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Click, or just scroll down.
Let me know if any of the links are broken.
Air French Band
Airfrenchband.com has said "under construction" for who knows
how long, so skip it and go to www.airfrenchband.co.uk,
a well-done fan site. Also, check out the Air
section of Astralwerks' site.
Nothing foreshadows impending doom like French cocktail music. If you
need proof, check out the site for The
Virgin Suicides (out on video now, I believe). Air recorded the score
and contributed to the soundtrack
for this quite-impressive feature debut directed by Sofia "Thanks
Dad" Coppola.
Expect press interest in Air to pick up when they drop their new joint
late this Spring, but for now, check out this Spin
article which suggests that in a perfect world, Air would be a top
40 staple. In anticipation of the upcoming main course, an appetizer can
be consumed in the form of "Planet
Vega" on Grand Royal Records' MP3 page. While you're there, check
out At The Drive-In, who could not possibly sound any less like Air.
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Miles Davis
Although it wasn't his best work, Miles' most subconscious-probing, conflicted-sounding
stuff was done in the Seventies. The Beat
Thief really digs that period.
Miles' record label during this period, Columbia Records, has a pretty
boring site,
but their discography (read: catalog) is complete.
Legend has it that when Miles was past his prime and before Prince was
past his, the two supposedly made various attempts
to collaborate. The legend
lives on.
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DJ Shadow
Either Shadow's official
site is difficult to navigate, or I'm stupid (please do not email
me your postulate as to which is the case). To its credit, it does have
a slide show
featuring a work by this site's resident artist.
The more substantial Endtroducing
has actually been around longer, and it shows. Shadow's
page on the Solesides Records site has a good discography.
Shadow's best work has been the theme to the
film Dark Days.
It's subconscious music for subterranean people. How can you argue with
that?
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Radiohead
Radiohead (who head's Spin Magazine's aforementioned Top
Forty) has a deliberately
confusing site, and it's pretty cool in an art-for-art's-sake kind
of way. Green Plastic
Radiohead, a site for and by obsessive fans (and aren't the best ones
always that way?), contains some sound clips of tracks that are anticipated
to grace the upcoming follow-up to Kid A (their only work suitable for
subconscious soirees thus far). Internet discussion abounds regarding
whether Amnesiac will return to the band's guitar-based sound or continue
in the abstractions of it's recent predecessor (and the band itself has
supplied misinformation indicating one and then the
other). For the sake of future content on this site, I'm pulling for the
latter, but, in truth, I just want 'em to rock.
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REM
Much of the recent speculation surrounding REM's upcoming
release mirrors that of Radiohead. Up was the band's one venture into
the territory of the subconscious, and it was damn good. Will they keep
it up, or will it be another "look! we can still rock" misstep
like Monster? See what the fan's are saying at File
Under REM.,
Speaking of Monster and missteps, my sophomore year roommate
was so confused by the "Crush
With Eyeliner" video, the next time he heard the song
he said "Dude, this band is called REM, but it's not the REM."
Righteeo. Let's get this straight. This is the REM,
and this is not.
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Silver Apples
When you consider how pretentious the liner notes of the
first Silver Apples record were, it's a shock to see the band fronting
such a stupid,
hippified web site. Rolling Stone's page
pretty much stinks, too. The godfathers of electronic subconscious party
music deserve better. Lemme talk at ya and tell ya
what they need: an interactive, animated site where you can click on stuff
and make it beep. Damn. That sounded so much better in my head.
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Tortoise
This page can't even begin to compete with the huge list
of links on Tortoise's
site. You can check out Thrill
Jockey for the requisite record company stuff (and there are some
other interesting bands on the label), but Tortoise's portion of the site
is poorly designed, the pictures load slowly, and it's not especially
informative. That's okay, though. Tortoise's music is like wallpaper
with a vaguely scary pattern. It's best that you don't stare at it for
too long.
The New York Times published a
story on Tortoise in the Sunday, March 18, edition. The print version
of the article features a photo of the band which reveals they kinda appear
to be badasses and not the jazz geeks they sound like. The times also
ran a related
article about the Chicago Underground, a free jazz ensemble featuring
Jeff Parker from Tortoise on guitar.
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The Twilight Singers
You'll be hard-pressed to find a Twilight
Singers site that doesn't lament the passing of the Afghan
Whigs (the official
site is an exception, and it's understandable that Greg Dulli wouldn't
want to detract from his new gig). True, the Twilight Singers are not
the Whigs, but they take all of that band's lust, guilt, and paranoia
and pull it back into the realm of the subconscious. And that's cool,
because that's, y'know, where I keep all that stuff.
Just in case you're sick of this site's
little made-up musical sub-genre, Dulli
has some R&B records you should hear.
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Various Artists
Coming Soon - artists that didn't quite make the
cut, but are stylistically similar, and pretty damn
cool in their own rights (Goldfrapp, Portishead, and more). Includes not
only a reference to Kool
Keith as being "like Eminem for the Magic: the Gathering
crowd" but also a discussion of why French
pop songs about incest are bad ideas for more than one reason.
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Miscellaneous
Coming Soon - non-artist specific
links (texts, resources, etc.) including an Atlantic
Monthly article written by the cousin of Faith No More's keyboardist.
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Links of the Moment
7/14/02
Holy Crap! Yes, that's "02" as in "2002" as in this year. Maybe you should go check out The Official Ninja Webpage and watch my music video for "A Lament (for those about to rock please reconsider)" by the Deposit or the Squints or whatever I'm calling my crappy music project this week. It's on the "Movies" section and is billed as a "Walsh Ninja Production."
Why don't you go buy that Silk Road CD by Yo-Yo Ma? It's spooky and intricate and really damn good. Talk to you next year.
4/6/01
A good portion of the search engines used by Dogpile have been added to my ever-lenghtening revenge list (keeping company with a rotating line-up of people who work in my building and that little shit from 3 Doors Down) because I've registered this site with them and still can't get it to turn up in a meta-search.
Riding piggyback to yesterday's link of the moment (see below, re. jazz, pop, and MP3s), the first two items on Matador Records News Page for April, 2001, are, as the French say, apropos. Dig their MP3s page as well. Check out a track by Couch, whose new record I hope to review within the week. Also recommended for download are "Housemate Troubles" by MC Paul Barman and "The Hook" by Steve Malkmus. Has ever a better song been written about pirates on the Mediterranean? No, as the French might say.
4/5/01
Just finished reading a not-entirely-full-of-poop essay on the relationship of jazz to pop in Amplifier Magazine. T'was okay. It perhaps should be noted that I got there through a link on Superdrag's web-site, which is quite generous in its offering of wonderfully big, fuzzy guitar-based power-pop MP3s.
3/20/01
Check out "Your Favorite Music" on the band Clem
Snide's MP3 page. Maybe it's subconscious party music with a country
twang, or maybe I'm just really starting to reach for material here.
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