Shocking, Electric!

The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)
(MP3, 192kbps, 5.3MB)
Live, from Stockholm '67.

Buy.

He's riding through your town with his head on fire

Soft Cell and Jim Foetus (aka Jim/J.G. Thirlwell, aka Clint Ruin, as he's referred to here) performing Suicide's "Ghost Rider" on BBC television in 1983. That's all I need to say, really, other than: enjoy.

I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground

Chances are, by now, you've heard Art Brut and their particular brand of scrappy, tongue-thru-cheek R'n'R, but today, I bring you a crackin' live rendition of the title track from their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll. This particular recording is especially notable for a couple of reasons.

One, it's from Schuba's Tavern, located in Chicago, which is where I had a tremendously good cheeseburger at some point in 2004. I still think about that cheeseburger from time to time, it was that good. It also contains the unexpected drop-in of a lyric from "Department" by the Yummy Fur, a track featured on this very blog just a few months back. Listen up at the 1:47 mark....the moment I caught it, I couldn't wait to tell you about it.

Art Brut - "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" (Live at Schuba's Tavern, Chicago, 2005) (MP3, 193kpbs (VBR), 3.3MB)


Bang Bang Rock & Roll has finally seen an American release (after almost a year's delay on from the original UK release), why not pick it up here? If you're a fan of fun, smart-arsed rock tunes with clever, ridiculous lyrics and great guitars, you might want to make a space upon your CD shelf for it.

Strange Scraps and Sudden Sambas

We're back for today's installment of Eat This Grenade! with two great tracks from the consistently-bewitching brain of Mr. Howe Gelb, both in bite-size solo form, and with his band, Giant Sand.

Since releasing their first album in 1985, much has been made and mentioned of Giant Sand's Tuscon roots, and while describing their sound as "dusty", "cracked" or "desolate" is all too easy, it's really pretty apt. Their songs have a strange, lilting power to them, and a sound that could have only sprung from a sprawling, wide-open space like the Arizona desert.

"Satellite", from Giant Sand's 2000 Thrill Jockey release, Chore Of Enchantment, is up first. I think what I've always loved best about this cut is the sheer, lurching meatiness of it; layers of groaning, grinding slo-mo guitars battle it out with backwards tapeloop splatters, Gelb's croaky, stream-of-consciousness vocals and a surprisingly sweet melody to bring you six minutes and forty-eight seconds of gorgeous, hazy drone. It even stumbles into a weird, hesitant little sudden-samba for its final few seconds.


Giant Sand - "Satellite" (MP3, 195kbps (VBR), 9.6MG)


A couple of years prior to Chore Of Enchantment, Gelb released his second solo outing, Hisser (V2 Records, 1998). Gelb assembled, performed and recorded practically the entire 19-track album on his own, apart from a few guest appearances. Standout track, "This Purple Child" (featuring Grandaddy, who, rumor has it, kickstarted their signing to V2 by slipping a demo tape to Gelb) really digs itself into your head after a few spins. Feeling almost like a more-subdued precursor to the fuzzy trippiness of "Satellite", the track floats along with a wobbly, creepy beauty all its own, and even with repeated listens, I can still hear strange, new scraps of sound buried in the mix.


Howe Gelb - "This Purple Child" (MP3, 192kbps, 7.9MB)

You'll want to bring these along in the car on that next lonely, late-night highway drive, trust me.