Beta baby!

Google finally allowed me to switch this blog over to the Blogger Beta today -- awesome!

That is all.

Tops of My Pops for 11/19/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Nov. 19, 2006
1. The Meters
2. DJ Shadow
2. Rae & Christian
4. The Underwolves
5. Massive Attack
6. Beastie Boys
7. Radiohead
7. Meat Beat Manifesto
7. Kanye West
7. Iron & Wine

In the interest of catching up(!) I'm going to skip comments this time around. See you next week!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 11/12/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Nov. 12, 2006
1. Renegade Soundwave
2. K-OS
3. Underworld
4. Bonobo
5. Jamie Lidell
6. David Bowie
7. Squarepusher
7. Massive Attack
7. DJ Shadow
7. Primal Scream

Ah, the glory that was Renegade Soundwave...I just never get tired of those guys. Snagged a copy of RSW 1987-1995 and have been enjoying hearing all those old favorite remixes. Truly, they were far ahead of their time.

I went on an iTunes Store spree and picked up four Underworld EPs from the Beaucoup Fish era: Bruce Lee, Jumbo, Push Upstairs and King of Snake. There are some great reworkings in the batch like "King of Snake (Fatboy Slim Remix)", along with a few duds like "Bruce Lee (Buffalo Daughter Remix)" but I don't regret the convenience of being about to download these hard to find goodies with the click of a mouse.

Can't wait for the new k-os disc to drop in the states. In the meantime, I'm just rockin' the old stuff....

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Tops of My Pops for 11/5/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Nov. 5, 2006
1. Severed Heads
2. Mocean Worker
2. Squarepusher
4. Massive Attack
4. Leftfield
6. Cocteau Twins
6. Public Enemy
6. Outputmessage
9. TV On The Radio
9. The Meters

Spent most of the week checking out new (old) arrivals from la la....

Been enjoying a bit of Severed Heads nostalgia, especially the classic Come Visit The Big Bigot, and have also filled a gap in my collection with my recent acquisition of 1991's Cuisine (with Piscatorial). Good solid stuff from that period -- makes me sorry I didn't grab it fifteen years ago!

Got a copy of Mocean Worker's debut release, Home Movies From The Brainforest. The guy makes thoroughly enjoyable jazztronica, so if you're into that sort of thing and are looking for a good place to start with him, I strongly recommend grabbing Enter The Mowo!, his most recent and most accomplished.

Found someone willing to trade me their copy of Leftfield's Dusted single, which features the ubiquitous Roots Manuva. The original version appears on Rhythm And Stealth, but this EP includes remixes by Howie B, The X-Ecutioners and Si Begg. In case you were wondering, there's never been a track couldn't be improved by some RM vocals.

Continuing to obsess over Squarepusher's brilliant Hello Everything and am continuing to dig into TV On The Radio's Return To Cookie Mountain. No shortage of great new (new) music this year!

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Jamie Lidell – Live Goodness!

Saw Jamie Lidell in concert last night at the Larimer Lounge in Denver with pal Mark & wife Heather – what a great show!

Hadn't been to the Larimer Lounge before, but it was suitably fun indie hipster kinda dive bar. From the website and the posters on the walls, it looked like most of Denver's local bands have played there at one time or another.

The crowd was a little thin when the opening act, the incomparable Snax, came on stage. The place soon filled up as the crowd started bumpin' to Snax's one man disco-funk explosion. The guy had absolutely no fear and it showed. I can totally understand why Jamie decided to bring him out on tour.

After a short break Mr. Lidell jumped on the stage in his leopard-spotted velvet hoodie and black spectacles and just tore the house down. If you haven't seen him live just get your ass out there and find him, because he is an amazing performer. Sometimes he'll sing to a preprogrammed musical accompaniment, but more often than not he'll build the track from the ground up using only his voice and his rig to loop up a killer track right there live on stage. And besides the fact that he's a musical chameleon, he's got a fantastic voice like Sam Cooke would be proud of.

Great performers, great show, great night!

(Photo © clayhawkley. All rights reserved.)

Tops of My Pops for 10/29/06

A weekly look at what I'm listening to, from my Last.fm user stats:

Top Artists for the week ending Oct. 29, 2006
1. DJ Cam
2. Squarepusher
2. Richard Cheese
4. Amon Tobin
5. David Bowie
6. Primal Scream
7. Depeche Mode
8. Moloko
8. Lamb
8. Greater Than One

Squarepusher's still holding his own with Hello Everything, being the only really new thing in my Top Ten this week. What a fantastic album – and it just gets better with every spin!

Looking at the oldies, I just got a new copy of DJ Cam's DJ-Kicks thanks to la la. I enjoyed this mix considerably more than I did back when it was first released in 1997. I liked downtempo and trip hop as much if not more back then as I do now, but for some reason his French take on the scene just didn't work for me back then.

Received Richard Cheese's 2002 opus Tuxicity as well. Nobody can kick a lounge version of "Baby Got Back" like Dick.

See also:
The 'Tops of My Pops' archives

Google Mobile

If you have a mobile phone with internet access, you really owe it to yourself to check out the new upgrades to Google Mobile. Our Google Masters have so elegantly packaged and streamlined their whole suite of mobile access functions that all you really have to do is enter your number and they'll send a link directly to your phone that does the rest.

If you ever use Google, Gmail, Google Maps, or Google News it's totally worth the 60 seconds to download and install. I can't tell you how many times having Google Maps on my Blackberry has saved me!