And The Motorcade Sped On
It’s time to fill you in on the stuff we covered today on our radio show.
Today we started off the show with “Out of The Blue” by Julian Casablancas
We’ll start with a Stroke who has moved west. Singer Julian Casablancas is no longer a New Yorker—at least for now. He’s out in Los Angeles where he likes the weather so much more.
He has a solo record. It’s called “Phrazes For The Young”. And this is a sample. It’s called “Out of The Blue”.
The title comes from an essay by Morrissey’s favourite British writer, Oscar Wilde: “Phrases and Philosophies For The Use of The Young”. Julian wrote everything for this album. He arranged everything and he even played most of the instruments himself. And he has some kind of big multimedia tour planned.
As for The Strokes? As we heard from Julian a few shows ago, we’ll see.
Let’s do the news.
ExploreMusic TOP 5 MUSIC NEWS Countdown
5) The Velvet Underground Champion Literacy
The Velvet Underground is getting back together. But don’t get too excited. First of all, guitarist Sterling Morrison is still dead. And second, it doesn’t look like the surviving members are even going to pick up any instruments for this gig.
Lou Reed, John Cale and Moe Tucker will make an appearance on behalf of the New York Public Library on December 8th. They’ll discuss their love of books plus their musical legacy. That would be a really, really cool thing to see.
4) …And On The 7th Day, Jack White Kept Working
Jack White can’t sit still. Not only is he in at least three bands simultaneously. Not only is he running his own record label. And not only does he have a wife and kids. But he’s now taken on another production project.
Jack is going to work with Wanda Jackson. Who? Back in the 50s and 60s, she was known as the “Queen of Rockabilly”. She started making records in 1954. Whatever Elvis was doing, she was pretty much the female equivalent.
Wanda is now 72—and Jack thinks she has another album in her.
Hey, he did great work with Loretta Lynn and her “Van Leer Rose” album in 2004. It’s a very good record.
3) 3D Rock Coming To Theatres
Here’s another sign that they’re trying to make 3D movies even more mainstream. Starting next month, the first in a series of 3D concert films will be released.
The Dave Matthews Band, Ben Harper and Gogol Bordello will be first. Trailers are already running in some theatres.
2) Rock Gets Its Marching Orders
This is a little weird. Temple University in Philadelphia has a marching band. Part of their repertoire is a Sum 41 song. They do a very credible version of “Fat Lip” at halftime. Here’s the video if you wanna see how they do it.
Sounds like a pretty cool band. They’ve also covered The White Stripes and My Chemical Romance. Sure beats another time around the field with John Phillip Sousa.
1) Them Crooked Vultures and The Fake Demos
The debut from Them Crooked Vultures came out this week. It’s Josh Homme from Queens of The Stone Age out front, Dave Grohl of the Foos on drums and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass and keyboards.
This is one of the most-anticipated records of the year. In fact, people were so looking forward to it that they got duped by some fake Them Crooked Vultures demos that were posted on line.
5 SONGS YOU GOTTA HEAR TODAY:
Time for another five song recommendations. The goal is to help you discover five new songs, bands and/or albums. And we’re going to start today’s list with something historic.
“And The Motorcade Sped On” by Steinski and Mass Media
The first Kennedy assassination was 46 years ago this weekend: November 22, 1963, in Dallas. 23 years ago, a DJ named Steinski put together a 12-inch single featuring all kinds of samples taken from the original TV coverage of the assassination. The result was called “And The Motorcade Sped On”.
Pre-internet, this used to be ultra-rare. Today? Not so much. But Alan has had a lot of people ask him if he could include this in a “five songs” list so they could hear it again and spread the word.
So in commemoration of the JFK assassination, check out “And The Motorcade Sped On,” which uses some highly dodgy samples from CBS news and Walter Cronkite—not to mention The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. A great example of early sampling and turntabilism.
“True Love 1980” by Ash
Next on the list is Ash, the Northern Irish band. They’re on a mission to release 26 singles from A-Z.
A song called “True Love 1980” sounds like it could have been released by New Order. It’s the first single in the series. Two more have been released since and a fourth is coming on Monday.
“Coming Apart” by Friends of Emmett
Friends of Emmett are also Irish—Dublin—but they’ve relocated to Los Angeles. They’re very much in the same headspace as Live, The Counting Crows, and The Wallflowers. They’re written a song called “Coming Apart” for their “Reservoir” album.
And it was inspired by a guy who tried to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. But he survived—and now he counsels people against suicide. Interesting story.
“Someday I’ll Try” by The Decoration
Speaking of the Golden Gate Bridge, the next band is from San Francisco. They’re called The Decoration. Kinda shoegazer-y and grunge-y in a melodic way. The album is called “Science & Sanity” and a good song to start with is “Someday I’ll Try”.
“Jungleland” by Bruce Springsteen
And finally, a classic track from Bruce Springsteen. It’s one of his best-ever storytelling songs. It’s the ten-minute closer to the “Born To Run” album from 1975.
ExploreMusic TRIVIA:
We’re going hardcore next with A Wilhelm Scream. They have a new EP. But first, this: where did this band get their name? Or to put it another way, what was the original Wilhelm Scream?
If you’re into movie trivia, you got this. It’s a standard sound effect of a guy screaming heard in countless movies and TV shows. It first showed up in a 1951 film called “Distant Drums”. Using it is such a cheesy cliché that it’s a big in-joke now. Here it is.
ExploreMusic Feature Item: A Wilhelm Scream
A Wilhelm Scream is a Massachusetts hardcore band who have been around for about ten years. They have a new self-titled EP—their first release in more than two years—and our Mike Sullivan sat down to watch a Blue Jay game with singer Nuno Pereira backstage at a recent show in Toronto.
The new EP has five tracks—and here’s how it starts. This is called “Australias”--plural.
ExploreMusic Playlist: The songs featured on the radio show today were:
“Out of The Blue” by Julian Casablancas
“Reptiles” by Them Crooked Vultures
“And The Motorcade Sped On” by Steinski and Mass Media
“Australias” by A Wilhelm Scream
That's it for today. I'm outta here. See you tomorrow.
Nathalia
Questions? Comments? Email me @ nathalia@exploremusic.com