My Bloody Valentine – Loom (Live in Vancouver)

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Live, Shoegaze, Alternative

The other day on the discussion board in our Last.fm group, a user who goes by the name of “perturbantecoi” suggested that some material from the catalog of My Bloody Valentine be put up on the blog. With much consideration, I came across quite a tremendous live recording of My Bloody Valentine from back in their days after releasing the LP we all know and cherish, “Loveless”. This recording took place on July 4th, 1992 in the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. I think I speak for us all when I say “Damn, I wish I was there.” This recording is phenomenal, and it’s loaded with tracks from various releases by the band, but most notably their already mentioned album “Loveless”. Three tracks from their first LP “Isn’t Anything” are included in the show, as well as a few tracks from their extensive collection of EP’s. Whether you’re the most avid My Bloody Valentine fan (which probably means you already have this), or you’re just looking for some new MBV material, look no further. The final track of the show, “You Made Me Realise”, would be worth downloading all on it’s own. It’s over 17 minutes long, and it starts as you would expect, but about two minutes in they stop everything and let the instruments feedback for over 10 minutes, before suddenly coming back to life to finish off the remaining two minutes of the song. Oh. So. Super.

It’s a long download, but you’ll be glad you waited. You should head on over to the Last.fm group and join up in the meantime, and maybe do some chatting! You could even put up another suggestion for posting here on the blog, because that’s what today’s entry was. A suggestion! So please, suggest away! Thanks!

Loom (Live in Vancouver) Tracklist:
1.) When You Sleep
2.) I Only Said
3.) Only Shallow
4.) Slow
5.) Nothing Much to Lose
6.) [noise]
7.) You Never Should
8.) Feed Me With Your Kiss
9.) Soon
10.) To Here Knows When
11.) Honey Power
12.) You Made Me Realise

Loom (Live in Vancouver): TRY
MBV on Myspace
MBV Official Website (Who the hell is pretending to be Bilinda Butcher?)

John K. Samson – Live at CBC Studios

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Acoustic, Live, Singer-Songwriter

Hello! How are we all today? Hopefully better than ever. Today I have something that I hope everyone will enjoy. It’s a live session featuring John K. Samson, the lead singer and guitarist from The Weakerthans, and also a former member of the band Propagandhi. He was an active member in Propagandhi from 1991 to 1997, and shortly thereafter, he went on to form The Weakerthans. The Weakerthans then formed in 1997, and have been continuing to rock since, releasing their most recent album entitled “Reunion Tour” in 2007.

Aside from working with The Weakerthans, John has released some material as a solo artist. His first release came back in 1993 when he was still a member of Propagandhi, and it was a cassette tape featuring 15 songs that was called “Slips and Tangles”. Two years later in 1995, six of those songs from the “Slips and Tangles” release were re-released on a new EP, titled “Little Pictures”. This would be Johns last solo release until recently in October 2009, when he put out his second EP “City Route 85”. According to the info on the Anti- Records page, “Samson’s solo record entitled City Route 85 will be the first in a series of recordings exploring the atmospheric streets and highways surrounding the musician’s home in Winnipeg, Canada.” Interesting! Music that explores the streets and highways of Canada? I am beyond interested. But if this City Route 85 wasn’t good enough for you, you’re in luck, because they plan to release at least three of these new singles. I have yet to hear this new single, but I will, very, very soon. In the meantime, check out this awesome live session from John at CBC Studios, and be sure to check back regularly, because I love John K. Samson and the Weakerthans way too much (just check my Last.fm charts) to not post anymore of their material. I promise. The man just has such a way with words; it’s amazing. If you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe this quote from The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn, who straight up admitted that John K. Samson “is the lyricist that I can say, without hesitation, is better than I am.” I rest my case. Enjoy your day.

John K. Samson Live @ CBC Studios: Tracklist
1.) Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call
2.) One Great City
3.) Reconstruction Site
4.) Utilities

The Weakerthans on Myspace
John K. Samson Live @ CBC Studios: TRY
John K. Samson Stuff: BUY

Pavement – Stray Slack

Back in September, some very exciting news was announced that many people had been waiting to hear for nearly 10 years. This exciting news was the confirmation that the band PAVEMENT would reunite in 2010 to play their first shows together in over 10 years. Woo! Since the big announcement, they have booked shows all across the globe, in places like Australia and Japan, they are headlining a few (1, 2) different festivals in 2010, and now they have even announced a new “Best-Of” compilation that will simultaneously be released with some of the first shows on the Pavement world tour (March 9th to be exact). Along with the “Best-Of” compilation, which is cleverly titled “Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement”, the record label Matador is holding a contest to see if anybody can correctly guess the track listing for the new compilation. More details on that contest and the compilation right here.

So 2010 is definitely looking to be the year of Pavement…but putting all of this reunion stuff aside for a second…

Today I have an album for you that could be considered a bootleg before anything else. It’s a mostly-live album from Pavement that probably came out sometime back in 1993 before “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain” was ever released. This bootleg rules, and the best part is I found it for a $1.00 at the Punk Rock Flea Market in Philadelphia. The album contains 22 songs, with most of them being from the “Slanted and Enchanted” days of Pavement, but songs from other earlier releases are found on this bootleg as well. Don’t waste any more time…check it out right here!

While you wait for the album to download, please take a minute to view the new “Band of the Week” feature here at the Styrofoam Drone. Each day of the week, I will add a new song from the said band, so be sure to check back daily!

Stray Slack: Tracklist
1.) Conduit For Sale
2.) Fame Throwa
3.) Home
4.) Perfume – V
5.) Summer Babe
6.) Frontwards
7.) Angel Carver Blues / Mellow Jazz Docent
8.) Two States
9.) No Life Singed Her
10.) So Stark, You’re A Skyscraper
11.) Box Elder
12.) Baby, Yeah
13.) In the Mouth A Desert
14.) Greenlander
15.) Here
16.) Trigger Cut
17.) Black Walls
18.) Texas Never Whispers
19.) Teenage Piss Party
20.) Zurich Is Stained
21.) Kentucky Cocktail
22.) Feed Them to the Lions

Pavement: Official Website
Stray Slack: TRY
Stray Slack: Can’t really find a place to buy this one. Here is an auction for the album on vinyl > BUY

Shlohmo – Hot Boxing the Cockpit

Hello! I don’t have much time to post today, so I only have a song for you. This song comes from a 19-year old producer named Henry Laufer, who many of you may know better as Shlohmo. Hailing from Los Angeles/San Francisco, California, this young producer mixes a wide range of sounds, creating a lo-fi, abstract type of instrumental hip hop that’s a tinge on the psychedelic side. When listening, it brought names like Madlib and Flying Lotus to mind. The name of the song I have here today is entitled “Hot Boxing the Cockpit”. The very beginning starts off with birds chirping, which kind of leaves your wondering what this is going to sound like. You should check it out for yourself though, because if anything is true, it’s the fact that I would totally hot box any cockpit to this track. Check back for more tomorrow and more Shlohmo in the near future. Enjoy!

Shlohmo – Hot Boxing the Cockpit

Titus Andronicus – The Innocents Abroad

Hello! To start things off here at the Styrofoam Drone, I’m going to pick an album that I feel is extremely appropriate right now. The boys from Glen Rock, New Jersey who make up Titus Andronicus, have just revealed some of the details about their new album. What better way to celebrate this amazing news than to talk about their past efforts?

The Airing of Grievances came out back in April of 2008 on it’s original label, Troubleman Unlimited. After the initial release, the album began to pick up all sorts of positive reviews, from places like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, amongst many others. A few months went by while the album continued to gain popularity, and before Titus Andronicus knew it, they were signing to heavy-weight label XL Recordings. This was certainly a major change for Titus Andronicus, and it’s looking like a change for the best. Since they joined the roster at XL, there has not been much talk about a new album, until now…

The announcement for their new album was posted on their blog just a few days ago, on Sunday, December 13th to be exact. Some of the most interesting details about the album would be the fact that it has a Civil War theme. Even more intriguing is that it has even been said to be “more or less” of a concept album about the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. The cover art and the track list have so far been revealed, as well as one of the tracks! The track is called “Four Score and Seven” and it clocks in at over 8 minutes, and you can find it right on their myspace. If you’re looking for even more details, you probably want to check out their blogspot (link above) or this Pitchfork article, which gives even more wonderful insight to the album. According to that Pitchfork article, the Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn makes an appearance for a spoken word interlude that’s on the album, as well as Vivian Girls Cassie Ramone, and Double Daggers Nolen Strals. Things just keep getting better. Now, all we have to do is wait, because this certainly won’t come soon enough.

In the meantime, we can continue to play the wonderful masterpiece known as “The Airing of Grievances”, and also a few other gems that the band has managed to give us over time. There are a plethora of 7 inch singles that the band has released throughout their existence, and there is also a fantastic live album (on vinyl only) titled “The Innocents Abroad: Live in London”. You can check out that vinyl only album through the link below. You may even want to snatch your own actual copy, because they’re only pressing 300! Thanks for reading and check back real soon!

The Innocents Abroad – Tracklist
1.) Joset of Nazareth’s Blues
2.) Every Time I See the Light, Part 2
3.) Titus Andronicus Forever
4.) Wipeout (Surfaris cover)
5.) Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ
6.) No Future Part One
7.) No Future Part Two
8.) Roadrunner (Jonathan Richman cover)

The Innocents Abroad: BUY
The Airing of Grievances: BUY
Titus Andronicus 7inch Singles & More: Here