mysterbey

I think Joy Division's 'Novelty' might be my favourite song ever.

Music that has been floating my boat throughout April (in alphabetical order of artist):

1. Basement Jaxx : "Make Me Sweat (Original Mix) (feat. Roxanne Shante)"
   
2. Battles : "Atlas (DJ Koze remix)"
   
3. Gui Boratto : "Beautiful Life"
   
4. Bill Callahan : "Sycamore"
   
5. CocoRosie : "Promise"
   
6. Colleen : "Les Ondes Silencieuses"
   
7. Vladislav Delay : "I Saw a Polysexual"
   
8. Dinosaur Jr. : "We're Not Alone" and "Almost Ready"
   
9. Christian Fennesz & Ryuchi Sakamoto : "Haru"
10. The Field : "Over the Ice"
    
11. Gudrun Gut feat. Uta Heller & Matt Elliot : "Rock Bottom Riser"
    
12. Kirean Hebden and Steve Reid : "Left Handed, Left Minded"
    
13. Husky Rescue : "Nightless Night"
    
14. Islaja : "Pysähtyneet Planeetat"
    
15. Calvin Johnson : "Love Travels Faster" and "Can We Kiss"
    
16. Love of Diagrams : "Pace or the Patience"
    
17. New Buffalo : "Cheer Me Up Thank You" and "Emotional Champ"
    
18. Oui, Mouton : "Hindsight"
    
19. Pole : "Achterbahn"
    
20. Shackleton : "In the Next World"
    
21. Skeletons & the Kings : "Hay W'happns?"
    
22. SoKo : "I'll Kill Her"
    
23. St. Vincent : "Now. Now."
    
24. Tarwater : "Witch Park"
    
25. J. Tillman : "Ribbons of Glass"
    
26. Timbaland : "Come Around (feat. MIA)"

Plus some older tracks I discovered this month:

1. Lady Sovereign : "Those Were the Days"
2. Muscles : "Ice Cream" and "Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon and Lime"
3. Shackleton : "Blood on my Hands" and "Hamas Rule" and "Majestic Visions"
   

Stereogum reports that there is a video for Björk's "Earth Intruders" floating around, but it seems to have been removed from YouTube. Nonetheless, you can watch her performance on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. The audio is a bit muddy, which doesn't help with a song that's messy anyway. Also available on YouTube, an interview with Björk on her Volta album - part 1 and part 2. And a spontaneous cover of 2 Unlimited's "No Limit".

Björk's new single "Earth Intruders" is out, yet has so far only been released online. It's floating around if you know where to look. It's produced by Timbaland and has mbira by Konono No. 1. I've listened to it once and have to admit that I'm underwhelmed. I was hoping it would have a much 'rawer' sound owing to the Konono involvement, yet the mbira is swamped by Timbaland's beats and swirls (which in themselves aren't really his most innovative work). I'm hoping the rest of the upcoming Volta album is more inspiring, otherwise I maintain that Vespertine has been her pinnacle.

In a couple of days we'll be a quarter of the way through 2007. Here are the contents of my iTunes 'Best of 2007' Smart Playlist  - songs released in 2007 with a rating of 4 stars or greater.

1. Air (feat. Jarvis Cocker) : One Hell of a Party
2. Badgerlore : Mountain Wine
3. Bloc Party : The Prayer
4. Blonde Redhead : 23
   
5. CocoRosie : Rainbowarriors
6. Courtney Tidwell : Society
7. Deerhoof : Matchbook Seeks Maniac
8. Dinosaur Jr. : Been There All the Time
9. Fanfarlo : You Are One of the Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us
10. Gwen Stefani : The Sweet Escape
11. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid : Our Time
12. MIA : Bird Flu
13. Max Richter : Bach Shadow
14. Mira Calix : Umbra/Penumbra
15. Ola Podrida : Cindy
16. Panda Bear : Take Pills
17. Panda Bear : Search for Delicious
    
18. Tall Firs : The Woods
19. Wilderness Pangs : The Elephant Ghost Saga Parts 1 & 2

Via corvus;

Go to Wikipedia, find the year you were born in music. Find the albums of that year. Pick ten (or however many) that you would listen to today. Post with links.

1. Yoko Ono : Approximately Infinite Universe
2. Lou Reed : Berlin
3. Faust : Faust IV
4. Roxy Music : For Your Pleasure
5. Can : Future Days
6. Neu! : Neu! 2
7. John Cale : Paris 1919
8. Black Sabbath : Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
9. John Martyn : Solid Air
10. Sun Ra : Space is the Place

nb. The easiest way to do this is to go to 'Category 19xx albums'; ie. 1973 Albums