Monday, August 25, 2008

Digital Kicks 025

25 volumes
21 songs
01 mix

Here we go...

01. Colder Than The Coldest Winter Was Cold - The Dandy Warhols
02. Maybe Lately - Miracle Fortress
03. Ankle Injuries - Fujiya & Miyagi
04. Death To Los Campesinos! - Los Campesinos!
05. I Want To Be In Husker Du - Let's Wrestle
06. Fast Cars - Buzzcocks
07. What'cha Gonna Do About It - Small Faces
08. Sunshine Superman - Donovan
09. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive - Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters
10. Move It On Over - Hank Williams
11. Ghost Hardware - Burial
12. If You Really Love Me - Stevie Wonder
13. (What A) Wonderful World - Sam Cooke
14. Mighty Power Of Love (Lars Behrnoth Deep Subtle Koffee Mix) - Leee John
15. No Communication, No Love (Devastating) (Original Version) - Charles Schillings
16. Rock - DJ Spinna
17. American Boy - Estelle ft Kanye West
18. Blacker (Album Version) - Ballistic Brothers
19. Hold Me Now - Johnny Logan
20. Song About Traveling - The Innocence Mission
21. Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches

Colder Than The Coldest Winter Was Cold - The Dandy Warhols
CBS News anchor and documentary show host Bill Kurtis narrates this opening track to the Dandys fifth album 'Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars' and Kub's 25th Digital Kicks.

Maybe Lately - Miracle Fortress
From the Montreal outfit Miracle Fortress comes 'Maybe Lately', a lo-fi song that combines exactly the right amounts of the Beach Boys and Phil Spector without too much of either one.

It's a lovely little slice of Pop music that makes the world seem like a much better place after you hear it.

Sparkly, shimmery, summertime Indie Pop that will make even the most hardened of cynics smile (maybe even tap their feet).

Ankle Injuries - Fujiya & Miyagi
A record player brand name + the guy from 'The Karate Kid' = a couple of guys who like to combine 70s Krautrock and 90s electronic music.

The group apparently met a Sunday league football match, while warming the bench and discussing their mutual admiration for world heavyweight wrestler Kendo Nagasaki.

After spending several years in obscurity, they finally got noticed with the album 'Transparent Things' featuring the song 'Collarbone' and this little gem.

Death To Los Campesinos! - Los Campesinos!
Aleksandra, Ellen, Gareth, Harriet, Neil, Ollie and Tom are Los Campesinos! Roughly translated as The Farmers! or The Peasants! in Spanish.

This track is from their debut album 'Hold On Now Youngster...'. Although it may not be the most cohesive piece of work out there it has a lot of catchy tunes, great musicality and proper from-the-heart type Indie music. They are one to watch. That is to say, listen to.

I Want To Be In Husker Du - Let's Wrestle
Don't we all?

This is the B-Side to this London trio's first single, 'Song For Abba Tribute Record'.

Described as a couple of knock-kneed Indiepop fans with a love of Pop music, who sound like a mixture of Los Campesinos! and Pavement with just the right amount of The Wedding Present thrown in.

If only John Peel were alive today to hear them...



Fast Cars - Buzzcocks
Pete Shelly and Howard Devoto formed The Buzzcocks in Manchester in 1975.
In February 1976, they went to London to see the Sex Pistols.
In July of that year they opened for them at their second gig in Manchester.
At the end of the year they recorded and released 'The Spiral Scratch' EP by themselves, making it the very first independent record released.
Then Howard Devoto left the group. He would go on to form Magazine.

Two years later they released their first LP, 'Another Music In A Different Kitchen', that begins with this track. 'Fast Cars' contains the guitar riff from 'Boredom', one of the tracks that put them on the map and featured on their previous EP.

Their strong craftsmanship of Pop songs combined with their rapid-fire Punk energy made them very popular and a huge influence on nearly every band that formed in the 1980s.

The name of their album was based on a piece of art by performance artist Linder Sterling called, 'Housewives Choosing Their Own Juices In A Different Kitchen'.

And that is the buzz, cocks.

What'cha Gonna Do About It - Small Faces
Small Faces or The Small Faces were from East London and had a huge love of American Rhythm & Blues music. James Brown, Smokey Robinson and Ben E King were just a few of their massive influences.

They are one of the most acclaimed Mod groups and are acknowledged as one of the biggest influences of the Britpop movement in the 1990s.

Things got off to a rough start when the band started playing live. They were kicked out of their first 'away' gig in a working men's club in Sheffield. Feeling rejected, they walked next door to Mod-oriented Mojo Club and played for free. They went down a storm, creating a huge buzz and they soon had a residency in Leicester Square with support from Sonny & Cher.

Their name comes from the fact that all of the band members were around 5'4" and of the girlfriend's remarked that they all had "small faces". The name stuck because the word 'face' is Mod slang for a popular, trend-setting individual.

This track is their first single from their first album, 'Small Faces', released in 1966.

Sunshine Superman - Donovan
Having begun his musical career as an acoustic Folk musician, Donovan was keen to move on by the mid-1960s. He met Mickie Most and John Cameron, adopted the hippie 'flower power' image, immersed himself in Jazz, Blues and Eastern music and discovered Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead.

The result of all this was 'Sunshine Superman' - an eclectic blend of Folk, Rock, Pop and Jazz that was innovative and one of the very first psychedelic Pop records of the 1960s.

It made him a superstar, selling hundreds of thousands of records in both the UK and the US. To this day it remains an essential recording from the short-lived (but much-hyped) psychedelic era in Rock music.

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive - Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters
Ac-cent-tchu-ating the positive was (in 1944), is (now) and always will be the key to happiness.

Good advice.

Move It On Over - Hank Williams
The hard drinkin', Honky Tonk man sings about sleeping in the doghouse after a night of heavy boozin' in this, his first major Country hit.

Ghost Hardware - Burial
Burial is a Dubstep musician from London. Apparently.

He has released two albums that have received large amounts of critical acclaim. But no one really knows who he is. He has claimed in anonymous interviews that only five people know he makes music.

It was reported in the news earlier this year that his name is William Bevan - the name used for the credits on all of his songs. But it seems that William Bevan is the name of a funeral director in London.

I wonder who this 'mystery' man really is?



If You Really Love Me - Stevie Wonder
'If You Really Love Me' is from Stevie Wonder's 1971 groundbreaking album 'Where I'm Coming From'. It was a very important album for Wonder because it was the first in which he had complete artistic control in the production. It was also the last album in his very first contract with Motown.

Signed as a child prodigy nine years earlier, Barry Gordy had kept very strict control over his company's productions and his artist's careers. But that all changed in the early 1970s. Wonder, along with Marvin Gaye, wanted to expand his music with new styles and techniques. When he turned 21 (in 1971) Wonder was approached by Gordy to renegotiate his contract, but thanks to a clause contained in the document he was able to void the agreement and force Motown to accept whatever he recorded.

The result was 'Where I'm Coming From' and it foreshadowed what was to come in his next four albums, which would be referred to as his "classic period" and make him one of the most successful and critically acclaimed musicians of his time.

(What A) Wonderful World - Sam Cooke
Considered by many to be the 'King of Soul', Sam Cooke recorded and released this song on his first album, 'Sam Cooke' in 1960.

It was one of his amazing 29 Top 40 singles in the US between 1957 and 1965.

In addition to his huge contribution to Soul music, he was also a savvy businessman. He founded a record label and a publishing company as an extension to his 'day' job as a singer and composer.

He was so astute he even added the 'e' to his name because he thought it was classier.

Mighty Power Of Love (Lars Behrenroth Deep Subtle Koffee Mix) - Leee John
Timeline:
1957 - Leee John born in Hackney, London
1970(s) - John works as a back-up singer for The Delfonics, Chairman Of The Board and The Velvettes
1980 - John forms Imagination (the name is a tribute to John Lennon) with Ashley Ingram and Errol Kennedy
1981 - They release the track 'Body Talk', which is a huge club hit, goes to Number 4 in the UK Singles chart and sells 250,000 copies
1983 - John appears on Dr Who1996 - John releases 'Mighty Power Of Love', which becomes an underground club hit
2000 - Ben Watt releases 'Lazy Dog' - a compilation of his favourite tracks from the Lazy Dog club in Notting Hill that features 'Mighty Power Of Love'. Kub buys the compilation and really likes the track.
2004 - 'Mighty Power Of Love' is remixed by Lars Behrenroth and re-released.
2008 - Kub downloads the Behrenroth remix from eMusic and includes it in 'Digital Kicks 025'.

No Communication No Love (Devastating) (Original Mix) - Charles Schillings
This track is lifted from Schilling's excellent 2001 Electro-Acoustic album 'It's About...'

The album reflected his experiences during six years of DJing around the world as well as his varied musical tastes, ranging from House to Techno to Disco to Funk to Groove to Easy Listening and back to House again.

At the time of it's release, Schillings was championing the French Touch scene, producing, recording and DJing all over the world. Basically he was busy being one of the biggest names in Dance music.

I first heard this song on the compilation 'La Mezzanine del Alcazar', where it was featured on the second disc, mixed by Shade. It's a quality piece of chilled House that is equally suitable for dance floors as well as armchairs. Pure grooving.

Rock - DJ Spinna
Born Vincent Williams, Spinna first started experimenting with turntables at the age of eleven.

Since then he has recorded, produced, remixed, collaborated and DJed - all with great success. Despite all of his talent and achievements, he has remained largely underground during his career.

This song displays his love of Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop music blended perfectly to create his own unique sound.

American Boy - Estelle ft Kanye West
Song: American Boy
Writer: Will.I.Am
Singer: Estelle
Guest: Kanye West

Her biggest record to date, 'American Boy' was a hit in 18 different official charts around the world earlier this year. In the UK, it debuted at Number 72 and jumped 71 places to Number 1 the following week.

That sort of success can buy a lot of Ribena and Penguin bars...

Blacker (Album Version) - Ballistic Brothers
Ashley Beedle, Darren House, Darren Rock, David Hill and Uschi Classen are the Ballistic Brothers.

This song mixes pieces of 'Brother' by Gil Scott-Heron and 'Chameleon' by Herbie Hancock to create a chilled, electronic, Downtempo, Trip Hop, Jazz masterpiece.


Hold Me Now - Johnny Logan
Johnny Logan is the most successful artist in the Eurovision Song Contest, having won a total of three times between 1980 and 1992.

'Mister Eurovision' burst on to the scene in 1980 when he took the top prize at Eurovision for the song 'What's Another Year', which was a huge hit all over Europe and went to Number 1 in the UK.

But his massive success was quickly followed by massive failure when his management team made a huge mistake by releasing two follow up singles simultaneously. Since radio stations had no idea which song to play, both of them flopped. Attempted comebacks in 1983 and 1986 also failed to return the singer to his previous triumphs.

In 1987, he entered Eurovision again with this song and he won for the second time! 'Hold Me Now' went on to be a huge hit and million seller. After his second bout of success, he decided to solely concentrate his career in Ireland and Europe.

1992 brought him his third win in Eurovision when he wrote the winning song, 'Why Me', for Linda Martin.

Last year this track featured in a McDonald's Eurosaver Menu ad and introduced a whole new generation to his biggest hit.



Song About Travelling - The Innocence Mission
Husband-and-wife musicians Don and Karen Peris formed The Innocence Mission in the late 1980s in Lancaster, Pennsylvania after meeting at a Catholic secondary school during a production of 'Godspell'.

Coincidentally, Lancaster is my home town and the secondary school where they met is Lancaster Catholic High School, which is also my Alma Mater.

They began recording in their make-shift studio in their basement but quickly progressed and by their third album, 'Glow' (one of my personal all-time favourites), they were selling records and being featured on numerous soundtracks.

This tune comes from their seventh album, 'Small Planes', which was recorded during 'Glow' but not released until 2001.

Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches
The band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who began recording in 1999 and then went on hiatus in 2004. Possibly because they released the album 'The Moldy Peaches' on September 11 2001 that contained a song called 'NYC Is Like A Graveyard'. Or possibly because the guitarist, Aaron Wilkinson, left the band and subsequently died in 2003 from a heroin overdose.

Regardless of the reason for the break, this song brought them back from wherever they were when it appeared in the film 'Juno' last year and was released as a single on Rough Trade records.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home