Lestermix

Free Furlined Records Compilation Download (For a Limited Time)

2010-01-02T19:20:00.003-05:00

Our Athens friend and neighbor Laura Morgan announces that her label's "Furlined Records Compilation vol.2" is available for free download for about two weeks or so from the date of this post.

Remembering Vic Chesnutt

2009-12-28T04:26:00.004-05:00

You've likely heard by now that Vic Chesnutt left us over Christmas. I found a recording of my first introduction to his music, a demo version of "Mr. Reilly" that was included on a local compilation cassette called "Samizdat" in 1988.

This is actually the first time at Lestermix that I've actually linked to a song not my own that I uploaded myself. Considering that the friends who made the compilation didn't make any money and that they've made no effort to reissue it since then, I see no harm providing it, unless and until the family wishes otherwise.

"Memorial" by Abrasions

2009-12-28T00:16:00.002-05:00

Through a tweet from Shikhee of Android Lust, I was introduced to the latest album by Abrasions, "Memorial," which is available for free listening on their digital store page. I don't think I really knew about the band before but this is good stuff, and I really like the new trend of making complete albums available for listening through Flash players.

New Leerone Video

2009-10-27T17:58:00.001-04:00

Leerone has a new video, once again in collaboration with videographer and animator Hank Friedmann, for "Empty Houses:"

Leerone Live Webcast

2009-04-12T23:29:00.003-04:00

Our friend Leerone will be performing and interacting live on thestream.tv's "Raw Rhythms" show, Monday 13 April, 11:00PM EDT. She'll be performing with a string quartet, which will be the first I've heard her songs with that instrumentation.

Randy Bewley

2009-02-26T18:32:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we lost Pylon guitarist Randy Bewley all too soon.

As a lifelong resident growing up in the Athens area, Pylon was one local act that influenced me as much or more than my favorite international artists. While their reunions were frequent, we never know when we've already seen someone's last show. It's another reason to support live music, to see your favorite acts and your like-minded friends when you can, because everyone should enjoy times with others before the next unexpected loss.

A Song for Today

2009-01-19T20:04:00.002-05:00

Only a fan video exists for this 1986 OMD song from The Pacific Age but it will more than suffice for the occasion:

And as a bonus, here's a reminder of where we've been:

New Leerone Video

2009-01-04T21:40:00.002-05:00

Our friend Leerone has just uploaded a new official music video, "To Fill the Void," directed by Claire Carré:

New Ayria Live Video

2008-12-02T21:30:00.002-05:00

Just today, Ayria has posted a very well-recorded performance of "Analog Trash" from her 29 November performance at The Outback Lodge in Charlottesville, VA:

Amazon mp3's

2008-11-16T17:02:00.001-05:00

I have reissued the 2006 "Terry & Holly" EP for sale through Amazon's mp3 store. I used the CreateSpace service which allows authors to upload and submit music, video or text for sale and with no up-front costs. I have also submitted another EP with "The Bowman Draws" as its lead single, and I expect that to be available on Amazon as well within the next couple of days.

Leerone - Care for Some Whiskey

2008-08-20T20:06:00.005-04:00

Leerone introduced herself to me by e-mail this week. Before I saw how pretty she is, I already saw a very ambitious and successful stop-motion video unfolding:

You should go to the page on YouTube and see the credited talent that helped with producing the video, under "more info."

Imeem Playlist

2008-07-13T18:51:00.002-04:00

I recently began making use of imeem.com so I made a new playlist. It's a quick and easy way to put together an online demo so this list will be updated often.

dis-taste-r

Rare Radio:Tahiti

2008-04-13T14:04:00.002-04:00

Obscure as my old band, Radio:Tahiti, is, I finally found an even rarer song of ours, one I couldn't find for a long time. It's "Living Doll," written initially by Steve Fitzpatrick and with my original contribution of the guitar part. This was a B-side to our single, "One Step From the End," released locally in 2000. I believe it was recorded in 1994 but neither of us are entirely sure. I remember the day but not when it was, exactly.

This is the first of several promotional mp3's I'll be sharing as we assemble a comprehensive archive. Watch for more in the near future.

Carly Simon Returns

2008-04-03T13:42:00.002-04:00

Carly Simon is back after a 7 or 8 year hiatus with her new album, "This Kind of Love," to be released 29 April. Thanks to promoter Randi Kraemer, I have two streams of the single, "Island," in QuickTime and Windows Media formats.

Fans will also appreciate the rarities page on Carly's official site which includes mostly RealMedia audio and video and also an mp3 of "You're Where I Go" from the documentary, "Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars."

Britney Has a Good Video!

2008-03-24T03:22:00.003-04:00

I think many would agree that a successful makeover for Britney Spears' career and image will call for everyone involved to "pull out all the stops" with great imagination and ingenuity. "Break the Ice" is a successful team effort for songwriters, producers, animators and coordinators, and we can enjoy it well enough as pop art and slightly detach ourselves from what's really going on with our homegirl behind the scenes. Maybe because Dad's in charge now?

Counterintuitive Song of the Year

2007-12-26T13:17:00.002-05:00

Regular viewers of CNBC in the past year may have noticed frequent use of the word "counterintuitive" as that's how stocks and other trends played out this year. It's been true also of the sports world. This has been a year with few safe assumptions. Likewise, my choice for song of the year may seem counter to readers' expectations:

"Lestercast" Shoutcast Radio

2007-10-26T20:36:00.001-04:00

I have begun streaming audio through a Shoutcast server, audible with Winamp. These will be sporadic at first but more frequent and continuous in the coming days.

In the first test streams and in tonight's (Friday), I am looping the entire album, "X-mas," the first by my old band, Radio:Tahiti (which will get its own MySpace page soon), originally released 23 December 1992 and remastered with bonus tracks in 2005. In the near future I'll throw in more back catalog from R:T as well as Distaster, Broom Room Annex and other original things I've done over the years. This will also be a way to promote the new Distaster music I'll have out in a matter of days.

I thought the exact link for every cast would be different but I was able to tune right in to tonight's with the one I did as a test last night. If this is true for machines outside of my own wifi network, which I think it ought to be, then you can click here. Otherwise, you can search for keyword "lestercast" at Shoutcast or, better yet, if you're using Internet Explorer and have the Winamp toolbar installed, you can type "lestercast" into the search line and select "Shoutcast Radio" for your search engine.

Site Meter Removed

2007-10-05T22:19:00.001-04:00

I've been slow to learn about this. Apparently news of Site Meter sending spyware cookies is real, so I am now removing it from all of my blogs. I never want to facilitate any kind of malware problems for my visitors.

Lonely Gallon

2007-09-26T18:19:00.000-04:00

I was curious about the song in the new Norfolk Southern TV commercial, named "Lonely Gallon" because it features gas cans moving themselves across land, and it turns out to be a new and original tune called "You Don't Need Me." From the NS site:

This contemporary tune backs “Lonely Gallon.” Ravi Krishnaswami of Sacred Noise in New York and Steve Kolander of J. Walter Thompson in Atlanta composed it especially for NS.

NS also kindly provides the entire song for free download.

Sir Salvatore

2007-04-29T16:32:00.000-04:00

San Francisco's Sir Salvatore sent me a letter announcing their new EP, "These Men Are Not Astronauts." Their web site includes complete mp3's of "Hooray This Projector" and Public Key, and they also have a nifty video for "Hooray This Projector" full of Atomic Age footage, including a view of the nearly-forgotten X-15 aircraft, which is much more watchable than most videos out today.

I doubt if they'd prefer their sound to be called "80's" but the influences are obvious, and the guitar work really reminds one of both Randall Bewley of Pylon and the late Ricky Wilson of the B-52's, and I really don't think it's my Athens location that influences those comparisons. Most importantly, it's always refreshing to hear unpretentious music that must have been fun to create. I really like the drum sound, too, exactly because it wasn't made to sound like it was recorded in a subway tunnel or a castle, but more like someone performing at your house party.

At their MySpace page, you can also hear a demo version of "Townies," which is another word we use very much in Athens, though it's certainly not limited to any particular city. I'm sure I'll see many familiar parallels to life here when I finally visit the San Francisco scene.

Karaoke ends

2007-04-24T03:44:00.000-04:00

There will be no more of my Monday karaoke nights at Tasty World. I thank and apologize to those who came in past editions but my decision is final.

Mariajosé

2007-04-08T01:39:00.000-04:00

As I post, Univision is broadcasting an episode of "Otro Rollo" which apparently aired live on 20 March. This is Mariajosé performing her single "Quién Eres Tu" from the same broadcast. The single is also downloadable from her MySpace page as well as from the official site.

The male voice featured in the song belongs to Trey Songz.

Teddybears & Iggy Pop

2007-04-02T22:25:00.000-04:00

Like many of you, particularly if you've been watching the NCAA basketball championship, I saw a Cadillac commercial using an unfamiliar song with a familiar voice. Learning the song is "Punkrocker" by Teddybears, the next stop was a quick search for the band's MySpace page, where I found that the song features good old Iggy Pop. To make it even better, the embedded video for "Punkrocker" offers the option to copy its HTML code. Now you can watch it without leaving Lestermix.

No, I don't remember seeing this during the Super Bowl. It must have aired while I was at the store.

Nine Inch Nails New Release Preview

2007-03-30T22:38:00.000-04:00

I'm probably late coming into this news but maybe some of you missed it, too. The new NIN album, "Year Zero," is to be released 17 April. In the meantime, there are four complete songs from the album posted at NIN's MySpace page, "Survivalism," "My Violent Heart," "Me I'm Not" and "In This Twilight."

As a Gary Numan fan also (Trent Reznor's Numan influence is well known), "Me, I'm Not" is the first NIN song I can remember that has a direct musical resemblance to specific Numan work, particularly the sound of the "Pure" album. It reminded me a little of that album's track, "Walking With Shadows," but the resemblance is only partial and does not make "Me, I'm Not" sound any less like a NIN song in its own right.

It shows confidence on NIN's part that we're allowed so many songs as a preview, and songs that are very good, at that. These days one usually doesn't know if anybody's new release has as many as 4 songs that are any good in it at all.

For my sensibilities, it's good news that there are at least four tracks on this new album that are short enough to be singles. I like most of the other sonic adventurism in past NIN releases just fine but I'm happy to see a release more oriented towards shorter and more direct songs. I don't know how much material made in other styles to expect in the complete release but it ought to be a good listen. This is by no means a critique; it's just something I'm a little partial to as a music fan.

I'm just linking to the whole MySpace page this time; I see no need to attempt any direct-link to the songs when all of you will be hearing them within seconds of arriving at the site.

Dexateens

2007-01-29T22:40:00.000-05:00

Alabama's Dexateens will finally have their new album available in wide release soon. A new song, "Naked Ground," is available on their music page, which also includes a number of older songs and live recordings.

Android Lust Rare Track

2006-11-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Revisiting the Android Lust site tonight, I noticed Shihkee has made the song, "Cherished Agony (Last Drops mix)" available in its entirety as a 192kbps mp3. This one is originally from the "Evolution" remix CD from 1999, currently out of print.

Be sure to visit the AL music page for the many reasons why you should add Android Lust to your collection.

Don Chambers

2006-11-19T01:30:00.000-05:00

This is someone I should have featured here a long time ago. Local favorite Don Chambers has been doing well lately; perhaps you saw him on Turner South with the Drive-By Truckers. He played Tasty World last night and has no less than three upcoming shows in Athens: 25 November at the Caledonia and 27 November and 2 December at the 40 Watt.

Through his site you can download and hear four songs, "GOAT" and "Devil Bucket," from "Don Chambers and GOAT," and "Back in the Woods" and "Uncle Raymond," from "Back in the Woods."

If you're in Athens any of those nights, you really should catch him live while he's here. Look him up on MySpace, too.

Wolfmusic and current email

2006-10-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

First of all, if anyone sent email to my old address and never got a reply, please note the new address posted and send again. This is the one and only reason you didn't hear back from me.

I got mail today from Wolfmusic, who has 10 songs on his download page. You can listen to individual songs or you can stream all 10 together.

I noticed that of all the quotes on the front page from other music blogs' comments, nobody seems to have picked up on a clear Leonard Cohen influence. I thought people of all ages would know that when they hear it but maybe not.

In other news, I never mentioned that I added FreeIndie to the links recently. I've also added Gorilla vs. Bear, not just because it's a great blog I was overdue to link to but also because I bought an advertisement there for my own recent single. I got a very good deal and I thank them for it.

Going Commercial

2006-09-25T09:23:00.000-04:00

You know I have to plug my own music here. This is a milestone for me, my first time offering digital music downloads for sale. The new Distaster single, "Terry & Holly," comes packed in a zip file with "Hamburger Xmas Eve" (featuring vocals by Clay Leverett of Lona and Now It's Overhead) and "Essie, the Aussie Swimdancer" (featuring vocals by Dave Marr of Star Room Boys) for $2.97, exactly what it would (and will) add up to at iTunes.

Lo-fi mp3's of "Terry & Holly" and "Hamburger Xmas Eve" are at the MySpace page.

Autumn's Gray Solace

2006-07-04T13:37:00.000-04:00

I guess I heard it last fall when I got the first pressing of Projekt's "Almost Free CD" but this week, after getting the latest Android Lust CD in the mail with a rearranged version of the compilation, Autumn Gray Solace's "The Unshakable Demon" really stood out for me upon a new listen. As the Projekt page for the latest album, "Riverine," says, it's something fans of Cocteau Twins and related will appreciate. It kind of brings me back to the height of 4AD days.

I'm trying to remember if I've seen these people play in Athens before but I could be thinking of someone I'm only reminded of. Anyone who knows better, please write to tell me.

Also available for download is "Falling Sky."

Transformer Di Roboter

2006-06-25T10:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was listening to Heavy.com's "Electro" radio channel and heard Berlin act Transformer Di Roboter's "Hi-End (MetroB and Maszlope mix)," and since then I've been to their site and found the complete mp3's of "Ultra Maxximizer," "Raining Blood," "Tonite," "Stranger in Moscow" and "King vom Prenzlauer Berg," which is a cover of a song by the East German band City, and has a video posted on YouTube and at outloud.tv. I like how they do the electro thing with a somewhat punky approach and fit right in with the chip music subgenre as well. We can probably expect these guys to break out of the German market soon.

Slackdaddy

2006-06-25T09:46:00.001-04:00

Local longtime favorites Slackdaddy have their entire album, "Karmageddon," available for free download and streaming as well. I should have posted this earlier because we did a show together recently. Maybe we will again, soon. Here are the individual tracks:

1.We Gotta Go
2.Feed the Hole
3.Planes
4.Billy McGillycutty
5.Salvation Army
6.Chocura
7.Youth in Asia
8.Mr. Wilson
9.Queen of Quanta
10.The Grouper

Numan Birthday

2006-03-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

Gary Numan turns 48 today. My first thought as I came to post was to link to my favorite of the R-3 Fan Projekt entries, Gregor Torrence and Sparrow West covering "Jo the Waiter." Of course you can also revisit my own recording, as Broom Room Annex, of "Oh! Didn't I Say."

New Gary Numan Download

2006-02-19T09:59:00.000-05:00

Gary Numan has made a dedicated micro-site to promote his new album, "Jagged," coming out in March. He's also offering an exclusive free download of the complete song, "Haunted." I'm not directly linking because you have to register to get a PIN code, good for four download attempts.

Coming soon will be a podcast for interviews and such related to the album.

New Distaster Single

2006-02-19T09:52:00.000-05:00

I finished a version of a new song just last Monday and decided to release it not only as a single but also with its artwork, as there will likely not be a retail edition made available. Hard copies have been handed out sparingly here in the Athens area but will probably not appear anywhere else. The new song, "Honestly," is packaged with "Someone New" and "Uncertain Smile," previously posted here.

Free Cover

2006-02-05T12:53:00.000-05:00

I guess between using Yahoo mail and staying busy, Liza at Copy, Right? might miss a note here and there. At my next to last Distaster show, I covered The The's "Uncertain Smile" and recorded it. I wanted to offer it through Liza's site but that's OK; I'll just make it available here. The recording quality is not great but it's a free recording for you to enjoy, all the same. I took kind of a minimalist approach and leaned more towards the 12" version of the original song as opposed to the album version from "Soul Mining," which is most noticeable in the chorus parts.

Song of the Year

2006-01-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

I don't really have a very strong choice for song of the year so I've chosen my favorite of the best things I heard that is also available for download. "In Memory of D'Drennan" by Unto Ashes gets this honor. Written in response to the suicide of New York's Vampire court regent (which might tell you something about roleplaying), this song ends up being kind of a dance number with an oddly inspiring feel for something so solemn. It might not be an inappropriate song to remember the past year by.

New Distaster Holiday Single

2005-11-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

As posted in my Distaster blog, I have released a new holiday single, "Parade." This one is also in mp3PRO format, which means it will sound lo-fi without the right codec. Go to http://www.mp3prozone.com to find players and codecs for both Mac and PC platforms.

Kate Bush Demos

2005-11-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

In celebration of Kate Bush's new release, "Aerial," her first in 12 years, I share with you part of a collection of old demos that has been online for a few years. Since it was featured by Q magazine once, I don't think I'll be putting any great bandwidth strain on the site by sharing it. As the webmaster says, if Bush isn't making anything off these recordings, then neither should bootleggers so offering them online seems like a reasonable compromise, and of course the recordings should be considered differently from official releases.

I haven't had the time and bandwidth to collect them all but two of my favorites collected are "Sat in Your Lap," for "The Dreaming," and a "beatbox" version of "Babooshka," for "Never For Ever."

Don't forget you can see a high-quality video of her new single, "King of the Mountain," as posted below.

Destiny's Child

2005-11-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

On a whim I typed in "Destiny's Child" and the word "mp3" into a Google search and I found JC Lemay's deepsound.net, where he features unofficial remixes he did just for fun. The Destiny's Child remix is "Independent Women" and is also posted in 128- and 56-bit streaming mp3's.

Some people really love to make remixes and it's people like JC Lemay who actually make good ones, not the stupid ones you find tacked onto CD singles to make you think you're missing something collectible. I might be back to visit this site often.

UPDATE:
JC Lemay wrote to me explaining that he (wisely) uses anti-leech protection on his linked files but you can go to the Destiny's Child remix page and get all versions of "Independent Women."

I didn't mention it before but he also remixes other artists.

New Distaster Single

2005-10-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

In celebration of the Lestermix anniversary, I think now is a good time to release the most recently recorded song of my own as Distaster. This was recorded 28 June with Asa Leffer. Also it's the first I've hosted on my own domain site since I got that.

It's really kind of a scratch recording and it's really short. The name is "Someone New." It's also encoded as an mp3PRO file.

Kate Bush Video

2005-10-20T22:58:00.000-04:00

This isn't really an mp3 but, depending on your available bandwidth, it could just as well be. "King of the Mountain," Kate Bush's new single, is out, the first in 12 years. The big Quicktime file is available directly from the record company site. Smaller versions can be found linked from Kate Bush News.

Thanks to Exploding Aardvark for the reference.

Anniversary

2005-10-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

I only just noticed that it's the 1 year anniversary date of Lestermix. I'm a day late noticing it but maybe this is close enough. I should have noticed sooner and planned something more extravagant.

Anyway, thank you all for the support. I'm here to stay.

Thunderegg

2005-10-18T18:40:00.000-04:00

I was asked by Thunderegg to review their site and their songs. As I write this, I'm getting around to that for the first time. This is sort of a live blog of my visit to the site.

I see they have a MySpace page and from what I see on the downloads page, they appear to have been putting out records for at least ten years. I do appreciate people who don't quit. The songs are set to stream so you don't really have to download them to hear them. They have a rotating song of the week, too.

They seem nice enough...

Ultravox Fan Covers

2005-10-18T18:17:00.000-04:00

Revisiting the Ultravox official site again after a long absence, I discovered a "Your Own Music" section that includes a page of Ultravox covers by fans.

Fleshtones

2005-09-25T19:47:00.000-04:00

Some of you might not know that the Fleshtones are still active and releasing music. You might also like to know that they're on tour again and will be in Atlanta at the EARL Thursday 29 September and at Tasty World in Athens Friday 30 September. In fact, I might have to help with the bills for the Athens show so if any of you can encourage others to go, I'd appreciate it. The Fleshtones have an mp3 page that includes one complete song from each of several albums.

Stuck on Stupid

2005-09-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

There's no rule why my recommended mp3's necessarily need to be songs, per se. This time I refer you to the Radioblogger post regarding General Honore's use of the phrases, "don't get stuck on stupid," and "you are stuck on stupid." The mp3 is there but I think it's better manners to visit the post than to simply take the mp3 without the courtesy of a visit.

Back to music in the next post.

Roundup

2005-06-14T17:44:00.000-04:00

My long hours at work are why I've been slow to cover all the artists who write to me, asking for a feature and review. I think the best thing to do now is to mention all of them at once. If you wrote to me in the last month or so and don't see your act listed, write me again. I haven't refused anyone yet.

Mesh, a different outfit than the English act, I believe, have a new EP called "Prehistoric Rodeo." A less patient and more assuming person than I might have balked at that title but I went on to their download page and listened to the first two songs, "Summer's Going By" and "Game Boy." "Summer's Going By" sounds like Christina Aguilera's team of producers attempting to leave a similar mark with the Killers. "Game Boy" will not offend any chip music fans. Because I still have problems with home internet bandwidth, I'll have to wait to hear the other songs.

Todd Stadtman has a few whole songs at his site available for free. I've only listened to one he mentioned in his letter but does not have included on the mp3 page, "Clock in my Heart." To me, it sounds like what might have happened if, upon Stan Ridgway's departure from Wall of Voodoo, he was replaced with Jimmy Buffet. It has a kind of parrot-head groove to it even though the backing instruments are mostly electronic. Again, because I'm the last mp3 blogger limited to dialup internet access and I work so much these days, I'll have to listen to the rest another time.

Riviera's "At the End of the American Century" was promoted through mp3 blogs much like mine but I never got around to posting my thoughts on it. Glorious Noise was nice enough to send me a copy of the CD. I thought it sounded fine, like some good solid Americana mostly. "In the Stands" is available for free download from Amazon. More whole songs can be downloaded here.

Unlike the other acts listed in this roundup, the following artist did not solicit my publicity but I'm offering it up anyway. While listening to the Braves/Athletics game this past Sunday, Skip Caray mentioned that pitcher Barry Zito's sister heads The Sally Zito Project. "Cheap and Alive" and "Greenline" are available for free download, as is "The Boy Next Door," which features Barry himself on vocals. It kind of reminds me of 70's piano-based storytelling songwriting, much like Billy Joel, Carole King and the like, and also elements of Rickie Lee Jones and Captain and Tenille. This sort of thing may well be due for a revival so why not.

Most recently I got email from James Apollo. This I haven't had time to listen to at all but I see no reason to let that stop the rest of you from checking it out ahead of me. It's probably good; I just want to help with the mention and make it available to you. Here is the download page.

I hope that's everything I've been asked to review and feature. Again, let me know if you wrote to me but you don't see your act listed here. I will rectify.

Electromancer / liquidscreamer / New Distaster Single

2005-04-26T20:12:00.000-04:00

Before I posted on Telekon 25 below, I did a search on liquidscreamer, my favorite of the participating artists, and discovered Electromancer, which is essentially what the old mp3.com used to be for independent artists, a place to post songs and band information. It's aimed at artists who make electronic music but that of course covers a very broad range. Peer reviews are also encouraged at this site, which I think is very helpful.

As for liquidscreamer, I highly recommend the song at their Electromancer page, "Myself," which has what you might call a haunting beauty to it in terms of atmosphere, as well as an unusual structure. It's a beautiful recording, I think. I'd link to the file directly but I think it might be better manners to refer to the page so you can take a moment to find out more about the artist and the host site.

I also set up my own page for Distaster at Electromancer and I posted the newest of my singles, "The Bowman Draws," recorded 7 April by Asa Leffer. If you're in the Athens area in the next couple of weeks, you might see the floppy disk single I made, using mp3PRO compression to make CD-quality sound possible on such a limited format. It's also the first time I've ever put my own photo on any new release. I might make some more available for a web promotion so stay tuned...

Telekon 25

2005-04-23T16:53:00.000-04:00

I completely missed and should have participated in this. Gary Numan fansite AFEnet was sponsoring a cover recording contest in observation of the 25th anniversary of Numan's "Telekon" album. All the recordings are available in both mp3 and streaming .wma files at this page. There's even artwork available if you want to make a CD of the collection.

Chris Price

2005-04-23T16:49:00.000-04:00

Last week I got an email from Chris Price asking me to comment on his new song, "Charge Me Up." I usually do this for anyone who asks but this song is a kind of smooth synth pop that reminds me of driving around parts of Atlanta at night, between the Masquerade and Little Five Points on some such occasion when I'm alone and glad to not be responsible for anyone else. If that makes any sense to you or if it doesn't, give it a listen.

Bo Freeze

2005-03-31T10:25:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to post this a while back. Bo Freeze is one of my favorite local talents here in the Athens area and it's always a good time whenever he has a show or a party. I think there's a new record coming together but I don't believe it's available yet. There are new songs in concert, at least. Meanwhile, this page from 2003 has two songs available for download, "Ride a High Horse" and this one, which I think is the greatest and most honest classic-rock-style love story ever recorded.

Be sure to also check out Bo's previous act, Gloryfinger and the songs "We Go On," "I Strut" and "Baby, When I'm Close 2 U."

Song of the Year

2005-01-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

Everybody has their own idea of what song was the most meaningful or definitive of the past year, as do I. Keeping it within the scope of the music I've featured here on Lestermix and the considerations of my taste, I think Tree Wave's "Sleep" will be the song I best remember from the past year. There aren't many new bands I'm enthusiastic about from the beginning but Tree Wave represents the best of a promising new direction in pop music and I'm anxious to hear more when it's available.

Chip Music

2004-12-22T19:56:00.000-05:00

In the last two or three years, one of the best new trends in underground music has been the so-called "chip music" which is all about making new music with old computers, video games and handhelds. We talked about this in part when I posted on Treewave. Among the innovations in the world of "circuit bending" are two sequencers for the GameBoy platform, Nanoloop and Little Sound DJ. On the latter page are a few complete songs by artists using LSDJ as a primary instrument. My favorite is "Dubslide" by Covox. Also available for download are "3step" by Puss, "Micro 2 Step" by EDMX, "Kinetiskt Porslin" by Role Model and "White Russian" by Lo-Bat.

I've always believed strongly in keeping and reusing anything that's too good to throw away, no matter how obsolete other people may think it is. If you have an old GameBoy or any old 8-bit computers or the like, you might be interested in joining the movement. There are still fun things those old machines can do. I'll post more on this in the future.

Red All Over

2004-12-07T17:05:00.000-05:00

Last night I came into Tasty World around 6 pm without knowing anything was happening. As it turns out, there was an early show with Charlotte, North Carolina's Red All Over playing first. Then I found out the band includes Jarrett Bury of the band Nute, a goth-glam outfit I've done shows with in the past. Naturally I had to stay and see the set. I ended up buying a live DVD and two CD EP's.

The three songs on the newer CD are the same ones available on the web site's MP3 page for free, and the page even encourages everyone to copy and burn the songs freely. These songs include "His First Breath Tonight," "Open Wide" and "Innocence." You might be reminded of the band Garbage somewhat. You'll definitely hear the mid-era Cure influences and related. Still, these songs also evoke jazz and latin feelings even without those sounds being plainly audible. If that makes any sense to you or if it doesn't, give these songs a listen and hear for yourself.

At Dusk

2004-11-23T07:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was contacted by Portland, Oregon's At Dusk. They have no less than nine songs available for free download, all from their new album, "Heights." Because I may be the only mp3 blogger limited to dialup access, I haven't heard all nine yet but I did manage to hear the first two listed, "Come Too Far" and "We Could Do Anything." Member Greg Borenstein, in his letter to me, also mentioned "Farewell Joel Dean" in particular, calling it "a little less up." I'll listen to the others but I wanted to get a post up as soon as I could. I don't know who I'd compare them to exactly but it's sort of like indie rock with a west coast character and with stronger order and harmonies present. There's also a blog on the website.

I had a post made yesterday morning but somehow Blogger lost it and I had to write it again today. I've never had my text lost like that before; maybe it's a good idea to copy the body of every post to be safe.

At Dusk is the first band to write to me asking for coverage. Every such band is encouraged to do the same; all you need to have is free mp3's to share. I should have broadband by the end of the year but even if I don't, I'll download as much as I can.

Dark Holidays

2004-11-16T03:45:00.001-05:00

If you're like me, you might like a darker touch to holiday music, something different from the same old carols and such. The good people at the darkwave label Projekt have three complete songs from their "Excelsis" trilogy. And they're not all Christmas songs, in fact, one is black tape for a blue girl's "Chanukkah, oh Chanukkah," which in itself is a departure from traditional Jewish celebratory music. The other two are a little lighter than the rest of the CD's (I own the second volume) but still have a pleasing musical quality for goth/industrial/darkwave fans. "Welcome Xmas" by Love Spirals Downwards kind of sounds like someone might be welcoming the season for different reasons than most. Audra's "Let the Reindeer Live On My Roof" captures that post-holiday letdown feeling we get when we realize it's about to be January, then February and March before anything gets good again. That's how I feel about winter, anyway, and I live in the South; maybe we don't get winters as long and cold as others but it's enough for me.

I'm not sure if there's any label quite like Projekt doing this sort of holiday music. You should check out the samples from other songs on the collection, including my favorite, "The Christmas Song" by London After Midnight. Of course, you should check out the rest of their catalog as well, including another mp3 page which features a complete black tape for a blue girl live CD. I think you'll also appreciate Projekt's Sam Rosenthal's position on file sharing.

More Original Christmas Music

2004-11-11T05:44:00.000-05:00

I left AOL last spring but they still haven't taken down my old web space, surprisingly enough. Last year I put up a page for the holiday music I had, including lo-fi mp3 and Real versions of "Almost Like Another Day" and a song called "Parade," which wasn't really finished but I posted it anyway. Also included is a song off the first Radio:Tahiti cassette album, "X-mas"(1992) called "Xmas at the Launderama." This song is actually made from a cover recording of Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" played in reverse, so for this reason I can't really release it commercially without working something out with Numan.

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet but I have Christmas on my mind, mainly because I'm trying to finish "A Very Lester Xmas" on time this year, and I don't think it's too early to think about it and enjoy some holiday music. If you'd like to listen to some more conventional Christmas music, there is christmasradio.com which plays Christmas music 24 hours a day, every day of the year. I'm sure I'll have more holiday fare to share soon.

Distaster

2004-11-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

These days my music is made under the name Distaster. Last night I went ahead and made a temporary web site using free space and tonight I have uploaded two new net singles, "Almost Like Another Day" and "Spartanburg." The first is holiday song and part of "A Very Lester Xmas," a collection of all-original holiday songs. The second is a rough mix of a non-holiday song, one of two songs recorded in July with Asa Leffer.

Distaster is probably a stupid name because people might think I can't spell "disaster." That's not the name. The root word is "distaste." I know how to spell but this name comes from a misspelling in an old BASIC text game called "Kingdom," which was a primitive forerunner to the likes of "Age of Empires." The object of the game was to manage land and food and to keep the people in your kingdom alive. When you ran out of food and everyone died, the screen would say "Distaster! All of your people are dead!"

Part of why I decided on it for a band name is my own taste, which many people may find suspect, and my great distaste for what other people like, so that's my "artistic" meaning.

Anyway, these songs are free and complete. They may not be for everybody but you're encouraged to share all the same.

Area 51

2004-11-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

I found this site called Narcopop which is another resource for independent artists to reach the public and for new music fans to find free mp3's. I'm still limited to dialup access so I pretty much had to choose one band to download and I chose Area 51 because they're Czech and because of the familiar reference in the name.

What I like about this band is its honest sound. It has a basic 90's and later feel to it but this sort of thing sounds much better when not completely overproduced like everything we hear on American commercial radio. "Tomorrow" would fit on radio playlists and maybe even become a hit if someone snuck it past the program director. I guess "My Savior" and "Separate" are just as playworthy; both those downloads were interrupted when I tried getting them before but that should be more because of my own inferior internet service. I find the accents in the singing somewhat charming in the way they always were with bands like the Scorpions and, to a lesser extent, Golden Earring.

Sure, Area 51 is a corny name but if there's a western act under the same name, they probably aren't as good. I hope to find more new music from eastern Europe soon.

Deerhoof

2004-10-30T17:27:00.000-04:00

On Treewave's links page is a band called Deerhoof. They recently put together a live album, all of which is available for free download on their home page. Note that it includes two songs recorded for the John Peel show, "Giga Dance" and "Desaparece." Apparently these are busy people because the recordings also include sessions for radio programs in Canada, Sweden and Japan. I don't know a whole lot about them but I hope they come to the Athens area soon, and I don't see why they wouldn't because they seem to have been everywhere else, almost.

Remembering John Peel

2004-10-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

John Peel, one of the very most important people in pop music, died today while vacationing in Peru. While we didn't usually have access to his radio programs, we alternative music fans know that virtually all of our favorite British (and some American and other nation's) acts have a "Peel Sessions" record in their catalog, and many of them considered their appearances as the best help their careers ever got.

While searching the web after hearing the news, I found this page, which was updated with the news today and features a long list of complete mp3's of Peel sessions available for download. There are too many listed for me to really choose any to highlight here so you should just look for yourself; you'll have plenty to discover there.

The Lovemakers

2004-10-22T19:19:00.000-04:00

Oakland, California's the Lovemakers are what I, as a product of the 80's, call a good time electro-pop party band. We used to have more acts like this, sort of in the vein of the Flying Lizards, although the Lovemakers definitely use newer instruments and techniques. The lighthearted vibe is still there.

The Lovemakers have just been signed to Interscope, which is interesting in itself because I always associated that label with more industrial acts than pop groups, although I admit I haven't really studied their whole catalog. Supposedly the band is in Los Angeles now recording this major label debut.

At the top of their audiovisual page is a radio performance of the original version of "Dance," which is a pretty good representation of what they do. Note also the video for "Internet Girlfriend" which I think many of you will find very easy to watch, to say the least, and it's a fun tune, too. I won't list all the various remixes of "Dance" and "We Should Be Taking Our Clothes Off" but they're all rather neatly listed on the same page.

I don't think it's been announced when the new Interscope album will be out but I would expect heavy promotion when it does. I'm enjoying what we have so far.

Tree Wave

2004-10-18T22:32:00.000-04:00

My favorite new band discovery this year is Tree Wave from Dallas, Texas. I first learned of them through AtariAge , which supports all the old Atari game consoles and computers with supplies and games, some of which are homebrew creations. Tree Wave's Paul Slocum programmed a cartridge for the Atari 2600 called Synthcart, which allows you to make music and play beats using the console's own sound. I ordered one and at that time followed the links to the Tree Wave site and mp3 page. If you like My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab, you'll like TreeWave. The only members are Slocum and his girlfriend Lauren Gray and the instrumentation is mostly old computer and video game gear, which in addition to the Synthcart includes a Commodore 64, a Compaq 286 portable computer running a shareware DOS MIDI sequencer and a dot matrix printer altered by Slocum to work as an instrument. There's a little bit of guitar in the mix but it's mostly the electronics that make the sound.

I think my favorite is "Sleep," which I'll probably name as my song of the year since I've been listening all summer and fall and I keep falling back on it the most. "May Banners" is a neat little song you might recognize if you've seen the TV show "Roadtrip Nation" in the last few months because it was featured in an episode of that.

While most of the songs from the "Cabana" and expanded "Cabana EP+" releases are available for free download, buying "Cabana EP+" gets you two videos ("Sleep" and "Combat") and Slocum's own Commodore 64 music program, stored as a data track for you to transfer to cassette and load into the C64 the old-fashioned way. I ordered mine from AtariAge but you can also go to their label page where you can find the aforementioned songs in OGG format along with "Machines Fall Apart" and "Instrumental 1b."

These folks have had a pretty busy year and it looks like they might break through to a larger audience before long. I'm looking forward to hearing more from them and to seeing them play live whenever it's possible for me to.

Speaking of Gary Numan...

2004-10-18T06:38:00.000-04:00

The newest Gary Numan release is a reworked version of "Metal" done with Afrika Bambaataa on the new album, "Dark Matter at the Speed of Light." The song is available for free download at Better Propaganda and is currently the number one hip-hop download and the number three electronic download on the site. I can't really link to the mp3 directly because it's a javascript link but once you get to the page it's quick and easy.

R-3 / The Gary Numan Fan Project

2004-10-18T02:06:00.000-04:00

I think an appropriate start to my new mp3 blog would be something I'm a part of myself.

In 1997 Beggars Banquet put out "Random," the Gary Numan tribute album and "Random 2" which was all "remixes" (which I still haven't bothered with, even being a Numan completist otherwise). "Random 3" was going to be a fan-created tribute, featuring all covers from fans who were not well-known recording artists. Supposedly the project got as far as a test mix that was to be sent to Gary himself but then the whole project went silent and no new posts have been made to the page since 1999. Now, five years later, I'm just glad Joey Lindstrom has kept the page up as part of his Gary Numan Fan Server.

My own contribution was with the band Broom Room Annex, which at the time was what I called my second band as Radio:Tahiti was what I primarily belonged to. In early 1996 we recorded what was supposed to be our first complete album and since "Oh Didn't I Say" was part of our live set, we went ahead and recorded it. I wasn't going to fool with the legal issues of including a cover song on the album anyway so when the call went out for fans to contribute to R-3, I just uploaded this recording. The original song was the B-side to the very first Tubeway Army single, "That's Too Bad," released 20 February 1978.

You'll find on the "Tracks" page four artists with complete songs available for download and a larger number with clips. Probably the best is the treatment of "Jo the Waiter" by Gregor Torrance and Sparrow West. A "jungle"-style remix is available, too, which is kind of neat but isn't outstanding like the first version. Probably the next best effort from this resource is Inca Airport's treatment of "Exhibition," another B-side that's a big fan favorite. Geoffrey Newcomb has some interesting commentary on how he made his versions of "Cars" and "Noise Noise," which come off with a character all their own. Then there's Martin Harper with an appropriately brooding take on "The Seed of a Lie."

I wish the other contributions were available in complete form. I'd love to see this project revisited and taken forward but I doubt it ever will be. There are a number of other fan covers out there but I haven't really found where they are online lately. I'll have an update when I do.

Beginnings

2004-10-18T01:52:00.000-04:00

I just decided I wanted to start my own mp3 blog. I still don't have a high-speed connection to fully enjoy the experience of other people's mp3 blogs but at least I can report some of my favorite new and unusual music. I'm supposed to say all linked mp3's are intended for evaluation purposes but I think I don't really need to because my policy for this blog will be to link only those mp3's that are already stored for promotional purposes by the artists themselves or at least someone permitted to post on their behalf. You get to download without guilt and I get to completely avoid the hassle of storing, maintaining and rotating mp3 files on my own server space.

I hope my site is as fun to some people as all these other wonderful sites I've followed lately, are. At the very least, all it costs anybody is a little bit of time.