Early warning

The next edition of The Machine is right around the corner.
Easily going to be the best one so far.

Also joining us will be the Asian Sensation, all the way from Oakland, DeeJay Santa Maria!

Aussie rock

My friend Aaron (Livefastdie) just put out a great article on the most classic of rock from Australia.

Check it out.

Haswell and Hecker remix Popol Vuh

From haswellhecker.blogspot.com
"Popol Vuh’s soundtrack work for the films of Werner Herzog in 1970’s and 1980’s are some of the most stunning in the field. Editions Mego is pleased to present 2 re-workings of classic Vuh tracks. Mika Vainio takes ‘Nachts: Schnee’ from the 1987 soundtrack ‘Cobra Verde’, and delivers a skillfully constructed ambient piece of beauty, which shifts and turns over 10 minutes. Haswell & Hecker turn the majestic ‘Aguirre I’ from the 1972 soundtrack ‘Aguirre - The Wrath Of God’ into possibly the first track to be played at the last rave on Earth. Unlike recent H&H releases on Warner Classics and Warp this does NOT utilize the UPIC system but vintage digital delays and freeze effect units, in conjunction with digital compositional tools. This release is pressed on red vinyl and packaged in a plastic sleeve with a golden sticker." (Presstext)

DNA

Perfection, approached again!

It's safe to say my musical head has been revolving around the newest album by Silver Jews on Drag City.
The wait, and the want.

So I think it's supposed to come out in June, but the newest album by Berman and Co. is fucking amazing. Or umm, at least that's what I hear.
I HEAR that Berman actually sounds better than he has ever sounded.
I HEAR that the songwriting is beyond amazing.
I HEAR that this is the fucking album that will re-define the guy.
I HEAR somehow or another, San Francisco B.C. will be the party song of the year.


The song Suffering Jukebox, heart breakin' genius/wowser!

Also, a friend that just "heard" the album had this odd ditty to mention of a song on the album.

"Damn, it's slide guitar used in the slightly demented manner of Gun Club crossed with REM (music and his vocals are really starting to sound like a Stipe-Cash man baby), and a tad of JMC"

Daryl Hall aint nothin to f**k wit...

When a post on the Yahoo music blog starts off "Some people may think that going to see SXSW 2008 keynote speaker Daryl Hall perform at South By Southwest is some sort of indie-ironic inside joke. Like, "Ha ha, won't it be funny to see that old has-been who sang 'Private Eyes'?"
I weep a little, then I die a little.
Hall and Oates. totally not a joke.


First get their amazing War Babies album produced by Todd Rundgren, then seek out the amazing Daryl Hall solo album Sacred Songs produced by Mr. Robert Fripp.
If all this is not enough, Maneater. That is all I gotta say.

Cross bearer

I went to a little meet up last night called "Jesus in the Talmud", and walked away thinking "damn, I really don't know Jesus as well as I thought. Maybe I should learn more. Maybe as a Jew, I should give the man a chance"
So where else to get to know him, but thru rock n roll?
I am happy to report that I'm still not converted, but I decided to highlight the songs about the original hippie from Bethlehem that I listened to over and over and over.
Keep in mind, for the most part, I tried my best not to include a ton of old gospel/early Sam Cooke/Norman Greenbaum because those are obvious (but still amazing).


1. The Waterboys Christ in You
I sort of just got hip to The Waterboys in the last year or so. It's all my fault for being a stuck up douche bag, but damn, they write some amazing songs. Lotsa stuff about Jeebus, and here on this song off one of their later albums Universal Hall they even compare him to some heartbreaker.

2. Soulsavers Jesus of Nothing
What the fuckity fuck? This is evil! Sitar + Mark Lanegan = the soundtrack to the porno version of Passion of The Christ, but really classy.


3. Tom Waits Jesus Gonna Be Here
You know Tom Waits knows Jesus personally? Like BFF or homies4life sorta stuff.
I think senior Yeshua gave Tom the divine power to write this filthy blues ditty.

4. The Oblivians Feel all right
K, so this is one of the songs on this amazing album that these loonies wrote, for what was their "gospel" album, and somehow, it sounds more like a song I would excpect to hear in a church on the south side of Chicago or deep in Memphis, than any of the covers on this thing.
Quintron's organ on this song is somehow both the holy and the profane.


5. Rev. Gary Davis "I belong to the Band-Hallelujah!"
There are 6 discs of Jesus songs on the Goodbye Babylon box set, this one might be the greatest. Had to put it.