The song below is the B Side on her Obsessions single which appears only to be available on 7″ vinyl in the US. I think it is for sale on CD in the UK though, so I recommend you fly there and get it.

Anyway, I love this song—reminds me of Lene Lovich kinda—but I was reading her blog and was v disappointed to learn that she must be colorblind or something because how could she be so wrong about the colors of the numbers? I must set the record straight and prevent this misinformation from spreading.

Three- Green (SO fucking green) ORANGEY BROWN
Four- Purple [CORRECT]
Five- Red [CORRECT]
Six- Blue SILVER
Seven- Gold/ Yellow WHAT?! BLUE
Eight- Deep Purple BROWN
Nine- Brown GOLD
Ten- Black YELLOW
Eleven- Silver NO COLOR

Also, she didn’t cover these, but

One- BLACK
Two- WHITE

Marina & the Diamonds – Mowgli’s Road

(via Georgia)

This is a good song! Also a good picture. There are tons of good pictures of this band on the web. Also their bio on their website is probably the first decent bio I’ve read of any band.

“We knew we had something as soon as there was just the two of us in the room,” says Laura. “We thought about getting a bassist; some people suggested that was the way to go; but we were scared that would dilute what we had. We knew there was something there that doesn’t happen between two people very often. We listened to the sound we were making. It sounded mighty.”

There is something to be said for boy/girl duo rock bands, eg White Stripes, Mates of State, Duenow, The Bird and the Bee. I don’t know what it is though. And then again perhaps not; sometimes good music is just good.

Blood Red Shoes – I Wish I Was Someone Better

… so I was reading Chuck Klosterman’s meta-review of the new Guns ‘n’ Roses album, which is worth reading (although wrong, wrong, wrong!) and I was struck by this passage:

Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we’ll ever contemplate in this context—it’s the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file.

Like the rest of his review, this is inaccurate. But what’s important is this is what the industry believes (because lots of people download songs a la carte, apparently). And, since this is a widely-held belief by music producers, I think we now have grounds to hope for the demise of the greatest hits album!

Greatest hits albums are usually terrible—just the label trying to cash in on their back-catalog.

But worst! Worst of all are the Greatest Hits records that go out of their way to say, as pictured above, that these are only the *current* hits, and there are likely to be more. How pretentious is that? And how often true? It’s so obviously trying to enhance the image of the band while diminishing the actual product.

Now I like Lamb. I saw them live at least once, and their music is often strong, particularly the K & D remix of Trans Fatty Acid, but “Greatest Hits -2004?” Whatever.

Could someone explain to me what’s happening with all the dogs? Is it a metaphor? Or does she feel like a ‘bitch’ for cheating on her boyfriend? Here are the lyrics.

The Long Blondes – Guilt [Dan Carey Mix]

So here’s an amazing song from The Wombats. At the top level, this is an off-the-chain pop song on performance-enhancing stimulants. (Its always a good sign when a song starts with a “woo!”-type exclamation. More on that in a future post.)

But there seems to be a lot more beneath the surface; like how it name-checks another artist / classic song, but then it appears to get the whole thing wrong while “celebrating the irony of it all.” After a few verses, it takes a right turn with early 80s drum machine and synth sounds, and starts brilliantly mis-quoting the song in question: “Love will tear us apart” has become “Let the love tear us apart.”

My theory is it relates to the apparent contradictions in the first verse; you’re supposed to “learn from his mistake.” Is it the advice you’re supposed to learn from or the breaking of it? Any why would he break the advice he just worked out? And if the advice is that dancing to depressing Joy Divison songs is a cure for heartbreak, then… well ok I’m confused. But perhaps that was the point?

(Woo!)
I’m back in Liverpool,
And everything seems the same,
But I worked something out last night,
That changed this little boy’s brain,
A small piece of advice,
That took 22 years in the make,
And I will break it for you now,
Please learn from my mistakes.

Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But we’re so happy!
Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And raise our glass to the ceiling,
‘Cos this could all go so wrong,
But we’re so happy!

So if your ever feeling down,
Grab your purse and take a taxi,
To the darker side of town,
That’s where we’ll be,
And we will wait for you and lead
you through the dancefloor,
Up to the DJ booth,
You know what to ask for!

You’ll ask for Joy Division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But we’re so happy!

Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And raise our glass to the ceiling,
‘Cos this could all go so wrong,
But we’re so happy!

Let the love tear us apart,
I’ve found the cure for a broken heart,
Let it tear us apart,
(Let it tear us apart)

Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But were so happy!

Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And raise our glass to the ceiling,
‘Cos this could all go so wrong,
But we’re so happy!

Thanks Sweets Lyrics

The Wombats – Let’s Dance to Joy Division

According to last.fm, Maps has recently beaten out The Roots to become my number two favorite band. Well, it’s not a band per se; it’s the Englishman pictured above: James Chapman. I think he has a band for touring. (There should be a name for that.)

This is one of my favorite songs (but they’re all good though, really). It’s from a split-EP he did with Blonde Redhead. I’m curious to know where the audio sample came from. It sounds like a movie—a wonderful/terrible b-movie from the late 90s/early 00s, hopefully? If you know, please post in comments.

I just love how serious they are. And how, at the end, he’s all like “Yeah, well, I don’t do safe?” Snap!

Maps – In Chemistry

Wire is a mini revelation for me.  I found out about their albums Pink Flag and Chairs Missing in Pitchfork Media’s 100 Best Albums of the 1970s.

Wire – Reuters
Wire – Mannequin

They have a wonderful minimal punk sound.  It’s atmospheric but with attitude, not empty.  It turns out they wrote The 15th, the Fischerspooner track that I posted about here.

The photographer above has a bunch of fantastic photos on this site, as well as a  show at Etherea on Ave A which runs through next week.

Give thanks for good things!  New Clinic tracks from Fluxblog and Blogs are For Dogs.  Album is due 10/16.

Clinic – Harvest
Clinic – Family
Clinic – Animal Human

Huddle Formation, the single for 2004′s Thunder Lightning Strike, is totally awesome. And so is this live version.

The Go Team – Huddle Formation

In a futile attempt to return this blog to respectability after the last post (it’s probably better if you never download that last song), here’s a classic:

The Small Faces – Itchycoo Park