March 31, 2004

• I hate to say it but the buzz around The Darkness got me to check out a few toonz. Fun! In a Spinal Tappy kind of way even.
• Xploding Plastix : Sports, Not Heavy Crime Tom Waits : Small Change (and many others. Tom stays in constant rotation) Amped Out Radio Several audio books by James Burke all the Big Black I own. (coincidentally, I know petdance from other circles, and it turns out he's a giant Albini fan. Funny old world) Bill Hicks bootlegs, Daily show audio, assorted industrial, and all the bootlegs that boomselection can put out.
• Five CDs that I've been raving about recently: Songs: Ohia - Ghost Tropic Alt-folk, as sad and slow as dust. Simply gorgeous cLOUDDEAD - Ten Genre-bending forward-looking hip-hop from the Anticon collective. Childishly honest and beautiful Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow Noise-spazz-harcore-metal-rock featuring a bass, a drumkit and not much else. Easily one of the best albums of 2003 M
• I've got that clouddead album on order, Blaise. Its supposed to be here today, but isn't. Bloody Royal Mail.
• This has been a tough bitch of a week for me, so Im losing myself in the ambient bliss of dreamy synth pads: James Plotkin/Mark Spybey - "A Peripheral Blur" Transient Waves - "Sonic Narcotic" Jochem Paap - "vrs-mbnt-pcs 9598 II" Labradford - "A Stable Reference" Biosphere - "Cirque" and "Substrata" Arovane - "fwd 9901 12" Steve Roach - "Quiet Music: Complete Edition" I didnt link them but all the info is here
• ooops, thats 7 not 5, sorry (see tough week)
• During the day, it's Virgin Radio for me. For some reason, listening to London's traffic reports here in California tickles me. On the way home, Paul Van Dyke's Out There and Back helps me leave work at work.
  on preview, the link to virgin radio goes like this "www.monkeyfilter.com/virginradio.co.uk". not sure why... perhaps because this is my first post and I'm doing something wrong. sigh.
• which brings up the question: has there every been any discussion of a Mofi CD Swap? *ducks* as for me: 1. Butterfly Boucher (whatever I can steal) 2. Halo Friendlies (also whatever I can steal) 3. David Gilmour's "About Face" 4. Dan Baird's "Love Songs For The Hearing Impaired" 5. Golden Earring's "To The Hilt" runner-up: Judas Priest's "Screaming For Vengeance"
• which brings up the question: has there every been any discussion of a Mofi CD Swap? *ducks* I offered to help with such a thing back in the thread that The Shelf came out of. And, hey, I'm still willing.
• I administer periodic swaps for (ahem) another group of monkeys, so I'd be willing as well.
• I picked up a stack of vinyl at a yard sale this past weekend and that's been what I've been listening to: Joy Division, Smiths, Echo and the Bunnyment, The Cure, The Cult, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and other great 80's stuff. These records were in great condition and were a steal at 2 for $1.
• I'm in for a cd swap
• I have been retreading the greatest 90s records recently: Neutral Milk Hotel: In The Aeroplane Over the Sea (My pick for best album of the decade) Ween: The Mollusk (I don't much care for Ween, but this album is fantastic) I really dug the new Rufus Wainwright album and am looking forward to Want Two. Other misc. stuff I always suggest: Momus, Joy Division, PIL, Lambchop
• Right now, for me, it's been; Damon Albarn's "Democrazy" The Beatles' "Abbey Road" Beulah's "The Coast is Never Clear" Blur's "Blur" (self-titled) Elliott Smith's "Elliott Smith" (self-titled) Of course, "Democrazy" (Albarn) is a 10" vinyl, not a cd, but I have been listening to it quite a bit.
• oh, and I'm also in for a cd swap in whatever form. I'd love to see a mix exchange or something, where interested parties send a cd to each other and it gets passed around or kept, or whatever.
• boo, I'm with you on the Tom Waits. I just got Blue Valentine and Foreign Affairs, and they're both wonderful. Small Change is probably my fave, though. I'm currently listening to The Passion soundtrack. It's pretty dang good all by itself, even without the context.
• huge amounts of Radiohead, theOutKast, all things Brazilian as usual (Truby Trio, Suba, Brazil66, Bebel G, etc...) lotsa Thievery Co., occasional forays into 70s prog rock (!)...
• cd swap! cd swap! At home: When I moved last fall, I dumped all of my cassette tapes in a box and now I'm sorting out which to replace with a cd version, and which to keep. The priceless treasures are from my 4-year stint as a college DJ during the early 90's. In the car: I've got the new John Mayer cd and can't seem to stop listening to it. At work: I've been listening to Angie Aparo and Shelby Lynne.
• I'lllllllllllllllllll get a list of stuff together this evening and post it on my profile page.
• Lately: Lambchop "C'mon, No You C'mon" Neko Case "Blacklisted" Postal Service "Give Up" Explosions in the Sky "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever" 1 Mile North "Minor Shadows" Bonus guilty pleasure: The Free Design "Kites Are Fun" Also, I'm down with a cd exchange...
• Put me down for a CD exchange. Big props on the Explosions, Chriss.
• I would be happy to act as a point person for CDX if need be. If somebody else wants to handle it, that is fine, but here are my thoughts: I will collect from people addresses, their interests and any genre they are interested in exploring. Then I will make matches, either direct exchanges or indirect exchanges (A sends to B who sends to C who sends to A) and email the info to each party. This way, your address goes only to the person you are sending to and the person sending to you. Again, this is just a suggestion, if it should be handled another way, that is fine. For the time being, please don't send me info until there is more feedback here. I will post again if my suggestion is popular.
• Franz Ferdinand (naturally) with Michael, Take Me Out and The Dark of the Matinee being the most heavily favoured tracks. This week's David Bowie Album Of Choice is: Hunky Dory. Also enjoying frequent bursts of early Roxy Music. Patrick Wolf, Lycanthropy. Wonderful young man. Anthemic laptop folk, which is considerably better than it sounds. In addition, a few smatterings of The Faint, Belle & Sebastian's entire back catalogue (still not tired of Dear Catastrophe Waitress), and a bit of mid-nineties flashbackery with, um, Menswear. Underrated. Really. I like the CD exchange too.
• chriss recently got Postal Service and after two listens am into it already
• 1. electric six: synthesizer. can't hear this enough. although some of the other songs on the album (fire) are good, some are hit-and-miss. 2. thievery corporation (sadly don't own as much as i'd like to - only have abductions & reconstructions, plus richest man in babylon - both have been in and out of my car cd player repeatedly for months.) 3. kruder & dorfmeister - the k & d sessions. (for some reason 90% of what i iike seems to be 5+ years behind the current - that's what i get for starting in on "modern" music way too late...) 4. on the floor at the boutique. i have all of these that i am currently aware of. (lo-fidelity allstars one is good, kinda like the midfield general mix the best at the moment, and the fatboy slim album still kills me...) 5. aphex twin. (i like the way it makes my car windows vibrate. someday i'll go deaf.) and as a general recommendation, try monkey radio (mp3 stream).
• My recent birthday present to myself (iPod - wee!) has spurred me to put 3000 'new to me' songs on my pocket. Among my current faves: Kill Bill soundtrack Geisha Lounge Beautiful South Cristen Grey Selsun Blue I'm about 200% down for a MoFi Swap.
• Tad Morose - Modus Vivendi [metal] N.E.R.D. - Fly or Die [Hippity Hop] The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart [indie] Mississippi John Hurt Franz Ferdinand David Bowie - Diamond Dogs.
• Oh - and shotsy, awesome offer, but part of what is great about the MeFi swap is the surprise. Getting x number of CDs with what other people find interesting. Usually there was only one or two sings on a disc that my partner truly liked, but all of them were interesting.
• Juan Diego Florez: Una furtiva lagrima
• I just exported my library from iTunes, so I could link nice and easily to what I have, for swap purposes and the like. The xml file was bloody 20Mb, though, so I can't actually put it anywhere.
• IgSlut - I Think that would be interesting too. My idea for pairing was in case somebody was interested in learning more about Zydeco, but didn't know where to start, or whatever. either way works as far as I'm concerned, and finding something interesting in a place you never might have looked seems more likely in your scenario. How does it work in MeFi in terms of knowing who to send to?
• I'm well up for a CD swap ... The last track that blew me away was Ramblin Man by Lamb Chop which I got on a free CD last year and only listened to yesterday - I loved it so much that both their cds are winging their way to me right now courtesy of those lovely people at Amazon. Also on its way is Franz Ferdinand so I'm glad to see that 'checked here several times. Other than that I've mostly been listing to the 'my top rated' playlist on the ipod so it's been all old stuff ... But at the weekend the choir I'm in sang Mozart's Coronation Mass and I can't get that out of my head ... It's beautiful and also bonkers
• I can't say enough about Isan - Meet Next Life, it's so peaceful and melodic. Sroll about a third of the way down this Brainwashed.com link and read thier review, and listen to the sound clips.
• dickdotcom - I haven't heard much from the new Lambchop albums, but I highly reccomend you look into their back catalog. Is A Woman is an album for the ages, literally one of my top five CDs of all time. Also great is 'What Another Man Spills'. On a similar note, you might check out Josh Rouse who did an EP with Kurt Wagner (Lambchop's singer) a few years ago. Its great, as is Josh's solo stuff. Finally, both are super great live, if you ever get the opportunity.
• My favourite Lambchop album is How I Quit Smoking, for what its worth.
• califone's quicksand/cradlesnakes remains great, figurine's the heartfelt, cass mccomb's A, pell mell's interstate, explosions in the sky (everything, get your hands on it, but especially "the only moment we were alone," "once more to the afterlife," and "your hand in mine"), the brian jonestown massacre, the pooh sticks, david sylvian, the wrens, lift to experience, xiu xiu, richard youngs, and spokane. the last two have singles out on mp3 for free at jagjaguwar record's site; i recommend "oh my stars" and "temporary things." also, i will continue to rave about raoul's album post-meltdown friend because it's awesome. he's kind and you can download the album for free at his site. but please be gentle; i'm not sure what his bandwidth situation's like..."beauty variables," "blue lantern," "too little tall," and "teenage poetry" are my favorites. if you like it, he's got a new record coming out and support's always good.
• also, i will continue to rave about raoul's album post-meltdown friend because it's awesome. he's kind and you can download the album for free at his site. I've just listened to the first two songs, and you're right, its dead good. Cheers.
• I love The Black Keys Thickfreakness I've also been listening to PJ Harvey's Rid of Me and Turbonegro a lot. If a CD swap is happening, count me in.
• In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is constantly in my rotation, Shotsy. Christ, that album is gorgeous. I'd recommend almost anything Elephant 6 does to anyone, but Aeroplane is by far the best. I've also been listening to the Decemberists a lot lately. They're obviously hugely influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel, but pretty amazing in their own right. I saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind this week and loved it, and was inspired to go home and watch Bjork videos, which inspired me further to listen to her lots and lots. Also, Tom Waits is a god, the Walkmen's new album is excellent, and I've been listening to the Magnetic Fields more than usual.
• I'll just keep tooting my own horn here and suggest that you drop by me blog for a daily dose of new music, then check out the copious sidebar. Really, there's so many musicblogs out right now that there's no way to listen to just what comes out every day. Literally over a hundred tracks a day. I'm listening to back blogged music and riffling through my prince collection for an upcoming week of posting prince rarities, live bits and faves.
• I'm envisioning like, monkey mix disks -- a sort linear scheme where people send a mix disk to "the next person on the list". I want something more than just file sharing by postal service.
• (i find it kind of amusing that the threads with the most comments are inevitably those that are asking something personal. we monkeys love to talk about ourselves!) that said, on my rotation, as usual, tons o' sinatra, kirsty maccoll and a really great french gypsy jazz guitar disc i got on the champs elysse.
• boo_radley: I agree. I don't think the music exchange should be about getting free stuff so much as finding out about stuff you might not have had an ear to. A lot of the artist I would send out are not making a mint on their records, and I like to support them, so I would feel better if receivers went out and bought their own copies of artists they enjoy.
• shotsy : it's a deal. email me your mailing address & I'll send something out to you.
• I am so mainstream, urg. Okay. a) yes, I'm down for the CD swap -- I really need to find some new music. b) minda25, if you don't put the "http" part of the URL in, it'll automatically assume you're posting a link within MonkeyFilter. c) Current listening to Air's 10,000HZ Frequency, UNKLE's Psyence Fiction (*nods to armaghetto*), Daft Punk's Discovery, The Eels' Beautiful Freak, Che Fu's album (I forget the name; he's a NZ hiphop artist), and, tragically, Robbie Williams' The Ego Has Landed.
• The way I do it over yonder is, everyone says whether or not they want in, I list them, then put everyone into groups of 5-6. Everyone in a group sends a disk to everyone else in their group, and receives disks likewise. Then a thread is posted wherein people post their playlists (and coverart) and those that wish may request disks from people outside their group. next swap coms along, I do the same, only this time I take pains to form groups in such a way that each person does not have anyone from their first group in their second group. Thoughts? Provided the admin is not too onerous, I'd be happy to do something similar here. caveat: this entails giving me your mailing address, which is in turn given to the people in your group. To organize, I keep a database. That database will NOT get loose in the world, I guarantee it.
• shotsy: the MeFi swap is handled by Dreama and I'm sure that she'd be willing to share some details, but my understanding is as follows: 1. People sign up for the swap. 2. She groups them into 'swap sets' of six (I think). And sends the address information from that set to each member of the set. 3. ??? 4. Profit! Er, seriously: 3. The 'swap set' members create a CD and make five copies of it to send off to other 'swap set' members. 4. Wait for your CDs to roll in. ALSO: I vote no on the 'pass it on' idea, because I've been involved with that kind of thing and it always starts out great, but people in general are horrible about listening and then passing it on. The people toward the end of the list rarely see anything.
• That sounds a pretty sensible idea to me, Fes. Also, i'm perfectly willing to let you do all the work, too...
• I'm for letting Fes do the voodoo he do so well, seeing as it will take no effort on my part. Here Fes, have a [banana]. [on preview: what dng said]
• if he's not up for it, I can provide the hook-up.
• The MetaFilter model as described sounds better than what i had in mind. I am still willing to head it up, but if another prefers, I will be happy to simply participate.
• As I am not made of money and the postal service both confuses and terrifies me, I would be happier sending CDs within the UK. Would that be compatitable with your plans?
• Sign me up! By the way, Dreama has an excellent website set up for the MeFi swap- it looks like a great model.
• bbf : maybe we get (international/ same country) preferences when things get set up. But honestly, a CD mailer is not that expensive to send overseas.
• Dreama's site is great. Definately a good model which looks well regulated. I think that posting and keeping to a timetable is probably the most crucial factor in getting this to work. Without that, some might face motivational malfunctions. In terms of the international issue, I agree that its not excessively expensive, and it won't be happening every week, so the costs are relatively minimal. I think the international angle is one of the things I most look forward to. Hearing smaller bands from scenes I know nothing about...
• babywannasofa: I heartily agree re Tom Waits. But I have to confess that my main listening at the moment in the guilty pleasure of blasting Evanescense's Fallen and Hole's Celebrity Skin until the pain of a poorly documented API, WebSphere, and null pointer exceptions go away. Or I lose my hearing, one or t'other.
• Dave Douglas
• Tom Waits...Small Change....Yes!!! Right now, I've got a thing goin' on with Tool's 'Aenima', Bob Marley during the day 'cause I'm jonesin' for some warm, sunny weather, AC/DC's Back in Black because my 22 month old loves it, XTC's Skylarking.....good times, good times. And finally David Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive, I'm addicted to it.
• Darshon - 'Grass' from Skylarking was a high school anthem back in the day. Thanks for the flashback.
• Or are these my favorite songs?
• I have awful, awful taste in music. Sarah Brightman, Michael Ball, Michael Crawford, and most Andrew Llyod Weber musicals (although I quite loathed Sunset Boulevard) Currently listening to Emi Fujita's Camomile Extra every night. Also interested in Chinese music, Mandarin and Cantonese mainly. Sun Yanzi is a compatriot of whom I'm very proud, as she did very well in the last two years abroad and at home (she's on a one-year hiatus now). Mayday (Wu Yue Tian) from Taiwan is also a fav band.
• Tom Waits For No One Please, use this link for good, not evil.
• I've been all about the Cantopop for the past week, especially a duet that was the theme of a wuxia TV series in 95. Condor Heroes mmm...
• Alnedra: That's not awful taste in music, it's just a gay man's taste for show tunes. /stereotype.
• certain, if by good you mean "hype up like crazy in your blog", I will certainly use that for good.
• I've really been on a Ben Folds obsession recently. Both his newer solo work and his work with Ben Folds Five. I have every one of the albums, and I really can't get enough. If anyone could suggest any artist with a similar rock piano attitude - that would be great. In particular, My favourite is his song 'Brick', especially from the Live album. It's a really sad song about his girlfriend having an abortion... It really hits me hard.
• IgnorantSlut: Oh good. I can blame it on my best friend then. Except he really hates ALW.
• Ben Folds lives in Adelaide, SA, for some odd reason. I don't often see him at the market, or down the pub picking up a slab of Coopers, though.
• forkscolvetofu: I'm glad to see we understand each other bah: Ben Folds' solo album is fantastic; and I love Brick. Hits me like a ton of...
• certainsome1: thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.
• certainsome: that's fantastic: thanks ...
• Where do I sign up for this swap? Mainstream or obscure, it's fun to listen to a mix of mysterious new music. I'm totally geeked.
• Presently there does not seem to be any sign up system, but I don't want this to slip under the rug, so I think we should start organizing it. I have volunteered to organize it, as have several others. How we decide between the candidates I don't know.
• certainsome1, thank you. That Tom Waits link has made my day.
• Where by candidates I mean candidates to organize. Everybody who wants to take part is encouraged to do so, regardless of confidence in musical taste.
• Shotsy: Looks like you, boo and I have semi-volunteered to administer, though I don't know how we'd split the detailery. Dreama's website is perfect, but well beyond my meager webskills. Thoughts?
• Fes: I emailed dreama for tips, suggestions and approval of our theft. I hope to hear back from her sometime soon. My skills are modest in the coding area (i can do html through dreamweaver) but i can offer space for a devoted subsite at www.shotsy.com. I have been thinking about some basic points for a FAQ and can work that up today. I think a powersharing situation for administration would work well. we could even deem ourselves a trifecta if we wanted to. I doubt that any of us has too much free time, so I am glad to share some of the responsibility. In terms of direct sing-ups, we could accept them via email, then compile the list and finally break down the groups. People will have to trust that we will not abuse the information they provide us, and I will happily add my promise not to do so to the one you posted yesterday. It might be good for one of us to volunteer to collect info from people to begin in order to avoid confusion. I could see about setting up a hotmail specifically for that purpose or something so that none of our inboxes get flooded. Or a shotsy.com address, in order to hold more messages. Maybe we should start that in a new thread? I don't know. Thoughts? Boo: Assuming your offer still stands, I'd love to hear your thoughts on all this stuff.
• Definitely start a new thread, albeit after gleaning all the de facto signups from this one, I think. If an automated system can't be corked up in time, I'd be ok processing incoming to a deadline, then submitting names to you for address solicitation and grouping (my career as a (ahem) marketing exec might give someone pause as for handing me their info), leaving boo to handle during- and post-Swap name-checking and missing-disk haranguing? Also: thoughts on posting playlists and allowing requests for CDs from outside one's group?
• maybe tracicle could start a new thread in her blog for this? or hell,shotsy, just start emailin' people private-like and we'll hash things out.
• If we use shotsy.com space I could set up the messageboard software taht is part of the hosting. this could be used for posting/browsing playlists, requests, etc. If, for example, you find a playlist that you need to hear you could contact the creator and arrange a swap outside of the direct jurisdiction of the managers. obviously, i can't allow the space to be used for storage of copywritten files, but cover art, etc galleries might be a nice touch as well... fes: your division of responsibilities works for me.
• Fes: Also: thoughts on posting playlists and allowing requests for CDs from outside one's group? As for getting CDs outside one's group, combinatorics will take care of that -- people will move around in groups from time-period to time-period. Maybe they post playlists & others can swap after that, but it kinda takes away from the surprise factor I find so nifty. I'll do a full writeup tonight or tomorrow morning for all this.
• Late to the party, but I'm very interested in the music swap.
• shotsy, I can also offer some space on monkeyfilter.com, but I don't have the readymade message boards, only a fairly ugly thing called PHP-Nuke (which early Monkeys may recall). If you're happy hosting it on your server, though, that's cool. And yes, check my blog for a thread on the MonkeySwap.
• Well, I bought that Orchestre Baobab record today and it is truly fantastic. Next week, Laswell/Marley.
• *posts in wrong thread, curses mildly, also misspells "Orchestra Baobab". Recommendation stands, however, Specialist in all styles is a great record if you like to party Afro-style. The fact that 60% is sung in Wolof don't hurt none either*
• Rufus Wainwright on his new record, its sometimes apocalyptic vision, and the lyric that's causing a commotion.
• oooooooo, thank you! Listening to "Release the stars" right now. I could never love someone who didn't get RW ...
• Going to a Town