Music

Electroclature Volume Twenty-Six: XXVI

August 23, 2024

Part twenty-six of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

I love the colors on this cover. I did not doctor or sweeten it apart from some merged blur to heighten a few facets. This photo was taken on the same London trip as XXV but, unlike XXV’s cover, it’s vibrant and is full of natural textures and energy. I guarantee you that my energy level the time I took the photo does not match the results as I snapped it very late at night riding a London bus back to our hotel.

That said? Why’d I double down on the same font as XXV and think that bolding it would improve matters? It does not.

Onto the music. Here are the late-night highlights:

ANNA CALVI! Calvi has it all. She has amazing guitar chops, a stunningly resonant voice, and an extremely vibrant look that perfectly accompanies her dramatic sound.

I saw her via yet another Schubas experience, lucky enough to get in on the ground floor for her US tour for her initial album. The small, narrow venue could hardly contain her talent. It was one thing to hear her virtuoso guitar work. It was another thing to see her do so up-close. Absolutely electrifying.

FIGHT LIKE APES, once again! I love me some filth, and FIGHT LIKE APES always delivers — especially when you have a song named ‘Ice Cream Apple Fuck’. The song goes out with a bang.

(Also? I love the title of the album it’s on: ‘The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner’.)

GATEKEEPER brilliantly crashes everything down in slow motion! Makes you want to sway while debris falls around you.

MELODIUM! Jaunty electro with its perky beats and sweeps and swoops!

Here’s the format for this rollercoaster ride! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

  1. THE DOUGH ROLLERS / The Dough Rollers / Where Shall I Be
  2. SLEATER-KINNEY / One Beat / Sympathy
  3. PULP / This is Hardcore / Like a Friend
  4. SHRAG / Life! Death! Prizes! / The Habit Creep
  5. CULTS / Cults 7″ / The Curse
  6. CIRCUIT DES YEUX / Ode to Fidelity / Barrel Down
  7. ANNA CALVI / Jezebel / Jezebel
  8. MELODIUM / Hum hum & bla bla / Hellomusic [Ochre]
  9. THE KNIFE + MT. SIMS + PLANNINGTOROCK / Tomorrow, in a Year / Colouring of Pigeons
  10. HAUSCHKA / Foreign Landscapes / Kamogawa
  11. BLOOD WARRIOR / Blood Warrior / Blood Letting
  12. GATEKEEPER / Giza / Storm Column
  13. THE BLACK ANGELS / Passover / Empire
  14. NATHAN OLIVER / Cloud Animals / Icicles for Fingers
  15. FIGHT LIKE APES / The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner / Ice Cream Apple Fuck
  16. BIG EYES / Why Can’t I / Why Can’t I

Electroclature Volume Twenty-Five: XXV

August 16, 2024

Part twenty-five of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Sigh. This is a complete failure as a cover. The tracklist font doesn’t work at this size. The font should be far smaller. Works for the XXV title though, in my opinion.

Additionally, it’s extraordinary dreary. To be fair, I did take this photo while in London so it’s appropriate. However, that does not justify the number of filters I applied to it.

Moving along. This album features some straight-up metal for once. Hey, it’s called Electroclature and not Metalclature. (Although that would be a better title.) Otherwise, it features a lot of previously featured bands so I’ll stick to the new-to-Electroclature musicians.

Here are some non-dreary highlights!

FOETUS! Technically I’ve featured the work of J.G. Thirwell in the past via his Venture Bros. soundtrack work, but not the long-lived act he’s best known for: FOETUS! ‘The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones’ is one hell of a rollicking, dense and epic song that builds and builds, then teases a bit, then lurches into a spaghetti western mode, then rockets forward back again. Absolutely one of my favorites of his, although his eleven minute big band song is also one of my favorites of his so your mileage may vary.

I was lucky enough to see him play at Chicago’s EMPTY BOTTLE way back in 2001 and he rarely comes to Chicago and it was a fucking blast, one of those bands you just kinda resign yourself to only hear instead of see and hear. A bucket list performer, for sure.

ROB DUNCAN! His theme song for TERRIERS? One of the greatest, if not the greatest TV theme songs of the past 20 years. It’s so hooky and concise, not just with the duration but also the lyrical subject matter. It is everything you want out of a TV theme song and is just as effective out-of-context.

SWANS! Another extremely formative band for me, although I didn’t discover them until ‘Soundtracks for the Blind’, which is very dark, tense, loud at times, silently intense at others. The core members were Michael Gira and Jarboe, the former known for never smiling and the latter known for her striking voice. I missed their breakup tour because I was too young, but I did see Gira’s follow-up band ANGELS OF LIGHT live, which I believe was at Double Door. I still have my well-weathered long sleeve shirt from that show.

SWANS regrouped in 2010 sans Jarboe and toured with BABY DEE (who will be missed). The venue I saw them at? Maybe it was the relocated Double Door before they completely shut down. The song featured here — ‘Jim’ — is from the album they were touring for: ‘My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky’.

Tonally it’s not much of a departure from their prior album, ‘Soundtracks for the Blind’. They’re still extremely dark, very sludgy and very languid. And live? VERY LOUD. They’re touring around this time; They’re hitting Chicago in May. If you like what you hear? Check ’em out, but bring earplugs.

An overcast tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

  • ELUVIUM / An Accidental Memory In the Case of Death / Perfect Neglect In A Field Of Statues
  • LAURA MARLING / I Speak Because I Can / Alpha Shallows
  • PEGGY SUE / Fossils and Other Phantoms / February Snow
  • NINA NASTASIA / Outlaster / This Familiar Way
  • FOETUS / Hide / The Ballad of Sisyphus T. Jones
  • THE DEAD WEATHER / Sea Of Cowards / I’m Mad
  • CROCODILES / Sleep Forever / Hollow Hollow Eyes (The video? Probably best viewed while high, otherwise it’s rather dull.)
  • THE BLACK ANGELS / Passover / Young Men Dead
  • SWANS / My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky / Jim
  • MUNLY / Petr And The Wulf / Munly
  • ROB DUNCAN / Gunfight Epiphany / Gunfight Epiphany (Theme from Terriers) (The video link is the actual title sequence for the show, but the song itself is far longer.)
  • FINNTROLLl / Jaktens Tid / Jaktens Tid (Not the official video — one doesn’t exist — but an absolutely delightful fan video comprised solely of clips from a scene from THE ARISTOCATS.)
  • DIMMU BORGIR / ABRAHADABRA / Gateways
  • THOSE DARLINS / Nightjogger/Funstix Party / Nightjogger
  • BOOM PAM / Puerto Rican Nights / Ay Carmela (Instrumental)

Electroclature Volume Twenty-Four: An Unwound String

August 9, 2024

Part twenty-four of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

With this cover, I like the striking simplicity of the brushes behind the title, and the fact that for once I opted for lighter tones. However, the tracklist text is far too large and cumbersome. If I could do it again, I’d reduce the font size and kind of ‘letterbox’ the cover. Lessons learned.

Let’s shine a spotlight on the highlights!

TOM HAGERMAN! Tom Hagerman is part of the band DeVotchKa (see Electroclature Volume Six) and he’s an amazing multi-instrumentalist who is specializes in the melancholy. He’s also a swell guy who went drunksaling (a.k.a. tipsy garagesaling) with us once. Good times.

MICHAEL NYMAN! While he’s best known for his soundtrack work, especially THE PIANO, but he also does things like put his own spin on Mozart and the like. ‘Profit & Loss’ is essentially a reading of a wedding ledger. When my wife and I were planning our wedding, I suggested that we include it in our dinner dance mix and she shot that down immediately, so I snuck it into the cocktail mix. I hope someone noticed the wink.

BRITISH SEA POWER! If you aren’t aware of ‘Come Wander With Me’, originally it was performed by BONNIE BEACHER. It has been covered by many bands, but I prefer the original while watching it in the TWILIGHT ZONE episode of the same name. Fun fact: that episode is as melancholy as the song, as it was the final episode of the series.

Aren’t aware of the format? You’re in luck! Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available:

Electroclature Volume Twenty-Three: XXIII

June 28, 2024

Part twenty-three of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

I feel like I rather phoned-in this cover. The photo is another pic I took of a textured porch or windowsill or… something. I have no arguments about the text. I’m just disappointed that it isn’t …striking. I don’t think it’s bad but …it’s kinda boring, but at least it’s readable.

Anyway! Highlights!

OF MONTREAL – Coquet Coquette [Yip Deceiver]! I’d been a fan of the band for a while, and this remix moves me in crazy ways. Fun fact? I designed and deployed the website for their print designer back in the day. That version of the site is no longer publicly available, but I am glad I was able to slightly contribute to their life and be tangentially involved with the band. Also, the designer gave me a shit ton of free merch, while also paying me! Freelancers treating freelancers well!

GOBBLE GOBBLE – Becoming Legion! I saw them at Chicago’s Schubas Tavern, which is an extremely narrow bar with a club space in the back and a sidecar diner.

The show was so fucking electric and queer and interactive and ended with everyone — including the band and myself — under unfurled nylon and it was the thick of Chicago summer and Schubas isn’t well-ventilated so everyone was so hot and sweaty and throwing arms in the air and moving with their amazing synths and samples and beats and it was all absolute exuberance and abandon.

I left Schubas feeling so elated and glowing with a natural high. It was one of the most incredible live shows I’ve ever been to in my life. Absolutely fucking amazing. My face lights up just thinking of it.

A friend castigated me about extolling it too much. That is how intensely I feel about it.

I’m not sure I’ll ever attend a show quite like that again. As I’ve harped on before? Fucking attend live events! Communal experiences like these are few and far between! Life is too short!

PEGGY SUE – Watchman! Also saw ’em at Schubas and there was so much vocal belting and hard drum hits and it was pure joy.

Electroclature Volume Twenty-Two: XXII

June 21, 2024

Part twenty-two of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

This cover is …fine. Playing with negative space. Stuck with the same font as XX and XXI. Severe black and red and white all over.

Fun fact? That wasn’t quite my personal clothing/adornment color scheme back then, but it certainly is now, down to my bracelets and marbled nail polish.

Let’s move onto the musical highlights!

TITUS ANDRONICUS’ Arms Against Atrophy! I know both TITUS ANDRONICUS and LOS CAMPESINOS! have been featured in prior mixes. The primary reason for that? It was right around the time that they were at the height of their powers. Both bands first two albums are pure overwrought shrieking noisy perfection.

Luckily, they hit up Chicago’s Logan Square Auditorium at this time, and it blew the sold out crowd’s minds. LOS CAMPESINOS! was even more energetic and raw live than on album, and even shitfaced drunk, TITUS ANDRONICUS absolutely killed. Great fucking show.

HOLLY & THE ITALIANS! “Some people achieve greatness. Others have it thrust upon then. And then there are those who are born Italian.” Amazing pop punk that I can’t stop listening to, and even have designs on incorporating ‘I Wanna Go Home’ into one of my works.

PEGGY SUE! Peppy melancholy! As you can see by the video, they have a natural verve that resonates. Saw ’em at yet another Schubas outing and am glad I made it out.

…and with that? (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

Electroclature Volume Twenty-One: XXI

June 14, 2024

Part twenty-one of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Content Warning

This post contains mentions of death. A lot of mentions.

For some inexplicable reason, I have two covers for this disc. I chose the red one for the post because it’s far more striking and evocative, and the other? A bit gets lost with the cluster. However? Not sure which I gave to my wife!

However? I really like both of them. It’d tweak some of the margins on the front, and yet again I have no idea what I was thinking with some of the suffixes as there’s absolutely no consistency there, but I do think both are goddamn striking.

There’s a lot of great stuff here! RASPUTINA! An entire band comprised of women cellists! I was so fucking delighted to see ’em live! I used to be a cellist! (I can still play, but I’d be rubbish at it but it’s one of those things that you did enough at a specific age that you can never forget. When I re-listen to this I can hear the notations and finger twangs and bow pressure and strings tensing and it is goddamn delightful.)

MI AMI’s ‘Latin Lover’? I can’t help but throw my arms around when I hear it.

Goddamn CARY ANN HEARST. ‘Are You Ready to Die’ is also one of my fucking anthems.

TALK NORMAL! (They were so awesome and brazenly noisy when I saw ’em!) SLOW CLUB! THE RAVEONETTES! YANKA! (R.I.P. Uh, yeah, that death? Not great.)

I want to give a special shout-out to THOSE DARLINS and the much-missed Jessi Zazu. I was fortunate enough to be able to rock out to them live when they hit Chicago for their ‘Screws Get Loose’ tour. ‘Keep My Skillet’ is a raucous folk cover and their version is so endearing. The band may be no longer, but misfits like myself will always remember them.

Goddamn. When I see all of this spelled out? There are a hell of a lot of works included here that either focus on or are related to death here. (I didn’t even mention CROCODILES & THE DUM DUMS’ ‘Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don’t Die)’.) My apologies. I can only think that it was in the back of my brain at the time. I mean, I’m goth and are very accepting of the more morbid facets of life — that doesn’t mean I deal well with personal loss! — but I must’ve been dealing with some shit when I made this mix.

Well, that went dark pretty quickly.

Anyway, this mix brings me joy and reminds me of better times, and perhaps it’ll do the same for you.

As with the prior motherfucking twenty Electroclature posts: Artist / Album / Song and if there’s a link? It goes to a video for the song.

  • LAURA MARLING / I Speak Because I Can / Alpha Shallows
  • TWO STAR SYMPHONY / Love and Other Demons / Goblin Attack!
  • RASPUTINA / Sister Kinderhook / Holocaust of Giants
  • KRADDY / Android Porn Remixes / Android Porn [Playpad Circus]
  • LULLABYE ARKESTRA / Ampgrave / Y’Mare Me Shake
  • MI AMI / Steal Your Face / Latin Lover
  • Colourmusic / My _ Is Pink / Yes!
  • LOVE IS ALL / Two Thousand and Ten Injuries / Dust
  • CARY ANN HEARST / Lions and Lambs / Are You Ready To Die
  • CROCODILES & DUM DUM GIRLS / Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don’t Die) / Merry Christmas, Baby (Please Don’t Die)
  • TALK NORMAL / Sugarland / Transmission Lost
  • SLOW CLUB / Yeah, So? / It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful
  • THE RAVEONETTES / In And Out Of Control / Bang!
  • YANKA / Styd i Sram / vyshe nogi ot zemli (a.k.a. ВЫШЕ НОГИ)
  • SLEIGH BELLS / Treat / Tell ‘Em!
  • THOSE DARLINS / Those Darlins / Keep My Skillet
  • Bonus live track for their hedonistic song ‘The Whole Damn Thing‘, which is all about getting drunk and then eating an entire chicken in the kitchen.

Electroclature Volume Twenty: XX

June 7, 2024

Part twenty of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

It only took years and years and twenty CD mixes, but I finally latched onto a signature visual style!

This is one of my favorite design works, not just of the discs but in general. If I saw this in a music store — which sadly are few and far between nowadays (although we do have one located two blocks away from us but we live in a weird area) — I would immediately buy it. Hell, I’d pay import prices for it!

(I don’t think anyone apart from 90s goth/industrial folks routinely felt the pain of having to pay an extra ~$10-$15 for the pleasure of buying your favorite band’s CD shipped in from Europe.)

That said, the descriptions are more than a tad pretentious than I’d like, and I have no idea what is up with the suffixes. If you’re wondering about the listed seconds? Singular moments I wanted to call attention to. Again! Really fucking pretentious! I spent too much time thinking about these mixes!

I wish I had kept the green on the front just to the center, but I know I was trying to have some background accents. I think it’d be more effective without them, though.

I still can’t believe I designed the back cover. There are minor typography issues that some may find fault with, but this is one of the few designs where I wouldn’t change a fucking thing.

I honestly can’t believe I willed it into the world.

But enough navel-gazing! Hightlights! Goddamn this mix has so much good stuff. While KRADDY is blusterous, I love their pacing and it builds to what can only be described as an aural orgasm.

Motherfucking PUERTO MUERTO! Absolutely one of the most memorable live acts I’ve ever seen. It was an actual final live show — and promoted as such — because they were a husband/wife band for many years. Then he cheated on her and holy hell she was so fucking pissed off — rightfully so — and that anger was so loud and resonant and present in her performance. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. It was like an live indie music version of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?. I’m not exactly sure I want to see something like that again, but it has stuck with me for years, and good for her for burning the band to the fucking ground and moving forward.

(Also? ‘Drumming for Pistols’? So hooky, but builds to be so ferocious.)

A lot of underrated, unsung bands on here. THE SECRET MACHINES! LANTERNS! The wild mixture of cultures from ALINA SIMONE!

I find this CD mix to be a lot of fun, and maybe you will too. (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

WE ARE LADY PARTS – Season One (2021-)

June 5, 2024

Way back in the early dark days of 2022, in my ‘Favorite TV of 2021’ post I very briefly wrote about the first season of the UK’s Channel 4 TV show WE ARE LADY PARTS, solely comprised of two lines from the show:

“A confused mix of hash anthems and sour girl power. […] It was kind of like therapy, but with a lot of screaming.”

“I’m the lamb, by the way.”

Obviously, that does a disservice to such a uniquely brash and singular punk show, so I’m here to right some wrongs and rave in more exacting ways about the show.

WE ARE LADY PARTS centers around LADY PARTS, a punk band comprised of three Muslim women musicians and Momtaz (their ever-vaping manager) and they are seeking a lead guitarist to bring their sound together. They find one in Amina, an microbiology PhD student who used to performing but her nerves caused her body to violently react against her. Regardless of Amina’s unsavory bodily expulsion, LADY PARTS’s lead singer Saira is insistent that Amina is the one who will musically complete the circle. What follows is a lot of doubt, a lot of insecurity, and yes, some bodily fluids.

While WE ARE LADY PARTS feels very modern in that it’s still a pleasant surprise to see such a varied collection of characters, but I feel it’d be at home on 80s network TV or even a film. Creator/writer/director Nida Manzoor has gone on record citing the anarchic cult 80s BBC show THE YOUNG ONES as an inspiration for WE ARE LADY PARTS. I also can’t help but see a bit of LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS! in it.

Given that this show is centered around a fictional band, you’d better hope that the songs are fucking appropriately punk and makes you want to throw fingers, and Manzoor delivers. She took on song duty along with siblings Shez and Sanya Manzoor and Benni Fregin, plus all of the performers actually play their instruments! (I’ll note that Nida has gone on record that it helps that they’re punk, so they can be a bit sloppy musically and lyrically.)

Here are just a few of their numbers:

Bashir With the Good Beard:

Ain’t No One Gonna Honour Kill My Sister But Me:

Voldemort Under My Headscarf:

In November 2021 — a handful of months after the first season aired — WE ARE LADY PARTS was renewed for a second season. Then 2022 rolled around, and no second season. 2023? No second season. I’d given up hope but here we are! It’s 2024, a tad over three years after the first season premiered, and the second season dropped on peacock on May 30th!

I haven’t been able to watch the second season yet but if you’re extremely online like I am, you have probably heard of a surprise appearance from a very exceptional person. (I will not spoil who it is, but I am very excited to see it unfold.)

”This is us, by us, for us.”

Season One trailer:

Season Two trailer:

Electroclature Volume Nineteen: XIX

May 31, 2024

Part nineteen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Ah, when I decided to opt for Roman numeral naming.

Yet another cover I do not love. It’s too severe and there’s far too much and too little spacing with the track list.

No idea where I got the photo from, but I imagine it was from drunksaling. If you are not familiar with the term? You get tipsy in the morning and head out to garage sales and buy stupid shit. We’re too old for that now, but if you’re young enough? I highly suggest it. It’s a ton of fun. Just only get tipsy, though.

Highlights! NOUVELLE VAGUE & JULIE DELPY! You may be familiar with Delpy from the Linklater SUNSET trilogy, but she imbues this song with significance. (Also, not the only French New Wave-inspired track here!) BOY 8-BIT hits hard! CLUE’s Approach the Throne is an amazing bop. I know everyone only knows ELASTIC through their late 90s theme ‘Connection’ but? Go through the entirety of their limited collection. Pure post-punk perfection.

Not my best effort, but here’s the tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

Electroclature Volume Eighteen: 18

May 24, 2024

Part eighteen of an array of CD mixes I made for my wife over a long number of years! Read more about it here!

Cover photo? A fucking mess of a dress mannequin that someone slapped a dead star on and that we stumbled upon while in Austin, TX.

I quite like this cover. I find it engaging and well-structured, however it definitely gives off SILENT HILL vibes.

Could use a better font, but I grouse about that every time. Also? Probably should have actually included spaces. Too late now.

Anyway! Highlights! BLACK BOX RECORDER’s The School Song! The severely underheard LACROSSE and I See A Brightness! The delight of CRYSTAL FIGHTERS’ I Love London! Motherfucking PATTI SMITH’s Land which has been such a formative work for me. I cannot impart how much this song means to me! Seeing her perform it at Chicago’s The Vic? Mindblowing. I rocked the fuck out in that piss-smelling venue.

Moving forward, here’s the tracklist! (Artist / Album / Song — links go to a video of the song, if available):

  • bocca grande / Little Pianist / procedere
  • PATTI SMITH / Horses / Land
  • MUSIC GO MUSIC / Expressions / Warm In The Shadows [Villa]
  • BLACK BOX RECORDER / Passionoia / The School Song
  • VITALIC / Flashmob / Poison Lips
  • STS9 / Peaceblaster : The New Orleans Make It Right Remixes / Beyond Right Now [Glitch Mob]
  • BABY MONSTER / null / Ultra Violence & Beethoven (Mondkopf Remix)
  • CRYSTAL FIGHTERS / I Love London / I Love London [In Flagranti Vintage] (Yes, when my wife and myself visited London? I did play this song in our hotel room like a dumb American. Also? The lead in the video? They encapsulate Harley Fuckin’ Quinn and I am so here for it.)
  • SCANNERS / Salvation / Salvation
  • SONS AND DAUGHTERS / This Gift / House In My Head
  • LACROSSE / Bandages For The Heart / I See A Brightness
  • FIDEL NADAL / Nacional Records Sampler 2009 | The New Sounds Of Latin Music / Puerta De Oro [con Pablo Lescano]
  • XAVIER CUGAT & HIS ORCHESTRA / 16 Most Requested Songs Of The 1940’S, Volume II / South America, Take It Away
  • thefancydressparty / Off The Beaten Tracks / Egg & Spoon Race