Nerdgasmus Maximus

‘Scuse Grampa while he’s having a ten-minute nerdgasm, kids, but I found this YouTube video via my pal Troy Church at The Bigfoot Diaries‘ official page on Facebook and this is just audiophile heaven! I was oblivious to Quality Record Pressings, but according to information gathered they’re at the top of their game when it comes to mastering and pressing vinyl records.

This is just a total nerd dream as owner and all employees truly mastered their art – and yes, honing a craft is an art – and I can watch this clip over and over. Passion is so rare these days and watching a highly skilled worker perform is just as fascinating and inspiring as say the The Scientist at work in the studio clips I posted last year. So give it a spin and make sure you check out their official website here.

Out Soon!

copyright The Jimmy C 2013!

Check it out: Australian musician The Jimmy C just announced the new batch of coming releases on his official Facebook page. First out of the gate is the Mr. Someone single with six bonus tracks and the The Man Who Never Dies EP that features the three remixes I did for him plus four bonus tracks. Tons of goodies! Stay tuned for more info, and in the mean time check out the kick-ass advert he did:

copyright The Jimmy C 2013!

Tortelvis!

Well, as I completed yet one more lap around the block this past Friday and found myself receiving tons of pleasantries and well wishes from all corners of the world – except the usual Antarctica and North Pole, if you live there hit me up! – I was especially positively surprised when my pal Troy that runs The Bigfoot Diaries congratulated me and informed me that I share birthday with none other than Tortelvis from Dread Zeppelin! Now that, sir, is what we call awesome.

If you somehow should be unaware of this band – really? – I can inform you that they are probably the most unique damn outfit there ever was. In short they do reggae cover versions of Led Zeppelin. With an Elvis impersonator handling the vocal duties. Yeah, everybody goes “WTF!?” when I explain that. Still, if you’re gonna do something like covers – something I usually loathe – you should do what these guys are doing; A completely unique and original take on the material.

Growing as a phenomenon and cult band since the 1990s they have Robert Plant himself among their fans – check it out here for yourself if you don’t wanna take my word for it - I recommend you at least checking out some of their videos on YouTube, and speaking of Troy you can read his interview with Tortle here.

Official Ramones Day!

Tag along!

So, today’s April 4th – 4/4 – and I’m declaring it The Official Ramones Day! The “bruddahs” from Queens were truly masters of said beat, and a Google search confirmed that they actually didn’t have one. How disappointing is that? Jeez, are you even aware how many kids had their lives changed by that band? There’s a whole damn generation of musicians that owe their “careers” to what these guys pioneered as early as 1974, with myself being one.

Anyway, why bitch when you can be “proactive”? I’m going to spam post vids on my personal Facebook all day and maybe find the time to write a lil’ something about them here on this blog. Feel free to do the same. I mean, c’mon, we’ve got a pie day fer chrissakes! And as far as I know April 4th isn’t taken. Join the freak parade, honey!

I Get Busy

Yeah, there’s been a lack of posts recently – and content in the ones that were published – but like I told a friend of mine the more posts you see here the less I actually got to do. So, I’m busy. In the mean time, enjoy this shredding version of The Beach Boys‘ I Get Around. It actually sums up the Swedish spring of 2013 pretty darn good.

Goo

Yeah, well, my previous post reminded me of it so I had to give it a spin ’cause I sure haven’t played this one in ages: Sonic Youth‘s album Goo. And considering I only own it on cassette I had to ‘Tube it and give it a spin to see if it still holds up. Never been that a big a fan of Sonic Youth – when it comes to noise rock I prefer the brutal side of it like Jesus Lizard or modern outfits like Whores. – but this still sounds great, I consider it to be one of the better produced indie US rock albums, and is actually a weird time capsule of how American indie rock used to sound as Nirvana was roughly 12 months away from pretty much changing everything forever. Jeez, was this really released in 1990? Where the hell did time go?

‘I’m Normal!’

copyright Sellergren Design 2013!

Well, as time is finally opening up in my ‘schedule’ – god, that’s just such a weird phrase for me to use! – I’ve gotten around to compile my second mix for my Mixcloud – I’m Normal! 21 Deliciously Delirious Ditties of Dementia! (yeah, I’ve got this thing for punny Cryptkeeper-esque titles.) Audio surrealism is the theme of this one, and we’re talking songs that are beyond ‘novelty’. Among others we’ve got The Emperor‘s title track (released as an answer song to the cult classic They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha ha), Don Howard‘s oddity ballad Oh, Happy Day, and the I-guarantee-you most anemic cover version of The Trashmen‘s classic Surfin’ Bird ever heard! Plus, one track that’s guaranteed to piss off even the biggest fan of bad puns – even I have trouble standing it!

Anyway, I’m in the middle of audio clean-up right now (I actually sequenced this in 2012) and I’d say it’ll be roughly a month before it’s released online. Until then you’re free to give my previous Halloween-themed mix The Haunted House of Horror’s Horrific Halloween Twist-a-Rama! a spin here (also available via YouTube), and how about a taste of the title track?

The Man Who Never Dies

Well, as he recently made it official on his Facebook page, I guess I can reveal that the EP I spent a lot of December remixing is the upcoming The Man Who Never Dies EP by Australian musician The Jimmy C. The original version of the song as it appears on his new Orbital Debris album is damn great and I had fun sinking my teeth into it trying to give it a heavier, way more stoner rock kinda feel.

I ended up doing three versions in total. Like I initially told the guy I wanted to make one straight remix (where you pretty much just give the song a different sound with EQs, levels and effects), one alternative version where I set out to change some things with the sounds and the recording itself, and a final one where I kinda ‘f**ked with it’ giving it a complete make-over that might surprise everyone – including himself.

Now, all three remixes has been accepted by him – which I gotta say is pretty cool ’cause honestly I myself was kinda ‘oh, that third one is guaranteed not to end up on it’ – and with 4 new tracks added to it (again, this guy is amazingly prolific) I’m looking forward to see it released. No date yet, but I’ll keep you posted. In the mean time here’s the original version:

I’m On an Island

copyright Private Islands for Sale.com!

Well, as spring somehow got halted after two decent weeks and kicked off Monday with snow and a whopping -14 degrees centigrade (approx. 6,8F) and then proceed to dip down to -18 degrees (-0,4F) today, I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one in Sweden contemplating packing my bags right now and head to a place where the local residents go ‘huh?’ when you ask them about snow.

Good thing all you have to do is google ‘buy islands online’ to find U.S. brokers Private Islands Online that seem to offer pretty much any piece of land surrounded by water, and I was actually kinda surprised you can find a decent piece of land for as low as $50,000! That might not say much, but an average house in the town I live will set you back at least $300,000 meaning I could get six damn islands for the same price. Not that I have that kind of money, but you get the idea.

I browsed the site kinda briefly, and saw some really nice pieces of land – Pigeon Island in Nicaragua, Jewel Caye in Belize, and Pelican Island in Antigua – and gotta admit I could so get used to living in those places. Check ‘em out here.

While on the subject, here’s The Kinks also dreaming away:

Cyber Attack!

‘Today the web, tomorrow the world…’

Well, this is admittedly a bit of a diversion considering the themes I usually cover on my blog, but after reading a friend’s post about German company Deutsche Telekom launching the site Sicherheitstacho (more here if you can read Swedish) and visiting it I found this simple webpage oddly fascinating. And kinda eye-opening.

Placing 97 so called ‘honey pots’  in different places all over Earth, this page tracks the cyber attacks aimed towards them in real time, giving the company (and you) an idea of just how wild that Wide Wild World of Web actually is. And it is pretty staggering to see the sheer volume of attacks that happens roughly every two seconds. Time to check up on that old virus protection program, no? Get a glimpse here.

UPDATE: This post oddly enough made me think of this old gem from 1978. Taken from their Can’t Stand The Rezillos debut album, here’s Flying Saucer Attack by The Rezillos: