PoOPlist

NSFW – New Massive Attack vid

MarkZ — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:21:05 +0000

Massive Attack (feat. Hope Sandoval) “Paradise Circus”. The video is directed by Toby Dye and features Georgina Spelvin discussing her part in the notorious “Devil in Miss Jones”. Her remembrances and insights are intercut with scenes from the original film and the soundtrack is the MA song. The overall effect is fascinating, alternately haunting and disturbing, and never less than thought provoking. NSFW. Sandoval plays the role of Massive-Attack-languorous-female-singer. Shara Nelson, Tracey Thorn and Sinead O’Connor have previously filled this spot in the MA soundscape.

Internet Killer is Still Alive – Won’t you please help?

Mark Zip — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:49:51 +0000

A while back there was a leak of an EU memo referring to a particular chapter of the proposed ACTA treaty. Now the actual chapter in question has leaked. The reliable Michael Geist has a reasoned analysis:

Michael Geist – ACTA Internet Chapter Leaks: Renegotiates WIPO, Sets 3 Strikes as Model.

Yes, his analysis is more reasoned than my headline.

It still appears that this treaty seeks re-shape American law and also the laws of all other signatory nations. Noticeable NON-signatories include Russia and China, where a huge percentage of the world’s piracy happens.

If you are a US citizen, please have a look at the EFF Alert for ACTA and see if you can help.

This is what extreme record digging looks like…

Mark Zip — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:14:40 +0000

From WFMU DJ Frank O’s recent trip to Ghana

John Stewart Poop 09

MarkZ — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:52:29 +0000

In Memoriam to Jack Goldberg! Proprietor of Jack’s Rhythms and an all around mensch. I give my condolences to his family and friends. We disagreed on baseball. He was a Red Sox fan, me a Bronx Bombers fan. But he loved baseball and I think more then music? That was his passion, I am glad he got to see his team win twice toward the end of his life. Even if it was at the expense of my team. Did I mention I miss the guy? I do!

Top 10 New Releases for 2009
This list is in no particular order and to be quite honest, l am losing touch with what is hip and cool. I like what l like and I tend to feel that I have heard it all before. But anyway here’s what I liked for 2009

Them Crooked Vultures-Them Crooked Vultures
Jarvis Cocker-Further Complications
The Gossip-Music for Men
Mastodon-Crack the Skye
The Dead Weather-Horehound
Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Its Blitz
Kid Cudi-Man on The Moon
Muse-The Resistance
Franz Ferdinand-Tonight, Franz Ferdinand
Pearl Jam-Backspacer
Nirvana-Live At Reading 1992 (A Reminder of their greatness and what was lost in Kobian’s Death)

Close, but no cigar
U2-No Line on the Horizion
Bob Dylan-Together Through Life

Guilty Pleasure of the Year
Lady Gaga (I love the single “Bad Romancer”) though her albums are inconsistent at best. She is the Def Leppard of her generation. I’d like to see Mutt Lange or Trevor Horn work with her on her next full album.

Single Tracks
Yeah Yeah Yeahs-”Zero”
Jay Z and Alicia Keys-”New York (Empire State of Mind)” For the Yankees Baby!
Kid Cudi-”Day and Night (Crookers Remix)”
Lady Gaga-”Bad Romance”
Pearl Jam-”The Fixer”

Reissues of The Year
Beatles-Beatles in Mono
Beatles-Beatles in Stereo
Kraftwerk-The Catalogue
Def Leppard-Pyromania (Deluxe Edition)
Death-For The Whole World to See
Various Artists-Where The Action is (LA Nuggets 1965-68)
Love-Love Lost
Nirvana-Bleach (Deluxe Reissue)
Neil Young-First 4 Albums, Archives and anything else
King Crimson-Red, Lizard, The Court of the Crimson King

Well that’s all really

Yankees won and the possibility of an Arrested Development film give me hope for the future.

Enjoy life for tomorrow is not promised to us!

What if you like a tune but it might be bad for the world (#389 in a series)

MarkZ — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:52:42 +0000

Uffie feat. Mr Oizo – MCs Can Kiss

Annie Mac played it the other day and the context made it sound good enough to listen to again. On my fifth listen I am still conflicted. Her attitude is great, but the beat isn’t. Her lyrics are stupid/fun but the flow ain’t fine. The hook is sharp but …. Oh I give up. Perhaps this is the natural end product of the “poptimist” critical approach.

BTW: Starkey did a remix – and for once it is not too good.

William Manley Poop 09

MarkR — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:46:58 +0000

What Would You Do If I Sang Autotune

MarkZ — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:35:18 +0000

Wow.
A while back we all commented on the amazingly bad Ringo Starr TV appearance on the Daily Show. Here are the Evolution Control Committee with their version….

BTW, singing out of tune while lip synching to the real tune is very difficult. Thanks to MarkR for the tip

You’ve Got PoOP! – Main Pooplists Analyisis 09

MarkR — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:31:44 +0000

February 2010

Dear POOPster:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So said Darles Chickens . . . or something like that . . . as well as a few of this year’s contributors in their various musings. In our perennial January rite, 34 POmpous and OPinionated self-righteous musical hedonists have contributed their usual critical flatulence to this, the 23th Annual POOPlist. After all these years, I think it’s fair to say that our serious love/fascination/addiction for/with/to music of every variety might now qualify as “a pre-existing condition,” not that that will have any future benefit. But regardless of a nation mired in political poop, The State Of POOP, our POOP, is strong.

If you’ve been here before, feel free to skip this paragraph. As usual, I’ve attempted to tabulate the entries and, as is customary, I’ve employed the time-honored What-The-Hell’s-He-Talking-About-Anyway System. One more time, I’ve given 2 points to each pompoid’s Top 10 choices and 1 point to each title beyond a Top 10 or in the variously designated “honorable mention” categories (up to 25 titles in all). Audits are welcome.

And now the POOP answer key:

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
1 – PHOENIX – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix 24 POINTS (appearing on 12 out of 34 lists)

Buy New or Used through Amazon
2 – NEKO CASE – Middle Cyclone 22 (13)

Buy New or Used through amazon
3 – WILCO – Wilco (the album) 20 (10)

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
4 – YO LA TENGO – Popular Songs 13 (8)

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
5 – JAPANDROIDS – Post-Nothing 12 (6)

Buy New or Used through amazon
6 – VARIOUS ARTISTS – Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 10 (5)

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
7 – ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – Merriweather Post Pavilion 9 (5)

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
7 – REIGNING SOUND – Love and Curses 9 (5)

Buy New or Used through amazon OR @ eMusic
9 – GRIZZLY BEAR – Veckatimest 8 (4)

Buy New or Used through amazon
9 – VARIOUS ARTISTS – Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel [1944-2007] 8(4)

You can see all the 09 Poops at a http://pooplist.net/category/pooplists/pooplist-09/ or in the navigation to the right ->

Good bathroom reading everyone.
Mark R.
Grand NincomPOOP

THE CONTRIBUTORS

Peter Aaron – Saugerties, NY
Richard Allen – Sayville, NY
Ken Beck – Cranford, NJ
Kent Benziger – Newburgh, NY
Tim Broun – Woodstock, NY
Paul Cangelosi – Kingston, NY
Duncan Clark – Milton, NY
Damian Cleary – New Paltz, NY
Scott Dell’amore – Rhinebeck, NY
Eric Fine – New York, NY
Jim Finnegan – New Hamburg, NY
Emilio Gironda, Jr.- New Paltz, NY
John Greak – New Paltz, NY
Michael Hodgkiss (Johnny Jah)-Amity, NY
Jamie Hosley – Clifton Park,NY
Mike Jurkovic – Wallkill, NY
Patrick Kennedy – Brooklyn, NY
John Lefsky – New Paltz, NY
Oliver Lodge – Saugerties, NY
Tony Lopez – Kerhonkson, NY
Will Manley – Kingston, NY
Jim Meyers – Kingston, NY
Mike Miller – Cuba, NY
Matt Nerney – Kingston, NY
Irv Rosen – Philadelphia, PA
Mark Rosen – New Paltz, NY
Raissa St. Pierre – Germantown, NY
Jeff Schwartz – Green Brook, NJ
Andrew Stewart – Rhinebeck, NY
John Stewart – Bloomington, NY
Bill Still – Kingston, NY
Tom Whalen – New Paltz, NY
Dan Wilmer – Brooklyn, NY
Mark Zip – Woodstock, NY

For Jack

Oliver Lodge Poop 09

OliverL — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:05:22 +0000

Transmissions from the Ovulation Station – Best Releases of 2009

Ltd. Ed. (22 copies!) from Taalem
1.) V/A – Naoshimabox (Taalem, 2009)
The stories of people who have undergone near-death experiences are so similar that we have all come to know about that “big, bright light” to which people have been drawn after slipping away from the physical realm. A universal theme is recounted to those around the survivors of death should it somehow be determined that it is not their particular time to go and they regain the consciousness to share their wild tale of life beyond the grave. Rarely are these experiences described as negative. Historically, recollections of the passage between life and death have almost always been of a soothing nature, as if these individuals were welcomed with open arms and made to feel safe amongst the best of friends and family. These testimonies have long reinforced believers in their faith and offered proof of an after-life. Buddhists, for example, refer to the “light at the end of the tunnel” as the birth canal through which the cycle of reincarnation has come to a full circle. We at Ovulation Station on Corpuscle Hill have learned about what these subjects have seen and felt, but what we really want to know is THIS: What did it sound like, man? From the second this release is played, the imagery of some benign heaven opening up before the listener and flooding the vast enclosures of her mind’s eye with an all-embracing light will be undeniable. It’s impressive how consistent this mood is sustained when considering that these are four different artists. Indeed, the Naoshimabox itself was nothing more than a whim dreamt up by Jean-Marc Boucher, creator of the illustrious Taalem label. “(T)his release is not a ‘normal’ Taalem release,” he wrote to us in November. “I just wanted to create something special for these Japanese artists as I have a passion for Japan.” Taalem specializes in releasing 3” CDrs by dark ambient and experimental musicians throughout the world. His catalog is nothing short of breath-taking. Avoid becoming overwhelmed by sampling some of his free net releases and listening to his most recent output. Like we said about Infraction Records, Taalem only seems to be getting better with age. It’s impossible to argue that Naoshimabox is a bonafide testament to this. It consists of five 3” CDrs. One is by Chihei Hatakeyama. Another by Pollypraha. Then there’s Nature of Dislocation and Saito Koji. Limited to a mere twenty-two copies, Naoshimabox includes a bonus disc where one track by each artist has been contributed. From start to finish, you will find yourself in a state of stupefied suspension so make sure you are near a bed or reclined-back chair before playing these works. We’re not sure what will be on the stereo up there in the clouds as we approach the pearly gates, but we’re pretty sure it will sound something like this.

Buy from Squidco OR @ Doubt Music
2.) Umezu Kazutoki – Plays the Enka (Doubt Music)
This was recorded in October of last year, then released in late December. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing this sumbitch didn’t actually hit the streets until January. I’m using this (all too weak) excuse/explanation because this CD is too remarkable NOT to find an exclusive spot ever-so-close to the PEAK of this countdown. Mr. Kazutoki will have you riding a rollercoaster of heart-wrenching moods, so have your shrink on speed-dial and your medications within reach. Each track possesses its very own personality, its very own life. Imagine this: An exhaustive auditioning process at Ovulation Station bears us fourteen actors and actresses to be featured separately in a short film dedicated to each untitled track on the CD. The first short film depicts an angry teenager sitting on the steps of a storefront. Seconds later he’s leaning on a parking meter looking at the street. Now he’s smoking a cigarette. There is something both charming and vindictive in his stare. A punk rocker of fifteen years old, his features are smooth with small, red lips. His blond hair is tousled, hanging down to his jaw line. One strand of hair has outgrown the rest at a length of close to two feet. He has shoved all his pain back inside himself like a traffic jam on a Monday morning. A sarcastic half-smile meekly covers this up. The first track from ‘Plays the Enka’ holds rein over this otherwise silent short. The soundtrack to the next short film depicts a woman in her forties. Her hair is frazzled. A tangled shaft of white climbs over the center of her scalp, separating the fading brown outgrowths above her temples. She is never quite sure of herself and can be heard whispering to an invisible friend if you listen closely. She smokes non-filtered cigarettes and wears a beige, leather jacket – easily twenty years old according to the calloused collar. We do not have room to list all of these memorable characters, so we’ll leave it up to you to buy the CD and create your own identities. The proto-typical imagery of the sax player in an A-shirt silhouetted in the window of a slummy apartment on a humid day is irresistable, but these sketches in sound reach far beyond what has become cliché. Recalling paintings by Edward Hopper and the loneliness of one’s own experience may be the only and best resource for you to give these astounding works the emotional depth they embody.

Treue Um Treue (10″ LP, black vinyl – in special fold-out sleeve + inserts – Ltd. ed. of 277, hand-numbered)
3.) Johanna Liebhart – Damals (Treue Um Treue, 2009)
Here we have sexually-charged and decadent synthesizer pieces performed by an obscure artist named Johanna Liebhart, also known as simply Anna. The sounds surround us with a vast garden of exotic plants and gigantic flowers unveiling deep hues of black, purple, and crimson. Giant, black orchids the size of an elephant’s head, adorned with bright, jade leaves cushioning their drooping necks, stare at their visitor with predatory but irresistibly sensuous eyes. So saturated with the sweetest of poisons, one can almost taste the black nectar dripping from their fecund petals. The package offers four inserts that feature compelling photography of crumbling Roman statues of women looking especially forlorn under a gray light juxtaposed by shades of purple and dried blood. In contrast to the confidence exuded in Liebhart’s musicianship, our damsels have their backs bent, their heads down, and their eyes obscured by a visage of thick shadow as they look downward with the resignation of martyrdom, the weight of the world still chaining them to Man’s Earth after centuries of persecution already past. Indeed, the entire packaging oozes of a despairing beauty laid to rest. Whoever is responsible for the artwork accompanying these amazing pieces dating from 1978 to 1980 deserves some kind of award. Without the emptiness of words, the music, composed entirely on a single synthesizer, transmits stories of tragic legends when the gods of ancient Greece still existed. A deep despondency resonates throughout, excluding the second track, a song obviously favored by the producer as it matches the title of the 10”. Clocking in at a mere one-and-a-half minutes we hear a sample of a female in the throes of sexual ecstasy. It sounds like she is at the peak of an orgasm. The artist has chosen to loop this voice throughout the song. In the background we hear the sun shining on emerald fields of grass while sparrows with tangerine wings hover above her sighing lips. Sir Ovulator, the First and Last Descendant of Ovulation Station on Corpuscle Hill, is dying to hear more by this mythical goddess.

Band site OR Super-Fi
4.) Snowblood – Snowblood (Superfirecords, 2009)
Our favorite band from Scotland unleashed this final release before disbanding. Compared to their other albums, this is easily their heaviest. Not necessarily in terms of the fast, growling punk/metal represented by their earlier demos and first release, but more in terms of sustained emotional gravity. Consisting of only four songs, each track spans an average of twenty minutes. They are all sure to take their time in creating a mood of conscious demoralization and lower class dissatisfaction with down-tuned guitars and sludgy breakdowns. Their farewell rips out our hearts and smears them across the pavement under dirty combat boots, expressed most poignantly by the last lyrics of the final track: I don’t want your money/ But you try to bring me down with your money/ In time it all comes to nothing…

amazon MP3 eMusic Cantaloupe Bang on a Can Store
5.) Sentieri Selvaggi – Plays Gavin Bryars and Phillip Glass (Canteloupe Music, 2009)
Known as the Italian version of Kronos Quartet, this talented ensemble present two pieces which might fall short quantity-wise, but pack a serious wallop as far as quality. We cannot remember being so moved by a neo-classical album since we heard the late Luciano Cilio’s Dell’Universo Assento (‘The Absent Universe’) on Die Schactel. We consider Luciano Cilio nothing short of a genius, so you can imagine how impressed we are by these renditions of Phillip Glass and Gavin Bryars.

Monorail Trespassing (Out of print?) OR Artist site
6.) Sean McCann – Wind in their Way (Monorail Trespassing, 2009)
Aquarius Records compared this performer to the all-time masters of drone music Troum (translated as ‘Dream’ in English) from Germany. We worship and have collected everything that Troum has ever put out, but – dare we say – this cassette release is even tighter, more refined than anything we’ve ever heard by Troum. Drone music is all too often lacking in structure. But all three of these pieces have been carefully calculated to the second. Just listen to “Branch of Chambers Pt. II”. Ever so subtly, behind us, we hear the chords of an untreated guitar playing along in perfect harmony to wisps of wavering intonations hovering in the foreground. We listen to hundreds of artists who excuse themselves as being experimental, when all too often, the results of their so-called art betray an amateur understanding of music altogether. The sloppiness is sometimes forgivable, but all too often too cringe-worthy to keep on the stereo. Sean McCann offers a welcome relief to these disappointments with gorgeous pieces that have been meticulously composed.

Buy at Light Lodge
7.) Silver Pines – Forces (Light Lodge, 2009)
Hailing from Texas, we have come across a band that would prefer to reveal very little about themselves for now. They released a CDr called ‘Forces’ that couldn’t help but attract considerable attention in underground circles. Within less than a year it was pressed on vinyl. In true indie spirit, they put out a cassette called ‘Night Smoker’, indicating a less than discreet promotion of their drug of choice. The vocals have been compared to Hope Sandoval. But this does not do justice to the singer. We can’t stand country, but there is something about our front-woman that gives us a taste of Southern living. I, Sir Ovulator, the First and Last Descendant of Ovulation Station on Corpuscle Hill, was particularly impressed by the instrumentals featured here. At one point, we hear the heavy bar-chord of a fuzzy guitar reminiscent of Mudhoney, bursting forth after a quiet, acoustic introduction. The rest of the song plods gracefully through the brambles in the backyard of a trailer park. Somehow they stack the debris of dried leaves and broken branches in such a symmetrical order that it’s impossible not to adore them.

ALSO “Snowy Red” + “Right to Die” results on youTube
8.) Snowy Red – Snowy Red & The Right to Die (bootlegs)
That’s right. These albums are bootlegs. And many fans view the timing of these releases to be at the height of bad taste. Marcel Thiel, better known by his stage persona Mikey Mike, finally passed away this year after a long battle with a number of health-related issues. As rumor would have it, he lived a life of excess, but none of this has been confirmed. Indeed, there is little known about this elusive and legendary master in the genre of minimal-synth. After an absence lasting almost fifteen years, he made a surprise appearance at a festival five years ago and then nothing else was heard of him. A slew of out-of-print (and now costly) vinyl being the only evidence that he once existed, he seemed to have simply vanished into nothingness after 2004. I listed both LPs together because, in my opinion, they mutually sum up the greatest of his work. This also corresponds to my dream of one day seeing both of these gems paired together on a single release – a release on a legitimate label – that would include his “I’m Hurt” 7” as bonus material. The multi-talented, vinyl purist Veronica of the label Minimal Wave – who has got to be one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my entire life – has been wanting put out his works for years. I am hoping that day is soon to come. You can hear “Come On Dance” and “Baby Tonight” from his first album and all of the songs from ‘The Right to Die’ on youtube. Someone with exceptional artistic abilities cued up “Baby Tonight” with a dance scene from a 1910 film. Give it a taste.

Buy New or Used through amazon
9.) Zenlo – Skelethal Antics (Porter Records, 2009)
The great Zenlo – a cross between Vince Gallo and a burnt-out Liberace – connected with the guy from Porter Records through Myspace and put ‘Skelethal Antics’ out. An amalgam of minimal-synth, jazz and experimental-drone is in store for you here. He is somehow all over the place and yet, completely sitting beside whoever cares to listen to him, showing his disciple each and every crazy trick up his sleeve. He is solely devoted to the concept of improvisation, but when you listen to songs like “Crab Dance” and “Call of the East” there is an almost pop-formula present. Porter Records puts out some fabulous experimental music but this is probably the best of the bunch.

MySpace
ALSO Interviewed and in session on WFMU (Real Audio) here and here and here and here
10.) Mira Cook – Mira Cook (self-released cassette, 2009)
Squish together Daniel Johnston, Grouper, and a pinch of Vashti Bunyan and you’ll have a taste of Mira Cook’s aesthetic. Simple, lo-fi songs comprised almost entirely of the singer’s haunting voice run through various effects. Not a modicum of pretension here. Just an eerie beauty that lingers in the air like a ghost long after the tape has come to a stop. Her next release will be on Digitalis.

Give us a holler at otlodge AT yahoo DOT com. We won’t bite you…

People who died… NYT disses Lux Interior

MarkZ — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:50:12 +0000

NYT has a good musical video necrology of 2009:

But Lux Interior is missing. Wonder if the Grammys one will include him. Wonder how the Grammys one will match up with this one. I suspect that there will substantially more MJ in the Grammy one, what with his kids showing up and all. You’ll have to tell me, as I almost certainly won’t be watching.

Thanks to Lazygal for the spot.