Personally, I blame Dachau for this.

I got a friend who has raved about Low every now and then. Upon finding this album on sale at the local record store I quickly asked him and asked if this would be a good starting point to the band. The reply I got was "Not really...", but by then my mind was already made up. Drums and Guns it was! 

The album strikes a very percussive, minimalistic tone that matches the cover. Experimentation with glitchy beats and guitar feedback. Some of the songs even remind me of Einstürzende Neubauten in their slower moments. Which is a good thing. I'm enjoying Drum and Guns quite a bit, it's a very singular album but they work hard on exploring as many aspects of that one sound as possible. 

Favourite tune is the last track, a beautiful hymn of distortion called Violent Past. 

Post for the leftovers.

Here's some records I've picked up over these last months and never gotten around to make proper posts for. Shame on me!

Quite easily the best Swedish pop album (alongside Lykke Li) of the year, this far.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong

In which TPoBPaH indulge their inner Siamese Dream fandom. Good indie.

Remember Just Dance? Before Bad Romance, before Pokerface, before all the crazy interviews, outfits, stage shows? Seems like so long ago now, doesn't it?

Some cheap 7"' picked up second hand. XTC, Kate Bush and a weird Japanese band that sounds a tad like Beach Boys!

Perhaps the best looking album cover of 2011, thus far? Good too, Raveonettes embrace their inner goth mixed with the usual 50/60s rock and Jesus & Mary Chain influences.

My shrine of worship.

This is the latest addition to my wall. A shrine for my k-pop amazingness.

Flawless, if I may say so myself.

Och nu blir det tutti frutti! (NSFW if your workplace doesn't approve of black&white boobs)

Feedback, sex and flexidisc. Les Demoniaques are Dum Dum Girls' leader Dee Dee Penny and Tamaryn who've come together to make feedback-filled music. If anyone is actually surprised by that artistic direction, raise your hand so we can have a laugh at your expense. Their first release is a cover of Jesus & The Mary Chain's classic Teenage Lust. Stripped down, drum-less but dark, pensive, sexy and potent. Really good.


Les Demoniaques- Teenage Lust by truepanther

The release itself is limited to a 1000 copies and comes on a one-sided post-card flexi disc. Yes, the vinyl groove is cut on plastic covered cardboard and it sounds like it with constant additional white noise in the background. But there's a download code to the MP3 included and really, this release is all about novelty and coolness value. I doubt I'll play this one very frequently. On the other hand the MP3 has seen substantial play this last week.

She grew so lonely in the end, the angels picked her for their friend

Fact 1. 60s girlbands has some of the best pop ever recorded.
Fact 2. The Shangri-Las could make the most camp subject sound like a matter of life and death.
Fact 3. Out On The Streets is better than most of The Beatles work.

So buying this nicely packaged double CD wasn't a choice. It was something I had to do in order to complete my life. I'm now one step closer to nirvana. 

 

(better than A Day In The Life)

Modesty. Blaise.

Lately I've had the worst of luck with my local record store. I keep going there to buy Veronica Maggio's latest album on vinyl. It is constantly sold out. Finally I caved in and got something different. Something very different. Swinging 60s different. 

Kitch, no? If it's good enough for Gorillaz to sample, it's good enough for me.

Don't be stupid, be a smarty...

C'mon join the Nazi party! 

This is hands down the funniest vinyl I own. To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap), a novelty rap-tune by the great Mel Brooks, released in the early 80s. Mel Brooks owe his career to the Nazi-spoofing The Producers so it only made sense that he'd return to the subject someday. And what a return!

From the back-up vocalists breathlessly singing "Sieg Heil" in the intro, the incredibly cheesy disco-rap sounds, the fact that the lyrics actually are a pretty decent rundown of Hitlers rise to power and the entire WW2 to the simple fact that this is Mel Brooks. Rapping. In character. As Hitler.
Madness.

Here's a taste of the lyrics for you!
"Like humpty dumpty offa that wall all the little countries they began to fall
Holland Belgium Denmark Poland -- the troops were rockin' and the tanks were rollin'
We were swingin' along with a song in our hearts.
And "Deutschland uber alles" was making the charts"

The video is "classic" as well. Female dancers straight out of Cabaret and leather-clad male dancers straight out of the nearest gay club. All with Third Reich regalia. And Mel Brooks breakdancing. It will blow your mind. And possible scar you for the rest of your life, but that is the sacrifice we have to make.

This was actually a sizeable hit. #12 in both the US and UK, #3 in Australia and a #2 in Sweden! Insanity. But a good reason to debut my "from the vault" tag. For those posts when I feel like digging up something old from my collection.