The soundtrack to one of the finer films of all time. As an avid Peaker, I really can’t get enough of the world created in both the series and this film. The two are drastically different in tone, but both work in their own great ways.

At the time I first dove into the Peaks world, I was really into reading scripts, so I had actually read the script to Fire Walk With Me before I watched it, as I did with Lost Highway. Both are amazing to read. Highly recommended. There’s so much stuff that didn’t make the final film, but goddamn if it isn’t a brilliant piece of work. Chris Isaac AND Kiefer Sutherland AND David Bowie AND Harry Dean Stanton all just in the INTRO to the film? A fucking IVOR wet dream right there. He only left out Robert Downey Jr…

This fine film could only be elevated by a fine score and soundtrack, which is exactly what Angelo Badalamenti provides. Haunting, sweeping, epic. The man should be given many awards for his work.

Also, be sure to go over to Egg City Radio and grab the Agent Cooper Tapes. A real gem.

It will take me longer to write this post than it will be to listen to this record while I’m doing it. 7 songs, 11 minutes. A real monster of a record.

The Great Kat is crazy as shit. She sent me this record when it came out, and with it was a photo of her shredding on her guitar, autographed with gold glitter marker. What was awesome about that photo, which I treasure to this day, is that it’s just a cheap 4×6 Kodak print. Like she gave me one of her doubles. It’s fucking rad.

This record always makes me happy. Superfast shredding on top of crazy symphonies and screeching metal vocals. So much to love about this record. It’s absurd, insane and truly impressive. I believe she plays all the parts except the drums. I just went to her website and saw that she has a billion other records, I think I’m going to have to get a few more. The 10 second sample of her Flight of the Bumblebee got me hot.

Furious Pig is great! I’ve been jamming on this stuff for probably a year now and it’s one of the things I keep coming back to when I’m in the mood to have my mind blown.

4 people, just vocals. 1980. Sounds like early Boredoms without instruments. Well orchestrated insanity. Sometimes screaming, sometimes synchronized lyrics, sometimes growling like an angry pack of rabid dogs. Fucking awesome.

I recently sent these tracks to the other people in my band and said that we should steal from them as much as possible. Let’s hope this happens.

Stolen from the great people at Ubuweb, also posted not too long ago by one of my favorite mp3 blogs, Death Wears White Socks.

This came out in 2003 and was probably one of my favorite new adds to KXLU for that year. It’s a fantastic mix of sound recordings, strange loops of all sorts of things, japanese voices and pretty little songs. It jumps all over the place, sometimes lulling you with repetition, other times abruptly cutting to something jarring.

From a page on her work at the Ars Electronica website:

Yuko Nexus 6′ account of how Journal de Tokyo was put together best sums up the nature of this recording: “I recorded a 45-minute session with my friend on a DAT tape, and then recorded many tunes over it. Our session got cut up, so you can only hear some fragments of the original. This is not only a CD but a cassette tape as well. You can hear some noises that are typical in cassettes from the good old days. Random order listening is also recommended.”

Big Muscles were three guys from Long Beach that played melodic and epic instrumental rock. Not too mathy, not too jammy, not too rifftastic. More like a grab-bag of a bunch of ideas that come in waves of complexity and calmness. Very enjoyable.

This is their 2 song Bromance EP that clocks in under 8 minutes, but supplies years of greatness. Seriously, I’ve heard people playing this EP at KXLU for years now, EVEN THOUGH OUR COPY SKIPS.

The first track is under 2 minutes, so nobody plays it, even though it’s great. A real winner. The second track is over 6 minutes, so DJs love to play it, however, it always starts skipping somewhere in the second minute. The delightfully beautiful men of Big Muscles promised they would supply us with another copy, but have not.

Then they broke up.

I present to you the first in a series of installments of random crap. A purge of bite-sized greatness and weirdness.

These come from my work computer, where I do most of my downloading and sorting of new stuff. Mainly these all come from other blogs, so most likely they’re listed in my links section already. If I know for a fact where it comes from, I’ll make note of it below.

These are all either the only song by the artist that I have or they are far and away greater than all other tracks on the original record. I probably don’t know much about any of them except that all of these songs rule in their own way.

Dance-y disco-y synth-y goooooodness…

Hot Gossip – Starship Trooper (Not sure if this is a hit single in the real world. Should be!)
Crash Course in Science – Cakes in the Home (more at Egg City Radio.)
Dharma – Plastic Doll
Gil Trythall – Folsom Prison Blues (Country moog. So good.)
Cotten/Prince – Tiny Places

Weird voices with weird music….

Ian Sherwen – Speak and Math (a Speak & Spell that is being tortured. Delightful!)
I Mikhanolighi – Corner of Ermou and Venizelou (No idea what language this is. Funky!)
Gretchen Bender – Artificial Treatment (Newscaster practicing. Creepy. Amazing voice.)

Foreign…

Gurmeet Bawa – Bolia (A long Punjabi song with a crazy singer. Soothing in a way.)
Heidi Brühl – Ich schließe meine Augen (Download more. From Germans Under Cover.)
Frances Bebey – Pygmy Divorce (So great! Song + life lessons about women.)
Arrigo Barnab̩ РClara Crocodilo (Brazilian crazy genius rock. Almost sounds Japanese.)

Silly Stupid Songs That Are Great…

Donovan – I Love My Shirt (Bret says this is the only great Donovan song. I believe it.)
Buck Sawtooth – Run to the Hills (Bluegrass cover of Maiden. Stolen from Demolisten.)
Aligator Flag – Elk Song (Short. Weird. Stupid. Also from Demolisten‘s collection.)

Hip Hop that isn’t Boring…

.org – Stolen Wolf (ALSO stolen from Demolisten, these kids are great.)
Hangar 18 – Think Big (maybe I’m lame but this song makes me happy.)

Bonus Awesome Rock…

The Convocation Of – Get Down Make Love (One of the greatest covers ever. Good Lord.)