Boxer/Briefs #7

Boxer/Briefs #7

-Rolling Stone decides the top 10 Beatles' songs.
-A Blog Supreme lists five Jazz records for Hip Hop lovers.

-New York Times writes about Seattle's reemerging Jazz scene.

-Smokedontsmoke has collected a bunch of free music.

Boxer/Briefs #2

Boxer/Briefs #2

P4k has a great interview with Modest Mouse frontman, Isaac Brock.

They also review Wolf Parade's new album, Expo '68.

Gibson finishes counting down the top 50 Beatles' songs.

Roughtype argues for the importance of books.

All the while, Glenn Beck "has turned into a literary tastemaker".

Andre 3000 Covers the Beatles for the NBA

Andre 3000 Covers the Beatles for the NBA

Cuddle Up With: Tame Impala

Cuddle Up With: Tame Impala

Wikipedia says that Tame Impala is "a three piece psychedelic rock band from Perth, Western Australia" and thats about all you need to know. In 2008 they released a short, rough self-titled EP that lifts heavily from late Beatles and jam-band psychedelia. Lead singer Kevin Parker sounds eerily like John "I Am A Walrus" Lennon on the EP, and the songs boasts solid melodies and a vintage production style.

From the two tracks that have been released from the band's debut full-length Innerspeaker, it seems Tame Impala is continuing with the psychedelic sound, albeit via much fuller production. I still haven't got my hands on a copy of the whole album, but it sounds promising.

Standout single, Runway, Houses, City, Clouds slowly fades in (don't turn up the volume...) with a rather significant riff. The train-wreck rhythm is backed by a soaring vocal melody that breaks open at about the 2:40 min mark into a Beatles-esque four-part harmony. The song floats for about thirty seconds before launching back into the driving rhythm and eventually fizzling out with what seems to be stylistic homage to the Beatles' "Sun King".

Stay tuned for more Tame Impala, who will be releasing their debut Innerspeaker in the U.S. on June 8.
Until then, grab their single below and be sure to listen to another gem from Innerspeaker, Solitude is Bliss at the band's myspace (Or you can purchase the song from Itunes).
Pre-order the album here.

Tame Impala :: Runway, Houses, City, Clouds (from Innerspeaker [2010])
Tame Impala :: Desire Be Desire Go (From Tame Impala EP [2008]) (...John Lennon...am I right?)
[mp3 removed by request]

Amazing! The Beatles do Shakespeare

Amazing! The Beatles do Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream via Liverpool and screaming teenage girls OR two of the best artists (or groups thereof) ever to walk the earth in one moment...

g-d bless youtube

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band: Beatles Rock Band!

Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band: Beatles Rock Band!

Be the Beatles!

The details for the new "Beatles Rock Band" game were revealed last week at the E3 videogame conference in Los Angeles. The game is going to be released Sept. 9 (you know, 9/9/09) and it looks completely amazing. At the conference, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr revealed 10 of the 45 songs that are going to be included in the game. The tracks are "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Taxman," "Day Tripper," "Back In The USSR," "I Am The Walrus," "Octopus's Garden," "Here Comes The Sun" and "Get Back." I can't wait to pretend to play that awesome riff from "Taxman." Even better, according to Billboard "they said the entire "Abbey Road" album will be available for purchase and download, as will other tracks from the band's catalog, after the game's release, and "All You Need Is Love" will be released exclusively for Xbox 360 users as a downloadable song the day the game hits retail shelves. The proceeds of the single will be donated to Doctors Without Boarders."

It really seems like they thought of everything. They allowed for three-part vocal harmonies and included previously unreleased recordings of the bandmates talking between takes during studio sessions recorded at Abbey Road.

Even the different venues that the Beatles played at will be featured in the game, including the Cavern Club in Liverpool, the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, the Budokan in Japan, and the famous rooftop. In between that last one, while the Beatles were just a studio band for a while, the game features "artistic visual expressions known as Dreamscapes, intended to transport players to the imaginative environments that capture the essence of The Beatles' genre-busting musical and fashion transformations during their later years," according to the release. Sounds amazing!

Of Montreal Covers The Beatles "Im So Tired"

Of Montreal Covers The Beatles "Im So Tired"

An interesting take on the song. Since both bands have rather distinct and recognizable vocal styles, the cover hardly sounds like the original. Also, the only thing cooler than this cover is Kevin Barnes sunglasses.

via YANP

Beatles Remastered Albums get Release Date

Beatles Remastered Albums get Release Date

If you are the type to sit around waiting for long lost Beatles tracks to appear or painfully wishing to be able to pretend that you are an actual rock star from the 60's, you may be pleased to know that on September 9 (that is, 9/9/09) all of the fab four's studio albums will be available in a new and exciting digitally remastered version. I mean I know I was just sitting here thinking "these songs would be good, but they are just sooo analog." So yeah.

Extra goodies include expanded booklets with rare photos and according to Rolling Stone "for a limited time, each of the Fab Four’s 12 proper albums will be “embedded” with a brief documentary about its making. The rereleases will include the Beatles’ 12 studio albums and Magical Mystery Tour as well as Past Masters Vol. I and II, which will be packaged as one collection. All 14 discs will be available with DVDs of the documentaries in a stereo box set, and a set titled The Beatles in Mono featuring 10 discs will also be released."

Apparently, engineers at Abbey Road Studios have spent the last four years remastering albums from the catchy insects using new technology and vintage equipment in an effort to preserve “the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings” and ensure the highest (ahem) "fidelity the catalog has seen since its original release.”

The Evolution of Revolution

The Evolution of Revolution

New Beatles Track: Revolution 1 (Take 20)

Amidst all of our high hopes that Sir Paul McCartney will soon convince Ringo and Yoko to let him share the unreleased "plinky-plonky" 1967 track "Carnival of Light," Beatles fans were recently appeased with a 10-minute version of “Revolution 1″ from the White Album sessions.

The track starts off with John Lennon, true to character, yelling "take...your knickers off, lets go" flowing into what begins like the album version of "Revolution 1." Instead of fading out around the 4:15, Take 20 transitions in a more experimental sound collage with a strange buzzing sound that reminds me of a fly zooming past my ear. This mixed with increasingly frenetic guitar sounds (is there some reverse in there?) maniacal yelling and gibberish for the next few minutes all atop the incessant drums and shooby-doo-wops. At about the 9:35 mark the song finally breaks under its own chaotic weight with a brief harmonica and piano crash transition. The song ends with sufficiently creepy voices exclaiming at random including a short loop of a low voice saying "it will be all right." Other sounds that I can identify or at least describe are Ringo's voice, creaking door opening slowly, space alien-esque (9:47) noises that actually sound like the beginning to Animal Collectives "In the Flowers," an operatic singing voice, a little kid that sounds like the beginning to Bright Eyes' Fevers & Mirrors but is probably John because he says something about being naked, what sounds like someone trudging through a dank reverby sewer (10:10), a piano diddy, that fly like buzzing noise, and Yoko.

According to Rolling Stone, "only two copies of the take were made when recording the song was completed on June 4, 1968. One copy left the studio with Lennon that day, and the other remained behind. It’s unclear which copy appears on the bootleg, nor how the Revolution makers even acquired it." I wouldn't mind if long lost Beatles tracks just started popping up everywhere. Maybe the "Carnival of Light" will leak as a secret track on Beatles Rock Band.

Download "Revolution 1 (Take 20)" at JP's Blog Here.

Listen to an excellent program last year on NPR about the 40th anniversary of The White Album Here. 

Buy The White Album Here and Paul McCartney's latest album Electric Arguments Here