Free Range Music: Spiritualized, The Futureheads, The Cure

>> Hey, remember when we'd do all those Free Range Music posts listing off worthwhile album streams and such suchness? Those were good times, right? Let's endeavor to resuscitate that, shall we? Jason Spaceman fans will be pleased to know that they can stream the new Spiritualized set Songs In A And E at the band's MySpace apothecary right here. It is funny, the little ways in which Mr. Spaceman -- or his label's marketing department -- trades on the man's past. For example, said MySpace page describes the act as Psychedelic/Experimental/Rock. And while we wouldn't quibble with that last genre, until the third track "Death Take Your Fiddle" the new record sounds like a straight, slightly overblown Britpop record, with the accent on pop. Thankfully, the proceedings get a lot more interesting very quickly, but are we over-generalizing if we say that Songs In A And E sounds like it could have been written and produced by Damon Albarn? This is not a slag; longtime readers will recall The Good, The Bad & The Queen's self-titled set was one of our favorites of 2006. But back to Spiritualized: as we are starting to come back around about saxophone in rock music, we're pleased to hear some bumping up the close of "I Gotta Fire." Songs In A And E will be issued in the U.S. by UMG May 27, and we think we might actually buy this one.

>> By supplying MTV.co.uk with a fake name and email address (call us Karl) one can gain access to streams of all the songs on the forthcoming set from fidgety Brit indie quartet The Futureheads. Unfortunately you will be forced to stream it in the relatively intolerable Windows Media Player, but what are you going to do, right? Anyway, we heard this morning on WMBR the second track from the forthcoming set, "Walking Backwards," on WMBR as we were shuttling to work and we were pleased to hear some of the vim and vigor of the 'Heads of old. Well, 2005 or so. So going through all the trouble of defrauding MTV and launching your Windows Media Player is worth it just to hear this song, although the title track with its waltz time pummellation in the chorus may eclipse it as the best number on the record. The Sunderland-based act issues its third set This Is Not The World on its own Nul Records on May 26 in the UK; not sure of the U.S. release date. The set was preceded by the single "Radio Heart," which of course you can stream at the same web site. Here's the link.

>> Don't feel bad if you are not among the cool kids that already know Bradley's Almanac is hosting here the entire three-hour live set performed by legendary alternative act The Cure in Boston earlier this month. It's filled with highlights, not the least of which is a scorching "From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea." The epic-length set list is filled with gems. Anyway, in case you didn't know you can download the whole shebang right here. But if you are like us and are sick of downloading stuff unless you actually need to, let it be known you can also just stream the whole set at Hype Machine right here. Radical.

>> Speaking of free, we still have one copy of the forthcoming Julie Ocean record Long Gone And Nearly There waiting to be given away to the first person who emails us with the phrase "Ghost In The Mirror" in the subject line. C'mon, people, this isn't hard, and the disc is sitting on our desk at work waiting to go in the outbin. You can do this. Our email is in the sidebar.

YouTube Rodeo: Under-Rated Dinosaur Jr. Or "Whatever"

We remember that, when it hit retail racks, the Dinosaur Jr. EP (or was it marketed as a maxi-single? we think it was) Whatever's Cool With Me had a sticker on the shrink-wrap that clearly stated that the contents were absolutely NOT a new record. Being old and jaded we now wonder whether that was more for the benefit of the label, you know, whether they were just making sure J. didn't get the set counted as an album under the terms of his deliverables of his contract. But at the time we thought it was weird and a little unnecessary. Granted there were a lot of songs, a lot of great songs, some old and some new, on the short stack. And the cover picture of the grumpy, cute dog was a delight to behold. But still, we just didn't think anybody was going to mistake this for a new Dinosaur full-length. And the relatively remarkable sea change that Where You Been would manifest makes the idea sorta laughable that Whatever's Cool was the follow-up to the equally strong but in a sorta different way major label day-bew Green Mind. But now we're just blathering. The point of this post is exactly this: this is a really weird video for a really great song that we don't think gets enough props within the Dinosaur Jr. canon. Incidentally, the band kicks off the first of two legs of a European tour tomorrow night in Cologne, Germany.

Today's Hotness: Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Josh Rouse

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Gullick] We always feel like we have to defend our appreciation for Ned's Atomic Dustbin. We certainly can understand any sort of criticism of the N.A.D. t-shirt we once owned, particularly after we cut the sleeves off, but we expect such a fashion disaster can be chalked up to the confusing times. Mind you, this was an era during which we briefly owned purple overalls (they were "grungy," not "hip-hoppy"). For serious. But anyway, Ned's wrote some great indie rock songs, not the least of which is "Happy" from the band's 1991 full-length debut God Fodder. Twitter scrapers have seen the glee we experienced digging up video clips for the track Saturday. And so it was we stood up and took notice when the venerable NME reported here that the band would reform for a gig this winter. Of course, in perusing the offerings on YouTube Saturday that news is somewhat deflated by the fact that -- based on the videos we found -- the band had already reformed and played at least two gigs (Glastonbury, Stourbridge) last year. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the band plays a Christmas show *every year.* So there you go: a short story about N.A.D. reforming that is not really even a "story" at all in the journalistic sense. Oh wait, according to MySpace this year's reunion is, in fact, notable, in that it features the OL, a/k/a The Original Lineup. More details here. And here are links to the aforementioned clips that we enjoyed viewing: 1, 2.

>> We keep an eye on the efforts of indie folkster Josh Rouse, whose records Subtitulo and Country Mouse, City House are downright pleasant listens. So it was with interest that we read of Mr. Rouse's subscription service. This sort of digitally facilitated artist/fan relationship was something that interested our editors (and us) when we toiled away at a dot-com at the turn of the century. At the time the men at the vanguard of the movement were Todd Rundgren (hello, it's him; his dealy was called PatroNet), Robert Fripp (his dealy was called Disciplined Global Mobile) and Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens (we can't remember what his dealy was called). Anyway, according to Coolfer, Rouse's enterprise is called Bedroom Classics Closet Archives and it features a members-only download site including access to music and video for more than 100 songs. Certain subscribers get access to special albums and EPs. There are different membership tiers planned, although right now the only tier apparently available is $100 per annum. All very interesting, and the kind of thing we'd like to see a few of our favorite artists do. Read more details at the Coolfer post here. And here's the lead track from Mr. Rouse's 2005 set.

Josh Rouse -- "Quiet Town" -- Subtitulo
[right click and save as]
[buy Josh Rouse records from Newbury Comics here]

>> As we tick down the days until June 2, when Johnny Foreigner's full-length debut hits stores in the U.K., we have been trying to ignore the leak of the album to the Internerds. But, in the interest of science, of course, we've heard a couple of the tracks. None of them have blown us away, but they are solid. We expect we'll be excited about the whole thing when it arrives, along with the single of "Eyes Wide Terrified," which we think streets tomorrow. Since we've ordered both the record and the single from the U.K., who knows when they will actually arrive, but it can't possibly take any longer than HMV. So we wait. One bright spot was guitarist and singer Alexei Berrow's song-by-song rundown of what to expect on the Birmingham, England-based trio's full-length, Waited Up 'Til It Was Light, which was published in Drowned In Sound here last week or the week before. It has somewhat taken the mystery out of the songs, but we expect they will stand up just fine without the added mystique.

>> Emusic's 17 Dots blog reports here that the digital music service will soon offer the catalog of highly regarded German electronic label Kompakt. We are excited about this because we are eager to acquire the five or so editions of the annual Pop Ambient compilation that we don't own. They were just so expensive as imports we gave up the chase, even gave up the scouring of the EBays and et ceteras of the electronic realm. 17 Dots says the acquisition of the catalog will be gradual, but, hey, we're patient.

Muxtape No. 6: The Plans That Had To Fall Through

The weekend winds down at :: clicky clicky :: headquarters, but not before a new Muxtape has been posted for your listenification. Our thoughts, impressions, false memories and alleged recollections are below, and you can listen to the whole shebang right here.

1. Flaming Lips -- "Hit Me Like You Did The First Time" -- Hit To Death In The Future Head
(If you listen, this song has everything: piano, strings, slide guitar. And a provocative title to be sure, but at this stage in the band's career this was relatively tame, and the lyric makes it all innocent enough. Thrash is largely dialed back on this tune and what you have isn't an ode to masochism, just a whimsical, almost romantic request regarding those early days of a relationship. Or something. Flaming Lips gained acclaim at the end of the '90s, but more and more we believe people paid attention at the wrong end of the decade.)

2. Love As Laughter -- "I Am A Ghost" -- Laughter's Fifth
(We appreciate blunt declarative writing. This is one of the reasons we like legal writing. And of course the Wall Street Journal. Hell, it is the main reason we like Minor Threat's "Filler." This song is a far cry from "The Youth Are Plastic" and "Singing Sores," tracks from the band's debut in the mid-'90s. Here we have a scruffy, no-frills indie rocker with a great introduction -- a great set up for the ensuing bash n' pop. "I float throughout your house at parties." More people should be paying attention to Love As Laughter, whose sixth set is slated for release later this year.)

3. Karl Hendricks Trio -- "The Overweight Lovers" -- The Jerks Win Again
(We really wanted to post "The Summer Of Warm Beer," but the track -- from the same 2003 set -- is 13 minutes long and way over Muxtape's 10MB per track limit. But this song has its own substantial charms and presents a serviceable representation of the meandering electricity and riffage that characterizes this fine record.)

4. Lefty's Deceiver -- "Ex-Patriots" -- Cheats
(The final incarnation of Lefty's produced its most straightforward collection of songs. The lyrics on Cheats are compelling and particularly evocative, although the gut-level attack of early genius tracks like "H to Hg" is not left out either. It is hard to pick a favorite from Cheats, what with the hypnotic nostalgia of "Years And Years Ago," the affecting yearning of "East Coast Traffic." The chorus of this number provides us with the title of this Muxtape. The band reunited around last Thanksgiving for a single show and we missed it because we were out of town, which was disappointing. That said, there have only been a handful of shows that were as exciting as the record release party for the band's debut 45, which we did see, so we've got that going for us.)

5. Wendyfix -- "Over + Upward (Ridge)" -- King Size Demos
(A quick waltzer and a highlight of the esteemed and mostly unreleased discography of this erstwhile Evanston, Ill.-based trio. Particularly as the second verse rolls around the bass and guitar complement each other wonderfully in carrying the melody. Little idea what singer Ted Pauly is on about here, but we always thought it was something along the lines of construction equipment coming and leveling a nice place and replacing it with a newer, less nice place. "Powerless to stop progress..." and all that. Look for the video on YouTube.)

6. Luna -- "Sideshow By The Seashore" -- Live
(Originally on the self-titled EP whose cover took cues from the now largely forgotten soundtrack to the film "Kids." An EP we'd like to acquire in the popular compact disc format. Although the live set from which this track is taken is no slouch and has a whole lot of super tracks. We really like the lyric in here "all the comforting words provide no comfort." A sentiment that has been abstracted in countless other indie songs, here Wareham just comes out and says it.)

7. Lilys -- "Your Guest And Host" -- Eccsame The Photon Band
(A friend familiar with the early Lilys catalogue recently expressed some reservations about Eccsame The Photon Band, and we think this is too bad. The record is really a fully realized work of genius, not the least of which because of some uncompromising, spacey production. Although superlative songs certainly don't hurt, right? Few if any have presented a confidence-inspiring track list for this set, which includes a handful of interstitials. As such, every time we re-rip this CD (we're upgrading tracks to 192Kbps a bit at a time) the suggested track listing comes up slightly different. We ask this on the blog almost weekly, but when will someone figure out how to rescue the rights to the Lilys Spin Art catalogue from whatever bankruptcy-inspired purgatory contains it and offer up expanded reissues?)

8. Yo La Tengo -- "Tiny Birds" -- Summer Sun
(This record is relatively maligned within the Yo La Tengo canon, but there are actually quite a few tracks we come back to, particularly this one. Is McNew singing this one? We can't say his name any longer without thinking of the Danish band Mew and laughing, but that is another story altogether.)

9. Human Television -- "Look At Who You're Talking To" -- Look At Who You're Talking To
(Nice string arrangements here. Members of Human Television were part of one of the more recent iterations of Lilys. This track and the band's "In Front Of The House" share some lyrics, and we've always wondered which song came first. The latter tune is an upbeat indie popper, markedly different in tone from what is going on here. To quote John Bender in "The Breakfast Club," feeling bad feels pretty good.)

10. REM -- The Wrong Child -- Green
(Album track from the popular American alternative rock act Rapid Eye Movement, or something like that. The piano, twelve-string and strings do a good job of keeping the mandolin in check. Stipe's layered vocal is pretty affecting, particularly when he hits the chorus. We're not crazy about the soaring "okayyyyyyyyyy," but we expect that the lyric "I'm not supposed to be like this" resonated strongly with the late teen crowd when this set was released. It certainly did with us.)

11. Karate -- "What Is Sleep?" -- Karate
(Question number one on this Muxtape. We don't have any larger reason for including it here -- we're not suffering from insomnia or anything. We just think people have forgotten that the first few Karate records were filled with great songs. We saw Karate in 1997 before going to Europe back during the time when it was a four-piece act and they really tore it up. This number has arresting dynamics: the jarring breaks and the songwritery verses present a hard contrast; a love song you can rock out to; an indie power ballad. Not the mixtape-for-your-girlfriend slam dunk that "Today Or Tomorrow" is, but still a dynamite track.)

12. Eddyfink -- "Will I Get Through Today Without Being Kicked In The Knickers?"
(Question number two on this Muxtape. A hook-laden, jittery number from a now defunct act written for a compilation that celebrates a British telephonic information service. From what we recall you could either ring or text the service and it would provide an answer, for free or for a nominal fee. No matter. We love the paranoia of the title question -- not too mention the chorus's "I can't take this anymore" -- and we love thinking about what the person working the phones that day would think upon receiving such a question. The world view of the comically victimized makes for a very fertile set of parameters from a narrative standpoint. Surprisingly deft vocal harmonies for a rock band that isn't, you know, The Eagles, too.)

Today's Hotness: Lilys, Robert Pollard, Camper Van Beethoven

>> [UPDATED AGAIN] What you are looking at above is the Holy Grail. More precisely, it is a picture of a vinyl version of Lilys' 1992 masterwork In The Presence Of Nothing. We think you can tell it is the vinyl version because the cover art is different from the CD. In fact, 1992 being 16 years ago, we can't definitively say whether we've ever actually seen this cover art before now (even the official Slumberland Records discography only shows the art with which we are exceedingly familiar). Needless to say, this record is rare, having only been issued in an edition of 500 copies on vinyl (although the Slumberland site makes an ambiguous reference to a later vinyl edition from Spin Art that had "a normal LP picture sleeve;" according to Discogs.com this may have been a 1998 vinyl reissue -- did that actually happen?). And needless to say we are torn about whether we should bid on this or not. This may be our only chance to ever aquire this record, for which EBayer Mr--Morgan currently stands to reap USD$61, plus $4 for shipping. And currently, we twiddle our thumbs and watch and wait. Here's a marvelous track from the set below; you can download the amazing track "Claire Hates Me" at the Slumberland page here. [UPDATE: This ended up selling for USD$76 plus at least $4 shipping. Dang...][According to commenter Mike -- perhaps it is even Slumberland Mike? -- this cover above was from the 1998 reissue, so that must have been what the chap was selling. The original 1992 issue was a numbered edition of 500. And if anyone has one in good condition to sell us, you know where to reach us].

Lilys -- "Elizabeth Colour Wheel" -- In The Presence Of Nothing
[right click and save as]
[out of print. perhaps you can get a copy at MusicStack here?]

>> Seriously, how many hooks are in the newish Robert Pollard jam "Weatherman And Skin Goddess"? Every line is a hook. It's ridiculous. We were (obviously) taken with "Gratification To Concrete," which we posted last weekend. But "Weatherman And Skin Goddess" is like a five-and-a-half-minute-long concept record. It was initially issued on the eponymous EP as the first release of Mr. Pollard's newly minted Guided By Voices Records, but we didn't hear the track until digging into the promo of the forthcoming full-length Robert Pollard Is Off To Business on Thursday night. That full-length will be issued June 3. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. We uploaded "Weatherman And Skin Goddess" to our sadly neglected Imeem profile, so you can click here to catch a stream of the song. For those of you in the mood to download, RobertPollard.net has a whole sack of MP3s, including the very good "Supernatural Car Lover" from last years solid release Normal Happiness. If you missed it the first time around, check it out now.

Robert Pollard -- "Supernatural Car Lover" -- Normal Happiness
[right click and save as]
[buy Robert Pollard releases from Rockathon right here]

>> Legendary "college rock" band Camper Van Beethoven is marking a quarter century of existence by releasing a hits collection called Popular Songs June 24. The set includes original and re-recorded versions of classics including "Take The Skinheads Bowling," "All Her Favorite Fruit" and "When I Win The Lottery," among others. Five songs originally released on the Virgin-issued sets Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart and Key Lime Pie were re-recorded because Virgin refused to allow them to be included in the set, which will be issued by Cooking Vinyl. We sure wish some agreement could be reached regarding those Virgin titles, because if any two albums (well, besides the two My Bloody Valentine sets that will be reissued next month) were screaming to be reissued, it is those two. We promise we'll buy them, Mr. Branson. Here's our favorite CVB jam as offered by Archive.org's Live Music Archive.

Camper Van Beethoven -- "All Her Favorite Fruit (Live)" -- Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA, July 20, 1989
[right click and save as]
[get the whole set from the Live Music Archive here]

Reader Rewards: Win Julie Ocean's Long Gone And Nearly There

>> [UPDATE: We have a winner -- congratulations Jake Oomar!]One of the bigger records of the year to date is Julie Ocean's immaculate indie pop gem Long Gone And Nearly There. The D.C.-based act's debut long-player isn't due in stores until May 27, but as of today it is available on ITunes and EMusic. Readers may recall we reviewed the record here in early April, at which time we said -- among other things -- that "the relatively new quartet succeeds marvelously, as evidenced by the exuberant and winsome indie pop..." Through the magic of multiple publicists working the record -- which is being released by Philadelphia powerpop label Transit Of Venus -- we've got a copy to give away and we're giving it away right now. The first reader to email us (our email is in the sidebar) with the phrase "Ghost In The Mirror" in the subject line will receive a brand spanking new copy of the CD from us in the mail next week. It's that simple. We'll update this item as soon as there is a winner. If you're itching to see Julie Ocean -- which incidentally features former members of Velocity Girl, Glo-worm and Swiz -- ply their pop in a live performance, the band has two live engagements booked: a CD release show at Iota in Arlington, Virginia on the 6th; and a gig with Half Japanese at Rock And Roll Hotel in D.C. July 11. If you want to try before you buy -- or try before you win -- here once again is the MP3 for the infectious toe-tapper "Number 1 Song" below.

Julie Ocean -- "Number 1 Song" -- Long Gone And Nearly There
[right click and save as]
[buy Long Gone And Nearly There from EMusic here]

Julie Ocean: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Maybe It's Reno, CocoRosie, Nosferatu D2

Maybe It's Reno
"Gravestones and Christmas Trees" (mp3)
from Maybe It's Reno
(Teenbeat Records)
Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

>> We were holding the new record from former Unrest bassist Bridget Cross in our hands Sunday and we opted to put it down in order to get deluxe editions of certain records we name below. Well, we also put it down because it was selling for $13, which for a cheapskate like us with a substantial music buying habit is 30% more than we are comfortable spending on a single CD. But anyway, after hearing the promo track "Gravestones And Christmas Trees" and streaming samples from Ms. Cross' new set under the moniker Maybe It's Reno we are strongly questioning that decision, as the music is superlative. Cross is joined on the self-titled set at various times by her former Unrest bandmates Mark Robinson, who also runs Teenbeat Records, and drummer Phil Krauth. Everybody thank IODA Promonet for the MP3 on the count of three: 1, 2, 3.

>> We have strong opinions about luxury brands, particularly relative to their utility and perceived importance in a world filled with catastrophe, disease and starvation. If you think we're being overly dramatic we invite you to click over to The Washington Post web site to look at the photo stream it posted today of body parts and shattered buildings in China. All that said, this animation created to glorify a certain "high-end" "fashion" "line" is mesmerizing. And the soundtrack was created by Brooklyn-based sister act CocoRosie. The duo's most recent set The Adventures of Ghost Horse And Stillborn was issued by Touch + Go in April 2007. You may recall this song being on it.

CocoRosie -- "Rainbowarriors" -- The Adventures of Ghost Horse And Stillborn
[right click and save as]
[buy CocoRosie recordings from Newbury Comics here]

>> This Crave item about new and improved Tamagotchis seems an appropriate enough reason to post the mighty Nosferatu D2's incredible "Broken Tamagotchi." So here it is below. Holy cow that band -- now sadly defunct -- was good. You can download a whole mess of Nosferatu D2 stuff from the band's Last.FM page here. And for those of you not familiar with our prior posts praising all things Ben Parker [1, 2, 3], you can follow Mr. Parker's latest musical exploits as Superman Revenge Squad here.

Nosferatu D2 -- "Broken Tamagotchi" -- Nosferatu D2
[right click and save as]
[download an album's worth of amazing material from Last. FM at the links above]