RMXXOLOGY, after Peaches let the owners know she’d like to take a swipe at Tone Loc’s infectious hit “Wild Thing.” Highlights include Hot Chip’s new imagination of the Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By” and Pink Enemy working the groove of the Brand New Heavies’ “Never Stop.” A RMXXOLOGY Volume 2 is in the works with influences revealed by Spank Rock, Bass Over Babylon and DJ Medhi, as well as a worldwide tour… David Byrne and Brian Eno have come together to produce a new album since last working on the recent remastered reissue of My Life In the Bush of Ghosts.
Entitled Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, the sessions are an online-only affair, offering a free track, ”Strangle Overtones,” at everythinghappens.com right now, and the entire album available online August 18. Look for a physical edition of the CD to be released later this year, promising bonus discs and artwork by Stefan Sagmeister….
The July/August issue of the nifty literary magazine The Believer is the publication’s annual music issue, worth the effort to hunt down a copy with its bonus free CD tucked inside. Featuring essays “A Brief Oral History of US Black Metal” and “In Praise of Rap CDs Purchased on the Street,” memories of music camp, an interview with Ian MacKaye of Dischord Records and advice from Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara, the CD contains exclusive tracks from Beat Konducta, Dirty Projectors, Aceyalone, Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities, Lucky Dragons, and Animal Collective… Legacy Recordings, the Sony/BMG reissue label, has created a new budget-priced, greatest-hits CD series that comes ready for the digital age, housed in 100-percent recycled paper packaging and a hefty PDF file packed with photos, liner notes, discographies, PC wallpaper and other bonus goodies. Entitled Playlist: The Very Best Of, the first batch of releases in April included Korn, John Denver, Quiet Riot, Miles Davis, Ginuwine and Johnny Cash. New this past month, the second wave features Cypress Hill, Rick Astley, Lou Reed, Heart and Tammy Wynette, among others, with each CD collecting the “perfect playlist” for that artist…
Television Alert : “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” hosts Conor Oberst tonight, Solomon Burke on Thursday and Chris Cornell on Friday; “The Late Show with David Letterman” boasts Randy Newman tonight and Alejandro Escovedo on Thursday; “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” unleashes the B-52’s this evening and Al Green on Thursday overnight; “Jimmy Kimmel Live” presents Rev Theory tonight and Tommy Lee on Thursday overnight; Tavis Smiley sits down with Joe Cocker this evening; and look for Feist to take a stroll down “Sesame Street” this coming Monday.
New Releases Coming Aug .12
(and like the winds, young grasshopper, are subject to change…)
Bloc Party — “Mercury” (Wichita) CD, seven-inch and twelve-inch single, featuring remixes from CSS and Flosstrodamus
Clutch — Full Fathom Five (Weathermaker
Music) released on the band’s new artist-controlled label, the CD and
DVD collects recent live performances, gearing up for their fall tour
with the Sword and Graveyard
The Crash — Pony Ride (Ryko)
domestic debut from this zesty Finnish quartet, cascading in the pop
bliss of the 1980s dance floor with a sweet, refreshing snap East Village Opera Company — Old School (Decca)
Freddie Mercury would have loved this electronic-friendly theater
collective, taking flight with soaring interpretations of beloved
compositions by Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, Handel and Bach, redrafted
into a Herculean rock opera
The End Of The World — “Someone Else’s Dollar” (Pretty Activity Records) seven-inch single with fellow Brooklynites the Subjects on the flip side Extreme — Saudades de Rock (Open
E Records/ Fontana) all new from the original members and new drummer
Kevin Figueriedo, produced by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt
Blikk Fang — Aveh Tiger Roma (Polyvinyl) featuring a wild cover of the Misfits’ “Where Eagles Dare” re-crafted as “Nuptial Eagles Sharpened”
The Final Solution — Brotherman OST (Numero
Group) long lost sessions from this Chicago group’s 1975 originally
conceived soundtrack for the abandoned blaxploitation film Inara George — An Invitation (Everloving)
my pick of the week is this lush new collaboration between the Bird and
the Bee vocalist and Beach Boy collaborator Van Dyke Parks, night
dancing in the magical space of Walt Disney soundtracks, innocent Doris
Day musicals, buttercups and frilly, girly dresses; lyrically gliding
on sparkling ice with Costello-esque passages like “I’m breaking up our
house for firewood” in the song “Bomb”
Goldfrapp — iTunes Originals Session (iTunes)
download-only 25-track anthology peppered with seven songs recorded
live at the famed Electric Lady Studios, album selections and interview
The Gutter Twins — “God’s Children” (Sub Pop) seven-inch single featuring the non-LP B-side “Spanish Doors”
Zach Hill — Astrological Straits (Ipecac)
Adam Marsland — Daylight Kissing Night: Adam Marsland’s Greatest Hits (Karma Frog) formerly of Cockeyed Ghost
New Kids On the Block — Greatest Hits (Columbia Legacy) with four bonus tracks, a 2008 Megamix and a poster
Original Silence — The Second Original Silence (Smalltown Superjazzz) free jazz combo lead by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, recorded live in 2006 in Rome
The Pack AD — Funeral Mix Tape (Mint
Records) highly anticipated return of the raw, gritty Canadian blues
power duo of drummer Maya Miller and vocalist and eat-you-alive
guitarist Becky Blank, channeling Blind Willie Johnson, Jack White and
Robert Plant into a hovering, grinding, possessed punch in the heart
Pete Rock — NY’s Finest Instrumentals (Nature Sounds) with guests Papoose, Masta Killa, Raekwon, D-Block, Royal Flush and Jim Jones
Cathy Rocco — You’re Gonna Hear From Me (Resonance)
featuring the jazz vocalist’s dynamic take on Aretha Franklin’s
“Daydreaming,” Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” and classics “For
Once In My Life” and “Come Rain Or Shine”
James “Munky” Schaffer — Fear and the Nervous System (Emotional
Syphon) all-new from the Korn guitarist on his own artist-controlled
label, featuring members of Black Light Burns, Faith No More and Bad
Religion
SMV — Thunder (Heads Up) new Jazz super group from Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten
Shock of Pleasure — It’s About Time (Fontana) featuring ambient covers of the Carpenters’ “Superstar” and the Classics IV’s “Spooky” Tab the Band — Long Weekend (North Street) sophomore release
Thistle — The Small Hours (Tiberius/Phratry) blistering wall-of-sound trio from Cincinnati lead by the dark, swooping guitar of vocalist Mike Montgomery
Irma Thomas — Simply Grand (Rounder)
one of the grand ladies of R&B returns with a relaxed, coy, slow
burner, featuring beautiful covers of John Fogerty’s “River Is Waiting”
and Norah Jones’ “Thinking About You,” with fellow Louisiana kindred
spirit Dr. John sitting in on two tracks — including a new spin on a
previously unreleased song he co-wrote with the legendary Doc Pomus
Tittsworth — 12 Steps (Plant Music) the producer’s debut, with guest vocalists Kid Sister, Santi White, Nina Sky and Pase Rock
Ben Weaver — The Ax In the Oak (Bloodshot) the sixth studio album from the Twin Cities’ singer/songwriter, backed by cellist Julia Kent of Antony & the Johnsons and a hazy, dreamy band
John James can be found via cyberspace at yeahyeah@cinci.rr.com.
