Tuesday, January 28, 2014

[RADIO] THE MINIMAL BEAT 01.18.2014


ARTIST / TRACK / ALBUM
  • Joe Strummer and The Mescalero's / All in a Day / Streetcore
  • The Knife / Girls Night Out / Deep Cuts
  • Autre Ne Vuit / Counting / Anxiety
  • Grizzly Bear / Sleeping Ute (Nicolas Jaar Remix) / 12" Single
  • Scratch Massive / Golden Dreams / Nuit de Reve
  • Kraftwerk / It's More Fun to Compute / Computer World
  • Yoko Ono / She Gets Down on Her Knees / Season of Glass
  • Telepopmusik / Breate / Genetic World
  • Jerome LOL / Fool [ft. Angelina Lucero] / Deleted Fool
  • Museum of Love / Down South / Single
Karin Skender of Two Carolines Guest DJ Set
  • Two Carolines / Thirteen / Demo
  • The Scientists / Frantic Romantic / Pissed On Another Planet
  • Umpire / Streamers / Umpire
  • Decoder Ring / Jet / Fractions
  • The Drones / Sharkfin Blues / Custom Made
  • French Rockets / Mandy Summers / Mandy Summers
  • Tommy O'Donnell / Waking Up Wearing A Batcape / Pioneer Maintenance
  • Chelsea Wolfe / We Hit A Wall / Pain Is Beauty
  • Tomorrow The Moon / Pig Baby / Single
  • Two Carolines / Good As Dead / Demo
  • Veronica Falls / Broken Toy / Waiting For Something To Happen
  • Pond / You Broke My Cool / Beard, Wives, Denim

Thursday, January 23, 2014

[#TBT] THROWING MUSES / THE REAL RAMONA (1991)



THROWING MUSES - THE REAL RAMONA (4AD/SIRE RECORDS) 1991

By; Randy Nieto

Our throwback 
piece this week is for Throwing Muses’ “The Real Ramona”.  I remember not too many years before it came out we were reading Ramona Quimby books in school, and I always wondered if this record was named after those books. This is the last album the Muses made before Tanya Donnelly left the band to form Belly and took bassist Fred Abong with her. The first song on the record, Counting Backwards, starts with a loud snare roll and cascading guitars. Seriously, just the words “cascading guitars” is enough to make me excited and curious to listen to any song. Kristen Hersh’s vocals somehow manage to be dry yet menacing at the same time, like an ex-girlfriend delivering the punchiest zingers about you to her friends.  In the second song, “Him Dancing”, she hits the high notes and falsettos just right, and adds a bendy twang at just the right spots. The album production focuses heavily on guitars and drums, ala Steve Albini. Which makes sense, because these guys were tight with the Kim Deal, who worked with Albini on Surfer Rosa and used him on the Breeder’s debut “Pod”. Kristen and Tanya are incredible songwriters, and it is clear this pop-rock record was an immediate precursor to grunge and all the crap that came after. It’s unfortunate the record companies were still creaming their pants over shitty two hit wonders like Bryan Adams and C+C Music factory and not pushing guitar pop aficionados like Throwing Muses and the Pixies. I guess it doesn’t matter because everyone is downloading music now and those A&R nerds are out of a job, right? Right? Please, let us not get into that dirty talk. Instead, let’s just listen to the beauty that is the Throwing Muses below.


Saturday, January 18, 2014

[RADIO] THE MINIMAL BEAT 01.11.2014


ARTIST / TRACK / ALBUM

  • Prefuse 73 / Pagina Dose / Read the Books 
  • Gill Scot Herron Jamie XX / New York is Killing Me / We're new here
  • Flying Lotus / MmmHmmm / Cosmagramma 
  • M83 / Kim and Jesse / Saturdays = Youth 
  • Autumn Defense / Back of My Mind / Once Around 
  • Midnight Juggernauts / Into the Galaxy / Into the Galaxy EP 
  • Jim James / State Of The Art (A.E.I.U) / Regions of Light and Sound of God
  • Belmont and Clark / Dark Compression / Single 
  • Dirty Beaches / A Hundred Highways / Badlands
  • Lolawolf / What Love is / Lolawolf
  • Darkside / Paper Trails / Psychic 
  • Boards of Canada / Dayvan Cowboy / Trans Canada Highway

Deanna Devore Guest DJ Set
  • Deanna Devore / I Tried / X Number of Days 
  • Toro Y Moi / Harm In Change / Anything In Return
  • Cyril Hahn / Perfect Form (feat. Shy Girls) / Perfect Form EP
  • Banks / Warm Water / Single
  • Disclosure / What's In Your Head / Settle
  • James Blake / Retrograde / Overgrown 
  • Robert Glasper Experiment / Let It Ride (ft.. Norah Jones) / Black Radio 2 
  • Something Goes Right / SBTRKT / Self-Titled 
  • Deanna Devore / My My / Self Titled 
  • Deanna Devore / Didn't You / X Number Of Days
  • Lapalux / Guuurl / Nostalchic 


Sunday, January 12, 2014

VIDEO: LOLAWOLF / WHAT LOVE IS


Lolawolf just uploaded a video for the song "What Love Is" onto Youtube off there new EP out in Feb on Inn It Recordings. Lolawolf is includes singer Zoe Kravitz, James Levy, Raviv Ullman and Jimmy Giannopoulos (who produced the record). Jimmy, James and Raviv are also in the band Reputante which recently signed to Julian Casablancas label Cult Records.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

[RADIO] THE MINIMAL BEAT 01.04.2013



ARTIST / TRACK / ALBUM


  • Quasi / Sound and Vision / Crash Course for the Ravers (David Bowie) 
  • Pavement / What Goes On / Live from Tibetan Freedom Concert (Velvet Underground)
  • Massive Attack / Be Thankful for What You've Got / Blue Lines (William DeVaughn)
  • Yoshida Brother's / National Anthem / Prism (Radiohead) 
  • Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros / Redemption Song / Streetcore (Bob Marley) 
  • R.E.M. / Dream / Athens GA, Inside and Out Soundtrack (Everly Brothers) 
  • Tom Waits / Turn of Jacky and Judy / We're a Happy Family Tribute to the Ramones (Ramones) 
  • Twin Shadow / I'm not in Love / UNDER THE CVRS (10cc) 
  • Aerial M / Last Caress / October EP (Misfits)
  • Wilco / Thirteen / Big Star, Small World Big Star Tribute (Big Star) 
  • Pearl Jam / Love Reign O'er Me / Holiday Single (The Who)
  • Tennis / Tell Her No / 7" Single (Zombies) 
  • Jon English / Hollywood Seven (Mike Simonetti & Jonny Jewel x Alides Hidding Version) 
  • Peter Bjorn and John / Is this it / Stroked: A Tribute to the Strokes (The Strokes)
  • Tame Impala / That's All for Everyone / A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac (Fleetwood Mac)
  • The Cardigans / Iron Man / First Band on the Moon (Black Sabbath) 
  • Charles Bradley / Stay Away / Spin Presents: Newer Mind Tribute to Nirvana (Nirvana)
  • Nick Cave / Disco 2000 / Single (Pulp)
  • Robert Palmer & The Power Station / Get it On Bang a Gong / The Power Station (T Rex)
  • John Cale / All My Friends / All My Friends Single (LCD Soundsystem)
  • St Vincent / Dig a Pony / Live All Points West Festival (The Beatles)
  • Donny Hathaway / Jealous Guy / Live (John Lennon) 
  • Chromatics / Into the Black / Kill for Love (Neil Young) 
  • Pixies / Winterlong / Dig for Fire single (Neil Young)


Thursday, January 2, 2014

[#TBT] SLEATER KINNEY / CALL THE DOCTOR (1996)



SLEATER KINNEY - CALL THE DOCTOR (CHAINSAW) 1996

By: Randy Nieto

Before Savages, before Haim, before Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, there was Sleater Kinney. Rock critics in the 90’s pinned them as pioneers of the “Riot Grrl” movement, probably due to their simultaneously inspiring and melting of faces with roaring guitars riffs, pounding drums, and screeching vocals. From my experiences they have always been a polarizing group: lead singer Corin Tucker’s singing can be quite shrill, and it seems most people either love them or hate them. Regardless of the vocals, the power of the music cannot be denied. To me they were like a female fronted Fugazi, with riffs coasting and bouncing from chord to chord, increasing and decreasing in ferocity, and Carrie Brownstein often adding background vocals that ranged from just talking to straight up yelling into the microphone. Later they would explore more of a pop edge in “Dig Me Out”, but Call the Doctor was their first fully realized punk rock record. Their lyrics range from sarcastic to confrontational, fantasizing about Joey Ramone (and seriously, Joey Ramone? Did they ever take a hard look at that guy?) to more poignant metaphors about swallowing spiders and lies in “Anonymous”. With 12 songs clocking in at 30 minutes, the songs are short punk rock gems, maybe a little slower than typical punk, but this is what lets them explore more complexities in their songwriting. Although this record was written in the juvenile stage of the band’s lifespan, it remains, in this humble writers opinion, one of their best efforts. I can seriously listen to the whole thing over and over again, and I never have never gotten sick of it, something I truly cannot say for many records, even ones I love. Check out “Call the Doctor” below: