Live Shins with new songs

I came across this Shins show from earlier this month (July 6th) while they were opening for Belle & Sebastian at the Hollywood Bowl. I already have a nice collection of live Shins so normally I wouldn't of snagged this but I haven't heard any new Shins in a while and needed a fix until Sleeping Lessons/Wincing the Night Away (Sept/Oct 06) comes out.



From Wikipedia: The Shins played a critically acclaimed show at the historic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA, with Scotland's Belle and Sebastian on July 6, 2006. Both bands described playing at the venue as a career highlight.


links removed

1.) Intro
2.) Know Your Onion!
3.) Mine's Not A High Horse
4.) Girl Inform Me
5.) When I Goose Step
6.) Circus Walk*
7.) Pressed In A Book
8.) The Celibate Life
9.) Phantom*
10.) Saint Simon
11.) New Slang
12.) Australia*
13.) Gone Food Good
14.) Kissing The Lipless
15.) One By One All Day
16.) Caring Is Creepy
17.) So Says I

* = new song

My favorite of the new songs, Won One Too Many Fights wasn't played but I already have a decent recording of it.


Couple other live Shins shows here

Mountain Goats-Bonnie 'Prince' Billy connection

Has anyone hear the new Mountain Goat album Get Lonely, I don't feel this album like I did with the previous Mountain Goats releases. It has a sadder more depressing tone to it. I think I just need to give it couple more listens because I've been hearing praises from all corners of the message board world and blogs.



Blogs are for dogs has two great tracks from the album and a link to Mountain Goats' list of Music You Should Hear on Amazon.

Something I immediately took a liking to at first listen was the new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album The Letting Go.

Each Note Secure a track from that album titled No Bad News



BPB has a fairly entertaining video for Cursed Sleep, especially the end with the fight with ET.



So you might be asking where's the connection. (drumroll) They both have blessed us with covers of R. Kellys ignition, one of the remix, one of the original. Both very enjoyable.

The covers:
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney - Ignition cover
Mountain Goats - The Boys are Back in Town/Ignition (remix) cover

A little bonus, I've been listening to this track a lot recently from the The Brave and the Bold, an all-covers collaboration between Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Tortoise - Love is Love (Lungfish cover)

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Flaming Lips 2006 Acoustic Session

picture by Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips

I really wish I knew the origins of this Flaming Lips recording but all I currently know of it is that it was one long 30 minute track, most likely from a radio show this year (in France, late April maybe?) and features Wayne and Steven in the studio. I edited it down to what I thought was the most relevant parts of the show.

The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (first take)
The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - sad version description
The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (hoe down and slow down)
The Flaming Lips - Do you realize
The Flaming Lips - Thank you Jack White

Download all the tracks---(sendspace)


The "Hoe down and slow down" (I think I hear Steven Drodz in the background calling it that) version of the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song is a pretty good reworking of the At War With The Mystics track with a sadder tone, as explained by Wayne (see: sad version description). I wouldn't say better than the original but worth a listen for Lips fans.

On a related note: At War With Baraka!

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Heat

This entry is dedicated to the 9th day in a row of 100+ degree weather here in Dallas.

The Black Keys - Just A Little Heat
Mazaran - Kenyan Heat Wave
Wilco - The High Heat

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Ben Kweller doings some covers

The new Ben Kweller album titled Ben Kweller is due to be released on September, its his first album that he plays all the instruments on and his 3rd solo album. BK never lets me down, I think I've been a fan for nearly a decade. I don't have any new tracks from the album to offer but I did dig through my collection and came up with BK doing some covers.

• Ben Kweller - Ice Ice Baby [Vanilla Ice]
• Ben Kweller - Undone (the sweater song) [Weezer]
• Ben Kweller - Wait [Beatles]
• Ben Kweller & Adam Green - Kokomo [Beach Boys]

and also this original is from a Ben Kweller/Ben Lee Split:

• Ben Kweller - Launch Ramp

I posted these a year ago but they still are alive and kicking

• Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready (live on WKQX)
• Ben Kweller - Commerce, TX (live on WKQX)

You can find a nice collection of BK vids on Youtube, including a new song and a half.

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Ratatat / Classics

This August sees the release of the my favorite instrumental electronic by way of hip-hop artists sophomore album, I'm talking about Ratatat and their new album Classics. Last year this was on my list of most anticipated albums of 2006 (more of a mental list topped by the Flaming Lips). So with this album spreading around the internet the last two days (along with the new mountain goats) I had to get me a piece. How can I mention Ratatat with out mentioning that ass kicker of track Seventeen Years. It moved some heads. You'd have to hate music not to like it...or something close to that. That track got me into their albums and then their mixtape, which volume 2 of should be available this year. My personal highlight of volume 1 was the Ghostface track Run, it was already a track I dug but they just one upped it to another level.

The new album features a wider array of instruments including acoustic guitar, slide guitar, sleigh bells and cello in addition to the usual suspects, guitars and synths. More importantly though after listening to the album, they seemed to have refined their production skills.

So new album out on XL recordings on August 22nd and new mixtape probably available at their shows.

Ratatat - Lex [from Classics]
Ratatat - Run (Ghostface remix) [From Ratatat Mixtape Vol. 1]
Ratatat - Seventeen Years [From Ratatat]

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Put your boots on

I've been waiting a while for the reworked version of Eleanor Put Your Boots On to start floating around the net for me to grab. Alas last weekend I got my hands on it. I have probably 3 Franz Ferdinand songs I like and the original version of Eleanor Put Your Boots On from their latest album is my favorite.

Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On (reworked)

I like the banjo idea but I think it should of lasted during more of the songs and be more prominent. I knew they were going to sex up the song for a version sounding more like a single but if this was the original version I probably wouldn't of given it a second glance upon first hearing it. I like the originals Beatlesque, acoustic guitar/piano version better.

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I just read this news article about the new Trail of Dead album. Conrad Keely doesn't seem to confident about the album which is not good at all. Read here

Trail of Dead - Relative Ways (left click)

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I'm currently jamming Peanut Butter Wolf Presents - Stones Throw: Ten Years. Its a compilation from my favorite hip hop label featuring the likes of Madvillain, Jaylib, Cut Chemist, Madlib, J Dilla, Lootpack...etc.

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Bishop Allen

I really hope that Bishop Allen puts all these songs from their monthly EPs on one compilation. I'd hate knowing that I'm only hearing few songs from a larger group. So far I've heard one track from every album but also May and April in their entirety. I'm generally impressed with the songs that I've heard coming out in this series, I think more bands should take on projects like this. Which brings us to the June EP, I figure all the important blogs have already posted this but if you haven't already given it a listen.

Bishop Allen - The Same Fire

Back in March, a great ironworks stood at the end of our street, and recently that old factory burned down. The fire gave us our first song for June.

Buy the EPs here.

James Figurine

After I read earlier in the year that their was a new Figurine album coming out I was pretty ecsatic, they had been one of my favorite electronic groups, pulling me in with their melodic indie-pop. As as months passed those rumors changed from a new Figurine album to a solo James Figurine release. One thing that the James Figurine album Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake album is lacking compared to other Figurine releases is the boy/girl vocal back and forth that I like so much from the first two Figurine albums. Other than that, this is what I pictured except a bit more poppy. Maybe more vocals.

From Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake

James Figurine - 55566688833
James Figurine - Pretend it's a race and i'm on your side

Rare track from tbtmo comp:

James Figurine - Before I Go

Download the whole comp here

Some Figurine:

Figurine - IMpossible
Figurine - So futuristic
Figurine - International Space Station II

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The Rapture is back

The Rapture has a new album coming out, infact pitchfork wrote about it last week. They also had a link to stream the new single from the album titled Get My Self Into It. Here is my problem with that, I hate to stream songs but mostly I hate Myspace (my browser always crashes). So I didn't even bother listening to it until someone threw a link to the song my way. Yay!



The Rapture - Get Myself Into It

Its pretty good, more layers than I'm used to with The Rapture. I like that saxophone in the back and of course how can I not like the cowbell. The more I listen to it, the more I like it.

Their website is currently under construction but you can watch a video declaring "The Rapture is back", announcing a new album coming out.