Monday, May 18, 2009

Blue plastic expectations


Massive Sponge - 20 Songs (zShare)

Every now and again I do up a playlist of songs I like and put them in an order that sounds good and flows well together, "Massive Sponge" is the latest one of these, the files should be named properly for your ipod etc, just make sure they are in the right order......

01 - The Beat - Mirror In the Bathroom
The lyrics are about cocaine addiction and its side-effects of self-involvement and paranoia, but I just think it's one of the best Ska songs from the early 80's.
02 - Archie Bronson Outfit - Cherry Lips
I've not heard from them since they released this in 2006, but I've always wanted to catch them live as they are meant to be amazing.
03 - The Clash - Bankrobber
One of my favorite bands, I've been listening to The Clash since I came across "London's Calling" on Cassette when I was a little kid, this song is not very well known as it was never released on an album, just as a single in 1980, brilliant though.
04 - TroubleAndrew - BangBang
Pro-Snowboarder, Pro-Skateboarder and still has the time to make crazy, dancey, rocking music..... He' also good mates with Santi from Santogold who also sings on this track. Real Name is Trevor Andrew if you want check out his snowboarding on youtube.
05 - Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - Soft Shock
Probably not the most obvious track from their latest Album, but in my opinion the best. Lush rock at it's best.
06 - Bat For Lashes - Daniel
Natasha Khan is Bat for Lashes, and I've never wanted to be called Daniel more in my life...... Amazing song that is now getting a good bit of air play.
07 - The Whitest Boy Alive - Inflation
Everyones ear's always prick up when this song starts, it's intro sounds like about 50 other songs.... Erlend Oye's "new" band.
08 - Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Probably one the best albums of 2007 and this song could easily be one of my favorite songs of the last 5 years. He also worked in the Vodafone store in Galway (my home town) a few years ago... but don't let that take away from this.....
09 - Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games
They are very hard to describe as nearly every one their 9 albums sounds very different from the previous one, but with super catchy melodies and child like lyrics what's not to like.
10 - The Wombats - Backfire at the Disco
I'm not a massive fan of the band, but this song is pure pop fun....
11 - The Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City
Summer of 1966, I'd say this song was all over the radio, It's been used on loads of TV programs and adverts since but is probably best known from the opening sequence to Die Hard 3.......
12 - Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking
2 teenage Jamaican girls made this song in 1978 and when John Peel heard it he played it so much on UK radio that it got to number one in the charts, quality reggae.
13 - Arthur Lee - Everybody's Gotta Live
Arthur Lee will always be known as the frontman of "Love" but this is probably my favorite of his songs which he recorded after they split up, amazing tune.
14 - The Band -The Weight
"Oh that's the song from The Big Lebowski" Yup, the very one...... Check out the concert-film that Martin Scorsese made of their last concert "The Last Waltz"..... I only saw it recently but it looked like these guys knew how to party!
15 - Damien Dempsey - Jar Song
An Irish song about drinking...... this song always made me think of Guinness and hangovers while I was in Melbourne, I've always a bit time for Damo (even with his overly emphasised accent)
16 - Architecture In Helsinki - Like It Ar Not
Speaking of Melbourne, I got to see them in their home town a while back and they are just as amazing live as you could imagine, massive fan of their quirky style.
17 - The Smiths - Asleep
In my eyes there are two types of people on this planet, the people who think Morrissey is one of the best song writer, performers ever to have been born and people who think The Smiths are "depressing and boring" if your of the latter, then get the fuck off my blog....... seriously, fuck off.
18 - Antony and the Johnsons - Shake That Devil
"That bird came at me with a knife" - Let the drums start before you make up your mind.....
19 - The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Loads of distorted feedback to start with and only three music notes in the guitar riff, but it's how they played those notes..... amazing stuff Iggy, even the short closing guitar solo is epic. (Short Epic?)
20 - Lou Reed - The Gun
Lou's menacing mumblings about a gun..... from his 1982 album "the blue mask" It was recently very well used in the film "Rocknrolla"

I hope you like "Massive Sponge" I'm sure not every track is to everyone liking but some times it's hard to pick what to listen to when a full album isn't really what your looking for, that's where decent playlists come in handy.

Let me know what you think with the comments below,

Sean.



Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sunstroke......

Four songs for you aural pleasure today.......

This is a picture I took of a cool little shopping arcade in Melbourne city centre.

Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan
(Right Click & Save as)
A few weeks back I went to see Camera Obscura live in town. It was a pretty special gig, a nice and small venue with a great sound system and the crowd were loving it. Towards the end of the show they played a song I hadn't heard before but everyone else was singing along like it was their biggest hit, I asked a girl beside me and she said it was "Eighties Fan" from their first album, I obviously pretended that I knew what she was talking about, not wanting to look foolish....
I considered myself to be a pretty big fan, but I had somehow completely missed their first album.... It was like finding the last slice of chocolate cake someone had put aside for me when I thought it was all gone.




What do you get when you mix Dancehall and American Hardcore Punk? A pretty filthy soundclash, that's what. Take the grinding, rolling guitar riff from Black Flags song "Six Pack" and add a Jamaican Dancehall legend (Cutty Ranks) and top it all off with a great big dirty bassline.... Oh and start it all off with a intro from an old Clash song! Good Work Diplo.





You know TV programs like CSI, Nunb3rs, dexter etc, they normally look for "Current Songs" to have playing in the background while the characters do their thing to show that they are "down" & "with it" Well, one of those songs you hear alot in those types of programs is a song called "The Funeral" by Band Of Horses, it's an amazing song and isn't one to suffer too much from overplay but the band have another amazing song from the same album called "Our Swords" Well worth checking out.




This is one of those songs that 99% of people will have heard and rocked out to at somestage in their bedroom (last week?) Eric Clapton lays down one of the most epic guitar riffs, It was released the same year as Hendrix released Are you Experienced? and you can certainly hear similarities.......



Please feel free to leave comments below,

Sean.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

We all have to start somewhere.....


I love music. Lets get that clear from the start.

This is going to be a very eclectic music blog, from Rock and Roll to Disco and anything else that I can ram into your ears.

I hope to upload songs I love to listen to every few days. If you like the music, go get the album or even better go see the band live. I live in Dublin and we are pretty blessed with great local venues so i'll be banging on about up coming gigs that I'll be going to.

Obviously it's early days yet, but if you like what you hear, stick this blog into your favorites and check back with me every now and again.

Here are the first two Sonic Sandwiches; (Right Click and Save As)



Here is an amazing photo from the G20 Riots in London

Sean.