People in Planes return (celebrate with a free MP3!)

Anthemic Welsh modern rockers People in Planes have leaked a track, "Pretty Buildings," from their upcoming (as of yet untitled) album -- which will be released by Wind-up Records later this year.

Download "Pretty Buildings" now.

As an added bonus, their PureVolume page still has a free download of earlier hit "Falling by the Wayside," which was used in promo spots for "The Sopranos."

Image courtesy of the band.

Today's Moment of Zen: 'Huckabee Girl'

And you thought George W. was bad for America...



read more | digg story

It's ... my very first shameless LocalM.com plug! (James Wilsey's 'El Dorado' reviewed)

That's right; your fearless* Duluth Budgeteer News reporter, Matthew R. Perrine (hey, that's me!), has "stepped out" for a spell.

I recently helped out the fine folks at Local M with a review of James Wilsey's (The Avengers, Chris Isaak) brilliant solo disc, "El Dorado."

The review is only available at LocalM.com, so check it out now ... you know, before this whole Internet fad fizzles out!

*But he still bruises like a peach, so don't attempt to test this statement or anything....

---

FURTHER READING
"LocalM.com's Rock for the Tots Returns" -- A little story I ran on Craig Rhode Jr.'s (aka Mr. Local M) excellent benefit concerts.

dtas69: ME, WHITE NOISE (Secret Songs, Pt. 1) {VIDEO EDITION}

Submitted for the approval of the Twin Ports Awesome Mix Tape Appreciation Society, the latest installment of "Don't Tell a Soul."

Hidden tracks are fun, aren't they? I've decided to start a new series in which I compile the best that are out there. Hopefully you'll find something you didn't even knew existed!

To aid in this process, I have provided -- wherever available -- links to YouTube videos of the songs mentioned.

Too beige?
Matt

(Questions? Comments? Want one of your band's songs to be considered for an upcoming awesome mix tape? E-mail mperrine [at] duluthbudgeteer [dot] com.)

*******

1. The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove"
FOUND ON: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." HOW TO FIND: After "A Day in the Life." SOUNDS LIKE: A "dog-friendly" high pitch leads into a seriously deeee-ranged tape loop. Like Death Cab for Cutie's "Flustered/Hey Tomcat!" but not nearly as listenable.

2. Blur - "Me, White Noise"
FOUND ON: "Think Tank." HOW TO FIND: Before "Ambulance" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE:



3. Nirvana - "Sappy" (fka "Verse Chorus Verse")
FOUND ON: The "No Alternative" compilation album. HOW TO FIND: Unlisted Track 19. SOUNDS LIKE:



4. Green Day - "All by Myself"
FOUND ON: "Dookie." HOW TO FIND: After "F.O.D." SOUNDS LIKE:



5. Jay-Z - "Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise)"
FOUND ON: "The Blueprint." HOW TO FIND: After "Blueprint (Momma Loves Me)" but before "Girls, Girls, Girls (Remix)" (another unlisted track). SOUNDS LIKE:



6. Beastie Boys - remix of sample of Los Angeles Negros' "El Rey y Yo"
FOUND ON: "Hello Nasty." HOW TO FIND: Between "The Move" and "Remote Control" in the pregap. SOUNDS (KIND OF) LIKE:



7. M.I.A. - "M.I.A."
FOUND ON: "Arular." HOW TO FIND: After "Galang." SOUNDS LIKE: Another piece to the "Arular" puzzle. (Note: I don't know if later editions of the album had this as a separate track, but it was certainly "hidden" on mine -- no bluff!)

8. Beastie Boys - Biz Markie freestyle
FOUND ON: "Hello Nasty." HOW TO FIND: Between "Intergalactic" and "Sneakin' Out the Hospital" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE: Exactly what it sounds like: a Biz Markie freestyle!

9. Alice in Chains - "Love Song"
FOUND ON: "Sap." HOW TO FIND: Unlisted Track 5. SOUNDS LIKE:



10. 311 - "Transistor Intro"
FOUND ON: "Transistor." HOW TO FIND: Before "Transistor" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE:



11. Blind Melon - title unknown
FOUND ON: "Soup." HOW TO FIND: Before "Galaxie" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE: Some gentle instrumentation and Shannon Hoon lyrics in reverse playback.

12. Nick Cave and the Dirty Three - "Dread the Passage of Jesus, For He Will Not Return"
FOUND ON: "Songs in the Key of X" compilation. HOW TO FIND: Rewind past the first track, Mark Snow's "X-Files Theme" and the Dirty Three's cover of that song (another unlisted track) in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE:



13. Pearl Jam - "Writer's Block"
FOUND ON: "Binaural." HOW TO FIND: After "Parting Ways." SOUNDS LIKE: Someone hammering away at a typewriter. Think "The Shining."

14. Linus - "The Northstar System" (acoustic vers.)
FOUND ON: "Championships are Won in the Off Season." HOW TO FIND: After "Detroit '83." SOUNDS LIKE: Self-explanatory, but it should be noted that because of this song's simple elegance, it became somewhat of a mini-sensation at select University of Minnesota Duluth house parties circa 2002-2003. (Strange, eh?) Anywho, here's some background on the song courtesy of guitarist Bri Smith: "Jeff (the group's singer) wrote it for me to try to get me to date him. And it worked for a little while too. We initially performed it in an ensemble for a concert at arts high (in Minneapolis)."

15. Super Furry Animals - "The Citizen's Band"
FOUND ON: "Guerrilla." HOW TO FIND: Before "Check it Out" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE: Hands down, one of the greatest SFA tracks out there. Wonder why they decided to hide it so well?

16. Radiohead - untitled instrumental
FOUND ON: "Kid A." HOW TO FIND: After "Motion Picture Soundtrack." SOUNDS LIKE: Really beautiful, transcendent stuff. If I ever found myself orbiting the Earth, I would request this brief track.

17. Atmosphere - "Say Shh"
FOUND ON: "Seven's Travels." HOW TO FIND: After "Always Coming Back Home to You." SOUNDS LIKE:



18. The Presidents of the United States of America - "Basketball Dream"
FOUND ON: "II." HOW TO FIND: After "Ladies and Gentlemen, Pt. 2." SOUNDS LIKE:



19. Primus - "The Heckler"
FOUND ON: "Antipop." HOW TO FIND: After "Coattails of a Dead Man." SOUNDS LIKE:



20. The Deftones - "Bong Hit (skit)/Damone"
FOUND ON: "Around the Fur." HOW TO FIND: After "MX." SOUNDS LIKE:



21. Look Down - title unknown
FOUND ON: "24/7 Dance Force." HOW TO FIND: Before "Zack Morris Phone" in the pregap. SOUNDS LIKE: If Look Down ever gets big (and Brett Favre knows they deserve it), I could see this being their big arena intro.

22. Travis - "Some Sad Song"
FOUND ON: "12 Memories." HOW TO FIND: After "Walking Down the Hill." SOUNDS LIKE: Let's just say that if the love of your life is walking down the aisle with someone else, you'd want to be listening to this on your headphones.

23. Bare Jr. - "Pearl"
FOUND ON: "Boo-Tay." HOW TO FIND: After "Why Won't You Love Me." SOUNDS LIKE: A message from a pissed ex (choice line: "Don't write me a song.") lends itself into a song about -- you guessed it -- her. Kiss-offs never sounded so good.

24. The Frames - unlisted instrumental
FOUND ON: "For the Birds." HOW TO FIND: After "Mighty Sword." SOUNDS LIKE: Ireland's best band goes all doom-and-gloom (relatively speaking, of course) on us. Man, I really love this track. Something about it just makes you want to keep it playing at maximum volume until you're carted off to "the big house."

25. CKY - "Halfway House"
FOUND ON: "Volume 1." HOW TO FIND: After "To All of You" and "Rio Bravo Reprise" (another unlisted hidden track). SOUNDS LIKE:



26. White Zombie - unlisted instrumental
FOUND ON: "Astro-Creep: 2000." HOW TO FIND: After "Blood, Milk and Sky." SOUNDS LIKE: Very similar to the Frames' track on this mix tape. You just want to lose yourself in this one. You can almost feel your speakers melting away.

27. The Beatles - "Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove" (reverse vers.)
FOUND ON: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." HOW TO FIND: After "A Day in the Life." SOUNDS LIKE: A "dog-friendly" high pitch leads into a seriously deeee-ranged tape loop. Like Death Cab for Cutie's "Flustered/Hey Tomcat!" but not nearly as listenable -- in reverse. ha ha ha I don't know exactly what I expected to hear, but I still can't discern anything that's being said....

Don't Tell a Soul, Vol. 68: DON'T TELL ME HOW TO ROCK, I'M FROM HERE

Submitted for the approval of the Twin Ports Awesome Mix Tape Appreciation Society, the latest installment of "Don't Tell a Soul."

As always, to encourage the consumption of music that doesn't suck, I have provided -- wherever available -- links to free, artist-sanctioned MP3s of the songs.

Dirt McGirt!
Matt

(Questions? Comments? Want one of your band's songs to be considered for an upcoming awesome mix tape? E-mail mperrine [at] duluthbudgeteer [dot] com.)

*******

1. Nash Kato - "Zooey Suicide"
Did lightning strike twice for Nash Kato? Sure does. After warming the hearts of hipsters everywhere with Urge Overkill (particularly after the group's cover of the Neil Diamond song "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" became synonymous with "Pulp Fiction" in '94), he released a phenomenal solo record in 2000, "Debutante" -- which featured this gem. A funny little message I found on UO's Web site: "Nash Kato is ready to launch his secret rock assault on some unsuspecting civilians and radio programmers. You see, Nash won't have a problem with self-promoting, the trickle down effect will take precedence like it did for Urge. Nash's real battle will be vying for top billing on your Limp Bizkit playlist. Can Nash do it ... fuck yeah! Will you do it ... fuck yeah! 'Zooey Suicide' has all of the rock elements needed to be a hit. Hook included."

2. Marah - "Angels of Destruction" (other free MP3s available here)
My favorite review of the new Marah masterpiece actually came in from The Onion's A.V. Club. A sampling: "Songwriters Dave and Serge Bielanko have immersed themselves in classic-rock vocabulary for so long that it's practically their primary language. ... Emulating Springsteen back when emulating Springsteen wasn't cool is starting to pay off."

3. Tony Bennett - "All Things Must Pass" (George Harrison cover) (listen here)
Staying on this classic rock-oriented, we have Cars & Trucks/Bloodstool/Dames/Seed Math frontman Tony Bennett's gorgeous take on one of the The Quiet Beatle's most memorable solo cuts.

4. Mac Lethal - "D.U.I. #1" (many free downloads here)
Not the same D.U.I. hook he rallied behind during his recent performance at Pizza Luce, but another classic Lethal joint nonetheless.

5. J.U.F. - "The Last Wish of the Bride"
J.U.F. (Jewish-Ukrainishe Freundschaft), a collaboration between between members of Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box, sounds like a mashup of any given Gogol Bordello song and Stella Soleil's "Kiss Kiss." No joke.

6. Sector 7-G - "Some Days (A Song About Me and You)"
This would sound perfect at the recently reopened Orpheum Theatre in Duluth (now a nightclub).

7. Paper Tiger - "Make-Make"
A mesmerizing (almost) instrumental from one of Doomtree's best producers.

8. Building Better Bombs - "Deathships"
Back with Doomtree, here's P.O.S.'s other group, which likes to kick a lot of ass with a post-hardcore assault with an intensity that hasn't been heard since Sweden's Refused shaked our shores.

9. Jay Reatard - "Oh It's Such a Shame" (listen here)
This continues along the same lines, but Reatard couples his maxed-out fuzztones with addictive melodies that make you want to prepare for the upcoming first wave of Reatardmania!

10. The Whigs - "Right Hand on My Heart"


11. Sir Salvatore - "Townies"
From my preview of the "Continental Breakfast" EP, regarding "Townies": "A brilliant mover that doesn't waste any time (the track clocks in at 1:30) -- imagine the Little Black Books if Mark Lindquist traded in Duluth for that other city by the bay."

12. Saves the Day - "Can't Stay the Same" (listen here)
Remember 2001, when it seemed like Saves the Day was poised to take over the world? Well, they didn't, but guess what? They're still around, and, if this track's any indication, as catchy as ever.

13. Sloan - "Even Though" (other free MP3s available here)
A worthy bonus track to 2006's album of the year (according to me), which is only available* at Yep Roc's Web store.

14. Fiver - "Don't Tell Me How to Rock, I'm from Here" (other free MP3s available here)
Remember the first time you experienced Beulah? That's kind of the feeling I got when I got back from the Fetus and listened to Fiver for the first time. Brilliant, brilliant (and underrated) stuff here -- somewhat along the lines of 764-HERO, though a little more poppy.

15. The Sundogs - "Desperation & Borrowed Time" (listen here)
Recommended if you like Phonograph (the band) or all those radio-ready Cities bands that came to prominence in the early '90s.

16. Colour Revolt - "Naked and Red"
R.I.Y.L. the Yeah Yeah Yeahs cut with classic rock and, oh yeah, you'd never wear a fanny pack -- not even for a cheap laugh.

17. The Donnas - "Living After Midnight" (Judas Priest cover)
Sounds exactly like you'd expect, and that's OK.

18. Lightspeed Champion - "Tell Me What's It's Worth" (listen here)
If this feel-good trickery got as much play as that overrated Canuck Feist, I would die a happy music geek.

19. I, Colossus - "It's Not Funny"
My I, Colossus album review in the Budge went a little something like this: "Here, on what can only be likened to the feeling one gets after a massive sugar high, Sandstedt channels Mahaffey’s work in the most flattering way: unequivocally coupling aw-shucks lyrics ('Like a bullet in the gun / You’re dressed to kill someone') with imaginative rhythms and fluid, though somewhat subdued, soft/loud dynamics."

20. Of Montreal - "So Begins Our Alabee"
Kevin Barnes is a golden god ... man!

21. Portrait of a Drowned Man - "Count to 10 in a Snowstorm" (other free MP3s available here)
Again, to plagiarize my work in the Duluth Budgeteer News: This is instrumental "Hum-esque space rock" in the key of awesomeness.

22. Chris Walla - "Like a Spark" (download "Sing Again" here)
If you were smart enough to order your copy of "Field Manual," the Death Cab for Cutie guitarist/producer's solo record, through Barsuk, you were rewarded with three exclusive non-album downloads -- and this beauty was one of 'em.

*BONUS TRACKS*

23. They Might Be Giants - "Theme from 'Flood'"
Words of wisdom like "Why is the world in love again? / Why are we marching hand in hand? / Why are the ocean levels rising up?" before ...

24. Battles - "Tonto"
a lengthy exercise in exploratory jazz-fusion ... yay!

*This could be true ... though I must admit I'm too lazy to check it out for sure.

Diorama-rama 3 Moment of Zen

I know this is a couple of days late, but I wanted to preserve this monument to the POG kingdom for posterity (yeah, for posterity) ... you know, before one of my friends sits on it thinking it will timewarp him/her back to '93 or something.

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you *cheeks redden* my contribution to Diorama-rama 3: "Battle Arena Poginden, or: Hey, Remember When Fun Shit Didn't Cost $160?"

---

FURTHER READING: "Diorama-rama 2 Moment of Zen" -- Like this, but Electric Light Orchestra-themed....

"Pog Champion" -- The best T-shirt ever?

This Week's Shameless Budgeteer Plug: The maritime museum (again and again), whodunits, 'VD Day,' James Moors, Sara Thomsen, Drew Danburry and more!

Forgive me Crosby, for I have sinned ... I gave press to an Aitkin native. (For shame!)

"Books Where Somebody Always Dies" -- Duluth (by way of Aitkin) mystery writer Kathleen Hills on her latest, "The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies," and why Scotland maybe isn’t the best place to write.

"Discover Duluth: Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center" -- Believe it or not, the dead of winter is actually a great time to visit the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center. You stay classy, maritime museum. (This place was always a favorite of mine as a kid, and I finally got to honor* it with my photo essay series!)

"Some Enchanted Evening in February" -- As in years past, Valentine’s Day options abound in the Twin Ports. Some of the experiences noted in this what-to-do-what-to-do article: Glensheen, Fairlawn, Beaner's, Snoodle, Hell (rather, Hell's Kitchen), the Minnesota Ballet and Carmody Irish Pub with its -- this is classic -- Anti-Valentine's Day concert, featuring Taconite (which, excuse my language, kicked ass at last weekend's Diorama-rama 3), Tangier 57, Bill Meier and Erotic Poetry.

"New Albums from James Moors, Sara Thomsen and Drew Danburry" -- Reviewed this week: James Moors/The Artist Formerly Known as Sterling Waters' "Hush," Sara Thomsen's "Everything Changes" and Drew Danburry's "Mother."


ALSO: I took a photo for Chelsea Honebrink's Budgeteer debut, "Thom Holden: Captain of the Maritime Museum"; I took this weekend's cover whilst walking around the maritime museum grounds; I took last week's cover of a "marquee moon" hanging over the Sundew too (but neglected to share it with you back then); I also penned a story about quirky home products for the latest edition of Blueprint (which hasn't made it to the Web yet, unfortunately) and, last but not least, the latest installment of "Where in the Northland is Matt Perrine?" is ... really, really easy, so you don't need a bonus clue. (Just look at it, for [BEEP BEEP]'s sake!)

*The degree of which is probably debatable. ha ha ha

p.s. If you're reading this and there is a box (or tube) of POGs taking up space in your closet, we need to talk.

p.p.s. Seriously, I play with POGs!