Category Archives: Musically Inclined

I Quite Like Squeeze

Squeeze is one of those groups that I’ve always liked. Their songs are quirky, catchy, funny, intelligent and soulful (like one of my all time favorite songs and one of their classics, Tempted).  I finally bought a compilation of their hits when my husband and I went to London back in 2007, but I’ve never seen them in concert.  A friend of mine saw them here in San Diego back on April 10 of this year, and I actually forgot about that show until she told me, and I wished I had gone.  When they added a Harrah’s Rincon date for their Summer Dance Tour with The B-52s, I snapped up some tickets for my sister and I to finally see them.

I had a feeling that the crowd would be there mainly to see The B-52s.  With mega-hits like Roam and Love Shack, they were the perfect dance party band.  It was a nice night, still a bit warm with a cool breeze, so it definitely felt like summer when I heard Rock Lobster.  While they played older songs like Give Me Back My Man, Whammy Kiss and Planet Clair, I would loved to have heard Dance This Mess Around and my favorite B-52s song, Legal Tender.  Overall, they were a good crowd pleaser.  I saw that some of the crowd dissipated after their set, and for the sake of Squeeze, I hoped that they were mainly just getting drinks between sets. 

I was most anxious when Squeeze took the stage because I knew which songs I wanted to hear.  I checked their most recent setlist on my Live Nation app to see if I would hear my favorites, and I definitely heard everything that I wanted to hear.  This is my first time using Setlist.fm (acquired by Live Nation apparently), and I’m definitely going to use them from now on!  This is the setlist from the Greek Theater concert, which was very similar to the one at Harrah’s.  I bolded all of my favorites:

    1. Take Me I’m Yours
    2. If I Didn’t Love You
    3. In Quintessence
    4. Is That Love
    5. Tommy
    6. Top of the Form
    7. Another Nail in My Heart
    8. Melody Motel
    9. Cool for Cats
    10. Up the Junction
    11. Honey Trap
    12. Goodbye Girl
    13. Bang Bang
    14. Annie Get Your Gun
    15. Hourglass
    16. Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)
    17. Tempted
    18. Encore: Slap and Tickle
    19. Encore: Black Coffee in Bed

Squeeze were extremely humble and almost self deprecating.  Glenn Tilbrook said at one point “Thank you SO much for staying…and those of you right here (he held his arms out to the people directly in front who were dancing), PLEASE DON’T LEAVE!”  I jumped up and was on my feet for In Quintessence, Is That Love, Another Nail in My Heart and Goodbye Girl.  The animation for Up the Junction was funny and my sister and I ran down for all the songs from Annie Get Your Gun to the final encore of Black Coffee In Bed.  Tempted was simply amazing, and I had no idea just how great a guitarist Glenn Tilbrook was.  He and Chris Difford sounded amazing live and I appreciated the audience inclusion and participation.  I felt transported back to my teen years watching and hearing them live, because I finally get to add them to my long list of concerts that I meant to see back in the 80’s.  As expected, I’m in the throes of listening to and watching anything and everything Squeeze to continue the concert high from the Harrah’s show.

Yes, I more than quite like Squeeze.  I think I love them.

(Featured image courtesy of Squeeze Official.  Concert images of B-52s & Squeeze taken by Rholnna Jiao.)

Rock T-Shirt of the Week: A New Feature

After seeing Squeeze in concert a couple of weeks ago (review to come), I realized that I have amassed quite a collection of rock t-shirts.  I love to wear them with everything, casual and semi-dressy.  As a weekly feature (until I feature all of them), I will create an outfit post around the shirt of choice for the week, and the story behind the shirt, along with the concert ticket (if I still have it).  I think this will give me good inspiration for outfits and I can carry this on into my trip to London next month.

A Strange Hour In Budapest: Red Edition

I missed the pre-order of the Deluxe Edition of Recoil’s “A Strange Hour In Budapest” on Alan Wilder’s birthday last week, and now they have sold out (it was in a digi-pack, individually hand stamped, numbered and limited to 1000).  I saw all of the hype leading to the release and still didn’t make the cut.  THANKFULLY the Shunt staff will be releasing a more standard edition of the DVD (the Red Edition).  I just ordered that yesterday, along with the 8GB USB Stick.

Below are the details on the DVD and the USB stick, and both are available at the Recoil Store here.  Get yours while you can!

‘A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST’

Main format details :

Blu-ray

contents :

A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST
Running time : 84 minutes

PROMOTIONAL FILMS
Running time : 21 minutes

WANT (Renegade of Noise 808 remix)
PREY (Shotgun mix)
ALLELUJAH (subHuman album version)

Directed by : Dmitry Semenov

LIVE PROJECTIONS
Running time : 16 minutes

Directed by : Steve Fabian, Igor Dvorský and Dmitry Semenov

Download package
(free with store purchase of Blu-ray)
 
contents :
 
1) A Strange Hour In Budapest’ soundtrack sampler (8 mins) – choice of 24bit wav, 16bit Apple Lossless, FLAC or 320 kbps mp3
2) 24 page Blu-ray Art booklet including additional spreads  – PDF format
3) Approx. 75 x high res Recoil live photographs and film stills
4) Project wallpapers for smartphone, iPad and computer screen
 
‘A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST‘
 
Recorded & filmed at : Szikra, Budapest : 04.12.2010
Produced, directed & edited by : Attila Herkó for Umatik
Executive producer : Alan Wilder
Stereo & 5.1 soundtrack mix : Alan Wilder & Paul Kendall
 
Main film : 1920 x 1080p High Definition : 16:9
Audio : DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround : LPCM Stereo 2.0
Extra material : 1080p HD 16:9 : LPCM Stereo 2.0

(Note: This is a zone-free all region disc which will play in any Blu-ray player)

——————

USB contents :

1) Full 84 minute stereo soundtrack – choice of 24bit wav, 16bit Apple Lossless, FLAC or 320 kbps mp3
2) 3 x ‘A Strange Hour 2′ reconstructions – stereo audio – choice of 24bit wav, 16bit Apple Lossless, FLAC or 320 kbps mp3
3) Extended trailer for ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ – approx 5 minutes : 1080p HD mp4
4) 24 page Blu-ray Art booklet including additional spreads – PDF format
5) Approx. 75 x high res Recoil live photographs and film stills
6) Project wallpapers for smartphone, iPad and computer screen

(Images courtesy of Shunt)

Beats Rhymes & Life: Getting Reacquainted With A Tribe Called Quest

Here is a little known fact about me:  I used to rap.  I am not kidding.  I have performed spoken word readings and I have also rapped onstage.  In addition to my obsessions about Depeche Mode and 80’s alternative, I also loved hip-hop druing the 80’s and 90’s.  Being a poet, it was natural that I gravitated towards spoken word, which is what made me gravitate towards rap.  My groups of choice were a part of the Native Tongues collective:  De La Soul, Black Sheep, Queen Latifa, Monie Love, Jungle Brothers and of course, A Tribe Called Quest.  Of the groups just mentioned, I’ve only had the pleasure of seeing De La Soul and Queen Latifa in concert.  My friend Eileen and I followed Queen Latifa and Monie Love, and even called our little crew Ladies First (after Queen Latifa’s hit with Monie Love).  I also was a big fan of TLC and especially Left Eye.  Left Eye and Monie Love had very similar quick paced style of rap, which I emulated in my own style. 

(Side note, here is a list of other rap artists I’ve either met or have seen perform live:  Kurtis Blow, Young MC, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, Kid n Play, Public Enemy, KRS-1, Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, House of Pain, Das EFX & Digital Underground when Tu Pac was still in the group.)

A Tribe Called Quest has remained one of my favorite rap groups.  No matter what’s out on the charts right now, I will always go back and listen to People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and Low End Theory.  I can sit there and groove with my headphones on, or really have fun dancing to those songs at a club.   The hooks are catchy, the rhymes are intelligent and the message is always positive.  When someone would say “Remember back in the day?” I would recite one of my favorite lines from Low End Theory’s “Excursions”: Back in the days when I was a teenager/before I had status/and before I had a pager because it’s just so clever.  To this day when my husband plays any hip-hop in a DJ set, he interjects ATCQ, Black Sheep and De La Soul into his set lists, which have always been well received by party goers.

I was watching TV late one night and saw a documentary by actor Michael Rapaport called Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest.  I’ve always known how much of an influence, audience and fan base that ATCQ have had over the years, because I have felt that influence on myself.  I really just listened to the music, but I guess I never delved deeper into the group themselves.  Q-Tip is always visible and even when he did solo projects, I didn’t realize that ATCQ broke up due to the heated turmoil within the group.  I feel I know so much about Depeche Mode because I have more intimate knowledge about the group.  I didn’t know much about ATCQ until the night I watched the documentary.  I had no idea that Pfife was diabetic, eventually going on dialysis, only to receive a kidney from his wife, who happened to be a match.  It was like I was seeing the group for the first time, yet the music was so familiar.  I immediately started listening to my favorite songs, with a better understanding of who they were. 

Michael Rapaport did a great job in documenting who ATCQ were musically, and personally.  All of the happiness and turbulence were well intertwined with personal accounts of the group, their close friends and people they have influenced.  During a show in San Francisco in 2008, I was wrapped up in seeing how much De La Soul cared and wanted Tribe to work out their differences because the message that they have put out over the years should reflect harmony and positivity, although the actuality was great discord and emotional chaos.  No matter what they said or did, there existed a chasm that only time could really heal.  After Pfife’s surgery, they reunited for a few shows in 2010 and 2011 stronger and more positive.

The documentary ended with a note that they have not put out an album since The Love Movement, and also mentioned that they still have one more contracted album left to release with Jive records.  ATCQ have always been ground breaking, innovative, thoughtful, thought-provoking, smart and soulful.  The vibe and groove always made their songs feel almost acoustic in atmosphere, rather than metallic and manufactured.  I would love to see something new from ATCQ because I think it’s time that the kids out there see how true masters of hip-hop do it, and do it well.

(Another side note:  I have SiriusXM and listen to 1st Wave religiously because it’s all alternative from the 80’s.  Backspin on SiriusXM is the equivalent in the genre of old school rap and hip-hop.  I’m totally addicted!)

(All images courtesy of the official A Tribe Called Quest website)

House of Fun: Madness in Concert

Last Tuesday I took my sister to see Madness in concert as a belated birthday present, which further continued our musical trip through the 80’s.  Madness had come to San Diego recently, but I just never had the opportunity to see them.  When this concert came up, the timing was perfect again for my sister’s birthday and as a show to tide me over until the Rewind Festival in August later this year (although, I may have to see Squeeze with the B52’s in June to really get me through the summer).

I spent the week listening to Madness songs, just to get myself familiar with their music again.  Because all of my Madness albums are on vinyl, I had to download quite a bit on iTunes (I own the Yesterday’s Men 12″ single, Keep Moving and Complete Madness).  I’m really only familiar with their hits, and there are quite a few that they put out in just about one decade.

The show opened with “One Step Beyond” (no opening act) and the whole concert was bouncing off the walls the entire time.  We were certainly glad that the venue was outdoors because we definitely got a good workout from all of the dancing!  Although I was familiar with what I thought was a good amount of songs for the concert, I quickly realized that what I knew only scratched the surface (there were around seven that I was not familiar with and they only played around 16 songs).  I still was able to hear songs I love like “The Sun & The Rain”, “Our House”, “It Must Be Love”, “Baggy Trousers” and “House of Fun”.  They sounded amazing and their banter was so much fun.  Chrissy Boy even came out and did a cover of The Gap Band’s “Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)”.  Their encore set was “Night Boat to Cairo” and “Madness”, and the show ended with a of a mob of people jumping onstage and dancing.  Though I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to hear “Wings of a Dove” and “Keep Moving”, my sister and I had so much fun and would love to see them again.  I failed to fully charge my Flip Cam prior to the concert, but I was able to capture “My Girl” before the battery ran out.  Enjoy!

(Photos 2 & 3 by Rholnna Jiao)

Today is Record Store Day 2012

It’s rare these days that I post on a Saturday, but it’s an important day for music enthusiasts that goes along with this upcoming week’s musical themed blog posts.  Today is Record Store Day.  I discovered this event by accident last year when I ordered Depeche Mode’s Remixes: 81-11  (posts seen here and here).  Because I purchased the CD at an independent record store here in San Diego called Lou’s Records, I received a very rare promotional Record Store Day, four song, limited edition “Personal Jesus” 12″ single (my copy pictured below).

Record Store Day is a day that celebrates the indie record store and the culture surrounding them.  When I was a teen, I remember the thrill of getting that rare British or European import from my favorite local record store called Blue Meannie Records.  They have since gone out of business, but I would rather still shop at stores like Ameoba Music in Los Angeles,  Lou’s Records or M-Theory here in San Diego because of the type of music available at these stores, which includes rare, used and new vinyl records.  To this day, I miss Tower Records and I’m a backer of the documentary All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records, produced by Colin Hanks (post here).   I’m also saddened by the recent closure of The Ideal Copy, an independent online store where I purchased my favorite rare, out-of-print CD’s or vinyl by groups like Aztec Camera, Blancmange, Red Rockers, Roman Holiday and Vitamin Z.

I didn’t see anything in this year’s list that I would go out of my way for, like that Depeche Mode treasure from last year.  But here is a link to the full list of releases on PDF that you can download, and maybe you can find a nugget of your own by one of your favorite artists.  Whatever your flavor, please continue to support independent record stores to celebrate not only the art of music, but the art of collecting and appreciating music.  Happy Record Store Day!

(Top image courtesy of the Record Store Day official website)

Note:  A sad “So long” to Mr. Dick Clark, who was an icon. I loved American Bandstand growing up and I think he was the quintessential TV show host.  He will always be “The Eternal Teenager”.

Random iPhone Pictures: Listen to This

February 29 – something you’re listening to #joydivision

As stated in a previous post regarding the “Photo a Day” meme from Fat Mum Slim (March’s photo theme list seen here), I’m more inclined to post musically themed pictures, and here are a few recent ones from March.  I’ve also recently gotten into hash-tagging my pictures (all of these were marked with a hash-tag of #marchphotoaday).  It’s interesting to see just how many people are trending the groups I’m listening to, especially Joy Division. 

March 1 – up #depechemode #thompsontwins

March 5 – a smile #depechemode #seeyou

March 7 – something you wore #duranduran

Coming Soon: A Strange Hour in Budapest

This was posted a couple of weeks ago on Alan Wilder’s blog:  A concert film will be released of Recoil’s “A Strange Hour in Budapest”, which was a show that came at the end of 2010 (the leg that I attended here in San Diego).   Per the blog:  “The proposed package will feature the full concert film, running at approximately 84 minutes in HD resolution and with 5.1 & stereo audio options. Also included will be some extra promo films and live projections. It has been decided to limit the format to Blu-ray only for a couple of reasons – the main being that the film works infinitely better at its highest resolution and we don’t want to compromise this aspect.”

There has been some discussion in the blog comments of choice to release it to Blu-ray, but I think it’s an excellent idea because the show was both musically and visually stunning and the best format to capture it would be Blu-ray.  Either way, I’m very excited to finally have a copy of a show from the “Selected” tour.  I’ll post when it’s available as soon as I find out!

(Photos taken by me during the “Selected” tour in San Diego, October 2010)

These Days: Joy Division’s Recent Fashion Appeal

I wear my Joy Division clothing quite often.  I have been sporting them at most of the concerts where the band is an artist from the 80’s, so I’m not surprised when people compliment me or ask where I bought what I’m wearing.  In the last two or three years, there has been a marked increase in compliments outside of a musical venue such as a concert or record store.  Whether it be at a restaurant or retail clothing store, my shirts have drawn some attention.

In my most recent quest to add more vintage rock t-shirts to my collection, I searched on eBay for bands like Roxy Music, The Fixx and of course Joy Division.  I noticed that there has been an abundance of the shirts with the “Unknown Pleasures” album cover.  It became clear to me why the shirts were so popular.  Sellers were using photos of Kristen Stewart wearing said shirt (in addition to a “Love Will Tear Us Apart” one), with captions like, “As see on Bella”.  Although I am not a fan myself, I never want to begrudge anyone of their love for the Twilight movie saga.  I also think it’s awesome that Kristen Stewart has fanstastic taste in music (she also wears shirts of groups like Minor Threat and The Clash).  But it does make me wonder if others following in her fashionable footsteps truly understands the depth of the music behind the shirt, and what actually happened to Joy Division, their lead singer, and the band they eventually became.

Another search produced an even more interesting discovery, which really brought to light that not everyone knows or understands the history behind Joy Division.  Disney produced a shirt of their most famous mouse in the style of Peter Saville’s graphic called the “Waves Mickey Mouse Tee”.  The description even read “Inspired by the iconic sleeve of Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album, this Waves Mickey Mouse Tee incorporates Mickey’s image within the graphic of the pulse of a star. That’s appropriate given few stars have made  bigger waves than Mickey!”  In an online article on My Fox Philly (seen here), the shirt was removed from the Disney online store on January 25, 2012, possibly after the discovery of what happened to lead singer Ian Curtis (who committed suicide in May 1980, right before their first US tour) or that their song lyrics are far from anything that would be played at the “happiest place on earth” (When routine bites hard/and ambitions are low/when resentment rides high/but emotions won’t grow). 

Perhaps I’m a purist when it comes to how and why I wear vintage rock t-shirts or listen to the music that I do. Knowing that there are people out there who are wearing Joy Division shirts without understanding the history makes me want to sit them all down and beg them to listen to songs like “Transmission”, “Atmosphere”, “Digital” or “Disorder”.  I would have them watch the Joy Division biopic “Control” by Anton Corbjin, read the memoirs of Ian’s widow, Deborah Curtis, called “Touching From a Distance”, or even just make them aware that Joy Division was the predecessor to the well-known group New Order, who are considered by many a musical icon of the 80’s and one of the forefathers of electronica (along with Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk).  But if Kristen Stewart drives a new and broader audience to discover the musical genius that was Ian Curtis and perhaps other music in this genre and time period, then maybe this resurgence of Joy Division’s popularity was not all for naught.

The most amazing homage to Joy Division I found was on The Illustrated Nail by Sophie Harris-Greensdale.  I definitely know where I’ll be making a stop to get a mani-pedi when I’m London this summer.

(Photos courtesy of Pop Sugar, My Fox Philly and The Illustrated Nail.  “These Days” is a song by Joy Division.)

miXtape: A Musical Trip Back to the 80's

As a Christmas present for my sister last month, I found a great deal through Groupon for tickets to a show called miXtape.  We both were teens in the 80’s, so we’ve talked about and attempted to go to miXtape before, but just could never quite get it together.  My sister had vacation time between Christmas and New Year’s, so we picked a day and finally made plans.

When I posted about it on Facebook, a friend stated that she went with a large group who dressed up in 80’s gear and she wished she joined in their fun that night.  I also read that there is a “Ladies Night” and “80’s Night”, so when I suggested it to my sister, it really didn’t take much at all to convince her that we would partake in the festivities.  Although we realized later that we could get a free beverage if we dressed up as a larger group, we were stunned to be the only ones in full 80’s gear at the show (more about that in a post later this week)!

The premise of the show is around a “mixtape”.  I remember making many of these as a teen, for many reasons, and even to give to friends.  A mixtape is just a compilation of music recorded on a cassette tape, like a play list on iTunes.  What the musical presents is that a mixtape or play list can be a diary of point in time, reminding ourselves of what we did and where we were at that time in our lives.  The medleys consisted of not just songs of the 80’s, but also television show themes and movie quotes (which included a bit on one of my favorite John Hughes movies, “The Breakfast Club”).  They walked through different genres of music from top 40, to rock, to metal, country and my favorite, new wave.  They had a bit on the kids who were “mods” like myself (consider it “goth-light”, if you will) as well as the trends of the times.  It wasn’t all about happy times, but poignant ones like the Challenger crash and the beginning of the  AIDS concerns.

What we enjoyed the most was that we could sing to every song to a fantastic live band, and that they really did span all of the 80’s.  The parts we thoroughly enjoyed of course the parts that included new wave, which basically was all of the music you can find on my favorite XM Sirius station, First Wave.  They even had a snippet of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” because one of the characters fell in love with a guy who stood her up at one of their concerts and left her a mixtape.  Within the stroll through new wave memories, they had an entire medley of music by Duran Duran who they touted as “the best looking boys in rock” (so true at the time, and still are in my book).  Although the new wave bits brought back the most memories, a truly fun part of the show didn’t have to do with any of that.  Our seats were pretty much dead center of the small theatre, so we were hard to ignore in our full 80’s gear.  My sister was serenaded by all the males of the musical during one of the slow songs, which really pulled us into the show even more than we already were.

If you are at all a fan of 80’s music, television shows, movies and enjoy clever musicals, miXtape is a must see.  miXtape runs until February 26, 2012 (it was extended for the last two years).  If you are in the San Diego area, grab tickets, take a bunch of friends, and most of all, sing out loud and dress the part!