One Part Team Extreme

Adieu

2006-10-04T12:19:00.000-04:00

Ok so I know it's been weeks since I last posted, but time is scarce these days. Basically now that I'm back at William & Mary, I'm busy with everything under the sun. Essentially, for now One Part Team Extreme is dead.

On a lighter note, I am contributing to this new tribunal blog, Our Last Quarterstance, alongside writers from a number of other great blogs. Check it out - that's where my activity is nowadays. You can also read my CD and movie reviews in our paper here at W&M, The Flat Hat.

Peace and Love
C

Female Singers Unite!

2006-08-14T01:05:00.000-04:00

Running through my music lately, I was challenged to find bands or even just songs primarily led by female vocals that don't come from some feminist solo artist *cough* Ani DiFranco *cough*. So, I decided I'd post a few great songs (some are new songs I've found, and henceforth a few new bands I've found) featuring female vocals. In fact, these seem to be all I'm finding these days, and it really excites me.

Camera Obscura - "Eighties Fan"
They would remind you of early Tigermilk/Sinister era Belle & Sebastian except with a female singer.

Let's Go Sailing - "It's As Clear"
These guys sound like early Belle & Sebastian as well on this song, but their other tracks say otherwise. Check out their website - Let's Go Sailing

The Sea and the Gulls - "Outer Space Race"
These guys are great. They seem to just be doing this for fun, and the fact that every song is in some way aviary gets me. They're working on their first album, "Things That Fly"

Bishop Allen - "Butterfly Net"
If you haven't heard of these guys yet, you've been missing out. They've only been putting out EPs so far (March EP, April EP, May EP, etc.) but they've made a pretty big splash for not having any LP release in 3 years.

Shapes and Shapes - "Wilderness"
I don't know how I feel about these guys yet. Imagine Sufjan Stevens with no instrumentation - maybe?

Rilo Kiley - "The Good That Won't Come Out of It"
You know them.

Vancougar - "Way It's Gon' Be"
They're terrible, but I kinda like 'em anyways. Think Apples in Stereo.

Oh crap, forgot one!

Tenacious D - "They Fucked Our Asses"
Well, I couldn't find one with a woman singing, so I figured I'd just choose one at random. At the end here they play the exit riff to Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." God I love these guys.

Covers: Now with more retzin!

2006-08-10T02:17:00.000-04:00

So my barrage of daily posts continues with this, a post about nothing more than random covers my hard drive harbors. These tunes are pointless and awesome at the same time - some for merit and some for hilarity.

The White Stripes - "Jolene"

This Dolly Parton song sounds just awesome with Jack White's squealy voice and spitfire guitar. Really worth a listen - Jack White knows how to sing a ridiculous song in a ridiculous way and still make it sound really poignant.

Johnny Cash - "Personal Jesus"

Ok, this one's a no brainer. Of course everyone knows about Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin series and all the covers he's put out, and I think everyone in the Western Hemisphere heard "Hurt," but I actually think that "Personal Jesus" is a better song. "Hurt" had that amazing video, but as a song I think "Personal Jesus" is more dynamic, and the orchestration plays to Johnny Cash's strengths better.

Belle & Sebastian - "Space Oddity"

I'll be honest: I love this song. Maybe I'm just a lost, but I really think this Bowie song is great. This is a pretty good version of it too. I have another cover of it by (as best as I can tell) a school of elementary school students, but that one's a little too weird.

Ben Folds w/Rufus Wainwright - "Careless Whisper"

This recording is from a concert a couple years ago when I saw Rufus Wainwright (just before he broke) open for Ben Folds. During Ben Folds' set, he called out Rufus Wainwright to do a duet, and they sang "Careless Whisper," the infamous George Michael song. This is truly hilarious, especially when the two of them hit that George Michael/Female octave at the climax.

Ted Leo - "Since You've Been Gone/Maps"

This one's just awful. Ted Leo, in a solo acoustic set for some interview, recorded this cover/mashup of Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" with "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sad thing is - I kinda like it.

William Shatner - "Rocket Man"

For those of you who don't know, William Shatner put out an album a few years ago. That's right, an album - of covers. This version of "Rocket Man" (though very poorly recorded) is one of the most ridiculous things you'll ever hear. Oh, and Stewie did a send up of this in an episode of Family Guy, covering the William Shatner cover of "Rocket Man."

Tenacious D - "Star Trek"

So, as I promised in my previous post, I plan to include a Tenacious D song in every mix I post. Seeing as we have William Shatner here, I thought it only fitting to include the Tenacious D version of the Star Trek theme song (with lyrics) in with it.

Tacky and Taboo or Smart Marketing?

2006-08-09T02:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I know it's really wrong of me to peddle my own recordings here, but since I have no life and no one to listen to them, I might as well put them out there and see what happens right?

Alright, well this one is an electronic recording, short and perhaps upbeat. Actually, it's one of my better recordings, but yes, amateur.

My Sunburned Feet - "Mode of Transportation"

Ok, and for those of you who are good to me and haven't clicked away to a better blog with more blips, whistles, better colors and maybe even some sort of staff beyond one lonely soul, I will post 5 short electronic upbeat songs that are BETTER than the one I made.

Black Bear - "I Believe in Immediacy"
The Postal Service - "Nothing Better"
Beck - "Electric Music and the Summer People"
Nybbl - "God Only Knows"
Tenacious D - "Saxaboom"

Now, this Nybll track is from the Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds album, where notable Hippocamp artists mashed up the tracks from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. It was basically a tribute album done by electronica artists who messed around a bunch with the original tapes. Now, I'm not a big fan of just about all of it - for instance the 12 min 46 second meandering version of "Here Today" - but this track is just awesome, along with "Sloop John B" mixed up by Tinypixel. The whole album can be found through their website here

I think I've decided that anytime I post tracks by more than two bands in one post, I will always throw in one Tenacious D track to boot. This one comes from a live show they played at The Naked Trucker in 2002 under the name Standing O (apparently it was a surprise concer).

Oscar Brown

2006-08-07T13:08:00.000-04:00

So I've decided to change my webhosting. I've grown increasingly annoyed by yousendit.com's 7 day/100 download limits. Therefore from now on I'll be using something else. Here's a test song up on versend.be...

Here's a song by Baxter Dury that I happen to like. It's reminds me of Thievery Corporation without being so completely self important and overdramatic. There's a happy air to most of Baxter Dury's tracks. This one is also cool since it borrows lyrics from "Oh, Sweet Nuthin" by The Velvet Underground.

Baxter Dury - "Oscar Brown"

Fiona Apple Covers "I Want You"

2006-08-05T18:36:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I've already posted three times about Elvis Costello's Decades Rock Live concert on VH1 (and no, the concert was not good enough to warrant nearly a third of my posts), but I finally did get my hands on a copy of Fiona Apple covering "I Want You" which is astounding. Thing is, it was impossible to find an mp3 of the song online. I finally found a video just put up on youtube of it and quickly converted the audio stream to an mp3 file (oh technology, how wonderful you are). Enough talk, here it is for your listening pleasure - all 7:13 seconds of it.

Fiona Apple and Elvis Costello - "I Want You"

Greatest Songs Ever (Really)

2006-08-04T00:49:00.000-04:00

Since I haven't done any posts on OLD(er) music and have only highlighted new Indie stuff, I decided that it is due time to tell everyone out there reading (namely you) the other stuff that I actually listen to on a regular basis. Basically, here's 10 awesome songs you-may-already-but-probably-don't have (and I'm sure none of you have ALL of them - if you can prove me wrong I'll give you a cookie) for your downloading pleasures.

Pavement - "Major Leagues"
Ryan Adams - "My Winding Wheel"
The Olivia Tremor Control - "Courtyard"
Florez - "Come Down Angel"
Tenacious D - "Kyle Took a Bullet For Me"
Rufus Wainwright - "Foolish Love"
Fiona Apple - "Paper Bag"
Jeff Tweedy - "I Wish I Was Your Mother" (Mott the Hoople Cover)
My Sunburned Feet(w/Alannah) - "Fallen Frame"
The Beach Boys - "Heroes and Villians"

Ramblings and Musings - New Music and the wonderful Anathallo

2006-08-02T21:07:00.000-04:00

First of all, why didn't someone tell me Golden Smog was a supergroupd powered by Jeff Tweedy and Jody Stephens? Second, how did Anathallo fly under the radar for so long? Their debut album, Floating World, was released June 6th and has yet to really catch on. Maybe it's because of the album's 2.7 rating on Pitchfork, but either way, these guys deserve a little attention. Ok, so Pitchfork makes a good point in that this album is a worse version of Illinoise, but that doesn't mean it's a BAD album - in fact quite the contrary. I'll take any version of Illinoise over 90% of what's out there, so download and give them a listen.

Anathallo - "Hoodwink"
Anathallo - "Hanasakajijii (Four: A Great Wind, More Ash)"

On a separate note, I just heard some of Sean Watkins' new album Blinders On, and I give it the green light. The guy can write a song, and at times he makes mixes that come off as straight up Yankee Hotel Foxtrot style Wilco or maybe even Radiohead. My only problem with it is his voice - it just doesn't grab you. It's too bland. Then again, maybe that means I should just listen to Nickelcreek instead (the band Sean Watkins guitars for).

Sean Watkins - "Summer's Coming"

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe Armstrong on VH1

2006-08-02T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here's "Good Riddance" relinked ("Alison" is relinked in its previous post).

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe Armstrong - "Good Riddance"

Clever iPod Names - Contest: Who's More of a Loser than Me?

2006-07-26T00:33:00.000-04:00

You know how when you first plug in your iPod you have to give it a name? Of course the default is just your name 's iPod, but in the music freaks and geeks world, that is certainly never sufficient. My first iPod's name was "Ultra iPod!" (yes, exclaimation point included) Since I have gone through the relatively bland "Podster" and the hardly ceative "iRule." My next iPod, seeing as I'd busted three and was on my way towards frying a fourth, was fittingly named "i'LL Break." My most recent iPod is a gorgeous new U2 iPod, which means in my pocket it's about 3 months away from certain doom. This one has the best name I've come up with yet (here "best" means most freakish and geekish). This black and red wonder is named "Podmé" and if you have to ask you're certainly cooler than I am.

So what's the point? I don't know, I guess I just wanted to prove how much of a loser I really am. Also, I would like to know how much of a loser those of you who actually read this are. So come on, out with it, what are the names of your iPods? Who's got mine beat for being the stupidest?

2006-07-24T18:53:00.000-04:00

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe Armstrong on Vh1

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe playing a live version of "Good Riddance." Out of the Decades Rock Live Concert, this and their version of "Alison" seem to be the best. However, I have yet to find a video of Elvis playing "I Want You" with Fiona Apple, which could be fantastic.

Here's an mp3 of this performance

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe Armstrong - "Good Riddance"

Cataldo/Eric Anderson - Singer/Songwriter indie/folk

2006-07-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

Lots of slashes and dashes, I know. Cataldo is a solo artist named Eric Anderson from the Pacific Northwest. He only has one self produced album out, and a lot of it is filler, but a couple of his songs are absolutely wonderful. He has a voice like Paul Simon and he writes catchy indie-folk story songs. Even his one odd electric blips and beats track, "Shake," works really well. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that The Postal Service would be better with him singing instead of Ben Gibbard (mainly because half of Gibbard's lyrics are worse than sub-par). I posted one of his songs in an earlier post of mine, but I figure I'll repost it again here.

Cataldo - "Shake"

Cataldo - "Darling Dear"

Cataldo - "Lips and Dollars"

Cataldo - "Wedding Cake"

Where did classic artists like Edith Piaf go?

2006-07-24T00:25:00.000-04:00

I'm in the process of writing a full article on Edith Piaf asking why we don't have artists making music like that anymore, with the reason being that people have just straight up forgotten about her and about Louis Armstrong and others. I thought I'd just mention that here and maybe try to make that change by reminding those of you out there who I'm sure have all heard of and absolutely love Edith Piaf like I do, and for that small minority of you who doesn't know, to enlighten you. Here's a couple beautiful Edith Piaf tracks, one of which was used in the "French Kiss" soundtrack in the 90's. Edith also appeared in the "Saving Private Ryan" soundtrack.

Edith Piaf - La Vie En Rose

Edith Piaf - Non, Je Ne Regret

Super profundo on the early eve of your day.

Arcade Fire Nuggets

2006-07-21T16:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple non-album, non-ep Arcade Fire tracks that are absolutely wonderful. The band, close to finishing their second full length album, have sampled new songs at live concerts over the last two years, including gems like "Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts" and "Age of Consent," though Win Butler has made no mention of which songs will make the album. Until then, it's little nuggets like these two songs I've linked that get us through the days and weeks until the next album is realeased. This cover of "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is wonderful, and "Intervention" is arguably the best non-album Arcade Fire song, telling a story about a war-torn/oppressed town/family. Very moving.

Arcade Fire - Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)

Arcade Fire - Intervention

Elvis Costello and Friends on VH1

2006-07-21T15:59:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love Elvis Costello's "Alison," so finding the video stream of him and Billie Joe Armstrong covering it for this decades rock live concert for VH1, which airs tonight at 8 pm et, I nearly creamed. I took the initiative to make and host a downloadable mp3 version, which you can find here:

Elvis Costello and Billie Joe Armstrong: Alison (Live)

A Few Songs

2006-07-21T14:49:00.000-04:00

Just a couple songs I've discovered over the last couple weeks.

Cataldo - Darling Dear
The Sea and the Gulls - Paper Planes

more to come...

Where Is the Protest Music?

2006-07-20T01:15:00.000-04:00

We’re in the middle of the most drawn out war sing Vietnam, and no matter what your take on the situation, don’t you have to be asking yourself where in the hell is the protest music? When Vietnam was raging, the airwaves were riddled with anti-war tunes from some of the biggest artists out there. Songs like “War” by Edwin Starr, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane, “It Better End Soon” by Chicago, “7 O’Clock News” by Simon and Garfunkel and just about everything recorded by Bob Dylan had the quality of being explicitly anti-war while also being radio hits. Vietnam wasn’t the only period in history when we’ve had protest music. “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier” by Morton Harvey was a big hit in 1915 during World War I, while “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” protested World War II. Even the smallest of conflicts, such as the seven month Gulf War, carried with it anti-war songs by big name artists. Lenny Kravitz adopted and updated the John Lennon song “Give Peace a Chance” in a matter of three weeks for release just after christmas

I just want to know why no truly successful band has made truly successful anti-Iraq war music in the three years this war has been raging, with the exception of "American Idiot" by Green Day. Sure, there's a lot of music out there putting the image of a world without peace into perspective - songs like "Times Like These" (both the song by Jack Johnson and one by The Foo Fighters) - but in general, though a lot of music out there laments about the state of the world, very little music is specifically against the war in Iraq. Plenty of bands have released songs saying nasty things either directly or indirectly about the Bush administration, but very few have explicitly vetoed the campaign in the middle east. In the Vietnam war, songs had extremely specific lyrics. I want to know why the music industry isn't fighting with the anti-war movement. I want to know why there's been more patriotic America-is-always-right music, as found in the Freedom Tour, advertised on such Conservative talk shows as Sean Hannity Show, than anything against our actions. I'm not saying my position either way on the war (though, for the record I am against it), I'm mostly just mad that we're being deprived of our protest music. The anti-war movement in the 60's produced some of the best music around. So where is it today?

Growth in the Blogosphere

2006-07-19T16:57:00.000-04:00

The death of Napster was only the beginning of internet music downloading. Napster’s shutdown led to iMesh, Morpheus and Gnutella, whose subsequent fallouts were followed by Kazaa, Limewire and eDonkey. Now, with record companies flooding peer-to-peer(P2P) networks with corrupted, looped and cut-off files (following in the footsteps of Madonna’s anti-piracy campaign, when she released into common sharing networks a dummy track with the spoken word message to music downloaders “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”) and with the RIAA “cracking down” in the wake of the Grokster rulings, many users are shying away from usage of P2P networks for illegal downloading for any number of reasons. Pay services such as the iTunes music store and membership sites such the revamped Napster are growing in popularity, and free legal downloading has become a very favorable outlet for music fans.

Is this good for music? Music snobs would say that the ability for everyband out there to find a following online will pervert good, unadulterated indie music. Punk and grunge began as an underground movement and was in many ways perfect until it was brought into the spotlight. Some say true punk died when bands like Green Day sold out and took major label record deals, and bringing punk into the public eye. Some genres are best kept as secrets. Indie music is by definition music made by independent artists, out of the spotlight and away from the influence of a major record label. However, with the explosion of music blogging, suddenly indie artists are in vogue, and not just on obscure sites exclusively for those in the know.

The week Thom Yorke released his solo debut album, “The Eraser,” it opened at #1 on iTunes music store’s top downloaded albums. “The Eraser” is an album of brooding laptop music which wouldn’t have even touched the charts five years ago. Radiohead has had some radio appeal in the last decade, but the few singles that truly cracked into MTV’s rotation and henceforth popular culture were their more mainstream tunes like “Karma Police,” “Just” and “Paranoid Android.” The band’s masterpiece album “Kid A” is loved by fans, music snobs and critics alike, but you would never hear beautiful opener “Everything in It’s Right Place” on the radio.

The truth of the matter is “popular” music is not the be all end all anymore, and there’s a few reasons for that, with the first and foremost being the invention of the portable mp3 player. Even just five years ago your average listener only heard new music on the radio while driving their cars, and only ever listened to a select few CDs, enjoyed and tired out a thousand times. Today, more people are listening more often, and under different circumstances. Sure, radio music is still the same pop we’ve heard for the last decade, made for college party mixes, dance clubs and thirteen year-old girls. But is sing-along music really what people sitting at their computer writing an email to their grandmother are listening to? How about a college kid studying for exams who wants a little something to calm his aching head and heart? Music is being made and popularized for every activity, every mood and every listener, and those genres and artists are easier and easier to find within the expanse of the blogosphere.

So yes, this is good for music. In fact this is great for music. Thank Steve Jobs for the music revolution of the 00’s and thank all those self promoting indie artists for reinventing popular music again. Thing is, indie artists aren’t going to stop being indie artists. Sure, some bands like The Secret Machines, a major label band who promoted themselves through blogs to give the appearance of being rather “indie,” will pervert the new system, but with the expanse of free music on the net and the availability of search engines powerful enough to support it, any music that is out there can now be found by anybody with a decent broadband service. If I want to listen to a version of “Space Oddity” performed by a class of 7th graders, I can find one (see “Langley Schools Music Projects”). If I would like to collect 50 different covers of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” it’s just a point and a click away (everyone likes the versions by Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley, but have you ever heard Imogen Heap’s acapella rendition?). It's an exciting time for music fans everywhere, and those who have yet to experience all that's out there are missing out.

Just Starting Out

2006-07-19T16:10:00.000-04:00

I'm an editor at the college paper, and this is to keep me writing during the summer. It's meant to be music related, but we'll see how far that goes. Enjoy.