Aural Sex: Music from April 15 to April 22nd

Should have updated this earlier, but I am a lazy SOB and/or busy one. Onwards!

Unsurprisingly, Pixies are number one again this week. I attribute this to my listening to their live concert out of Winipeg two years ago. I'm of the opinion that the Pixies' live stuff is a hundred times better than their recorded stuff. Unlike most bands, their banter is kept to a near minimum. The most I heard from the concert recording was Kim Deal asking the audience if they played to Winipeg or not. This met with a deafening "NO!" The concert screams with so much energy that you can practically see Frank Black's sweat come out of the speakers. Great concert, worth hunting down if you're into the Pixies.

The Who is number two thanks to their Live At Leeds album that I pulled off of Soulseek at the end of last week. While the concert on the CD lacks the frantic energy of a Pixies concert, it's worth it just to hear all of the Who's repertoire from the ages in concerto.

New up is Man Man, a small band that everyone should check out. Man Man what Tom Waits would sound if he cloned himself and inserted him into an art band. Some of the songs, are too short and are a little bit too cacophonous, but there's a couple gems in there. Out of their album Six Demon Bag, their best songs are Feathers, Black Mission Goggles (which has the energy of an super powered atomic bomb that can destroy the mother fucking sun!) and Van Helsing Boom Box. The rest is hit or miss, so check yourself before you wreck yourself. They're also fronting for Modest Mouse this summer, which is double plus good since Modest Mouse is awesome (when they're sober).

Clint Mansell's up there since I needed some atmospheric music while I was reading the Ruins. It was the Fountain Soundtrack. (Rob's mini review of the Fountain: Want to see Hugh Jackman cry and people turn into trees? This movie is for you!)

The Embassy's new music that I found through last.fm. From what I recall, it's Swedish, so your millage may vary. The Embassy's techno-lite pop that comes from the Earth's gummy centre. It rots teeth and tickles your ear holes.

The rest isn't really worth commenting on since it's old hat.

As always, you check see what I'm listening to right now by looking up to the left or internet stalking me on my last.fm profile. I got invisible eyes, so I'll see you acoming if you check me out.

The State Of My Shitty Musical Taste

I got myself a big ass ipod now that the breakup has hit the FSJ area. Music's my vacation.

I got myself an 80 gig one thinking that I'd be able to fill it up quickly with my music and tool it up with other dandy things. As of the moment, I've only managed to put 10 gigs of music in there. That's my complete CD collection, with a couple of lost exception as well as three years or so of downloading music. With all that empty space on the ipod, suddenly I've come to the realization that I don't listen to enough music, and that the music that I'm listening to isn't that varied. So I've decided to do my semi-annual music expanding experiment. I've decided that since I've mined out all the good stuff from 80s hip hop, I'm going to start checking out more disco and 70s soul. This is my plan for the future.

That said, I'd digging Of Montreal's new album right now. I've been rather mixed on Of Montreal in the past, liking their beat heavy stuff more so than their meandering slow shit. Out of all the songs in Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, the best of the lot is the Past Is a Grotesque Animal, an epic 11 plus minute song. The song builds to an explosion like an aural dam bursting after being bombarded with vicious synth. I wholeheartedly recommend this amazing beast of a song.

The Sound of Music for the week of April 8th to 15th.

Lots of Pixies this week, thanks to me finally transferring my music collection from my old PC to the new one. I doubt that they'll be as much next week, but you can never be too certain. Radio Birdman's up there too, but that's because I transfered their new CD to the computer. Last.fm doesn't track vehicle plays, unfortunately.

The Roots and the Who feature prominently this week thanks to a feature on IGN on the Top 25 Live CDs of All Time. Since I haven't had a chance to listen to all of the Who CD yet, I'm sure that it'll track a lot higher next week.

John Carpenter is on the list, of course, due to Rodriguez's fantastic Planet Terror soundtrack. I digs me Carpenter's crazy synth-o-sounds.

The rest are odds and ends.

As always, you can mock my musical choices, or, better yet, join last.fm so that I can mock yours. It's what makes the world run smooth as a baby's bottom. Or you can gaze to the right and see what I'm listening to right now. SO MANY CHOICES FOR YOUR BRAINS!

Lastly, if you have any new tunes for me to plug into my ear holes, just pop in your comments

Heather Salmon Needs Killer Joints For Paper Movies

My friend Heather is working on another project, Bookworm Music, and this is a good thing. If you have an inkling of what the female nerd scene is like, no doubt you're aware of the idea of a fiction orientated mix cd sountrack is. These communities are scattered across internet tubes like a fistful of pennies. For the most part, these places aren't worth the time and effort. Fueled by the untapped estrogen mines of horny 17 year old women, they spend their after class time creating mix cds for their favourite slash moments. Ever wanted to know which song worms through their brains while they read a story of Frodo's ass being tongued for the first time by Sam while Merry and Pippin lick each other's eyeballs? Beautiful, by Christina Aguilera. This is more true than you want to believe.

Heather is a smart cookie. She's taken the core idea, creating mix cds for paper films and sharpening her knives so that all the shitty parts are taken out. No j-pop, no music dedicated to tender slashy moments, nothing based issue three billion of X-Men. Just soundtracks to movies in your brain made by pop cultural fizz. It's a good idea and a good start. I dig the idea so much that I've created a last.fm site dedicated to it. Give it a check-see. Undoubtably your ears will thank you in the magnificent future