and still, the randomness

[YojimboMonkey]

I don't know where the hell to post this but I caught this on Facebook the other day, it's Andrew Breitbart interviewing Angelo and Norwood from Fishbone, along with Lev Anderson, the filmmaker who made the recent documentary about them, for an hour, on Dennis Miller's website. It's beyond fucking random.

http://www.dennismillerradio.com/b/Breitbart-Endorses-Fishbone/-320023056292289825.html

*brain explodes*

[Nick Ink]

I should warn everyone that it looks likely that there will be two Belgian bands on my end of year top 30.

[narlus]

I've always ranked Countdown relatively low on the Dan scale, hardly an insult to be sure but just not on par with Pretzel/Katy/Scam/Aja. Six consecutive spins have effectively folded it more seamlessly into that run for me, but I still find Kind of the World an anticlimax, "I think my face is on fire" stage-setting notwithstanding.

my SD rankings

Countdown To Ecstasy
Royal Scam
Pretzel Logic
Can't Buy A Thrill
Katy Lied
Aja
Gaucho

never heard any of the newer ones.

[auto-da-fey]

I bought a 7" by Cringer (Lance Hahn's pre-J Church band) at Amoeba San Francisco a few weeks ago. it's a fairly pointless live-in-Europe EP, but it was only a buck, and I got mad love for Lance.

in the insert, there are pictures of concert posters from 1991 or so, and there's one show with Cringer/the Offspring/Neurosis. I imagine there are tons of bands that were called the Offspring, but if this was the keep-em-separated guys, that ... would be a weird bill. though maybe weirder two decades retrospectively than at the time.

[mixed cats]

I am watching some stupid countdown show on VH1 and man there are a lot of really really boring songs about fucking.

[Andrew_TSKS]

I bought a 7" by Cringer (Lance Hahn's pre-J Church band) at Amoeba San Francisco a few weeks ago. it's a fairly pointless live-in-Europe EP, but it was only a buck, and I got mad love for Lance.

in the insert, there are pictures of concert posters from 1991 or so, and there's one show with Cringer/the Offspring/Neurosis. I imagine there are tons of bands that were called the Offspring, but if this was the keep-em-separated guys, that ... would be a weird bill. though maybe weirder two decades retrospectively than at the time.

Oh, I'm sure that's them. They were part of the Cali underground scene for years and years before blowing up--people remember Smash as their first album, but it was actually their third, and they released their first 7 inch in 1986. Neurosis were also on Lookout Records in their early days, and started out sounding like Animosity-era COC, so given the time period in which that show undoubtedly took place, it probably seemed like a totally normal bill at the time.

Also, that single that you bought came out around the time as the Cringer stuff I'm most into, and if I remember correctly, is also pretty great, though it could use a better recording. That's got "If I Had Your Pen" on it, right? Outstanding song.

ETA: The Offspring's first single, from 1986. Isn't youtube crazy?

[RavingLunatic]

I have a question about the term "mixtape." When an artist, usually a hip-hop or electronic artist, puts out a mixtape, what exactly does that mean? I've always assumed it just meant they put together a collection of their favorite obscure songs, but the fact that they get reviewed makes me think there might be something more to it. There's a mix or mixtape by Four Tet called "Plattenleger" out there, and I don't know whether to regard it as a piece of music he actually put together--maybe through sampling or whatever, sort of thew ay the Go Team made albums--or if it's just a bunch of songs he put together. If it's the latter, I'm not really interested.

[Andrew_TSKS]

No no, mixtapes by hip-hop artists were originally something different than they are now, but even back then they were not the same as, like, me making you a mixtape. What they started out as was a DJ making up a mix of a shitload of different beats he liked from other people's stuff, using instrumental 12 inch mixes or whatever, and then getting a bunch of his rapper friends to rap over them. Those kinds of mixtapes still exist, but over the last 10 to 15 years mixtapes have become much more focused on original beats, to the point where these days a mixtape really just tends to be an unofficial album by the artist. However, since they're released for free on the internet, copyright issues aren't as much of a problem, so a lot of times rappers will use samples they haven't cleared, or bring in guests that they don't have record label clearance to work with, or occasionally even now rap over the instrumental mix of someone else's beat. The host role of DJs on mixtapes is greatly diminished these days, too, though not entirely gone. But yeah, if Four Tet has a mixtape out, I don't know if that means he's adapting the hip-hop idea of what a mixtape is to his own work, or what. I can tell you that Fucked Up have done several mixtapes, and the one I have has a bunch of random rare b-sides and outtakes on it, plus joke songs, live tracks, interviews, previews of as-yet-unreleased material, and even some weird one-off shit that I can't imagine will ever show up on anything else. So there's an example of a punk rock band adapting the hip-hop idea of a mixtape, and I'd think it's even stranger for a punk band to do it than an electronic artist like Four Tet. For what that's worth.

[RavingLunatic]

Cool, thanks. I didn't really know any of that stuff.

[Antero]

I think everyone should make mixtapes.  Like, I want to make a mixtape that involves songs that are closely-rewritten versions of other songs.  That would be entirely too entertaining.

[Benmont Tench]

After many years of careful deliberation, I think I've narrowed the best Afghan Whigs song down to either "Conjure Me" or "Bulletproof".

[davy]

It's actually "Faded," but yours were good guesses.

 

[Antero]

I have a weird fondness for "John The Baptist," which I think has to be one of the funniest songs I've ever heard.

[JamesSchneider]

n

"Conjure Me" or "Bulletproof".

Concur.
Wondering about what yr favorite Black Lips songs are.

Bad Kids is an obvious one for me.

Sorry if this is trite. I find myself newly in west Michigan, and garage is so very, very alive and well here.

[RoyBiggins]

I don't understand The DaN

But I do have the Me, Myself, and Irene soundtrack.

[Nick Ink]

Bon Iver, Feist and Mastodon are on the Jools Holland show on TV here in an hour. For some reason, I am finding that very funny.

[Nick Ink]

Hate to be a hater, but by the Beard Of Zeus, Feist was the worst crap I've seen in many a year!

[jm]

Hey, is anybody here familiar with this James Blake character?

[davy]

I tried, but it's not for me.

[jm]

a good friend of mine with whom I'd been in a couple of short-lived bands and whose taste in music (specifically the kind of music that most people find unlistenably obnoxious) is really close to mine had recommended I pick up his self-titled.  I was wondering if anybody could put it into any context for me.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

james blake = dude pretty steeped in dubstep (or, at least, whatever dubstep was in 2009) makes watery singer-songwriter record.

[jm]

I was really curious about that.  I was assuming that the dubstep guy and the singer-songwriter guy weren't the same person.  Huh.  There's another dimension to that, I guess.

[Trousers and Pat]

so is it like Bon Iver's list of favorite dubstep verses or something?

[davy]

Honestly, the music is just barely there. I don't get it.

[auto-da-fey]

mastodon is about to play on david letterman. the nice thing about not having TV at home is that whenever you stay in a hotel and something like this pops up, it seems extra exciting.