Who Needs Radio?

More to lose than your dignity?

2008-09-23T04:34:00.001-04:00

So I might have more flakes than Kellogg's, but here's another attempt on a comeback for WNR. I fell pretty hard off the musical wagon after coming to the horrific realization that some spam bots were screwing our site and inboxes in every orifice. I'm now in the process of cleaning up our neglected home and repairing the cracks in the walls to make it all spiffy and easy to maintain again (read as: I've got to wipe out the old inbox and establish a new address for submissions). So, if you've sent anything in via email in the past few months, I'm sorry. Your submissions have most likely been deleted at this time. I just honestly don't have the time to scan through a thousand penis and beastiality emails to find your MP3s. Besides, I don't even have a penis... and that's NOT how you ride a horse. But if you have sent a CD in, I will be going through them this week for reviews. The new submission email address will also be posted up shortly.

I also have to admit that half of my absence is to blame on the fact that I finally got an Xbox 360 with a Live membership a couple of months back, and I just can't put the shit down.

Bitch, you ain't no nerd.
Seriously. Do you know how much fun it is to trash talk with teenagers at 3 in the morning on GTA4? No? Uh, well, yeah... neither do I. But if you ever want to play an INSANELY AWESOME game of UNO or Street Fighter II, you can find me under the gamertag "DJ Lady Byrd." So original, I know. But at least my friends don't have to spend a half hour trying to remember who "Colonel Angus" is in their massively geeky friend lists. (I'm looking at you, Patrick Roche-Sowa of G4TV.)

And now for something completely different.

It may or may not be new to you, but last night I stumbled on a fantastically bad 80s band, so gayly named Seona Dancing (pronounced Shawna Dancing). If it is new to you, you should take a gander at that gentleman on the right up there and see if you can place who it is. I'll wait.

...

Figured it out yet? No, it's not David Bowie... it's funny man Ricky Gervais. Seems his hilarity was unintentional back then. Although the music sounds more like an early Depeche Mode demo and our beloved David Brent is looking strangely hot... the man really can't carry a tune. But it's still interesting to take a peek into Gervais' deep and dark skeleton closet.

What's even funnier than that is his reaction to it being brought up on the Room 101 show below.

I still love you, Gervais. What you did to Carell at the Emmys was brilliant, even if it was just a skit.

Seona Dancing's only two singles, including the B-Sides:
More To Lose
You're On My Side
Bitter Heart
Tell Her

And this post would not be complete without including this classic from another funny man, as well as the recent cover of it for the BuffetLibre Rewind project:
Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time
OH SNAP!! - Party All The Time

Hoping you're still around,
Lady Byrd

All My Bass Are Belong To Texas

2008-06-19T18:09:00.005-04:00

The wonderful Abominatron and Manolo Black have brought me down to DJ for you fine Austinites tonight at Club de Ville. This is my first time in Austin (and all of Texas, period), so I hope you kids can show me what a good time Austin really is.

Here is just a taste of what you will hear tonight:
Michael Jackson - PYT (Marquis / Dmerit Remix)
Metronomy - Radio Ladio (Mac 3000 Remix)

And just because I'm in Texas, here is a hilariously odd country song by a native Texan:
Roger Miller - You Can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd

If you come, please be sure to introduce yourself. I'm curious of just how many readers we have here.

Love,
Lady Byrd

Plundering the Vaults

2008-06-03T21:30:00.003-04:00

Ok...I had actually uploaded all of the material about two weeks ago, but never got around to actually posting any of it. So, here I am to sort of do a belated, better late than never edition of plundering the vault.

I grabbed another handful of CD's from my record room. As per usual, the handful covers the gamut of British pop over the last decade or so. It's actually fun to do these sorts of posts as some of this stuff I haven't heard since I bought the CD's way back when.

Lauren Laverne
Ok, I'm not going to lie. I've had a "thing" for Lauren since way way back when Kenickie was around. Well, after Kenickie called it a day Lauren did a one off with Mint Royale for the song "Don't Falter," which is still one of the tweest and coolest summer songs EVER. (I'll post that next week) Soon after that little pop detour she started a brief solo career that sort of ended when her label erm faltered. Today, she's a multi-media darling who appears both on TV and radio and probably makes more money doing that then she ever did singing. Strangely enough, she's actually got her own show on BBC 6 which debuts this weekend (June 7th, 2008) at 4pm GMT. Anyway, here are two songs from her solo single, Take These Flowers Away.

Download: I Fell Out Of A Tree
Download: Some Kind of Other Presence

Magic Hour
American Band alert. Magic Hour was actually from Boston in the good ol' USA and featured the singer of Crystallized Movements teamed up with the masters of sadcore Damon and Naomi of Galaxy 500. The results were for the most part, erm magic. Their second album, Will They Turn You On or Turn On You was the band's masterpiece. It was kind of like a psychedelic Galaxy 500 lost in space and featured actual pop songs that you could tap along too. Of course there was a 20 minute epic at the end of the album but that's a whole other story. For a band that actually had two of the most important members of indie rock in it, Magic Hour hardly ever garnered any press and they ended up quietly fading into obscurity.

Download: Chance Was
Download: Something Else

Outcast
With the release of Portishead's new album a couple of weeks ago and the fact that I didn't really like it at all (it just sounds old) I felt like I should dig out some of my old trip hop records to reaffirm my belief in the genre. Back in the day when Portishead were essentially the flag carriers for the genre(sorry Massive Attack), there were more trip hop bands than people in Britain. A lot were horrible, a lot were ok, and a few were really quite good. Outcast happened to be one of the good ones. Signed to One Little Indian they released their debut album in 1996 and with it's ghostly images, haunting sounds, and seductive vocals it sounded spookier and sexier than most of the competition. I kind of lost track of them shortly after their debut album came out, but apparently the band continued to release material up until 2005.

Download: Nothings Changed
Download: Life and Breath

Soda
No post would be complete without one proper Britpop band from the mid-90's. Soda was a hotly tipped band in the NME way back when. They had all the looks; you know, Puma's and red jeans, denim jackets, etc. They had the sound; kind of like a less trendy Menswear with enough spiky riffs and melodies that were instantly addictive and so memorable that Alzheimer's patients could remember them. They just didn't have the longevity that many of the peers had. Shed Seven they were not and they were promptly dropped in the post-Britpop fallout of the late 90's. But for a short time the world was fizzy with the sounds of Soda.

Download: Inside
Download: Tracy Is A Killer

I'm Baaaack!

2008-05-14T22:05:00.006-04:00

Yep...it's true. After a two year absence LB has been kind enough to allow me to be part of Who Needs Radio once again.

For my first post back I grabbed a few random records from my archive and figured I'd write about them. So here we go...

Revolving Paint Dream
I love old Creation stuff from early in the labels history and Revolving Paint Dream were one of the first bands on the label. They were a mysterious band that were described as a psychedelic pop band that hungrily ingested a variety of influences with a wildly involuntary, style-annihilation internal grace. If they'd only stopped to look to the future they would have been unstoppable. Well at least in the 80's. Not a great deal is known about them but they were led by Andrew Innes who would later join the ever important Primal Scream. The rest of the line-up continues to be shrouded in mystery, but it is safe to assume it was for no particular reason, safe the faulty memories of those likely involved.

Download: Flowers in the Sky (45 Version)
Download: In the Afternoon

The Frank and Walters
Although they are actually Irish this band has been around forever and has lived through more trends in British pop, than most people living on the British Isles. They started way back when shoegazing and baggy ruled the world in the early 90's and worked their way through Britpop and the post-Britpop crash of 97-98 and are actually still around today making jangly, crisp pop for the masses.

Download: Plenty Times
Download: Falling Out of Love

Mainstream
Despite having one of the absolute worst band names EVER, Mainstream were actually a rather good band. Despite the name, the band sounded something like a combination of Verve, Embrace, and a bit of R&B all mixed together. So far as I know they only ever put out one album for Nude (home of Suede) and a whole bunch of singles. "Can Jam," happens to be one of them.

Download: Can Jam
Download: After The Music

Sound 5
Sound 5's perfect pop comes from a band whose members include brothers Danny & Kelvin Andrews, better known as the Sure is Pure remix team. Kevin was also the DJ at the legendary Golden club and the man behind Pharm Recordings which gave the world erm...Blueboy's, "Remember Me."

Download: Ala Kaboo

Enjoy the music guys! Feel free to contact me HERE.

Paul

London, Brighton, Rome, Paris

2008-04-29T21:40:00.002-04:00

I'm leaving for Brighton this Saturday (via London), so this may very well be my last post until I return in June. I know I just started updating again, but seeing as this is my very first trip out of the States... I honestly just won't have enough time to keep up with WNR while traveling.

There is good news though.

While I'm out exploring the places mentioned in the title of this post, past WNR contributor Paul the Anglophile will be back on-board and (hopefully) keeping this place spiffy. But until Paul gets some material together to post for you, here is a little snippet of the playlist I put together for my travels. Enjoy, and wish me a safe trip!

Ivy League - London Bridges
Ladybug Transistor - Brighton Bound
French Kicks - England Just Will Not Let You Recover
Pengilly's - To London
Donovan - London Town
Telepopmusik - Brighton Beach
Frank Sinatra - London By Night
Johnnie Taylor - Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day)
Magnetic Fields - Love Goes Home to Paris in the Spring
Crystal Fighters - I Love London
Friendly Fires - Paris
Electric Light Orchestra - In Old England Town
The Clash - London Calling
The Smiths - London
Sleeper - Cunt London
Cranes - Paris And Rome

Love,
Lady Byrd

P.S. Did you hear that Project Playlist (playlist.com) is getting sued by major record labels? It's complete bullshit, and once again... greed is the ugly motivator. As long as sites such as Project Playlist and Hype Machine exist, music gets a healthy dose of free promotion (both major and independent). Those dinosaurs at the major labels still don't seem to realize that by attempting to take it away, they're only hurting themselves even more.

I hear a voice and then I'm carried away...

2008-04-21T05:37:00.013-04:00

Today's picks:

Right now I am borderline obsessed with the "70s-blended-with-80s" sound of Philly's Hail Social. It's a testament to their music that every emotion I've felt in the past few months has been covered by at least one of their songs. The originals are gold, but the remixes help extend the feeling while still staying true to the original tracks. I DEFINITELY recommend the Designer Drugs remix as part of a soundtrack to your physical activities. No, I'm not talking about sex... I'm talking about working out or biking.

Okay, and sex. Hot, sweaty, make-up sex. Hell, you burn more calories that way anyway. So everyone go out, get in a fight with your significant other, and then do it to Hail Social. You can thank me later for your buns of steel.

MP3sOne U Love
Heaven
One U Love (Pink Skull Mix)
Heaven (Designer Drugs Remix)

Dsico might be a familiar name to you. Not only did I feature his original work on here back in '06, but he's also done a great deal of remixes and mashups. I tend to love his original stuff better, but I did love his remix of ROC's "Sink A Bite Into Life" and cover of Ministry's "Everyday is Halloween". Now he's releasing an incomplete album for free on his site. Some of the tracks are not as well mixed as those on 'City Stirs', but what's to be expected of something that was never finished? The instrumentals are still catchy as hell, and "70s Classic Hits" sounds like Giorgio Moroder had his hands all up in it.

Quote from Luke Collison aka Dsico regarding this new release: "A collection of almost completed songs recorded in the years 2006 - 2007. I suppose I've been a bit busy with other things over the last couple of years and never quite managed to finish these off as an album. Rather than simply let them languish on a hard-drive I thought I might as well put them out in some sense. So here is the entirely free, reasonable high quality MP3 copy of the so called album."

MP3sCome Around
70s Classic Hits
+ Myspace

Could The Indelicates be a reincarnation of The Beautiful South? The lyrics are just as quirky and dark, and Julia and Simon seem to have the same kind of vocal chemistry that Paul Heaton and Briana Corrigan had. Comparisons aside, I'm glad that their songs have made it across the sea and into my ears.

MP3sNew Art for the People
Julia, We Don't Live in the 60s
+ Myspace

Very much a mixture of The Pastels, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain, you'd almost be shocked to learn that The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are a relatively new band based out of NYC. You'd probably also be stunned to find that such an amazingly cute band only has 1152 friends on Myspace. It's a tragedy that we live in a world where overhyped, one-hit-wonder bands with wanna be Robert Smith singers get thousands and thousands of fans a day, yet talented musicians like TPOBPAH aren't blowing up all over the atmosphere yet. Well, I'm hoping to change a little bit of that with this post. Download these songs, put them on your dreamy mixtapes, and give them out to your friends. It's too beautiful not to share.

MP3sA Teenager In Love
Doing All the Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud
Kurt Cobain's Cardigan
+ Myspace

Love,
Lady Byrd

What if God smoked weed?

2008-04-20T04:20:00.008-04:00

He would probably watch Weeds.

Kevin Nealon on 4/20
I'm no pot smoker by any means (although I have slightly dabbled in Hawaiian ganja), but I am a huge fan of the Showtime series. So when the above video was sent to me via email in celebration of the reefer holiday, I just had to put together an impromptu playlist for all you lovers of Mary Jane, and post it up with the video. And what better time to post it than at 04:20 on 4/20?

Spark up, sit back, and "toke" it all in.

Neil Diamond - The Pot Smoker's Song
Can - I'm So Green
Guided By Voices - Weed King
Daniel Johnston - Pot Head
Weird Al - Yoda Smokes Weed
The Rolling Scabs - My Mom Smokes Pot
Band of Horses - Weed Party
Archers of Loaf - Smokin' Pot in the Hot City
Caesars - Strawberry Weed
Bill Hicks - Beer Vs Pot
mc chris - WiiD (Peanut Butter Jelly Mix)
Horace Silver - Acid, Pot, or Pills
Peter Tosh - Legalize It
Stephen Lynch - What If God Smoked Weed

Love,
Lady Byrd

P.S. Season 4 of Weeds premiers on June 16th, and the soundtrack (feat. Beirut, Oh No! Oh My!, Illinois, Ween, Page France) will be out digitally on June 3rd!

EDIT: I would just like to call out Cynamatik Productions for blatantly copying my post without giving any credit, and stealing bandwidth by direct linking to my files. Bravo, you asshat. How about you try to come up with your own material next time?

Soundtracked.

2008-04-17T03:32:00.007-04:00

This post originally began as a collection of cheesy theme songs, but eventually grew into a mass of songs from the soundtracks of movies I love and adore. A good majority of them are 80s classics since I was born in '81, but there are some newer and older gems mixed in too. I had a lot of fun gathering them, since just hearing them brings back tons of good movie viewing memories (read as: being able to eat a box of milk duds without worries). It also reminded me of how much I've always wanted the opportunity to compile a soundtrack for a movie. I have no idea how you get that gig, but I would imagine it takes knowing someone who knows someone, or putting together your own film. Hmm. Maybe one day that dream will come true.

This isn't the list to end all lists, since I'm sure I'll think of more tomorrow that I missed. What are your favorites? Feel free to share any that I missed in the comments! I'll add them to the next list I do.

(Stream above, download below.)
Queen - Flash (From Flash Gordon)
Barry de Vorzon - The Warriors Theme (From The Warriors)
The Dickies - Killer Klowns (From Killer Klowns From Outer Space)
Cherry Bomb - Howard The Duck (From Howard The Duck)
Cyndi Lauper - Good Enough (From The Goonies)
Paul Engemann - Scarface (Push It To The Limit) (From Scarface)
Christopher Cross - Arthur's Theme (From Arthur)
Limahl - The NeverEnding Story (From The NeverEnding Story)
White Lion - Transformers Theme (From Transformers The Movie)
Oingo Boingo - Weird Science (From Weird Science)
Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F (From Beverly Hills Cop)
Tangerine Dream - Loved By The Son (From Legend)
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (From Say Anything)
Audrey Hepburn - Moon River (From Breakfast At Tiffany's)
Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink (From Pretty In Pink)
Kenny Loggins - Footloose (From Footloose)
Dolly Parton - 9 To 5 (From 9 To 5)
Vangelis - Blade Runner (End Titles) (From Blade Runner)
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Theme (From Twin Peaks)
Danny Elfman - Beetlejuice Theme (From Beetlejuice)
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody (From Ghost)
The Cure - Burn (From The Crow)
Primal Scream - Trainspotting (From Trainspotting)
Kenny Rogers - Just Dropped in (From The Big Lebowski)
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People (From 24 Hour Party People)
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (From High Fidelity)
Mohammed Rafi - Jaan Pehechaan Ho (From Ghost World)
Naked City - Bonehead (From Funny Games [1997])
Guitar Wolf - Roaring Blood (From Wild Zero)
Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World (From Stranger Than Fiction)

Love,
Lady Byrd

That's Not My Reclaim

2008-04-11T20:23:00.008-04:00

My spirits are really down in the dumps today due to losing a best friend and just generally having things go haywire in my life. I won't go into the trivial details, but here are two magnificent bands that are currently lifting me up just enough to move on.

(Stream at top, download below.)

The Ting Tings

Great DJ (IDC Rerub)
That's Not My Name
We Walk (Demo)
Fruit Machine (Live)

Mellow

Rivolizione Sessantanove
Take Me Higher
Shinda Shima
Perfect Colors
Fantastic
It Was Raining

And a track that couldn't be any more perfectly fitting in my current state: Mercury Rev - Holes

Love,
Lady Byrd

Weekend Assault

2008-03-28T10:15:00.008-04:00

I still have a ton of emails and a box of albums to catch up on before I can get some stuff together to review, but in the meantime... here is a little playlist of some of my favorites for you to enjoy over the weekend.

Stream at the top, download at the bottom.

Nite Club - Good Life
Metronomy - My Heart Rate Rapid
MGMT - Electric Feel
The Legends - Closer
Midnight Juggernauts - Nine Lives
Chromatics - Healer
Electric Light Orchestra - Here Is The News
Polyrock - Romantic Me

Love,
Lady Byrd

Update! Update! Read all about it!

2008-03-26T09:28:00.002-04:00

I had all these wonderful plans to redo the site, start updating more, and all that jazzy jazz. But the truth of the matter is, I'm fucking lazy and I sleep a lot. I also have been getting sick a lot. Florida did it to me, y'all. I just don't have the energy or skill to revamp and spruce this place up, much less keep it updated. BUT, I miss you guys. Granted, I came here to post the other night to only realize that when my host transitioned my site, they lost ALL my videos (time to find my backup files). And although it got me down... wild horses couldn't drag me away. Sure, they may trample me a bit, but not drag me into oblivion.

I do have this favor to ask though, before I make my half-ass "I'm still alive" post. If you know someone who'd be willing to do a little charity work by helping me design a CSS template for Wordpress (I currently use Blogger, and there are better audio plug-ins for Wordpress), please tell them to shoot an email over to me at ladybyrd at whoneedsradio dot com with the subject "WNR design help" so I don't accidentally delete it. I did the current layout myself, but Wordpress confuses the hell out of me. I don't need anything complex or flashy, just a template close to what I have now, except with new logos and a fresh color scheme. I'm thinking I'll come back in black.

I'm also thinking of changing the content of WNR into a hybrid of music reviews, gossip entertainment, and just random shit I find on youtube and other sites. I post a lot of bulletins on Myspace with that kind of bizarre crap, so perhaps not making it "all work and no play" for me over here will motivate me to post more. I plan on still including at least one MP3 with each post, so don't think that I'm going to turn into a skinnier, better dressed... well, all around less scary version of Perez Hilton.

Moving on, here's a little short update on what's going on. The Dean & Britta music video I played a part in last summer (opposite Demetri Martin) finally was completed and posted up on the internet for all to see. Sera Rogacki directed this adorable piece of work, and the ending couldn't be more touching. Watch it here, folks (P.S. I play the waitress. WhoNeedsATan?):

I also made a short trip back up to NYC last month to do a set for the Robot Rock party at Le Royale. There were about a gabillion DJs lined up, so the set was pretty short, but I had a great time and was glad to mingle a bit. I also, for the first time in forever, actually remembered to record the set. You see, usually I have good intentions of doing it, but then I have a few drinks beforehand and completely forget. This time I just waited until about halfway through my set before I started slamming drinks. You can thank those vodka tonics for the sloppiness at the end of the mix though. Here it is in all it's streaming glory:

Tracklisting:

Daft Punk - Face to Face
Calvin Harris - This is Industry
Chromeo - Bonafide Lovin' (David Wolf Remix)
Theatre of Disco - YOA
The Black Ghosts - Let's Get Physical
Klaxons - As Above, So Below (Justice Remix)
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Grafton Primary - I Can Cook (Miami Horror Remix)
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
Simian Mobile Disco - Piggy in the Middle (Punks Jump Up Mix)
K.I.M. - Wet N Wild (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)
Bonde Do Role - Office Boy (CSS Mix)
20 Fingers - Short Dick Man (RFH Delfos Remix)
Soulwax - NY Lipps
Cazwell - All Over Your Face (Gomi's West 22nd Street Mix)
Eddy Grant vs Digitalism - Zdarlight Avenue (ElectroSound Mix)
Delegation - It's Your Turn (Treasure Fingers Edit)

Download the mix MP3 here: Live @ Robot Rock 2/22/08

Some reviews coming soon, although I'm not promising you when.

Love,
Lady Byrd

P.S. I just want to include that when I went to post this, I couldn't. I had to wait for a chat with my host's technical support, and finally got it all straightened out some 15 minutes later. See? I'm not THAT lazy.

Leaving New York, never easy.

2007-11-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

As some of you may know from my recent MySpace postings... I am moving out of NYC in a few weeks for several different reasons. It's not a permanent move, but I am definitely in need of a break from the big city of dreams. After almost 4 years here, I've come pretty far and met many great people, but a lot of my own projects and goals have been put aside due to the fast-paced and ever-distracting lifestyle here.

So, with that in mind... I have decided to move my junk in the trunk to a more spacious living arrangement back in Florida, where I can concentrate on work, WNR, and music. I don't want to remain a forever-renter in NYC, blowing money and shlepping records from venue to venue every week... barely getting enough sleep in a week to sustain a healthy mind and body. Nobody can live like that forever. I want to have something more to show for my work, and I want to work harder at it. Not have it work me harder.

In the meantime, until the move is final and I've setup shop in Florida, my postings on WNR will remain absent. Post-move, however, this site will once again start picking up like crazy with all of the spare time I will have to dedicate here. A WNR redesign and more features are in the works as well.

Thank you to all the fantastic people I've met in this great city, and thanks for all the great and crazy times we've had. I will miss you all dearly.

FYI, the official going-away party will be on 11/15/07 at The Skinny in Lower East Side, where I will be DJing with some good and talented friends of mine. I hope you can all try to make it out and share a goodbye toast with me.

"New York, New York, big city of dreams
And everything in New York ain't always what it seem
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much!"

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - New York New York

Love,
Lady Byrd

Cocktail time

2007-10-03T08:57:00.000-04:00

My birthday is coming up and I'm throwing sort of a cocktail party at my place next saturday. I hate it when people start switching songs at partys and you hear like 20 seconds of each song. To prevent this from happening, I will make a playlist in advance, press play and lock down my computer. I sat down the other day and started to make the playlist but boy it's hard. My post for today is two songs that probably will make it until the final cut but there are so many things to think about.

- No extensive lyrics, but some lyrics are ok
- Music should not be based on riffs
- Should stimulate conversations without interfering (fuzzy criteria, yes)
- No rollercoaster music. It should be a smooth ride from start until finish

Have you got any suggestions on songs, send me an e-mail!

Holy Fuck
Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

Yelle
Yelle - Tristesse Joie

--
Eric

Cross the Dancefloor

2007-09-27T13:52:00.000-04:00

I know that WNR really has been slacking as of late, so to make up for all the downtime... here are some remixes and covers that have been on constant rotation for me. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

The Black Ghosts - It's Your Touch (Ashley Beedle's Heavy Disco Edit)
Digitalism - Pogo (Shinichi Osawa Remix)
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks (Punks Jump Up Special Disco Mix)
Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix)
Basement Jaxx vs The Clash - The Magnificent Romeo (2 Many DJs)
Peaches - Boys Wanna Be Her (WhoMadeWho Remix)
Chromeo - Tenderoni (MSTRKRFT Remix)
Futon - I Wanna Be Your Dog (Iggy & The Stooges Cover)
Justice - The Party (Luvtek SMBU Remix)

Love,
Lady Byrd

A Speedy Recovery

2007-09-25T18:15:00.000-04:00

Hey kids, Lady Byrd here with a short-but-suh'weet update for you. It may be rushed, but better late than never, right? Some of these have already been around the music blog circuit, but I'm "Ms. Catch Up" over here and they are still well deserving of some WNR exposure.

This summer, us New Yorkers got to befriend a beautiful Swedish boy by the name of Markus who had fantastic taste in music, and seemingly... a heart of gold. Soon before he left for Stockholm, he handed me an Audible Actions sampler disc, telling me I should really check out the bands on it that he represents. Out of all the bands on the sampler, Leif Karate stood out the most for me. It just so happens that Markus is actually a member of Leif Karate. What a coinkydink.

Apparently the band also saw some success, with their songs being featured on One Tree Hill and The Hills. But honestly, I'm not into hilly shows so I guess that's why it's unfamiliar to me. Here's to hoping these guys get more sucess than mediocre TV shows, because they deserve it.

From Let's Back The Wrong Band:
Dig Up These Bones
Pretty Static
Let's Back The Wrong Band
+ Myspace

The Danish seem to be great at two things specifically - stealing the hearts of the guys I like, and stealing the breath of the music scene. I say "breath" because epo-555 seem to have the whole breathy-shoegaze-electropop thing down pat. Shame I missed these guys when they performed here.

From Mafia (buy @ iTunes):
Hyperschlieb
Grisslappan
Uberholen Hat Keinen Zweck
+ Myspace

I didn't really like Benzos all that much the first time I heard them, but I think it was mostly because my ex-boyfriend was all gay about them. No, seriously, he would probably ride their asses if given the opportunity. But I have to give respect to a band that can throw dub and jungle influences into an alternative sound.

From Branches (buy @ Amazon):
Sell This Thing
Hard To Feel
Hurt Everybody
+ Myspace

What can I honestly say about The Polyphonic Spree? They're fantastic. I love them. You've probably heard of them. The new album is amazing.

That enough? Okay, moving on.

From The Fragile Army (buy @ Amazon):
Section 22 (Running Away)
Section 27 (Mental Cabaret)
+ Myspace

Although VHS Or Beta's Bring On The Comets is no Le Funk, it's still great to hear Craig's vocals maturing beyond the Smith'esque sound of Night On Fire. The "doo-doos" of "She Says" are catchy as hell, and it's nice to hear the guys progress into more of a pop sound in this album. I will always hope for a return to disco for VOB, but as long as Mark Palgy's ass stays hot... I'll keep coming back for more.

From Bring on the Comets (buy @ Amazon):
She Says
Fall Down Lightly
+ Myspace

Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY has been going crazy over Calvin Harris lately. When I first heard "Acceptable in the 80s," I found it kind of catchy but despised the lyrics. It finally grew on me, and I found myself playing it in my sets. Now I've moved on to falling in love with this entire-fucking-album. Seriously. "The Girls" names his appreciation of every size, creed and color of woman.. and what woman doesn't love shaking her ass to that? The instrumental kickers on the album are just as fantastic, and every song is practically a dancefloor filler.

From I Created Disco (buy @ Amazon):
The Girls
Acceptable in the 80s
Certified
+ Myspace

Love,
Lady Byrd

We ain't dead yet.

2007-09-18T17:36:00.001-04:00

I've been shittier at keeping up with this blog than Britney Spears is at saving her career, and for that I do sincerely apologize. The months of Summer had rendered all of us here at WNR overwhelmed with activities, work projects, and the outdoors... but I had promised a few that I would "most definitely have a post up by Monday." Well, how shitty am I now? It's Tuesday and I'm still scrambling with some deadlines this week for work, leaving you again with nothing but a blank palette... which I was supposed to help you paint your day with. Again, SINCEREST apologies for our lack of sharing in recent months (See how I put that in bold? That means I'm for serious!). Things are slowing down a bit now, however, and I do declare that I will have for you variations of lovely audible goodies that you can throw on your Fall mixtapes very, VERY soon (Again, for serious!). So don't give up on us just yet!

Other excuses that were possibly going to be used in this post: a laptop with a dead battery; booze; my trip to Florida; the fried foods in Florida; aliens abducting me; my cat ate and then threw up my homework; insomnia; lots and lots of hot sex with Christian Bale; temporary loss of hearing; and/or watching the entire first season of 'Heroes' for the first time.

Some of those are true, and some of them aren't. Have fun guessing!

See ya soon, folks.

Love,
Lady Byrd

Canon Blue

2007-08-15T10:22:00.000-04:00

Do we really need another dreamy folktronica act, blending sweet melodies with distorted sounds and some weird beat as a base. I don't know about that but we sure need Canon Blue. I have been very fortunate to have a prelisten to Canon Blue's new album Colonies which is due for realese in Europe in September on the danish lable Rumraket.

Daniel James is the man and creator behind Canon Blue. Playing all the instruments himself on the album what we have here is an impressive piece of geniune work which you should be on the look out for in stores. After trying to settle in Williamsburg, England and New Orleans, Daniel moved to Virginia two weeks prior to the flooding disaster, an event which has inspired both music and lyrics (although not the entire album) and also turned out to be the final push that got him to start creating Colonies. The name Colonies comes from Daniels sincere interest in the history of colonies.

There are so many gems on this album, the wonderful Odds And Ends which intermediates the same feeling as lying down in the grass on a lukewarm summers night with all the stars in the universe above your head. The mesmerising last three of four songs which just gets you in a wonderful state of mind. And my favourite, Sea Monsters, try and get a listen somewhere to that song! It was a very long time ago that I could really just listen through an album from start to end and doing nothing else. Just listening.

Some moments the music do come out as a bit harsch with short passages of heavily distorted beats combined with chords in minor and it can become a bit heavy. But it is also a refreshing contrast to the wonderful feather light melodies and longing notes and lyrics which permeats the album.

I have two songs for you as a treat this week. Pilguin Pop and Rum Diary which are two very good songs but if these doesn't intrigue you, you should try to get a listen to the album anyway. This could certainly attract listeners from Pj Harvey to Marillion. But most of the album sounds like Eels, Grizzly Bear and Pj Harvey would go into the studio together. The album was mixed by Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) which becomes obvious in the way many songs sounds. But give these two songs a good listen and hopefully you will have something to set the mood when we approach darker times of the year.

Canon Blue - Rum Diary
Canon Blue - Pilguin Pop

--
Eric

The Mary Onettes

2007-08-08T03:10:00.000-04:00

Hey folks, just a quick one today since I'm going out camping for a few days and have to leave in like ten minutes. But I just caught a great act on a morning show that I would like to share with you. I don't know anything about the Mary Onettes other than that they been around for about six or seven years and comes from a small town called Jonkoping in southern Sweden. As I said, I just heard the Mary Onettes perform their song Lost (which apperantly was featured in a recently aired episode of Grey's Anatomy) live and it was really good. It's got that lovelly dreamy 80s feeling over it. Anyway, I really must take off know, but enjoy!

The Mary Onettes - Lost

Oh, I almost forgot, THANK YOU for all the emails and tips for my Paris trip! It was so nice of you all, it really turned out to be a great trip.

--
Eric

I need your help!

2007-07-13T03:36:00.000-04:00

Well, that's it. The summer in Stockholm this far has been nothing but rain and cloudy skies. And I am sick and tired of it. I got a great deal on a five day stay so I am off to Paris sunday. I don't mind the weather as much when I am on a city vacation, there's always stuff to do regardless the weather when your in a city like Paris. And I also need your help, I plan on having one or two big nights out in Paris next week (sunday 14th - wednesday 18th, leaving late thursday) so I was hoping that there might be a few Parisian readers who might want to give me some tips on where to go? And also, how do you say "I don't eat meat / I am a vegeterian" in french? Loads of thanks if someone can help me out. Send me an email, post a comment or drop me a line at my infrequently used myspace. And this weeks treat is an old french favourite of mine.

France Gall - Sacre Charlemagne

I just love France Gall. I constantly find her CD Baby Pop streaming out of my speakers at home. If you find it somewhere, buy it! And if you have any tips about anything fun happening next week in Paris and would like to share it with me, don't hesitate, it would make me so happy! Au revoir!

--
Eric

Just Me, Fish and The Sea

2007-07-06T20:11:00.000-04:00

Yet again it has been a while since my last contribution. I blame it on the fact that I moved about a thousand miles away from Toronto to the East Coast of Canada, more specifically Halifax, Nova Scotia. The change of scenery, while glaring, has been welcome. It's a beautiful place, with equally beautiful people and a thriving local music scene, which I'll get to next week. For now, on to more important things, mainly my musical introductions for the week.

First, lets begin with the artist who has made my move a little less frenetic with his soft, lofty new record, Close to Paradise. He has quickly become my go-to oasis of musical calm, the eternally serene Patrick Watson.

From Montreal, I got to see Watson perform at the Juno Awards this year in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and an say that his performance was my highlight of the evening trumping all the bigger and wholly mediocre acts like Billy Talent, Three Days Grace and the host herself, Nelly Furtado.

Watson's latest effort, Close to Paradise, is a collection of slow soft music that can add calm to the most hectic days. From the title track opener to the subdued close Bright Shiny Lights, Watson's arrangements never fail to deliver a blend of brilliant layered sound and stunning vocals. While they're world's apart in delivery, his music is haunted by the grey elegance of Jeff Buckley, one of my all time favorite artists.

I've selected four songs of the EP that I think typify the dreamy package that it is in it's entirety. He's playing some Montreal and surrounding area festivals for the month of July and if you're in the area I suggest checking him out to get the full picture of his talent, which really can only be felt in the magnetism of his live show.

Slip Into Your Skin
Luscious Life
Drifters
Man Under The Sea

+ Myspace

Now for something completely different is an amazing little Italian Myspace find, Les Fauves.

On the heels of releasing the full length debut, NALT-1, this four piece delivers a loose and almost mocking version of new wave punk. You're never quite sure if they take their melody seriously. They sound like they soundtrack to a cheesy B movie that you guiltily adore. The closing tag line of their One Pager sums their appeal up best... "It's only rock'n roll, but I like it."

In The Fallout Shelter
Fava Go Go Dancer

+ Myspace

And that brings this week's post to a close. Next week something old and something brand spanking new from Nathan Wiley, and my newest musical girl-crush, Jenn Grant.

ca

They are the mustache. We the cowboys. They set the sun.

2007-07-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

Three fellas from Texas addicted to porn and throwing mustache parties, embracing the golden glow of a cowboy sunset whilst having a post- what-they-do-best smoke, is as cool as the fact that their debut album will be produced by Talking Head Jerry Harrison. Right? Right!

The last four years have seen The Black and White Years go through a few names, previously being known as The Trees, Paper Tiger, The Leavers and others apparently too embarrassing to mention. If they feel the need to change their name once more, John Aldridge, Scott Butler and Landon Thompson might have to reconsider their fame as underwear models.

The Spoon runs strong with them but the electronic backbone is something reminiscent of the artists formerly known as The Band of Bees. Throw in some XTC and Summerteeth-period Wilco and you will find plenty to love in many of their songs. See, its when bands take their influences and roll it all into a sound of their own and it all works wonderously together that you would expect that there would be more people pricking up their ears to something really cool.

My favourite track has to be Waking/Dream, an ode to dance punk of the eighties but updated with a nice little !!! strut. I will be sure to play it everywhere I can and you should do the same.

And while Everyone isn't music to make love to your old lady by it is something of a Calexico remixed by Lovage affair... You are a Dragon on the other hand nods to Of Montreal and is most enjoyable complete with cowbell.

According to their blog on MYSPACE, recording will start sometime mid-April and the album to follow sometime in the Fall.
These tracks will just have to tie us over in the meantime.

Waking/Dream
Wetter Sea
+MYSPACE

In their own words:

Black and White will cover the earth, blocking out the sun and rocking the planet with them mad ass dope skillz

- Ri

A record collection reduced to a mixtape

2007-06-30T13:36:00.000-04:00

Hello all. Just a quicky today, I'm afraid. Three songs full of joy, regret and bleepy noises.

Kissy Sellout - Get Ready For The The K-Hole!

First up, Kissy Sellout is amazing. This track use a 90s dance track that I can't quite place (lemme know the name of the track in the comments) and raps all over the top, in a stream-of-conciousness account of his mental weekend. The story incorporates a bouncer called 'Big Roy', so you know its good.

Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

These guys were one of my highlights of Glastonbury. I had a great time, though Monday morning was possibly the wettest I've ever been, stood in the queue for the train back to Castle Cary. Holy Fuck (I believe there's another, entirely different, band called Holy Shit) excel when it comes to home-made lo-fi electronica that recalls Out Hud and !!! at their most experimental.

Art Brut - Nag Nag Nag Nag Nag

Lastly, the mighty 'Brut are dropping their new album soon, and this is one of my favourites from it. On their last album, the music was very much secondary to Eddie Argos' vocals, but on this one the guitar and bass come to the fore a lot more. I think the sound benefits as a result. As usual, Argos' lyrics are fantastic - the song culminates with Argos howling 'I've got nothing for my peers but envy and hatred! How many girls have they seen naked?'. Can't wait for the full album release.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

- Duncan

You, You're Awesome

2007-06-21T07:21:00.000-04:00

Canadian band Do Make Say Think initially formed about ten years ago to soundtrack a play, but have since soundtracked many a wandering soul and have won the adoration of quite the cult following. You, Youre a History in Rust is their fifth release and their first release in 3 years and it is undoubtedly their most beautiful release to date. Still at home on Constellation, they fit somewhere snugly between Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion on the catalogue, but definitely stands out as the labels more accessible group, as well as one of their most creative.

The 5-piece, consisting of two drummers and a soundshaping cast (including two Broken
Social Scene members) alternating between guitars, horns, bass and keys (and never mind an ensemble of guests adding strings, piano and percussion) once again took to recording everything themselves in a barn and cottage in rural Ontario, before returning to their Toronto homebase at th'Schvitz for mixing and mastering the album, again by themselves. This approach proved as much an attention to detail as a personal testament to a sound only they could fully realise.

Previous release Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn seems dated now after BSCs Feel Good Lost album, but here on You, Youre a History in Rust it seems even though still evoking an instrumental Gastr Del Sol, they might have been listening to some Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love Love on repeat for quite some time, having brought their acoustic temperament to the fore even more.

Album opener Bound to be that Way proves them masters once again at creating complex sounds swirling around a basic chord progression, while on A with Living (the first DMST track with vocals), Tim Dekker from Great Lake Swimmers adds an arrestingly sweet drawl with some achingly sad-but-pretty words (Upshooting stars have their effect, Perfect things left lain, Oft our hands are held as perfect as our sleep). The song evolves from a brushed shuffle and a quiet rumbling of drums intertwining with guitars ringing rust, to a campfire choir under the stars serenading - voices lingering with harmonica over sliding guitars and the like, accentuated with horns towards the end...

On The Universe the dual drummers double up with a syncopated flurry over a crescendo of guitars and horns, rocking out as hard as on any And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead opus. Starting off with The Album Leaf-type sampling and layering, A Tender History in Rust with its quite befitting title, turns into an almost bluegrass piece, acoustic guitars dancing around the melody, chanting and strings drifting in and out and some whistling giving it a carefreeness, before finally fading out on Manitoba Up in Flames-like playful tones.

Elsewhere You, Youre Awesome is a slow marching waltz lamented with a bowed saw, slide guitars and more horns while on Executioner Blues the band displays their talent for embarking on some epic excursions, something like if Explosions in the Sky had more twang in their bellies.

Instrumental bands tend to get stuck in a rut, all the same chord progressions over and over again, too much of a formula between clean guitars building a melody before crashing into a wall of distortion. Do Make Say Think have proved themselves all the wiser, narrating each song with as many different approaches to the initial structure of the composition before finally using the mixing desk as the conductor to bring together all those layers, all the instrumentation in its original organic form, over found and recovered sounds. Here they have weaved a tapestry of closely knit sonic textures.

You, Youre A History in Rust is a sprawling endeavour, post-americana of inescapable beauty, heartbreak at dusk with skies as red as rust. Here they are laying their souls bare for all to see... The poetry in their hearts sustaining their music and serving as their epitaph:

When you die, you'll have to leave them behind. You should keep that in mind. When you keep that in mind, you'll find a love as big as the sky.

MY ALBUM OF THE YEAR SO FAR!!!

A with Living
The Universe
A Tender History in Rust

What makes the sound
What shakes the ground
It is the greatest

- Ri.

Rough Bunnies

2007-06-20T03:31:00.000-04:00

Some other gems in the lo-fi swedish pop scene are all the different constellations the two cousins from southern Sweden, Anna and Frida, has figured in. It all started out some seveen years ago when they together with some friends formed the band Inside Riot and recorded a few songs. They claim that they were promised a record deal from Poptones wich was later withdrawn when the record company found out they never rehearsed.

Inside riot soon split up and instead Rough Bunnies were borned, a band which still is in the game. Since the split up they also recorded a CD under the name The Flame together with some other minor swedish underground artists.

I am not going to present any of Rough Bunnies songs since I think that Rough Bunnies is the least interesting of the three bands mentioned above. Instead I want you to listen to these for songs, two from each The Flame and Inside Riot. These are great, short, explosive, lo-fi pop songs. These songs prove that you can make great excellent music without maybe having the means.

Inside Riot - Modern Love
Inside Riot - World Of Love
The Flame - See How I Smile
The Flame - When We Were Kids

--
Eric

A million people coming on Friday

2007-06-17T14:57:00.000-04:00

I'll have to make this brief, I'm having a hugely busy time of things at the moment, and my Glastonbury preparations are nowhere near complete. I'm really not looking forward to the mudbath that awaits me in Somerset this week, but given that I've paid 150 quid for it, and the lineup looks incredible, I'll quit my moaning and just have a good time.

Scout Niblett - Dinosaur Egg

This is a beautiful little ditty about, variously, a Dinosaur Egg, a Robot Slave and a Tortured Spirit. The subject of the song desperately needs her dinosaur egg to hatch, because she's got "a million people coming on friday, and they want to see a dinosaur, not an egg!". If I were you, love, I'd buy one of those incubator jobbys. They'll get it done a treat.

Plushgun - How We Roll
Despite having a title that sounds like it's straight outta Compton, this track is more of a drive along a neon-lit 80s highway. I love this, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It's a bit too dance-y for a driving CD, but it's not quite dancefloor material (for me, anyway) so I'll prolly just whack it on a load of mix cds for friends. Hmm.

Javelin vs Polytron vs Kompletski - Moscow 1980
Lastly, this little gem has been firmly stuck in my head for the best part of a week. Fluokids posted it up a while back, WIRED have blogged about it here and it's another one to file under 'delightful', particularly the little giggle halfway through one of the verses. I believe it's a remix/cover of one of the official themes from the 1980 Moscow Olympics - perfect for those of you who have a bit of a fascination with ex-Soviet stuff, like I do.

Lemme know what you reckon to any/all of this stuff in the comments. Had a few emails from readers recently too - you're more than welcome to get in touch if you'd like to - my email address is in the right hand column. Take care, have a lovely week, and my next post will be after Glastonbury. Wish me sun.