Welcome students old and new… every Thursday until the sun blazes the Earth, the staff shall pay homage to the most classic indie albums of all time. No countdowns, or top 100 lists, just a weekly gaze into the Music Emissions vault. Let the education begin…

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a four-piece Grammy Award-winning American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1983. For most of the band’s existence, the members have been vocalist Anthony Kiedis, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Michael “Flea” Balzary, and drummer Chad Smith. The band’s varied musical style has fused traditional rock and funk with various elements of punk rock, and psychedelic rock. But every artist starts small…

Mother’s Milk is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on August 29, 1989. After the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak and subsequent departure of drummer Jack Irons, vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea regrouped with the addition of guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith. Frusciante significantly altered the band’s sound by placing more emphasis on melody than rhythm..

Thanks to recognition from singles “Knock Me Down” and the Stevie Wonder cover “Higher Ground”, the album became their first gold record in early 1990, and was the first step for the band in achieving international success.

Here is Dennis’ review of RHCP’s career-making Mother’s Milk

Most information sourced from wikipedia.org’s RHCP pages

Stellastarr*’s new album, Civilized will be released on July 7, 2009. Here is what the band has been enjoying recently.

• Your Nature
  Equal parts atmosphere and catchy songs harkening back to Stone Roses and early 90’s Manchester.  One of the rare occasions that three different members will take turns singing lead vocals and you will actually enjoy each one doing it.
• O’ Death
  Punk rock kids who grew up to play foot stomping mountain bluegrass.   The drummer has a tambourine duct taped to his shoe and plays a gas can in his kit.  The whiney croaks and shouted backing vocals make for great live anthems.
• Ghosts In The Valley
  A three piece Philadelphia band fueled by Fugazi-esque bass lines, Dinosaur Jr. style vocals and a lack of attention span over three minutes.  The result is a ‘reckless fun’ in rock music somewhat lost since the likes of the Replacements.
• Wakey! Wakey!
  Michael Grubs works harder on writing ’songs’ than trying to front a cool band or fit into a particular format.   The result is sad songs led by piano and huge vocals, walking the after-hours streets of ambiguous genre-identity.
• Man Man
  This Philadelphia band has more fun doing somewhat advanced rhythms and changes than most people could muster.  Their Darwinian roots are Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits and cabaret punk.  Check out the album ‘Six Demon Bag’.

This week we look at Eastern Canada. While I was compiling the songs I would use I found myself with enough bands from Toronto to do a separate podcast. That will come next week. For this week I present to you bands from Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

• (Antichrist Television Blues) - The Arcade Fire (Neon Bible)
• Creeper - Islands (Arm’s Way)
• Nothing More to Say - Joel Plaskett Emergency (Ashtray Rock)
• Luscious Life - Patrick Watson (Close to Paradise)
• Speed River - The Tragically Hip (We Are the Same)
• Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep (Welcome To The Night Sky)
• Approach The Throne - The Clues (Clues)
• Moon Of Day - Attack In Black (Years (By One Thousand Fingertips))
• Old Crows - Alexisonfire (Old Crows/Young Cardinals)

Read more…

I was going to leave this video for your weekend pleasure, Michael Jackson’s You Rock My World. A great movie type video featuring Marlon Brando amongst a few others but they don’t allow embedding.

So instead, completely unrelated, I’m dropping Sacred Trickster, the new video from Sonic Youth’s The Eternal. Just a fun and twisted video:

Welcome students old and new… every Thursday until the sun blazes the Earth, the staff shall pay homage to the most classic indie albums of all time. No countdowns, or top 100 lists, just a weekly gaze into the Music Emissions vault. Let the education begin…

NOFX (pronounced “no ef-ex”) is an American punk rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California (now based in San Francisco), in 1983. NOFX has released 12 studio full lengths and 15 EPs. The group has independently sold over 6 million records worldwide.

Read more…

I was minding my own business here at work and my wife called me asking me if it was true that Michael Jackson had died. A quick Google search on MJ confirmed that the King Of Pop had indeed died in a Los Angeles hospital after a cardiac arrest. This is one of those days that you’ll remember, I think. You know, the day Presley died, the day Lennon or Cobain died…

Jackson had 50 sold out concerts scheduled later in the year in London. It was supposed to be his big comeback. I guess sometimes comebacks come a little too late.

I did enjoy some of your music Michael, Thriller and Bad albums to be precise. Thanks for all the tunes.

Here’s a CNN story on the whole ordeal.

I was going to embed some MJ videos but unfortunately they all have embedding turned off due to the ridiculous requests of the label.

If you’ve been around the Music Emissions halls for a while you may remember mschmitt. Well he’s moved on to a new gig as Music Director for the online radio station Future Perfect Radio. We caught up with him to find out what’s hot right now in his mind. Here are his personal recommendations:

1. Loney, Dear - Dear John

Label: Polyvinyl Release Date: 1/27/09

“Airport Surroundings” grabs you right on the get-go in this amazing electronica-tinged album. Emil Svanangen uses his unique vocals almost as you would a synthesizer on some tracks. Dear John is one of those albums that fit any mood you’re in: there’s bouncy, upbeat tracks, low and depressed ones and everything in the middle.

2. Alela Diane - To Be Still

Label: Rough Trade Release Date: 2/17/09

Alela Diane is a masterful singer/songwriter on the west coast. Her debut LP The Pirate’s Gospel was a delicious combination of lo-fi folk with an out-west, frontier feeling. Diane’s production quality has increased on To Be Still, leaving behind those lo-fi days but showing that her songwriting ability has grown exponentially.

3.The Decemberists - Hazards of Love

Label: Capitol Release Date: 3/17/09

I first got this album on vinyl and couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out when one song began and another ended. It’s the best concept record I’ve ever heard and I’m still trying to figure out the storyline. Includes the enchanting folk-influenced indie rock you’ve come to expect from The Decemberists, with some new surprising elements thrown in to the mix.

4. Silversun Pickups - Swoon

Label: Dangerbird Release Date: 4/14/09

L.A.’s Silversun Pickups’ debut Carnavas got so many plays on my iPod I must have worn out the mp3 files themselves. I was at first very disappointed by Swoon, so much of what made Carnavas great seemed to be missing. But after a few more plays, I’ve fallen in love again. Swoon is different, I don’t know if it’s better yet, but this is one not to give up on easily.

5. Passion Pit - Manners

Label: Frenchkiss Records Release Date: 5/19/09

I think Passion Pit’s Manners might be in contention for my top album of the year. Not because I’m especially in love with the music - though I can’t get enough of Michael Angelakos’ dance pop melodies - but because there is not a bad song on this entire record. It’s simply flawless from start to finish, engaging and exciting.

Apologies to the two or three of you who expected a prompt sequel to my last dispatch from Manchester, Tennessee, and the sprawling, steaming, stinking, stimulating tent city that was Bonnaroo 2009.

Our camp was a two-mile hike from Centeroo, where the venues and press compound (and Internet access) are located – a snaking path between haphazard campsites, across dirt, mud and asphalt, past food/merchandise vendors and row upon row of putrid porta-potties, through hordes of hippy zombies; in other words, too far and treacherous to be lugging a computer.

So, I took notes and let the Bonnaroo experience percolate in my brain. The following drivel is the resulting brew:

Read more…

This week’s video is actually pretty cool. It’s an interactive video where you can choose one of three different versions of the video. It’s from Iggy Pop’s new album called Preliminaires and the track is King of the Dogs. Once the video is over you can choose one of the other versions: