All those summer parties, bleep bleep beep, swine flu and a sweet farewell to Daniel F

Find us a trap door, find us a plane
Tell the survivors help is on the way
I was a blindfold, never complained
All the survivors singing in the rain
I was the one with the world at my feet
Goddess of battle, leave it up to me

What it is and where it stops nobody knows
You gave me a life I never chose 

Metric - Blindness 

 

I dedicate this to a certain Dr. Daniel F. I know you were only fictional, but you'll be missed! 

 

* 

 

 The Streets once had a hit with a song called Let's Push Things Forward. These past few weeks they've been doing just that. Releasing songs on Twitter and even writing a song about (how NOW can you get?) swine flu, titled He's behind you, he's got swine flu  

 

 

Surely this is how it should be done. I realize that financially speaking not all bands can afford to just record and release music whenever they want, but wouldn't it be nice if it were possible? To be able to just react to something in the news, on your mind etc, write a song about it, put together a quick video, Tweet it and get it out there.

 

 

The Streets - Trust Me

 

*

 

 In which Animal Collective do very strange things indeed to Yeah Yeah Yeah's Zero 
 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero (Animal Collective remix)

 

 *

Ok, I've been going on about how good this album is for a few weeks now. It's probably time I posted something.

 

I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again

 

Bill Callahan - Jim Cain

 

*

1 part Modeselektor + 1 part Apparat = Moderat
 

Moderat - A New Error

 

*

Letter have no Arms was lucky enough to see Evripidis and his Tragedies a few weeks ago in Barcelona. Here they've distilled the essence of summer into four minutes and nine seconds. 

The best part? 1 min 25 sec in 'what a shame'. 

Get out your dancing shoes, unlock the door to the roof terrace and open a bottle of wine!

All those summer parties that we used to share
I can hardly recall a thing,
that surely means that I was there
dancing and kissing
you don´t know what you`ve been missing
all those summer parties that we shared
no-one could make
them fade away

with our fists in our pockets moving nervously
with a spring in our step and our dancing shoes on
we waited for this all winter long and nobody can stop us now

  

Evripidis and his Tragedies - All those Summer Parties

3 Things Music Today Could and Should do Without

 A seemingly endless amount of remixes

While they used to just be an interesting bonus on a purchased CD single, now they fill, cram and clog the internet (have you seen the Hype Machine lately?). It seems no self-respecting single gets released these days without having a Soulwax, Mstrkrft, Tom Campesinos!, Rihanna's Gardener, the drummer from Editors, and that super rare Ducks Duck and Fucks remix of their latest single.

Problem is, what happens to the song? You know, the actual song. That thing the artist wrote in the mddle of the night, the tune that came to him when his girlfriend left him for his best friend’s sister. That (supposed) piece of art. 
It’s hard to see where Soulwax et al come into play there, no? My point is that it more often than not distracts, takes away from the original, and serves no real artistic purpose. There are of course the occasional successful* remixes, ones that truly add something to the song. These are unfortunately few and far between, and tend to get lost in the murky depths of mediocrity.
Enough already.



*Fuck Buttons - Sweet love for Planet Earth (Andrew Weatherall remix) (Big thanks to Just Press Play for that!)





Band DJ sets

 Seriously, what's the point? Musicians are musicians and DJs are DJs. Let's please just keep it that way. It's like the local butcher making a special appearance slicing bread at the bakery (with attendees whispering among themselves "that he really is better as a butcher, but still pretty cute"). 

. These 'events' usually just end up with a group of rabid fans (clutching posters and cd singles), hipsters and groupies standing around awkwardly in a clothing store or club, bobbing their heads to that Gang of Four song you hear every week at your local indie club anyway.

Recently they've even started popping up at festivals. So you see your favourite band's name on the bill, only to be disappointed when you see 'dj set' in small letters underneath. 

Please stop it.

Instrumentals

 

Or to use another word: FILLER. 

"How many album tracks do we have so far, guys? Hmmm, hey, how about that demo we haven't bothered adding vocals to yet because it's already extremely boring? Why don't we just add that and be done with it!"

Some bands even release entire instrumental albums (e.g. Beastie Boys, Peter, Bjorn and John). I don't mean bands that make (almost) exclusively instrumental music (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky et al). I mean bands who usually use lyrics, purposely opting to refrain from using them. Nobody buys them, nobody likes them, nobody asks for them at gigs and nobody burns them on mixtapes for friends. Please stop making them.

"You suck!"
Lederhosen Lucil - You Suck

Lil Wayne - Don't get it
 
"You're never gonna get ahead givin' head to the man! God knows I've tried..."

Bobby Conn - Never get ahead

"Only once is enough to remind you forever" Awful/briliant FM 80s pop

The President - Only once is enough 

The Streets - Don't Mug Yourself

Hot Chip - Over and Over (Original)