Culture Bully

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Sonic Youth - "Incinerate" on The Late Show With David Letterman 06/16/06

Sonic Youth is one of my all time favorite bands and it is truly amazing to see a band aging with such grace. One of the true great bands of the last century (I'm excluding bands pre-June 1906...they were a bunch of losers anyways...).

Sonic Youth "Incinerate (The Late Show With David Letterman 06-16-06)"(mp3) (alternate link)
Sonic Youth "Incinerate (The Late Show With David Letterman 06-16-06)"(video)

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Monday Night Mash-Ups: June 19, 2006

The most popular post in the short history of this site is Culture Bully's 10 Favorite Mash-Ups of 2005. In the spirit of that, I'd like to introduce some of the best mash-ups that I've come across for the week ending Monday, June 19, 2006. As always, they're not for everyone, but for those who still like 'em, enjoy.

Aggro 1 "Pink Party Factory (Pink vs. Fear Factory)" (mp3)
Arty Fufkin "Barrel of Goo (Beastie Boys vs. Sonic Youth)" (mp3)
DJ Jay-R "Kinky Park (Jay-Z vs. The Kinks)" (mp3)
DJ Nicky-T "Shaggy Fat Boy (Shaggy vs. Fatboy Slim)" (mp3)

Monday, June 19, 2006

Review - The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower: INRI EP

San Diego's The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower have been receiving quite a bit of recognition within the confines of modern indie, but when it comes to bands with more than 7 words in their names, this usually spells trouble. The band's INRI EPsuccessfully serves as a quick once over of the quartet's image and sound, introducing drawn out vocals, crashing percussion and deep bass, all of which characterize the single's sound.

The EP also includes a rendition of David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" and a remix by Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner which help develop the band as one with a broader tone, especially "Boys..." which touches on Bowie's bouncier beat and lighter melody. Zinner's remix adds what most mixes do, a slight touch-up from a different perspective, which coming from his background is something that TPTBUTET should take advantage of as it sounds fresher and sharper than the original. But far be it from me to mistake a 3-song EP for a revealing look at a band which has the possibility of developing into something unique.

The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower "INRI" (mp3) (alternate link)

The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower - Official Site
The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower - MySpace Site (2 songs)

Review - Pretty Flowers: Pretty Flowers EP

Pretty Flowers is a Brooklyn-based four-piece that harkens back to the post-punk era of bands that played solid mid-tempo music based on harder, faster influences. The three-song debut EP explicitly borrows from a wide range of bands from the early '80s, and the group does so effectively. Keeping somewhat of a rough sound through a modest recording budget has its definite benefits.

"I've Got Your Love" is reminiscent Hüsker Dü, with its fast paced, muted drum set. If the band's eponymous EP was longer than 10 minutes it might become clearer as to whether the Pretty Flowers sound is simply a knock-off or a continuation of a lost gem. Time will tell.

Pretty Flowers "Riot" (mp3)
Pretty Flowers "Knife Fight" (mp3)
Pretty Flowers - Official Site
Pretty Flowers - MySpace Site (4 songs)

Review - Björk: The Music From Drawing Restraint 9

Björk has made a handsome living from defining and recreating boundaries in the aural arts. One of the key characteristics made throughout her career has been the tremendous lack of separation between what is recorded and what her fans marvel at. As her career progresses she has been given the liberty of continually defining herself through any number of experimental projects, as many to critical acclaim as to critical question. As time goes on there is a sense of connect to Björk that I hadn't previously had, much due to the lack of artificial influence in her work. Her music is genuine, in that she isn't making it with hopes of spiting modern radio, and nor is she making it for the simple credibility that is associated with her (lack of) genre. She admirably makes the music that she loves, whatever form it may take. A Drawing Restraint 9 site comments wisely on her style, in that she is "refusing to choose between pop pleasure and restless experimentation, Björk's musical vision weds technology and emotion, countering gut-level expression with an insistence upon formal modernity and innovation."

The Music From Drawing Restraint 9 accompanies the film in a manor uncharacteristic of the majority of scores. The audio accompaniment engulfs the visuals throughout the film and directly serves as well placed keys to emotional targets, carefully lending itself as the only dialogue to the film for all but one of the scenes. As the description surmises, this is a stage well suited for Björk's composition skills. As she only contributes orally to 2 songs it is amazing to see how her production and arrangement skills transfer some precise characteristics of her music to other musicians' work. Far from much of her 2004 release Medúlla comes an increasingly raw track performed by throat singer Tagaq. "Pearl" is much like the rest of the album as it is a traditional track, distancing itself from much of the hip-hop and dance influenced music found on Björk's experimentation with the outlet.

As is the case with much of Björk's catalogue there is a dramatic learning curve, of sorts, in that it takes a number of listening sessions to begin to understand and appreciate what is actually on the recording. The Music From Drawing Restraint 9 is no different as its shocking first listen initially startles before settling in; showing that it takes time to familiarize oneself to a new, alien piece of music. The artistic beauty is lost at times however as the accompanying visuals aren't provided to aid in the music. The tracks admittedly provide a great deal of their own visually warming aids on their own, however, symbolic of not only Björk's influence but of the dramatic role each character plays in the sonant.