W♥M

Blur. And Bert. And Ernie.

Clearly you're all the worst bunch of britpop fans ever. No one got it? Well... I guess no one listened anyway... Well to understand this post, go listen to the the Crimea track I posted yesterday, then tell me the intro isn't right off this...

Blur - The Universal

Ok, maybe it's not, but seriously, if I had time to mix the two together I would, and it would so sound as good as that santiriani thing yesterday. Speaking of which, Soup, that Cat Stevens vid is classic. If you wanna know what the hell I'm talking about, read the comments for my last post. Anyway, while I'm on a Blur binge, I can't resist. I even remember watching this one live on TOTP back in 95. Where were you when britpop pwnd the world? I was in a christian summer camp. No shit.

Blur - Country House

And here's another classic from the tube, as I'm past trying to get this place to play nice with any other embeds... M.O.P.'s Ante Up plus plush toys equals epic lulz.

Bert & Ernie tries Gangsta-Rap

- Christopher.

 

Coldplay vs Satriani? Crimea vs...?

Ok, another cheap shot at posting Crimea stuff... but there's some real music here too :o) The BBC just let on that Coldplay aren't so great. Go figure. Apparently they plagurised a Joe Satiani track. Who? Never mind, the below video explains it all. I'd post full tracks but Vox editing clearly still sucks and it's already decided to kill my entire post once today so I ain't pushing it...

Did Coldplay copy Joe Satriani?

Edit: Oh wait, there's more! Ok just how many songs did coldplay rip off? Rofl...

ENANITOS VERDES - FRANCES LIMON

The Crimea - Baby Boom

On a similar theme, here's a track by the band I love to spam, The Crimea. It's a re-recorded version of their track Baby Boom, and along with sounding a whole lotdifferent from the original, it sounded a whole lot like something else I'd heard. Took me an entire day to figure it out though; after considering Morrissey, Sleeper, Echobelly, and figuring it had to be something brit pop, I even thought about asking that fountain of all musialknowledge Vu. No need though as I got it eventually. Guesses in the comments please, answer tomorrow ;o)

- Christopher

EDIT 12/13/08 VU: That first video was removed due to "a copyright claim by EMI Music".  Ironic because the video is about infringing on copyrighted works.  I don't think it should've been removed because it's fair-use with only excerpts of the chords.

 

 

Glastonbury!

Camping with my parents in bug infested fields as a kid scared me for life, so when festival time comes around I stay stuck firmly to my couch. Lucky for me the BBC are on hand to bring huge coverage of the big ones, and Glastonbury is no exception. Unlike last year though, I'm hoping there's more than just the one decent band that catches my attention (2007's was the Go! Team). Thankfully this year's started well as I'm already moved to tell you all about one act.

Natty - July @ Glastonbury '08

Natty - July

Natty is an alt Reggae act from London and his acoustic version of July just played on BBC 2 got me searching round for some more. Check out his MySpace if you wanna know more. Hopefully I'll be back later with some more Glasto picks. Jay Z, anyone? No? Go figure...

- Christopher

 

Björn Gustafsson

Oh I know it's not right, being a music blog and all, but this is one of the funniest things I've seen all year. Thanks to daljian in the Eurovision post comments we now know who the funny drunk man was. Björn Gustafsson is unsurprisingly even funnier though, as this amazing standup performance on some at some Swedish awards show. Don't worry, it's all subbed up, just promise me you'll watch right to the end, yah? "Steeg diev!" Rofl11.

Björn Gustafsson (Sweden) drunk on ESC 2008 (English subs)

- Chris-so gonna get smacked by vu-topher

 

Rollo Armstrong

This may just be an excuse to post as much of my record collection as possible in one post, but at least there's a common theme between them. You may not know him but you're bound to have heard one of the many countless bands he's been involved with; our Rollo has his finger in many musical pies, so to speak. Oh and, you deffinately know his sister. What's with everyone having famous sisters nowadays?

 

Faithless - Mass Destruction

Rollo Armstrong is a music producer and remixer from London, UK. And if you don't own a CD with his name in the credits, you probably don't own many CDs. I've included a small selection of stuff with a connection, although one's more of a wildcard entry. Anyway, I'll get on with it...

Trip hop festival faves Faithless are probably Rollo's most well known connection as one of three main members of the group, though as the band's permanent producer he's rarely seen onstage with them. Included is Mass Destruction, and no clues needed as to the lyrical content there. Whether it's the anti-Bush message or much more indie-ska-rock feel to the tune I don't know, but it's one of the only Faithless tracks I've been tempted to purchase.

Dido - Here With Me (Chillin' With The Family Mix)

Rollo's "Chillin With The Family" remix of sister - have you guessed yet? - Dido Armstrong's "Here With Me" contains possibly one of the best intros to a remix I've ever heard. Maybe I just don't listen to enough remixes I guess. Dido gets a lot of shit nowadays from the UK press, shame really as No Angel (co-produced by Rollo) was one of early 2000's best albums, and had it not been played to breaking point on the country's stereo systems I'm sure you'd hear nothing

Skinny - On A Beautiful Day

but good stuff about her to this day.

Start of the wildcard stuff is On A Beautiful Day by Skinny. Although having no musical input, Skinny's album Taller from which the track is taken was released on Rollo's record lable Cheeky. The track samples the Wallace Collection's 1968 "Daydream", but you're much more likely to have heard that via an advert featuring I Monster's Dayd ream In Blue, also sampling the same tune and included as it's frankly just better than Skinny's efforts.

I Monster - Daydream In Blue

Finally, below is the video for the Always Remember To Respect And Honour Your Mother Part One by Dusted. One wonders if there's rules in the Chart restricting title length, and if not there should be. Anyway, Dusted are a collaboration between, you guessed it, Rollo Armstrong and another producer, and the video to chillout tune Always Remember is a great fantasy animation and one of my favourite ever music videos.

And if you don't like any of that lot, there's plenty more Rollo remixes and productions available, ranging from Sarah McLachlan and Simply Red to Robbie Williams and the Spice Girls.  But I can't keep posting his stuff forever, so I'll be gone for the day.

Dusted - Always Remember To Respect And Honour Your Mother Part One

The Moldy Peaches

The Moldy Peaches - County Fair

The Moldy Peaches - Nothing Came Out

Well while we're on the topic of Juno... Funny story really (ok, typically tedious, but I gotta make it look like I put in the effort, you know?) - while skipping through Ukemeister Afton's latest youtube efforts I came accross one for Anything Else But You. Like the uninformed social recluse I am, I had no idea what was on the Juno soundtrack, and made a comment much ruder than it sounded along the lines of "Moldy Peaches did a much better version of this..." not having realised that the afton was in fact just doing her usual thouroughly thought through bastardised cover of the actual moldy peaches track. So I looked like a twat. Again. But hey, who was I to know that a film released last christmas would use the tracks of a band whom as far as I knew released their last material some time around 2003 while I was still in college, and broke up shortly thereafter? Even more shocking was seeing Kimya playing at film premiers, and her name spoken by non other than Mr WHM himself. I guess they ain't dead. So, now that I look like I've done something useful....

The Moldy Peaches. Circa 2003 and apparently 2008. Consisting of 5+ nutters (I never figured it out...), originating in NYC and playing something known as Anti-Folk. I've included County Fair, an old single, and Nothing Came Out, one of Kimya's sadder solo efforts. And I feel I need say no more as the below pic vid pretty much does all the talking. You know, I once promised to go to my first Crimea gig dressed similarly to Adam... And I'm told both Kimya and Adam's solo albums are extremely good.

• Christopher

Kinesis: Last chance to buy their greatest album!

The last time I was here I blogged about one of the few bands I've really liked and never purchased an album off - Kinesis. That wasn't wholely my own fault; their final and greatest album - You Are Being Lied To - was only ever available via their own website, and as they split up on the day of it's release that wasn't gonna be around for long.

Anyway, since my last blog on them I've scoured the streets, picked through online stores, and even had eBay auto-notify me of any appearences there. Other than a few extortianately priced and potentially non-existent (you know what Amazon's like) listings in various stores, I found nothing. Even eBay hasn't seen the thing for months. Until today... Google let me to the Captains Of Industry lable stie. It rung a bell, and yes, it was the original indie lable the CD was released on. And yes, they seemingly had it in stock for £4 shipped! (For you non-brits, that's less than we pay for some singles...). Except, the mirriad of php errors thrown up by the site, and another quick Google revealed the lable actually shut it's doors but 10 days ago. Damn.

The More You Have The Less You Feel

Never fear though, music lovers. One email later and I've confirmed with the lable owner (incidentally a Crimea and Crocketts fan *g*) that any orders made in the very near future will be honoured! So, in summary, if you want the greatest album you've never owned, click here: captainsof.com/release_capt018.php. The album itself is £3, and shipping is £1 UK, £1.50 EU and £2 World. That's still hella cheap people! Check the original blog post for more music if you still need convincing; the featured track is an old unreleased demo which came up on my MP3 player's shuffle the other day and it's not left my head since...

There's also a few releases by other bands still available, notably Gay For Johnny Depp, many of which can also still be had for £3.00. WHMers, there's bargains to be had, and you're seriously missing out if you don't buy right now!

http://captainsof.com/releases.php

- Christopher

Kinesis - Everything You Thought You Knew To Be

I promised something from these guys towards the end of last year. Sorry it's taken a while, but you'll be glad for it.

Kinesis were a criminaly overlooked, young English grungy rock band from the early 2000s, whom I was tipped off to by a friend along with other lesser known teen britrock greats such as the Llama Farmers, Murry The Hump et al. Anyway, these guys played politically charged tracks ala Manics while managing to sound like a cross between Muse and Keane. But don't hold that against them...

Kinesis - Killing With Ease

Around 2002, before Midasuno and while I still had friends, they were as close to metal as I got and I liked their Billboard Beauty single release so much I picked one up with a spare HMV voucher and shipped it off to the best looking girl I knew. Just for the lols, like. But I kept the MP3s and had been listening to the 3 included tracks ever since. The first track included with this post is the third track from the single, Killing With Ease; and I'm crap at writing descriptions of this kinda thing but lets just say it shows their softer side. "So freeeeee.... And it's ok, it's ok, it's okkkk... And it's feeels... So beautiful, so beautiful, so beautifuulll..." You get the point.

And then they released You Are Being Lied To - their second and final album, on the day they broke up, as a free online download (albeit only the title track was at a listenable bitrate, so they don't impede on The Crimea's groundbreaking moves... Charlawho?...). Anyway, said t une was added to collection and with it's message of govermental misleading and anti war theming it became a much listened favourite along with the other three.

Kinesis - Everything You Thought You Knew To Be

Four years later and the internet floodgates have opened up many a tune from many a band, an d Kinesis aren't left out. Much of the ...Lied To album is available to stream in full from interadio giants Last.fm, and I was originally gonna rip The Question Has Changed off as it's the only one that came accross semi-decent on the original ~56 Kbps album MP3s I have, but I forgot the name, mistook it for another, and hit Everything You Thought You Knew To Be.

And fuck me, is it ever a bit epic. Bound to become my favourite Kinesis track; I've been putting off picking up the album off ebay for £0.pence but no more... come free listing weekend, you shall be mine. Rest of you, do yourself a favour, hit play, and check out the other tacks on Last.fm. Overlooked no more, Kinesis rocks it.

- Christopher

 

SweetAfton23 - One Girl, One Uke

No! This is not as dirty as it sounds (boingboing readers you know what I mean). Although she does seem to garner just as provocative comments... but as I'm sure she'd say this is not how the SweetAfton23 rolls.

Following a tip off from one W. B. Mook in the comments of my last Ukulele based post, here's another hot girl strumming items off amusement for you to ogle over. Or be impressed by the musical talents, whatever moves ya. Anyway, the Afton, as she will henceforth be known, plays a lot of covers on a Ukulele and posts videos of said musical prowess on the YouTubernets. I'm unsure as to whether there's any thought as to which covers she does, generally it just seems to be whatever will sound most amusing.

So... we have gems like [Afton's cover of] System Of A Down's "Chop Suey" (geez i just watched the vid, sounds like a shit cover of the Afton's far greater performance, thank god I never had my sister's taste in metal...), [Afton's cover of] Jonathan Coulton's "Tom Cruise Crazy" (some internet thing...) and what can only be described as One Girl, One Uke, One Thousand Attempts - [Afton's cover of] "Mr Fancy Pants" [Afton cover] (also by JC, I'm seeing a pattern here... is he some kinda Uke god?).

But here for your viewing pleasure is by far the greatest of all, Britters - Toxic. You know, there should be an easy joke there, but I'm not that mean... Ah hit play already. Any bets on how long it takes Vu to cross the ocean and slap me upside the head whilst screaming "this is a SERIOUS music site! stop itttt!" ?

- Christopher

 

Erika Davies

Erika Davies - Rumors Are Flying

I've noticed a slight influx of ukulele wielding females as of late (notably Katy Carr supported my favourite band around Christmas), and where there's a bandwagon I'm usually found bouncing up and down just behind it...

Miss Erika Davies happens to be the sister of a MySpace friend - you know, the type who write but don't call, visit your home town but neglect to mention anything, hunt you down on facbook... hang on... i'm being stalked! Ok ok, I'm not that lucky. Anyway, Miss Erika's MySpace page is covered in covers of tracks from the 30s, 40s and 50s and has an uncanny way of producing tracks that sound like they're just as old.

I've stuck one of the catchier ones to the right, a cover of Les Paul's Rumours Are Flying. I'm not sure if the below is a cover or not, but it's a cute little tune from her YouTube page. And another photo to prove she really is from the 21st centuary. And cos I figured Vu would like the french look...

Quick reminder - LITTLE BLUE CRUNCHY THINGS play SHANK HALL, Milwaukee, WI tomorrow night! Be there for funked up goodness. Yes I said fuNKed. Blimey, what do you take me for?

- Christopher

Erika Davies