Acoustic Pipettes!

SKATTERBRAIN has some live acoustic Pipettes recordings from a recent BBC session.
Here's some different acoustic Pipettes tracks, they make a great comparison to the originals. Can't wait for their album.

Pull Shapes (acoustic)
Judy (acoustic)
Dirty Mind (acoustic)

Buy:
The Pipettes

Like Flies on Sherbert

If you ever read here regularly you've probably noticed that I don't much like writing about the music I post... in fact I don't like writing about music at all. So, why do I have a music blog? I guess it's just a way of playing cool songs to people, kinda like being a DJ, but not... hmmm...
Anway, if I was a DJ I reckon I'd probably play this song every night. The best cover version ever?

The Slits - I Heard it Through the Grapevine

And here's a few other songs I love...


The Ronettes - Be my Baby

The Stooges - I Wanna be Your Dog

Pixies - Where is my Mind?

Alex Chilton - Like Flies on Sherbert

Buy:
The Slits
The Ronettes
The Stooges
Pixies
Alex Chilton

Sound Patch

Guitar solos ahoy! It's J Mascis!
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene



From 1967, Californian psychadelic pop...
Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love



This song is from Love's final album, "Four Sail" in 1968. The albums not one of their best but this song is as good as anything on their classic "Forever Changes", and has some really beautiful lyrics.
Love - Always See Your Face


Great new song by The Bellrays - more soulful, less garagey than the stuff I've heard by them before.
The Bellrays - Third Times a Charm


From "Parallel Lines", one of the best albums ever!
Blondie - Hangin' on the Telephone

Buy:
Dinosaur Jr
Jefferson Airplane
Love
The Bellrays
Blondie

Modern Lovers

First up is a bonus track from the reissued version of The Modern Lovers debut album. Initially recorded in 1972, and produced by John Cale, the album didn't get officially released until several years later. However, the stark, emotional, garage style, along with the anti-hippy sentiment behind many of the songs, had a huge influence on many of the bands that emerged in the late seventies punk boom.
The Modern Lovers - Dignified and Old

The first song I heard from The Long Blondes was their brilliant festive song "Christmas is Cancelled". I've since seen them live and they have many great songs, so can't wait til they release an album...
The Long Blondes - Once and Never Again








Les Georges Leningrad were one the best bands to emerge in the post-punk revival of the last few years. This song appears on the Canadian groups "Deux Hot Dogs Moutarde Chou" album.
Les Georges Leningrad - Georges Five






This is a track from four or five years back by Munich-based experimental glitch-pop group Lali Puna. Their album Tridecoder has been hailed as a big influence on Radiohead during the making of Kid A.
Lali Puna - Everywhere All Over






And finally... a genius short burst of psychadelic pop from Super Furry Animals. This was a b-side back in 1997, I couldn't understand why it wasn't on their b-side album "Outspaced", especially as it's always been a live favourite. Whether this song is about a cartoon chicken, I'm not sure... Does anybody know?
Super Furry Animals - Calimero

Buy
The Modern Lovers
The Long Blondes
Les Georges Leningrad
Lali Puna
Super Furry Animals

Sound Patch

This Brazilian song from 1977 was legally recognized in a plagiarism lawsuit as the source of the melody in Rod Stewart's hit "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?". It's much better than that song though, trust me! Apparantly there's a 12 minute version of this song somewhere if anyone wants to share it... Hint Hint!
Jorge Ben - Taj Mahal



This short track opens Mogwai's 2nd album and features a sound clip of an interview with Iggy Pop at his most intense!
Mogwai - Punk Rock








This is the opening track on the recently released debut album by the Mystery Jets and is a good example of the eccentric British indie pop found on the album.
Mystery Jets - You Can't Fool me Dennis












This is the classic breakthrough hit for one of the greatest singers ever...
Patsy Cline - Walking' After Midnight









And finally a great shoe-gazey cover of the Rolling Stones song from Swedish group The Concretes.
The Concretes - Miss You

Buy
Jorge Ben
Mogwai
Mystery Jets
Patsy Cline
The Concretes

Great Rock Moments - The first Velvet Underground gig after meeting Andy Warhol

From NME's 100 Rock Moments, 15.01.2001

"Andy Warhol first brought his entourage to see The Velvet Underground at New York's Cafe Bizarre in December 1965. He witnessed an intensely noisy four-piece petrifying the coffee drinkers with songs apparently celebrating the recreational joys of heroin and the distinctly unsingalongable 'Black Angel's Death Song'. He agreed to manage the band and invited them to his Manhattan working base, the Factory.

There, Warhol introduced them to the unmusical Nico and it became clear what he had in mind for the Velvets was not so much gigs as "installations" or "happenings". He arranged a week-long engagement for them to perform at showings of his film series, 'Cinematique Uptight', where they played a barrage of noise against a backdrop of his movies. These "multimedia" shows became legendary, and although Warhol soon lost interest in the Velvets, the worlds of modern art and rock had briefly kissed and nourished one another, to mutual and lasting benefit."

The great thing about the Velvets is that all their albums are great and all have their own distinct sound.
From The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967
Run Run Run

From White Light / White Heat, 1968
Here She Comes Now

From The Velvet Underground, 1969
I'm Set Free

From Loaded, 1970
I Found a Reason

From VU, a collection of unreleased tracks
Foggy Notion

and finally a couple of live performances...
Over You

Sweet Bonnie Brown / It's Just Too Much

Buy:
The Velvet Underground

Sound Patch

Just stumbled across this song recently... The Beach Boys Smiley Smile album is always disapointing when you consider it as a follow-up to Pet Sounds. But if you get over that it does have some great music on it, such as this song which features some wonderful harmonies.
The Beach Boys - With me Tonight


This is a live version of a song from weird 70's David Lynch movie Eraserhead. Frank Black: "I thought I was pretty clever picking out this song to do, until I discovered a few years later that there were bands all over the world who did this song." It features great Black Francis screaming...
Pixies - In Heaven (lady in the radiator song)



Awesome funk-soul - this is a great song to make you dance. This is from 1998-ish... Leila did some work with Bjork for a while before going solo, I think she's originally from Iran but records mostly in London...
Leila - Won't You be my Baby, Baby









Is this a German song about polar bears? I don't know. However, what I do know is that it has a killer bassline and sounds great on the dancefloor.
Grauzone - Eisbaur











And finally a song by Franx Ferdinand, all about the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - how post-modern.
Franz Ferdinand - All for you, Sophia














Buy:
Beach Boys
Pixies
Leila
Grauzone
Franz Ferdinand

Junkie XL, Lady Sovereign, Ultra Electro... and Kanye West

Sorry for the slow posting of late, but to make up for it here's some great tracks that I've been sent lately.

Some audio for a great new track by Junkie XL: Today










and some new Lady Sovereign tracks /remixes:
Random
Adidas Hoodie remix
Ch-Ching XXXChange Remix






Plus, there's a great looking mix album coming out called Ultra Electro, mixed by David Waxman, which you can get a 5 minute sample of here:
Ultra Electro mix




And finally... Here's a half-hour DJ set recorded for a radio show by Kanye West, featuring tracks by Kanye himself, Jay-Z, Charlie Baltimore, Dilated Peoples, Snoop Dogg and more.
Kanye West mix (follow link)


Buy:
Junkie XL
Lady Sovereign
Ultra Electro
Kanye West

Great Rock Moments - The release of The Specials' 'Ghost Town' single

From NME's 100 Rock Moments, 15.01.2001


"Britain in the summer of 1981 quivered on the verge of meltdown. Unemployment rocketed, as the Tory Government waged war on industry and the trade unions, while oppressive policing and fascist gangs fuelled race hatred. Against the backdrop of inner-city riots, The Specials released 'Ghost Town', a chilling commentary upon the unravelling social fabric. "Why must the youth fight against themselves?" No answers were forthcoming. The band's last single, it went straight to Number One."


The Specials - Ghost Town


Buy:
The Specials

The Monkey Speaks His Mind

As I've mentioned before, Euros Childs singer with Gorky's Zygotic Mynci recently released a solo album and did a couple of tours. This is a live track from a gig in Cardiff showcasing Euros' uncanny impersonation of a monkey. I think the song translates as being about a naughty monkey, stealing bananas and so on...
Euros Childs - Y Mwnci Drwg






This is a great song from one of Clinics early singles, god knows what its about though...
Clinic - Monkey on Your Back











A rather strange, slowed down version of the Pixies classic, by their frontman.
Frank Black - Monkey Gone to Heaven







You can always rely on Low albums to be consistently good. This song is from The Great Destroyer album.
Low - Monkey










And finally... the greatest song about monkeys ever written! From Dave Bartholomew, New Orleans r'n'b legend.
Dave Bartholomew - Monkey Speaks His Mind









Buy:
Euros Childs
Clinic
Frank Black
Low
Dave Bartholomew