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Thursday , November 12, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Slant 6, Nitzer Ebb, Young and Restless, White Magic, ELO, Curt Boettcher

Slant 6, "Double Edged Knife"

Slant 6 was part of a whole DC scene that probably was my gateway drug into punk; I came up into it through DIY and Dischord, which probably accounts for a certain independent take on cultural production that I like, my entry into zines, an initial exposure to riot grrrl and, in some oblique way, the very existence of nogoodforme.com. Sometimes it's just nice to revisit those things that got you doing whatever you've been doing, just so you can look back and marvel just how far that energy has taken you. I actually remember buying the freakin' cassette that this song is off of, Soda Pop-Rip Off, at the only really cool record store in Durham, NC. (Poindexter Records, RIP!) I was intrigued because they were on Dischord and, as far as I knew at the time, were the only girls on that label. (Autoclave had not yet crossed my radar. We all have to begin somewhere!) Of course I had to buy it, and I remember the record store clerk, who was cute and had one of those floppy skater boy haircuts so prevalent in the early 90s, was like, "Hey, this is a cool band" in this condescending voice which made me think he was not that cute anymore. But the dork was right; they were a cool band, and this is still a cool record. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: Slant 6, Nitzer Ebb, Young and Restless, White Magic, ELO, Curt Boettcher"

Tags: beauty, being back, cemeteries, chanting, condescending record store clerks, Curt Boettcher, dads, death, Electric Light Orchestra, grunge, haunted boats, John Lennon, Nitzer Ebb, Perfect Laura Jane Pop Songs, pumpkin spice lattes, riot grrrl, Satan, self-love, Slant 6, t-shirts, Thurston Moore is the Ringo Starr of nogoodforme.com, White Magic, zines

Thursday , November 5, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Disco Fries, Hall & Oates, Kurt Vile, Dizzee Rascal, Busta Rhymes, Mary Hopkin

Disco Fries, "Body Move"

The Disco Fries are currently dancefloor remix monsters, making Top 40 songs palatable and bootytastic for the pulsating club masses. I really don't have much to say about "Body Move" that will shed light or expand upon its artistic and aesthetic qualities; it pretty much speaks for itself, from the practical barebones title to the racy, mildly offensive lyrics to the rubbery electrobeat that makes you want to buh-BUH-buh-BUH like a dumb, happy drunk person. Dance music can legitimately judged solely on its utilitarian purpose, and "Body Move" just works in that respect. It gets you going on the dancefloor, and that's all you really need for a song like this. And any group that names themselves after poutine gets a plus in my book, although I wish they actually wrote disco songs about poutine. My life is so incomplete. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: Disco Fries, Hall & Oates, Kurt Vile, Dizzee Rascal, Busta Rhymes, Mary Hopkin"

Tags: Better Than The Beatles, buh-BUH-buh-BUH, Busta Rhymes, Disco Fries, Dizzee Rascal, Facebook husbands, Hall and Oates, Kurt Vile, Laura loves the Beatles, Lion bars, Mary Hopkins, Paul McCartney, Pillz the Cat, poutine, soul twins, The Ting Tings, Twitter

Wednesday , October 28, 2009

Heavy Rotation, Special Edition: Songs About Ghosts By Kristin Hersh, Madonna, Queens of the Stone Age, R. Dean Taylor, Friedberger, Donovan

Kristin Hersh, "Your Ghost"

OF COURSE I'm going to put this song on a special ghost-themed Heavy Rotation...this is like the best fucking ghost-themed song of all time, if only for its spectral beauty and haunted vocal. Sometimes I feel like I am the one doing obvious shit on nogoodforme 'cause I like to cover bases and have a pretty classical temperament anyway, but in this case it is entirely worth it 'cause the song is so gorgeous. I always get goosebumps when she performs it live (this is one of my favorite YouTube performances) but the official recording has that Michael Stipe vocal that is so spooky-good. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation, Special Edition: Songs About Ghosts By Kristin Hersh, Madonna, Queens of the Stone Age, R. Dean Taylor, Friedberger, Donovan"

Tags: animals, Atlantis, chipmunks, Donovan, dudes dressed like Jesus, Friedberger, ghosts, Hallowe'en, Kristin Hersh, Madonna, making out, mixtapes, porcupines, Queens of the Stone Age, synchronized foot stomping, The Fall, The Puppy/Goldfish Ramones, the sexiest scary song ever

Wednesday , October 21, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Nine Inch Nails, Bjork, Don McLean, Karen O and The Kids, The Kinks, Sloan

Nine Inch Nails, "That's What I Get"

God, I feel like my two selections for Heavy Rotation this week are SO EARLY 90s ALTERNATEEN. Luckily, I don't give two fucks! Being an actual early 90s alternateen was one of the best things that ever happened to me! I'm putting this song here because yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the release of Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. I would have entirely not noted this except that it was a trending topic on Twitter, which is pretty much how I know anything is happening in the world these days. I actually kind of hated this record when it came out 'cause I was all "It's not HARD enough!" But then I realized Trent Reznor wrote great pop songs that he gussied up with industrial/punk sounds -- nearly every song on Pretty Hate Machine got stuck in my head at some point or another, which is kind of hilarious considering some of the lyrics that would run through my brain: "I'D RATHER DIE THAN GIVE YOU CONTROL!" And the record kind of annoyed my parents, which was great at the time. (Although now in retrospect it puzzles me that they would choose this record to complain about, considering that I was also listening to shit like Revolting Cocks and what not. Maybe they just didn't understand what Al Jourgensen was singing half the time?) Now my former Twitter boyfriend is a married man and mellowing out and, wow, isn't it amazing where life takes you? Trent, wouldn't you agree? (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: Nine Inch Nails, Bjork, Don McLean, Karen O and The Kids, The Kinks, Sloan"

Tags: Bjork, Bob & Terry, Canada, Don Draper, emotional manipulation, Karen O, knock-knock jokes, Laura loves the Kinks, Mad Men, Neilers, Nine Inch Nails, owls, Raymond Douglas Davies, sexist assholes, Sloan, Television, The Strokes, Trent Reznor, Twitter, Where The Wild Things Are

Thursday , October 15, 2009

Heavy Rotation: The Konki Duet, The Raveonettes, The Freelance Hellraiser, The Gun Club, The Beastie Boys, The Idle Race

The Konki Duet, "How could I not like you?"

The Konki Duet are actually three very smart, very charming girls from very cool cities like Tokyo, Paris and St. Petersburg. I actually think of them in my mind as the nogoodforme house band, because we are three very smart, very charming girls from three different cities as well, and isn't that just a lovely parallel? Some of their songs sound like what I imagine a band that Liz, Laura Jane and I would make if we weren't too busy plotting Impending Total World Domination and/or giggling over cupcakes and tequila shots. But enough about us! The Konki Duet make really wonderful, brilliant pop music: there's sweetness to it, but with a kind of wry humor and matter-of-fact sexiness that makes it everything but twee. Combined with a very precise, intricate sense of musicianship and voila! Why are you not trying to download every single song they have on the Internet right now, for Christ's sake? They have a new digital EP, Ensemble, that you can get off iTunes or Amazon, which I suggest that you do, 'cause it's so fucking good. They have two full-lengths out, Il fait tout gris and Mountain Mouton, that I also suggest you hunt down; it's worth the effort for music that's as intelligent and lovely as you are. And to spread a bit more of the Konki Duet gospel, guitarist Zoe does some pretty wicked covers, including Outkast's "So Fresh, So Clean" and one of Animal Collective's "My Girls" that I actually prefer more than the original. (Sacrilege, I know, but it's so hard to be a musical genius like Zoe...they're always upstaging everything but their own material. Le sigh!) This particular song is a bit more stripped-down than their usual modus operandi, but the lyrics are so brilliantly "THIS IS SO SCARILY AND AWESOMELY MY LIFE" that it just needed to be shared with you all. I kind of hope it's your life as well. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: The Konki Duet, The Raveonettes, The Freelance Hellraiser, The Gun Club, The Beastie Boys, The Idle Race"

Tags: Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, Bored Melancholy, Courtney Love, dudes are disgusting, Elizabeth Barker, fire, Kat Asharya, Laura Jane Faulds, making out, Paul McCartney, PJ Harvey, sexy-creepy, The Freelance Hellraiser, The Gun Club, The Idle Race, The Konki Duet, The Raveonettes, The Strokes, Their Satanic Majesties Request, Wes Anderson, world domination

Wednesday , October 7, 2009

Heavy Rotation: HEALTH, 2Pac, Girls Against Boys, Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, Betty Davis, the Slits

HEALTH, "Die Slow"

This song makes me want to dance like a banshee and smash my body into a wall of concrete at the same time. I think these are oddly healthy sentiments, actually. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: HEALTH, 2Pac, Girls Against Boys, Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, Betty Davis, the Slits"

Tags: aggression, Betty Davis, Girls Against Boys, HEALTH, How Do You Sleep?, lounge music, mango raspberry cheesecake, nihilism, Rammellzee, The Slits, Tupac Shakur

Thursday , October 1, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Little Dragon, Fever Ray, Nirvana, John Maus, Blur, Selda

Little Dragon, "Thunder Love"

In my ongoing exploration of spiritual Scandinavia, it is totally natural to get obsessed with the music coming out of the area -- it's where the mysterious pagan mythological element of the culture comes through best. At the moment, though, it's really only about Gothenburg, Sweden for me. I don't know what they put in the water, but any area that can nurture and give rise to the Knife, Jens Lekman, Sally Shapiro, Jose Gonzalez, El Perro del Mar AND Hammerfall AND Ace of Base has got to be a kind of strange, magical place. Little Dragon does a particularly witchy kind of synthpop, and they're blessed with Swedish-Japanese vocalist Yukimi Nagano, who can twist a lyric into a sexy kind of bitterness. (By the way, being Swedish-Japanese sounds like the right combination for some of the most beautiful people ever made, doesn't it?) Little Dragon has a new record, Machine Dreams, coming out later in October on Peacefrog, and it's totally danceable, spectral, a strange combination of mysterious and upbeat that should make for perfect fall-into-winter listening. I want to listen to it as my plane touches down in Stockholm, flying through the northern lights. (Kat)

+ Continue reading "Heavy Rotation: Little Dragon, Fever Ray, Nirvana, John Maus, Blur, Selda"

Tags: Blur, depression, fall, Fever Ray, Gothenburg, huffing WD-40, John Maus, Little Dragon, Nirvana, punk rock, Selda, spiritually Scandinavian, Sweden, The Public Jerkers, Turkey, Zac Efron

Thursday , August 27, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Modern Folk Quartet, Q'65, Bridget St John

Sigue Sigue Sputnik, "Love Missile F1-11"

Sophomore year of college, my roommate and I had this problem where we never wanted to go to our Tuesday-Thursday morning Intro to Art History class. "How can we possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" we'd ask when it was so blue-skied and sunny out. "How can we possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" we'd ask when it was raining cats and dogs. "How can we possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" we'd ask when it was lightly drizzling with intermittent sunshine. "How can we possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" we'd ask when there was nothing remarkable about the weather whatsoever. Anyway, the reason I'm sharing this is "Love Missile F1-11" is the song playing in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Ferris draws the curtains and asks the viewer "How can I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" Remember that part? I forgot to include it in my "All-Time Top 5 Fave Songs Discovered Via John Hughes Movies" post, which was silly, since it's one of my fave movie-music moments evs. Sometimes I feel like I'd really McCartney the hell out of music supervision, but then I think about Ferris singing "Danke Schoen" in the shower as Sigue Sigue Sputnik blares in the background and realize I never would've thought of that. (Liz)

Modern Folk Quartet, "This Could Be the Night"

Basically posting this as a reminder that I need to spend more time eating Red Vines and drinking Diet Coke at midnight on Sundays while listening to "This Could Be the Night" at the start of Rodney on the Roq, as well as getting coffee and chocolate rugelach really late at Canter's while chickening out on saying hi to Rodney. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful songs in all of the world. (Liz)

Q'65, "I Was Young"

This song's vibe is unique unto itself. It is sultry and lazy, like swishing hips. I swish my hips to "I Was Young" daily, squinting through the sunshine, baby autumn breeze breezing, past the museum, on my way home. It's a downer, in a good way, like Quaaludes. I am young. (Laura Jane)

Bridget St John, "To B Without A Hitch"

I've been really jazzed on '60s girl folk this week, and nobody does it better than Bridget St John. Just ask the ghost of dead John Peel! Dandelion Records is my second-favourite record label, after Immediate Records. I wouldn't listen to this song while walking down the street; if I did, I'd fall asleep on my feet! I like to hear it very late, 2 AM- right before bedtime, like milk & cookies, curled up next to my record player, heavy-lidded on hardwood. Bridget St John sounds like Nico, only with a more positive attitude. She's "Nico But Nicer." If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be "a buttercup sandwich." (Laura Jane)

Tags: art history, Bridget St John, college, cutting class, Dandelion Records, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Immediate Records, John Hughes, John Peel, milk and cookies, Nico but Nicer, Q'65, red licorice, Rodney Bingenheimer, weather

Thursday , August 13, 2009

Heavy Rotation: Cass McCombs, Atari Teenage Riot, Jeanette, and more

Cass McCombs, "Lionkiller Got Married"

I constantly wrote off Cass McCombs as "One of Those Dudes That Pitchfork Creams Their Pants Over All the Time." I do this because I'm perverse and grumpy and take great joy in ranking on a behemoth like Pitchfork. But enough! I fully embrace Cass McCombs. Why not? He's clever, impenetrable at times and a dandy of a dresser: all fine qualities in a young man. This song is so captivating that I completely reworked my Superlative Wedding for it. I have now decided that I want this song playing as I am roped down the aisle on the day of my shotgun wedding. I want the lyric "The more I kill, the more I love" scrawled on the train of my pearl-encrusted dress. And when he gets to the part about "I feel sorry for that kid / He had potential / I mean it, I really do," I'm going to light up a firework and let it explode in slow-motion. And when the smoke clears, I'll be gone, leaving behind only a trail of lace and the smell of L'Air du Temps. End scene, cut to highway, a convertible flying down the road, and rose petals littering the air and dust. (Kat)

Metric, "Patriarch on a Vespa"

Here's a true snapshot: as I write this, I am sitting in the Ancient and Medieval Studies room at the main library at the university which I attend. It is late and there are the most beautifully bound books written in ancient Greek surrounding me. These are the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Despite the talismanic nature of these volumes, it does not prevent this creepy old dude from lurking around and giving me the outright willies. He's got stringy long hair, a baseball cap (fashion faux pas!) and a Oktoberfest t-shirt. How dare he disrespect the scholarly atmosphere, the great protocols of academia, the halcyon rooms of pure learning! (And how the hell does a loser like him get in when I pay tuition to come here?) I am so indignant, not to mention slightly freaked out. However, because I am listening to "Patriarch on a Vespa," I feel armored and protected. Metric will give you what Aeschylus and Anaximenes and Herodotus will not: their songs will always arm you with defiance and ideas. This song in particular has its sharp little teeth bared, and I hope you join me in its crusade to stop fixing shit and start breaking it, beginning with one creepy old dude at a time. (Kat)

Wings, "Mrs. Vandebilt"

In keeping with the theme of the week, I was gonna post Wings' "Mamunia" (aka my 26th favorite L.A. song ever). But then I remembered I love "Mrs. Vandebilt" 27 times more than "Mamunia," so I decided to post that instead. So there you go. (Liz)

Atari Teenage Riot, "Deutschland (Has Gotta Die!)"

As evidenced by the above blurb, right now I am so overworked, overtired, overcaffeinated; my brain = House of Bonkers. In fact, if you were crack open my head right this second (PLEASE DON'T!!!), I bet the sound that would come out would be just like this. (Liz)

Forever Amber, "Silly Sunshine"

Five Augusts ago, I lived in a tacky high-rise in a boring college town with my then-boyfriend. It was sweet- young love! Young love, and a computer. That summer, I spent the bulk of my time downloading mediocre 60s psych albums off of Soulseek, hoping and praying that I'd score into an album track as minorly catchy as "Silly Sunshine" by Forever Amber. This song can best be described as "fair-ish," or perhaps, "no great shakes," but, like, it's about ten trillion times better than the rest of their album, which, stupidly, is called Love Cycle. I don't recommend it. But I like getting the words "Silly Sunshine" stuck in my head as I wander around the world. You can't beat a nice slice of alliteration, and it's all just so fun and positive and I love the summertime and YEAHHHH!!!!!!!! (Laura Jane)

Jeanette, "Porque Te Vas"

It is OUT OF THIS WORLD how huge of a babe Jeanette was! If I had total control over the time-space-television show continuum, I would make it so that she was a character on Mad Men. She and Draper would have a sexy affair; it would be miraculous. This is one of those songs that everybody in the world loves, because it epitomizes the concept of "hot babe sexiness," and who doesn't love hot babe sexiness? Fucking losers, that's who. This song makes me want to go to a bar that doesn't exist and have dudes in Thom Browne suits get in fistfights over who's going to buy me my next Scarlett O'Hara. I would ignore all of them, and entertain myself by tying maraschino cherry stems into knots in my mouth. Learning to do that is my #3 goal in life. (LJ)

Tags: 60s psych, Atari Teenage Riot, Barker Breaks Down, bonkersness, caffeine, Cass McCombs, Deutschland, Don Draper, downloading music, hot babe sexiness, imaginary movies, Los Angeles, maraschino cherries, matrimony, Metric, Paul McCartney, Thom Browne suits, time-space continuum, weddings, Wings

Thursday , August 6, 2009

Heavy Rotation: The Only Ones, Eagles of Death Metal, Katie Briggs

The Only Ones, "Lovers Of Today"

To be honest, I really wanted to put the new Arctic Monkeys song "Crying Lightning" on here, because it's so damn catchy that I have to listen to it about a million times a day. But I don't want to do that, because I'm feeling perverse and I hate that I like the song and the Arctic Monkeys don't need me to tell you that their new song is super-addictive. The Arctic Monkeys don't need nogoodforme at all! So, instead: the Only Ones! This is "archival," meaning it's vintage and old and semi-obscure and will probably be a nugget of information you can squirrel away, should you just be beginning to collect nuggets of information about late 70s British bands. They wrote a lot of good songs that have been covered by the likes of the Replacements, Yo La Tengo and a bunch of others. Their one hit was called "Another Girl, Another Planet," and while that one is anthemic and fun and a great title, this is actually my favorite song by them, because it sounds like it could be the offspring of Cheap Trick and the Fire Engines. This is, of course, the best thing in sound that could ever exist, ever. Actually, no, that would actually be if King Tubby got to produce Joy Division, but you can't have everything -- although one could argue that Martin Hannett was the King Tubby of post-punk, I suppose. Discuss. (Kat)

Urge Overkill, "Emmaline"

It was really fun to grow up near Chicago in the 90s -- it has basically ensured a useless but encyclopedic knowledge of industrial music would forever be lodged in my brain, AND it afforded me the pleasure of sighting Al Jourgensen at a Dunkin' Donuts once. They were never my favorite Chicago band, but it was undeniably fun occasionally seeing the dudes of Urge Overkill lurking about town back then. Dressed in natty suits, they were pretty dapper in a time of grunge (i.e., the anti-dapper) and had an air of danger about them, mostly 'cause they lived in Humboldt Park, a 'hood notoriously full of gangs and drugs at that time. (You'd say someone lived near Humboldt Park and there would be this awed hush reaction: "Dude, that's rough. Rough.") But if you willfully forgot what they looked like, you could have totally imagined this being a Screaming Trees song or something. Screaming Trees being the one of two grunge bands that Goths can love without compromising their Gothiness (the other being Alice in Chains), of course I'm on board for "Emmaline," which is heavy and dark and brood-y in a super-glam way. (Kat)

Eagles of Death Metal, "I'm Your Torpedo"

My role model for this week is Kenickie from Grease; whenever anyone asks what I want to eat I'm gonna say "A eskimo pie, with a knife!", and it'll be so hot. SPEAKING OF HOT!: Could "I'm Your Torpedo" be any scorchier? I'm scared it's gonna singe my skin off. It sounds like Kenickie from Grease, so that's why I picked it. Also: In an alternate universe LJ and I were talking about "What's your favorite boner-referencing lyric?" and if we'd been discussing album titles instead I totes would've said Heart On by EODM. So there you go. (Liz)

Tricky, "Keep Your Mouth Shut"

This song is cool cuz it samples both "Dedicated" by Das EFX and "You've Been Flirting Again" by Bjork. Moreover, "If the honeys think I'm stuck up, I tell 'em shut the fuck up" is a really good way to live. (Liz)

The Beatles, "Something" (Anthology Version)

The most beautiful Beatles love song. When I talk about "sincere,"and how good of a thing "sincerity" is, what I mean is the way his voice sounds here. (LJ)

Katie Briggs, "Green Power"

Katie Briggs is the scrappiest-sounding female vocalist I've ever heard. Emotional breakdown-inducingly, there are no images of Katie Briggs on the entire Internet. I have been trying to find a picture of Katie Briggs on the Internet since I was nineteen years old. It doesn't exist. It is a lost cause, lost to time. I picture her as looking as orphantastic as Diana Ross on the cover of Diana Ross, only with more Band-Aids, bruises, and blood. And freckles. I like that the "green" in this song refers to "money," not "environmentalism." I even forgive it for not being about weed! My favourite part is when she goes "Black Power- I done had some," so sassy. On the day I am able to say the sentence "Black Power- I done had some" and have it be true, I will know, then and only then, that I did a good job at life after all. (Laura Jane)

Tags: being adorably lewd, Bjork, Black Power, Das EFX, Eagles of Death Metal, emotional breakdowns, eskimos, George Harrison, Grease, Katie Briggs, love songs, scrappiness, sincerity, The Beatles, Tricky

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