A Girl Like You Without the Rest of the Boys

TV on the Radioless Dave Sitek covers The Troggs on the Dark Was The Night compilation, hanging on to some of those funky horns from Dear Science.

Mp3 Dave Sitek / With a Girl Like You (Troggs Cover)

Synopsis #1: MONSTER MUTANT CYCLOPS SYNOPS

Mutant Sounds specializes in early- and mid-'80s obscuranti, though not exclusively. I've wasted approximately one full month (720 hours) of my life over the past year scouring its depths. The result is this synopsis, which might be thought of as The Best of Mutant Sounds Lite or Mutant Sounds Goes Pop!. It ignores the improvisational avant-noise psych-jazz side of the archive in favor of jams that manage to be simultaneously catchy and deranged.

Below is a two-part compilation of the Top 30 Songs from across all of Mutant Sounds (objectively speaking). Sub-below are links to the Top 5 Albums available for free download via Mutant Sounds (objectively speaking). The singles on the compilations are mostly gourd-whacked pop gems; the LPs tend to be far farther out, more droney. The whole caboodle includes at least three covers.

Lastly, some cringe-worthy sincerity: THESE SONGS ARE ALL RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING TRUST ME NO EXCLAMATION MARKS.


TOP 30 SONGS

CLICK: MUTANT SOUNDS CYCLOPS SYNOPS [password = pw]
 
01 / Langst Vorbei? / A5
02 / Do Zeu Twist / ADN' Ckrystall (see below)
03 / Strawberry Cheesecake / Algebra Mothers
04 / Talk Talk Video / Berlin
05 / Bone Shake Ska / C.U.B.S.
06 / A Bus for a Bus on the Bus / Cardiac Arrest
07 / Killing Time / Celibate Rifles
08 / Yes Please! / Confetti
09 / Televisöo / Corpo Diplomatico
10 / A Big Dead Man [live] / Deep Freeze Mice
11 / Shaking All Over / Drinking Electricity
12 / Move On Up / The Flying Lizards
13 / Portugal Na Cee / Grupo Novo Rock
14 / Trains vs. Planes / Human Hands

15 / She Was My Girl / Innocent Vicars
16 / Synthesizer Man / Invisible Zoo
17 / Look Again / The Last
18 / Time To Get Up / Los Microwaves
19 / Track 09 / Magma
20 / Video Lizards / Mickey Bliss
21 / A Lump In Your Throat Pt. 2 / A Mouse Orchestra
22 / Strychnine [Sonics cover] / Nazis From Mars
23 / Wine World / Pink Section
24 / Glendora / Going All The Way & The Slickee Boys
25 / The Girl with the Patent Leather Face / Soft Cell
26 / Carne del Sol / Steaming Coils
27 / Garbage / Student Nurse
28 / Janitor / Suburban Lawns
29 / Milk Rock / Takako Minekawa
30 / 01-01-212 / Vice Creems


TOP 5 ALBUMS

CLICK: Mutant Sounds TOP 5 LPs [password = pw] 

01 / Red Shark / Le Fin EP (1986, tape)
A stretched out tough-guy version of the Feelies at their most Velvety. Seven tracks, including a VU cover and a Billie Holiday cover. 650 out of 10.

02 / Null & Void / Happiness & Contempt EP (1980, vinyl)
Sleazy robots burning cigarettes into their palms, playing synths with both feet.

03 / Neue Krankenscheine / S/T EP (1983, tape)
Snappy, pocket-sized, epic-free version of Kraftwerk.

04 / Skating for Cover / Rituals EP (1983, tape)
Extended theme-song for a superhero named Melancholy Man as s/he flies with arms outstretched, fists lightly clenched, from the cityscape to the countryside during the credit sequence of the sequel.
05 / Sympathy Nervous / Apple Head LP (released 1995)
Stunning spook-synth of the m i n i m a l i s t rain from Japan. Other releases include: S/T LP (1980), Polaroid 7" (1980), OUTPUT Vol 1 7" (1981).


TOP 5 RUNNERS-UP

CLICK: Mutant Sounds NEXT 5 LPs - PART A / PART B [pw = password]

06 / Blue Orchids / A Darker Bloom (1980-92, CD comp)
Minimal post-punk dexterously fashioned for the countless young Turks who know we should like The Fall but just barely do or don't.

07 / The Fates / Furia LP (1985)Skyclad Irish pagantry in the form of an offshoot of the Mark-E-Smith-offshoot Blue Orchids (see above).

08 / Kim Jung Mi / Now LP (1973)Windy Korean folk = grgs, gorgs, gorges, gorgeos, gorgeous.

09 / ADN' Ckrystall / Jazz Mad LP (1982)
Psych-wave electronica. "WE ARE ALL MADE OF ADN' CKRYSTALL" indeed. See also: Track 02 above, the extended version of Cocaine Vitamina, and the Arabesketch single from 1985.

10 / Fiction / Overdrive LP (1980, tape)
Loose, femme-fataled NDW. Slightly better than the more polished The Last Dream of Phoebe Zeitgeist.

Thanks MutantS!

80s on 70s Bowie, or Swimming with Dolphins is Cool

These are all sort of odd. I'll leave it at that.

Mp3 Culture Club / Starman (David Bowie Cover)

Mp3 Duran Duran / Fame (Bowie Cover)

Mp3 Blondie / Heroes (Bowie Cover)

There's a lot more where that came from...

"the beach is big"

Pushurge in the direction of Said the Gramophone for Nobunny's um-cover of the Isley Brothers' "Nobody But Me" (1963), best known in its garagerockclassic version recorded by the otherwise forgotten Human Beinz in 1968.

The StG capsule about the song is neat and neatly written, though it does make me picture the tubby open-mic poet/host from the only truly brilliant episode of the Sarah Silverman show reading Blake's "To Nobodaddy" in his forceful monotone.

In case the jam goes offline, here it is along with the appropriate documentation.

CLICK1 Nobunny / Nobunny Loves You (Isley Brothers cover, 2008)

CLICK2 The Human Beinz / Nobody But Me (Isley Brothers cover, 1968)

CLICK3 The Isley Brothers / Nobody But Me (1963)

POETRY

Host: This next one is called "The Beach is Big."

The beach is big, where's our blanket? Where's our blanket?
A thousand faces. A sea of faces.
Where's our blanket? Where's our blanket?
Oh, there it is

Low Supply #4: Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby LP

Fourth in a series of kindasortahardtofind albums of windswept angularity.

TRY Opal / Happy Nightmare Baby LP (1987)

Anachronistic but fact: Opal = Judy Nylon + Black Mountain.

BUY Opal used at discogs

Showdown Pt. 1: Covering Crotch Man

I don't like Bruce Springsteen at all, and yet I keep posting covers of his songs... Why is the vest-wearing, crotch nailin' Boss so damn coverable?

MP3 Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (w/Concern) / Born in the USA (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Who wins, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone or Arcade Fire? I say Casiotone, easily.

MP3 Casiotone for the Painfully Alone (w/Concern) / Streets of Philadelphia (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Who wins, Casiotone or Salem? I say Salem, but in a much closer contest.

And, just to move out from under (or from in front of?) the Boss' crotch:

MP3 Casiotone for the Painfully Alone / Graceland (Paul Simon Cover) (way better than the original)

Low Supply #3: Sonic Youth - Ciccone Youth LP

Third in a series of kindasortahardtofind albums of shimmering luminescence.

Try...

LP SONIC YOUTH AKA CICCONE YOUTH / THE WHITEY ALBUM
(1988)

MP3 Madonna / Into the Groove
(1985)

MP3 Madonna / Into the Groove Rmx
(Sidechains remix, 2008)

MP3 Sonic Youth / Into the Groovey
(Madonna cover, 1986/88)

MP3 Sonic Youth / Into the Groovey Rmx
(Madonna cover, Cut Copy remix, 2006)

BUY the re-release.