Pop Spots

Found this through NME, Pop Culture Detective Bob Egan finds the original locales where album covers were shot. 

His website is fascinating and worth bookmarking - http://www.popspotsnyc.com/

I am reminded me of when I was recently in NYC, spending an afternoon with my friends Mattie and Joe.  At some point in our travels, Joe points down a street and says, "That is the building that was shot for the cover of Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti.  And Keith Richards used to own an apartment there and the video for "Waiting On A Friend" is shot on the stoop and the bar at the corner."

I had such a great time that day that I think Mattie and Joe could easily rent themselves out as tour guides.  They also saved some tourists from Nebraska from making a critical misstep. Mattie and Joe quickly intervened as they were in mid-attempt to open the door to the headquarters of the Hell's Angels as if it was a just some Sons of Anarchy themed restaurant where unannounced visits from looky-loos was welcomed and encouraged.



Is should be pretty self-evident, but yeah - don't knock on this door.  Just don't.

 

Looks super inviting, doesn't it?

Submit to Lego Domination

Have you seen the Lego Movie?  Well, the hype is justified - especially if your house is overrun with actual Legos like mine. 

My son started filming his own Lego movie yesterday and I expect that this project will dominate our daily conversations for at least the next three weeks. 

So in celebration of all things Lego, here are a couple things to check out. 

First is the Flickr Group that recreates album covers with Legos. 

Then there is Lego Motorhead doing Ace of Spades.



I love how the minifigs in this video "play" guitar and bass.  They make rocking out look like an advanced stage of Parkinsons. 

 

Snuck Up On You

#3 in an ongoing series from Junk Drawer contributor RW about his experience working @ The Beachland Tavern in Cleveland, OH.

 

Sometimes it takes a while to get in the groove. It might take half a set to get into a band, especially one that plays a genre you're not into. That's what a lot of the bartenders at the Beachland say.

 

Sometimes what wins you over is the fact that they're working so hard, sometimes it's how enthusiastic they are about what they're doing.

 

Diego Garcia was both. It was a damn cold night in Cleveland. I think everyone was a bit grim. I certainly was, sitting at the door, cursing everyone who came in and lowered my body temperature.

 

I definitely wasn't up for romantic latin ballads. But Garcia and his band were so obviously into the music, so happy to be playing even to a small crowd in Cleveland that it became contagious.

 

Diego Garcia - "Roses and Wine"

 

 

Diego Garcia - "All Eyes on You"

 

 

 

The other band that comes to mind is Angela Perley and the Howlin' Moons. I mean, I like my share of honky tonk, but to be honest, I hardly have any in my music collection, but the guitar player in the band was just blistering that night.

 

Angela Perley & The Howlin' Moons - "18 Feet Under"

 

 

It was country and rock, and we all loved it.  

Mood Music Revisited

I posted on Valentine's Day a couple of years ago but this year people seem pretty touchy about the subject. 

This cartoon from The Oatmeal pretty much sums up the reaction I have been getting and my feelings on the subject - it is fine if you don't want to participate, but don't harsh the vibe of the lovers, man!

And one of the greatest things about the multifaceted feelings we define as LOVE is the music that it inspires.  I would like to once again celebrate sexy vibe music with these carefully selected tracks:

letthemusicplay featuring Kate Tempest - "Our Town"



Now the music in that track isn't all that revelatory, but this Kate Tempest is something else.  Her lyrics are a rework of a poem she did (below) and I love her delivery. Spend some time on Youtube checking her out, she is a poet of PASSION.



This next one feels like it could just make a baby on its own so be warned. Until The Ribbon Breaks is the moniker of a UK DJ by the name of Pete Lawrie Winfield and it is a reference to the good ol' cassette days when you crushed on a song so hard that you played it until the...well, you know. 

Sam Smith - "Nirvana (Until The Ribbon Breaks Re-Imagination)"



That video has a little something for everyone - silky teddy inching up creamy thighs for the fellas and Ryan Gosling for the ladies.  I imagine all the footage is from that other Nicolas Winding Refn joint that I haven't seen.   I can't imagine that the film is nearly as seductive as this jam. 

Until The Ribbon Breaks is pretty talented, he even made a remix of Lorde's "Royals" that I was impressed by even though I would like to never hear the oversaturated original again.

Then there is this next cut that is so smouldering that a woman who goes by the name Skin Diamond can't stop dancing to it.  There are fourteen versions of this song on Youtube but this one wins because it has (a blurry) Bridgette Bardot. 

Incidentally, I can't decide if Skin Diamond is the creepiest or the most provocative porn star name I have ever heard.  Thoughts?

Handsome Boy Modeling School featuring Cat Power - "I've Been Thinking"



For a good while Chan Marshall was on my Top Five "Freebie" list and so of course I thought of the other musicians that have made that distinction. 

I can't imagine how I might make the moves on current day Polly Jean Harvey but there is no denying that I have found much of her music stimulating.  Maybe the direct approach would work?

Desert Sessions featuring PJ Harvey - "I Wanna Make It Wit Chu"

New Music: Misun

This past weekend DJ JD (that's me!) participated in a Year's End Listening Party, hanging with some of my favorite music addicts as we try to cram a year's worth of sharing and listening into about five hours.  

Just thinking about it makes me both excited and anxious.   When your turn comes up, you have just three cuts.  You hope to make a connection, but irregardless if you succeed, it is all a blur.  

It makes me pine for those long evenings back in college when the gang would spend an evening digesting an entire album together, decoding its meaning and talking about its significance.  Wasted youth is wasted on the young. (That is not a typo.)

So much didn't get played - (Barsk didn't even play Mogwai!) - that I am reminded why I decided to start this blog: to share music that I dig. 

So, here was a late 2013 discovery for me that I am excited about, a band called Misun (pronounced Me-Sun) from Washington D.C.

The band termed their sound Aquawave but I happen to think it fits just fine under the banner of well crafted Pop music. Considering they are a DC band, perhaps it would be most fitting if they had "Go-Go" in their genre tag.  

Regardless of how you would describe them, I had these three cuts lined up in my iPod for the Listening Party and they never got airtime.  So here they are for your listening pleasure, dig in. 

Battlefields


Battlefields sounds like it could open a Quentin Tarantino movie.  A surf retro shuffle with tough soul. 

Nothing Else


Nothing Else was actually the first track I heard from Misun thanks to Pigeons & Planes, a site with a ton of daily content.  Most of what I hear there doesn't stick with me but this shimmering kiss off song obviously sent me on a hunt for more.  

Sharpshooter


Sharpshooter give us a just a tinge of dubby reverb and a bleary vocal delivery with just the right dosage of The Ache.  Oh yes.  

With these three tracks as a representative sample, it seems evident that Misun are still building their sound and that is exciting. From what they have come up with so far, it is clear that the field is wide open. 

They have released a great deal of singles digitally for free on Soundcloud so far, but nothing in any physical format.   That is about to change with their first 7" single (preview below) now taking pre-orders and shipping February 18th.  



Will I be purchasing?  You betcha!