Popsheep

The universally panned: Janis Ian comes off like Avril Lavigne (Dylan is Green Day) but, luckily for her, sounds like The Aisler Set. Later I will predict the new Final Fantasy album with tough passages from Colin Blundstone's 1st solo record. Anyways, here's a hit:

Janis Ian - Society's Child

The connection is Buffy Sainte-Maire. Illuminations. Electronic sounds derived from the source material (the state of contemporary electro-acoustic music) and a variety of styles derived from peers (the state of etc, etc,...). Has anyone seen the film Guess who I saw in Paris?? I would really love to see it, if it exists, so please point me in the right direction.


Buffy Sainte-Maire - Vampire

So when I received the new Sunset Rubdown Ep I thought I may have reached that terrible point where I was no longer interested in the output of a artist/band that I once loved. It always seems I get really excited about something, and by the time everyone else is excited I've moved on. Yes I think I sound like an elitist asshole too.

I couldn't have been more wrong. This is the kind of Ep that makes you lament that it is so short ( the best kind). Spencer has retained the mad- genius in the basement sound that I so love. I really mean the mad part too, part of the beauty of Spencer's songwriting and delivery is that he sounds slightly unstable.

I also like the fact that he has retained his multi-part composition style. Here is part two of one of my favourite songs on the EP. It makes me feel like I have entered a dreamland.

Buy it from here silly cheap($6CND Shipped!).


Sunset Rubdown - A day in the graveyard part II

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:::::::::::::::::-> Berio - Thema: Ommagio a Joyce

The Turtles! Turtle Soup is a great album. It may seem obvious now, but the idea that I might like it hung around for about 5 years before I actually took note and gave it a listen. Quickly. Now. Here it is. Straight to you with no delay:


The Turtles - John & Julie



From '72: best sequence I have ever heard! Straight from the University of Iowa Recording Studios! From the excellent compilation Iowa Ear Music! Better than anything Columbia/Princeton - 1965. Later: the first 5 minutes of Berio's Thema: Ommagio a Joyce! Only the first 5! Excellent triple post!
Will Parsons & Peter Lewis - Pete's Beet

Pascal - Förbi Fabriken
Blaise Pascal once argued that a betting man would put his money (read: soul) on a belief in god because, if he was wrong, he really wouldn't be any worse off for it. On the other hand, if the atheist was wrong, Pascal says, he would be going to hell, which would truly suck indeed and would last for an infinite period of time. So, for Pascal, believing in god is like hedging your bets - why risk hell when there's really no need to. Just believe in god, dude, it like totally makes sense.

Did I mention that Pascal is a total jerk and I hate him? I just thought I would get that out in the open. Anyway, for those of you who are Blaise Pascal haters like me, don't let that get in the way of your enjoyment of Sweden's Pascal. They're everything that the philosopher/mathematician is not. Loud, dirty, Swedish, 2/3 female and fucking awesome. If Blaise wore a ripped t-shirt, listened to the Ramones and Bruce Springsteen on repeat, and recorded the best punk rock I've heard in a long time out of his garage, maybe I'd be willing to forgive him for his annoying philosophy. But he didn't. He wore poofy shirts and died of tuberculosis.
[buy]

Ponies in the Surf - Joe
This song is the kind of day when it rains even though there's no clouds. It's going to the corner store and, before you get there, falling asleep on the neighbours lawn. It's listening to the Softies on your headphones on repeat until you realize that you've been living with both members of the band for the past year.
[The webpage for the fantastic Asaurus records seems to be broken, so here's a link to their myspace page]

So what would have happened if Marc Bolan(Or Davendra Banheart) decided to take up barrel house piano? This song "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry is probably a good idea of what would result.

Aside from the fact that Mungo Jerry is a terrible name this is a great song, a strange mix jug band shuffle left over from the British Skiffle craze juxataposed with 70's sexploitation lyrics.

Yes I know it is the middle of winter.

Mungo Jerry - "In The Summertime"

The results are in! Canada may be in some serious trouble, but Popsheep's first (and last) experiment with politics was a nice little diversion. It brought some interesting, if not a little too hopeful, guesses (NDP at 61!) but, in the end, there was only one winner: Mario Lecraig! Yay Mario! Send us your address and will ship off the popsheep top prize pack. And, because I'm feeling generous, there are also some prizes for the next runners up, Andrew and Sean.

For everyone else, here's a song courtesy my second favourite K Records artist.

Mirah - Light the Match
If someone wrote a song this hot about me I would be a lucky man indeed. It also just goes to prove my theory that the accordion is easily the sexiest musical instrument.
[buy]

UPDATE: Just to remind you, there's only one day left in the popsheep "Canadian Federal Election Seat Prediction" contest. Your prediction could easily be your ticket to internets stardom and glory beyond your wildest dreams, so make your guess now. And just to pump you up a little more, below I've posted a great song by a band that I'm going to guess would recommend that you don't vote and that definitely thinks this election is a sham. I'm not really convinced, but I still think this is an amazing song by one of my favourite punk rock bands.

Propagandhi - Middle Finger Response

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That's right! It's a popsheep contest! Given popsheep's wide acclaim throughout the internets as a hard hitting, insightful (yet sensitive) political blog - combined with the keen interest our readers have shown in Canadian politics over the past year - we're holding a "Canadian Federal Election Seat Prediction" contest! I knew you'd be excited.

The rules are simple. Predict how many seats of the 308 available that each of the major federal parties (Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Bloc Québécois, and Green) will win this Monday and, whoever guesses closest to the actual results, will win a whole host of prizes. These will include a special edition, personalized popsheep mixed cd, some handmade buttons, and our kudos. Here's my prediction to give you some idea of what we're looking for:

Conservative: 138
Liberal: 90
NDP: 25
Bloc: 55
Green: 0

Just post your guess in the comments or email it to us. But don't delay: the contest closes at 7pm pacific standard time on Monday. And, while I assume you're closely following the election, riding by riding, here's some election prediction sites to help you out: here, here, and here. And remember, chances are good that your guess will be the only one we receive, so it doesn't really matter how close you come - it's the effort that counts!

Happy guessing! Here's some music to help you in your predicting.

Popsheep Election Prediction Contest Soundtrack

OK, if jay's going to be posting songs already done beautifully over at Said the Gramophone, I'm going to have to join him. When I first heard this Jens Lekman song posted over there, I immediately got all giddy and ran to the store in a blizzard to get the album. I'm glad I did, because Lekman was all over my Christmas mix CDs and whatnot and actually saved my life a few times. For real.

Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves
I can relate to this song on so many levels that it is kind of depressing. The oozing sentimentality, bad jokes, poor hearing, innatention to what's going on around me, and the wish that I was Jonathan Richman are just a few of these. I love this song even more because the bells during the chorus allowed this to be a christmas song when I wanted it to be, and the Mark E. Smith reference made it a kind of very dorky inside joke the rest of the time. In case you're wondering, the rest of the album is a melancholy stripped down version of this song, which is a very good thing.
[buy: us/can]

Deerhoof - Running Thoughts
This wasn't posted on STG, but it should have been because they would have done a better job. Before you download it, a few tips on listening to this song: 1) place your ear as close as possible to the speaker and be sure to slowly increase the volume as the song progresses; 2) steal your friend's car, play this song on the stereo on repeat, and proceed to drive towards the nearest blizzard (trust me on this); 3) buy a bass guitar, take lessons for two years, quit going to lessons for another two years, forget everything you've learned, break every string on the guitar except one, and then proceed to learn this song; 4) open a bank account, deposit twenty dollars, wait three days, withdraw nineteen dollars, and immediately go out and buy this album.
[buy: us/can]

So people tell me post more(Scott). I think I feel a certain pressure now that people actually read this thing. I also feel crazy every time I read Said The Gramophone because Sean, Dan and Jordan manage to select great music and write about it with grace and skill.

So I'm doing what is probably the worst thing ever! I'm simply writing about a song that they posted. I really think I need to do this for a few reasons, firstly It is a great song, secondly I always moan about the Toronto music scene and how it has no class.

Harmony's voice sounds "like a kid standing at the window watching the rain"*. While not my words, and not written about Harmony they sum it up quite nicely.

I have this thing that I sometimes divide songs into two camps: Songs that I will defend to the death, and songs I think are good but I can understand that everyone doesn't share my viewpoint. When I set out to tell you about this distinction my plan was to tell you that I'd put "No Photographs" into the later camp, the more I listen to the song the less sure I am about that....Three years and a day... The siren song lures me closer.

So Toronto, are we ok?

Harmony Trowbridge - No Photographs




*Haruki Murakami

No music to post, just praise.
My first edition of the Death Bomb Arc monthly tape club arrived a few days ago featuring Weirdo/Begeirdo. I let it sit, as I considered it to be 'difficult' music and I have recently been focusing my attention towards more 'accessible' questions, such as which band is better: The Turtles or The Grass Roots (The Turtles by far! Turtle Soup is a great record that I put off buying for a long time!). As it turns out, Weirdo/Begeirdo's installment of the dba tape club is a relaxing (chill) and creative (trippy) pop-psyche jam - not at all what I would call 'difficult' and an overall awesome listen/relisten/relisten/....




Let it also be noted that (as far as I can tell) Weirdo/Begeirdo members are also behind Not Not Fun records, who have an every-second-month 7" club - Bored Fortress! For a very reasonable price ($55 USD in the US, $95 outside [although I'm sure Canada could get a better deal]) you can join both clubs and hence enjoy a full future of music.

I swear, the Swedish government doesn't pay me money to give props to their booming bedroom music industry that is set to take over the world(I'll mention again here that The Pet Politics Ep hasn't left my player since I received it). The latest Swedish popster is going under the name of Penny Century, and produces keyboard and computer heavy vocal music.

Exhibit A)

Penny Century - Little Boat

As you can hear, there may be truth to Magnus' claim that he records his songs under his bed, thought that may be some sort of ultra cool euro space saving loft bed.

Exhibit B)

Penny Century - The Arsonist

This is a prime example of the Swedish drear pop. Imagine the magnetic fields after drinking some Cough Syrup.

It feels good to return to the center of the (Canadian) universe. The dark recesses of BC are darker than I remember them, but I guess you're kind of asking to see someone beaten senseless in a public place when you go on a Fruitvale (population <2000) pub crawl (of all two pubs, one of which is decorated with wagon wheels). Best of all, though, is that I'm just a few days closer to the Over the Top Festival Launch, starring three of my current favourite bands: Final Fantasy (w. string quartet!!), Akron/Family, and the Great Lake Swimmers. The show's happening on January 11, and if you're in Toronto I highly recommend getting tickets while there's still some left. Here's a few songs in case you're not yet convinced.

Final Fantasy - This is the dream of Win and Regine
Akron/Family - Dylan Pt. II
Great Lake Swimmers - Various Stages

Come over and say hi if you see me at the show. I'll be the pencil sketch caricature of a person wearing a hat.

Let me run my fingers through your mind as I sail on a ocean of wings.

The Hobbits - Middle Earth

The Nice was a bizzare and over ambitious group with a vision that did NOT stand the test of time. On this record (Ars Longa Vita Brevis, 1968) they quote Sibelius, cover the theme from West Side Story (with no particular improvement!) and play a side long tribute to Brandenburg centred around the third movement: 'Brandenburger'. In addition, the engineering on the record is terrible. Voices seem detached from complex layers of instruments, drums appear to be from the apartment next door and vocal trade offs are horribly skewed. The enitre disc can only really be described as limp. However, from this sea of shit emerges a fairly great pop-psych gem.


The Nice - Happy Freuds

[Afterword: one of the members of The Nice, Keith Emerson, later went on to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and the lesser known (although equally talented) Emerson, Lake & Powell].