Covers by Toyah and Cyndi

April 22nd, 2013

Some  new stuff over at Mostly-Retro!

In case you missed it, I did a small post on this crazy poster that came with the first edition of Kraftwerk’s Ralf Und Florian album. I don’t think that thing has ever been scanned and shared on the Internet before, so if you know any Kraftwerk fans make sure to send them that article!

Next up, and on a much more serious note, there’s this post on Game Theory’s Scott Miller, who left us all too suddenly last week. He meant a lot to me and I hope that someday he’ll be recognized as the songwriting genius he was. You can find all of Game Theory’s music at his official site now, and I wrote up a quick thing about him.

Finally, and on another sad note, Storm Thorgerson died last week too (man, last week was SHIT.) While  he was most well-known for his Pink Floyd covers, he did a lot of other great work too. I put together a quick little gallery featuring some of my favorites.

Mostly-Retro is going along better than I thought it would, and I hope you all enjoy it and share it with your friends. I have some cool stuff planned for that site in the coming weeks and I hope it all comes together.

Got cool stuff planned here too! So don’t worry about that. Check it! Cool stuff! Right here!

It’s really cool.

Toyah
Echo Beach (Surf Mix)
Echo Beach (7″ MIx)
Plenty
This is a cover. The original was by a Canadian new wave band called Martha and the Muffins. There were actually two Marthas in that band at one point, so they really should have been called Marthas and the Muffins, but I guess that doesn’t really roll off the tongue. What are the odds of having two Marthas in a band anyways? Is that like some crazy common name in Canada or something?

I’m getting off topic. This version is by perennial UK oddball Toyah, and I prefer it to the original. It has less horns and more synthesizers. If you ask  me, just about any song can be improved using that formula, except maybe “Careless Whisper.” And possibly “Baker Street.” Although, I don’t know, that melody in “Baker Street” is so great that I think it could work on anything. You could play that shit on a marimba and it would sound great.

Cyndi Lauper
What’s Going On (Club Version)
What’s Going On (Instrumental)
What’s Going On (Long Version)
Okay, so maybe you all can help me out here. If you go to Cyndi Lauper’s official VEVO channel on YouTube to watch this video (which is awesome by the way), it says “ft. Chuck D” after the song title. But, yo, where the hell is Chuck? He is not in this video, he is not rapping, and I highly doubt that’s him playing the bongos. Pardon the obvious joke, but what’s going on with that?

That being said, I really think that a Cyndi Lauper/Chuck D collaboration would be dope and they should really get on that already.

These mixes are by Shep Pettibone, because he remixed everyone in the 80s.

Posted in B-sides, covers, Cyndi Lauper, remixes, Toyah | No Comments »

R.I.P. Scott Miller

April 18th, 2013

Just too soon.

Dammit.

Head over to Scott’s official website for downloads to Game Theory’s albums.

And I did a write-up on Mostly-Retro on Scott as well.

Posted in Game Theory | 4 Comments »

Gay Acid

April 16th, 2013

In case you missed my last post, I finally launched that new site of mine. It’s called Mostly-Retro and it’s going to be a clearinghouse of reviews, essays and other stuff I’ve always wanted to write but couldn’t find the venue for. I plan on updating it two to three times a week if all works out. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on shutting down Lost Turntable anytime soon, but until I get things going at a steady pace over at Mostly-Retro, I might slow down to a post a week here for a month or so. Of course, now that I’ve said that I’m probably going to end up being more productive than ever and post shit nonstop. That’s always how that works.

Anyways, check out the new site! Tell me what you think! Keep it mind it’s still a work in progress, so be nice if you think it looks like butt.

Psychic TV
Joy (credited to DJ Doktor Megatrip with Luv Bass)
Thee Politics Ov Ecstasy (credited to Psychic TV & Jack The Tab)
These are from a 12″ single. I bought it because I thought it was some crazy weird bootleg acid house single. I had no idea that both tracks were actually by Psychic TV and that in the late 80s they released two full albums of acid house under the guise of them being compilation albums, complete with fake artist names for each track. That’s weird. But from what little I know of Psychic TV, weird is par for the course so I’m not even going to try and analyze it.

Seriously, I know next to nothing about Psychic TV aside from the fact that they’ve released, like, a billion albums and that they’re really weird. I don’t know how this stuff compares to the rest of their discography or if they’ve released better acid house music. I just like acid house. And as acid house goes, this is pretty damn great. And really fucking trippy.

Patrick Cowley
Menergy (12″ Remix)
I Wanna Take You Home
Tommy Williams’ Megamedley
I’ve posted some Patrick Cowley before. For those who missed those posts and might not know who he is; Cowley was a legend of late-era disco, and one of the first producers who followed in Moroder’s footsteps, taking disco into the realm of electronica. While Moroder was the original innovator of electronic disco, Cowley took it a whole other level during his brief career (he passed away in 1982), and pretty much laid the foundation for HI-NRG dance music and synthpop along the way. If you like the Pet Shop boys and New Order’s dancier stuff, then you should really dig Cowley.

I posted a mix of “Menergy” a few months ago, but this version is longer, clocking in at about eight and a half minutes, making it even gayer than the original. The b-side “I Wanna Take You Home,” while not as fabulous as “Menergy” is still an excellent example of the type of music that Cowley created. I don’t know who is singing on it though, the 12″ gave no credit. If you have any idea let me know.

Finally, there’s the “Tommy Williams’ Megamedley,” which starts with “Menergy” before going into a mostly instrumental mix of Cowley’s greatest tracks. It’s amazing. This shit is better than 99% of the “EDM” you hear on the radio these days, of course that’s really not saying that much is it?

Posted in B-sides, Patrick Cowley, Psychic TV, remixes | 1 Comment »

Go check out my new site.

April 16th, 2013

So I’m launching that new site….now.

Go check it out, it’s called Mostly Retro.

So what is it?

Well, that’s been one of the reasons why it’s taken me so long to launch it (aside from technical issues). Figuring out exactly what I wanted out of this secondary site was a bit challenging. I knew I didn’t want it to be just another MP3 blog. I already got one of those, obviously, and to be honest, I wanted to create something where I might be able to make some sort of money without worrying about the legal ramifications of selling ads and whatnot on a site that illegally hosts music. That’s not to say I’ll never post MP3s on the new site, but when I do they’ll be so obscure or random that I can’t imagine anyone associated with them would have any problem with me sharing them.

As the site name suggests, most of what I’ll be covering on it will be “retro” in nature. Older games, movies, music and such. However, not everything will be strictly nostalgic in nature. As you’ll see from going there, the first article is a guide to buying record sin Japan. As far as specifics, I’m still trying to work that out, to be honest. I’m shooting for something that’s fun and silly at times, but not afraid to have more serious or introspective content as well. Something between Dinosaur Dracula and Unwinnable is the tone I’m shooting for.

I already got some cool stuff lined up, at least I’d like to think so. Later this week you can expect a cool post on Kraftwerk and the first post in what I hope will be a recurring feature. Upcoming articles will include a multi-part post on Red Book audio in video games, a possible interview with an early synthesizer pioneer, and a marathon series of posts where I review every Tangerine Dream album from 1970 to 1990. Seriously.

I got a lot of stuff planned with this site, and I hope you all (and more) enjoy it. If you do, please share it with your friends. Tweet it, Facebook it, Google+ it. Whatever. Get the word out. The more people who read it, the more I’ll feel compelled to create content.

And finally, and this is the only time I will ever mention this, I have put up a “donate” button at the new site. People have asked me in the past about doing that here, and I’ve always been against it due to the nature of this site. But since Mostly-Retro is a different beast, I thought it would be more appropriate there. So if you like what I do and want to help me out…I won’t protest. But if you’re thinking “Pay? For articles I read for free? Fuck that!” hey, then that’s your prerogative and I’m not going to slight you for it.

Also, you might want to consider a career as a website editor.

One more thing, Mostly-Retro is still very much a huge work in progress. There are kinks I need to work out and some design issues I want to change. I know it’s not perfect. But I wanted to launch the damn thing already and I was going crazy trying to make it just right.

Anyways, I hope you like the new site. I’ll have a new post here tonight as well.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Eyepatches for 2013

April 11th, 2013

So tonight I spent three hours working on tracking down the keyboardist to an obscure 70s funk band.

I have weird hobbies.

Garbage
Milk (D Mix)
Milk (Trance Mix)
One of the reasons why I’ve kept this blog going for seven years (holy shit!) is that it’s just as educational and informative for me as it is my readers. For example, I had no idea that there were so many damn mixes of this song! I only had the Massive Attack mix that was on the 2CD edition of their greatest hits album Absolute Garbage. I had no idea that there were these two additional mixes by Massive Attack, two mixes by Goldie, three mixes by Rabbit In The Moon, and one with Tricky. Damn. That’s a lot of “Milk.” How come none of these other mixes have been released in any sort of complication? Chalk Garbage up as another band in the long list of acts who need and deserve a proper multi-disc remix compilation.

Dead Or Alive
You Spin Me Round (Like  a Record)
Mighty Mix 2
So when I was in Tokyo I found these.

IMG_1453

Yeah, those were must buys for the covers alone. Nevermind that I already had the tracks on one of the singles both on vinyl and on a Dead or Alive compilation CD. I mean, it would be idiotic to have bought one of those 12″ singles and not the other. They’re obviously a matching set. I need to get these motherfucker matted, framed and hung up over my dinner table. So when people come in my house, they know I”m serious about my…um…80s synthpop acts that featured androgynous lead singers with eye-patches…I guess.

Yeah, that’s it. I’m going to stand by that.

In case anyone is wondering, the two songs that I did already have that I’m not featuring here tonight are the Murder Mix of “You Spin Me Round” and the extended mix of “Misty Circles.” There are about a billion places where you can get the Murder Mix, and if you want the extended mix of “Misty Circles,” you can find it on the expanded edition of Sophisticated Boom Boom, where it is billed as the “Dance Mix.”

On a related note: Sophisticated Boom Boom might be the best worst name for an album in history.

Posted in Dead Or Alive, Garbage | 2 Comments »

Rage Against Bonnie Tyler (No, don’t really, she’s really awesome)

April 8th, 2013

The new site is still on schedule to launch next week. I was hoping to open it with a pretty cool interview, but that fell through twice now, so instead I’m just going to go ahead and get it up and running with some smaller, more humorous bits. Stay tuned for more info. Now for some rap-rock and pop-disco!

Rage Against The Machine
Bullet In The Head (Sir Jinx Remix)
I used to love Rage. Then I hated them. Now I’m pretty much indifferent. I still love most of their music and the messages behind a lot of it, but damn, if they aren’t a bunch of idiotic hypocrites; with hypocrite number one being guitarist Tom Morello.

As many other writes have pointed out over the years, Morello loves to attack the American government for its human rights violations (of which there are many and I am not defending) but he also idolizes people like Lenin and Chairman Mao, evil pricks who are both no strangers to massive violations of basic human rights. I understand that there are always contradictions in a person’s political viewpoints, but that’s a bit much even for me. I’ve never been able to look past that blatant conflict.

More recently, I’ve been hating on the band for all the blatant cash grab bullshit they’ve been doing. I’m not calling them out for being rich socialists, you can be a socialist and be rich. I’m calling them out for being sell out, greedy, capitalism-loving socialists. That reunion tour they did a few years back? That was a nostalgia-driven money grab. No new music. No new messages. Just a group yelling “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” to audiences of suburban white kids who didn’t give a fuck about the band’s “message.” (You think Paul Ryan is a fluke among Rage fans? He’s the rule, not the exception.)

More recently, I balked at the band’s decision to re-release their self-titled debut as a massive super deluxe edition. Not because I have something against super deluxe editions, but because, much like their recent tours, it was nothing more than a cheap cash grab designed to make as much money as possible, all while exerting as little effort as needed (while still asking fans to pay for a premium for it). That set cost $100. What did that get you? Some live B-sides, a bonus CD with their demo tape, and a DVD with some live footage. Big whoop. How about some actual b-sides? This remix isn’t in that set. What about including the now out-of-print and insanely hard-to-find Live And Rare CD as a gift? One hundred bucks for a bad remaster, a demo tape and some live cuts. Whoop. De. Shit.

Do other bands do this? Yeah! All the time. But hey, Depeche Mode didn’t make a career out of hyping the destruction of capitalism and the power of the working class, so when they put out a shitty overpriced box set it’s not as offensive now is it? Now, if they put out, oh I don’t know, a guide to making it in music while avoiding heroin, then they’d be hypocrites.

Anyways, I still like RATM’s music, I just find it hard to listen to in light of all that stuff. This remix is from a 12″ single, and like I said before, it was not included on $100 super deluxe edition of the album from which the song originally came.

Oh, and one more thing. Thich Quang Duc burned himself alive to bring attention to religious persecution, not to fucking sell records.

Bonnie Tyler
Band of Gold (Extended Version)
Band of Gold (Dub)
The latest in my ongoing quest to pair the least likely artists together as possible.

Another day, another “Band of Gold” cover. For those keeping track at home (and you really should be if you’re not already), this is the fourth version of “Band of Gold” I’ve featured on this site, with the previous versions being renditions by Modern Romance, Belinda Carlisle and Sylvester. Which is the best? Oh boy, that’s a tough call.

Well it’s not that tough. It’s definitely not the Modern Romance version, their cover feels more like a goof than a serious attempt at the song. Belinda’s can go too. I love me some Belinda, but she really can’t hold a candle to the two finalists here. Sylvester is the greatest disco diva of all-time, and Bonnie Tyler probably had one of the most powerful voices of the 80s.

Shit! I can’t choose! They’re both amazing! Sylvester’s is the most fabulous. Bonnie’s is the most fierce. Let’s just leave it at that.

Posted in Bonnie Tyler, Rage Against The Machine, remixes | 8 Comments »

Boom Boom Satellites and Tokyo Bliss

April 5th, 2013

I was glad to see that my last post on Boom Boom Satellites exposed the group to people who may not have heard of them otherwise. Like I said in that post, if you really like the group, I suggest you seek out their records. Some of their albums are available on iTunes and Amazon, and there’s even a US-targeted Greatest Hits called Over and Over that you can pick up too.

In case that last post didn’t sell you on the group, I’m going to try one more time. Like I said in my previous post about the group, I’m not comfortable sharing any of their complete albums even if they aren’t available in the states. I believe that they’re going to be released here someday, and I don’t want to cannibalize those sales. So instead I’m going to share five choice cuts, five great songs by Boom Boom Satellites that you can’t get in America. If these awesome tunes can’t convince you that Boom Boom Satellites aren’t a band worth getting into, then I’m done with you.

Boom Boom Satellites
Rise And Fall
This is from Full of Elevating Pleasures, the band’s 2005 album, and the last that had any kind of experimental or abstract feeling to it. I bet the fans who love their early work saw this as the album where things fell apart, I feel it as the album where things really came together. They were still experimenting with their sound, but they were taking those ideas and concepts and plugging them into a more conventional pop structure. “Rise And Fall” showcases this the  most. While most of BBS’ work more mainstream work is heavily rooted in guitars, this song is built almost entirely on drums and it creates and explosive and manic feeling that is unique and powerful. I love it.

9 Doors Empire
Loaded
Both of these songs are from On, their 2005 follow-up to Full of Elevating Pleasures. This is when BBS stopped being an experimental electronic band with rock influences and became a full-on electronic/rock band. These are ready-made stadium anthems, designed to get audiences’ blood pumping and feet moving. These songs are proof that a band can change their sound to appeal to more mainstream audiences and not lose what makes them unique in the process. Does this stuff sound like early BBS? Not really, but it has that essence of their earlier work. And it really rocks.

Undertaker
Caught In The Sun
These are both from To The Loveless, their 2010 record, and their last album that isn’t available in America. I feel that these two tracks best foretold the sound the band would move forward to with their latest record Embrace, much more layered and diverse. On is almost nothing but fast-paced rock, excellent but somewhat exhausting. These songs show the band’s ability to let their music breathe, embracing the quiet moments more so that when they explode into a frenzy of drums and feedback it sounds even more amazing.

Damn I love this band…

…allow me to indulge for a bit…

I spent much of my time in Tokyo walking the streets of the city with my headphones on. Walking around the streets and alleyways late at night, listening to Embrace, it made the city come alive.

Near the end of my trip I would make it a nightly ritual to get on a train near midnight, right before most lines shut down, and travel as far away from my hotel as  I was comfortable with. Then I would put on my headphones, crank some Boom Boom Satellites and start the walk back. Sometimes it would take hours. I didn’t care. Between the beautiful sights of that magnificent city and the music that was pulsing through my ears, I didn’t care. To me, the Boom Boom Satellites are a soundtrack to those nights, the best nights of my trip, some of the most peaceful and perfect nights of my life.

When I close my eyes now and listen to their music, it’s almost like I’m transported back there. Back to the bright lights of Shibuya, the parks of Ueno, and the amazing skyscrapers of Shinjuku. It’s a bittersweet feeling in many ways because it just makes me long to return to that city. But that’s impossible for now, and since my memories and these songs are the closest thing I got, they’ll have to do.

So yeah, for me Boom Boom Satellites represent a very specific time and place, a time and place where I was more happy and relaxed than I’ve ever been. So I guess I’m a bit biased when I say they’re one of the greatest bands on earth.

 

Posted in Boom Boom Satellites | 3 Comments »

Dance Music vs. Bad People on the Internet

April 3rd, 2013

Downside with working primarily on the Internet: you get to see how horrible people on the Internet are. Today was exceptionally shitty.

I wish it was mandatory for everyone to use their full, legal name on all comments for all websites. If that wouldn’t cut down on the amount of sexist, racist, homophobic bile spewed forth on a daily basis, it would at least make it easier for me to find the people responsible for it and kick them in the knees.

Röyksopp
Eple (Shakedown Remix)
Eple (Fatboy Slim Remix)
Damn umlauts, making me cut and past names from other websites because I can’t be bothered to learn macro codes.

You’ve probably heard this  song and don’t even know it. It was in a billion commercials, and according to Wikipedia it was even used as the start-up music for the Setup Assistant in some versions of Mac OSX. Whatever, the Windows start-up sound is by Brian Eno; that makes Windows is way more indie than Apple ever will be. Boom. Shots fired.

I mostly bought this 12″ for the Fatboy Slim remix, and damn, if it isn’t a wonderful example of Fatboy Slim’s ability to dumb down even the most harmonious and beautiful dance track. Don’t take that as an insult though, I dig what he did to the track. It’s just really, really stupid. It’s impressive how dumb it is. I like purposeful stupidity when it’s done for good and not evil.

Moby
Porcelain (Torsten Stenzel’s Remix)
Porcelain (Force Mass Motion Remix)
Moby was just announced as a headliner for Movement, the big electronic dance music festival in Detroit. Dammit, now I might have to go to Detroit.

If you’ve never seen or heard a live Moby DJ set, try to if you get a chance. While his music isn’t always on target, his DJ sets are massive, amazing house sessions that will make your hair stand on end, your feet catch fire, and your head explode from the sheer awesomeness of it all. Okay, I realize that by saying it like that I kind of make it sound unappealing, but trust me, he’s really good live. Dude can cut a mix like no one’s business.

Both of these mixes are from a 12″ single, and are pretty great, radical re-interpretations of the original. I dig them.

Krust (Featuring Saul Williams)
Coded Language (Roni Size Desert Road Remix)
Coded Language (Roni Size Desert Road Instrumental)
The first line of this song is “Motherfuckers better realize!” and that’s exactly how I felt today. Word, Saul Williams. Word.

This drum and bass remix is pretty great, but it does remove a lot of Williams’ amazing lyrics. That man is a genius. Check out the original version here. Six minutes of one bad motherfucker dropping truth bombs on your ass.

Posted in Krust, Moby, Röyksopp, remixes | 2 Comments »

This post brought to you by a Sudafed Nyquil cocktail

April 2nd, 2013

And now it’s time for an obligatory “what’s going on with the mysterious and oft-delayed new website” update!

Things are actually coming along! I have a template that I am relatively happy with, and the site is fully-functional. Now I just have to get the hang of some small technical quirks, set up the plug-ins working right and get a few articles polished a bit and it should be ready to go! I was originally shooting for an April 2nd launch date, but as you can see, that didn’t happen. Now I’m thinking (for sure this time) that I’ll have the site up by the 16th at the absolute latest.

It’s going to be a weird, with a pretty wide range of topics being covered, but I hope you will all like it.

Now some remixes from bands whose names start with the letter ‘P’. That wasn’t planned, it just kind of worked out that way.

Primal Scream
Know Your Rights
96 Tears
My trip down the Primal Scream rabbit hole continues. I picked up Sreamadelica on the advice of many commenters here, and I freakin’ love it. Damn, what a great record. I’m happy I took a chance and splurged on the massive super deluxe edition. It was worth it to have all the bonus cuts, remixes and live stuff. And the box itself looks great. If you like that album and have the cash to spare, I recommend picking it up.

These cover tunes are both b-sides to the 12″ single for “Kowalski,” a track off of their 1997 record Vanishing Point, which I’m told served as a soundtrack to the 1971 film of the same name. I have to pick up that record next, I love that movie. People who come here are always recommending music to me, well let me recommend a film to you. Want to see a movie about a a speed junkie (in more ways than one) delivery driver who outruns the police on a cross country chase all while being guided by a psychic blind radio DJ? Then you need to see Vanishing Point. That shit is a trip.

Phoenix
If I Ever Feel Better (Todd Edwards’ Dub Better Remix)
If I Ever Feel Better, I’ll Go To The Disco (said The Buffalo Bunch)
Ugh, this song has been my theme song the past month. Two weeks ago I was hit with a brutal stomach flu that left me in a state I best not describe here, and then yesterday I was hammered with a strange head flu/cold thing that, while not totally kicking my ass, has made working a bit unpleasant.

It’s April! It’s to blame I tell you! Longtime readers may know already know this, but I’m cursed during the month of April. Laugh all you want, but when you get dumped, get fired, break a leg, suffer a horrible allergic reaction to antibiotics, break a rib and fall victim to a violent home invasion all in the month of April (not all in the same April though, that would have been fatal), then you start to take this shit a little more seriously.  Considering it took a record seven hours for this April to turn to shitl, I’m not holding out that this one is going to be a winner. If anything else happens to me I’m just going to bunker down in my office with a mountain of records to my left and a mountain of pizza to my right and ride it out (with a mountain of liquor in the middle).

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, Phoenix! Yeah, they’re pretty great. I’m stoked for the new record. These are remixes are of a song off their first album, which I do not own but I hear lovely things about.

Posted in B-sides, Phoenix, Primal Scream, remixes | 1 Comment »

Boom Boom Room

March 26th, 2013

1280-1024-tsujo
I’ve pretty much been listening to Boom Boom Satellites every single day since I got back from Japan in January. Before then I only had their 1999 debut album Out Loud (their only CD to get a proper release in the states), so I guess I’ve been going on a binge of their entire back catalog to make up for lost time.

Since I’ve been diving into their back catalog I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why they’ve failed to gain any kind of foothold in the states. And after listening to all of their albums multiple times over, I think I’ve managed to pin down their lack of success in the West to one thing: jazz.

Allow me to elaborate.

Boom Boom Satellites’ first album, Out Loud, was released in the states not soon after it came out in Japan. It was even given a fairly big push by their American distributor Epic. They went on tour with Moby, and were even commissioned for some pretty big remix jobs. I think a lot of people had the band pegged to break through because that album was the perfect crossover record; very much like an “electronica” album of the era, but with a very heavy, very guitar-focused rock sound as well.

But if the band gained any momentum off of Out Loud, they probably squandered it completely with their next two albums. Their second album, 2001′s Umbra, is the poster child for the stereotypical “difficult sophomore album.” While a fine record, it’s all over the place, with the band taking detours into hip-hop, drum and bass, and even some trip-hop. It’s not the kind of album that one can just pick up and listen to.

And things got even less accessible with their third record, Photon, as it found the band diving head first into the oh so dangerous waters of acid jazz with crazy, free-flowing horns and rambling drums taking  hold on about half of the album’s tracks. It’s interesting, to be sure, but jazz fusion electronica isn’t exactly a crossover genre that the masses are eager to eat up. It’s a shame too, because while the album as a whole is pretty out there, two of the band’s most intense and powerful tracks, “Dress Like An Angel” and “Light My Fire” are buried alongside the freeform jazz freakouts.

Since then, the band has all but completely discarded their jazzier and more experimental side, opting instead for a more electronic-rock sound that could best be described a s heavier, more frantic version of Garbage. Their follow-up to Umbra, 2006′s On, opens with “Kick It Out,” an obvious ready-made single designed exclusively to be a radio megahit if there ever was on. It was a massive smash for the band in Japan, but by then I think the jazz had done its damage. American record labels probably stopped calling, and anyone who had heard of the group during their brief run for success in the states had probably forgotten about them. Even I forgot about them for a long time, and I saw them live once!

And it’s a damn shame, because while they’re not as experimental or complex as they used to be, ever since 2006′s On they’ve been doing nothing but cranking out one solid electronic-influenced rock banger after another. Exposed (2007), To The Loveless (2010) and their recent release Embrace are all amazing works that combine electronic dance music and hard-rocking guitars better than anyone else on the planet. They’ve simply taken their unique sound to a whole new level. Sure, it’s lacking some of the spontaneity and experimental nature of their early work, but it’s infinitely more accessible, and damn it, there’s nothing wrong with creating music for the masses.

Only three proper Boom Boom Satellites are available digitally in the states: Out Loud, Embrace and Exposed. I recommend starting with Embrace, but Over and Over, a 2010 greatest hits compilation made specifically for American audiences, is also available, and that’s probably a good start for those looking to find out more about the band.

Even though the majority of their stuff is out of print in America, I don’t want to just post all of it. I do feel like it’s just a matter of time before they do make it here, at least digitally if nothing else.  But I did want to share something special, something that both die-hard Boom Boom Satellites fans and newcomers to the group would appreciate, and I think I found it.

Boom Boom Satellites (Live At Shibuya O-East)
All In A Day
Back On My Feet
Kick It Out
Light My Fire
Dress Like An Angel
When Boom Boom Satellites excellent 2010 album To The Loveless was first released, it came in a special edition that included a live DVD. Above is an audio rip of that concert. I chose to share this for two reasons. One, it’s an excellent mini-setlist that shows off both the electronic and rock sides of the group perfectly. Two, it also shows how damn awesome their live show is. As great as the studio versions of “Kick It Out” and “Dress Like An Angel” are, they cannot hold a candle to these live cuts, especially with “Kick It Out.” Holy shit. It’s crazy. If I ever get to hear that song live in person I think my heart will explode. Fucking incredible.

Posted in Boom Boom Satellites, live | 4 Comments »

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