Swedish Pop Music Break

Hey, aren't The Hives from Sweden? Yeah, so is the women's choir The Sweptaways.



Bonus video: Rocky's idea of a party.

Rocky's Fantasy Friday

Obviously the in-dash record player never caught on. It seems like a colossally bad idea that defies simple physics. Drivers probably couldn’t countenance the skipping and scratched records produced by swift turns and potholes. But imagine having a 1960 Plymouth with one of these things, going to Rooky’s Records in the Lower Haight, where you could load up on cheap soul and jazz 45s from the 60s and 70s, and listening to these scratchy records in your car as you drive the streets of San Francisco to the Pacific Coast Highway to wherever the car and music take you. Think about it.

Swedish Pop Music Break

If the guy dancing at Fun City near the end of the video doesn't bring a smile to your face, no amount of Swedish pop music breaks can save you. It reminds me of one of Stoner's dances.

Recent Acquisitions: 6-22-09 (Old Music)

Beastie Boys, License to Ill (Def Jam/Columbia, 2nd pressing, $2). This album confirms what I suspected all along: I missed out on a lot of fun in the 80's. I can't remember the un-fun things I was doing during the 80s when I should've been partying to the Beastie Boys.

Neil Young, Journey Through the Past (Reprise, UK pressing, 2-LP, $2). Rule No. 296 of Rocky's Record Club: Never pass up a Neil Young album from the 60s or 70s if it's in good condition and priced right. Rule No. 297: Don't pick up any Neil Young albums from the 80s no matter the price.

Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (Columbia, Holland pressing, $2). I have my reasons for picking up a third copy of this album. Don't look at me like I'm crazy.

David Bowie, Lodger (RCA, $5). This is his last great album before he went all "Let's Dance" on us. If Eno were a true friend, he would've called for an intervention.

Selecter, Too Much Pressure (Chrysalis, $5). One of the best ways to relieve pressure is to listen to ska. Skinny black tie and goofy rubber-legged dancing are optional.

John Coltrane, Crescent (Impulse!, orange-and-black label, original stereo pressing, Van Gelder in deadwax, $12). This is probably Coltrane's most underrated album, probably because it's over-shadowed by his next album, A Love Supreme. Crescent is beautiful and spiritual in its own right.

Ornette Coleman, The Empty Foxhole (Blue Note, Division of Liberty Records label, 2nd pressing, $10). Coleman is backed on this album by his 10 year old son Ornette Deron on drums and Charlie Haden on bass. A random thought: This recording session could've started a trend of giving drummers a time-out for bad behavior. If it had caught on, it may have saved lives.

Cruel Frederick, The Birth of the Cruel (SST, $3). This is another unexpected free jazz album on the SST label. Frederick probably wasn't cruel until he started listening to the sadomasochistic wailings of free jazz. SST albums usually have messages inscribed in the deadwax. Husker Du messages are the best. This album has "Angels Sing" on one side and "The Saints Come Marching In" on the other.

And more reissues of classic jazz albums on 45rpm vinyl:

Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny (Prestige/Analogue Productions). The album delivers what the title promises.

Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd (Blue Note/Music Matters). Features Tina Brooks on tenor and Jackie McLean on alto.

Tina Brooks, Back to the Tracks (Blue Note/Music Matters). My favorite Tina Brooks album on Blue Note.

Recent Acquisitions: 6-22-09 (New Music)

Deerhunter, Microcastle (Kranky, 2-LP, gatefold cover, $17). This album was on a lot of best-of-2008 lists and near the top on some. I wasn’t too impressed when I sampled it on one of those ear-germ-spreading-stations at Amoeba last year. Those germ transfer stations have actually saved me a lot of money (without costing me any ear infections). If I went by the glowing reviews in Pitchfork, Spin, Paste, et al., I’d be sitting on a lot of crap right now. One conclusion to be drawn from the last statement is that I’m hopelessly out of touch with contemporary music and what is considered good music by the youthful consumer. I find a lot of highly praised albums jejune or, worse, insufferably shitty. Believe me I don’t want it to be this way. I would love to get excited by and embrace new music. But when I hear lauded bands such as Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend and so on, the first thing that comes to mind is: I’ve heard this before, done better. So I thought the same of Deerhunter’s Microcastle until I picked it up recently when the mood was right and the earth’s magnetic pull on my medulla oblongata was such that it sounded good at the listening station the second time around. The cover pretty much conveys the spirit of the music: a head shot of a guy with long hair obscuring half his face, looking strung out on some mind-numbing drug, with a tiny skull superimposed in the eye socket. Then there was the sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap quoting a Spin review: “A disturbing plea for erotic asphyxiation.” I question the marketing genius who decided to put that sticker on the album. I would think that people with a favorable impression of erotic asphyxiation represents a really small demographic group. And an even smaller subset would actually be enticed to buy an album because it promises a disturbing asphyxial experience. Admittedly that’s a hunch on my part. Perhaps a lot of people just nodded their heads in recognition when they discovered the cause of David Carradine’s death. I don't know.

If you haven’t guessed by now the album doesn’t offer a happy listen. Nevertheless it's got its own languorous beauty; it's like slow-cooked pop psychedelia. Near the end of one song, with fuzzed out guitars and vocals, I thought, This is something Tommy James and the Shondells would have recorded if they were all on downers. Sure enough, the first word of the next song is "crimson", but there's no clover in this album. Instead, it's ennui over and over. There's one uptempo song on the album, but the chorus is "Nothing ever happened to me". It's not a new sentiment in pop music. In fact, it goes back to Chet Baker and beyond. Deerhunter gives this nihilistic sentiment new expression to the current generation of listless youths. I can't quite connect completely with this album. But if a young hipster told me Microcastle was a great album, I wouldn't argue the point.

The sound quality is good for a modern rock album. There's a lot of spaciousness in the recording, which is important in creating the trippy vibe of Microcastle.

Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue (Warner Brothers, 2-LP, includes CD of album, $20). I'm not sure why I waited so long to pick up this album. I liked her first solo album and the last two Rilo Kiley albums. After listening to Microcastle, when I hear Jenny Lewis sing about dropping acid, all I can think is, Aw, ain't that cute. As much as I enjoy her music, I just don't think Jenny Lewis is that deep. Not all singers or albums have to be.

Swedish Pop Music Break

This Swedish pop music break is for the little girl in you. 

(check out the detroit landmark in a swedish music video)

Upcoming Releases: Flaming Lips

According to the tinymixedtapes website (from which the photo above is pilfered), the new Flaming Lips album, Embryonic, will be released this September as a double-LP. This probably means the Lips will be touring around this time.

Their best album imho, The Soft Bulletin, will be reissued on 180-gram, high-quality vinyl next Tuesday (June 23). The double-LP will also include a cd containing three unreleased tracks from the SB sessions. This is good news for those of us who've balked at paying over $100 on ebay for the original vinyl.