Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True

Yeah, yeah, I’m not the only one but it’s pretty hard to go against his debut album. Straight off the bat this weedy little geek acts like its his 30th album. There is so much confidence and polish on this that its hard to imagine what it would have sounded like back in ’77, never having heard of him before. First of all there’s the straight up classic songs (‘Alison’, ‘Angles Wanna Wear My Red Shoes’, ‘Watching the Detectives’) and then theres Costello’s comic wit and unique voice that carry what would initially seem like lesser songs. The best thing about this album and the whole concept behind it is that its so easy to imagine seeing it in a bargain bin today. What could have been a disaster ended up as one of the best, most distinctive debuts of the 70s.

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Best Songs:

• Welcome To The Working Week
  
• Blame It On Cain
• Alison

I am quickly reaching my 12gig download/upload quota for the month (the month ending 15th October that is) so I probably won’t be able to post any of my own links for a while, or at least not that many. But here are a bunch of songs you should download yourselves because I have been enjoying them and you should know what’s best for you. Hopefully this becomes some sort of Wednesday tradition:

• Wire – Used To
• Common – Chapter 13: Rich Man vs Poor Man
• Curtis Mayfield – The Makings Of You
• Joe Henry – Dirty Magazine
• Sebadoh – Violet Execution
• Brian Eno – Becalmed
• Prefuse 73 – Plastic
• Frank Sinatra – My Funny Valentine
• Sam Cooke – Little Red Rooster
• Frank Black – Superabound
• Kevin Drew – Fucked Up Kid
• John Coltrane – Acknowledgement
• Glass Candy – Rolling Down The Hills
  

Yeah, its kinda lame without links to download these but oh well. You should click into your file sharing apps (get Soulseek if you don’t already have it) and download these immediately nevertheless.

• Brown Cardigan – These guys are always up on the latest links for the kids
  
• A-Reminder – A Canadian guy living in Australia…Who can resist?
  
• Those Walls Your Ears – Scores brownie points simply by being Australian
• Yer Mam – An unhealthy obsession with all things Disco and DFA. An erudite guy
• Bolachas Gratis – Has links to virtually every freshly leaked album, either in the main posts or in the shoutbox to the right
• Oceans Never Listen – Another top Aussie blogger
• 20 Jazz Funk Greats – Venture here to find a noise/punk/disco/electronic/house/funk gem that you would otherwise never have heard of
• Across The Rooftops – A Melbourne music blogger. Aren’t they the best kind?

In other news, I saw Battles last night. No pictures but plenty of mental pictures. Mainly of the drummer sweating. The guy was a maniac. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a better drummer in my life. They played a bunch of ‘new’ songs (aren’t they all new?) and by far the best part was Atlas followed by Leyendecker. A lot of the songs are based around initial guitar/vocal/keys loops which the guys build on, adding layers and layers until it all explodes. The most interesting part of all their stage experiments was the ease with which they pulled off the alien vocals. Tyondai Braxton was awesome. No videos from the gig either. But here’s one from one of their Chicago gigs earlier in the year.

Lilys – Tone Bender EP

Here we have musical chameleons The Lilys doing their best MBV impersonation and, dare I say it, probably bettering Shields and Co. at their own game (hey it’s just one guy’s opinion). That is at least true of the sublime ‘Eskimo’ and even ‘February Fourteenth’. This is short, sweet and constantly moody. The best shoegaze always conjures up that depressing yet beautiful melancholy and for that matter this EP may as well be an 18-minute ‘how-to’ on creating mood.

DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM HERE!

• Eskimo
• February Fourteenth
• Threw A Day

Aphex Twin – Richard D. James Album

First time I listened to this album was at the beach on a shitty pair of standard ipod earphones. All I thought was ‘this is shit’ because it sounded like a random assortment of pops and clicks. I gave it a second go on some decent speakers and boy what a difference. There is a palpable sense of ‘What the fuck is going to happen next?’ on every song. The album’s filled with spazzcore beats and odd noises laid over the top of ambient sounds reminiscent of AFX’s earlier albums (SAW 85-92 and SAW II). This is pure genius and is worth putting on if you need convincing that electronic music isnt just some French guys twiddling knobs whilst playing solitaire.

DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE!

Best Songs:

• 4
• Fingerbib
• Yellow Calx

Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas

Try not getting sucked into this one on first listen. Catchy as a catcher, funkier than a funk, this is a slice of pop you’re gonna wanna eat up time and time again. Unless you’re a loser. Are you a loser? If so, proceed to this page, loser. Otherwise, throw some headphones on or turn your speakers up real loud, put Heaven or Las Vegas on and gaze at your shoes. Have you ever heard a better voice? What the hell is she saying?

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Best Songs:

• Cherry-Coloured Funk (obv.)
• Iceblink Luck
• Heaven or Las Vegas

J Dilla – Old Donuts

I’m not sure if this is even the correct cover for the album. Or if it really is called ‘Old Donuts’. I have a feeling it’s called ‘Jay Dee of Slum Village – The Instrumentals Part One’. Either way these beats are absolutely classic. None of them have that really live, energetic feel of the ones on ‘Donuts’ but that doesn’t make them any less impressive. They’re mainly just chill, relaxed beats with sweet ass samples laid over the top. Stop actin’ the fool and…

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Best Tracks:

• The 80s
• Daylight
• 2 morrow

Brian Eno – Another Green World

 If you need any convincing of the genius of Brian Eno read this diary entry from him: “Pissed into an empty wine bottle so I could continue watching Monty Python, and suddenly thought, ‘I’ve never tasted my own piss,’ so I drank a little. It looked just like Orvieto Classico and tasted of nearly nothing.” Of course that has nothing to do with this album but he is quite a wizard. There’s some ambient stuff on here but really it’s just mellow pop a lot of the time. If you’re looking for ambient Eno try Music For Airports (Wikipedia Link), it may be the better of the two albums. Who knows? Regardless, this is some really good shit here. Quite depressing/melancholy at times but that just adds to it.

DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM HERE! 

Best Songs:

• St. Elmo’s Fire
• Another Green World
• Becalmed 

The Roots – Things Fall Apart

Live Instrumentation. Drums by ?uestlove. Production by Jay Dee. Some of the sickest beats you’ll hear. Guest Spots by Common and Mos Def. Oh yeah! Things Fall Apart is epic. And the spoken word poetry coda thing is pretty great (scary!! ahh). So you must…

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Best Songs:

• Table Of Contents (Parts 1&2)
• Double Trouble
• Act Too (The Love Of My Life)

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam

Well this one was a no-brainer. It’s pretty much the easiest record to like (and hate it seems – major backlash alert!). There are some mind-bogglingly good tracks on here (see ‘Fireworks’, duh) and no filler. These dudes use sound in a way that makes the songs somehow sound simultaneously simple and complex. Go figure. Anyway just enjoy SJ for what it is: a great pop album. Nothing else! It is not the greatest thing of all time and it is not some demon spawn hipster rubbish.

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Best Songs:

• Fireworks
• For Reverend Green
• Winter Wonderland