incredible local to South Africa website, order brand new vinyls- whatever you want!! well priced and just brilliant.

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hiatus over. and what better way than to start with some awesome songs to feel good despite it being monday.

first



then



but wait

I've mentioned Antony and the Johnsons before- but this song is just so different- even for Antony it's different. Please give it a little listen to. It's called 'Shake that Devil' off the 2008 EP Another World.

Speaking of Blue Monday by New Order here is an acoustic version. It's good, but I also can't help but think that if this version came first- then it just wouldn't be the same... weird. Also as a side note- wow there are a lot of terrible covers of Blue Monday out there!

Here is a simple cute band for girls who are slightly off center, but not wholly alternative. They're a Norwegian electronic band called Flunk. The singers voice sounds a bit the girl from Sixpence none the Richer mixed with the chick from Trespassers William. Boys wont like this at all... just a warning.

My preferred song (which is a quirky cover of New Orders' Blue Monday)



and there's also-

no fun - the stooges.

Satori

Imagine, if it is your will, a darkened sky, the darkest yet, and full of thick heavy clouds. Atop these clouds sits an army of children, each clutching devilish fireworks in their tiny paws. With the force of the Beast, one by one, these fire crackers are hurled onto the open planes below, creating an orchestra of sound. Higher still, stands Nikhil. He's instructing these devilish mozarts and handing them more earth-bound missiles screeching "Louder!".
Miles below, standing on a cracked earth and being attacked with vicious light, you exist in the rose garden hysteria. And so is musical satori. And so are The Wild Eyes.

In remembrance of a true talent.

Death is on my left and on my right

A good friend of mine has always said that he can't like a band or an artist unless he believes that they would be good in a fight. This of course being an important necessity. I believe whole heartedly that Frank Black would be exceptional in a fight, I bet he'd sing while he punched too! The solo career of Black Francis is unfortunately not as well known as the Pixies, but it is a very interesting one none the less. The same friend mentioned above, sings an acoustic version of the song I'll add today, he has slowed it way down to the ground, to the ground. It sounds amazing, but so does this -




It's off Svn Fngrs (2008).

I mentioned Blakroc recently, but I'm still in the glorious honeymoon phase of a new band, and can't get enough. Here is Stay off the Fucking Flowers from the self titled album of 2009.

BT is better known for his incredible production on his early 90's rave and dance music. However the album of his that I like is called This Binary Universe (2006). It's slow ambient stutter would make Brian Eno proud. Every song has a long build up with an anti-climatic break, but it works. Really. His famous stutter edit mixes perfectly with the lounge piano element. Here is Dynamic Symmetry off the above mentioned album. Yes it's a slow build- but please be patient.

It's a happy day, but the song is sad. Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons has been a best friend and a bully for the last few months. His voice is this quivering masterpiece that I could listen to forever and a day. You really need to turn the volume up for this one. His lyrics are not to be misjudged or taken lightly, there is so much power and experience in everything he writes. I have all of his albums, but my favourite one remains the first one I heard. It's- I Am A Bird Now (2005). I wish I could post every song now, but that would make you lazy. Go and discover, if you have not already, and listen to it in private so that no one can judge you. I discovered him after watching the Leonard Cohen Tribute DVD. Which I really recommend- it's just a pity about The Edge and Bono, but Nick Cave and Antony and Rufus Wainwright and a bunch more really do some of the most incredible Leonard Cohen covers I've heard.
This is My Lady Story off the above mentioned album.

no introduction needed.

This band was never well known, even in the heyday of the 90's garage rock epidemic. They are perfect chick angst music if you're in the mood. They remind me of Cranberries with too much distortion and softer vocals. I like it. By all means I shouldn't, but I really really do. This is Forgotten Favorite off the 1993 album Velocity Girl. Hope you like!

For the last while I've been loving artists like Link Wray and Flat Duo Jets. The clashing surfer rock vibe is completely taking over my mind, I can't get enough. Their Rockabilly rambling and Dexter Romweber's chainsaw voice make for secret perversions. Often I can hear the Pixies in them and Jack White has commented on them as being one of his biggest influences. Here is Lucky Eye, it's off their last album of the same name, released in 1998.

new year new taste.

My current heart string band has been the Black Keys of Ohio. If you haven't, then do. That's all I can say on this blues inspired monkey rock duo. In 2009 they did a hip hop album featuring artists like Mos Def, Q- Tip, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ludacris, RZA and a bunch more. Most of the people I've played this album for didn't really think much of it. It's not my personal favourite in terms of hip hop albums but what makes it so awesome is the heavy rock influences. Please take the effort to listen to more than just this song- which is Hard Times off the self titled album.