Friday, February 20, 2004
Notes on Moonlight Men - A Mix CD by Cocaine Bref
So we've been talking behind the scenes, the three of us here, about one of us making a mix cd each week, and having the other two write up their thoughts about it. I guess we're starting it up this week, with a cd Cocaine Bref put together. And oh boy, is it a good one. Anyway, here are some notes I jotted down last night, broken up track by track.
1. Homosexuals – “Astral Glamour”: Okay… starts off sounding like Tom Petty, kinda, or more like the Real Kids. But then they start singing and make it all melodious and all of a sudden it sounds like the Kinks. Real good song, here.
2. Sly and the Revolutionaries – “Cocaine”: a dub discourse on Coke Bref’s passion and vocation. I’m not too well versed on this sort of stuff, but it sounds good to me.
3. Animal Collective – “Infant Dressing Table”: Maybe the best song from Here Comes the Indian, “Infant Dressing Table” is the enchanting drone and mystic tremble of the Animal Collective at its most majestic. How the hell did I forget to put that on my stupid bullshit best of list?
4. Sonic Youth – “I am Right”: Rocking little Saccharine Trust cover. Never actually heard the Trust, but this is one great, pissy little punk song. Where did this come from, Coke?
5. Blackstar – “Another World”: As the Bref can tell you, I’m not the biggest rap fan. The only Mos Def I’ve ever heard is that song from that Michael Jordan clothing line ad that aired a few years back. And who’s the other dude here, Talib Kweli? Anyhow, this is pretty good. Makes me want to go get a drink. The music reminds me of something off Innervisions with a hip-hop beat. Was The Italian Job any good?
6. Circus Devils – “Soldiers of June”: Okay, I’ll defend Bob Pollard to my dying day; I would stand up and testify for him before God and St. Peter at the time of the Judgement Day; I would maybe even vote for him; but there’s no way in Hell I can sit here and say anything positive about this song. This is almost terrible enough to be good. Almost. This sounds like an ‘80’s solo project from the lead singer of a once popular ‘70’s classic rock band. It’s laughably awful.
7. Fridge – “OF”: Some good mellow electro-rock. If Trans Am played acoustic guitars and had ever grown up it would maybe sound like this. I like it when you can’t tell what’s played live and what’s been programmed or sampled. And, of course, I love the combination of a drum machine and a live drum sound, as formerly espoused by those perennial geniuses Tittyhawk.
8. Ween - “Tried and True”: I haven’t bought a Ween record since Chocolate and Cheese. The last time I was in Chattanooga I found a copy of Chocolate and Cheese for a dollar at Media Play. I paid fourteen bucks for my copy of Chocolate and Cheese at the Merchants Walk Media Play in 1994. Maybe I shoulda waited? Anyhow, this song’s off their last record, I guess, and it’s nice, a mellow little folk-rock tune with some slight electronic garnishing and a subtle psychedelic flair. Well, it’s subtle until he sings “let me blow your mind”, which proceeds to briefly reverberate throughout the canyon of interdimensional discovery. They’re still doing the studio tricks on the vocals, I take it. There are some great lyrics on this song, and it’s good to see that their humor has advanced at least somewhat beyond shit, drugs, and dick jokes. Musically this sounds like Beck’s last album, while the words sound like something Jack Black would have written. This one’s a winner, boy.
9. The Homosexuals – “Soft Sooth African (Slow)”: Another catchy, melodic postpunk/protoindie rock song from these guys. There’s a great dueling fuzz guitar solo ninety seconds or so in. They were really good with backup vocals.
10. Oneida – “$50 Tea”: One of the more traditional Oneida songs off of Secret Wars. Pummeling repetitive psychostasis in the vein of Each One Teach One. A beaut, for sure. Oneida makes my fiance violent.
11. Bobby Conn – “Relax”: A little bit of Bobby Conn’s lite cabaret disco funk could circle the Earth a handful of times, easily. I like this shit for a minute or so, and then I realize that there’s absolutely nothing to it beyond the novelty and I rapidly get bored as fuck. But for that first minute or so Bobby Conn is pretty damned awesome. I think this song is about doing lines off a Bible alongside our present Commander in Chief, but I’m not sure.
12. The Birthday Party – “Cry”: Great stuff from the Australian Fall. The only good thing about working under Rik Wallace back in ’98 was hearing him tell his story about Nick Cave and his pregnant junkie wife. Anyway, “Cry” is excellent. I appreciate some of Cave’s work with the Bad Seeds, but the Birthday Party so completely destroys that stuff that it’s not funny.
13. Dizzee Rascal – “Hold Ya Mouf”: British rapper, and next new burgeoning big shit indie hip hop star. Again, not necessarily my sort of thing, but his thick accent does make it interesting. At least one amazing lyric: “it’s possible you will get hit with a chair”.
14. Gregory Isaacs – “Nigger”: More dub. It’s dubby. I like it, but this stuff all sounds the same.
15. Acid Mothers Temple – “Diamond Doggy Peggy”: Speaking of sounding the same, here’s a song from Acid Mothers Temple. They’re one of those bands who basically has three great songs, and every thing they do is a rewrite of one of the three. No problem with that, though, since most of what they do is built on drone and constant chaos. Here’s fifteen more minutes of mind-rotting, cosmos-collapsing madness from the greatest heavy psych band around. A good way to round out the disc, Coke.
Yes sir. A good mix, fellow. Thanks for the disc, and keep up the good work.
So we've been talking behind the scenes, the three of us here, about one of us making a mix cd each week, and having the other two write up their thoughts about it. I guess we're starting it up this week, with a cd Cocaine Bref put together. And oh boy, is it a good one. Anyway, here are some notes I jotted down last night, broken up track by track.
1. Homosexuals – “Astral Glamour”: Okay… starts off sounding like Tom Petty, kinda, or more like the Real Kids. But then they start singing and make it all melodious and all of a sudden it sounds like the Kinks. Real good song, here.
2. Sly and the Revolutionaries – “Cocaine”: a dub discourse on Coke Bref’s passion and vocation. I’m not too well versed on this sort of stuff, but it sounds good to me.
3. Animal Collective – “Infant Dressing Table”: Maybe the best song from Here Comes the Indian, “Infant Dressing Table” is the enchanting drone and mystic tremble of the Animal Collective at its most majestic. How the hell did I forget to put that on my stupid bullshit best of list?
4. Sonic Youth – “I am Right”: Rocking little Saccharine Trust cover. Never actually heard the Trust, but this is one great, pissy little punk song. Where did this come from, Coke?
5. Blackstar – “Another World”: As the Bref can tell you, I’m not the biggest rap fan. The only Mos Def I’ve ever heard is that song from that Michael Jordan clothing line ad that aired a few years back. And who’s the other dude here, Talib Kweli? Anyhow, this is pretty good. Makes me want to go get a drink. The music reminds me of something off Innervisions with a hip-hop beat. Was The Italian Job any good?
6. Circus Devils – “Soldiers of June”: Okay, I’ll defend Bob Pollard to my dying day; I would stand up and testify for him before God and St. Peter at the time of the Judgement Day; I would maybe even vote for him; but there’s no way in Hell I can sit here and say anything positive about this song. This is almost terrible enough to be good. Almost. This sounds like an ‘80’s solo project from the lead singer of a once popular ‘70’s classic rock band. It’s laughably awful.
7. Fridge – “OF”: Some good mellow electro-rock. If Trans Am played acoustic guitars and had ever grown up it would maybe sound like this. I like it when you can’t tell what’s played live and what’s been programmed or sampled. And, of course, I love the combination of a drum machine and a live drum sound, as formerly espoused by those perennial geniuses Tittyhawk.
8. Ween - “Tried and True”: I haven’t bought a Ween record since Chocolate and Cheese. The last time I was in Chattanooga I found a copy of Chocolate and Cheese for a dollar at Media Play. I paid fourteen bucks for my copy of Chocolate and Cheese at the Merchants Walk Media Play in 1994. Maybe I shoulda waited? Anyhow, this song’s off their last record, I guess, and it’s nice, a mellow little folk-rock tune with some slight electronic garnishing and a subtle psychedelic flair. Well, it’s subtle until he sings “let me blow your mind”, which proceeds to briefly reverberate throughout the canyon of interdimensional discovery. They’re still doing the studio tricks on the vocals, I take it. There are some great lyrics on this song, and it’s good to see that their humor has advanced at least somewhat beyond shit, drugs, and dick jokes. Musically this sounds like Beck’s last album, while the words sound like something Jack Black would have written. This one’s a winner, boy.
9. The Homosexuals – “Soft Sooth African (Slow)”: Another catchy, melodic postpunk/protoindie rock song from these guys. There’s a great dueling fuzz guitar solo ninety seconds or so in. They were really good with backup vocals.
10. Oneida – “$50 Tea”: One of the more traditional Oneida songs off of Secret Wars. Pummeling repetitive psychostasis in the vein of Each One Teach One. A beaut, for sure. Oneida makes my fiance violent.
11. Bobby Conn – “Relax”: A little bit of Bobby Conn’s lite cabaret disco funk could circle the Earth a handful of times, easily. I like this shit for a minute or so, and then I realize that there’s absolutely nothing to it beyond the novelty and I rapidly get bored as fuck. But for that first minute or so Bobby Conn is pretty damned awesome. I think this song is about doing lines off a Bible alongside our present Commander in Chief, but I’m not sure.
12. The Birthday Party – “Cry”: Great stuff from the Australian Fall. The only good thing about working under Rik Wallace back in ’98 was hearing him tell his story about Nick Cave and his pregnant junkie wife. Anyway, “Cry” is excellent. I appreciate some of Cave’s work with the Bad Seeds, but the Birthday Party so completely destroys that stuff that it’s not funny.
13. Dizzee Rascal – “Hold Ya Mouf”: British rapper, and next new burgeoning big shit indie hip hop star. Again, not necessarily my sort of thing, but his thick accent does make it interesting. At least one amazing lyric: “it’s possible you will get hit with a chair”.
14. Gregory Isaacs – “Nigger”: More dub. It’s dubby. I like it, but this stuff all sounds the same.
15. Acid Mothers Temple – “Diamond Doggy Peggy”: Speaking of sounding the same, here’s a song from Acid Mothers Temple. They’re one of those bands who basically has three great songs, and every thing they do is a rewrite of one of the three. No problem with that, though, since most of what they do is built on drone and constant chaos. Here’s fifteen more minutes of mind-rotting, cosmos-collapsing madness from the greatest heavy psych band around. A good way to round out the disc, Coke.
Yes sir. A good mix, fellow. Thanks for the disc, and keep up the good work.
