Posts Tagged ‘ peanut’s playground ’

Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics – 5. Girls Against Boys – House Of GVSB

September 23, 2010

I really really tried very hard to get excited. Not in a sexual way of course (because everyone knows that ain’t a problem *wagga wagga*), but in a musical way. But still no luck in that department. I do have some new stuff in my iTunes worth blabbing about, but well, you know, it ain’t working out for me.

So it’s time for episode number 5 in my series of old crap in new jackets, also known as Peanut’s Forgotten Classics!

Girls Against Boys – House Of GVSB (1996)

‘Drone rock’. What the fuck is ‘drone rock’?? Apparently it’s the music Girls Against Boys used to make. Doesn’t mean much to me though, ‘drone rock’. I’d rather refer to them as bass-driven kick ass post-punk rock fuckers. Somehow that makes much more sense to me than ‘drone rock’ does.

House Of GVSB, the band’s 4th album, was released in 1996 and was their last on the indepent Touch & Go label before moving on to Geffen. The album holds everything that made this band unique. Double bass, ferocious rhythms, freaky synths, fuzzy guitars and completely inexcplicable lyrics. And with completely inexplicable, I mean COMPLETELY!

“When you got
nothing in the lemon
spiders on your ceiling
nothing satisfies

X-Head is X-Vibe
In dust we trust

When your ass
is in the fire
is it coming at ya live?
from all sides
can you decide?

X-Head is X-Vibe
In dust we trust
Super-fire”

Oh really Scott McCloud? Is that so? “X-Head is X-Vibe, In Dust We Trust”? Uhhuh, suuuuure….

Anyway I’ve wasted enough of ol’ Tsuru’s prepaid bytes already. Go and listen to an amazing album, that’s been in my all-time top 10 list for 14 years now, and see what you’ve missed out on way back in 1996.

DOWNLOAD HOUSE OF GVSB HERE

1. Super-Fire

2. Click Click

3. Crash 17 (X-Rated Car)

4. Disco Six Six Six

5. Life In Pink

6. TheKindaMzkYouLike

7. Vera Cruz

8. AnotherDroneInMyHead

9. Cash Machine

10. Wilmington

11. Zodiac Love Team

Don’t forget to check out my other articles, in case you’ve missed them (which would be an absolute shame, because they’re great and shit).

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics – 4. Urge Overkill – Exit The Dragon

September 17, 2010

By Martin

Photography by ibreathemusicc…

Have you noticed? There isn’t much new music that I can be bothered with at the moment. I listen to a lot of new stuff, and there is enough new stuff being released, but somehow nothing really grabs me. Not sure why that is.

The flipside of my current disinterest in modern music is that I am spamming the blogosphere with old shit, in this case installment number 4 in my Forgotten Classics series:

Urge Overkill – Exit The Dragon (1995)

Apparently Urge Overkill are reuniting to record their first new album in over 15 years. And that’s good news folks. For those of you who think they don’t know Urge Overkill, chances are, you probably do already. Just check out this here video first before reading on.

UO’s 1995 album Exit The Dragon is easily their best one and also their last to date. It’s not that their other albums aren’t good, because they are. But Dragon’s overall laidback feel while the subject matters are overly dark make for a classic album. And there aren’t many of those around are there?!

I can remember that this album was criminally overlooked back in 1995. Now UO wasn’t much (if any) of a name over here in Europe, but even after the whole Pulp Fiction thing there wasn’t a single review to be found over here, let alone a positive one. At the time we didn’t have a world wide web worth crap, so no allmusic.com or anything to help out. I checked out the AMG-review some years later and it got 3 stars or something, nothing special. I checked it out again today and it actually has 4,5 stars now. Just goes to show that it’s not just booze that improves with age…

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD EXIT THE DRAGON HERE

1. Jaywalkin’

2. The Break

3. Need Some Air

4. Somebody Else’s Body

5. Honesty Files

6. This Is No Place

7. The Mistake

8. Take Me

9. View Of The Rain

10. Last Night / Tomorrow

11. Tin Foil

12. Monopoly

13. And You’ll Say

14. Digital Black Epilogue

Don’t forget to check out my other articles, in case you’ve missed them (which would be an absolute shame, because they’re great and shit).

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics – 3. Faith No More – King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime

September 16, 2010

By Martin

Photography by krmenxa…

Time for an album of which I know every single word by heart. Well, except for that gibberish in Caralho Voador perhaps. This is an album that dragged me through the dark times after high school, and number 3 in my series Forgotten Classics!

Faith No More – King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime (1995)

On King For A Day… Faith No More perfected their patented “Fuck you, you suck and we are fantastic”-attitude. And with ‘perfected’ I mean PERFECTED.

There isn’t a bad song among the 14, and even better, every single song has its own unique identity. Hard rocking (Get Out, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, Ugly In The Morning), soultripping (Evidence), jazzynova (Star A.D., Cuckoo for Caca), poppy (Ricochet, King For A Day), pastich cliché (Take This Bottle, Just A Man), it’s all here.

And furthermore, I’m betting you have never heard any band ever take the piss more than FNM on this album! Some sample lyrics:

I deserve a reward
’cause I’m the best fuck that you ever had
and if I tighten up my hole -
you may never see the light again

- The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies

Sky is clear tonight
Sky is clear tomorrow
A star is out
I reach for one to sparkle in my hand
A star is out
I will not touch you, I am just a man

- Just A Man

Well whatever. You had to be there. Or something. Just listen, you’ll know what I mean. Also notice the ‘loud-soft-loud-soft-loud’ sequence the songs have. Cool.

DOWNLOAD KING FOR A DAY, FOOL FOR A LIFETIME HERE

1. Get Out

2. Ricochet

3. Evidence

4. The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies

5. Star A.D

6. Cuckoo for Caca

7. Caralho Voador

8. Ugly In The Morning

9. Digging The Grave

10. Take This Bottle

11. King For A Day

12. What A Day

13. The Last To Know

14. Just A Man

Don’t forget to check out my other articles, in case you’ve missed them (which would be an absolute shame, because they’re great and shit).

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Where Peanut Gets To Play Robinson Crusoë With 5,000 Other People

September 8, 2010

By Martin

Photography by exoticpeach…

“Peanut where have you been these past days?” How nice of you to ask! As a matter of fact I visited a music festival on a tiny as fuq island of the Dutch shores. The festival is called Into The Great Wide Open and there’s a photo impression pulled straight off twitter right here and another one over here.

The atmosphere was great, the company was nice, the weather was fantastic and the music was even better!

IT WAS FREAKIN’ AWESOME!

I saw a shitload of great artists and I would like to talk about them a bit now. Thank you in advance for your time and attention :))

Friday

Our day started off with Wolf Parade. How much better could a festival start. I’ve been wanting to see these guys live for quite some years now, but somehow kept missing out on them. Wolf Parade did more than a little okay, on what must’ve been a weird occasion for them. Daylight and scores of children on the festival grounds… WP are still like two bands rolled into one. But as long as both bands are as good as this, there are no objections on my part. Want to know what it was like? Then check out the full 58 minutes of Wolf Parade yumminess over at 3voor12 TV!

Next up was the one man band from Sweden The Tallest Man On Earth. I’m not really into this singer-songwriter accoustic folky stuff. But judging by the reviews online it supposedly was quite a good performance. Check it out in full right here and judge for yourself. Or don’t. Whatever.

Closing act on Friday were Caribou. And Caribou I like. I like a lot actually. Their recent album Swim is quite excellent and they didn’t disappoint live either. Want to know how good this set was? Then check it out over —> there!

Saturday

Well Saturday was just crazy! After the relatively easy start on Friday, things were really getting up to speed with no less than 25 acts doing their stuff on stages all over the island. We did a bit of cherry picking…

After sleeping in Saturday started off with an energetic performance by Pete and the Pirates. Who? Pete and the Pirates!!! Think We Are Scientists, Franz Ferdinand, the Rifles, that sort of music. Didn’t know them before the concert but since I’ve checked out their 2008 album Little Death, and it’s really kinda very good. A few samples of their goodiness:

Pete and the Pirates – Come On Feet

Pete and the Pirates – She Doesn’t Belong To Me

Up next were the young Belgians of Balthazar who did an pretty decent set of songs. Sad thing about is that I couldn’t care less about them. Too unoriginal for my taste (Arctic Monkeys, dEUS etc.). Check out their concert here if you want to anyway.

Scram C Baby are a guitar rock band from The Netherlands, and a quite good one too I might add. We don’t have that many good bands over here, but this is definitely one of them. They played on a small stage in the middle of the forest, which was a nice change of scenery from the dark shitholes where they usually perform. An accoustic performance on the beach can be found over here.

I’m guessing most of you people won’t care much for Dutch rapping over jazz/funk sounds. Normally I wouldn’t either, but the performance Typhoon and New Cool Collective gave was fan-tas-tic nonetheless! Sunshine and massive amounts of entertainment; an excellent combination. Even though you won’t care, here’s the link to the entire performance anyway.

Next another Dutch act, and another good one! Moss are the Low Lands’ answer to Midlake, and they played a decent set. Nothing more, nothing less. Check it out over here.

We saw Belgian fossil Arno perform late at night and he SUCKED BALLS! Terrible, just terrible! It sounded like Tom Waits being raped by a mule. No linkage here.

And talking about sucking balls; Gonjasufi sucked them harder than anyone I have ever seen! It took him no more than 10 minutes to clear out the entire room. Gone. Everyone. Out the door. First class rubbish. Disappointing since I really like his album.

Luckily the weekend’s headliner was The Whitest Boy Alive, the Norwegian/German disco-rock nerds who I happen to really dig a lot! Their performance started off a bit shaky and Erlend’s talking took a bit of the pace out in the beginning, but once the flow got into them and the audience they were unstoppable. They even did a cover of Show Me Love by Robin S. which made the crowd go apeshit. Good stuff indeed! Some songs below to remind you again how good they are.

The Whitest Boy Alive – Time Bomb

The Whitest Boy Alive – High On The Heels

Sunday

Sunday was all about sobering up and cleaning our little tent house. Nothing to report here. Oh wait, there is. We missed Modest Mouse because we had to catch our boat. And supposedly they were fuqqin amazing! Well, can’t have it all right. Check out their set here if you want.

See you next year Vlieland!

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics – 2. Judgment Night OST

August 31, 2010

By Martin

Photography by vampire-zombie…

I’m on a roll here on TSURURADIO! Or as Ol’ Tsuru would say: “Peanut’s on fyarrrr!”

All right. Now that we’ve established that I’ve actually had somewhat of a series of posts for the first time in quite a while, what’s next? I’ll tell you what’s next! The second installment in Peanut’s Playground: Forgotten Classics that is!

And in typical fashion it’s a truly uninspired choice as well. People, please direct your attention to:

Judgment Night OST (1993)

Whaaaaat? A soundtrack? From 17 years ago? Are you nuts!? And it’s filled with music that’s never been featured on TSURURADIO before?? Peanut seriously. What. Were. You. Thinking…

And I haven’t even mentioned that the movie this soundtrack belongs to sucks balls. And I mean big-time Chuck Norris sized balls here! I actually saw it in the cinema with some girl, and all that remains from that night is a memory of her performing CPR on me during the halftime break. Man, that movie sucked!

So imagine my surprise when the soundtrack that went with it was actually quite good. To say the least. Besides the fact that this album was the first truly accomplished collection of (rock+hip/hop) crossover songs, it was also a excellent album. Even though each and every song is written and performed by different artists, as a whole they work really well together.

Most, if not every song is a classic in the genre (which is all but dead at the moment) but a few tracks stand out. My personal faves are Helmet and House of Pain’s Just Another Victim and Disorder by Slayer and Ice-T. The former because I think it’s the best example of classic crossover ever made. Ultra dry (Terry Date-style) guitar riffing and a hiphop act who were in their prime (Jump Around anyone?). And the latter because hey, it’s fuqqin SLAYER AND ICE-T!! Nuff said. No really. That’s nuff said!

I’ve said this too many times already these past weeks, but this album might not be your cup of tea either. Well BOO HAA to you! Try it anyway. You won’t regret it. Trust me on this one. Hell, trust me on every album I ramble about! Now go and listen. Shoo!

DOWNLOAD JUDGMENT NIGHT OST HERE

1. Helmet and House of Pain – Just Another Victim

2. Teenage Fanclub and De La Soul – Fallin’

3. Living Colour and Run DMC – Me, Myself & My Microphone

4. Biohazard and Onyx – Judgment Night

5. Slayer and Ice-T – Disorder

6.Faith No More and Boo Yaa Tribe – Another Body Murdered

7. Sonic Youth and Cypress Hill – I Love You Mary Jane

8. Mudhoney and Sir Mix-A-Lot – Freak Momma

9. Dinosaur Jr. and Del The Funky Homosapien – Missing Link

10. Therapy? and Fatal – Come And Die

11. Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill – Real Thing

Don’t forget to check out my other articles, in case you’ve missed them (which would be an absolute shame, because they’re great and all that…)!

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Balls To The Wall With Below The Belt by Danko Jones

August 29, 2010

By Martin

Photography by Froskelu…

Continuing my series of albums normally avoided by regular visitors of TSURURADIO with today’s selection:

Below The Belt by Danko Jones

I’m not quite sure if this is what ol’ Tsuru had in mind when he said: “Sure, come aboard. Your musical taste differs enough from mine to make this interesting!”

Just look at the site now. I’m ruining his indie cred one article at a time. Thanks for the opportunity mate. Much appreciated!

Anyway, Danko Jones. Mutthafuqqin Danko Jones. Corruptor of women. Bald headed devil in black. God I love this guy!

I remember the first time that I saw the dude perform live, at Rock Werchter in Belgium way back in 2003. I’d seen ‘over the top’ before, but this…this was ‘OVER THE TOP’! The man was posing, riffing, seducing, salivating, and belting out lyrics like this:

“Love it when It goes like boom!
And like that and like that and like that
Right behind ya…whoo”

and

“Beautiful girl, have your time
Just relax and wait a while
Ooh I caught you looking let’s start the cooking
You know what I’m saying?”

By now you must be thinking that I’m taking the piss here? Well I’m not.

Danko Jones fuqqin rocks. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. Balls to the wall rock and roll, and I like it. I like it a lot actually, and you would probably too if you drop the indie cred bullcrap for a moment.

DOWNLOAD BELOW THE BELT HERE

1. I Think Bad Thoughts

2. Active Volcanoes

3. Tonight Is Fine

4. Magic Snake

5. Had Enough

6. (I Can’t Handle) Moderation

7. Full Of Regret

8. The Sore Loser

9. Like Dynamite

10. Apology Accepted

11. I Wanna Break Up With You

Don’t forget to show Danko some mothafuqqin love bitchas: Official | Myspace

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: And Now For Something Completely Different And Introducing The Boxer by Kele

August 27, 2010

By Martin

Photography by lestlouis…

Just like my previous article on Big Boi‘s new one, this album by Kele might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

This is because Kele is the singer/guitarist for indie-rockers-on-hiatus Bloc Party, and they are a fuqqin amazing group! I might love them a bit more than the rest of the world does, placing their 2008 album Intimacy at the top of my year end list, but they are very good. Trust me on this one.

Unfamiliar with Bloc Party? Check this out:

Bloc Party – Like Eating Glass (2005)

Anyway, getting back on track with today’s offering:

The Boxer by Kele

I take it you’ve listened to the Bloc Party song or already knew them. Well Kele’s album The Boxer…it’s NOTHING like Bloc Party has ever made!

Guitars? Not present. Angry punching beats? Nope. Breathtaking speeds? Nada. Hell, it ain’t even rock!

No, Kele has chosen the path of twisted electronics on his solo debut. And with good effect I might add. It isn’t the best electronic music I’ve ever heard, but he’s done well enough. Besides the trippy beats and exotic instrumentation, Kele’s finest feature is still his voice. Powerful and distinctive. Combined with his songwriting talent makes that The Boxer is one of this year’s better albums so far.

It’s also an album that benifits from repeated listens, as all great pieces of work need. I suggest you try it. And then try it again a couple of times. Then decide. Love to hear what you think.

DOWNLOAD THE BOXER HERE

1. Walk Tall

2. On The Lam

3. Tenderoni

4. The Other Side

5. Everything You Wanted

6. New Rules

7. Unholy Thoughts

8. Rise

9. All The Things I Could Never Say

10. Yesterday’s Gone

Don’t forget to show Kele some love: Official | Myspace

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Boring Days, Entertainment and Big Boy’s Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty

August 25, 2010

By Martin

Photography by hakanphotography…

I’m not sure what your days look like, but mine are pretty fuqqin boring from time to time. It’s not so much the weekends or my evenings, but during the day time seems to crawl by like a snail on high heels. Or as we say in the Nether regions: “Zoals dikke stront door een vergiet!”

Use Google Translate if your curious.

To help the days along a bit I like my music to be ‘entertaining’, and no album released in 2010 has proven to be as entertaining as today’s highlight:

Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty by Big Boi

Antwan André Patton a.k.a. Big Boi is best known for his work as one half of hiphop legends Outkast and as such is well know enough already. Therefore I won’t be wasting any more precious bytes on details.

I can imagine that a large portion of TSURURADIO’s readers aren’t fans of Outkast or Big Boi. Your loss. I’m serious. This might sound strange to you, but there do happen to be artists outside of the indie realm (whatever the hell that may be these days) who are actually worth your attention. Big Boi is one of them.

A foul mouthed but smooth, clever rhyming s.o.b. with a knack for choosing exactly the right guest vocalists, and most of all: he’s Entertaining (yes, with a capital E) and isn’t that something we can all use once in a while?

DOWNLOAD SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT THE SON OF CHICO DUSTY HERE

1. Feel Me (Intro)

2. Daddy Fat Sax

3. Turns Me On Ft. Sleepy Brown And Joi

4. Follow Us Ft. Vonnegutt

5. Shutterbug Ft. Cutty

6. General Patton

7. Tangerine Ft. T.I. And Khujo Goodie

8. You Ain’t No DJ Ft. Yelawolf

9. Hustle Blood Ft. Jamie Foxx

10. Be Still Ft. Janelle Monae

11. Fo Yo Sorrows Ft. George Clinton, Too Short And Sam Chris

12. Night Night Ft. B.o.B. And Joi

13. Shine Blockas Ft. Gucci Mane

14. The Train Pt. 2 (Sir Lucious Left Foot Saves The Day) Ft. Sam Chris

15. Back Up Plan

Show Big Boi some love: Official | Myspace

Tudels,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: MTV-induced inspiration leading to Videos Galore!

July 24, 2010

By Martin

Getting inspired by MTV is a rare occurrence. Since it happened to me yesterday I decided to act on it. And voila! Music videos dumped together in a post. Some stuff you might know already. Some stuff you might not have heard of yet. Enjoy!

The Black Keys – Tighten Up (from Brothers, 2010)

Musically reliable as always, with a great video to boot! Excellent!

Danko Jones – Full of Regret (from Below The Belt, 2010)

Danko acting the action hero, Frodo being a motherfucker, guitars and…Selma Blair. Flawless!

Audio Bullys – Only Man (from Higher Than the Eiffel, 2010)

Great clip from one of the UK’s premier electronic acts.

The Temper Trap – Love Lost (from Conditions, 2009)

Brilliant song from a brilliant album. I love this clip!

Ginger Ninja – Sunshine (from Wicked Map, 2010)

Sunny pop from Denmark. Nothing wrong with this song, and their debut album also gets better with repeated listens.

Local Natives – Airplanes (from Gorilla Manor, 2009)

Recently discovered indie rockers, recommended to me by Marikeeeee. Thanks again!

Cheers,
Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Good things ahead and a (London) Suede mixtape to go with it!

July 14, 2010

By Martin

In my part of the world The London Suede are simply called Suede. They have been since 1993 and that’s still the case in 2010. Which happens to be a good thing, since that meant that the Suede who will be coming over to Amsterdam in December are the same band I learned to love during the mid 90′s.

Dropping onto the scene like a bomb in 1993 with their self-titled instant classic debut and their fantastic single The Drowners a year before, this is the band that started the whole Britpop craze that ravaged the musical landscape during the 90′s. Britpop gave birth to some particularly fine bands (Blur, Supergrass, Stone Roses etc.), but to this day Suede still seems to be the best example of the genre.

After their musical highlights (Suede and Dog Man Star) the band reached their commercial peak with Coming Up in 1997. The band’s 1999′ release Head Music was further proof of their musical decline. Something that continued with their last album A New Morning from 2002. Both albums feature some great songs, but overall they are no match for their ealier productions.

My personal favorite is a compilation double album released in 1997 called Sci_fi Lullabies. All the songs on the album are B-sides and cuts that didn’t make an album. But most of these tracks, particularly on disc 1, are just as good (or even better) than the A-sides.

I’ve compiled a mix of songs from all the band’s albums for you. It’s a good place to start if you’re still unfamiliar with one of the best ánd most essential bands of the 90′s.

Suede Mixtape (Full Zip)

01. My Insatiable One from Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)

02. Animal Lover from Suede (1993)

03. She’s In Fashion from Head Music (1999)

04. Have You Ever Been This Low from Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)

05. Together from Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)

06. Positivity from A New Morning (2002)

07. Lost in TV from A New Morning (2002)

08. The Drowners from Suede (1993)

09. To The Birds from Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)

10. Everything Will Flow from Head Music (1999)

11. We Are the Pigs from Dog Man Star (1994)

12. Trash from Coming Up (1997)

13. The Chemistry Between Us from Coming Up (1997)

14. The Hollywood Life from Dog Man Star (1994)

Also check out the band’s official website to see if they’re in your neighbourhood sometime soon.

Laters,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Talking about the Bird(s) and the Bee(s), because it’s summer and I’m loving it all!

July 9, 2010

By Martin

Photography by devil-without-horns…

4,500 kilometers (or 2,800 miles), 6 countries and a gazillion songs on the iPod. Somehow, someway, one album managed to bubble up to the surface more than the other albums we brought along. And with ‘more’, I mean ‘MORE’!

Ever since first realizing that Hall & Oates weren’t just some poppy bad-hairdo-backstreet-boys-avant-la-lettre-duo but actually a fantastic couple of singer/songwriters I have played their songs to death. I love the vocals but I especially admire their songwriting, which is just plain excellent.

Luckily my opinion about H&O is shared by a lot of other people (whose taste you should also trust!), among them the LA-based indie/pop darlings of the Bird And The Bee. And it’s their latest album Interpreting The Masters Volume I: A Tribute To Daryll Hall And John Oates that has gotten most of our attention during the past weeks/months. Starting off with Heard It On The Radio, which I think is the best song I’ve heard this year so far, the B & the B cover nine tracks of which everyone of you knows the lyrics by heart. True classics, redone in a way only Inara George and Greg Kustin can.

Lovely stuff.

Make sure also to check out the band’s back catalogue which consists of two more quite brilliant albums.

STREAM THE WHOLE ALBUM AT STREETDATE NOW!

01. Heard It On The Radio

02. I Can’t Go For That

03. Rich Girl

04. Sara Smile

05. Kiss On My List

06. Maneater

07. She’s Gone

08. Private Eyes

09. One on One

And while your at it, go show this dynamic duo some love:

Official | Myspace | Webshop | Buy

Cheers!

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Hi, I’m back and also a completely random load of tunes called “PPG Summer Mix 2010″

July 7, 2010

By Martin

Photography by #let-it-die

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since my last activity here on TSURURADIO. Reasons? Blah and lack or overkill of whatever. That and the fact that the misses and me took are two wee peanuts for a five-week long drive accross Europe!! In case you’re interested (which I do not expect), we had a great time and visited a lot of wonderful places.

Music wise I have nothing new to report yet. My feedreader was so full of shit that I decided to delete most items without reading them. I will have to do some catching up in the coming weeks and if time permits I will report back to you with my findings.

For now the lack of new stuff made me decide to brew up a new mixtape for y’all. It’s become a completely random bunch of songs and the mix probably only makes sense to me. Nonetheless It has become a quite enjoyable little thingy I believe. So go on and grab it, load it on your iPods and go and enjoy your summer!

PPG Summer Mix 2010 Part 1

PPG Summer Mix 2010 Part 2

(Full Zip)

01. Ash – Burn Baby Burn

02. Friendly Fires – Kiss of Life

03. Tahiti80 – 1,000 Times

04. Josh Rouse – Love Vibration

05. The Shins – Australia

06. Esser – Headlock

07. Peter Fox – Alles Neu

08. Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know

09. Nada Surf – I Like What You Say

10. She & Him – I Was Made For You

11. Phoenix – Too Young

12. Ladyhawke – Dusk Till Dawn

13. Das Pop – Never Get Enough

14. The Jam – Going Underground

15. Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing

16. Brendan Benson – Garbage Day

17. R.E.M. – Imitation Of Life

18. The Black Keys – The Only One

19. Goldfrapp – Rocket

20. Justice – D.A.N.C.E.

21. Daft Punk – Digital Love

22. Jellyfish – Baby’s Coming Back

23. Semisonic – Get A Grip

24. The Temper Trap – Fader

25. The Sheer – With The TV On

26. Drive Like Maria – King Of My Town

27. Santigold – Lights Out

28. Dexys Midnight Runners – Jackie Wilson Said…

29. Josh Ritter – Right Moves

30. Voicst – Everyday I Work On The Road

31. Supergrass – Can’t Get Up

32. Del Amitri – Roll To Me

33. Turin Brakes – Fishing For A Dream

34. Florence and the Machine – You’ve Got The Love

Laters,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Gonjasufi – A Sufi And A Killer

April 20, 2010

By Martin

Gonjasufi (real name: Sumach Ecks) is a weird motherfucker, and he makes some pretty fucked-up music as well.

Looking like a middle-aged Aboriginal surfer hippie from Cali (he’ll probably want to kill me for this description) Ecks has been releasing music since the beginning of the 90′s, making use of different aliases as he went along. His latest works have been labeled with the monicker Gonjasufi and are without exception very interesting to say the least. Weird, but wonderful stuff. An absolute acquired taste but if you get it, it gets you!

On A Sufi And A Killer, released through Warp Records, the styles range from delightful – relatively – straightforward pop (She Gone) to dark Beastie Boys style slow and grinding beats filled hip-hop (Advice) grinding through stomping garage fuzz rock (SuzieQ) into swamp-style crooning (Ageing) and back again via a Middle-Eastern style neo-psych romper (DedNd). Each song differs from the one before and after it but complements them at the same time. Amazing stuff.

01. ( )
02. Kobwebz
03. Ancestors
04. Sheep
05. She Gone
06. SuzieQ
07. Stardustin’
08. Kowboyz&Indians
09. Change
10. Duet
11. Candylane
12. Holidays
13. Love Of Reign
14. Advice
15. Klowds
16. Ageing
17. DedNd
18. I’ve Given
19. Made

A Sufi And A Killer takes some effort to grasp, no strike that. It takes a lot of effort! And I can safely tell you that you will not succeed in comprehending this masterpiece or even be particularly satisfied after one spin. So don’t let up and give it a few.

And while your at it, go show this weirdo some love:

Official | Personal | Twitter | Buy

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Mumford and Sons – Bookshop Sessions

April 16, 2010

By Martin

I pride myself for being an early adopter. Being among the first wave of peeps (in Holland) to testdrive new tech, play the latest games, watch the hippest tv-shows and, most important of all, listen to the newest up-and-coming artists.

But because of the seemingly never ending stream of new music coming my way it does occasionally happen that I miss out on some rad stuff, Mumford and Sons being one of the artists that slipped through the mazes of my net.

It’s not that I hadn’t listened to their album Sigh No More at all, because I did, right after Tsuru’s review of it (see here) way back in the previous decade. It’s just that I had dismissed it after 1 or 2 listens, and I remember labeling it ‘a bit boring’ and ‘more of the same’. Dang, how wrong was I!

The thing that prompted me to check them out once more, and a little better this time, was this amazing video of a performance of their single The Cave as part of their acoustic bookshop sessions. The song was always ‘alright’, but it was the intensity of the performance that lifted it to ‘fantastic’!

As a result of this I have gotten to love their album to death in the meantime, all thanks to this video, for which I would like to thank my Twitter buddy Martijn. Thanks for sending me the link mate!

Enjoy…

Ciao!

Peanut

Link up with me here:

TSURURADIO Presents… MIXTAPES WEEK: Easy as A-B-C by Peanut!!!

April 11, 2010

By Martin

I hate mixtapes!

This might sound like a strange introduction to an article about a mixtape, but I just do. I hate them. They are an absolute pain in the ass to make! Selecting the songs. Tagging the songs. Uploading the songs. It’s a lot of work and somehow the end results never seem to be as I imagined them.

Some people just have it in them to make good mixtapes. People like Tsuru for instance. Of course he’s had a lot of practice, since he’s posted approximately 6,234 of them here on TSURURADIO over the years (check out his most recent one ‘I Want To Be Your American Idol‘). But hey, it’s a quality nonetheless!

Anyway, I haven’t got nearly as much experience and I also happen to be a lazy basterd. So my contribution to the Mixtape Week is a lazy one. Sort of lazy one. Not really that lazy, because it was still a lot of work. Selecting, tagging, etc. you get it right? The lazy part of it is that I just picked some of my fave songs in my current iTunes library, browsing through the artists from A-Z (hence the title). So it’s become a kind of ramshackle affair with nothing coherent about it, except the fact that I like each and every song in the mix. Go check it out!

TSURURADIO Presents… MIXTAPES WEEK:

Peanut’s A-B-C Mixtape

(Full Zip)

01. The Afghan Whigs – Debonair (1993)

02. Ben Folds Five – Song For The Dumped (1997)

03. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Trick Pony (2009)

04. Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move (2009)

05. Elliott Smith – Thirteen (1996)

06. Friendly Fires – Kiss Of Life (2010)

07. Gonjasufi – She Gone (2010)

08. Hall and Oates – Las Vegas Turnaround (1973)

09. Islands – The Arm (2008)

10. Jesca Hoop – Four Dreams (2009)

11. Kyuss – Green Machine (1992)

12. Ladyhawke – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (2008)

13. Manic Street Preachers – Die In The Summertime (1994)

14. Nicole Atkins – Maybe Tonight (2007)

15. Of Montreal – I Was Never Young (2005)

16. The Posies – Ontario (1996)

17. Queens of the Stone Age – Make It With Chu (2007)

18. The Raconteurs – Salute Your Solution (2008)

19. St. Vincent – Actor Out Of Work (2009)

20. Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (1977)

21. Urban Dance Squad – No Kid (1989)

22. The Veils – Not Yet (2006)

23. Wolf Parade – Grounds For Divorce (2005)

24. The XX – VCR (2009)

25. Yeasayer – O.N.E. (2010)

26. Zoot Woman – Information First (2001)

I hope you’ll enjoy my selection and don’t forget to drop me a line.

Cheers!

Peanut

Link up with me here:

Peanut’s Playground: Weekly Charts and Head First by Goldfrapp

March 26, 2010

By Martin

Photography by angelinthedark1

A little while ago I deleted my rateyourmusic account because I felt there were too many places around the internet where I spent my time. But since the time I pushed ‘OK’ I’ve been having a little trouble keeping track of my favorite albums of the current year and thought about how to change that. I started making lists in Notepad, in Gmail etc, but somehow that just doesn’t work.

And then it came to me: why not keep track of my faves right here on TSURURADIO (and keep you updated during the process)!?

So here it is, my first Weekly Charts for 2010. And yes, I’m the first to admit that ‘weekly’ does sound very ambitious in my case. But still, I’m going to give it a shot anyway. I will be giving some extra love and attention to one entry each time I update my charts. I hope you enjoy my faves and discover some new artists to love along the way!

Now	Last	Artist	Album	Review	Buy
01	(–)	Gonjasufi	A Sufi And A Killer		Warp
02	(–)	Cloud Nothings	Turning On		Bridgetown
03	(–)	Beach House	Teen Dream	TsuruReview	Sub Pop
04	(–)	Angus & Julia Stone	Down The Way	TsuruReview	Nettwerk
05	(–)	Blood Red Shoes	Fire Like This		Amazon
06	(–)	Yeasayer	Odd Blood	TsuruReview	Official
07	(–)	Two Door Cinema Club	Tourist History		Rough Trade
08	(–)	Portugal. The Man	American Ghetto	TsuruReview	Official
09	(–)	Caribou	Swim		Official
10	(–)	Goldfrapp	Head First	See below	Official
11	(–)	Vampire Weekend	Contra	TsuruReview	Amazon
12	(–)	Plants And Animals	La La Land	TsuruReview	Official
13	(–)	Josh Rouse	El Turista	TsuruReview	Official
14	(–)	Archie Bronson Outfit	Coconut		Domino
15	(–)	Spoon	Transference	TsuruReview	MusicToday

Today’s featured entry is the latest (fifth) album Head First by England’s trip-hop darlings Goldfrapp and unlike predecessor Seventh Tree from 2008 this album is a dance floor filler of the highest order.

Feeling and sounding like it was made sometime around 1986/87 Head First is filled with synthesizers and references to the 80′s. Starting with the buzzing sounds first heard on Europe’s The Final Countdown and the keyboard sounds found on Van Halen’s magnum opus 1984.

It’s my current number 10 for 2010, but is it any good? Nah, probably not. But I’m just a sucker for all things 80′s and feel-good songs with a melody and memorable chorus. So I absolutely adore it so far. Let’s see how long it will last!

Rocket
Believer
03. Alive
04. Dreaming
05. Head First
06. Hunt
07. Shiny and Warm
08. I Wanna Life
09. Voictething

Laters,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

RIP Alex Chilton: TSURURADIO Re-Presents… #1 Record by Big Star on Vinyl

March 21, 2010

By Tsuru

On Friday I mentioned that if I had some time, I’d pull a little something out of the archives for you for a fallen icon. As you probably know, Alex Chilton died on March 17th. Well, back on August 11, 2007 we presented a vinyl rip of Big Star’s #1 Record at the recommendation of our very own Peanut. I thought I’d just re-present that post for you today. Enjoy & rest in peace Alex Chilton…

* * *

August 11, 2007: This has got to be one of the more interesting & fun vinyl rips for me. Why? well, let me tell ya… I asked my good friend Peanut, of the infamous and incredible Peanut’s Playground to recommend which album I should rip next, any album he wants. If I don’t have it, I’ll go get it. He came back with Big Star’s #1 Record. I’d actually didn’t think I ever even heard of this album or this band, but a promise is a promise.

After some searching around (not just for the album, but also my wallet that morning) I found it on one of my favourite sites, GEMM, from some record store out in Greece. Then, after about a week, I come home from work to find Big Star sitting on the chair on the porch by our front door, like a lost puppy, wanting to come home with me (awww). This was about a week ago. Given how crazy it’s been lately at home and work, I patiently waited (very uncharacteristically of me, I might add) to give this a proper listen… I’m very glad I did.

After my usual test run to make sure everything was ready, I turned up the headphones, hit record, and dropped that need. Let me tell you, my friends, from the first few seconds of “Feel”, to the perfect harmonies of “ST 100/6? I was smiling, bobbing my head, hoping not to wake up my lady. Ah, and “In The Street”, I actually knew most of the words to that one (and I bet you will too!). This is just some excellent classic rock & roll, plain, pure, and simple… What can I say, Peanut? Excellent recommendation, perfect album for vinyl, I sure hope the rest of you enjoy! So, let’s get to it as…

Drum roll, please…

TSURURADIO Presents… Big Star’s #1 Record on Vinyl!!!
(Full Zip)

Side A

01 Feel
02 The Ballad Of El Goodo
03 In The Street
04 Thirteen
05 Don’t Lie To Me
06 The India Song

Side B

07 When My Baby’s Beside Me
08 My Life Is Right
09 Give Me Another Chance
10 Try Again
11 Watch The Sunrise
12 ST 100/6

Go show Big Star some love here, here, here, and here now! And go show Peanut some love too, one of the best sites out there…

* * *

Cheers everyone, have a wonderful Sunday…

Tsuru

Peanut’s Playground: This is the way I get by (Songs du Jour #1)

March 7, 2010

By Martin

Photography by krmenxa

Mel Tormé Earlier today I happened to stumble upon The Duke Ellington & Count Basie Songbooks by one of the 20th Century’s greatest performers: Mister Mel Tormé. He may not have been much of a looker, or as Dorice Tepley put it he was actually pretty “fugly”, but that voice! And the timing! Anyway, why I’m drooling about this is because I played this song again for the first time in maybe 20 years today and I still love everything about it. This is the ultimate Sunday Morning Song, which happens to be time of writing of this article. So go and give it a spin!

Updated link: Mel Tormé – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Some linkage: More info | Buy

Caro Emerald is a Dutch singer who released one of the year’s nicest albums so far with Deleted Scenes On The Cutting Room Floor. Caro mixes jazz with pop and latin rhythms with very good results. The fact that she has an excellent voice doesn’t actually hurt the music either.

Updated link: Caro Emerald – A Night Like This

Some linkage: Official | Buy

Two Door Cinema Club are a three piece guitar pop band who’s music is guaranteed to bring a smile on your face and is dead certain to stick between your ears for days to come. Be warned!

Updated link: Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know

Some linkage: Official | Buy

Rogue Wave are a band that I’ve always liked but who I personally thought would do good to make their tunes a bit catchier, and with their latest album Permalight this is exactly what they’ve done. Strangely enough a lot of reviews of the album haven’t been that positive. I don’t understand that and frankly, I don’t care either. I think it’s a good album. Check out one of the catchy stand out tracks below.

Updated link: Rogue Wave – Good Morning (the Future)

Some linkage: Official | Buy

Archie Bronson Outfit are the loudest band I have ever seen perform live. And that coming from someone who witnessed Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica do their stuff, that’s gotta mean something. 3 guys who rock their asses off and this is the opening song of their third album Coconut, released in 2010.

Updated link: Archie Bronson Outfit – Magnetic Warrior

Some linkage: Official | Buy

Enjoy your Sunday!

Laters,

Peanut

Link up with me here:

—————————–

My current top 10 for 2010:

Beach House – Teen Dream | Rogue Wave – Permalight
Blood Red Shoes – Fire Like This | Spoon – Transference
Josh Rouse – El Turista | Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
The Morning Benders – Big Echo | Vampire Weekend – Contra
Portugal. The Man – American Ghetto | Yeasayer – Odd Blood

Early retirement & the things I’ve learned

February 23, 2010

By Martin

Photography by 600film

Once, in what feels like a lifetime ago, I acted as the host on Peanut’s Playground. Me and some of my friends wrote about music there. We did just about everything from obscure indie to (semi) popular stuff, just because we felt like writing about the music we love. One day, for some trivial reason, I decided to kill the website. Just like that. Dead. At the time it felt like a huge relief, because somewhere along the way I lost the feeling of joy that I felt when I started the blog. Somehow it had begun to feel more like ‘work’ than I wanted it to.

Anyway, it took a little while but eventually I regretted having pushed the delete button. And here we are…

My good friend Tsuru, who I met on the (virtual) Playground has given me the opportunity to get back in the game. Granting me a little piece of his heaven to try and relive some of the old magic. Without any pressure, or as Tsuru said: “Make it a weekly-ish column, because it can be weekly or less or more, that’s totally fine!” And that’s the way I like it and I really hope you will enjoy my ramblings. I’m still a little rusty, but that will wear off I hope…

So here we go!

You might wonder what I’ve been up to these past years. Well, I got older, that’s for sure. I also helped bring another little peanut into the world. Granted, my role was somewhat limited, but still. He’s mine and his name is Dex Niven. Aptly named after my favorite serial killer and my favorite chef. What I’ve also done is listen to a shitload of music. And this time I didn’t feel the pressure (or need) to write about what I heard. I could just concentrate on listening for a change. And I must say, I really enjoyed that.

What did the listening teach me? Well for instance that the ‘Indie’ tag does not cover the load any more. Everyone and his brother’s dog is ‘Indie’ these days. I have no clue what it stands for this day and age. What I also discovered is that not the entire world listens to the same music as I do (evidence found at a Voxtrot concert with only 35 or so attendees). And I’ve learned to appreciate the value of guilty pleasures more. Guilty pleasures should be cherished since they are the things that define you. Don’t ever let anyone talk you out of the things that you love!

And here is something that I happen to love; going to see my favorite artists perform live. And these are the ones I’ve got lined up for 2010:

January: Europe
February: Spoon
March: Phoenix and Josh Rouse
May: Pavement

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT EUROPE?

Europe?? Why would you go to see those poodle haired old age rockers!? Because these guys happen to be one of my guilty pleasures and I’ve wanted to see them perform live since I was 10 years old. They remind me of those good old days way back in ’86, when we first heard ‘The Final Countdown’ on the radio. I was a little boy then and remember very vividly how we used to strut our tennisrackets on the schoolplay stage, acting like we actually were John Norum and Joey Tempest. And now I’m a somewhat older dude of almost 34 and those thoughts and sounds still bring a smile to my face. Every time I listen to them. That’s why I went to seen them live and I loved every second of it!

Some evidence:

Cherokee
The Final Countdown live video recorded at the concert by yours truly (on my cell phone, so that’s why the quality sucks a bit)

Show Europe some guilty pleasure respect here: Official | Buy

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT SPOON?

Tsuru did a fun post on Spoon a little while ago (see here). He indicates, and rightly so, that songs like ‘The Mystery Zone’ seem to be never ending. Songs like these were the reason that the band’s latest album didn’t quite grab me. But now I’ve seen them perform these songs live everything seems to fall in to place. I was hardly impressed by ‘Transference’ at first few listens, but I am now! Perhaps the perfect example of how it has grabbed my attention is that the main guitar solo on ‘Written In Reverse’ has been promoted to my current ringtone. Replacing the theme of I Dream of Jeannie after nearly 4 years! Quite an achievement is it not!?

Some evidence:

Out Go the Lights (removed per request)
Guitar solo of Written In Reverse (cruelly ripped out of the original by your friendly neighborhood Peanut)

Show Spoon who’s got their money and do it over here: Official | Buy

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT PHOENIX?

The French lads of Phoenix are finally getting the credits that have been due since they first hit the scene back in 2000, and it’s all because of their latest work ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’ (see Tsuru’s review here). Better late than never I guess. I happen to belong to that select group of early adopters (read: worshippers) and grabbed the first chance I got to see them live back in ’04. Despite all the great concerts I’ve been to before or since then (Wilco, Danko Jones, Nada Surf, Anthrax, Underworld and Brendan Benson immediately come to mind), Phoenix’ performance easily ranks among the 5 best I’ve seen. I can’t wait untill March 26th to see them again.

Some evidence:

If I Ever Feel Better (released in 2000)
Victim Of The Crime (released in 2004)

Go ahead and french kiss the boys over here: Official | Buy

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT JOSH ROUSE?

Josh Rouse is responsible for two of the best collections of songs of the Naughties: ’1972′ (released in 2003) and ‘Nashville’ (released in 2005). That his work since those high water marks hasn’t been as good says more about the quality of the two masterpieces than about his last three albums though. Because they happen to be very fine pieces of work in their own right (read Tsuru’s review of ‘El Turista’ here). And finally, after years of waiting I get to see Josh do his stuff in a live setting. In the small room (actually: the tiny room) at the Amsterdam Paradiso. I have no doubt that this concert will live up to my (very high) expectations!

Some evidence:

Under Your Charms (from 1972)
Sad Eyes (from Nashville)

Check Josh out here: Official | Buy

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT PAVEMENT?

Dang! Pavement is not just special; Pavement is UBERSPECIAL! My all time favorite band. They split up before I ever had to chance to go see them in real life, but it seems that Karma has finally answered my (very silent and actually non-existent) prayers. Anyway, Pavement is UBERSPECIAL and their body of work merits an article of their own. I will get around to that soon, so please do not forget to check back in at TSURURADIO!

Until next time,
Peanut

@Woollygrass

—————————–

My current top 10 for ’10:

Beach House – Teen Dream | Sambassadeur – European
Efterklang – Magic Chairs | Spoon – Transference
Josh Rouse – El Turista | Vampire Weekend – Contra
Miles Kurosky – The Desert of Shallow Effects | White Rabbits – It’s Frightening
Rogue Wave – Permalight | Yeasayer – Odd Blood

TSURURADIO Proudly Presents… Peanut’s Playground!!!

February 23, 2010

By Tsuru

Good afternoon! Feeling better, thanks, just relaxing, sleeping, watching South Park & Netflix, listening to music, barely moved from the couch except to get some food and now some coffee. Anywhos… I’ve got some very exciting news for you! A long while back, during the early years of TSURURADIO (oh my, what a different time that was, eh?) I became a fan and ultimately a friend of Peanut of Peanut’s Playground. A fantastic blog out of The Netherlands he ran with a couple friends that exposed me to some wonderful music I might have otherwise not heard!

Running a music site can become overwhelming at times and with work & family & life in general ramping up, he pulled the plug on the Playground. But from the hole left by the blog, a stronger friendship grew and now, what, 2 years later? Maybe longer? Peanut’s back! Only, this time, we here at TSURURADIO were lucky enough to snag him! Can I get a woot?

WOOT!

Can I get a woot followed by another woot?

WOOT WOOT!!!

That’s better…

So what does all this mean to you, our beloved readers? It means, along with my usual jibber-jabber & grafista’s much loved songs from impending leaks, you now get the occasional column of musical ramblings by Peanut! Meaning, more for you! We now got you covered from the States/Canada, over to Germany, and up to The Netherlands! Seriously, how awesome is that?

And what are we going to call this wonderful column? Why Peanut’s Playground, of course!