ocean / ocean

Ocean, Ocean

I'll be taking an indefinite break from this and jumping exclusively over to http://www.ericandtheocean.blogspot.com where I'll be detailing the creative development of a new project for theatre I'm working on. There'll still be music over there as well because I'm developing the sound design concurrently.

Much love,

Eric

the stories where i lied / were the ones i just told

Toyota War

Two Toyota War songs from their gig last Sunday at the Grace Darling Hotel in Collingwood, playing with us and SvenSson.

Toyota War - Taxis

Toyota War - Sick and Tired

Toyota War - In the Evening

The Call Up

Two Call Up songs from last Sunday; first time we'd played The Knife. Quality of the Zoom's recordings isn't as great as I'd like in the small room, even with a great sound system.

The Call Up - Iris

The Call Up - The Knife

Probably going to take an indefinite break from this for a while and focus attention on something which I'll share with a redirect or edit once it's up and running.

Much love.

libera me, domine / de morte aeterna

Faure / Greenwood / Wagner / Part

I've always listened to a lot of classical music but I'm fairly sure I haven't posted much on here before (the spectacular Gabor Szabo Love Theme from Spartacus comes pretty close) but since I recently borrowed a much bigger Ipod to the one I'm used to I've had the luxury of carting around about 10 times as much music which has led to some great rediscoveries.

Elsewhere, in the production of Julius Caesar I'm performing in at the moment this piece is used when Caesar's body is borne off stage. I'm usually biased towards Deutsche Grammaphon but this version put out by EMI of the Paris Conservatoire is a timely reminder of the golden age of recording.

Gabriel Faure - Libera Me

Another more contemporary work that makes an appearance in Caesar is some of Jonny Greenwood's classical compositions for the soundtrack of There Will Be Blood.

Jonny Greenwood - Oil

Teddy Tahu does a magnificent rendition of this song from Wagner's Tannhauser but this older recording comes from the 111 Years of Deutsche Grammaphon collection, which I had easier access to.

Richard Wagner - Wie Todesahung...O du mein holder Abendstern

Finally, one of the few songs that makes you feel like your whole life is stretching out in front of you. This piece of Estonian minimalism has suffered tangentially at the hands of overplay in movie soundtracks, but it's featured so heavily for good reason. If you enjoy it, check out Part's Cantus in Memorial of Benjamin Britten.

Arvo Part - Spiegel Im Spiegel

Northeast Party House

i wrote / a letter

Moving into much more different terrain now with local band Northeast Party House; a really well-mixed, high quality track from a group that's even better live.

Northeast Party House - Embezzler

The Church

so hard / finding inspiration

The Church walk the giddy tightrope between jangle-pop and Australian post-punk in a song that'll surprise the casual listener, only familiar with Under the Milky Way Tonight.

The Church - The Unguarded Moment

Joy Division

made the fatal / mistake

I hadn't heard a lot of the "last" Joy Division album, Still, but when listening through their live recordings I found The Only Mistake, and it was only then that I checked out the studio version. I also included Sound of Music, even though I've usually toss up between the Still track and the Peel Sessions version.

Joy Division - The Only Mistake

Joy Division - Sound of Music

J Dilla

Having heard the Dilla instrumental that this is built around hundreds of times I was really pleasantly surprised to come across this track from the (one of many) posthumous Dilla albums, Jay Stay Paid.

J Dilla - Reality TV (feat. Black Thought)

Gang of Four

it's the cause / of all my thinking

I've probably listened to more Gang of Four over the last four years than any other band but over the last week I've been revisiting Return the Gift! and their Peel Sessions in particular. The best Peel Sessions are always those where the band mix up the way they play their songs, as they do on this record, but this take on Guns Before Butter is fairly true to form, except for the vocal panning at the beginning.

Gang of Four - Guns Before Butter (Peel Sessions)

so you turn around / toward the tiny girls

Deerhunter

life just passed and flashed right through me

This song comes from Deerhunter's last full-length studio album, Microcastle. There's a video that's been floating around the web of a prepubescent band in the States covering this track and while they don't quite capture it's insistent rhythm it's really heartening to know really young musicians are listening to this kind of music.

Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened

Iggy Pop

well the day begins / you don't want to live

I've had this on constant replay over the last few weeks, hooked on Pop's voice and the saxophone solo of none other than David Bowie.

Iggy Pop - Tiny Girls

Toro y Moi

listen to me / she gets in your head

This single's at loggerheads with Toro's last album and promises a lot for his upcoming LP.

Toro y Moi - Leave Everywhere

The Roots

pray for me / if it ain't too much bother

Two great songs that have surfaced in the lead-up to the next Roots album.

The Roots - Dear God 2.0

The Roots - How I Got Over

Shuggie Otis

aht uh mi hed / je t'aime

Have had this first song for a long time but only revisited my small Shuggie Otis collection after hearing a cover of Strawberry Letter 23 by the Brothers Johnson (of "Stomp" fame)

Shuggie Otis - Aht Uh Mi Hed

Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23

Wilfred Jackal

you know you can't stand in the way

Fantastic single from a criminally underrated and unsigned Melbourne band.

Wilfred Jackal - Rail

The Strokes

he seemed impressed

Finally a stone cold classic from the Strokes that begs instant replay.

The Strokes - Reptilia

i never felt / quite like this

Playlist #2

These are much easier to put together than this website's standard "band name - picture - elegiac / lyric - few sentences - link to mp3" format and in some ways a lot more accessible, so I'm going to continue throwing them around.

1. Sebastien Tellier - Roche

2. The Clash - The Leader

3. The Avalanches - Close to You

4. Josef K - Sorry for Laughing

5. J Dilla - Nothing Like This

6. The Go-Betweens - The House That Jack Kerouac Built

7. Gene Page - All Our Dreams Are Coming True

8. Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty!

By the by, if there are any Caribou fans out there check this out; a really great hour-long mix which Dan Snaith compiled for Allez Allez.

In other news, Call Up rehearsals continue in earnest, with about 6 or 7 songs fleshed out, following the addition of this beautiful SOVTEK Big Muff Pi from the 70's that Rob found at the Camberwell Market:

i can't sleep with your memory

The Triffids

now we are seated / at separate tables

This song's one out of the holy trinity The Triffids recorded in London with the legendary John Peel for the Field of Glass EP. All of the three songs see McComb's muscular vocals wrestling with his own demons but it's here that he does so the most explicitly. Here, the band's immensely powerful sound veers and swerves between violence and quietude, rather than simmering away and eventually boiling over, as it does on the EP's 9 minute title track.

The Triffids - Monkey On My Back

Deerhunter

pray with me

This track arrives here fresh from a live session on BBC 6. Frontman Bradford Cox is probably one of the most generous and articulate musicians out there when it comes to offering constant insight into his own work, process, and feelings. He's written elsewhere that when recording many songs (especially for one of the Atlas Sound solo records) he'll improvise lyrics but this song demonstrates the real difference between his own solo work and that of his band. The more precise drumming goes hand in hand with a better sense of direction that still serves as a vehicle of Cox's flair for heartfelt melodies. The only bad thing about this track is that - like Hot Chip's cover of Wiley - BBC 6 still manage to find the only people in England with unattractive voices to introduce these pieces.

Deerhunter - Helicopter (Live)

Foals

made love to my pillow / but it didn't feel right

Foals have their new album Total Life Forever out (or at least a promotional release is doing the rounds) and although I was a bit worried around a month ago that their singles were heralding a worrying change in direction, the record is solid gold. Impossible to say whether it tops Antidotes but it neatly bypasses the sophomore curse that has haunted so many artists, and is at least on par with their first full-length. I was even getting a bit of an In Rainbows vibe listening in stages (did the drums remind me of Radiohead: Live from the Basement?) and it's interesting to note that both bands share obscure influences like composer Steve Reich. Unfortunately, just as I was about to post something from TLF I came across this Police cover that Foals recorded on Radio 1 earlier, and because of the enormous unspoken debt I owe to Sting for steeling my resolve in the Black Cat nearly a year ago, have this instead.

Foals - The Bed's Too Big Without You (Police cover)

Girls

fucked in the head

A great song from a great album (Album) that well and truly lives up to the audacity of its title. Although Girls are born out of truly fucked up lives they're keen for this not to overshadow their work, and thus instead of dominating tracks like these the vocals instead underpin rich guitar and percussion. Video clip does not leave anything at all to the imagination (think penises being used as microphones).

Girls - Lust for Life

The Smiths

heifer whines / could be human cries

I've been delving back into my Smiths collection looking for an elusive six or seven songs to polish off History Boys sound cues and bits of a live version of this title track from one of their few non-compilation albums are promising.

The Smiths - Meat is Murder

can't i cry / for you?

how to donate blood / on an empty island

Peggy Lee - Fools Rush In

Pere Ubu - Horses

Privacy - Love Don't Love Long

Richard Hell - I'm Your Man

Chris Spedding - Video Life

Privacy - Pining

Underworld - Born Slippy

Most of these songs (apart from Born Slippy) come from Bradford Cox Micromixes that I chop up into individual songs for my own listening pleasure, but because artists like the highly-recommended Privacy are so hard to find (even though she's on the same label that puts out some of Dirty Projectors' work) I thought I'd share them on here.