must have been a great time for music eh? Man this has some great stuff by Voyager One, Radar Brothers, Sixteen Horsepower, Blackheart Procession and great stuff to totally sink into with a decent pair of headphones and a comfy chair. Yay.

I also have Mr. Midfi's JUST SAY YO! in the queue for my next comp listen.. also one of my favorites. The Cure, Yes, Santana, R.E.M., Fleetwood Mac and Genesis together? You bet!

Not much else to speak of,
some dirty rotten southern rock sludge from Buzzoven (early stuff). And satanic cyber-blitz mathrock from Today is the Day (TEMPLE OF THE MORNING STAR)

note:
Ok I'll relent to Davey. I was having trouble because of "too many users" oh well.

-jar

[Dusty Chalk]

John Vanderslice, Pixel Revolt (does this guy have the whackiest song titles, or what? "Peacocks in the Video Rain" is a personal favourite), Cellar Door, Time Travel is Lonely and The Life and Death of an American Fourtracker. Very nice indie-ish whimsy-pop. RIYL Flaming Lips, Notwist, Grandaddy, et al.

Mono, the Albini-produced one -- awesome GYBE/EitS-type stuff.

Some guy named Jean-Michel -- not Jarre -- nice mid-tempo electronica/techno, but not up to JMJ standards.

Vangelis, Alexander and Direct -- one of my favourites.

Blue Man Group, Audio -- sublime. Multi-percussion heaven. RIYL Mike Oldfield, Vangelis, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hackett, et al.