Mid-Week MP3

Often lost among the glut of garage rock bands to hit the scene in the early 2000s, Randy Fitzsimmons, The Hives hit in the US with breakthrough album Veni Vidi Vicious, from whence this track hails.

A beautiful mixture of style, sass, and sarcasm, The Hives follow-ups never achieved as much success in the states, but are certainly notable for the evolution of the band’s sound to a more mischievous, mechanical level. Most Hives singles, stateside releases, and imports are still available. Buy one, damnit!

The Hives Declare Guerre Nucleaire

KK Slider is like the Dead... except his music doesn't suck.

Does Animal Crossing Wild World promote music piracy? I’d like to think so… It's funny how big this story has gotten. Is this some clandestine move to free our young charges from the bounds of the mega-corporate music machine? A clever marketing ploy on the part of Nintendo? Much ado about nothing? Who knows!

Mid-Week MP3 (Yuletide Edition)

I know you told me not to, but I got you a present. Seriously, go ahead and open it! If it's not your size I totally kept the receipt.

Mid-Week MP3

This week's Mid-Week MP3 comes courtesy of a self-revelation.

It’s recently come to my attention that I am an old man. One of the odd ways in which this age manifests itself is through the shifting of both principles and ideas. (And before anyone asks; no, 1mod ain’t voting Republican!) For a number of years I have been aware that the old “never sell out” punk rock ethic is, for lack of a better word, shit. Therefore, when a band, or a book, or a painter, or a… I dunno… style that I hold dear becomes popular, lucrative, or en vogue I no longer take it as a personal attack against those of us who were with it back in the day. That’s just the way culture pops, I suppose, and I’m not gonna slight anyone for taking advantage of it.

This also applies to hearing some of my favorite bands’ music in television commercials. While Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life seems a bit out of place in a Carnival Cruise Line commercial, I’m sure Iggy could use the scratch. And while hearing the Buzzcocks wailing over images of the Toyota Rav 4 seems odd, that commercial was actually pretty sweet. And thus, when I heard the new Levis spot featuring those mad lads from London I couldn’t help but get a little misty. I mean, who would’ve ever thought that you’d hear Madness during primetime here in the States?

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Madness-- It Must Be Love

Mid-Week MP3

This week's Mid-Week MP3 is from my pick for best album of 2005 (see below).

Bloc Party were signed thanks to forunate contact with Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos and DJ Steve Lamacq, and their 2005 release Silent Alarm, while not quite the smash here in the states as it was in the UK, has garnered praise from all circles. It just goes to show that an album can be both critically praised and have legitimate artistic merit.

The band itself blends art rock with indie rock for an intoxicating blend of fuzz, whine, and rump shakin'. That being said, let’s all put on tiny t-shirts and gyrate rhythmically to the crash and wale of Like Eating Glass.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Bloc Party – Like Eating Glass

1mod's Best of '05

Now that we’re safely within the chilly confines of December it is again time for that most fastidious flurry of finicky funkiness that is my picks of the year’s greatest. So, without further ado, I present The Best of ’05.

Album of the Year: Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Generally, I don’t buy a lot of new records in your average year. I prefer to get my music the old fashioned way – by bumming CDs off my friends and ripping those bastards to my PC. This year, one album I went out of my way to purchase was Silent Alarm by Bloc Party. Why? Because this album is both lyrically sound and musically layered without sounding overly complex or artsy. And I like dance rock. And Kele Okereke looks like Buckwheat and sounds like Colin Hay with a lung full o’ helium.

Song/Single of the Year: Tegan and Sara – Speak Slow
Let me sum up: identical twin lesbian Canadians that rock like they ought to… And though their early solo-era Joan Jett haircuts and tendency toward folkyness initially put me off, Speak Slow was sufficient to kill Reverend Run’s Mind on the Road as my pick for Song of the Year. Ain’t that some shit?

Movie of the Year: The 40 Year-Old Virgin
There may have been films that I saw this year that I liked more than Steve Carell’s The 40 Year-Old Virgin while I was watching them, but none really followed me home from the theatre with as much charm and fervor. I still find myself mentioning bags of sand and the ubiquitous “Boner Jams ‘03” nigh daily!

TV Show of the Year: The Boondocks
As much as I love NBC’s take on The Office and the cockeyed behemoth that is Lost, as well as new fall season darling How I Met Your Mother (also known as that show with Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doogie Houser), I have to give the nod to The Boondocks. Not only has Aaron McGruder finally brought Huey and company to the tele, he’s also given Uncle Ruckus, the self-hating black man, a suitably comical voice.

Game of the Year: Resident Evil 4
If you didn’t choose RE 4 as your game of the year you obviously haven’t played RE 4. With lush, eerie environments, spot-on character models, and an enemy AI that just won’t quit Capcom again managed to scare the hell out of me while all the while spurning me toward a climactic, and none-too cheesy, resolution. Best. Resident. Evil. Ever.

Website of the Year: Scary-Go-Round
I love Web comics, but there are so damn many to visit that I sometimes have to cut the fat. Scary-Go-Round is lean. Clean and lean and, occasionally, obscene. Okay, not actually obscene, I just got a bit carried away… Sorry. Anyway, with all the charm of a Monty Python animated short (without the over-sized feet) and all the style of a Cornershop single, John Allison's Scary-Go-Round is the site that I make it a point to hit each Monday-Friday.

Man/Woman of the Year: Old Grandma Hardcore
With all the press she’s been getting from MTV, Game Informer, the Washington Post, and others, my mention of Old Grandma Hardcore won’t garner her blog any more measurable hits than she’s already pushing, but I gotsta give credit where credit is due. This 70 year-old dynamo has beaten more games than you’ve played, and she will completely kill your ass for an Xbox 360. And that, my friends, is hardcore.

Well, those are my picks. What about yours? Feel free to omit/add categories as you see fit.

Mid-Week MP3

Earlier this year French duo Daft Punk released their fifth studio album Human After All. While I still haven’t picked this record up if there’s any justice on the world it’ll make its way into my X-mas stocking. While most critics and fans seem to agree that this is not their best work, I’ll still get it (one way or another). Why? Because the band that may me reconsider electronic music in general and House specifically as valid an emotionally charged forms of musical expression deserves no less. But I’m not here to debate their merits so much as to share my love of their music.

With that said, let’s all hop aboard the Way-Back Machine to 2001 when Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter took us on a dizzying adventure through the musical madness that was Discovery. The music from this album served as a joint concept piece with the brilliant animation of the legendary Leiji Matsumoto as demonstrated through the movie Interstella 5555: The 5tory of a 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. The album/film weaves an elaborate tale of love, loss, disco, and space ships, and nowhere is this more prevalent than in the single “Digital Love.”

For the love of God, buy Discovery! Hell, buy Interstella too! While Daft Punk’s earlier works are equally good, none have the emotional appeal of the tale of a band, a man, a monster, and the music that binds them all together. So at that, please enjoy this week’s Mid-Week MP3… and keep on dancin’.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Daft Punk -- Digital Love

Mid-Week MP3

In honor of this week’s Thanksgiving Day celebration, here is a quick list of a half-dozen things that I’m thankful for:

*My wife and son
*The Rangers not sucking this season
*My Scion xB (Thanks, dear!)
*Cook’s Grand Spumante
*The Nintendo DS
*The enduring legacy of The Clash

That last one brings me to this week’s Mid-Week MP3.

The Clash have proven to be a band far more significant than their initial lifespan. Their ten year tenure as the ruling kings of political punk pales in comparison to the lasting relevance of their music and message. Originally composed of Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon , and Terry Chimes (plus Keith Leven, if in name only), the band didn’t hit full stride until Chimes’s replacement Topper Headon sat behind the skins following the release of their first album. From simply leftist to elaborately anti-racist and Marxist politics, Strummer and company sang about and for the counterculture, urging the nihilistic punkers of the day to stand up and be counted as a force for positive cultural change.

While initial success in the states seemed like a long shot, even we stuffy Americans could appreciate the band’s universal appeal, and today you can’t pass a high school without seeing some young buck in a London Calling t-shirt. No band before or since managed to succeed in the melding of punk, rockabilly, reggae, rap, dub, and pop to such a degree as The Clash. Though drugs and fame tore the band apart in 1983, individual members continued to participate in various artistic endeavors, with varying degrees of commercial success. Tragically, Joe Strummer’s career ended abruptly in 2002 when he fell victim to a heart attack at the age of 50.

This song is for Mick and for Topper and for Terry and for Paul and for Joe (R.I.P.) and for you. Consider it an early Christmas present. Enjoy, and save me some stuffing.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

The Clash -- 1-2 Crush on You

Uncle Ruckus

I was lucky enough to catch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on opening weekend, and I have to say I dug it. While the book was, in my humble opinion, the best in the series so far, the movie was a noticeable abridged version – more akin to a friend telling you about the book in a drunken, sometimes uneven and vehemently whispered conversation. Still, it was a keeper. The visual presentation and overall look was clean and consistent, even when the dialogue slipped, and the super CGI monsters and shit didn’t really take away from the story. I didn’t like it quite as much as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but it was a noble effort that I think most fans will enjoy.

In other entertainment news, if you’re not watching The Boondocks on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block, shame on you! Aaron McGruder’s comic masterpiece has made the jump to television with its wit (and all its venom) intact.

Mid-Week MP3

If you don’t know Paul Weller and The Jam, then A) you’re really missing out and B) you’re obviously not English. And, while I’d love to prattle on about the importance of the band and its songwriting powerhouse, I see know reason to rehash what others have done in a much more concise and logical manner. Suffice it to say that this track, and nearly any track by Paul and the boys (together or separately) is golden. Slip on that parka and enjoy!

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

The Jam -- I Got By In Time

Y’all ass is crazy: Your entire ass is crazy.

"Oh my God a rubber!"

Robert Kelly is many things to many people. Actually, to most people he’s just a perv who makes music in his spare time, but that is neither here nor there. The interesting thing is that somehow, between all the pee play, fights with Jay Z and company, and other bad press, Kelly has found time to make, perhaps, the world’s most convoluted, self-indulgent concept album. His Trapped in the Closet, a twelve part “urban musical” follows the lives of a literal shit-ton of characters as they proceed to screw around with each other and get caught. As if the plot wasn’t bad enough, each of the “songs” sacrifice traditional structure in favor of narration and dialogue… all performed by Kelly.

I had pretty much ignored this mess until I unwittingly turned to one of the videos last week, only to hear Kelly singing in a high-pitched southern drawl as an overweight white woman tried to convince her husband that nothing was, in fact, wrong. Simultaneously confused and disgusted, I sought a way to gather information on this sad, sad project without actually having to devote time to watching/listening to the individual chapters. Thankfully, our friends at SomethingAwful.com have prepared Cliff Notes for chapters 1 through 5, and the rest of the story so far can be hashed out thanks to good ol’ Wikipedia.

Enjoy, and may God have mercy on you if you can actually follow this shit.

The difference is clear...

I was just listening to the Sirius BBC Radio 1 feed and two news items immediately got me. In the first, a schoolgirl was attacked and stabbed multiple times with scissors by a gang of teenagers while standing in the lunch line. In the second, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has come under fire for killing a farm animal in rural Italy in the traditional style of the region on his television show.

I can’t help but think that if these had happened in the states, we would’ve blamed the one on the other.

Mid-Week MP3

After a brief break (due to illness) 1mod is back with another Mid-Week MP3.

This week we explore the work of Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers. Hailing from Boston, Richman tests the waters of idiocy. His songs are simple, even by the proto-punk standards of The Ramones. His lyrics are childlike, almost to a ridiculous degree, but his place in the canon that is our American musical heritage has been cemented by a loyal following since his work in the 1970s.

More recently Jonathan has been met with moderate mainstream attention due to his frequent television appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and his role in 1998's There’s Something About Mary.

But to fans, whether he’s favoring us with old classics, singing Spanish folk songs, or simply giving one of his famous, rambling interviews, he’s just Jonathan… and he has a lot to say about life, love, Abominable Snowmen, and, in this case, those fine folks who work down at the Government Center.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers – The Government Center

What kind of Sixties Person are you?

You are a Mod. Yeah baby.

What kind of Sixties Person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

For those of you looking for a cheap and easy way to wile away the workday, may I humbly suggest Urban Dead. In the words of the game’s creator, “Urban Dead is a browser-based, grid-mapped, free-to-play multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre.”

Not only is it free, but it’ll also help get you in the proper Halloween mood! Plus, the description is full o' hyphens. Hurray for hyphens!!!

Oh, if you’re around the suburb of Old Arkham, you may find me healing survivors in the subtle guise of Dr. Drake Remore.

Mid-Week MP3

With the final installment of festive Halloween MP3s, I figured I would kick it, as the kids say, old school. Real old school.

For me, there are a few conditional holidays – holidays that don’t really count unless a certain event occurs. The Fourth of July, for example, isn’t fully legal until I’ve pissed off a porch… any porch. Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving until the local NPR affiliate plays Arlo Guthrie. Halloween is like that, too. As much as I dig it, as much as I wait for it, and plan for it, it ain’t shit without Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon.

Warren left us in September 7 of 2003, but not without establishing a lasting legacy of funny, quirky, creepy-assed songs from his thirty-plus year career. Do yourself a favor and pick up some Zevon from your local record store, and, if you’re a cheap bastard, try the library. They usually keep a bit of Warren around.

Oddly enough, Werewolves was one of Warren lighter songs. For a man with a preoccupation with death, oppression, and murder, he sure knew how to howl. But never mind the particulars, just get to downloading.

And a happy, happy Halloween to all.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

Mid-Week MP3

Excuse me while I switch gears from the grim and grisly wiles of Murder City Devils and the demon summoning charms of Ink & Dagger. You see, this week’s Mid-Week MP3 is brought to you by none other than the champions of 80s goth, The Cure.

Robert Smith and company are known more for eyeliner, sing-along choruses, and shuffling, frumpy girls in long skirts and leggings than death, dismemberment, and the dark arts, but I find The Cure’s Lullaby to be one of the eeriest goddamn songs I’ve ever heard. This offering, from 1989’s Disintegration, whether about addiction, assault, or simply a supernatural boogeyman, is no less distressing now than it was 16 years ago.

Do yourself a favor and pick up some Cure. While Disintegration is of particular merit, the bulk of the band’s library is exemplary. With that said, please enjoy this week’s extra Halloween-y Mid-Week MP3, and join me here next week for the riveting conclusion of all this spooky-assed shit!

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

The Cure -- Lullaby

Mid-Week MP3

Okay, I guess this one is an End of Week MP3, but hey, sometime life gets you like that. I'll be continuing our festive theme, but this week I’ll shift gears a bit. Last week Murder City Devils regaled us with a tale of war and loss and an untimely hanging. This week we head into the murky waters of punk rock vampires, compliments of Ink & Dagger.

This band of Philadelphia blood suckers hit the scene in 1996, with and odd mix of blazing guitars and pancake makeup that somehow delighted the notoriously fickle hardcore audience. Within a few years the band had changed their look and sound to something more progressive and much less kitschy, eventually dispending amid much fanfare in 1999. Less than a year later, frontman Sean McCabe was found dead in an Indiana hotel room – the result of an excessive drinking binge.

Another rock ‘n’ roll tragedy, but, thankfully, the music lives on. With that said, please kick back and enjoy The Road to Hell, from the 1997 release Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake through My Philadelphia Heart. Much of Ink & Dagger’s library remains in print, and you can get a bit more of the band’s history (and merch) over at Buddyhead.

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Ink & Dagger – The Road to Hell

Mid-Week MP3

This week’s Mid-Week MP3 launches what I like to consider the official Halloween season. Put the kids to bed early and break out your Styrofoam tombstones, folks! You’re in for four weeks of creepy, freaky, and pretty damned fucked up songs. Leading the charge will be one of my personal favorites – Murder City Devils.

MCD was a brilliant punk rock outfit out of Seattle who came on strong in 1996 and kept on keeping on until 2001. Musically, I’d say they were midway between the classic drive of early Misfits and the (then) modern flare of At the Drive-In (with whom they toured extensively). This track comes to you from the notorious In Name and Blood album, a multimedia cd experience that, in addition to being their strongest musical effort, depicted each member of the band as a victim of a gruesome murder. Good times.

I’ll not bore you with details, but a little digging will find that the Devils' former members are currently involved with such indy fair as Pretty Girls Make Graves and Modest Mouse. Good bands to check out if you've missed them so far. Most MCD releases are still available from Sub Pop, and should be purchased post-haste.

With that said, please enjoy the deep, groovy, goth-y synth, the staggered vocals, driving rhythm, and the fierce guitar attack that is Press Gang.

This year the candy comes early!

1modernboy humbly requests that you use these MP3s solely as a means of evaluation. If you like what you hear, please buy records, CDs, t-shirts, or other merchandise to support this band/artist and his/her/their label-mates. Seeing them live probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Should the features artist, or the related label or distributor take issue with my inclusion of the song file, please don’t hesitate to contact me, so that the offending file can be removed.

Murder City Devils – Press Gang

Pray for my Nintendog...

Nintendo has launched yet another full-out assault on my wallet with this week’s release of both Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow & Trauma Center: Under the Knife for the Nintendo DS. Basically, I plan to spend my free time slaying demons and performing surgery without a license… same as any week!