Guest Post: Night Ripper

Believe it or not, we are not the only ones who write about music. In fact, after doing a bit of research, it turns out that there are dozens (if not HUNDREDS) of blogs dedicated to music on the internets. And so, long live the guest post:

I once went on a date with a beautiful girl who was in my High School class. I was super excited because we were gonna hang out at her house and in my hormonally-enriched state this could only mean “business time”. We ended up watching “In the Light of the Moon” with her parents. The flaying of corpses, surprisingly, is not the best aphrodisiac.

The other day I stumbled upon the following track from my favorite band, The White Stripes: “Jack the Ripper.” It is a live recording that starts off with one of my favorite Stripes’ song “Astro” and segues into “Jack the Ripper” by English musician Screaming Lord Sutch . It was released as a 7″ single in the UK and Germany in 1963 and was immediately banned by the BBC.

If you are interested in a little more history, albeit fudged, on The Ripper, I suggest the great graphic novel “From Hell” by Alan Moore or if you want to see the best movie adaptation that combines the talents of Rollergirl, Willy Wonka, Rubeus Hagrid, and Bilbo Baggins, check out the movie version of From Hell that came out in ‘01. To wrap up my inaguaral post with a little more of the macabre, here is another live track from another infamous Jack: “Red Death at 6:14.”

RS

Pandora’s Box

Catching up with old friends is always nice.  Just ask LCD Soundsystem front man James Murphy.  So last night, when I was doing just that, she reminded me of a web site you could consider an old friend: Pandora.

Pandora.com is a radio station run by the people at the “Music Genome Project.” You type in your favorite artist’s name, and the web site dissects the band’s music. It then generates a radio playlist of other music it (usually fairly accurately) predicts you will like. Check it out.  The best playlist so far has come about from my “Spoon” entry.

Also, the friend with whom I was catching up has a muxtape mixtape.  It only has one song, but what a beautiful doozy it is.  Check it out: Satellite Walls.  While you’re at it, check out the new song on ours, too: If It’s Good muxtape.

MP

Scorsese to Shine a Light on The Dandy Warhols next?

Obviously not. But yesterday at the local café, I heard The Warhol’s “Bohemian Like You” come on over the speakers in the ceiling. Deep in conversation with my roommate, I was only half-listening at the time, and half-thought I was hearing the Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” Then I realized which song it was, as the DW’s were a favorite of mine a few years back (think six años). So this morning, when “JJF” woke me up on iTunes alarm, I realized how similar the songs really are.

Both have an intro of about 15-20 seconds (drums on “BLY,” gee-tar on “JJF”) followed by a short but nifty drum fill leading into a strong march of a guitar riff. A guitar riff that, while not exactly identical, recalls one another enough to give intellectual copyright lawyers an erection. Disagree? Listen for yourself:

Buy The Dandy Warhols/MP3: Bohemian Like You

Buy The Rolling Stones/MP3: Jumpin’ Jack Flash

MP

M@M: The Wombats-Let’s Dance to Joy Division

From last fall, ladies and gentlemen, The Wombats:

Buy The Wombats/MP3: Let’s Dance to Joy Division

Buy Joy Division/MP3: She’s Lost Control

MP