The Weekend is the Time to Dance

Sorry I've missed a couple days. I've thought about posting! But there is much to be done at the moment, so I've been very busy, haven't even been able to exercise in days. Minus extensive bicycling done yesterday in an attempt to catch up with the Critical Mass contingent. We were a little bit late...then went a little bit the wrong way trying to find them...then hopelessly chased them for what was probably close to the whole route, but without luck. But I did get to check out the Skylark!

Anyway, this first song I'm posting is pretty well-known, but it's been stuck in my head lately, so I'ma post it anyway. Or at least post the link to the video.

The other song I share with you is another song that's randomly inserted itself into my head lately - it's got a sweet Caribbean feel. Feel those steel drums!

John Gibbs - Trinidad

That's all for now. And to Elise and Sophia - have wonderful trips!

-Sean out-

The Daily Ramble

Love Love. The night before graduation this past June, I laid in bed listening to Forever Changes and waiting for the alarm clock to go off. For a variety of reasons, I couldn't sleep. (Speaking of which - anyone else the "police theory" of MJ's last night? I'm surprised he didn't die sooner!) Anyway, it was a wonderful time, and I went back and listened to Love again today for the first time in awhile - perhaps since that night, though I chose Da Capo today instead. Inspired by hearing the Stones' "She's A Rainbow" last night, which was supposedly influenced by Love's "She Comes in Colors." I can hear a bit of similarity - but don't take my word, check it out for yourself:

Love - She Comes in Colors
Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow

On the subject of similarity, I've also recently noticed how similar the Yolks sound to 2000's favorite garage rock revival band, the Strokes. Even the names are practically the same! Granted, they're mining different eras, so the music is pretty different, but Nathan, I gotta say, your vocals sound more than a little like Julian Casablancas's. Again, hear for yourself:

The Yolks - Hey Child
The Strokes - Barely Legal

Also, on my little road trip back from Cape Cod, I listened to Cat Stevens's "Father and Son" for I'm embarrassed to say the first time, and was blown away by how similar it sounded to the Flaming Lips' "Fight Test." So ridiculously similar, in fact, that he sued them and now I hear receives half the royalties from sales of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Crazy! Although, as you can hear below, it was a pretty blatant rip-off:

Flaming Lips - Fight Test
Cat Stevens - Father and Son

And speaking of the Flaming Lips, here's a new one from their forthcoming album, Embryonic. Enjoy!

Flaming Lips - See the Leaves

Audiophobia

So, I bought a used record player off Craigslist about a month ago. I want to bring it with me when I move to Japan next month. I wanted to stock up on needles/cartridges before I went, so I didn't have to worry about finding some while over there (considering I barely can speak the language). I couldn't manage to slide the cartridge out though. So I tried looking up manuals online today, to find out how to do it. No luck - though I did find a lot of negative reviews of the product I bought. Now, I think it's fine - sounds good to me, and for the price I paid, I figure it's worth it either way, even if it does crap out in a year or whatever. But I did come across something I'd never considered: tonearm weight. Apparently, heavy tonearms can just wear right through your records, and should be avoided. Unfortunately, I'd never considered this, and there's no way to tell if I have a heavy tonearm or not. I guess I shouldn't care...after all, I'm buying used records for cheap, which have been played on who-knows-what players already. I could buy a top of the line player and still end up playing ruined records in no time. But then again, what is "ruined"? What does a "worn out" record sound like? Does the needle just not follow the grooves anymore? Does the sound quality just steadily deteriorate?

I'm not much of an audiophile, but I feel my head starting to spin. I guess, in any case, there's always the internet...

Anyway, I should provide some music, so here's one of my favorite tracks from the new Yolks LP, which I enjoy more and more on every listen. Listens that'll probably be done more via mp3 than from the nice blue vinyl copy I've got, now that I've got all these fears of ruined records in my head, natch...

The Yolks - Jane

Readyplay Radio is proud to present...the CCCP!

The Cape Cod Cassette Playlist, that is. We drove from New Jersey to Cape Cod and back, with only a cassette player to tide us over - so my girlfriend and I bought a bunch of cassettes to prepare, and this is what we nabbed.

Cheap Trick - s/t debut
Devo - Freedom of Choice
Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies Vols. 1 and 2
Nuggets Vol. 10: Folk Rock

And our friend Dugan lent us...

Pillars and Tongues - My Joys Are Greater Than Ever They Have Been
Buendias (a side project of his)
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

And while in Cape Cod we picked up...

Prince - Sign o the Times
Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual (with "Jane Says" and another song manually added to the end of side one!)

And Caroline's sister picked up...

The Cranberries - Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?

And then we stopped back at my house on the way home and borrowed from my parents...

Cat Stevens - Greatest Hits
The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine (cassette 2)
Bob Dylan - Biograph (cassette 2)
and some Willie Nelson album I don't remember and we never got around to listening to

As you can see, there was much music being played from all over the spectrum, and all of them were albums that I had never heard (some I'd heard in part, but not all the way through). The cream of the crop in my biased opinion were definitely the Nuggets comp (particularly Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"), the Cheap Trick, the Dylan, the Doobies Greatest Hits (Vol. 1), and Prince. I will also say the Gin Blossoms album was surprisingly consistent, and The Dirty Projectors and Pillars and Tongues albums were also great (thanks again Dugan!)

Since these are all on cassette, I can't post any best-of tracks at the moment, but I will try and procure some in mp3 form soon. I also picked up some classic LPs at a flea market while up there, including:

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!
The Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday
Patti Smith - Horses
Tommy James & the Shondells - Greatest Hits

It's been a very musical week. And I will bring the best of that music to you as soon as I can. So keep reading, and keep an ear out - more tunes are on the way!

Ok I lied

So, remember how I said I wouldn't have internet access for a week? That's not totally true. I have it today, and will probably have it sporadically throughout the week - whether for enough time to continue posting though, I can't be sure. And either way, I don't have my music with me, so I can't post any songs, which kind of defeats the purpose. Unless there's some interesting news to develop on. Like, for instance, last night's Nofunny Fauxbunny show at the Bottom Lounge. The night started out well enough - good sets from hometown favorites the Yolks, the Rock n Roll Adventure Kids, and Thee Makeout Party (though my friend noted the latter's "alternative" sound, which, combined with, again, Girls performance with the Smith Westerns last week, makes me wonder if there really is an alt-90s revival going on...) Anyway, we were all psyched to see Justin Nobunny. What we got instead was Nathan Nobunny, in one of the most bizarre shows I've ever seen. Prefaced with "Nobunny is sick tonight and so he'll only be playing a few songs," Nathan (from the Yolks) then proceeded to come out with a makeshift magazine paper bunny mask and a pair of green underwear with a wig stuffed in the front, pretending to be Nobunny. To many, it didn't seem to make a difference: the crowd went wild during every song, and even people who were definitely in the know got into it. And, to be honest, it was entertaining; the backup band was good, Nathan (though very clearly not Nobunny) did a bangup job, despite forgetting the words occasionally and having to ask which song would be next every time. But still, the most captivating part of the performance was seeing if they'd get through it without a hitch - if the scam would be revealed, and, if so, if it would even matter. At some point somebody yelled into the mic "You're not Nobunny motherfucker!" and Nate continually kept telling the front row to shut the fuck up, but the audience by and large didn't seem fazed. And I found it very entertaining. Granted, I didn't pay for the show, and I was disappointed not to see the real Nobunny (especially since I probably won't get another chance to before leaving for Japan in a month), but when's the next time anyone will see Nate pretending to be Nobunny, or anyone this side of DOOM sending out imposters? (I'm still not sure his Pitchfork set was really him, btw). Oh, the hidden pitfalls of masked musicians. In the meantime, Justin, if you really are sick, I hope you feel better soon.

Surprise!

Hey everyone, I forgot to mention I'm leaving for Cape Cod early tomorrow morning, and won't really have much internet access until the following Sunday, so I've broken my own daily posting rule already. Oops. Anyway, pretend I just posted this link everyday for the next week, because this is one of my favorite songs ever, and it is only made better by this wonderful wonderful video.

Have a good week!

Box Elders

Box Elders played at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago yesterday, putting on a mostly-good show. I'd never seen them before, and was surprised to see bassist Clayton McIntyre's flowing blond hair (this less than a week after seeing the similarly long-haired men of Girls). Are we seeing the first blossoms of a grunge hair revival??

Sorry, I've distracted myself. More importantly - the music. Live, these guys are frenetic; their drummer plays standing up and makes all sorts of crazy faces and motions while the guitarist and bassist hop around and what not. They also have a sweet holographic drum kit, and Clayton makes funny scratching motions like a giant cat while singing on "Cougars." On record--their debut full-length was released earlier this week on Goner--the Box Elders sound a bit like Thomas Function: slightly-southern-fried garage rock with a keyboard (or in this case, an organ). On 3/4 of the album, this works rather well. On songs like "Stay," it does not. They also lose their pitch occasionally while singing (both brothers Clayton and Jeremiah take vocal duties), which can lead to batches of unpleasant tunelessness. Sadly, these are things that probably could have been fixed with another take or two, but...such is life. All in all, it's a solid record (and, while initially shocked, the new version of "Hole In My Head" is much appreciated).

I will include that song, for anyone who has yet to hear it, as well as another song, "Dave," which is also very rockin'. Enjoy!

Box Elders - Hole In My Head
Box Elders - Dave

Noisy Thursday

Hello again! Today I bring just one song, mostly because I'm still rocking the Roy Wood. These guys are called Drunkdriver, and this is from a recently released 7" on Fashionable Idiots. Noisy and loud, with what sounds like a demonic washing machine in the background - in other words, very awesome. Vocals are more muffled than usually found in this kind of stuff, which is nice, gives it a more distorted, almost psychedelic feel, as the repetitive pounding sucks you in. Enjoy!

Drunkdriver - Fire Sale

Hello!

Welcome to Readyplay Radio! Inspired by my radio show (of the same name, only on Chicago's WHPK 88.5 fm), I've decided to branch out into a blog where I can share more or less random music with the world. Each day I will bring you some music - some new, some old. All awesome. Lots of power pop, jangle pop and other guitar-driven pop. Some rock. Psych. Punk. Noise. Dance. Drone. Etc. Like I said, it's pretty broad, but it's all here, ready to be played! (get it???) So play it up!

As for today, I will share two songs. First, a song that's just been released on a split with Eat Skull, put out by Tough Love, an English imprint. The group is Male Bonding, and the song is called "Year's Not Long" - it's got great soaring momentum on the verses, echoing vocals oscillating over a ringing guitar riff that swirls back and forth in a very streamlined, thermal-boosted fashion (not to be confused with the Thermals, which this does not sound like).

Male Bonding - Year's Not Long

The other song I want to share is by Roy Wood, one of the main men behind 60s art-pop outfit the Move and, later, the band Wizzard. I've been trying in vain to listen to the Move, but all I've come across is his solo LP Mustard, which boasts a couple great tracks, and a lot of mediocre ones (and some unhealthy Brian Wilson obsessions to boot). When he's not aping the legend, he does some great stuff on his own. In fact, I'll present the album's two greatest tracks here - consider one of them a bonus! "Any Old Time Will Do" is a fairly straightforward '70s pop song with great piano and wonderful instrumental flourishes. It also has a very recognizable chord progression at the end of each chorus, but I can't peg it at the moment - if you recognize it please let me know, it's killing me! The other track, "You Sure Got It Now," runs the gamut from early girl groups to blues to some great simple rock'n'roll jamming out. Inventive and fantastic.

Roy Wood - Any Old Time Will Do
Roy Wood - You Sure Got It Now

That's all for today - but tune in tomorrow for more! I hope to have this thing rocking out on a daily basis, so hopefully there should be plenty more on the way...

Sean