Pick the Rare Flower

Halou - Half-Gifts

2005-06-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the rarest thing in nature is a successful Cocteau Twins cover. Here is one. This band tours a lot here in Seattle and that's about all I really know about them.

Check out Halou's site.

Halou - Half-Gifts

Buy "Wiser" by Halou @ Amazon.com (this track isn't on it, but it's a great album)

VIDEO: New Order - True Faith

2005-06-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

A friend and I were waxing nostalgic about the goofy video for "True Faith". And lo, here it is!

http://media.neworderonline.com/video/qt/neworder_truefaith.mov

I'm Back!

2005-05-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hi there. I have returned. Surgery went well and I hope to get back to updating this ASAP. Thanks for your patience!

VIDEO: Crispin Hellion Glover - Ben

2005-04-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

If you missed it before, here is the man himself singing "Ben" from the remake of Willard.

A love song to a rat as written by Michael Jackson. There is a punchline in there somewhere, but I'm not that funny.

VIDEO: Academy Films - Various

2005-04-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

This site has a collection of videos for various artists. including Massive Attack, His Name is Alive (directed by the Brothers Quay), Tom Waits,Placebo and more.

http://www.academyfilms.com/

VIDEO: Bjork - All is Full of Love

2005-04-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Creepy video with erotic robots.

No, not those kind of erotic robots!

Hymn to the American People - Mixed CD Track Listing

2005-04-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

Straight Outta Compton - Mixed CD Track Listing

2005-04-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

This Side of the Blue - Mixed CD Track Listing

2005-04-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

12! - Mixed CD Track Listing

2005-04-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

It's Notta Tumah

2005-04-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Where have I been you may ask? Or maybe not, who knows. Well, I have developed a rather serious health problem (and unlike Ahnold, it is indeed a tumor). I am in a lot of pain and freaking out, needless to say, so my updates will few and far between until I have mmy surgery (hopefully on May 5th).

VIDEO: Diamanda Galas - Double Barrel Prayer

2005-04-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Well, look what I found. It's the video for Double Barrel Prayer by Diamanda Galas, the most terrifying woman in music. I have friends who have seen her live that say yes, she is that intense in person.

http://brainwashed.com/common/video/mov/diamanda_galas-double_barrel_prayer.mov

DJ Earworm - No One Takes Your Freedom

2005-03-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

I found this track via Boing Boing.

Like most people on the internet, I have become fascinated by the Beatles mash-ups cropping up everywhere. For those who don't know what a mash-up is, it's when DJs take 2 (or more) different songs and combine them to create a new song. There have been many interesting ones produced recently (The Beatles and the Beastie Boys being one of the most ingenious), but this one is by far the best I have heard. Combining Scissor Sisters, George Michael, Aretha Franklin, and The Beatles this is by far the most coherent and melodic mash up I have heard. Enjoy!

DJ Earworm - No One Takes Your Freedom

DJ Earworm

Monica Zetterlund - Vilse Valsen

2005-03-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Ryan found this 45 in a thrift store in LA. He bought it solely for the 60s era woman on the cover in her little plaid travel suit. What he got was hours of hilarity. Monica Zetterlund is actual a very well respected Swedish jazz singer. This song starts off normal enough... until she has a nervous breakdown about 2 minutes in. It's a swinging cocktail tune with manical cackling, muppet voices, grunting, and general weirdness. It makes me wish I spoke Swedish. Or it makes me glad I don't.

Monica Zetterlund - Vilse Valsen

Hummelee hummelee hummelee DEE DUM

Cynthia Dall - The Party

2005-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

I discovered Cynthia Dall by accident. Her first album had no writing on the cover and a stunning Asian design in pinks and greens. I had to check it out. The music was strange, plodding, dark, and brooding. She has this odd semi-atonal "off-key" style that took some getting used to but I eventually found very winning. All I really know about her is that she used to play with Smog and she looks uncomfortable having her picture taken. This song is on her second release and is a simple, dreamy guitar, piano and vocal tune.

Cynthia Dall - The Party
Buy "Sound Restores Young Men" @ Amazon

Dalis Car - His Box

2005-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

How is it that no one has heard of Dalis Car?? No self-respecting Goth should maintain ignorance of this band! This was a collaboration between Peter Murphy from Bauhaus and Mick Karn from Japan. Formed in 1984, the album wasn't as good as it could have been (I guess the gentlemen didn't enjoy working together and called it quits immediately following the release of their one and only album "The Waking Hour"), but it's still a fascinating and strange work with some real stand out tunes. Besides, the cover is a Parrish print. How cool is that?

Dalis Car - His Box

Buy "The Waking Hour" @ Amazon

Silver Mt. Zion - Triumph of Our Tired Eyes

2005-02-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

This band is a small offshoot of "Godspeed You! Black Emperor", a terrific chamber pop/sadcore outfit from Canada. SMZ's music is melancholy and low key, but this track is one of my all time favorites.

Silver Mt. Zion - Triumph of Our Tired Eyes
Buy "Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward" @ Amazon

Gillian Hills - Tut Tut Tut Tut

2005-02-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have no idea who this woman is, where I got this song, or why it's so appealing. It's a little bit of late 60s upbeat party music with a really dorky sounding chorus. All I know is that she is apparently French and had a bit part in "A Clockwork Orange".

Gillian Hills - Tut Tut Tut Tut

Here is an album of her's you can buy, but this track isn't on it.

Computer Drama

2005-02-16T16:24:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I know I haven't been updating this thing for a couple of days. My computer had a bios problem which has now been resolved, but I am still in the midst of reloading all of my MP3s. I promise when I return it will be with a slew of great tunes for you to listen to!

David Bowie/Marianne Faithfull - I Got You Babe (live)

2005-02-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm back from Port Vega$ (as we lovingly call Portland). I am still bogged down in work, so today I will just give you the bizarre, atonal rendition of "I Got You Babe" by David Bowie and Marianne Faithfull. The actual footage of this is great, with a super stoned Marianne dressed as a nun and bleating out the song like a demented and David looking super coked out and confused.

David Bowie/Marianne Faithfull - I Got You Babe (live)

Don't know where you can buy this, I believe the footage is contained in the "1980 Floor Show", but I don't even know if you can buy that on video. This guy has some pictures though!

Bongwater - The Living End

2005-02-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

Bongwater is Ann Magnuson's avant-garde band from the 80s and 90s. There music can range from dark and dramatic to silly and obnoxious. This track is one of their darker entires from the "Too Much Sleep".

Sorry to be brief, but I am out of town on business and jsut wanted to squeeze one in while I had the chance!

Bongwater - The Living End

Buy "Too Much Sleep" @ Amazon

Tori Amos - Saturday Afternoons in 1963 LIVE

2005-02-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

In July 03, I got to see Tori Amos live at Marymoor Park here in the Seattle Area. While I have always been only a minor fan, I must say she was GREAT. It was a lovely summer evening, we had great seats, and she is an electrifying performer. Much to my joy, she played one of my favorite songs from my childhood, which incidentally is about childhood. The song "Saturday Afternoons in 1963" is a Rickie Lee Jones song, and Tori really does a great job covering it.

Happily enough, I found this bootleg from the show I attended.

Tori Amos - Saturday Afternoons in 1963

Bruno Martino - Dracula Cha Cha Cha

2005-02-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

This is the dorkiest song ever.

This piece of... music... was given to me by my good friend Oscar. He grew up in Boliva and told me that his Hungarian grandmother had this album, which oddly enough, is in Italian. I guess that makes this a travesty of international proportions.

You will be singing this for days.

Bruno Martino - Dracula Cha Cha Cha

I can't find anywhere you can actually purchase this album, so if you know tell me!

Takako Minekawa - Fantastic Cat

2005-02-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

Takako Minekawa was a child star in Japan and orignally appreared in the group, Fancy Face Groovy Name, before striking out on her own. She's had several CDs over the years, but my most favorite has got to be this, the strangley happy, possible migraine-inducing song, Fantastic Cat.

Get your anime groove on!
Takako Minekawa - Fantastic Cat

The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud - Untitled

2005-02-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

This band is really fascinating. I found them on a (now defunct) radio station on Live365 (which, incidentally, is where I host my station Lathe of Heaven). They are an Apocalyptic Folk group from Austria distributed by World Serpent (is that gone too?), sharing the same ethos and aesthetic with the other bands associated with WS (Coil, Current 93, etc). Most of their songs are about historical events and figures. Plagues, dementia, war, you name it. I love their stuff and don't know how I missed them for so long.

PS All of their tracks are untitled. Yeah, I know.

The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud - Untitled

To the best of my knowledge, this and all other TMLHBC albums are currently out of print and hard to find (due to the rather ugly dissolution of the band circa 1998. Is anything in this post still working?). Here is singer Alzbeth's site for the band:

TMLHBC

Beatles/Monkees Mashup

2005-02-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

This is a cool video of a Beatles/Monkees mashup made by combining "I'm a Believer" with "Paperback Writer".

Freakin' brilliant!

GoHome Productions

Lou Barlow - Chokechain

2005-02-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

I first heard this track at the end of Session 9, one of the best suspense/horror movies I have seen in the last few years. If you haven't seen the movie you should. This sad, haunting recording was made on a 4 track in Lou Barlow's (of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh fame) home. It has bleak, woeful sound that gives me the shivers.

Lou Barlow - Chokechain

Buy "Winning Losers: A Collection of Home Recordings" @ Amazon

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Feeling of Gaze

2005-02-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star has one of the most haunting voices of all time. Her whispery junkie drawl is languid and seductive without being coy or hammy. I don't know much about The Warm Inventions, other than they include a guy from My Bloody Valentine, but I do know that this track is the highlight of this album for me. Sleepy Sunday morning music.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Feeling of Gaze

Buy "Bavarian Fruit Bread" @ Amazon

Fiction Factory - (Feels Like) Heaven

2005-02-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

While we are on the subject of New Wave hits with "heaven" in the name, this song was my favorite when it came out in 1985. This melancholy tune was the perfect soundtrack for a mopey, disaffected goth kid (back then we were called "bat cavers". *rolls eyes*) living on a rainy bog in the northwest corner of the country. I remember my bedroom window looked out over the white steepled church and the ferry docks in the little town we lived in. I used to sit at my window and listen to this song and watch the rain. And yeah, before you ask, I wrote crappy poetry about how the world didn't understand me. It's still a pretty song.

Fiction Factory - (Feels Like) Heaven

Buy "Throw the Warped Wheel Out" @ Amazon

Eurogliders - Heaven

2005-02-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

Back in the 80s, Seattle had an excellent alternative/new wave station, KJET 1600AM. It was there in 1984 I first heard this track. It's a catchy, poppy little number from the Australian band that went to number one "down under". Not many people remember this tune, but I had to hunt far and wide to track this album down.

BTW, what was up with all that Crocodile Dundee/Men at Work/INXS/Shrimp on the Barbie stuff in the 90s anyway?

Eurogliders - Heaven

Buy "This Island" @ Amazon

Vampyros Lesbos - The Lions And The Cucumber

2005-02-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Vampyros Lesbos is a ridiculously bad movie. Jess Franco's homage to.... well, lesbian (sort of) vampires (sort of) is mostly a really boring, low budget, wanna be art film. The highlight of this classic dreck-fest is the rockin' psychadelic soundtrack baby! This stuff is so shagadelically groovy you will begin to ooze patchouli and martinis from your pores just by listening to it.

PS, if you do watch the movie, minute 71 is CLASSIC!

Vampyros Lesbos - The Lions And The Cucumber

Buy Vampyros Lesbos Sexadelic Dance Party @ Amazon

Joanna Newsom - This Side of the Blue

2005-02-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

I found Joanna Newsom quite by accident one day while surfing the web. Her unique vocal style and quirky songs caught my attention, but her song writing skills are what sold me on her music. This song is anomalous in her catalog, since she usually accompanies herself on the harp, but I found this to be one of her more accesible songs and a good way to ease into her unusual vocal style. I had the pleasure of seeing her live a few months ago and she was fantastic.

Joanna Newsom - This Side of the Blue

Buy "The Milk-Eyed Mender" @ Amazon