Burl Veneer’s Music Blog

Hold all calls, I'm listening to Nine Inch Nails

2008-05-06T22:48:38Z

I'm a Nine Inch Nails fan from way back. I was hanging out with my pal $ean at the original Kemp Mill Records where he was assistant manager the day Pretty Hate Machine came out; I bought one right out of the shipping box. I listened to it and k...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Ghostland Observatory: sometimes the hype is right

2008-05-03T13:14:33Z

Ghostland Observatory seem poised to be this year's Big Thing, leading to overexposure and backlash, but a month after listening to their new album, Robotique Majestique, I still have several of the melodies and choruses running through my head. ...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Blues backwards: On the Road Again

2008-02-28T04:39:31Z

Of course everyone knows that "On the Road Again" is a blues standard made famous by Canned Heat in 1968: But I didn't know that in the 80s; my first encounter with it was on synth band (or what in retrospect is referred to as "minimal wave") Sc...

Send to a friend

GOB Bluth and the Continents

2008-02-17T07:14:33Z

Mrs. Veneer and I have never been able to watch a television show regularly, at least not until we got a DVR and found a show worth watching regularly (Ugly Betty). Then along comes the writers' strike, and kablooey. But the strike gave us time ...

Send to a friend

Ghosts of high school: Japan

2008-02-07T02:06:16Z

I rarely remember to search for my old favorites on YouTube, so it often happens that I happen upon them while blog surfing. That's how I just turned up a couple lip-synching performances by Japan of the first song I ever heard by them, "Ghosts."...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Pounding the floor with Radio 4

2008-02-05T04:35:12Z

The whole "new wave of new wave" fad has been fun, with bands emulating the sounds of the Clash, Gang of Four, The Cure, Duran Duran, Joy Division, etc. Brooklyn's Radio 4 is one of the best, putting forth a mix of the Clash and Gang of Four, spr...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Take a look overhead!

2008-02-04T02:12:29Z

The Spiderman theme is fine as a jingle, but I've never thought of it as an actual cop-show theme. Until today, that is, when I found Norwegian electro duo Ugress's groovy remake: That's definitive; I doubt you'll ever hear a better version of ...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Belatedly, Cabaret Voltaire

2008-02-03T18:09:36Z

Here I've been going on about Sheffield and the great industrial dance music of the 80s and I haven't even gotten around to Cabaret Voltaire yet, arguably the godfathers of that whole scene. So to remedy that, here's the video for what is probabl...

Send to a friend

Organico: file with Mahjongg

2008-02-02T22:32:22Z

A week after discovering Mahjongg, a band playing exactly my kind of music, I've found another one without even trying. The Vintage Library Emporium sharity blog shares old albums (1978-1990, mostly) of library music, instrumental music intended ...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Chrome: Das Gift der Musik

2008-02-02T01:44:25Z

Once again I'm in "it's easier to download the album from a sharity blog than to find it on my shelves" mode, which is how I ended up with a digitized copy of Chrome's Raining Milk album yesterday. Hearing Chrome's cyborg metal for the first time...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend