8 posts tagged “r.e.m.”

FANFARLO
fanfarlo.com ♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo

This band shot straight up my priority list because you only have FOUR more days to get Fanfarlo's Reservoir album for $1 USD. And for your information, I did buy it for $1, via paypal and it was quick, painless, and easy, just the way I like it. The download for the fifteen tracks was quick and comes with the image of their album on the unrestricted MP3s (949 pixels). This is a pretty nice deal because there's actually four extra tracks that's not on the vinyl or CD.

The extra tracks are: "Kist of Whistles", "Hands (demo)", "Drowning Men (acoustic version)" and "Acoemeti". Even if you've already purchased their special edition of Reservoir, these four tracks are definitely worth $0.25 each surely?

Apparently the promotion is doing the group some good as they moved 500 copies of their album as "Record of the Week" from Rough Trade in the UK (in fact, it's completely sold out). As for a release date for the US, I thought I read it wasn't even schedule until September!

Fanfarlo's music reminds me of a trend in UK alt-folk movement of late. As far as I'm concern, we seem to get a lot of that type of music going around these days: Laura Marling, Jay Jay Pistolet, Kill It Kid, etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to quickly get this article up prior to the expiration date of July 4^th, so excuse the lack of detail on examining the album. What I can tell you is that it's folksy. There's clapping, there's clarinets, there's strings. The singing is wimpish, sensitive, and hey, he probably wears glasses. And you know what? Despite all that, it sounds alright!

The track that they seem to like is "Luna", but I didn't like it as much as "Fire Escape".

Reservoir will be the best $1 you've spent this summer. Go for it.

PS, the cover artwork is creepy.  It reminds me of A Tale of Two Sisters.

R.E.M.
remhq.com ♥ myspace.com/rem

I know I've already reviewed Reckoning: Deluxe Edition, but we finally got the actual product in house. So think of this as the packaging review.

I have long suggested to musicians that music fans like myself still prefer to actually own a physical product. Compared to the endless amount of jewel case albums, it's definitely worth it to make your CDs more attractive and unique. Case in point: those awesome 2-disc "Deluxe Packages". I've previously praised Deluxe Editions for that very reason.

To start off, the clear plastic sleeve are interchangeable with other Deluxe series. The liner notes unfolds to reveal a poster of the album artwork. On the reverse are credits, random "aged" photographs, and a long introduction written by Tony Fletcher. The Fletcher article basically sums up R.E.M.'s first few years up touring for Reckonining. It also document the craziness of how songs were basically thrown together. Recordings were produced in very short amount of time with the rhythm section (Mike Mills & Bill Berry) catching on quickly as a result of being marching band partners and understanding each other's works.

Basically songs were recorded because "either you got it, or you didn't.".

The article is also printed in tiny, tiny, font, and I suspect only hardcore R.E.M. fans will likely read it. Bring a magnifying glass.

As expected and predicted, the package is very similar to Murmur. See picture of that previous package. You can pick up Reckoning Deluxe Edition at most places, like Best Buy - but amazon has it cheapest ($17.99).

MISCELLANEOUS
news.weheartmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/weheartmusik

What's on my radar? Here's a few that we've recently receive - that looks interesting. I'm especially drawn to Italy's Father Murphy (I think of Peter Murphy for some reason!) and K Records' The Pine Hill Haints. I heart K (so does Kurt Cobain). They recently signed up on twitter and I followed them immediately.... even though as of this writing they haven't exactly "tweated".

I'm assuming we all know R.E.M. I know most people probably will only know them for "Losing My Religion" or "Happy Shiny People", but they've had huge legendary indie credit pre-Out Of Time. I am also assuming that Universal Music is intending to re-releasing Deluxe Editions of R.E.M.'s older albums (starting with Murmur and ending with Green). And like last year's excellent Murmur Deluxe Edition, this year's release is on Reckoning (a special 2-disc special Deluxe Edition is set for release next week, June 23^rd).

I'll admit it's been a few years since I last put on my original Reckoning CD, but listening to the album for review, it still sounds as refreshing and modern, as it did for me the first time I heard it in the 90s. Surprisingly, the album is quite short, as a lot of albums in the 70s and 80s. You have to have to remember that in the 1980s when Reckoning was released, that vinyl and cassettes were the music format. Each record side only could only accommodate for 20 minutes at 33⅓, so 40 mins was typical of a full length.

What's interesting about Reckoning is that between Side A and Side B, that there are themes on each side. R.E.M. called Side A, The Left Side of Reckoning which is more or less was meant as a soundtrack. You can tell the shift to a more up tempo starting on The Right Side with "Second Guessing".

The band felt (at the time), that "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" and "Pretty Persuasion", were too old and was never really meant to be on this album. These songs are probably band's biggest hit songs among fans and critics.

I've always identified with "Rockville", I get a sense of isolation, growing up in rural small town USA and being ashamed to go back to live. Even the jangly country piano on this song kind of lends itself to its secret origin in an unknown midwest town somewhere.

The other interesting thing about the album is that during the recording of "7 Chinese Brothers", Michael Stipe could barely sing into the microphone as he suffered from exhaustion from the band's previous '83 tour schedule. Producer Don Dixon could not hear Stipe on the recording tape and the song was re-recorded several times. Finally, to try and get inspiration, he handed him The Joy of Knowing Jesus by the Revelaires, which Stipe started reading the liner notes from the album: "Reverend Bill Funderburk sings 'He Cared That Much For Me', Charles Surratt introduces his own composition 'On Calvary For Me', 'The Joy of Knowing Jesus' is a song of pure delight featuring John Barbee".

And yes, the recording was made into a song called "Voice of Harold", available on their rarities/oddities album Dead Letter Office.

As for the bonus second disc, this includes the entire live show from their Little America tour (named after the last song on Reckoning) in Chicago's Aragon Ballroom on July 7, 1984. The show was broadcast on WXRT, so the audio is from a master soundboard and it sounds clear and excellent.

Understandably the live recording captured many of the band's early songs plus their latest album's songs (eight of the songs are from Reckoning), there are two gems in the live set: their Velvet Underground cover of "Femme Fatale" and "Driver 8"*. The later song would later be my favorite song on their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction, with its catchy "take a break, driver eight".

The band sounds tight and playing songs after songs without any problems. Hearing the audience cheers and feedback on the recording indicate to me how intimate the show was. In fact, Michael Stipe dedicated "7 Chinese Brothers" to "the guy that broke his leg coming in tonight and went to the hospital and came back. Hold up your crutches, guy!".

Reckoning is like a walk down memory lane, look for for the re-issue on Deluxe Format next week.   If you already own the album, from a previous release, this new version's been remastered with the bonus live disc.  It's also available in 180g vinyl for collectors.

* I couldn't find any reference anywhere, but in popular culture, I remember reading Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and one of the multiple personality from Crazy Jane was Driver 8. And of course, I smiled to myself, because I knew that he stole his inspiration from the REM song. (Morrison was notorious for stealing pop music and putting them in his writings, see also his creation of The Love Glove and Nowhere Man).

Scarlett Johansson - Last Goodbye Scarlett Johansson Aw, it's that most dreadful time of the year: V-Day. According to the box office numbers, the all-star rom-com (romantic comedy) He’s Just Not That Into You is the number one film last week with $27.8 Million dollars. Warner Brothers did a smart move and also released Friday the 13th yesterday - for the guys, as looking at the demographic for Into You, you can see it's an outstanding 80% women. I haven't seen either films, but I do have the soundtrack to talk about. The soundtrack has a mix of well-established alternative rock artists like The Human League, Talking Heads, R.E.M., The Cure, The Replacements, etc and modern/current bands. While I can't stress enough, the soundtrack, like the movie, has an all-star music cast - doing its best to keep the music genre in that pop/alternative area. I sometime think that the old songs are meant for the older audiences, while trying to keep fresh with the hip young kids with songs by more modern bands. For instance, young fans will probably be drawn to Lily Allen's "Smile" song (which was the first single from her acclaimed Alright, Still), with its message about about her depression over her first breakup. Or check out The Ting Tings' "Fruit Machine", with Katie White's girlish yip-yip yell. No idea what a Fruit Machine is, but I suspect it's one of those Vegas slot machine with the three cherries. I'm sure the young kids can tell you what it is. The Cure - Friday I'm in Love 1 comment As for the older crowd, I'm sure you all know The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love". You can fit this song in any romantic movie, but I have to tell you that hardcore Cure fans will never admit this was a Cure song. I mean, listen to it, it's their most happiest, poppiest song. I also dig the Maroon 5 song, "If I Never See Your Face Again". It's a little too funky and upbeat for its 'hateful' song title. A little interesting trivia about the song, it was co-written appropriately by James Valentine. It looks like the other stand-out single that Warner Brothers want people to check out is Erin McCarley's "Love, Save the Empty" with its unforgettable piano intro. You can watch the video on the official website. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head Most people who looked over this soundtrack immediately was drawn to Scarlett Johansson's song. "When did she start singing?" they would ask. When I tried to explain to them that she actually released an all-Tom Waits cover album called Anywhere I Lay My Head last year, they couldn't believe it. This time around, she covered the Jeff Buckley song, "Last Goodbye". While I won't compare the two songs, I think Johansson's version, with the blonde beauty singing over a jazz-ish piano, definitely is in frame with the rest of the movie. Scarlett Johansson - Last Goodbye (excerpt) If you've seen the movie, you will definitely want this soundtrack as a companion to remind you of the movie. He’s Just Not That Into You is currently in theaters now, the soundtrack is available at most stores - noticeably at Deep Discount ($12), Amazon ($12), and Best Buy ($14).

As you were probably busy watching history being made with our new President being sworn in - these two albums were quietly released that Tuesday.

Willie Breeding-Cheap Vodka Rain Willie Breeding WILLIE BREEDING myspace.com/williebreedingmusic Willie Breeding is a folk/country singer and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. He just released his debut LP, Cheap Vodka Rain last said Tuesday, his only previous recording was for the EP called Grey Skies last December 2006. Cheap Vodka Rain has a very Western/Country sound to it. Perhaps it's Breeding's songwriting style (they all tell some sort of story) or the steel-sounding guitar, but the album should belong to Country pop radio. If you don't like any Country, you may want to avoid this one, but I suspect there's enough good songwriting on the album that people with open minds wouldn't mind checking out. Anyway, the story behind the debut album was that it was recorded live over a two-day session (Oct 24-25, 2007) at the Excello Recordings, with backup band of friends and two members from Marah (whom he toured with for the promotion of his EP), which may have influenced his sound a little. And although I mentioned it only took two days, the recording did not sound rushed or rough at all. The final mix sounds like Breeding took his time to plan and let his band time to learn to play his songs. Some of the highlights from the album includes: "Bruises": backup vocals by his sister, Erin Breeding. Includes the wonderful line: "Would it have killed to come down to kiss me? I was crying over you last night.". "Be Right Here": The tone may sound a little sad, but this song sends out his message that he'll still be right here waiting for you. I think this song could also be paired with his other song, "As Long", which tells you that he'll stay as long as she'll have him. "Cheap Vodka Rain": I think this song would be summarize Breeding's style of music. It's pretty uplifting, but with just a tiny bit of sadness if you read too much into it. Check him out on tour: 01/26/09 Rockwood Music Hall Manhattan, NY 02/02/09 Iota Club & Cafe Arlington, Virginia 02/03/09 The M Room  Philadelphia, PA 02/04/09 Nightlight Chapel Hill 02/05/09 Soapbox Lounge Wilmington, NC 02/06/09 Wherehouse Winston-Salem, NC 02/11/09 Exit In Nashville, Tennessee 02/13/09 Derby City Espresso Louisville, KY 02/22/09 The Living Room Manhattan, NY Cheap Vodka Rain can be purchased via iTunes and amazon.

Modern Skirts - Soft Pedals Modern Skirts MODERN SKIRTS modernskirts.com ♥ myspace.com Since Modern Skirts' debut album, Catalogue of Generous Men in 2005, the band's won numerous praises (Athens Music Awards, Paste Magazine, National Public Radio, etc) - so ultimately the difficult sophomore album had to happen..... So it's been three years, but the official release date for All Of Us In Our Night was last Tuesday (Jan 20th). The band's been kept busy the last year, especially because of their R.E.M. connection (the band went on a two weeks European tour, supporting Athen's most famous band. While most of the album is pretty standard indie pop/rock, there are a good mix of moments of Beach Boys-esque backup singing ("Yugo") and pianos & some faint brass instruments ("Radio Breaks"). I think most people will be drawn to the Mike Mills (of R.E.M.) song, "Motorcade". The song starts off acoustically, before the percussions and backup singing (also by Mills and music producer Geoff Melkonian). The song sounds like it could have been an REM song by the way of Pavement. Although it's an excellent song, that's actually not my song pick - they have an even better one called "Soft Pedals". Maybe it's the loungey background music or the lyrics "give me a knife and a merry-go-round", but there's something really nice about this song that made me replay it again and again. They are currently on tour! 01/29/09 Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 01/30/09 The Earl Atlanta, Georgia 01/31/09 40 Watt Club Athens, Georgia 02/06/09 Georgia Music Hall of Fame presents Modern Skirts at the Cox Capitol Theatre Macon, Georgia 02/17/09 Circle Bar New Orleans, Louisiana 03/05/09 Odgen Museum New Orleans, LA 03/18/09 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/19/09 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/20/09 SXSW  Austin, Texas 03/21/09 SXSW Austin, Texas 05/16/09 WMNF’s Festival Tampa, Florida Those interested in picking up All of Us in Our Night, you can find it on Athensmusic.net. You can also get their music digitally - notably eMusic.

 11/26/2008 00:38:42  ♥ written by vu ()

One of the most important albums, R.E.M.'s Murmur was re-released yesterday as a Deluxe Edition by Universal Records. What sets this release apart from the original 1983 release and the "IRS Vintage Years Edition" from 1993 is obviously the packaging and bonus second disc, featuring a rare entire live concert from Larry's Hideaway in Toronto, Canada (July 9, 1983).

The live tracks sound excellent with no evidence of it being a bootleg (e.g. no loud/talkative audience or fuzzy cassette recordings). No way, this audio sounds like it was recorded from the soundboard and features most of the songs from Murmur done live but with some then b-sides and one amazing cover rendition of The Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again".

Like many of you from my generation, I wasn't hip to R.E.M. until they had their big hit crossover song, "Losing My Religion" (which incidentally, Out of Time was re-issued by Warner in 2005 to include an extra DVD-audio 5.1 mix of the album) but quickly went to the stores to pick up their back catalog. I bought it all, eventually, starting with Green (for "Orange Crush" and "Stand") to their first album, Murmur.

To be honest, between all the R.E.M. CDs, the one that was worn the most was Eponymous, which was a compilation of odds and hits and my least favorite was Dead Letter Office which seems kind of broken. I even joined their fanclub, which I think was also called "Dead Letter Office." That was a long time ago, that was in the days when people still mailed each other mixtapes.

So, anyway, I picked up Murmur rather late, in the early 90s, when they had started re-issuing most, if not all, of the vinyl releases on "compact discs." I guess, at the time, if you'll remember that I had been impressed with Out of Time, listening to Murmur didn't speak to me.

I've always thought that their big hit for this album, "Radio Free Europe," was sort of a protest song about Europe's tight control over the radio airwaves (despite that I keep reading that the song has "unintelligible lyrics"). I mean, I have no idea what they are talking about:

Speaking of lyrics, I love some of the lyrics to "Talk About The Passion": "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world". Although I didn't quite catch the rest of the lyrics - but apparently this contains some French  "combien du temps?" (How much time?)

As I previously mentioned, this was an important album; you have to remember this was in 1983 and this relatively unknown band was doing what is known now as alternative indie rock which was very strange. All the music preceding this was utilizing synthesizers and trying to basically sound like Gary Numan or Duran Duran. Not that this was a bad time for music, it was just that this REM's style of alternative music was a breath of fresh air.

If you're not familiar with Universal's Deluxe Edition series, I have previously written about them, so please check them out. The Deluxe Edition series have been very popular with collectors and have a few copycat series spawned by other record companies - but I would reckon Universal since they came on the scene first.

One minor complaint I should mention about Murmur is that the lyric booklet is a fold-out poster of the album artwork with a few essays written by people involved with the album (well most of them anyway). I am not a fan of the layout, which is kind of a cut and paste style that looks amateurish. I realized this is "the look" they were going for, but I just like things to not look messy, you know? And unlike some previous Deluxe Edition releases, the printed item is pretty bare bones with just a couple of photographs of the band by Sandra Phipps, circa 1983. However, Michael Stipe never looked more serious than in these photos.

What's important is that the remastered tracks, lead by Dana Smart, sound even better than my original IRS album! I even tried to listen to the original CD and, on my headphones, I can tell that the Deluxe Edition's audio is clearer and better than the original CD I have. I don't think I can go back to listening my original copy, sorry!

If you're an R.E.M. fan, you should definitely do yourself a favor and pick up the Deluxe Edition. The album is available at all record stores.

Bonus: Here are some of my favorite R.E.M. songs:

R.E.M. - Driver 8

R.E.M - The One I Love

R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) 2 comments

R.E.M-Losing My Religion 1 comment

R.E.M.-Stand

I thought I'd dedicate this post to one of the campaigns I support, the Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.

Before you stop reading I have no intention of lecturing you on the situation in Darfur. So you can read on safe in the knowledge I won't be mentioning the state-run genocide that has destroyed one country and risks dragging neighbouring countries into the conflict. You certainly won't learn anything about the two million people forced into refugee camps. Nor will I bring up the estimated 200,000 people who have died in the genocide. And so you can sleep peacefully at night, I won't even wax lyrical about the awful abuse of women and the use of rape as a tool of war. This is a music review site after all.

Darfur pops in and out of the UK media and I assume it gets a mention in the USA so you'll all be well-versed in the matter. However, if you want to know more about the situation then I suggest a good starting point is the BBC Q&A.

Regardless of your opinions on mixing politics and music, this album is full of little treasures combining the songwriting genius of John Lennon with the vocal stylings of some of my favourite contemporary artists including Regina Spektor, The Flaming Lips, Postal Service, Jack Johnson, Snow Patrol, U2, REM and Christina Aguilera. Ok so I am not a fan of Aguilera.

My personal favourites include the smooth and sexy sound of Youssou N'Dour singing "Jealous Guy" and a rather funky rendition by Aerosmith with Sierra Leone Refuge All-Stars of "Give Peace a Chance".

Recently a truck load of albums with a similar setup to this one have been released sans the political campaign. The list includes albums covering the songs of the likes of Joni Mitchell, the Beach Boys, Leonard Cohen and Daniel Johnston. All of them featured some musical gems and some all out failures.

With that in mind, this album is surprisingly good. It is designed to cater to the masses but that doesn't stop it containing some interesting takes on the back catalogue of John Lennon. Even if you couldn't give a damn about Darfur, this album is still a great purchase. Even better for those of you looking to gain some redemption for a life timing of sinning then this is guaranteed to give you some instant good karma (Sorry, I couldn't resist).

Seriously though, the situation in Dafur is fucked up and completely preventable. If you do one thing today, check out the Instant Karma website for advice on how you can help with the campaign - Ryan

Artist: Website: Collaborators:

Julee Cruise www.juleecruise.net David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti

This is an R.E.M. cover, obviously. It's much slower, but it's definitely interesting.

You may remember Julee Cruise from Twin Peaks (the television show and soundtracks).

I ended up buying the cassette tapes for the Twin Peaks show and her album, "Floating into the Night".

There's some really sweet-sounding songs on that album.