Monthly Archive

Remember back when 100b celebrated our 100th post and we said we had some new themed post ideas for you all? And remember how we said we didn’t have a name for one of them yet? Yeah, we still don’t. So for the time being, this post will be called “100b’s School Of Learnin’” - just hope we’ve come up with something better by next month.

Tam and I both love the geeky side of music, and we know we’re not alone. So this monthly post will feature the kind of things that you might like if studio released albums just aren’t enough for you anymore. It might be a documentary, a new collections of b-sides, a historical cd boxset, or even just a really great article that we read. Stuff that will take you from a listener to a big dork. So to start things off this month, we’re going with a book.

I just finished reading Will Hodgkinson’s Guitar Man and I thought some of you might enjoy it. Hodgkinson (a journalist who’s written for Mojo and The Guardian, among others) decided it was about time he stopped just listening to guitar and learned how to play one. I don’t want this to become a review, but it really is a charming book. I think you’d probably have to be into music to really enjoy it (a lot of the book covers the history of the guitar and guitar-based music, which is pretty fascinating if you love it too), but wanting to be a guitar player yourself isn’t necessary. I doubt there’s anyone who hasn’t at some time tried to learn something completely new and felt like they’ll never, ever be able to do it. There’s that clumsy time where you don’t even understand the directions or book you’re learning from and then, after a while, you get the basic concept but you just can’t get yourself do it right. When you finally get it, you can’t believe how clueless you were in the beginning.

Hodgkison describes that frustration perfectly, but his learning is pushed along by some great guitar players - Johnny Marr, Mr. David Viner, Devendra Banhart, and Robert Johnson, and many others - who are kind enough to share some of their wisdom on the subject. He booked himself, and his merry band of misfits, a gig in a public place to force himself to learn and learn quickly. Of course I’d never ruin the end for you, but when the gig starts getting close, it’s gripping stuff. I can’t imagine doing such a foolish thing myself - I have the worst stage fright known to man - but you have to admire a man who is that dedicated to a task he set himself.

You can find out more about the book and the author here, and even have a listen to Mr. Hodgkinson’s newfound skills. Or just go buy the book at amazon (UK).

I’ve been listening to a lot of very sweet music lately - The Boy Least Likely To, Belle & Sebastian, The Research - which is kind of unusual for me. I’d normally take Iggy Pop over Cat Stevens any day of the week, if I was forced to make a choice.

So I was shopping for some new CDs and I’m From Barcelona grabbed me, given my newfound love of cheerful music. They’re reminiscent of The Polyphonic Spree, in that they’re joyous and fun and have 29 members, but these guys are Swedish and sing about chicken pox rather than reaching for the sun. I’m absolutely dying to get their debut album, Let Me Introduce My Friends (here’s a review from Pitchfork), but it’s not officially released in the UK for another two weeks. Much to my dismay, it is available on iTunes (in the Netherlands and UK, at least), but I’m going to force myself to wait. Since they, unlike most, have a myspace page, you really have no excuse not to give them a listen.

To be honest, I can’t really think of anything to write about this week’s Poptastic song. It’s from yet another album I got over there at emusic, Thai Beat A Go-Go (Vol. 1). It’s pretty much exactly like it sounds: Super Sounds Of The 60s, done Thai-stylee. There’s a few covers in English, some Thai-icized versions of other known songs, and some originals (as far as I can tell). I have no information at all about the artist, Cat, or his (their?) version of this song. It’s just fabulous and that’s enough for me.

   Cat - Do The Watusi

Also, if you liked that, you’ll love this Hindi cover of “Dancing Queen”. (Scroll down to the third post on the page.)

My mission as of two days ago is to clear out some of my Not Yet Listened To pile of CDs. I’m sure a lot of you have those, whether it’s actual CDs or mp3s you’ve downloaded. There’s just too much fantastic music to be heard and not nearly enough time to listen to it all. So I gathered up all the albums that have been wasting away on my shelf and put them all in one place. I reckon there must be at least a few hidden gems in there, so that’s where I’ve been picking my music from, rather than just automatically grabbing the tried and true.

Today I finally listened to Devendra Banhart’s Cripple Crow. I also have Nino Rojo and I like it well enough, but I think Devendra Banhart is someone you really have to be in the right mood for, so I don’t listen to it very often. I downloaded Cripple Crow from emusic so long ago that I can’t even remember doing it, and just stuck in the pile, never seeming to be in the right mood for ‘ole Devendra and his lovely freakiness. But today was the day and it’s a great album; it’s pretty and weird and funky all at the same time. I have this soft spot for Devendra, he’s so tiny and adorable. But today was the first time I really listened and I think I found the first gem in my pile.

“Chinese Children” had me laughing out loud to myself - is it a politically correct song or completely politically incorrect? Is he singing about how Chinese children would be lovely anywhere and everywhere, or is it a song about how you just can’t get away from those damn Chinese children? I’m kidding, of course. Devendra Banhart makes these crazy songs very sweet somehow; he’s got a childish innocence that makes even the silliest thing charming.

   Devendra Banhart - Chinese Children

(This song is dedicated to my good friend Tam, stuck in the rain in Spain. She knows why.)

There has been considerable buzz around Takka Takka, the New York-based band that I’m sure has been getting a lot of airplay at your favorite indie hotspots. I really love “Coco On The Corner”. I haven’t heard a song with Coco in the title yet that I didn’t like and this one is no exception. It does remind me of a certain band that claps their hands and says yeah, but sung/spoken by a very happy Lou Reed-type singer. Then I learned that they’re friends with said hand clappers and that they’ve had some hand in Takka Takka’s debut album We Feel Safer At Night that came out yesterday as well, so it’s no wonder that there are some similarities. They make smart but pretty indie pop with solid catchy tunes. Thank you New York!

Oo, have I mentioned that you can download their excellent EP Fall Apart Art from their site for free?? Go on you, get your grubby little hands on it. Mmm, free stuff.

Oh and for God’s sake visit their myspace already.

   Takka Takka - Coco On The Corner

On a whole other note, since I will be hiding from Da Man the next few days (yeah, I’m going on vacation), my totally bitchin’ partner in crime will take over my spot next week. Thanks Bean!

Last week I rented Beyond The Sea, Kevin Spacey’s highly criticized film about the late Bobby Darin. I don’t understand the problem with the movie at all, I thought it was lovely. And surprisingly interesting; it never occurred to me that Bobby Darin had an interesting life. In fact, I don’t think I ever thought about Bobby Darin at all before. The crooner-y music he came to be known for is way down on the bottom of the list of music I think about listening to on the average day.

So here’s Darin’s breakthrough hit, “Splish Splash”, a Poptastic classic. I doubt that label would’ve offended him; he did write the song to win a bet that he couldn’t write a song called “Splish Splash” and it has some of the most ridiculous lyrics in pop music history, so it seems doubtful that he took it very seriously. Plus, it’s kind of a song about Poptasticism in itself: what’s more Poptastic than getting interrupted in the tub by a big party in your house?

   Bobby Darin - Splish Splash

Today is a big day for 100b: our 100th post. When we started this here blog, we had no idea what to do with it. And here we are, 100 posts later and still going strong. The best part is that we’re still excited and we’re constantly thinking of ways to add to the fun. We’re not sure that anyone, anywhere reads us but, as nice as it would be to have some readers, we really do this for ourselves because we love it. We love the music we post, we love writing about it, and we love our own stupid jokes.

To mark the occasion, we’ll be bringing you two new theme days. They’ll be monthly events and will start at the end of this very month. We thought about all the music-related things we get geeky about and realized that at least two things were missing. One is that we barely ever write about newly released music that we’re excited about - not brand new bands, just brand new releases in general. So, Album/Single Of The Month Day will start up in a couple of weeks. The other new monthly day doesn’t have a name yet, so you’ll just have to wait and be surprised. We promise it’s going to be good, so stay tuned.

As we’re sure all you music dorks know, our name comes from The Ramones’ classic “Danny Says”. There’s a great amount of criticism of End Of The Century; Phil Spector and The Ramones is a combination that just rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But the heart wants what it wants and we adore “Danny Says”. So to celebrate our big day, here’s the song that we loved enough to name ourselves after.

With love and squalor,
100b

   The Ramones - Danny Says

Yesterday was the anniversary of Elvis’ death and I really wanted to write a great tribute post but, as my New Band Day post made clear, I was in a bit of rush. I figure that any time is a good time for a tribute, so I guess today will be fine.

To most people, Elvis is just Graceland and glittery jumpsuits, but he was so much more. It’s easy to forget that he was just a guy who had his own problems and his own life and wasn’t only a big Vegas show. Musically, he changed everything. You could argue that he ripped off unrecognized black artists, but you could also argue that he brought some focus to artists that the world would’ve ignored forever if someone hadn’t shoved them in their faces. (How many people of my generation knew about Son House before The White Stripes told us about him? I didn’t and I discovered a whole new world through them.) Elvis worshipped those musicians; as far as I understand, he didn’t set out to steal their sound, he just wanted to sound like them.

Elvis’ life and career were so complicated that it took the amazing music historian (and one of my personal heroes) Peter Guralnick two volumes to cover it completely. I’m finding myself floundering to write anything about him that can even cover a fraction of his importance and influence. I think I’ll just say that if you only know Elvis as the logo that we see plastered everywhere, you should give his music another chance. There’s never been anyone like him and there probably never will be again. Those early Sun recordings are some of the most thrilling music that’s ever been recorded - they’re full of that fire that comes from youth and the excitement of doing something new and different.

   Elvis Presley - Baby Let’s Play House

I’m in a massive hurry today, so I’ll try to make this quick and coherent. The Horrors = good stuff. I like them for the same reason I love Black Wire. Not that they actually sound like Black Wire. (Don’t you love how I do that?) They seem to be exploding all over the place: sold out single on Loog, cover of the NME, etc. I’m sorry for the shortness, they really deserve better. Go listen, they’re awesome.

Here’s the story of Tommy James & the Shondells for the music fan on the go. Tommy James started a band in Michigan when he was eleven and had a local hit with their cover of “Hanky Panky” in ‘64. In 1965 a Pittsburgh DJ played the song and it became a hit there too. So Tommy moved to Pittsburgh and started a new band over there and a year later the song was a number one hit and they became the biggest thing in bubblegum pop history at the time. My personal favorite Tommy James & The Shondells song is “Mony Mony”. I don’t know what mony means, but damn that song is still catchier than a cold.

Fun fact of the day: Before the Pittsburgh version of The Shondells were picked by Tommy to be his backing band they were called The Raconteurs.

   Tommy James & The Shondells - Mony Mony

At first I thought Guillemots were all dreamy and floaty. Then I thought they weren’t. Then I bought the album and they kind of are, but not in the way I thought. Some of it has this sweeping orchestral thing going on, and really is quite beautiful and moving, just not in that overly pretty way. But some is like some crazy danceable indie pop that sounds a bit like what would happen if you took a few members from Belle & Sebastian, The Polyphonic Spree, and the late-80s/early-90s The Cure and shoved them in a room together. Only kind of not.

Which means, obviously, that they’re doing something very different. Unlike some of the other Mercury Prize nominees. I was thinking about this while I was listening to Through The Windowpane this morning - I’m kind of disappointed in the nominees this year. I admit that I haven’t heard most of the albums, but c’mon - Arctic Monkeys? They’re good and all, but this is the same competition that honored Dizzee Rascal, Franz Ferdinand, and M.I.A. in the last few years (I’m still pretending that she won, don’t mess with me). These are all artists that did something different and new, they changed popular music. And, geez, Editors? Sigh. Anyways, like I said, I can’t judge most of albums nominated, but there’s at least a few that I’m bummed to see listed.

But Guillemots have definitely got originality on their side. I only got the CD a few days ago, and have barely had a chance to listen to it. This is my favorite so far.

   Guillemots - Trains To Brazil

Here are the links to a 15 minute short film about the fabulous Ladyfuzz. Even if you don’t like the band, members of Bloc Party, The Rakes, Mystery Jets, Absentee and Why Lout? were also interviewed to discuss the band and their debut album Kerfuffle which came out in March.

http://streamos.warnermusic.com/real/wmiuk/ladyfuzz/EPKv_hi.ram
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/real/wmiuk/ladyfuzz/EPKv_lo.ram
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/wmedia/wmiuk/ladyfuzz/EPKv_hi.asx
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/wmedia/wmiuk/ladyfuzz/EPKv_lo.asx
http://streamos.warnermusic.com/qtime/wmiuk/ladyfuzz/EPKv_hi.mov

The Maccabees may sound like a lot of the new British indie bands at first, but go on give them another listen … and another. There’s something about these guys that makes me very very excited! “About your dress” really captures the nervous beginnings of new romance, I love the line ‘the most beautiful sore thumb I’ve ever seen’. And “Latchmere” is the best song about a day at a pool (with a wave machine) ever. They do happy angst better than any other new band I’ve heard lately. I have this feeling that they’re a great live band, so I can’t wait to see them play!

Yes of course they have a myspace.

   The Maccabees - About Your Dress

I couldn’t think of anything fantastically Poptastic today, so all I’ve got is this totally bad-ass song that I loved when I was 10. Ah, Bel Biv Devoe. Ronnie Devoe was my favorite - I thought he was so gorgeous. Watching the video now, they look like adorable fresh-faced kids.

You gots to check out the video for “Poison” here, but if you really want to get on down, you’ll probably have to remind yourself how to do the running man and the roger rabbit. (That was the best I could do for instructional videos - what on earth are these little simulated dancers actually for?!)

   Bel Biv Devoe - Poison

Sick of hearing how the whole world adores The Beatles? Well too bad my friend, because we are no different. Every year I listen to everything they ever made for a few days and you guessed it, it is that time of the year. Coo coo cachoo!

It seems that doing a Beatles cover is mandatory if you’re a band worth your salt. Almost everybody from Aerosmith to The Rolling Stones has done one with mixed results. I happen to know that Bean’s personal favorite is The Black Keys doing “She Said, She Said”. Yes, The Black Keys one is good and it’s number two on my list of best Beatles covers, but I don’t think anyone can top William Shatner. That’s right, Captain Kirk, doing a ‘dramatic reading’ of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”.

If we had a band I’d vote for “You Know My Name, Look Up The Number”, because firstly, it’s one of my favorites and I think it would be hard to screw up: It only has two lines and you can use any genre of music in the song. Sadly, I’m not in a band - we do have some ideas for a cool band name though. All I need now are instruments, skillz, talent, stage presence and groupies, of course.

   The Black Keys - She Said, She Said

   The Beatles - You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) [extended version]

I have a whole list of new bands I’ve been checking out and I figured New Band Day would be pretty easy this week. I’ve found a handful of great new stuff and still have half of the list to go through. But then I was looking through the freshly ripped section on emusic - they just added The Hot Puppies debut album, Under The Crooked Moon and I thought I should have a look. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on the Fierce Panda mailing list - they’ve been telling me about The Hot Puppies for ages and I had a quick listen about a month ago, but I wasn’t impressed enough to write about them. It seems I judged them too quickly. (You know, I’ve noticed that a lot of my New Band Day posts are about bands that I’d been too quick to dismiss. I should work on that.)

So I listened to clips from the album and it sounds like it’s pretty great. Pop, but in the way that The Long Blondes and The Chalets (who The Hot Puppies recently toured with) are poppy. All I know about them is that they’re Welsh and that their single “Green Eyeliner” seems to have been pretty popular. Sorry, I’m kind of useless with band background this week. I’m all out of downloads for this month, but I think this album will be the first thing I get when they refresh at the end of the week. Read a review here, visit their official site here, or go to their myspace page to listen to some of their stuff.

(In other news, 100b got our first comments! Thanks, commenters - we’re quite excited and I don’t care how dorky that makes us. Please, talk to us more!)