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Favorite tracks chosen by the index worldwide team of music editors |
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Tenniscoats
Please Lemon MP3
Live Wanderus 2005
Chapter Music
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Japanese psychedelic pop band The Tenniscoats have been compared to the San Francisco noise-punk ensemble Deerhoof but their music is dreamier and more experimental. Takashi Ueno twists electronic and classical instruments over and around each other in a strange erotic symphony that Saya, the band’s ethereal singer, elevates to magical innocence. Even the most hardened heart recognizes and yearns for what The Tenniscoats have found.
- Camilla Padgitt-Coles |
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Pearls Before Swine
(Oh Dear) Miss Morse MP3
One Nation Underground 1967
ESP-Disc |
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Iconoclastic, enigmatic 60’s cult singer Tom Rapp says he turned down an invitation to perform at Woodstock because he was too busy loving his girlfriend on a Dutch lake. In this delicate song from 1967, he punctuates earnestly delivered lines of quirky poetry ("This may strike you odd-i-ly, but I want you bod-i-ly") with comically placed dots and dashes. If you know your Morse code, they translate to the naughtiest of four-letter words.
- Camilla Padgitt-Coles |
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| Photographer Ryan McGinley became known in 1998 with his photo book of NYC youth. More from that, plus index book of fashion interviews. |
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The Mae-Shi
Nickel Arcade MP3
Do Not Ignore The Potential 2006
Strictly Amateur Films |
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Iconoclastic, enigmatic 60’s cult singer Tom Rapp says he turned down an invitation to perform at Woodstock because he was too busy loving his girlfriend on a Dutch lake. In this delicate song from 1967, he punctuates earnestly delivered lines of quirky poetry ("This may strike you odd-i-ly, but I want you bod-i-ly") with comically placed dots and dashes. If you know your Morse code, they translate to the naughtiest of four-letter words.
- Camilla Padgitt-Coles |
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Find out about the people who worked on the magazine, and what they're up to now here. |
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Adian Smith
Writer's Block MP3
Early as the Trees 2005
Analogue Catalogue
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Aidan Smith’s songs are pared down, honest melodies that I listen to on repeat. The Manchester singer/
songwriter recorded his first two albums in his living room (aptly named At Home With Aidan Smith 1 and 2). The lo-fi, finger-plucking, formula-twisting brilliance that the honey-voiced Smith created behind that closed door makes me yearn to be the couch beneath his butt. Listen to the mini-album “Early as the Trees,” but beware of the full album “Fancy Barrel." It sucks.
- Emily Chandler |
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Unagi
If You Wanna MP3
It Came From Beneath the SFC 2006
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Unheralded San Francisco hip-hop producer Unagi has reinvented cheesy baby-making music. “If You Wanna” is on a funky gangsta-love vibe that reminds me of Tupac's moments of sweet serenade (think "Thug Passion").
- Bob Hammond |
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Rich Boy
Throw Some Ds MP3
Unreleased 2006
Interscope
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Alabama rapper Rich Boy lucked out in copping this gem of a beat from hip-hop producer Polow da Don (Jim Crow, Ludacris, Nelly Furtado). He doesn't waste the opportunity, creating the best Southern rap single since T.I.’s “What You Know.” The vocal harmony break shakes up the typical verse-hook song structure, heightening the elation of his theme -- buying a new Cadillac.
- Bob Hammond |
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Gaskets
Hold Steady Hot Weather MP3
Loose Change 2006
Aquarium Records
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I’ve been rapaciously listening to this album these last few weeks. Gaskets are the soundtrack to my weekends, a party that refuses to die. At times their music reminds me of the year 1989, and I’m not quite sure why (you’ll have to hear the other tracks). Perhaps it’s the undeniable influence of infectious 80s dance music that you are too embarrassed to go nuts for, but secretly really want to. This song is fun, and the very end makes me want to freak out.
- Jerry Yeti (of Yeti Don't Dance) |
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Ekkehard Ehlers
Strange Things MP3
A Life Without Fear 2006
Staubgold
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Using the blues as material for laptop manipulation in his latest album, A Life Without Fear, German artist Ekkehard Ehlers strikes a quiet balance between artifact and innovation. In this sparse and haunted track, distorted guitars hum in and out of audibility over a crackling vocal borrowed from Charles Haffer Jr., the little-known American early electric blues musician.
- Bob Hammond |
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Los Fabulosos Festivals
El Mensaje MP3
Panama! Latin, Funk and Calypso on the Isthmus 1965-1975
Soundways
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Panama has always been home to a stew of strong and varied cultures. In a new compilation of Panamanian music from the 60's and 70's, Soundways serves up some of the meatiest chunks. This standout track is a cover of "The Message" by the legendary funk band Cymande. Los Fabulosos Festivals’ loose rendition hits home with its Latin horn riff and is rounded off with a psych-funk guitar solo.
- Bob Hammond |
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Copyright © 2006 index Magazine and index Worldwide. All rights reserved. Site Design: Teddy Blanks. All photos by index photographers: Leeta Harding, Richard Kern, David Ortega, Ryan McGinley, Terry Richardson, and Juergen Teller.
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