paranoia reservoir: May 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

track: Shabazz Palaces - An Echo from the Hosts that Profess Infinitum

Friday, May 27, 2011

track: Bad Meets Evil - I'm On Everything

New track from Eminem and Royce Da 5'9", AKA Bad Meets Evil. The EP is out June 14th.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

album streams: Black Lips - Arabia Mountain // The Flaming Lips + Prefuse 73 - EP

It's a Lips super-post.

Stream Arabia Mountain here.

Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
1. Family Tree
2. Modern Art
3. Spidey’s Curse
4. Mad Dog
5. Mr. Driver
6. Bicentennial Man
7. Go Out And Get It
8. Raw Meat
9. Bone Marrow
10. The Lie
11. Time
12. Dumpster Dive
13. New DIrection
14. Noc-a-homa
15. Don’t Mess My Baby
16. You Keep On Running

Stream The Flaming Lips' collaborative EP with Prefuse 73 below.

The Flaming Lips/Prefuse 73 - EP
01. The Super Moon Made Me Want to Pee
02. Heavy Star Moving...
03. Be Like That...That...That
04. Guillermo's Bolero

“The Super Moon Made Me Want to Pee”

“Heavy Star Moving…”

“Be Like That…That…That”

“Guillermo’s Bolero”

Monday, May 16, 2011

genre: Spaghetti Western

Rome -- featuring Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, Jack White, and Norah Jones -- has piqued a lot of people's interest in what exactly a "spaghetti Western-influenced" album is. (Listen to Rome here)

Spaghetti Westerns were Western movies made by Italians. These films were made in Italy because it was cheaper and the area resembles the American Southwest. The scores to these movies, usually made by Italian composers, were sometimes amazing. You can't talk about spaghetti Western film scores without talking about Ennio Morricone, but I'll get to him later.

Rome is getting a lot of attention because of Danger Mouse's and Jack White's names being attached to the project. That kind of bothered me at first, because while it's a fine album, sometimes it skates by on autopilot, and I think there's a lot more interesting spaghetti Western music out there that people should hear. (I've since listened to Rome a few more times, and it's a pretty damn good album in its own right.)

Canyon Candy is another spaghetti Western-influenced album from 2011 made by musicians from the indie rock sphere. This album was made by the chillwave band Javelin, created as the soundtrack for their friend's movie and released on Record Store Day. It's a really fun psychedelic record that incorporates elements of glitch and chillwave into the spaghetti Western sound. (Check out my previous post on Canyon Candy, complete with album stream, here)

The reason why I like Canyon Candy so much is because Javelin understands what makes spaghetti Western albums so much fun -- the goofy little psychedelic tidbits of sound. Ennio Morricone was the pioneer and master of that sound. When he scored his first spaghetti Western film in the '60s, he couldn't afford a full orchestra. And thank god for that. Instead, he incorporated the jaw harp, trumpets, gunshots, cracking whips, whistling, and the electric guitar.

I could go on and on about how influential Morricone was on film scoring, or about how he soundtracked over 500 films and TV shows, but instead let's just check out some of his music. Even if you don't realize you've ever heard Morricone's music, you have. Just listen to "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Theme". Are you a fan of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor"? Then check out "La Resa Dei Conti". Ever seen Muse live? They do a cover of "The Man with a Harmonica" as an interlude.

I can't recommend the pictured Ennio Morricone Anthology enough to Morricone and spaghetti Western beginners. It's two discs of incredible, emotional, and just plain fun music. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

track: Black Lips - New Direction

A third track from the Black Lips upcoming album, Arabia Mountain, has leaked. Listen to it below.

Arabia Mountain seems to be more of a summer album; definitely a lighter record than 200 Million Thousand. It's due out June 7th on Vice Records. Check out the other two leaked tracks here.

album streams: Boris - Heavy Rocks + Attention Please

NPR is streaming the two new albums from Japanese psychedelic metal drone sludge noise ambient experimental J-pop stoner crust punk gods, Boris. These are the 3rd and 4th LPs that Boris have put out this year. The vocals on Attention Please are all sung by Wata. Read my previous post on Heavy Rocks here. I'll talk more about the albums once I've had time to digest them, just wanted to get that music in your earholes asap.

Listen to Heavy Rocks and Attention Please.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

track: Poni Hoax - Budapest

Friday, May 6, 2011

mini reviews: My Morning Jacket, Man Man, Tyler the Creator

My Morning Jacket - Circuital

If you were one of those people who were upset when My Morning Jacket went experimental and channeled their inner Prince on Evil Urges, then this is the album for you. It reminds me of The Roots' latest album, How I Got Over, in a way. Both albums are victory laps by veteran bands. Both albums are toned down, low-key affairs. And both albums have a positive, chilled out mood about them. They're also both really excellent.

favorite songs: The Day Is Coming, Outta My System, Holdin' On to Black Metal
listen if you like: positivity, slide guitar, elements of surf rock and soul, children's choirs

Man Man - Life Fantastic

I started listening to Man Man because of the unhingedness (that should be a word) of Six Demon Bag -- a record where they barked, clanged, yelped, and generally made music to soundtrack Tom Waits' night out drinking whiskey at a smoky bar and ending at a circus. That crazed sound is what made Six Demon Bag one of my favorite albums of all time. Their next album, Rabbit Habbits, smoothed out some of those rougher edges that I loved. Life Fantastic takes it a step further -- this is their most accessible album to date, which isn't to say that it's boring. There's still an undertone of crazy and darkness, there are lots of instruments thrown in the mix, and the lyrics are their most entertaining to date. Samples: "Well here's the story. A lovely lady. Who had 3 daughters, who drove her fuckin' crazy. She hacked them up with, an old machete. And threw a party with dead daughter confetti." // "Mr. Dagger, meet Mr. Back. Separable, together at last. Mr. Dagger meet Mr. AHHHH! Separable, together at AHHHH!"

favorite songs: Piranhas Club, Dark Arts, Haute Tropique
listen if you like: Tom Waits, the circus, fun, whiskey, darkness, murder

Tyler, the Creator - Goblin

Tyler raps almost exclusively about rape, murder, and being an angsty teen -- but in 2011, there's not really anything that would be shocking on a record. Despite Tyler trying to be shocking and off-putting, the dude is pretty endearing. Just follow his twitter for a little bit and you'll see what I mean (@fucktyler, of course). He's a 19-year old kid who's realizing his dream right before his audience's eyes. Watch his performance on Jimmy Fallon and just try not to feel happy for the kid. Goblin couldn't have possibly been more hyped in such a meteoric ascent to fame, and so the expectations were impossibly high. Because of this, the people who were expecting a perfect album (and there were many) are going to be disappointed. Yea, there's some filler. Yea, he let some of his not-so-talented friends on his record. Yea, he treats the whole album like another mixtape, and sometimes you can't tell if you're listening to a skit or a song. So what? The album's still really fun, and it's got some of his best songs to date.

favorite songs: Yonkers, Radicals, Tron Cat, Sandwitches
listen if you like: negativity, dirty words, rape jokes, immaturity, dark sparse beats

video: Thee Oh Sees - I Need Seed

Thee Oh Sees are a prolific San Fransiscan garage rock band. Their new album, Castlemania, is out June 14th. It has the greatest cover art of all time, as you can see.

The Castlemania cover art has surpassed what was previously the greatest cover art of all time - another album from Thee Oh Sees, Help. If you haven't heard Thee Oh Sees before, I recommend you check out this album.