mp3s - because i'm like that

and because I've finally unpacked records that had been boxed up for years. here are a few vinyl transfers (from long-oop titles) complete with surface noise and grounding problems:

ambitious lovers - let's be adult

arto lindsay once described himself as "james brown trapped in the body of don knotts." this shoulda-been-a-hit is from envy, the first album by ambitious lovers, in which arto married the noise of dna with what would become the tropical funk that made the bulk of his 90's solo work.


bunk dogger - french lessons

a uk pub-rock satirist was bunk dogger. actually, I don't know who he is/was (and google isn't any help), but this was one of a few dogger airs that got played on whfs back when it was 102.3 and "alternative" wasn't just another buzz word. "french lessons" has that elusive quality of much great art from lolita to the office: the ability to produce pleasure and discomfort at the same time. what *is* his tone here? the first-person narrator affects a ridiculous french accent and pines over an underage english schoolgirl, a gaggle of whom are pictured on the cover of the accompanying album, first offence. but what could have been simply a charming ballad fit for the benny hill show turns into a minor tragedy; the narrator may camp up his role as lech, but the schoolgirl plays it straight and disaffected; the alienated younger generation defeats her melodramatic elder, whose affected accent cannot hide the unrequited longing to hear those chimes at midnight again. there is a world of emotion in this silly song, all of which I of course recognized when I first heard this song at the tender age of thirteen.