Archive for January, 2009

Electronic Body House Techno Industrial Whatever Music

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

I’m not in the world’s best mood right now and as regular readers to this blog know that means either industrial music of obscure soundtracks. Luckily for all you electronic fans I opted for the former as much as I could, since I’m running low on my industrial noise right now and I haven’t gotten around to recording that transparent blue Skinny Puppy 12” I got yet. As far all you fans of the incredibly stupid/obscure/bizarre soundtrack, don’t worry, I’ll put up the soundtracks to such gems as Silent Running and Mutant very soon.

Technoid
Technoid (Club Mix)
Technoid (Radio)
Technoid (Dub)
Technoid (German)
No, it’s not an electronic alias started by the Domino’s Pizza thing. Actually, I have no idea who/what Technoid is. According to Wikipedia “technoid” is a post-industrial music genre that “takes inspiration from IDM, experimental techno and noise music.” That may be true, but the artist Technoid most certainly does not. I had a hard time classifying this one, but Last.fm dubed it EBM so I’m going to go with that, even though I have no idea what that is either. Man, this 12” single left a lot of unanswered questions, the least of which being why the song title is the same as the artists’ name. Unless you’re Bad Company or Big Country you can’t pull that shit off. Holy shit, I just realized both those bands initial are B.C….okay, now I’m getting really confused.

Die Warzau
Liberated (Cherokee Mix)
Liberated (Oscillator)
Material (Nilmix)
I put up some Die Warzau a very long time ago and only kind of enjoyed it. I fucking LOVE this shit right now. Totally NIN-style industrial in all the right ways, just poppy enough while still being angry, mean-spirited and totally dancable. I got these remixes off of a 12” single. The original versions appear on their album Engine, which I will be buying very soon because everything I’ve heard off of it sounds totally awesome.

Braindead Sound Machine
I’m In Jail
I’m In Jail (Remix)
Dogvillasan
Dogvillasan (Remix)
Yeah…so…these guys….This is what happens when you pick up a test pressing solely because it has a Wax Trax label on it. This is industrial in the broadest sense of the word. Totally dance-friendly and almost kind of upbeat. It’s very 80s, which is unfornate considering it came out in 1991. I know thing about these guys, other than the fact that they recorded just a couple albums before calling it quits (or quits calling them). “I’m In Jail” is kind of meh, but “Dovillasan” (okay, what the fuck does that mean) is pretty cool in a Nitzer Ebb chanting kind of way.

Killing Joke
Adorations (The Extended Mix)
Ecstasy (The Extended Mix)
This is mid/late 80s Killing Joke, so it’s about as rough and agressive as a Haircut 100 single. Still, it’s good stuff (mostly) and should be of note to Killing Joke fans. These are from a 12” single.

(These Parenthesis Serve No Man)

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

I’m glad that my little hate-filled essay on racial tolerance in America (that sounds so much more professional than “bitchy rant about racist dicks”) generated so many responses. Whenever I hit a nerve with one of my rants I always feel like I’m on the spot to follow it up with something equally vitriolic and well-written. Well, um…I got nothing. Sorry, kind of content right now. About the only thing that’s pissing me off at the moment is the unreliable control system in Skate 2 for the Xbox 360, but I really don’t feel like ranting about poor game design and the advantages and disadvantages of analog and digital control devices. Maybe next time.

Tears For Fears
Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Extended Mix)
This is an extended version in the truest sense, nothing really new or interesting about it, they just double the length of certain sections, play the end guitar solo twice and then BOOM extended remix complete. It’s such a pretty song though, why fight it? If you’re like me, listening to Tears For Fears will eventually lead to listening to “Mad World,” so you’ll need to cheer yourself up. I suggest check out this hysterical “literal version” of the video for “Head Over Heels.”

Was (Not Was)
Spy In The House Of Love (Jeffrey B. Young & Dangerous Mix)
Spy In The House Of Love (Streetsahead Mix)
Spy In The House Of Love (Derek B. Mix)
Was (Not Was) is the best use of excessive parenthesis in the history of mankind. Every time I post tracks by them I want to join in on the crazy parenthetical insanity, but I usually restrain myself (or not).

DJ Shadow
Disavowed
Treach Battle Beat
(Letter From Home) (Third Version)
These are B-sides/remixes from DJ Shadow’s 2002 album The Private Press, and for this blog that’s brand fucking new. “Disavowed” is an entirely original track I think, while “Treach Battle Beat” is a dub version of “Walkie Talkie,” which is on The Private Press. This version of “(Letter From Home)” is different than either of the versions that appear on the album.

The KLF
Justified And Ancient (Atomic Box Remix)
Justified And Ancient (X-Mix)
I bet you don’t have these remixes, they’re both from subscription service DJ records, which were usually only bought by DJs who played clubs. The first one is is good, and gets bonus points for using the Tammy Wynette vocals, but then loses them because the quality of the vinyl kind of sucks and the recording is a little too quiet. The X-Mix sounds a hell of lot better but it’s not that radical a remix. Still, it’s the KLF, Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, so you should enjoy them.

This Blog was Not a Popular Blog – And it Still Isn’t!

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

“Didn’t watch a second of the freak show” says Mr. Anonymous in the comment section in a response to my comments on the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Well, that’s a stupid thing to say, especially since it wasn’t elaborated in any way. How is the inauguration a “freak show”? I can think of a few different meanings to that statement, and none of them are particularly good.

Obama has been president for less than a week and already we’re seeing the dicks come out en masse. My favorite has been the NYC baker who was selling “Drunken Negro Heads” to “celebrate” the swearing in of Obama, and according to a couple customers he was calling them something far worse when he first put them out. Watch the video, and try not to hurt yourself when viewing this amazing combination of racist dickery by the baker and sickening self-importance by the reporter. It took effort for me to get through the whole thing, but one thing the baker said that really stood out to me was, “I’m not a racist.”

Sigh.

Okay, this gets me going on another rant. Remember the Nazi parents who named their kid Adolf Hitler? Well, they got their kids taken away from them. Now, I’m not going to argue whether or not this is right (especially since no one really knows why they were taken away yet) but I remember that the dad of the family said the exact same thing when confronted about his beliefs, “I’m not a racist.”

I’ll repeat that, because it bears repeating, the man who has swastika tattoos, Nazi memorabilia and named his kids Himmler, Adolph Hitler and fucking “Aryan Nation” doesn’t consider himself a racist, neither does the guy who sells “Drunk Negro Heads.”

Double Sigh.

That’s the equivalent of me pissing in someone’s face and denying it at the same time. These kind of people are the lowest of the fucking low. Scum of the Earth who should be forced to become human toilets at a center for Crohn’s Disease for all eternity. They aren’t the only one’s who do this. Ann Coulter (a “woman” I hate so much that I have retired the c-word for all uses with the exception of describing her) does it all the time, as do xenophobic petty pussies like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. I also hear regular people do this all the time, at the record store, in line for groceries, at parties, wherever! I’m fucking getting sick of it.

The next time you’re out and you hear someone say “I’m not a racist but…” fucking call them on that bullshit. Ask them “if you’re not a racist, then why are you spewing racist bullshit?” Pin them to the wall, make them either put up or shut up, confront them with their hypocrite hatred and make them suffer for even trying to justify it. We’re going to hear a lot of this shit for the next four (hopefully eight) years, and the only way it’ll go away is if we confront the idiots who do it.

And if all else fails give me their home address and I will personally make the trip out to their house and beat the motherfucking shit out of them.

Me & You
Lemonade Was a Popular Drink
Texture Like Sun
Bansky Fashion
Love In We Must Be
Me & You is a side-project by TM Jake and Tru Thoughts label founder Robert Luis. They have only released one proper album, the 2007 release Floating Heavy, and these tracks are from a companion EP called Heavy Floating Edits. If you like Diplo style mash-ups or alternative hip-hop of any kind you should check these guys out, and these remixes are nuts.

“Lemonade Was a Popular Drink” is an electro remix of the classic Gang Starr track “Nice & Smooth.” In case you couldn’t tell from the title, it drastically reworks the tune so the so-what-the-fuck-it’s-amazing line “Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is!” takes center stage. Texture Like Sun is a remix of The Stranglers’ “Golden Brown” which mixes up the original slightly while adding a whole new set of beats over it. It’s not as good as the original, but it’s sure as hell better than that shitty version from Kaleef a few years back. “Love In Be Must We” is a remix of J Dilla’s “Love,” which in itself is a remix/mash-up of “We Must Be In Love” by The Impressions (an early doo-wop group that featured Curtis Mayfield). It’s not that different from the original, but why mess with greatness. I have no idea what “Bansky Fashion” is, so any help there would be nice.

CSS
Move (Cut Copy Remix)
Move (Metronomy Remix)
Move (Frankmusik Club Bingo Dub)
I have a computer geek friend who thinks CSS’s name is stupid because he sees it and all he sees is “Cascading Style Sheets.” In other words, I have a friend who is kind of a twat. These remixes are from a 12” single that I picked up at Independent Records in Colorado.

Kylie Minogue
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (K&M’s Mindprint Mix)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Nick Faber Remix)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Plastika Mix)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Deluxe’s Dirty Dub)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Superchumbo Todo Mamado Mix)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Suberchumbo Leadhead Dub)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Sumberchumbo Votapella Mix)
This is over 45 minutes of Kylie. If you listen to all of these the title of the song will become a frightening reality for many hours (trust me). You have been warned.

Repost/Request/Retard

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

I was going to talk about the inaguration, but honestly, if you haven’t heard enough about it by now then there is seriously something wrong with you. It was cool. Go Obama, good luck. Now don’t fuck it up.

In other news; people need to STOP asking for me to repost shit in my comment section. I understand if you want something I already posted but since removed but I can’t put it back up just because you want it. If I did that for you I’d be doing it for everyone else and that kind of defeats the purpose of taking the links down after X amount of time (which is usually a month, much longer than other MP3 blogs).

Nothing is free people, so if you really want something I took down you have to offer me something in return. That weeds out the mooches. You also have to email me instead of posting in my comments, that weeds out..well, that just makes me happy because requests in my comment section annoys the fuck out of me.

If you can’t do that then I’m afraid all you can do is wait until April, when I allow reposts requests since that’s the anniversary of the blog. Or you could just do what my new favorite anonymous commenter in the world said go to Jerry’s and buy the damn thing yourself.

OMD
Drowning On The Seven Seas
Raving On The Seven Seas
Dancing On The Seven Seas (Remix 1)
Dancing On The Seven Seas (Remix 2)
I have seriously posted more remixes of “Sailing On The Seven Seas” then I ever thought I would – they just keep coming! And they all have different names! Apparently there are a lot of things to do on the seven seas that can be turned into remix titles; raving, dancing, drowning, singing…um…crying…drinking…pooping (okay, I made a few of those up). These remixes are from a white label promo single, which included the following note:

“This 12” contains the new remixes of OMD’s “Sailing On The Seven Seas”. All the members of the Wonederful Dean Ferguson’s high energy panel, along with selected members of the Billboard panel, received this test pressing. I hope you like it. I hope you chart it.

-Rick Squillante

Two things come to mind when reading that message, one; this is one rare son-of-a-bitch and two; who the hell is Rick Squillante?

Well, according to Wikipedia, Rick Squillante was a dance DJ who was big into “the scene” in Dallas during the early 90s, which I believe is code for “was into raves and drugs.” He was pretty influential as a DJ and eventually became a mid-level muckity-muck at a couple record labels for a while, but those gigs didn’t stick so he killed himself.

Now that you’re all sufficently down, enjoy those upbeat synthpop dance remixes.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (Paul Hardcastle Remix)
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (Paul Hardcastle Remix)
Reasons To Be Cheerful (Paul Hardcastle Remix)
Wake Up (And Make Love To Me) (Paul Hardcastle Remix)
These remixes are by Paul Hardcastle, who had a minor hit in America (and a major hit everywhere else) with the Post-Vietnam protest song “19.” I Love me some Hardcastle and I motherfucking looooove me some Dury, but sometimes two tastes don’t go great together and while these remixes are fun and worth downloading, none of them are as good as the original versions. These remixes are from a special 12” remix single.

Kraftwerk
The Robots
Robots originally appeared on The Man-Machine, but this version is from an Ultimix single, which were (are?) special singles made for DJs to spin at clubs. They usually have special remixes that aren’t available anywhere else, and I believe that is the case with this crazy odd remix. What makes it so odd? First of all it’s over nine minutes long, and it has a breakdown with a rap about time travel. So yeah, that’s different.

80s Super Bowl Dance Party

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Woo! Go Pittsburgh!

Okay, since a large portion of my audience is either European, Gay or both that will be the extent of my pre-Super Bowl celebrations.

(Fuck the Ravens)

Okay, now I’m done. Needless to say I am in a very happy place right now and what’s more happy than 80s pop music? Well, probably Exctasy, but it’s really hard to upload pills. I was actually already planning on posting a shitload of 80s music this week, but now I have the pretense of an excuse to do so. I have more 80s stuff coming this week, but I’m blowing my load right now with the most pop-friendly, Top 40, stupid bullshit from my recently acquired 80s 12” singles.

Phil Collins
In The Air Tonight (Extended Version)
In The Air Tonight (88′ Remix)
This song is big in the NFL and I have to ask, why? Who the hell gets pumped up by Phil Collins? This is a song about the slow and painful dissolution of a marriage at the emotional heartbreak it causes. Who hears that and thinks, “man, I’m ready for some football!” The Browns play this song before almost all their games, and I’m convinced that has more to do with their shitty record than any of their shitty head coaches (exception: Butch Davis). These remixes came from a 12” single.

Unrelated note: When will someone sample this song for what would have to be the best drum ‘n’ bass song of all time?

Falco
Rock Me Amadeus (Ihn Liebten Alle Frauen)
If you’ve ever wanted more “Rock me Amadeus” then hang on tight, this mix might make you wet your pants. This 12” remix is over seven minutes long. That’s seven minutes of half-English/half-German insanity. With the posting of this track my blog has become so 80s it might start to wear sweatbands and watch Thirtysomething. This is from an import 12”.

Pat Benatar
Invincible (Extended Remix)
Raise your hand if you liked The Legend Of Billie Jean. Okay, everyone who did get the fuck off my blog. Okay, just kidding (barely) but damn that’s a bad movie. For those who haven’t seen it let me recap the film’s “plot.” Hot chick’s little brother gets his scooter trashed by rich douche bags. Hot chick tries to get them to pay for the damages and someone gets shot(!!??). Hot chick, stupid brother and Lisa Simpson go on the run and become urban heroes for disenfranchised youth. Hot chick cuts hair, becomes blonde Joan Jett and everyone lives happily ever after.

I might have left some stuff out, but I think that about nails it. The best part about the movie (aside from Helen Slater in skintight clothes) is this Pat Benatar song. “Invincible” is Benatar at her most 80s, complete with gratuitous synths and lyrics built for gym workout mix tapes right between the theme from Karate Kid and “Eye Of The Tiger.” This extended mix is from a 12” single.

Madonna
Papa Don’t Preach (Extended Remix)
I’m fairly certain that this extended remix just adds an extra 30 seconds or so of those opening strings, and some echo-effect laden “daddy”s during the bridge, but whatever.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions
The Only Flame In Town (Version Discotheque)
Pump It Up (Dance Mix)
Elvis Costello sang a duet with Daryl Hall and that duet was called “The Only Flame In Town.” Not surprisingly it hasn’t aged very well, like most of the other songs off of the meh Goodbye Cruel World. I’m not exactly sure what makes this version “discotheque” but it’s a remix and rare, so that’s enough for me to put it on here. On the other hand/side, “Pump It Up” may by the second-best song ever recorded, and while this dance mix may be entirely unnecessary and pointless, it’s still totally awesome. Both of these are from a 12” single and as far as I know theare only available commercially on one of the massive Elvis Costello singles box sets that came out about four years ago.

Drum ‘n’ Bass ‘n’ Smokin’ Hot Readheads

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

I’m boycotting weather. Who’s with me?

Ed Rush & Optical Present Wormhole
I hype Jerry’s Records a lot, but I’m going to say it once more, if you are looking for some obscure grooves, hardcore house and woofer-throbbing DnB then you owe it to yourself to make the trek. Right now Jerry has hundreds, if not thousands of electronic 12” singles and promos just laying around, so much that he doesn’t even know what to do with them. There has to be some gems hidden in there, this collection being a prime example. Wormhole is a seminal peice of late-90s DnB, a near-perfect collection of pure electronica that combines killer beats with menacing, almost etheral melodies in a way that few others can. While the album is credited to Ed Rush & Optical, Fortran also contributes to the set. I only have the vinyl version, which was shorter than the CD version (but still clocked in at a massive 5-LPs). Thsi sucker is sadly out of print and can go for muco buckos on eBay, so it’s kind of vanished over time. If you like DnB though you need to check it out right now.

Garbage
Stupid Girl (Tee’s Freeze Club)
Stupid Girl (Tee’s In-House Dub)
Stupid Girl (Future Retro Mix)
Stupid Girl (Danny Saber Mix)
Stupid Girl (Shoegazer Mix)
Shirley Manson is on that Terminator show now right? She can totally cause the robot apocalypse at my house anytime. I know that didn’t make any sense but I don’t care.

Let There Be Badfinger?

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Need to apologize to Destrukto for last night’s overly abusive comments directed towards him. I was half-kidding and sometimes tone doesn’t translate well to written word.

That little incident proves that I’m still recovering from my recent visit by the family so I’m going to keep tonight’s post bereft of funny/angry rants, since my internal barometer of what is decent and funny and what is vulgar and mean is way off right now. Besides, the only two things pissing me off right now are Joe The Plumber in Israel and killer cops in Oakland, and I really don’t feel like talking about either. So instead lets just cut to the tunes.

Exotic Birds
Day After Day (13” Remix)
Day After Day (12” Vox)
Day After Day (London Single)
Halucienda
Day After Day (Upstairs Dub)
Vogue After Vogue
I know what you were thinking right before you came here, you were thinking, “Man, I love Badfinger, and I love cheesy 90s dance music, wouldn’t it be great if there was a cheesy 90s dance cover of Badfinger’s “Day After Day”? And wouldn’t it even be more awesome if they were remixes? And wouldn’t it just be ball-smashingly fantastic if one of those remixes of said cover was a dub mix that included vocal samples of of Run DMC and the “let their be house” guy? That would be amazing, but what would make it beyond perfect would be if it was by a band that Trent Reznor used to be in, that would be an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10!”

That’s what you were thinking, right?

What the hell is wrong with you?

Dieselboy
Invid (E-Sassin VIP)
The Descent (Phunckateck VIP)
Invid (Twisted Anger Remix)
Invid (Joshua Ryan’s Southern Cross Remix)
Invid (Joshua Ryan Remix Radio Edit)
I blew my witty load with that stupid bit you just read. These awesome DnB cuts are from the 2xLP “Invid” single.

Random Blog Post (GO STEELERS)

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Okay Destrukto, I have a rule. If you’re going to post a series of links then you have describe what the fuck they are. I’m not downloading random files of the interweb, and I don’t suggest anyone else here does either. And who the hell is Sylvia? That comment is all kinds of confusing you little bastard.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Mine was shit, but the Steelers won so it wasn’t all bad. I said before that if you’re a racist/sexist/homophobic asshole you can’t download my songs, but I forgot to add Ravens fans to that list. If you rock purple jerseys and live in Baltimore I don’t want you rocking out at my online synthpop dance party.

Don’t piss me off mofo, or I’ll send Pacman Jones after you. You can pay him in strip club cover charges, it’s cheap.

Depeche Mode
Just Can’t Get Enough (Schizo Mix)
Any Second Now (Altered)
Leave In Silence (Longer)
Master And Servant (Slavery Whip Mix)
I promised more Depeche Mode and I finally delivered. Thse are from the awkwardly-titled promo 2XLP single “Selections From The Commercially Available Limited Edition Box Sets One and Two,” so you can probably imagine that they are also available on those previously plugged box sets. I have two of those box sets and I can tell you that they are worth the money.

New Order
Blue Order Mega-Mix 1
Blue Order Mega-Mix 2
Bootleg megamixes! From a 12” single called “Blue Order.”

BONUS
Bonus Bronski Beats
The B-side to the Blue Order mixes, and if you haven’t figured it out yet it’s a Bronski Beat megamix.

Big Country
Wonderland (Extended Mix)
Giant
All Fall Together
Angle Park
Heart And Soul
Lost Patrol (Live)
I put up the tracks from the German version of this one a long time ago, but now I got the Japanese version and instead of just putting up the bonus tracks from that version, I’m reposting the whole thing since my recording equipment is a shitload better and thse rips sound a hell of a lot cleaner. The title track and “Lost Patrol” are re-recorded reposts, but “All Fall Together”, “Angle Back,” and “Heart And Soul” are brand new to Lost Turntable. The only one that is a flat-out repost is “Giant,” it’s not on the Japanese single, but it’s an awesome instrumental version of “All Fall Together” so I thought it was worth the redundancy.

Monster Spouses From Synthpop Heaven

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Two posts in two days! It’s just like old time (old times being three months ago). I’m dreading an upcoming visit from my father and I’m drowning myself in 80s pop music in order to distract myself, which is a great bonus for all you bastards. Hopefully I’ll have at least one more post this week, but I’ve learned not to promise anything about my posting schedule, because the second I do it all goes to shit. I can promise though that the next post (whenver that will be) will include more awesome 80s/e synth awesomeness…possibly in the form of Depeche Mode.

OMD
Brides Of Frankenstein (Mix)
Brides Of Frankenstein (Dub)
Call My Name (12” Version)
Sugar Tax
Pandora’s Box (Diesel Fingers Mix)
Pandora’s Box (Abstract Mix)
Pandora’s Box (Constant Pressue 12” Mix)
Pandora’s Box (Prize Of Beauty Mix)
Holy crap on a stick that’s a lot of OMD. Here’s another example of how my crazy stupid brain works. I go to Wikipedia to check up on my OMD knowledge in preparation for this post. I get distracted and start reading up on their song “Enola Gay” which gets me interested in the actual Enola Gay as well as other 80s synthpop songs about nuclear annihilation so I end up spending 20 minutes reading about the dispute over America’s decision to drop the A-bomb while pulling up clips of “99 Luftballoons” on YouTube. I have problems. But enough about my demented brain, you probably want to know where the hell all these songs came from, well the “Brides Of Frankenstein” mixes are from that song’s 12” promo single; “Call My Name” is from its 12” single, the b-side of which was the same mix of “Brides Of Frankenstein” that was on the promo single, so there’s no need in me posting it; and the “Pandora’s Box” remixes and “Sugar Tax” all come from the American 12” promo single for “Pandora’s Box” which in America was subtitled “Long Long Way.” The song “Sugar Tax” is not on the album Sugar Tax, which is annoying. On a side note, the Sugar Tax was a real thing, it helped lead to the American Revolutionary War, and it was probably a real bitch for 18th century diabetics.

One added note, “Brides Of Frankenstein” (which is actually a megamix) has the best beat ever.

Erasure
Am I Right? (Dave Bascombe Remix)
Carry On Clangers (Full Length)
Let It Flow
Waiting For Sex (Full Length)
Snappy (12” Remix)
Snappy (The Spice Has Risen Mix)
These are the last of the Erasure remixes. I’m sure I’ve said that before but this time I mean it, really, honestly…at least until I buy more Erasure 12” singles.

Sit On My Blog

Monday, January 5th, 2009

My best of 2008 list is out. Mine is obviously more credible than lists put out by Spin, Rolling Stone, NME, Q, or Pitchfork.

However, I forgot to add some honorable mentions (links go to my reviews):

Squarepusher: Just A Souvenir – Acid jazz on..well..acid as the DnB god shows that he can fucking ROCK a bass. Download The Glass Road now.

The Fireman: Electric Arguments – So Paul McCartney and Youth from Killing Youth walk into a recording studio…It sounds like the set-up to a weird joke, but it the truth is that these two have been working together since the early 90s, and while their latest effort is more mainstream in nature than their earlier works, it’s still a shocking blast of left-field creations from a man who helped invent the modern pop song.

Toadies: No Deliverance
– Texans can still rock out.

NIN: Both Ghosts and The Slip – One was dirt cheap and instrumental, the other was free and angsty. Both rocked.

Motorhead: Motorizer – The day Motorhead stops recording awesome albums is the day I die a little inside.

Ludo: You’re Awful, I Love You – Proof that emo/pop-punk can be smart and well-written (I know, I was shocked too!)

Coldplay: Viva la Vida – I really wanted to hate this record but I couldn’t do it. Brian Eno has saved Coldplay from the adult-comtemporary hell that was XY.

Amanda Palmer: Who Killed Amanda Palmer? – The crazy chick from The Dresden Dolls lets her inner-rocker shine on this solo release (which is odd considering The Dresden Dolls are pretty much a solo project as well, but whatever).

Stabbing Westward
Shame (On You Mix)
Shame (It Up Mix)
Shame (Powdered Cat Mix)
Slipping Away (Suicide Mix)
I think Stabbing Westward was the first band I ever liked ironically. I remember hearing “Shame” as a teen and thinking that this band was so dark and depressing that it was actually kind of funny. Nothing screams way-too-over-the-top self-loathing like the line “I only see myself as a reflection in your eyes.” Even though they were silly and an obvious attempt to cash in on the post-NIN industrial craze, I liked Stabbing Westard, especially “Shame” and these three remixes of that song (plus “Slipping Away”) are all great. I got these off of a weird promo 12” called The Remixes.

Ministry
Stigmata (Remix)
Tonight We Murder
The cover to this 12” single is damn scary, although not as scary as the cover to The Land Of Rape And Honey, since that’s a mutilated head of a dead body. Al needs a hug. The uplifting “Tonight We Murder” was also on the soundtrack to Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight, a great example of a shitty horror movie with an awesome metal soundtrack.

Lords Of Acid
I Sit On Acid (Straight Up Mix)
I Sit On Acid (Just The Basics)
I Sit On Acid (Mixin’ Up The Acid)
I Sit On Acid (The Hard Seven)
What the hell happened to these guys? They completely vanished about six years ago; they’re website hasn’t been updated since 2002! What the world needs now is more perverted techno doing it dirty. This is the best song ever about face-sitting. And if you argue that with me then you obviously have far more interest in the topic than a well-adjusted person should. These remixes are from a 12” single.