W♥M (Archive)

Morrissey - Years of Refusal

Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris Morrissey Tour Dates 03/06/09 House Of Blues Myrtle Beach, SC 03/07/09 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA 03/09/09 Orange Peel Asheville, NC 03/11/09 DPAC Durham, NC 03/13/09 The National Richmond, VA 03/14/09 Warner Theater Washington, DC 03/16/09 Wellmont Theater Montclair, NJ 03/17/09 Carnegie Music Hall Pittsburgh, PA 03/19/09 University of Buffalo Center for the Arts Buffalo, NY 03/21/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY 03/22/09 Academy of Music Philadelphia, PA 03/25/09 Webster Hall New York, NY 03/26/09 Carnegie Hall New York, NY 03/28/09 Foxwoods Mashantucket, CT 03/29/09 House of Blues Boston, MA 03/31/09 Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI 04/01/09 Palace Theater Columbus, OH 04/03/09 Eagles Ballroom Milwaukee, WI 04/04/09 Aragon Ballroom Chicago, IL 04/06/09 State Theater Minneapolis, MN 04/07/09 Midland Theater Kansas City, MO 04/08/09 Pageant Theatre St. Louis, MO 04/10/09 Dallas Palladium Dallas, TX 04/11/09 Jesse Jones Hall Houston, TX 04/12/09 Bass Concert Hall Austin, TX 04/14/09 Chavez Theater El Paso, TX 04/15/09 Sunshine Theater Albuquerque, NM 04/17/09 Coachella Indio, California 04/28/09 INEC Killarney 04/29/09 Leisureland Galway 05/01/09 Leisure Centre Omagh 05/02/09 Waterfront Belfast 05/04/09 Albert Halls Stirling 05/05/09 Caird Hall Dundee 05/07/09 Barrowland Glasgow 05/08/09 Barrowland Glasgow 05/10/09 Empire Liverpool 05/11/09 Royal Albert Hall London 05/13/09 Symphony Hall Birmingham 05/15/09 Britannia Pier Great Yarmouth 05/16/09 Corn Exchange Cambridge 05/19/09 Arena Hull 05/20/09 Borough Hall Hartlepool 05/22/09 Apollo Manchester 05/23/09 Apollo Manchester 05/25/09 City Hall Salisbury 05/26/09 Mile End Troxy Ballroom London 05/28/09 Brixton 02 Academy London 05/29/09 Brixton O2 Academy London 05/30/09 Brixton O2 Academy London 06/02/09 Grand Rex Paris 06/03/09 Aeronef Lille 06/05/09 Rockhal Club Luxembourg 06/06/09 Watt Rotterdam 06/08/09 Elizabeth Hall Antwerp 06/09/09 Capitol Offenbach 06/11/09 Palladium Cologne 06/12/09 Columbiahalle Berlin 06/14/09 Poer 2 Bremen 06/15/09 Rytmeposten Odense 06/17/09 KB Hallen Copenhagen 06/18/09 Ahaga Boras 06/20/09 Senstrumscene Oslo 06/22/09 Lisebergshallen Gothenberg 06/24/09 Hovet Stockholm 06/26/09 Tampere Arena Tampere 06/27/09 Cable Factory Helsinki 06/29/09 Maneshe St Petersburg 07/01/09 B1 Club Moscow Discography [1988] Viva Hate [1990] Bona Drag [1991] Kill Uncle [1992] Your Arsenal [1994] Vauxhall and I [1995] Southpaw Grammar [1997] Maladjusted [2004] You Are the Quarry [2006] Ringleader of the Tormentors Read More Morrissey http://weheartmus... Being a huge Morrissey/The Smiths fan, people often ask me: "What's your favorite Morrissey song?...

To say the least, Morrissey is the main reason why I listen to alternative music. Prior Morrissey, I was hopelessly in love with Chynna from Wilson Phillips. What made me deflect to the dark side was seeing Morrissey's black humor as he sings his heart out to "There is a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends" on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

I bought everything I could from BMG music club. I still think it's a great deal, you get 4 CDs for the cost of "shipping" - which usually works out to be about $4 a CD. BMG had a back catalog of only some Smiths albums (they were missing albums like Meat is Murder and Rank to name a few) and only two Morrissey albums, Viva Hate and Bona Drag (the latter is more or less a compilation).

When those few albums wasn't enough for me, I sought out singles, collecting cover artwork, fanzines, and bootlegs. I suppose it shouldn't surprise anyone that I can get a bit obsessive.

Just to let you know, for the sake of being faithful and for collecting, I still buy his singles. I no longer try and get all different version of a 'greatest hits' album or anything. For instance, I think there's a new Smiths greatest hits out, which I'll be ignoring... although there's always this nagging voice in the back of my mind to 'complete' the collection, you know?

Okay, for those still awake, Morrissey's latest album is called Years of Refusal. If you are only familiar with the 'mopey'/depressing Morrissey of those Smiths days, I have to warn you that this album is very muscular and aggressive. There is, of course, the odd sad song ("You Were Good In Your Time"), but they are quite outnumbered on this album.

 

Morrissey - All You Need Is Me

You might have seen his "All You Need Is Me" tongue-in-cheek answer to all your woes or have heard "That's How People Grow Up" on his last Greatest Hits album (that song was a brand new song at the time). The new "hit" single from this album is "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", which sounds sweeping. I don't know how to describe it, it sounds like the song should be epic, but it's wrapped up in a two minute pop song. Typical Morrissey to end the song with "nobody wants my love".

I really enjoyed the opening and closing songs ("Something Is Squeezing My Skull" and "I'm Ok By Myself"), they seem like fitting bookends to a great novel. The first song is just a fast song with an amusing Morrissey lyric of "don't give me anymore". The last song was co-written by Jesse Tobias, who is a semi-new collaborator. The rest of the album are written by old band rockabillish members, Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer, they've been with Morrissey since 1991.

Morrissey is definitely a more modern and mature musician since The Smiths... and easily his most poppiest album to date. New fans will be delighted, old fans may not really like. But you know they are going to buy it anyway, so it doesn't really matter what I say.... although I will have to say this album is much, much, better than his last one, Ringleader of the Tormentors .

You can find Years of Refusal at any record store. If you can't find it, then you are shopping at the wrong record store. Fans should be sure to only get the deluxe edition with bonus DVD.

Look for Julia Riley if you're going to attend a show. I will at the Minneapolis show, so come say hi.

As a special bonus, here are some Morrissey songs I've previously mentioned:

Morrissey - Reader Meet Author	Morrissey - The National Front Disco	Morrissey - Sunny	Morrissey - Girl Least Likely To	Morrissey - Jack The Ripper (live)
Morrissey - Boxers	Morrissey - Piccadilly Palare	Morrissey - That's How People Grow Up	Morrissey - Jack the Ripper (studio)	Morrissey - Tomorrow (Single Mix)

UPDATE 3/6/09: I got this amusing note:

A Note From Morrissey on Tour of Refusal

 

"I have survived the interrogation of Atlanta's Immigration officials and Myrtle Beach shall have me tonite (Friday), and the world from then onwards ... if the world can take it. One of the many penalties of being human is that tours often take a military push to start, well, all of our answers will be in our songs tomorrow night. The bloodbath starts at 7.30. Life is testing you out. Be ready for anything."

 03/05/2009 23:18:16 ♥ vu () ♥ itsmorrisseysworld.com ♥ morrissey-solo.com ♥ true-to-you.net 

Mass Games

 

Mass Games - Zone B

Mass Games

Mass Games is a lo-fi electropop outfit based in Thailand, produced by a man by the name of Joseph Weber (a.k.a. "Jagga). The name is taken from the North Korean synchronized gymnastics, and the music utilizes samples from Learn-To-Speak-English tapes. The most amusing description of the group's sound comes from The Pop! Stereo, taken from the MySpace page for Mass Games:

"...they sound like Daleks attacked the BBC Radiophonic Workshop made a right racket and then decided to take over the whole damn BBC and make bizarre tripped out rainbow coloured TV that will give you a headache while entertaining you."

Although their style is described as somewhat dark, I played their recent self-titled EP for my family. My wife Cimmorene and my daughter liked it a lot, sometimes getting up to dance to it. That isn't too surprising since Cimmy and I are well immersed in gamer and geek culture, and have been continuing the tradition with our children. We all are fairly familiar with the beats and sounds, some used by 8-bit synthesizers employed in video games.I think we found "Riding a New Wave" the most accessible, although all the tracks were very appealing.

If you've read my music reviews before, you'll know I love music videos and artists that give their music a visual medium. Here's the video for Zone B, the last track on the EP:

A full length album is in the works, so we may be seeing something from Mass Games again soon.

03/05/2009 21:14:02♥ jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com) ♥ myspace.com/massgames ♥ last.fm

Say Hi

Say Hi - One Two ... One Say Hi Tour Dates 03/06/09 Neumos Seattle, Washington 03/12/09 Bottom Of The Hill SF, CA 03/13/09 The Echo Los Angeles, CA 03/14/09 Beauty Bar  Las Vegas, NV 03/15/09 Plush Tucson, Arizona 03/17/09 Longhorn Saloon Ft. Worth, TX 03/19/09 Room 710  Austin, TX 03/20/09 SXSW  Austin, TX 03/21/09 SXSW Daystage Austin, TX 03/21/09 The Parish Austin, TX 03/22/09 Hi-Tone Cafe Memphis, TN 03/23/09 The End Nashville, TN 03/24/09 Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, GA 03/25/09 Plaza  Bowl Richmond, VA 03/26/09 Black Cat Washington,DC 03/27/09 Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA 03/28/09 The Bell House Brooklyn, NY 03/29/09 Mercury Lounge New York, NY 03/30/09 Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, MA 03/31/09 Garfield Artworks Pittsburgh, PA 04/02/09 Circus Columbus, Ohio 04/03/09 Beat Kitchen Chicago, Illinois 04/04/09 7th Street Entry Minneapolis,MN 04/05/09 The Slowdown Omaha, NB 04/06/09 The Hi-Dive Denver, Colorado 04/07/09 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, Utah 04/08/09 Neurolux Boise, Idaho 04/09/09 Holocene Portland, Oregon Discography [2002] Discosadness [2004] Numbers & Mumbles [2005] Ferocious Mopes [2006] Impeccable Blahs [2007] The Wishes and the Glitch [2009] Oohs & Aahs

Say Hi To Your Mom, or currently now known as simply Say Hi, is a lo-fi indie rock band from Seattle, Washington. They have been quietly and consistently releasing their charming little music since 2002 with equally clever titles (and not to mention multiple syllables) and lo-fi cover artwork (all pastel colors with black and white drawings).

They've been pretty constant because the music and direction are from mostly one person: Eric Ellbogen. He writes and records his music, usually at home on his mac. Well their latest album is called Oohs & Aahs and it was just released last Tuesday, March 3^rd, through Barsuk Records.

I managed to listen to the album three times, as I'm writing this, so it's a really short, but sweet, album. Sweet songs includes organ-sounding "Audrey" and "The Stars Just Blink For Us". Ellbogen's vocals reminds me of lazy-man Strokes singer, Julian Casablancas, on these songs.

"November Was White, December Was Grey" was the lead single/song that they released in anticipation to this album, which had great a right-only speaker guitar playing, but forgettable. His singing on this one had a lot of breathing too, which I didn't really enjoy. If you don't believe me, you can download the song yourself via Spin.com. The only good news is that Winter is almost gone here... and yes, I'll feel a lot better once Winter's gone.

My favorite songs on the album are the upbeat ones.  Particularly "Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh" and "One, Two ... One".  These songs are the songs I can't explain why I like, but I can just play them over and over again and not get bored.

On "One, Two", the low quality guitar and percussions makes it very simple to dance and groove to.

Plus clapping is always a bonus!

Overall, these songs are short pop songs, with analog/mono homemade sound quality - that's endearing and personal. They are setting out on tour to promote this album for 2009, so be sure to check them out if they're touring your area. I may try and catch them at SXSW, but since they're returning to Minneapolis in April, it will be no big deal if I miss them in all the SXSW madness.

You can buy all of Say Hi's records via our favorite record label or online at amazon.

 03/04/2009 22:20:04 ♥ vu () ♥ www.ilikesayhi.com ♥ myspace.com/sayhitoyourmom ♥ barsuk.com 

W♥M043: Robyn's "Konichiwa Bitches"

W♥M043: Robyn's "Konichiwa Bitches" [download (7 mins) Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches

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Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches (Klas Ahlund remix)

Robin Miriam Carlsson, aka Robyn is a Swedish pop singer, who started her career in music at the age of 13 when the Swedish television show Lilla Sportspegeln used a recording of Robyn's theme song "Du kan alltid bli nummer ett" ("You can always be number one").

Since then, she went on to three albums to date: Robyn Is Here (1995), My Truth (1999) and Don't Stop the Music (2002). She left BMG records in favor of her own label, Konichiwa Records, releasing a self-titled album in 2005.

Christopher was highly amused at the so-called rap song she came back with in 2007 called "Konichiwa Bitches" ... which was really the first time I had heard of the song. Sorry, it's not like I listen to pop music in general.

One of the reason why I liked the song is that it has a lot of lyrics. Like most speech rap songs, it boasts how awesome she is and how she's "gifted all natural".

As much as some people might dismiss her lyrics as stupid, I think they're pretty fun and clever. She makes lots of references, such as Muhammad Ali's fights "The Rumble in the Jungle" (You wanna rumble in my jungle I'll take you on) and "Thrilla in Manila" (You wanna thrilla in my nilla you'll be killer bee stung) or those Mazda car commercials ('Cause my flava is so sweet you'll be zoom, zoom, zoom).

The single had a bunch of remixes, but my favorite is the Klas Ahlund.

�03/01/2009 22:59:52�♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥podcast.weheartmusic.com♥news.weheartmusic.com�