The Short List: Galt MacDermot, Beach Boys, Phish, the Wu Tang Clan, James Brown, Flaming Lips, Beatles, Al Green, Tori Amos, Neil Young, the Beasties, Beck (esp. for Odelay, my favorite album), Pink Floyd (especially Dark Side of the Moon) the Avalanches, and anything produced by the Neptunes.
The Long List: Snoop Dogg, Marilyn Manson (for Holy Wood), They Might Be Giants (especially as a duo), Smashing Pumpkins, Missy Elliott, T.I., Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes, DJ Shadow (for Endtroducing and Brainfreeze with Cut Chemist), Phil Spector, various Tropicalia groups, Portishead, Jethro Tull, the Talking Heads, Bobby Birdman, Cake, Tom Waits, Rage Against the Machine, the White Stripes, Herb Alpert...I'll list more later!
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Andrew Eckel's new album Make a Laser Sound
is a 15-track, kaleidoscopic funk-fest with unexpected harmonies
and unpredictable lyrics. There are several songs about love
(some celebrating it, some cynical about it), several following a
stream of consciousness, and others about a sanitation workers'
strike, a hostage situation in a restaurant, guards at an art
museum, and the 2007 Boston bomb scare caused by LED signs
advertising a cartoon (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Eckel sings, raps
(a little), and plays piano, drums, marimba, vibraphone, and
more, and sixteen of his friends show up to play other
instruments.
The making of Make a Laser Sound was an ambitious, two-year
project in Cambridge, MA. For the first time, Eckel would show the influence of his favorite album, Beck's Odelay, as well as other ambitious musical cyclones like Boys For Pele (Tori Amos), Flood and Lincoln (They Might Be Giants), Remain in Light (Talking Heads), Blond on Blonde (Bob Dylan), and Paul's Boutique (Beastie Boys). The plan was also to cram as many good ideas as possible into every single track, and to jump at any lucky opportunity to put interesting instruments on the album. This resulted in the use of many players from the MIT Wind Ensemble, a harpsichord, a Turkish crescent, a waterphone, video game sounds, a toy piano, six backup singers, and a Fender Rhodes. The album was made on a $0 budget, using no recording
studios, but Andrew mixed the album with painstaking precision, putting in the kind of extra time that almost no outside producer would've ever spent on it, so it the entire album glistens and shines like the kind of expensive album that would have bankrupted his record label, if he had one. Make a Laser Sound
is full of surprises and is available
now.
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You write the lyrics, and I'll write the song: www.PoetryToMusic.com.
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Dust and Shadow: an Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson, available everywhere April 28th....
"At long last, an author of rare talent combines a thorough, enthusiastic knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes canon with truly rigorous research into, and respect for, the Jack the Ripper killings. Where others have failed, Lyndsay Faye's extremely impressive debut novel succeeds, on every level, providing thrilling entertainment without blatant exploitation. It will instantly take a place of distinction among the best attempts of contemporary authors to continue the work of Arthur Conan Doyle, and is, quite simply, a must for Holmes fans and Ripperologists alike. "
Wood Spider would like to cordially invite you to 115 Franklin St, a neighborhood punk house in Allston, MA. We are lucky enough to be sharing the stage (basement floor) with O Pioneers!!!, FORT! the Band, Interrobang?! and the Brave Little Abacus! Get there at 7 to see us play!
Admission is free, but bring some a few bills anyway, to help out the touring bands (OP!!! has made their trek all the way from Texas!)
You have our eternal thanks,
-WS
ey andrew, thanks for listening and for your friendness, we really appreciate the support! if ya want, you can hear more songs at jameskatz. com have a glorious weekend.
Hey! Hope all is well:) Here's a question: would you be interested in being a keyboardist in a band I am trying to create? I'm trying to get a soul band together. Lemme know because I know you are one of the best!
