I am really digging the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, Cool It Down, and I think it will be in my top 5 records when this year is all said and done. It's been ten years since their last LP, Mosquito, (which was a hot mess, but nonetheless a fun record to listen to) and it might have been more had the pandemic not pushed the band into the studio.
The record is their most subdued affair yet and a long way from their classic art punk debut Fever To Tell. This is a good thing and is not too dissimilar to the collaboration Karen O did with Danger Mouse a few years ago with their album Lux Prima, a really excellent album. There are two instant classics on this record, "Splitting Off The End of The World" and "Burning". The only issue with this LP is that it is only eight songs and leaves the listener wanting more.[/url][/url][/url]
This is an underappreciated Rolling Stones song. It's a song you probably won't hear on classic rock radio but it's one of the band's best. The amazing guitar solo on this track is courtesy of Mick Taylor, one of the last things he did before leaving and probably the greatest thing he did with the band.
The track is taken from the 1974 Rolling Stones album It's Only Rock 'N' Roll.
The song "Coldsweat" came up on my shuffle the other day and it got me thinking about Björk and how she released another brilliant album of experimental pop recently, and also realizing that has been 32 years since the break up of her band The Sugarcubes.
The Sugarcubes were a four piece collective that featured two vocalists, Björk and Einar Örn, and first came to prominence in 1988 with their debut album Life's Too Good which had a unique blend of art rock and post punk . The record received critical acclaim and spawned the hit single "Birthday" thanks to John Peel featuring it prominently in 1987's Festive Fifty. The album had another couple of great tracks in "Motorcrash" and the above song "Coldsweat" which is my personal favourite from the album.
The band would go on to release two more albums , but couldn't replicate the success or Life's Too Good, and they disbanded in 1992, which led to one of the most successful solo careers in alternative music history.
I finally passed 5000 points on this site and in the process it allowed me to make custom charts. To celebrate I have started a new chart that captures under the radar Canadian albums. I noticed while rating albums that there are a lot of Canadian albums in my library and collection that are not on this site, so I thought it would be good to build a chart to capture these records. Most albums here are from artists that even more established music nerds might have never heard of, but I have/will include more established acts. So far, I have listed ten albums (but that will change) and have included LPs from Memoryhouse and Zoon to more obscure acts like Shimmering Stars and the late great indie pop band Spiral Beach. Check the chart out here.
Spiral Beach released three albums of really great addictive popp-y indie rock throughout the aughts with the best being Ball. The members were all in their teens when they recorded their first two albums and on Ball you could tell how young they were through lyrics that are non sensical but really, really fun (Spiral Beach were really amazing live, as well). This is echoed on the haunting "We Saw Ghosts", the lead single from the album.
Spiral Beach would eventually break up after their 2009 album The Only Real Thing and members would go on to form other projects including the psych pop band Moon King (another artist not on this site) and the experimental electronic project Doldrums.
Hey, that’s a cool chart, there’s some stuff I don’t know and might check out at some point. Out of the ones I am familiar with, Grab That Gun is a choice I have to applaud. It’s not the most original work out there, but it’s a great album nonetheless that I unreservedly recommend to any fan of the ‘80s, especially post-punk/jangle/new wave/alternative - it’s as if Joy Division decided to hire Morrissey’s female counterpart as their singer. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
Hey, that’s a cool chart, there’s some stuff I don’t know and might check out at some point. Out of the ones I am familiar with, Grab That Gun is a choice I have to applaud. It’s not the most original work out there, but it’s a great album nonetheless that I unreservedly recommend to any fan of the ‘80s, especially post-punk/jangle/new wave/alternative - it’s as if Joy Division decided to hire Morrissey’s female counterpart as their singer.
Thanks..I have more albums to add to the chart but they are not in the BEA database yet. I will add them when I get some time. Keep checking back....
"Finally"? I think you may have broken some sort of speed record...
imacgill wrote:
...I have started a new chart that captures under the radar Canadian albums. I noticed while rating albums that there are a lot of Canadian albums in my library and collection that are not on this site, so I thought it would be good to build a chart to capture these records. Most albums here are from artists that even more established music nerds might have never heard of, but I have/will include more established acts.
Well now I feel really bad, because I've been adding quite a number of Canadian bands/albums just in the last 2-3 months that you probably should have been adding yourself. (Who knows, maybe you'd already be up to 10,000 points!)
I've actually noticed an "uptick" in new-ish bands that I like from Canada, just during the past 5-10 years. Not sure why, but if you're interested in a few recs that I think would qualify as unjustly obscure, here's a quick list (and these are pretty much in order, I guess):
Tallies
Hush Pup
White Poppy
Basement Revolver
Living Hour
The City Gates
Fake Palms
PINE
Hush Pup should be particularly interesting to Cocteau Twins fans.
Btw, I've capitalized PINE because that's how they differentiate themselves from the dozens of other bands named "Pine" — they're also listed as "Pine" here on BEA, but you'll find them quicker if you go with the all-caps.
I've actually noticed an "uptick" in new-ish bands that I like from Canada, just during the past 5-10 years. Not sure why, but if you're interested in a few recs that I think would qualify as unjustly obscure, here's a quick list (and these are pretty much in order, I guess):
Tallies
Hush Pup
White Poppy
Basement Revolver
Living Hour
The City Gates
Fake Palms
PINE
Hush Pup should be particularly interesting to Cocteau Twins fans.
Thanks for the recommendations. I am very aware of Tallies as they are one of my favourite bands right now and I have actually included them on other charts including putting their lastest album Patina on my Top Albums of 2022 chart[/url]
I'm aware of Living Hour and I know Fake Palms and their former band The Darcys. Thanks for reminding me of White Poppy. I have White Poppy's self titled album on vinyl and I will definitely include it. Not aware of the other bands so will have to look them up and check them out.
I had an urge to smoke a cigarette after hearing this song, and I don't even smoke.
After Oscar winning composer Vangelis passed away a few weeks ago I kept reading stories of how his band Aphrodite's Child's 1972 record 6 6 6 is one of the craziest prog/psychedelic rock albums ever recorded. I know the song "The Four Horsemen" but was not familiar with any other song from the album and decided to listen to it recently.
The album lived up the hype and the craziest part came on Disc 2 or Side 3 in the form of the song "∞" (Infinity) which is just five minutes of actress Irene Pappas (The Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek) simulating sex. I don't know any other songs that comes close to capturing a sexual experience that is as good as this. A quick internet search mentions Guns 'N' Roses "Rocket Queen" and Prince's "Lovesexy" plus I am aware of a House song by Raze called "Break For Love" but, nope, nothing comes close to this.
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