LOTS OF NEW MIXES BY ME - NO BOATS AKA AABSTRACT

I wanted to, first off, apologize in not attending to this site as often lately. I've been busy with a lot of other things and I sometimes wonder if there's even a point, as it seems people don't even seem to wander away from social media sites. One of the things that I've been doing lately is making actual mixes on a regular basis and wanted to share them here. I'm trying to do something a little different. I am trying to spin every genre that I love and even make some mixes with different genres. Check out my most recent mixes and follow me on Mixcloud. All have download links as well.

TIK TOK :: Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For? (Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Mix)

Jacques Lu Cont

It's been a while since I've posted and I apologize. I've been going thru some struggles with depression. It feels good to be sharing with you all again. Today's track is a song that I've been looking for since 2008 (I think). I can't be certain of the date, but I went to see the DJ, Dave Seaman at Soundbar in Chicago around that time and this was his closing track. I found it quite easily this time after having tried and failed numerous times before, it's funny how that happens. Anyway, Dave played a great set, and I remember saying to him as he was finishing up - the dumbest thing … "My ex is from Manchester." Which is pretty close to Leeds, England; where he is from. He just said - "Well that sucks!"

As for the track itself, the remix was created by Stuart Price aka Jacques Lu Cont aka Les Rythmes Digitales aka Zoot Woman aka Paper Faces aka Man With Guitar aka Thin White Duke. Stuart is also from the north of England, North Yorkshire to be exact and he creates dope remixes. I'm so glad I was able to retrieve it from the vault of my mind and listen to it again. It's been on repeat, as of late, because it is a great motivational song for just moving the fuck forward in life. It's also good for workouts. So, what the fuck are you waiting for?

NEOSTALGIA :: Yuna - Come As You Are (Nirvana Cover)

Yuna - Come As You Are (Nirvana Cover) 

With possibly one of the best covers I've heard, I present Yuna performing Niravna's Come As You Are. She's an amazing artist. I can't wait to delve more into her discography.

Serfs - Marijuana Mom + Exclusive Interview

Serfs

Not long ago, I came across a band from Charlotte, NC on Youtube. It was the band Serfs and their video and single Marijuana Mom. I couldn't just watch the video once - it actually turned into at least a dozen rewinds the first time. The video itself - superfresh and full of color, nakedness and energy ... the song - a juggernaut of that same energy, an incessant guitar riff and lead singer Phil Pucci's raucous vocals make this one a winner.

I had to find out more about Serfs so I reached out to them and lined up an interview:

Who is in the band / who plays what / and how did you come together as a band?

 I'm Phil and I play guitar and sing. Nicholas Holman plays drums, Patrick Doherty plays bass and David Scanlon plays guitar. Nicholas has been travelling in Southeast Asia this year and Alex Ruiz has been filling in. He also plays drums in It Looks Sad and Couches. 

When I listen to your music, I hear influences from Foo Fighters to Sonic Youth to My Bloody Valentine; in my mind .... who are some bands that have inspired you? 

All four of us are definitely influenced by Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. We'd probably be quicker to cite Sonic Youth though. Sonic Youth are one of those classic bands that we all agree on. I love My Bloody Valentine to death but I feel like if I tell people we sound like them, we are pigeonholing ourselves and they will expect something very specific. And then they might see us and get upset that we're not shoegaze as fuck, riding our tremolos on every chord or whatever. Another band from the shoegaze genre that I think we identify with more are Swirlies.They have such great guitar tones and their sound is so expansive.

What is your definition of success as a band?

I think about it the same way I think about my own success as an individual in society. It's likely I'll never find financial success -- certainly not from playing music. There are bands on hot indie labels, selling out theaters and living well below the poverty line. So I'd prefer to think of success as being happy with what I'm doing. If I could make a living playing music, that would be good enough for me

How supportive is the local scene in Charlotte?

Charlotte is very supportive of us. We have a nice, growing music community. I've been playing in bands for twelve years but it wasn't until I started Serfs a few years ago that I felt like I was truly part of the scene. I have the honor of calling some of my favorite musicians my friends. My only gripe about the music scene is that I wish more people would start bands. I go to shows at least two or three times a week and I can't get enough of them.

You once played as an Interpol cover band - what other bands would you like to cover?  

We did that for an annual Halloween show at The Milestone here in town last year. This year I think we are going to cover Joy Division, which I guess is an obvious natural regression for us. We used to talk about covering bands a lot but this year we've been so focused on writing our first full-length that we haven't thought too much about it. I want to cover Blondie at a show sometime.

How has the music business changed since you started playing music? 

I started playing music in 2000 when I was 14. I think that was around the peak of Napster's popularity, before it was shut down and changed over to a legit subscription service. So when I was in high school, I bought CDs AND downloaded music illegally. Those are the pivotal years in a person's life, too, so I was soaking in music any way I could get it. It was fun. After high school, it was 2004 and downloading music illegally became so incredibly easy that I was just putting all my music on an iPod. I missed owning physical copies of music for so many reasons. And I kept hearing about a new record store in town called Lunchbox that sold mostly vinyl. So I got on a vinyl kick that never really ended. Nowadays I use Spotify to find new music and buy records that I really like. I'm 100% legit now, so get off my back, feds.

Let's talk about Marijuana Mom for a bit. I've watched the video at least 3 dozen times and I can't quite make out all the lyrics, which I actually like - but I imagine the song is about a hot milf who comes to the club with the best weed. The potency of the pot along with her hotness makes her the object of affection for everyone there - male and female ... or something along those lines. Am I close at all? 

Hahaha, that is pretty funny. I think I will tell people that whenever they ask about the song from now on. 

The video looks like it was a lot of fun to make. I'm guessing these are all friends of the band? And the ending reminds me of a skate video I saw once.

The video was very fun to make. We basically hung out and drank beer and had a good time. I heard our songs more times than I would have ever cared to. During most of the shots where we are dancing around or crowd surfing, we weren't listening to Marijuana Mom, we were listening to random rap songs. Three people in particular came together to make the video happen - Blake Raynor, who shot, directed and edited the video, Christine Rebich, who did a lot of fashion design for the shoot, and Nicholas Holman, our drummer, who rallied to get all our friends there to participate. I think the video captures the spirit of the song really well.

Anything else you want to add?

The only thing I can think to add is that we are currently crowd funding our debut LP via indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/serfs-make-an-album 

Thanks so much for taking the time to interview me and feature Serfs on your awesome site.

-------------------------------------------------

Here is some more great music from Serfs:

http://serfs.bandcamp.com/

and be sure to follow them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/SerfsUSA

No Boats

John Grant (feat. Midlake) - I Wanna Go To Marz

John Grant - I Wanna Go To Marz

Have you ever wanted to be somewhere else? John Grant's ballad I Wanna Go To Marz, captures this sentimentality perfectly. Most of John's career, from his time with Denver's The Czars until his first solo album in 2010, has been about bringing his deeply personal feelings into his lyrics. On his first album - Queen of Denmark, from which I Wanna Go To Marz was released, John wrote about his addiction to drugs and alcohol as well as coming to terms with being gay. John resides in Iceland, where he recently released his second solo album - Pale Green Ghosts.



No Boats

Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory ? (Full Album)

What's The Story Morning Glory?

"How many special people change? How many lives are living strange? Where were you while we were getting high?

Well?!?!?! Where were you nigga? LOL ... Man, I posted about the Stone Roses a little while back and they were tops at what they did, but there's no doubt that Oasis came and picked up their momentum when they were dealing with manager and record company bullshit and Oasis ran with it. I don't necessarily want to compare the two bands, even though Liam Gallagher cites the Roses as a big influence - but Oasis really had something going when they dropped (What's The Story) Morning Glory ?.

Listening to it again on this Saturday morning, especially Hey Now! and Champagne Supernova, really make me feel nostalgic - and thats a great thing for music. It means that there was a time and a place that was special that's tied into your brain by the music you hear.



Hello - 0:00
Roll With It - 3:24
Wonderwall - 7:21
Don't Look Back In Anger - 11:41
Hey Now! - 16:30
Swamp Song (Excerpt 1) - 22:10
Some Might Say - 22:55
Cast No Shadow - 28:24
She's Electric - 33:16
Morning Glory - 36:58
Swamp Song (Excerpt 2) - 41:45
Champagne Supernova - 42:42

Ladytron - Ghosts

Ghosts

I've been on a scary movie kick with Insidious 2 being the highlight last night. My favorite scary flicks are of course ghost stories, but some of them can be real crap - including the one I just watched ... which I won't name. The only good part was during the closing credits when they played Ladytron - Ghosts. Now that's some ghostiness I can really get behind.



No Boats

New Order - Love Vigilantes (extended)

Love Vigilantes

Love Vigilantes might be the best New Order track or even one of the best songs ever. Drummer Stephen Morris claimed slyly— because of the harmonica intro— “Love Vigilantes” was the first “proper” song New Order had ever written. Bernard Sumner discussed with GQ “the country tinged tragedy” behind “Love Vigilantes” when he explained—

“I decided to write a redneck song. It was quite tongue-in-cheek. It was about Vietnam. It was about a soldier that came back and his wife was sent a telegram to say that he was dead. You can take the ending one way or another. He’s either dead and he’s come back as a ghost and he sees her or he’s not dead and the telegram was a mistake. But his wife’s got it and killed herself—which is a very country tragedy.”



No Boats

Ylvis - The Fox

See N Say

My entry for most original non-original lyrics in a music track go to Ylvis - The Fox. Bård Ylvisåker and Vegard Ylvisåker created the song for their Norwegian TV show called TVNorge. Some people say Swedes do it better, but I beg to differ.




No Boats

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT :: Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

At age 78, Canadian musician, novelist and poet - Leonard Cohen is going strong. Even after 40+ years and still touring, Cohen's audiences are multi-generational. He was gifted with such a distinctive voice which resonates in his lyrics covering religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. This guy is definitely in my top 5 of people I'd like to sit down and have a great conversation with.

I'm sharing two of my favorite Cohen tracks here. First Hallelujah, which is such a popular and enduring song it even has a book written about it. From Wikipedia:

"Hallelujah" was first released on Cohen's studio album Various Positions in 1984. While the song initially had limited success it found greater popular acclaim through a cover by John Cale in 1991, which later formed the basis for a cover by Jeff Buckley. In recent years "Hallelujah" has been performed by almost 200 artists in various languages.[83] Statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); the Canadian Recording Industry Association; the Australian Recording Industry Association; and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show that, prior to late 2008, more than five million copies of the song sold in compact-disc format. It has been the subject of a BBC Radio documentary and been featured in the soundtracks of numerous films and television programs.[84] The song is the subject of the full-length book The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of 'Hallelujah' (2012) by Alan Light. In a New York Times review of the book, Janet Maslin praises the book and the song, noting that "Cohen spent years struggling with his song 'Hallelujah.' . . . He wrote perhaps as many as 80 verses before paring the song down and recording it on the 1984 album Various Positions. Then his label, CBS Records, refused to release Various Positions, not realizing that 'Hallelujah' would become one of the most haunting, mutable and oft-performed songs in American musical history.



Finally, a great track - Everybody Knows which has been covered by at least 20 artists, including Concrete Blonde and Don Henley.



No Boats

X PRIEST X - Samurai

New on the music scene, Florida based X PRIEST X is the project of vocalist Madeline Priest and producers Chandler Strang and David Kazyk. On their first release - Samurai, they've captured a beautiful, refreshing and retro feel by sticking to the basics. Madeline's voice alone demands repeat listening.



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Seven Handle Circus - Such Great Heights (Postal Service Cover)

Georgia band Seven Handle Circus are incredible at their bluegrass covers of pop songs. We covered their version of Daft Punk's One More Time and now they've contributed to a whole Postal Service album of folk covers called Independent Clauses with Such Great Heights. This one, in my opinion, is better than the original.



no boats

B STORY - Back Then

This is a terrific song and video, unfortunately I don't know much about B Story except that they are an indie band from L.A. This is their first music video - here's to hoping that they put out more.

No Boats

Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Toronto band Stars produced this moving song in 2005, on their album Set Yourself on Fire. The track that begins with "When there's nothing left to burn, you must set yourself on fire." is a song about new beginnings - that person you loved is no longer here, for I've become someone else.

No Boats

Hot Butter - Popcorn

Popcorn was a 1972 cover by the band Hot Butter. The song was a cover of the original James Brown instrumental "The Popcorn". Hot Butter's was only one version of the moog sensation. It was covered by Anarchic System, Gershon Kingsley, Jean Michel Jarre (under the pseudonyms of The Popcorn Orchestra and Jamie Jefferson), Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Unter Null, Richard D. James AKA Aphex Twin, Goodiepal, M&H Band, Muse, DJ Fantomas, Gigi D'Agostino, Guru Josh, Iranian artist Shadmehr Aghili, Afrosound, The Time Frequency (TTF), Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Norrie Paramor & the Midland Radio Orchestra, Ronnie Aldrich, The Treble Spankers, the Boomtang Boys, Space Penguins, Pattie Brooks (disco version as part of a medley that also included Black is Black & Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye), Bass Bumpers (fronted by the Crazy Frog cartoon), Liars, Finnish band Seidat, Swedish DJ Richi M, the Irish DJ Showey, South African Psytrance act Parana, Italian pop band La Strana Società, Japanese electronic artists Denki Groove, Russian Virtuoso Guitar Player Victor Zinchuk, Spanish rock band Los Pekenikes, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, and the Swedish Chef.





No Boats

Marching Band - Travel In Time

Swedish artists Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind a.k.a. Marching Band, certainly have their finger on the pulse of what makes great music. Credit it to the persistence of melody: the splashy hooks and campfire-folk sentiment of its foot soldiers make for perfectly digestible, obsession-worthy pop songs. Travel In Time is from their 2008 album - Spark Large.

No Boats

Adonis Childs - IF I (mix) 1 (download)

Chicago's premier house DJ and fellow True Family Unit alum, Adonis Childs has produced a love song. If I is the tale of watching someone that you care for, fall for another and coming to grips with that.

friðsælum :: Múm - Green Grass Of Tunnel

Iceland has produced some of the most talented musicians of our generation. Along, with Bjork and Sigur Ros, we should include Múm. Múm released Green Grass of Tunnel as a single in 2002 on the Fat Cat label. The music video for Green Grass of Tunnel was created in computer graphics by Semiconductor's Joe Gerhardt and Ruth Jarman team and was inspired by the place in which the album was created. It follows the view of a flock, and presents a lighthouse, presumably very similar to the house in which they stayed.

http://mum.is/
https://www.facebook.com/mumtheband
https://twitter.com/mumtheband

No Boats

MUSIC IS MY MEDIUM :: Elton John - Your song (with lyrics)

"It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen"

Sometimes I fumble with words ... they sound right in my head, but when I open my mouth to speak, it comes out completely wrong. I am grateful for artists like Elton John who can right what I want to say and put it with beautiful music and say everything that I want to say. I strive to write a song as simple and beautiful as this. I would sing it to my muse, the love of my life everyday. In the meantime, Miranda, this is for you. Please listen to the lyrics because they come from my heart.

your man,
Noble

NEW MUSIC :: The Postal Service - A Tattered Line of String

The internet is abuzz with news that The Postal Service will be re-uniting for a brief tour including a stop at Coachella. Sub-Pop is reissuing their 10th Anniversary edition of Give Up on April 9. The release includes this new track - A Tattered Line of String. I can't say that I'm really impressed with the track, but I am excited to see them tour again. Get your tickets now -

04/09/13 Tue – Reno NV @ Grand Sierra Theatre

04/10/13 Wed – Davis CA @ Mondavi Center

04/13/13 Sat – Indio CA @ Coachella

04/12/13 Fri – San Luis Obispo CA @ Madonna Expo Center (SOLD OUT)

04/18/13 Thu – Phoenix AZ @ Comerica Theatre

04/19/13 Fri – Las Vegas NV @ Chelsea Ballroom at the Cosmopolitan

04/20/13 Sat – Indio CA @ Coachella

05/18/13 Sat – Manchester UK @ Academy 2 (SOLD OUT)

05/19/13 Sun – London UK @ Brixton Academy

05/20/13 Mon – London UK @ Brixton Academy (SOLD OUT)

05/21/13 Tues – Paris FR @ Trianon

05/23/13 Thu – Barcelona SP @ Primavera Soundwave

06/14/13 Fri – New York NY @ Barclays Center (SOLD OUT)

BONUS: The Postal Service - Give Up (full album)


No Boats