This week was excellent! I didn’t have one duff request and quite a few that surprised and pleased me. Plus, even though it wasn’t hugely busy, the people that were there seemed to enjoy the set and kept coming up to ask what certain tracks were. So hopefully more sales for Locust, Louis Logic and Vector Lovers.
It’s very difficult for me to pick a top new tune this week. First, there’s Red Animal War‘s grand rocking bastard, ‘Violet,’ from the fabbo new album Polizida. But what about These Arms Are Snakes ‘Big News?’ That’s a great track too. Perhaps next week…
This week’s top new tune is ‘Neighborhood #2 (Laika)’ by The Arcade Fire. You can hear a streaming version of the song here. It’s from their album Funeral, hard to believe it’s their debut. It’s not an easy album to listen to but it’s worth the emotional wear and tear. You feel different after hearing this record. It’s a record that is of itself, it isn’t anything. This is a band to watch, definitely.
Now, from a very, very hip band that the good people of Pitchfork are already jizzing about to…
Tonight’s top old tune! Which was Sailor‘s ‘A Glass Of Champagne.’ I partly played this because Tim was working tonight and I always like to freak him out with a tune that people under 30 won’t know (since it hasn’t been tranced-up and given a thongtastic vid or appeared in Donnie Darko). You actually had to be there in 1975 to remember Sailor and what a great, pure pop band they were. Like The Barracudas, Even As We Speak or Secession, other bands forgotten by orthodox pop history. Yeah, I know ‘Glass Of Champagne’ is a blatant rip-off of ‘Virginia Plain’ but do I care? Nope! That’s the glory of pop: you can steal from a cool band and have huge, uncool hit song with it. When it came on tonight in the Bless, it was a magical moment. I knew that there were probably only three people in there who’d ever heard it before (including me) but now I’d infected the minds of the kids there with this virulent slab of perfect plastic pop. Yummy!
Have a look at this:
THIS is what pop bands should be like: glam, ridiculous, extraordinary. Put some effort into it, you cunts. Don’t just zip your parka up and whinge on a bench about some imaginary bint. (And yeah, that is Phil Pickett, who went on to join Culture Club and wrote the music for ‘Karma Chameleon.’)
Forgive me. I rant because songs from when I was 9 years old mean perhaps too much to me.
I’ve got the music, I’ve got the lights, you’ve got the figure full of delights:
Knife Skills – Jt Leroy Meet Dennis Cooper
Athletic Mic League – Let’s Go
Consonant – Blissful
Vector Lovers – Funk And Droid
Wilco – I’m A Wheel
Alexisonfire – Pulmonary Archery
The Jam – David Watts
Ove-Naxx – Wabisabi Violence
The Shins – We Will Become Silhouettes
Postal Service – Against All Odds
Louis Logic – Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
The Plastic Constellations – East Cleveland
The Lucksmiths – Camera-Shy
Karsten Pflum – Punksplidt
Red Animal War – Violet
Bearsuit – Kiki Keep Me Company
Masta Ace – Conflict Ft. Guru
Fugazi – Waiting Room
Maritime – Some One Has To Die
Sepultura – Chaos AD
Hecate – Ripe Mango
Phoenix – Too Young
Cypress Hill – How Could I Kill A Man
Le Mystére Des Voix Bulgares – Svatba
My Chemical Romance – This Is The Best Day Ever
The Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Goudron – Rumble Queen
Interpol – C’mere
William Shatner Vs Joe Jackson – Common People
Sailor – A Glass Of Champagne
Refused – The Shape Of Punk To Come
Sweatshop Union – Us
John Carpenter – Escape From New York Main Theme
Deerhoof – Milkman
Kings Of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save (Royksopp Remix)
These Arms Are Snakes – Big News
De La Soul – He Comes Ft. Ghostface
Steely Dan – Peg
Throwdown – Raiseyourfist
Red Army Choir – Dark Eyes
Rogue Wave – Every Moment
Atmosphere – Tears For Sheep
Poison The Well – To Mandate Heaven
Locust – Saturated Love
Komeda – It’s Alright, Baby
Julie London – You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To