Another blog's contest...

I keep track of my weekly mileage (running, swimming, cycling) on Dailymile.com which is where I met this guy, Mike Panic. He's got a pretty entertaining blog called Randomn3ss which is actually hosting a contest. They are giving away a pair of wireless music transmitters called i2i and by posting this shout-out, I get a couple of entries into the drawing. Go check out his website. And Dailymile.

The Young Knives

Post-punk revival bands are generally only okay, unless they are weird-as-shit. Here is an Australian group with one extremely awesome song (the first video). Unfortunately, they are part of a trend I've been noticing in Brittish post-punk revival bands lately where they only have ONE good song. The other songs aren't bad, just not worth getting excited about (see the mystery jets). But like I said, this one track is the shiznit:

She's attracted to (from voices of animals and men) by The Young Knives


unexciting:
rue the days (from Superabundance) by the young knives


unexciting:
Turn Tail (from Superabundance) by the Young Knives

Mission of Burma

Boston boys played good post-punk. Sold out of albums. Got famous in the indie-rock and college music circuits. Had their songs covered and recorded by Moby, REM, and the guitarist from Blur. But their guitarist started going deaf from their famously loud shows. So in '83 they threw in the towel. 22 years later they reunited and exceeded everyone's expectations. It must be hard to be relevant 2 decades after you blow everyone away with your strange song structures and artsy punk music, not to mention crazy aural textures and ways of screwing with live sound. 3 cheers for mission of burma for making "old" edgy. something about their music feels like Autumn.

That's how i escape my certain fate(from Vs.~1982)by Mission of Burma


Dirt (from ONoffON ~2004) by Mission of Burma


From 1980. WoW.
This is not a photograph (from signals calls and marches~1981) by Mission of Burma


This is the entertaining dancing dude that did a dance video everyday for a year.
Fame and Fortune (from signals calls and marches~1981) by Mission of Burma

konono no. 1

The Congo is a strange place. Some people think there might still be extremely large reptiles there (dinosaurs), but we know for certain that there are many species that evolved separately and yet along the same trajectory of species more familiar to the western world. Similarly, the musicians from Congo who make up Konono No. 1 have developed a type of trance music that in some ways parallels western society's hynotic, hyper-repetitive music. Luckily, they don't have turntables or synthesizers. These folks make instruments out of broken down cars and animal skins. As such, it doesn't suck like most trance music. Dig it.

Just a track, no video
Lufuala Ndonga (from Congotronics Vol I) by Konono No. 1


Live in Congo


Live in Utrecht

Dirty Projectors

YES! This band will almost certainly satisfy your cravings for weirdness. The main dude selects a rotating cast of musicians for each album - which probably contributes partially to how each album sounds different. Overall, their music is unsettling - but only due the arrangement - not the sounds. The music is an interesting mixture of orchestral, rock, and electronic music, and the singing varies but is usually pleasant, but the song structures and the way they play out are quite strange. And wonderful. I mean, one album is concept album about Don Henley.

I Sit on the Ridge at Dusk (from The Getty Address) by Dirty Projectors


Spray Paint the Walls (from Rise Above) by Dirty Projectors

Doctor Octagon

Doc Oct. is bizarre. No stranger to rapping as different personalities, with this one, Kool Keith poses as an extraterrestrial gynecologist who regularly engages in surgery when not fighting off "half-alligator-shark men" and seducing the womenz. This is good stuff, although you're bound to be offended by one song or another. Check out the beats by Automator and Qbert on the decks! Circa 1996. Also check out "the return of doctor octagon" and kool keith's other personas.

Blue Flowers (from Doctor Octagynecologist) by Doctor Octagon


No video, just album cover.
3000 (from Doctor Octagynecologist) by Doctor Octagon

Battles

Love that name.

They are new enough that they only have one album, but not old enough that should have a second out yet. I described this band to Chrissy as "dancey music you can put on for your noise rock friends." They make their keyboards sound like guitars and their guitars sound like keyboards. The ubiquitous vocal effects keep you from taking them to seriously (if they had anything to say, they wouldn't make the lyrics impenetrable). I'd say a solid 69% of the album rocks tremendously - i was drinking and doing dishes the first time i heard it and broke out in the charleston. The remaining bit is definitely okay, but nothing to write home about. Nonetheless they have garnered a lot of attention with just one album out on Warp Records. I think the drummer is from Don Caballero is you're hip.

Atlas (from Mirrored) by Battles


This one's kinda long, but anyone who's ever studied lighting design or photography will appreciate this:
Tonto (from Mirrored) by Battles