I'm A Jealous Woman

Okay, so since I'm a complete advocate of modern, AWEsome music (Crystal Castles, Pissed Jeans, The National, i.e. bands that sound like the 21st century), it's probably expected of me to ONLY like those kinds of groups. I mean, yeah, I go see Be Your Own Pet and Arctic Monkeys and Club Awesome and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin because the oldies and greats don't go on tours with 15.00 tickets, y'know? K good.

So with that said, I do also love music from the 60's-80's. I'm a huge sucker for retro girl groups and female singers like the Pleasure Seekers, Suzy Clark, Sunforest, etc. I also really love the Ramones and the Buzzcocks and other fabbity fab bands from "back when."

But never have I had so much lust/un-godly love for one song as much as this one.

The woman: Gunilla Thorn, a Scandinavian goddess with a cheeky smirk and a weird chin. This woman was a straight powerhouse of soul and feeling. Homegirl was a bad motherfucka, ladies and gentleman.

The song: "Jealous Woman" It was released in 1966 on the Jealous Woman/Our Love single and then sent into obscurity. But this song, my god, has so much passion and AWEsomeness to it; it's hard to not feel the fierceness that's just emanating from this woman. It's mad decent!

I can't post it on here because the song is nowhere to be found, both bit-rate-wise and physical vinyl-wise. I even scoured eBay for the album...the thing is tooo obscure to be found. Among searches on Yahoo! I've found some random links in languages I don't speak and a couple of references to Joe Meeks, who was Thorn's producer for a bit. She's on some compilations, but none with that song. As it actually turns out, from a bit of heavier digging, "Jealous Woman" can be found on a weirdly obscuro comp that you have to order from a website in Denmark. It's like 129,000 DKK. What currency is that even?

"Jealous Woman" can actually be found here, but this is sort of it.

Anyone know anything about a more domestic solution?

Your electric bird,
Erika

Found One! (Oh, And A Funny Movie To Warm Your Hearts)

O hai! I found one! I found a nifty pic from RSD! (Turns out Criminal had a ton of them - 530 to be exact - on their Flickr) This is one of the photos from the Judi Chicago set. You can see me in the shorts and tights looking incredibly flabbergasted/demoralized. You can also see some other people trying to look bemused and unfazed, but it was merely a facade. Trust.


Now I have a terribly hilarious video from the tragically comical Super Deluxe. And a haiku about Super Deluxe that James from Criminal wrote. BTW, the haiku first, video later. I noticed the order of items was well, out of order.

Do you need something,
like laughter, sadness, strangeness?
Try Super Deluxe.



Your electric bird,
Erika

So You Lost Your Virginty During A Concert, Huh? Typical.

O hai everybody! National Record Store Day was THE BOMB, and completely all that with a bag of Chips Ahoy! If you missed it, well, you have a lot of 'splaining to do! Criminal and Co. were out in full force and there was a ton of pizza (everyone ate it before I could)and hot dogs on the grill (yep, ate all of 'em), so I actually ended up having to buy a slice of pizza from Little 5 Pizza, although I did look supes spiffy wearing pink sunglasses at night. Holla!

The show started with The Bridges, which were, erm, like Au Revoir Simone, but - GASP! - better. And pretty like the Plasticines and skinny like Jemina Pearl. They were AWEsome, if I do say so myself. It was almost an all girl band, but, typical, a dude was on the skins...sigh...

So there was some haziness afterward while I shopped the sidewalk sale (and totally copped a Niko album for 2 dollars) and then bought a mag to peruse while sitting alone (yes, like a sad loner kid I went to the festivities solo...fug) and as I must have looked like the bike monitor sitting on the patio above the bike rack at Aurora, Philip from Chainestereo, whom I met once before in the exact same parking lot, wearing the same shirt. spoke to me awhile. All was great until he bid me ado and hung with the older, cooler, beer buying crowd, with whom I can only hope to one day compete.

After some standing/aloofing, I saw Trances Arc (soooo cute!) and Club Awesome, furry white tiger suit and all, then Judi Chicago, topless karate suits and all. Dude's British. Anyone know that?

So after killing an hour and losing my parking space, I hightailed it back to Criminal to run into Elliott from Sunday School, my old boss, and then watch my girls the Coathangers go on. As usual, they recognized me from my shirt, and Stephanie for totally signed my drumstick. Porque? 'Cos we're like totally like peanut butter and jelly holmes. Just kidding. 'Cos I asked her to.

After the Coathangers was Noot D'Noot (maaaaajor fun) and then Janelle Monae, a totally fitting closer to the evening. Oh yeah, Andy Hull, Dead Confederate, Anna Kramer and the Lost Cause, and some others played in between those acts, but uh, I can only report what I saw, right?

Yeah, totes, it was sooo amazing and I could not be happier that the whole thing got put together. Despite the skepticism (because there's no actual spike in sales seeing as everything was on sale) I know there's going to be another Record Store Day, and definitely a vinyl resurgence. Or at least a record player resurgence from all the free LPs given out yesterday.

Due to my stupidity I did not have my camera, so I have no photos, but will root around the 'net for some. In the meantime I'll try to hook my hoes and bros up with some of the music from NRSD.

Noot D'Noot - Fire King

The Coathangers - Parking Lot

Judi Chicago - Lizards

Great, great day...awesome, awesome night.

Your electric bird,
Erika

Homeless Soccer

I am MOST DEFINITELY going to update tomorrow after National Record Store Day, but in the meantime, tide your sad selves over with this AWEsome video:



From superdeluxe.com, one of the sponsors of Record Store Day! Whoohoo!

Your electric bird,
Erika

It Won't Get You Married, But...

Okay, I am here currently to profess my undying love for a couple of new tracks that are...mmm...pretty much off the chain. Actually, these bad boys are so good that they were on said chain, jumped off, repaired themselves, then repeated the whole act suicide bomber style. It was sick. I saw it happen.

Anyway, let's just dive right into it. The first one is from the uber-pop Bostonians the Billionaires. They're a five piece of working class dudes (and a fly dudette) from Martha's Vineyard that started a band, made fab music, and then followed suit of every other American band, relocating to LA, where they're currently hustling to get their song, "The End of Summer Song" on Indie 103.1. You can help out in the hustle and chart the come up on their little bio page on Too Soon Records. This song is "Eighties Movies," a light, airy summer song that almost requires you to put the track on repeat. It's almost sung-spoken and, with the lyrics, guitar bridge, and guy/girl interplay, this song feels like it should be a lost track from a of Grease or Guys and Dolls soundtrack. Of course, we've certainly seen these musical-style songs before (*cough cough Hard Place cough cough*) but I love them all. Makes me wanna go all Debbie Allen and Fame and shit.

The Billionaires - "Eighties Movies"

And to reference,

Hard Place - "Demographic" (found it!)

The next song is the Diplo remix of "Bama Gettin' Money." If you've heard the original song, it's eh, so-so, as far as hip hop goes, but then Diplo strolls along, pops a squat, and tinkers with the song until it's straight up flyer than a tsetse. This is definitely ridin' music. Oh, and it's recommended all ridin' be done dirty, k? Thanks. Peep Diplo's other works here.

Diplo - "Bama Gettin' Money" Diplo remix

Finally, we have one of the most interesting new little duos since the Dodos. This Is The Ivy League may actually have graduated from an Ivy League school (as their attire may indicate), but these Brooklynites aren't quick to flaunt any overt higher knowledge. The little cuties combine pop and shoegaze effortlesly, creating seamless three minute soundtracks to an indie movie. "London Bridges" coulda totally been in Juno. Like, for seriously.

This Is The Ivy League - "London Bridges"

That's all. Download, hoard, wear out, recycle.

Your electric bird,
Erika

There Is An Iguana In My Shoes

I hope you know that those palefaced, malnourished little sickly kids Francois and Johan from that show The Real Housewives of New York City (which incidentally wrapped up with a less than AWEsome finale yesterday) can say the title sentence in like five languages. Proving that even babies can be better than adults, with enough money.

Anyhoo, hey! Look over to the right! Your right! What do you see??? The correct answer is mp3s, good boys and girls! I have a lot of them and I figured that now is as good as anytime to share the fabulosity. Pass the pleasure around, I always say, which is why I'm a firm believer in sloppy seconds...and thirds...fourths...whichever. But I decided I have soooo many of those little two letter-one number music bytes that I'm gonna break bread with my bros and hoes every week! Awww yeah, soak up the rays of sunshine like an overaged beach bunny suburban mom in Los Alaminos with a lifetime membership to Sunset Tan, 'cause there're gonna be new songs in the sidebar on the first of every week! (And yeah, the rent'll still be there on the fifteenth of every month...)

Makes you just wanna say YEAHHH BOIII!!

And speaking of Flavor Flav, homeboy is in a new show on TV One (ummm...if that doesn't ring a bell, it's the only television station that still shows reruns of Good Times, K?) and I predict nothng but nonsense to ensue. I'm guestimating some cameos from the more famous Flav girls, a lot of that cackling he does, and some shit ass acting. I'm excited, aren't you? Could just shit ma pants right nizzow!

In other equally grand, and yet not as important news, the bomb chicas of Missbehave hooked all us ladies up with a look deep, deep, deep inside the echoing, dank, drippy cavern of a man's mind with a little column called "Dealbreakers," penned by Captain and Shark (no, not their God-given nomenclatures). It's a fabbity fab fab list of things some chicks do that make guys, and their little guys, wanna run for the border faster than an illegal alien in an INS search. One that I really like:

"Girls who call each other 'bitch' or 'slut':
'What's up bitch?' 'Not much, slut! You know, just slutting around.' Great. We can't have sex with either of you."

Tee hee.

Read more after the jump in the No.7 issue of Missbehave Magazine, k? Thanks!

So heed the warnings, keep it funky fresh, and land yourself a midnight cuddle buddy in no time. 'Cos you know that Carebear you sleep with can't touch you in that place without leaving a carpet trail.

Your electric bird,
Erika

O Hai!

Damn, this cheese is good. I mean really good. These microwaveable mac 'n cheese cups are THE SEX. And they're cheap. No wonder black people die of heart disease so much.

Hmmm...moving on, I've noticed there's like this weird sort of interplay between "old" (over 22) people and "young" (18-21) people. "Young" people are hip, can talk with fake British accents to assert their hipster status, and wear head to toe vintage that they paid far too much for while working in Urban Outfitters and biding their time till they can drink legally, all while chugging down the PBR their "old" roommate bought last week. In turn, "old" people can speak sagely about experiences they have yet to experience, try to figure out life for themselves while telling everyone else how to live theirs, buy wine from the liquor store (hoping the clerk asks for ID, though they know they will), and biding their time till they can either rent a car or run for president.

"Old" people like talking about Earth, Wind, and Fire nostalgically, even though they only know them 'cos their parents played the 45's during childhood.

"Young" people like wearing Earth, Wind, and Fire on a throwback tee they bought at The Kids Are Alright in Echo Park.

"Old" people like to wistfully remember riding the bus to work, to school, and to clubs at midnight in the inner city.

"Young" people like to ride the bus at midnight in the inner city, only to catch a cab from wherever they got off just so they can go to Starbucks the next morning and tell their friends they've ridden the bus at 12:00 am in the inner city.

It's obvious there's a generation gap between slightly old and new. Even with my boyfriend and I, who are only five years apart, sometimes it seems like I'm dating my older, wiser brother. But there's still a generation gap and I'm not looking to bridge it. I don't care if my coworker grew up on Blossom and I grew up on Full House. I had a bomb ass childhood and I can actually remember the first episode of Rugrats, 'cos I was there when it premiered. Oh well, I can't say I was there when Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire. But I can say I was there when Michael Jordan did Space Jam.

The same gap exists between my age group, the "young" and the "younger", but you don't see any 18 year-olds watching Hannah Montana and saying, "Damn, I remember when her father came out with the 'Achey Breaky Heart', and was on Doc." We know we're better without having to constantly validate our feelings.

Is anyone right? Nah. Is anyone wrong? Mmmm...maybe. I do know that I will for totally outlast all these hipster chicks that like to chase their Pabst with a Marlboro. Why? Porque I was born after the 50s and I know what it can do to you. Hah!

Your electric bird,
Erika

I've Got Your Eyelids

O.M.G. infinity symbol! I have just fallen in complete and total ardor with Crystal Castles! Firstly homegirl has mad style and her haircut is hella cute and that dude with her could totally hang with Justice, right? Am I not right? Hahaha...to avoid running the risk of sounding like someone who's completely ignorant of their brand new obsessh, Crystal Castles is Ethan Kath and Alice Glass and they're taking over the scene with gale force homie! I became like soooo totally besotted with the two feisty, fast fingered felons of the foot stomp while listening to them on Indie 103.1 in Santa Monica. Indie 103: radio for champs, yeah!

photo courtesy of andrew kendall

But like for real dudes, Crystal Castles are the shit. They're named after She-Ra's pad (BTW you're fully not allowed to ask them that or they'll get all tired of answering the question and shit, so don't) and they turn out just about any venue that books 'em. Hey, does anyone think they'll be here in three years when I can go see them live? Chances are, with the the way house's golden children can go from Shirley Temple to Baby Jane Holzer in the blink of a blog and the flavor of the day changes with the color of the ecstasy tab, prolly not. But there's no harm in enjoying what we've got right now, is there?

CC's self titled debut album is for sure out now (so you better get it, K? Thanks) and they're touring like madmen in the UK right after finishing a few nondescript house shows in warehouses and such around California, so you should catch them while they're still in vogue, K?

The best song - EVER - that Crystal Castles has is "Crimewave", which, in any hipster's terms, is not actually CC, but Crystal Castles v. Health (an equally hipsterish sort of group). Still, regardless of who originally put the song together and who remixed it and who gets the airplay, "Crimewave" is the shet. So much the shet that CC is pimping out tees broadcasting just that single. "Crimewave" has a sort of wave of its own. It's fecking awesome, my man.

You can peep Crystal Castles overrrrr here! and frolic in the heavenly dreamy madness that is "Crimewave" he-errrrr. You can also check up on various Crystal Castles remixes, at the 'Toof, where those dudes are mad blessed to get their hands on some primo shit.

'Cos, like, for serious dude, I luh Crystal Castles to pieces and beyond!

Your electric bird,
Erika

While You Were Sleeping...

I bought WHY?'s Alopecia from Criminal on Saturday. It's amazing, like moody, dark, and bleak. WHY? is really the hipster's answer to emo - I take that back actually. WHY? is the hipster's answer to Cake. With a little bit of Atmosphere. And Weezer. Just not...emo. Even still, the album is really good and cheap, since it only costs 9.99.

Speaking of music, and Atlanta, we're less than two weeks away from National Record Store Day! Yes, it means you should totally squeal with glee like a little schoolgirl. It's totally called for in this instance. Now about that time you found a Diane Von Furstenburg top for half off...But the lineup of bands playing live is amazing (I still cannot believe NRSD is fur-reee!) and it includes: Judi Chicago, Noot D' Noot, the Coathangers, Anna Kramer and the Lost Cause, and Manchester Orchestra, among many others. It's gonna be RAD. The sidewalk sale means reguluarly priced CDs are going for about a dollar and I think they said 9 dollars for a set of 4 is the most money you'll pay. I heard there was going to be a benefit CD made up to raise funds for the dudes and dudettes living over in Cabbagetown since their shit got like vaped in the stormnado...but I'm not sure.

It's still worth looking forward to. Free pizza too, BTW.

And about looking forward, for the few people on earth that read this blog, I'm going on a little vacay to LA to look at colleges with my mother (fun.) so I won't be here for about a week. Not like you read this or anything, but if you care, yeah, that's where I'll be. You'll have to get your interesting info from others...who? I just don't know.

I just don't know. PS Charleton Heston passed away, K?

Your electric bird,
Erika