PFU #040: CHRISTMAS 2017!

xxx

1. The Microphones – I Want To Blow
2. Hardee’s Gremlins Record – The Gift of the Mogwai (Intro)
3. Linda Laurie – All Winter Long
4. John Lennon & Yoko Ono – Listen, The Snow is Falling
5. The Go! Team – The Ice Storm
6. Broadcast – Winter Now
7. The Kinks – Holiday in Waikiki
8. The Rolling Stones – Cosmic Christmas
9. Esquivel – Snowfall
10. Eddie Murphy – Christmas Gifts
11. LCD Soundsystem – Christmas Will Break Your Heart
12. Louis Armstrong – Creator Has A Master Plan
13. Ray Charles – Sinner’s Prayer
14. Willie Nelson – December Day
15. M. Ward – Girl From Conejo Valley
16. Jerry & The Landslides – Get Off of My Roof
17. Widowspeak – Brain Freeze
18. Jerry Goldsmith – Deagle, Deagle, Deagle
19. Beck – The Little Drum Machine Boy
20. Hall & Oates – Screaming Through December
21. The Folk Implosion – Cold Night
22. Twin Shadow – Castles in the Snow
23. The Pilgrim Travellers – Jesus Hit Like An Atomic Bomb
24. The Breeders – Night of joy
25. Les Intimes – C’est Noel
26. Sammy Davis Jr. & Carmen McRae – Baby, It’s Cold Outside
27. Jonathan Richman – Amazing Grace
28. Dengue Fever – New Years Eve
29. Quintron & Ms. Pussycat – New Years Night
30. Prince – Last December

VALENTINE’S DAY MIX #3: FOR SAD MEN

This is my favorite mix.

PFU #003

USE: Dealing with Heartbreak – Depression and Bargaining Stages. For Him.

  1. James Brown – Goodbye My Love, Parts 1 & 2
  2. Peter, Bjorn, and John – The Chills
  3. Al Green – Don’t Hurt Me No More
  4. Willie Nelson – Both Sides Now
  5. Chuck Berry – Wee Wee Hours
  6. The Walkmen – Many Rivers To Cross
  7. Johnny Thunders – You Can’t Put Your Arm Around A Memory
  8. Elvis Presley – That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
  9. The White Stripes – A Martyr For My Love For You
  10. Little Stevie Wonder – Sunset
  11. Kyu Sakamoto – Sukiyaki
  12. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Sympathetic Noose
  13. Pavement – Here
  14. Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home
  15. Waylon Jennings – Delia’s Gone
  16. Frank Sinatra – In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning
  17. The Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Want To Get Over You
  18. Otis Redding – You Don’t Miss Your Water
  19. Neil Young – Heart of Gold
  20. The Make-Up – Time Machine
  21. LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

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PFU’s Favorite Videos: 2010-2011 (and a couple trailers)

El Guincho - Bombay

Hey kids. The Best of 2011 cavalcade will be posted tomorrow, but in the meantime I thought I would share some of my favorite videos of the last couple years. They are probably not any new news to anyone, but they are great and posted again here for your enjoyment. Spike Jones directed 2 of them, and they are playful and fun but, the best by far and actually my favorite music video of all time is “Bombay” by El Guincho. It is absolutely staggaring in how well made and how successfully ambitious it is. I hardly noticed the first time I watched it because it’s tone is so modest. I doubt I’ll see something do this much this well for a long time. My favorite from last year is by far the “Yonkers” video by Tyler, The Creator. Who knows if those Odd Future kids will make as lasting a mark as they initially seemed, but their entrance was undeniably spectacular. This video (and their Tonight Show appearance) were instrumental in their overnight rocket to stardom. The video does what any great video should do: it perfectly represents their style so that it further defines it, but still leaves them mysterious, AND the video is a great piece on its own. I don’t think I’ve been so unnerved and so charmed at the same time. The only problem is..now they have a lot to live up to.

Oh yeah, and Thee Oh Sees video is brilliant, the Cults video is a small landmark (and kind of offensive too), the Adele video makes me ok with her selling 11 trillion albums, and the Jacuzzi Boys managed to inspire their female fans to make a video using only their vaginas…that might just be rock and roll. I warned you…Enjoy.

Also, at the end I threw in 3 of my favorite indie trailers of 2011. The last of which (Rainbow’s End) was described as “a remaking of the Muppet Movie in east Texas…as a documentary…with cock-fighting.” Just watch it.

NOTE: THE JACUZZI BOYS VIDEO WAS TAKEN DOWN  (and replaced with something lame?) BUT IT WAS GIVEN ITS OWN SITE: http://jacuzzigals.com/          DO IT. SERIOUSLY.

Winners! PFU’s Best of 2010

 

Yes, I know. This blog is supposed to focus on specific practical uses for music. However, this year was, in my opinion, one of the better years for music in quite a while. That moment when you get a new record and it’s so good you can only to feel happy to be alive. I had that feeling a lot this year. I felt that a look back at some of my favorite tracks would be a solid enough use to warrant a post. Keep in mind this is not a music review. I’m not try to say: “given the state of music today I feel that these tracks are the most relev-“. No. No, I am not. Honestly, I kind of hate that sort of thing. These are just some of the songs that made me happy, in a year when new music made me happier than most year in recent memory.  We are all at strange whims to music, and when people go against those natural urges to be “thorough” or “hip”,  it’s just silly. I know I probably missed several great releases and they will be conspicuously absent to some, but…I don’t get paid to do that. Feel free to alert me of some great tracks on your own list. I hope you enjoy the great songs I was lucky enough to catch this year. There are way too many, and they are in no particular ranking. I’ve left the album info on the files so you can find the albums easier in case there is something unknown that you really like. Go and buy it.

PFU #014: The Best of 2010 [Pt. 1]

USE: Reflecting on a great year of music.

  1. Anti-Pop Consortium – Volcano [Four Tet Remix]
  2. Boyz IV Men – Garbaggio
  3. The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing
  4. Sunol – Save Me A Place [Fleetwood Mac Cover]
  5. Freddie Gibbs – National Anthem (Fuck The World)
  6. Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill
  7. The Strange Boys – Be Brave
  8. Angelina Lucero  – I’m On Fire [Springsteen Cover]
  9. Glass Candy – Feeling Without Touching
  10. Deerhunter – Desire Lines
  11. David Cross – I Can’t Get Beer In Me
  12. Tobacco – Fresh Hex [ft. Beck]
  13. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Revolution’s A Lie
  14. Daft Punk – End of Line
  15. Tame Impala – I Don’t Really Mind
  16. Class Actress – Terminally Chill [Neon Indian Cover]
  17. Sonny & the Sunsets – Too Young to Burn
  18. The Roots – How I Got Over [ft. Dice Raw]
  19. Cults – Go Outside
  20. Caribou – Sun
  21. Thee Oh Sees – I Was Denied
  22. Yeasayer – O.N.E. [Glasnost Remix]
  23. She & Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now [Skeeter Davis Cover]
  24. The Magnetic Fields – You Must Be Out of Your Mind
  25. New Young Pony Club – The Optimist
  26. Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
  27. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – River Styx
  28. Röyksopp – Forsaken Cowboy
  29. Antoine Dodson & The Gregory Brothers – Bed Intruder Song

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PFU #015: The Best of 2010 [Pt. 2]

  1. Arcade Fire – Ready To Start
  2. Kid CuDi [ft. LCD Soundsystem, Chip Tha Ripper, & Christian Bale] – All Talk
  3. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round
  4. Proxy [Todd Buker] – In Just [Demo] [ft. Jason Williamson]
  5. Kanye West – Power [ft. Dwele]
  6. Thee Oh Sees – Mega-Feast
  7. Vandertramp – Step Into My Arms [Demo Mixdown #1]
  8. Wild Nothing – Gemini
  9. Of Montreal – Famine Affair
  10. White Fence – The Love Between
  11. Girl Talk – Let It Out
  12. Destroyer – Chinatown
  13. Amon Tobin – Hey Mr. Tree
  14. Bonobo – Kong
  15. Boyz IV Men – Trance Armstrong
  16. Das Racist – Rapping 2 U [ft. Lakutis]
  17. The Hood Internet – Nuthin’ But A Journal Thang [Dr. Dre vs Class Actress]
  18. Lykke Li – Get Some
  19. LCD Soundsystem – You Wanted A Hit [Soulwax Remix]
  20. PJ Harvey – Written On The Forehead
  21. The Drums – The Future
  22. Dan Auerbach – The Prowl
  23. El Guincho – Bombay
  24. Chromeo – Hot Mess
  25. Midnight Juggernauts – Lara Versus The Savage Pack
  26. Miike Snow – Animal [Mark Ronson Extended Dub Remix]
  27. Twista – The Heat [ft. Raekwon]
  28. Louis C.K. – Cell Phones and Flying

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PFU #016 – The Best of 2010 [Pt. 3]

  1. Jose Gonzales [Junip] – Rope and Summit
  2. The Chemical Brothers – K+D+B
  3. Hot Chip – Hand Me Down Your Love
  4. Girl Talk – Jump on Stage
  5. Daft Punk – Derezzed
  6. Cut Copy – Where I’m Going
  7. Janelle Monбe – 57821 [ft. Deep Cotton]
  8. Caribou – Odessa
  9. LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change
  10. MGMT – Congratulations
  11. New Young Pony Club – Lost A Girl
  12. Crystal Castles – Not In Love [ft. Robert Smith]
  13. Ratatat – Neckbrace
  14. Vampire Weekend – Taxi Cab
  15. DJ Cuba Gooding Jr. – Romerex [Dance Theme]
  16. The Black Keys – Sinister Kid
  17. Best Coast – Crazy For You
  18. Baths – Aminals
  19. New Pornographers – Your Hands (Together)
  20. Ty Segall – Girlfriend
  21. Surfer Blood – Harmonix
  22. The Fresh and Onlys – Waterfall
  23. Deerhunter – Helicopter
  24. Flying Lotus – Do The Astral Plane
  25. The Gaslamp Killer – Monsterfromtheunderground
  26. DJ Shadow – Def Surrounds Us

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PFU #017 – The Best of 2010 [Pt. 4]

  1. Brian Eno – 2 Forms of Anger
  2. Beck’s Record Club – Devil Inside
  3. Gonja Sufi – DedNd
  4. Gil Scott-Heron – Me And The Devil
  5. Girls – Thee Oh So Protective One
  6. Scissor Sisters – Running Out
  7. Twin Sister – Lady Daydream
  8. Sunol – Headlands
  9. The Walkmen – While I Shovel The Snow
  10. Band of Horses – Factory
  11. Uffie – Sex Dreams And Denim Jeans
  12. The Art Museums – Oh Modern Girls
  13. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Beverly Kills
  14. Crocodiles – Flash Of Light
  15. Nice Face – Nobody’s Dead Here
  16. Japanther – Surfin’ Coffin
  17. La Roux – Bulletproof [Glasnost Remix]
  18. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
  19. The Strange Boys – Night Might
  20. David Cross – The One Show About Drugs and Stuff
  21. Lemonade – Lifted
  22. The Clientele – As The World Rises And Falls
  23. Marnie Stern – Nothing Left
  24. Javelin – Vibrationz [Album Version]
  25. Ceo – Come With Me
  26. Toro Y Moi – Blessa
  27. Jacuzzi Boys – Bricks or Coconuts
  28. Beach House – Silver Soul

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PFU #018 – Best of 2010 [Pt. 5]

  1. Lindstrøm & Christabelle – Lovesick
  2. Spoon – Got Nuffin’
  3. Miike Snow – Billie Holiday
  4. Das Racist – You Outta Know
  5. M.I.A. – Born Free
  6. The Vaselines – Sex With An X
  7. Ducktails – Don’t Make Plans
  8. Deerhunter – Revival
  9. Wolf Parade – Little Golden Age
  10. The Morning Benders – Promises
  11. Dr. Dre – Forgot About Dre [ft. Eminem] [Tape Bros. Remix]
  12. PS I Love You – Facelove
  13. Wavves – Idiot
  14. Crooked Fingers – Black Rose
  15. Atlas Sound – Mona Lisa
  16. Foals – Total Life Forever
  17. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Trick Pony
  18. Villagers – Becoming A Jackal
  19. Arcade Fire – Month of May
  20. Holy Fuck – SHT MTN
  21. Smith Westerns – Weekend
  22. DOM – Jesus
  23. Kanye West – Good Friday [ft. Common, Pusha T, & KiD CuDi]
  24. Caribou – Bowls
  25. Daft Punk – Fragile
  26. Abe Vigoda – Beverly Slope
  27. Curren$y – Breakfast
  28. Forest Swords – Rattling Cage
  29. Gayngs – The Gaudy Side of Town
  30. Blackbird Blackbird – Heartbeat
  31. Lætitia Sadier – Summertime
  32. LCD Soundsystem – Home

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Behold: PFU’s Holiday Long Player 2010

Hello there. Welcome back. This is our annual attempt to put something tolerable into the frustrating universe of holiday music.  There is only a ‘dirty’ version this year, but only a couple of songs. It can be edited to suit whatever tastes that you are forced to be around this holiday season. I hope everyone enjoys their holidays.

PFU #013

USE: Surviving the holidays.

  1. Rudy Ray Moore – Plymouth Rock
  2. Julian Casablancas – I Wish It Was Christmas Today
  3. Luke Vibert – I Hear The Drummer
  4. Brenda Lee – Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day
  5. Sunol – John, Mark, Luke And Paul
  6. Nino Rota – L’uccello Magico A Roma
  7. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings –  Ain’t No Chimneys
  8. Nat King Cole – Take Me Back to Toyland
  9. Marc Maron – Jesus Meets Santa At The Mall
  10. The Kaisers – Tipsy (X-Mas)
  11. Matt Pond PA – Holiday Road [Lindsey Buckingham Cover]
  12. Tatsuro Yamashita – Christmas Eve [YouTube Ukulele Cover]
  13. Leonard Cohen – Winter Lady
  14. The Jaynetts – Snowman, Snowman, Sweet Potato Nose
  15. The Ventures – Snow Flakes
  16. From The Future – Christmas Creep
  17. Alton Ellis & The Lipsticks – Merry Merry Christmas
  18. The Winstons – Amen, Brother
  19. Amon Tobin – Toys
  20. Elton John – Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who’d Be a Turkey at Christmas?)
  21. John Barry & Nina – Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
  22. Low – Just Like Christmas
  23. Remington Super 60 – Winter
  24. My Morning Jacket – X-mas Curtain (Jazzed Up)
  25. Sun Ra – Angels and Demons at Play
  26. Aretha Franklin – Blue Holiday
  27. Dave Attell – Egg Nog
  28. Aphex Twin – Nannou
  29. Françoise Hardy – Fleur De Lune (Song Of Winter)
  30. LCD Soundsystem – Oh You (Christmas Blues)
  31. Bjork – Frosti
  32. Sufjan Stevens – That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
  33. The Walkmen – While I Shovel The Snow
  34. Jeff Buckley – New Year’s Prayer

DOWNLOAD! CLICK HERE!!

Sadgasm. The Heartbreak Anthology: Part 3

sad

Good Evening. Let’s Get Sad. To that place where someone leaves you and advice and logic are useless. The mind usually leaps into a mode to fix its own imbalance as quickly as possible. This, of course, is usually the worst sort of reaction because heartbreak isn’t commonly a quick fix. Even if there is hope for a relationship most often there is a sizeable amount of arduous time apart required to recalibrate yourself and then properly recognize, accept, and mend the toxic elements that brought everything down. That’s if you’re lucky.

This mix is for men, and a woman’s mix will be following shortly. However, I think they all the sadness mixes will work for both sexes, much more than the anger mixes. Sadness usually makes us be a bit more accepting of another point of view because, well, we want everything to be ok.

I think that the brain has a hard time suddenly losing what it had come to assume was an essential element, no matter the amount of clues beforehand. The natural human reaction to say or do anything to solve a long view problem overnight (like a rotten relationship) eventually reminds us all that we, despite our quasi-sophistication, cannot escape becoming very irrational and dishonest with ourselves at our core.  This is a generalization, but seeing how most cultures defend this behavior in art, music, etc. as an inescapable defining human characteristic, I’d say its close enough to declare embedded in us. I don’t think we can evolve out of it. So…here’s what we get back for all of that intractable self destruction and pain.

Some of these songs are by the people who “cause” this sadness and the rest were written by really, really desperate and devastated people at their most irrational and broken. They’re so fucking good.

 PFU MIX #003

USE: Dealing with Heartbreak – Depression and Bargaining Stages. For Him.

 
 
  1. James Brown – Goodbye My Love, Parts 1 & 2
  2. Peter, Bjorn, and John – The Chills
  3. Al Green – Don’t Hurt Me No More
  4. Willie Nelson – Both Sides Now
  5. The Walkmen – Many Rivers To Cross
  6. Chuck Berry – Wee Wee Hours
  7. Johnny Thunders – You Can’t Put Your Arm Around A Memory
  8. Elvis Presley – That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
  9. The White Stripes – A Martyr For My Love For You
  10. Little Stevie Wonder – Sunset
  11. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Sympathetic Noose
  12. Sammy Ward – Bread Winner
  13. Kyu Sakamoto – Sukiyaki
  14. Pavement – Here
  15. Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home
  16. Waylon Jennings – Delia’s Gone
  17. Frank Sinatra – In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning
  18. The Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Want To Get Over You
  19. Otis Redding – You Don’t Miss Your Water
  20. Neil Young – Heart of Gold
  21. The Make-Up – Time Machine
  22. LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

DOWNLOAD! CLICK HERE!