Vampire Weekend, What Hell Hath Wrought?

Vampire Weekend

First it was Haircut 100, The English Beat and The Police. Twenty-five years later we get Vampire Weekend. It took a year or so and now we have The Drums, Princeton and Fools Gold. I’m not complaining because they’re doin some really decent stuff… it’s just that, along with a huge amount of other recent bands, their influences are just a little too… apparent.

MP3: The Drums- Let’s Go Surfing (c/o ObscureSound)

MP3: Princeton- Calypso Gold

MP3: Fool’s Gold- Surprise Hotel (c/o AquariumDrunkard)

Sounds a bit too much like:

MP3: Haircut 100- Love Plus One (1982)

MP3: English Beat- Mirror in the Bathroom

..and speaking of Vampire Weekend, if I must:

MP3: Vampire Weekend- A Punk

BONUS:
MP3: Vampire Weekend – Cape Kwassa Kwassa (Ruckus Roboticus Refix) .

Give these guys a listen. Who do they sound like?

MP3: Kordan- Tokyo Tears (c/o ObscureSound)

Get Kordon‘s fantastic Fantasy Nation EP free here.

Hey Ocean!

Hey Ocean! are comin’ all the way from Vancouver to Philly on THREE different Wednesdays in October- The 7th, 14th and 21st @ The M Room.

MP3: Hey Ocean!- A song About California (c/o AttorneyStreet)



Pears

This pear tree stands next to the road in Springfield PA. I’ve been riding my bike past it for 10 years now. Every fall it produces a tremendous amount of large and juicy fruit. Since most of it ends up on the ground for the ants to eat, I stop and help myself to a few as I go by.

This year, for the first time, it is absolutely bare. I’m sure it has something to do with the extremely wet spring and summer we had this year but you’d think there would be at least a couple shriveled nubs or something. There’s nothing. Not one.

Its leaves look a little more bare than usual too, but even if the tree were dying it would still produce fruit. I’ve seen plenty of dilapidated old fruit trees that looked barely alive but still drop fruit.

My 90 year old neighbor has had a vegetable garden in her back yard for most of her life. Last year the squirrels ate every last veggie in the garden. She said it was the first time in 50 years that had ever happened. We both figured we were in for a long cold winter but it turned out to be one of the mildest winters in a while, so I won’t make any predictions about this pear tree. Anyone else have any ideas?

MP3: Experimental Dental School- Argentine Pears

Pilooski @ Silk City

I wrote about Pilooksi back in July then happened to stop by Silk City two weeks ago to check out their new beer garden (I love it btw) and saw that Pilooski is playing THIS Friday Sept. 24 along with Philly’s Broadzilla DJs and Finger on the Pulse from NY.
Only five bucks.

MP3: Elvis Presley- Crawfish (Pilooski Edit)

MP3: Yuksek- Extraball (Pilooski Edit) (c/o WavesAtNight)

I’ve also written about The Twelves in the past and they continue to put out seamlessly slick (and sick) mixes. Here’s their latest taken from a BBC Radio 1 show which clocks in at just under an hour. It includes exclusive versions from Radiohead, Mr. Oizo, Fever Ray, M.I.A, Daft Punk and The Black Kids just to name a few:

MP3: The Twelves- The Twelfth Hour mix (c/o BigStereo)

I happened to hunt down the tracklist and found one of the hottest tracks on the mix over at Disco Delicious, a wonderful Austrailian blog specializing in high bitrate rare disco and dance edits.
Check out this disco nugget:

MP3: Dynasty- I don’t Want to Be a Freak (LMR edit)

Bonus:

MP3: The Twelves- Be My Crush (Cicada’s B-Live Rio Mix) (c/o Discobelle)

Extra Classic 2

I listen to music about 8 hours a day. About half of that time I’m listening to reggae so there’s no excuse for my not sharing more of it.
Here are some classic Jamaican roots tunes for your enjoyment:

MP3: Cornell Campbell- Jah Jah Me No born Yah

From the 1970s compilation LP Observer Station, a sort of “best of” Winston “Niney the Observer” Holness‘ productions. This bouncy 70s roots stuff is one of my favorite reggae styles.

MP3: Niney The Observer- Rasta No Pickpocket

MP3: Porti- Mr. Bigman

MP3: Johnny Clarke- Moving To Zion

Not roots but early dancehall: (Alternate spelling: Tristan & Palma)

MP3: Triston Palmer- Entertainment

MP3: The Mighty Diamonds- Ghetto Living

I can’t believe I’ve had this blog for two years now and haven’t posted any Heptones. Absolutely Sinful.

MP3: The Heptones- Country Boy

MP3: The Heptones- Cool Rasta

It’s been almost a year since this great man’s passing (October 11):

MP3: Alton Ellis- Too Late

Bonus MP3: Alton Ellis Tribute Mix

Bonus Bonus:
This remake isn’t a classic (nor is the original even reggae) but it sounds like one courtesy of genuis producer/remixer Mark Ronson:

MP3: Miike Snow -Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)
(c/o PrettyMuchAmazing)

Craigslist find(s) of the week

1974 Schwinn Stingray 5 speed, RARE COLOR~~~~~~~ – $695 Norristown, Pa.

1974 Schwinn Stingray factory ”fenderless” model 5 speed.

The color is very hard to find ‘opaque red’ which is a bright red. This is the original factory paint. There is some chips and scratches in the paint which are common.

This bike is in very good condition with beautiful chrome and flawless original seat, etc.. Excellent tires. Matching rare, super hard to find ‘opaque red’ brake lever covers are included in the sale. Also,..matching red ‘flag caps’ on the tire tube valve stems are also included.
Bike has been serviced, tuned-up, and all gone over by a professional, and is ready to ride or display.
Don’t miss out! I doubt you will ever see one of these listed again.
First $695 in cash. – Price is firm. – No trades and No shipping.
SERIOUS INQUIRES ONLY.
Reply to: sale-fwgv2-1385923807@craigslist.org

1967 Schwinn Stingray Fastback ”Ramshorn” 5 speed – $795 Norristown, Pa.

Reply to: sale-5jmz5-1385975177@craigslist.org

1967 Schwinn Stingray Fastback ”Ramshorn’ model’ 5 speed

Color is factory schwinn ‘campus green’
This bike is drop dead gorgeous. Beautiful original paint, chrome,.etc, etc. (Yes, I do have the correct pedals, just not in the pictures on the bike).

Bike is ready to display in your collection, office, or game room.
I highly doubt you will ever see or find one of these this nice being offered on craigslist.

$795 cash – Firm price – No trades, No shipping.
SERIOUS INQUIRES ONLY

”Orange Krate” Schwinn Stingray, 1970~~~~~~~ – $595 Norristown, Pa.

Reply to: sale-58nxw-1384288716@craigslist.org

1970 Schwinn Stingray “Orange Krate”

Not a mint show bike, but a nice bike that has a few reproduction replacement parts.
This would make for an excellent ‘rider krate’.

First $595 in cash only. Absolute firm price. No lower offers accepted. No trades or shipping.

*Scammer emails will be reported. Don’t waste your time.

1974 Schwinn Stingray ”Fair-Lady”~~~~~~~~ – $175 Norristown, Pa.

1974 Schwinn stingray ”fair-lady” coaster brake bike. Color is schwinn ‘kool lemon’. All original paint. No touch-ups ever done.

-All original one owner bike in good condition.
-Needs cleaning up.

First $175 cash
————–

{My guess is that the pedals are off because he rode them with his Shimano Dura Ace clipless road pedals which he’s selling separately)

Me, my brother and my sister all had Schwinn Stingrays when we were growing up. For some reason my Dad only kept one- my sister’s Pink Lady.

When I was back home with my kids visiting this summer I went up in the garage attic and pulled it out to see if my daughter could ride it. It still has the original pink flowered banana seat. The tires and tubes held air for about half an hour.

The thing that really amazed me was how HEAVY those darn bikes are. How the heck did we manage to do all those wicked jumps and tricks on such a brick? It took all of my strength to pick the thing up over my head!

Idle Free Philadelphia

Philadelphia and the State of PA has a law on the books barring any vehicle from idling for more than 5 minutes.
This law is like most others in the City of Brotherly Love in that it is rarely enforced. It irks me to no end when I’m walking down the sidewalk on a hot summer day with my kids and have to walk through a cloud of cancer-causing diesel exhaust because some tool doesn’t feel like turning off his vehicle.

Every morning when I drop my kids off at school there’s at least one delivery truck and a line of buses all idling in in front of the school, with the school door wide open. The entire first floor which is full of little kids smells like exhaust.

Luckily today I got an email from the Clean Air Council notifying me of a new web-based mapping tool that allows residents to report illegal idling to the City of Philadelphia’s Air Management Services, as well as to the Clean Air Council and to identify locations where idling is a recurring problem.

Maybe this will help get the city to take action to clean up the quality of the air in our city.

NOTE: I fully understand that service vehicles like buses and ambulances may need to idle. I also understand that some vehicles may need to remain running in the winter.
Also, I understand that some right-leaning readers discount the effects of vehicle emissions on the environment. This tune is for you:

MP3: The Jesus Lizard-Mouth Breather

Likey

Here’s a great disco/italo/house track from Oslo’s Pelifics. Daddy likes:

MP3: Pelifics- Forever (Hemingway Remix) (c/o DiscoDust)

Canadian band Two Hours Traffic‘s 2nd LP Territory was released this week. This title track is PPP- (pure power pop) and nothing more:

MP3: Two Hours Traffic-Territory (c/o QuickBeforeItMelts)

This amazing track is from Memory Tapes- a product of Dayve Hawk’s other two projects, Weird Tapes and Memory Cassettes:

MP3: Memory Tapes-Plain Material (c/o GorillaVSBear)

Get the whole LP Seek Magic here. You won’t be disappointed.

BONUS:
MP3: Memory Tapes-Bicycle

Here’s a refresh of a 1977 funky/bouncy/disco jam. Wait for the baseline three quarters of the way through:

MP3: Claudja Barry-I Wanna Dance (Tangoterje re-edit) (BIG thanks to FeelMyBicep for this!)

Claudja Barry

Common Sense

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the death Thomas Paine.

Paine was a fellow Philadelphia blogger and general rabble rowser, whose Common Sense was one of the most widely read works in American history. Dude made it clear how stupid it was for a king living on an island across the ocean to be ruling a continent while providing little or no benefit to the colony. His incendiary writings were basically the sole reason that Colonists got the whole ‘American Revolution’ idea into their tough little heads.

If he were alive today he’d be fired up over this asinine debate over universal healthcare for American citizens. On hearing about it for the first time, I imagine our conversation would go something like this:

I’d tell him about the President’s bill proposing greater competition and a government sponsored option to help curb the cost of getting sick for Americans, and he’d ask me what was wrong with the way we’re doing things; I’d tell him how our current profit-driven system is making healthcare providers and drug companies rich while the cost to Americans keeps skyrocketing. Then, rather assuredly, he’d say that we’re still probably light years ahead of other free countries on the whole healthcare thing. I’d shake my head in my smarmy way and tell him no, we’re actually trailing almost all industrialized nations in this respect. Then he’d gasp and spit out his coffee and say, “That makes no sense. No common sense.” I’d agree, then in disgust, he’d excuse himself and return to his coffin or his time-travel spaceship or whatever.

On a different note, Thomas Paine was originally from Lewes, England. The Harvey’s brewery nearby has been around since Paine’s time, so there’s a chance that Paine actually drank their beer. Harvey’s is celebrating the anniversary of Paine’s death with the release of A. le Coq Imperial Extra Double Stout, a brew aged 14 months. It’s supposed to be available here in the Colonies this month. I can’t find anything online about this year’s release, so just look fer it.

I heard this is a favorite tune of Paine’s:

MP3: The Dutch Rhythm Steel & Show Band- Feelin’ Alright

This cover is from The The Dutch Rhythm Steel (inhale), & Show Band’s 1975 LP Soul Steel & Show. They also do a great funky cover of Neil Young‘s Down by the River. Get it at FunkMySoul blog. Free.

Waste

Office Basics is the main office supplies vendor where I work. They’re a local company and they have their own delivery truck and driver. We’ve complained to them more than once over the years about their excessive, almost comical overzealous use of packaging. Today they outdid themselves. These are actual pictures of today’s delivery:

ONE pen came in this box:

and ONE pad of paper in another:

Mind you, a third and fourth box were included in the shipment, so these two items could’ve easily been thrown into those boxes. Hell, even put them in an envelope. They’ve been doing this for years. Bout time we found a new vendor.

On a different note, I never get sick of this Bush. Now she gets a makover:

MP3: Kate Bush-Running Up That Hill (Late Nite Tuff Guy edit) (c/o waves at night)