Tuesday , July 20, 2010
Heavy Rotation: The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Black Flag, Del Shannon, and more!
The Phenomenal Handclap Band, "Testimony"
Straight outta Brooklyn, the Phenomenal Handclap Band are a mix between a collective and a supergroup. Started by two NYC DJ dudes who know a bunch of with-it people in bands you may have heard of, they got their groovy friends to play on songs that combines psych, prog, electro, disco and 60s-type soul in a surprisingly smooth, cohesive and totally danceable way. Their record just came out and I can already tell it's going to be my summer soundtrack to a ridiculous degree. There are about 55 flavors of groove and this record has about 23 of them, probably because there are about 31 people contributing from bands as varied as L'Trimm, TV on the Radio, Calla, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Dap-Kings, Antibalas and about 17 more others. (Um, all numbers are arbitrary, of course.) This track features the hot dude from Calla on vocals and a hot dude from TV on the Radio and is pretty much the most makeout-friendly one on the record. We're all about nontraditional hotness at nogoodforme, but this is hot in a "hotness is hotness is hotness" kind of way. This song is built for sexiness, and if this doesn't incinerate your knickers, there's no way I can help you in life and you need to get your loins checked. (Kat)
The Elcados, "Ku Mi Da Hankan"
I don't know what was in the water in 1970s Nigeria, but it must have been incredibly awesome, judging from all the amazing compilations documenting the music scene back then and there. Combining the tropes of 60s rock with Afrobeat and highlife? I can't think of anything better, outside of the second coming of Biggie Smalls and a hot dude appearing on my doorstep with a huge bag of cash for me to make movies with. (Dude, I'm waiting.) A few weeks ago I picked up Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz Funk in 1970s Nigeria and it pretty much rocks. This is the crown jewel of the compilation; I love how it begins all lilting and laidback and then gets all psych-y and rock-y about two minutes in. The other tracks are all pretty fantastic as well, and it's worth getting the actual CD for the extensive liner notes. Perfect party starter right here, dudes. (Kat)
Debbie Harry, "French Kissin' in the USA"
This song's about the best thing there is to do in summertime, apart from river-tubing. (Liz)
Black Flag, "Wasted"
After river-tubing and French-kissing in the United States of America, the next best thing to do in summertime is get wasted. (In truth: I actually never get wasted, as I find severely unsober people to be completely hideous - though I do like to hit the halfway-wasted mark every now and again.) "Wasted" was the first song I heard in 2009; some band I never caught the name of played an okay cover right after midnight at Death By Audio's New Year's party. Now we're more than five months into 2009 and I've come so far since that night: today the lyrics "I was a surfer" and "I had a skateboard" BOTH apply to me, whereas before it was just the latter. Another great thing about this song is that sometimes I see Keith Morris walking past Tang's Donuts and I think, "Hi. You sang 'Wasted.' That is cool." (Liz)
Del Shannon, "Gemini"
It's Gemini season! This time of year is awesome for me because everyone in my life is a Gemini, so I always have fun stuff to do- every weekend is a BFF B-Day Fest! Gems are attracted to me because, as I have alluded to on nogoodforme.com before, I have a gift for Geminis. This is because I am a Cancemini, so, even though I'm not one of them, I get it. Geminis dig Laura Jane because I have a special, magic gift for keeping their creepy Gemini Others at bay. It's my Cancerian maternal instinct- I take good care of them. Even though they are all crazy obliv to their crazy other halves, on some subconcious level they know that sometimes they turn weird and life sucks, so having me around is a real asset; it's not gonna happen. In other news, The Further Adventures of Charles Westover is a fantabulous lite-psych lost classic, and "Gemini" is an easy, breezy, groovy love song dedicated to everybody's favourite astrological Jekyll and Hydes. On my end, this song is dedicated to Trevor, Jenn, Lexy, Katie Rose, and LFG, the greatest Gem gems a girl could ever ask for. (Laura Jane)
Paul McCartney & Wings, "Big Barn Bed"
Out of all the past lives I have lived so far, my favorite is definitely the one I lived twelve lives ago, between 1902 and 1953. I was Becky, in Kansas, on the dairy farm. My Daddy was rich, and my Mama was good-lookin'. So was I. I wore my sun-bleached yellow hair in two plaits, smelled of Talcum powder, and tied a lacy little apron over my cornflower-blue gingham frock. My pony was a Palomino named Astrid Mildred. I will never forget that one fateful summer of 1922, when I had a sexy, scandalous affair with Joe- our bulky, illiterate farmhand. He had one grey eye and one hazel, and a delicate palmful of freckles sprinkled atop his Roman nose. It was such trouble hiding the whole tryst from Pop; we lived for the weekends when he'd take the Model T to Topeka to visit his kin. Joe and I would make moonlit love upon bales of hay, then stay up 'til sunrise eating corn-pone and blackberry jam in the barn. I will never listen to "Big Barn Bed" by Paul McCartney & Wings without recalling that summer, my last before Dr. Conrad Willoughby III of Wichita made an honest woman outta me. (Laura Jane)
Tags: affairs, Becky, Black Flag, cornpone, Debbie Harry, Del Shannon, farms, french kissing, Geminis, getting wasted, incinerating underwear, L.A. rules, Laura Jane's Gemini Gift, lite-psych, Nigeria, past lives, Paul McCartney, summertime, surfing, Tang's Donuts, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Topeka, Wichita, Wings
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Posted by Kat in Heavy Rotation |
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