As we approach the trip to Ro-cha-cha, where we will amongst other things consume blueberry beer and talk wedding stuff, I figured I'd toss a few musical nuggets out there that I've been listening to lately to get the music convo going again. The blog has been a bit dormant lately and I figure some music can't hurt. I would love to know what the rest of you are listening to.
I've really been diving into some artists that I hadn't heard much before, most of whom are fairly new and I'd never heard of until recommended by NPR, the AV Club, London's XFM station, or some other reputable source. Some I'd heard a lot about but never got around to listening to for one reason or another. How I missed some of these I'll never know, but I'm glad I found them in any case.
So here they are: some space rock, a jazzy Nirvana cover, some bright Brit pop rock, and then an orchestral Stones cover that ended up getting a lot more attention in the mid 90s. There are some more obscurities I really love but I'll save those for another time.
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1
The Bad Plus - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Feeder - Just The Way I'm Feeling
And for a little bonus...I had this Andrew Oldham recording called "The Rolling Stones Songbook" that I downloaded who knows when, and hadn't really checked out much. Then I had the iTunes on shuffle one day whilst cleaning the house and this came up - needless to say it was a revelation to me, as I hadn't heard about the lawsuit with The Verve. Anyway, it's a good listen on its own...
Andrew Oldham Orchestra - The Last Time
4 comments:
I've been listening to The Bad Plus for about five years - I actually saw them live in Portland in an incredible show. Their covers of "Ironman" and "Chariots of Fire" are perhaps even more famous than the Nirvana Cover. Most of their original music is extremely strange and not recognizable as jazz or anything else. The pianist has an inhuman ability to play fantastically complex figures with his left hand while improvising with his right and vice versa.
Often, their drummer plays with things other than sticks, including a dog toy-like ball filled with bells that he calls "The Happy Apple".
I thought you might have mentioned something about them to me, Charlie, specifically that show in Portland. Was the the one you taped?
I'm digging what I've heard from them so far, but mainly the covers. I was turned onto them by NPR's playing of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
The show that I taped was Herbie Hancock/Michael Brecker and it was in Eugene, but also amazing.
The first place I heard them was NPR as well - the same song, again about five years ago. Good to see that it has staying power.
Also check out the cover of "Heart of Glass" (yes, Blondie) if you haven't yet.
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