Slacking....

Yeah, I know I've been slacking...

I used to listen to a lot really slow, sleepy music. You know...slowcore. Bands like Codeine, Bedhead and Low. A lot of it had to do with my life style at the time, which I won't get to specific about here.

All of this, later lead to listening to bands such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. If you ever get a chance to see Mogwai live, I suggest you take that opportunity. It's cool some folks are still making this kind of stuff. It makes rainy days that much more....I dunno...rainy?? Hah....

Hey, remember The Blues Explosion?

Funny story that you're not going to believe, but I actually "jammed" with Judah Bauer way back in (I want to say) 1990 (?). Anyway, it didn't take long for me to figure out that this guy way WAY out of my league.

Years later, I saw him at a show after they got pretty big, and I was pleased that he remembered who I was (it helped that I was good friends with his best bud from Appleton, Wisconsin.

This isn't really about Sufjan Stevens....

Are you sure you like Sufjan Stevens, or are you just pretending because all the critics are gushing over him? Personally, I keep trying to listen to him to find out what it is I might be missing that continues to force me to pass on him, time and time again. It usually starts out with "you know, this song isn't bad" but always ends up with "fuck, this song is annoying as hell" and I turn it off. I just don't get it and I don't think I ever will. Just like Beefhearts "Trout Mask Replica".



I don't know. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but I like "songs". You know the kind with discernible melodies, verses, choruses, etc...music with emotion behind it. There's only so much improve I can take before I start calling bullshit. I'm the same way with jazz. Coltrane, sure....Albery Ayler, not so much.

Force Field, sure...Sufjan Stevens, not so much.

Hunters NYC

Thank god for Glenn Branca. Thank god for Sonic Youth. Where would New York trash and noise be without them? Your precious White Stripes or Yeah Yeah Yeahs would be non-existent. Sure, there still might be the Strokes, but those guys are kind of boring anyway.....

There wouldn't be these guys, Hunters, and that would be a shame, because I was really into this 
today. Kind of kicks ass...




note: I have been listening to this every day now and have decided it kiss ass for sure.

Stone Darling

And thy first song they created had sort of a "Mazzy Star" feel to it, and it was good.



Then on the second song, they covered P-funk, and it was, well, OK...sort of....

Soul

Here's a really good mix for Friday. It's so good, that it was actually hard to wait until today to post about it. Kraz does a pretty amazing job at drawing a line from the "Godfather of Soul" to the "CEO of Rocawear" and back.

The New Division wha....?

I don't know. Calling yourself New Division seems kind of a bold and presumptuous move. They should have called themselves "Fashion Dispatch", 'cause some of their songs sound like Martin Gore and company than any incarnation of New Order or Joy Division. Still, I enjoyed listening to this today, as I like all three of those groups.

Weekly shoegazey noise pop post....

OK, so these two bands sound a lot alike. Not that it's a bad thing, since I'm in full support of the whole "muddled vocals in the background" deal. It's way better than listening to a grating and annoying singer. It's always a bummer when you hear the beginning of something great, only for it to be ruined by someones annoying voice.



Youth Castles describe themselves as "depressed new york city college students trying to write songs that sound decent enough to listen to while driving in the suburbs."....I like that. I hate their name though....








I'm looking forward to these guys finishing the album....They have a much better name.









You know, they all kind of sound like tamer versions of Flying Saucer Attack, a band in the ninties that you probably never heard of. Even back then, nobody had really heard of them either, so don't feel so bad.

Kraftwerk

What can be said about Kraftwerk which hasn't been said a million times before? If you hate electronic music, than you will need to start with them. They started it all.

I had a chance to see then back in 2004 and it was pretty amazing. At one point, they took a break and the next song was "performed" by robotic representations of themselves. They re-entered the stage and completed their performance wearing tron like glow suits. Epic.




Computer World (German Version)











DIe Roboter - (German)











Trans Europa Express (Deutsch)

Monster Rally

So, this guy is from Ohio. He obviously shares the same love for Lex Baxter and Martin Denny as I do.




Les Baxter (You'll surely recognize this one):



Martin Denny (people making animal noises rules!):

Boyz IV Men

If you don't already know, Boyz IV Men are a local group here in San Francisco. They play synthesizers not unlike someone would play a guitar, which is what makes their live shows much more interesting than most electronic based acts.

BOYZ IV MEN from DL on Vimeo.

Does Satan go to the Club?

Well, if he does, he definitely gets freaky listening to Ritualz. I don't expect anyone to like any of this. Actually, I'm pretty sure I don't, but it's kind of like this. I hate horror movies, cause I'm kind of a pussy, get scared easily and find myself sleeping with a light on afterwards. But sometimes, I have to freeze the gore on the DVD and examine it carefully in slow motion to see what's going on. Listening to this is kind of like that.

†‡† (Ritualz) - ▲ from Petit Pistolette on Vimeo.

I'm almost positive there are satanic messages recorded in forward...no need to put them in reverse.

Dancing and the President of the United States of America

I'm pretty sure the amount of dancing is usually in direct correlation with what political party is in the White House at the time. When Jimmy Carter was president, everyone was at the disco. When Clinton was in office, everyone was out raving. I suppose if the economy wasn't so shitty, people would be dancing more now, but let's face it. Bush was such a killjoy, it's practically spilling over into this administration. In spite of this though, fun electronic dance-able beats are still being churned out....



The Young Liars....was it "Hot Chip" that started this whole sound?

Just to get you started...

One of the coolest album covers I've seen in a while. Modern Soul.

Teen Daze

I really like everything that he puts out. His music all has a real sentimental feeling to it that I can't explain. His live performance needs work though.....

His latest realease seems to be scraps of electro leftovers.




I'm not sure where the inspiration for this one came from. Brian Wilson probably. He demostrates that he's quite capable of writing beach inspired indie pop tunes and more so, quite good at it.




An oldie but a goodie. This was one of my favorite tunes from last year.

JAPANTHER

I like Japanther quite a lot and don't feel I need to explain this to anyone.

Blog Name Explaining

There is a reason why this blog is called Tunesifter. Mainly it's because I have to sift through tons of pure shit to get to stuff that I like. And I don't mean "sounds that I'm just not into" type of stuff. I'm talking about the "these guys shouldn't even be playing music" type of garbage that has nothing to do with genre or whatever....just terrible music no matter what the style. know what I mean?

Jabroni's pretty good though...






They remind me a bit of the sort of jazzy inluenced indie rock of the late 90s and early 2000s....sort of like:









Karate maybe?



...or Tortoise...hmmm....