the wreckroom: 5/1/09

Monday, May 18, 2009

dark night of the soul

the biggest buzz this week was not who won 'amerikan idle', it was over an album by three unlikely collaborators featuring a cast of support singers that will probably never get a proper release.

danger mouse, (he of the band 'gnarls barkely' and the controversial beatles/jay z mash-up 'grey album'), mark linkous, (he of the uber-sad 'sparklehorse'), and david lynch, (he who made 'eraserhead' and 'twin peaks'), have teamed up to produce a captivating piece of lush, near hypnotizing music. the songs are sung by various artists such as iggy pop, wayne coyne of the flaming lips, julian casablancas from the strokes, jason lytle, frank black of pixies , suzanne vega, vic chesnutt, james mercer of the shins, gruf rhys of the super furry animals, nina peerson from the cardigans and even david lynch (or so it says).

the announcement of the release later this summer of a book of photos by lynch that was to include the album was dampened by the fact that emi records has put the kibosh to the music part of the project...

as stated on npr.org...
An unnamed spokesperson for Danger Mouse says that "due to an ongoing dispute with EMI" the book of photographs will "now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'" When contacted, EMI declined to comment and wouldn't confirm whether the label is even involved in the project.

the record was leaked earlier this month and is now all over the net. the problem is that a lot of the files are misnamed or tagged. so i took great pains to fix it up so i can put it on the blank cd when i get the book. i just thought i'd spread the love and this fine record while i was at it... so enjoy!

and here, in its entirety, ripped from npr.org, in the correct order, with all the tags fixed, is the album in 128kps mp3 for a week or whoever gets to it first, via yousendit.

danger mouse & sparklehorse - Revenge (Flaming Lips)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

when you wish upon a waterspout.

last night was a regular hang-around-the-house kinda saturday evening. on, or about, 10:30 we were doing our normal routine, s.a. was watching some world war II documentary on her computer, i was doing some equally important music listening on mine, and the dogs were sleeping, as usual.

the first hint of something gone awry was a clap of thunder that wasn't quite... well, then another loud BANG! we ran upstairs and hung onto the backroom balcony looking at a fireworks show (the result of a blown transformer a few blocks away) with wind-whipped debris flying willy-nilly thru the air. we ran back in soon enough as the rain started to pummel us like wet fists.

the pounding wind and rain continued with brilliant lightening and booming thunder for another 20 minutes. after it stopped we ventured out to wander around finding insulation and pieces of aluminum gutter and siding all over our yard and flooded street.

well, we were told to expect a bit of rain sometime during the night, but what we got was a frightening close-up of mother nature when she is pissed... luckily no one got hurt and just one lowly sno-ball stand was damaged.

and here is a short viddy i found that someone shot last night. the clip itself is not very enlightening (except at 28 seconds in when the transformer explodes), but you really need to listen to the young girl samantha in the background completely lose it! (i'll bet she is a blast to hang out with during an evacuation...)

The Video Went Here
But It Was Replaced
By Another, Not As
Silly Thingy So You'll
Just Have To Take My
Word On It, It Was
Funny. But Now Its Gone.

finally, a few mp3s of some stormy music, here for seven days or whenever the wind stops... via yousendit.

the wizard of oz - cyclone (extended version)
r.e.m. - white tornado
sonny boy williamson II - the sky is crying
lowell george - can't stand the rain
roy brown - let the four winds blow
the kinks - there's a change in the weather
the rolling stones - gimme shelter (live '73)
dr. john - storm warning
bob dylan - shelter from the storm

bourbon and st. ann

...on a rainy day during the french quarter fest.