Silver Jews - Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer

Artist: Silver Jews

Song: Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer

Album: Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (2008)

Silver Jews was an indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989… Wikipedia

The Silver Jews' sixth album cover - wherein three stuffed Babar toys climb onto a rocky outcrop - mysteriously and trickily relates to the record's tales of virtue gone to seed.

The album

Review

Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer :
Aloysius was a bluegrass drummer
He was just a normal kid
Blooming, tripping flowing under
Just as I once did

At a 24 hour restaurant
Open to the end of time
He was washing dishes there
When he met brick butterfly

She was a no age singer for a country act
Working at a region ten
She was all strung out on hard street fat
But he didn’t know it then

First a look then a spark
Sound of Velcro in the dark
His heart is spinning like a bicycle wheel
She and he laid the stems down flat
In the middle of a field

Brick butterfly had a history
of sleeping with the kitchen staff
She was a hardcore gobbler
and longtime guzzler of hydrogenated crap

Suet, tallow, liquid squeals
great mounds of plastic lard
That’s what she got the lad to steal
on the night that he got fired

Aloysius woke at five am
the hungry girl was gone
There was blood in the bedding
forks in the ceiling
And bones all over the lawn

Like any strong young poet would
He packed his bags for region ten
I guess now I know him less than I ever knew him then
Yes I guess I know him even less than I ever knew him then

Desperate Bicycles - Cars

Artist: Desperate Bicycles

Song: Cars (7”) (1978)

The Desperate Bicycles were an English punk group who released a series of independent recordings in the late 1970s and inspired many other bands to do likewise. The Desperate Bicycles pioneered the do-it-yourself ethic of punk, adopting a proselytising role exemplified by their ardent exhortation: "it was easy, it was cheap - go and do it!". The group have been described as "DIY's most fervent evangelists"

The music of the Desperate Bicycles has been described as: “Spindly, fuzzy, guttural guitars through puny amplifiers, reedy, wheezy organs, out of tune electric pianos, cardboard box drums and monotonous declamatory yet somehow utterly reasonable sounding vocals”. Another reviewer described them as “a shambling wreck of a psychedelic post-punk band”. The writer Simon Reynolds states that the group's music "was almost puritan in its unadorned simplicity, its guitar sound frugal to the point of emaciation".

Autechre - Bike

Artist: Autechre

Song: Bike

Album: Incunabula (1993)

Biography

Like Aphex Twin, Autechre were about as close to being experimental-techno superstars as the tenets of their genre and the limitations of their audience allowed.

The Album

Review

The song

Saloon - Bicycle Thieves

Artist: Saloon

Song: Bicycle Thieves

Album: What We Call Progress (2002)

A pretty song from a Reading, England art-pop band. Unfortunately I can't really make out any of the lyrics. You can listen to the track on the website of their label, Darla.com. Here's also a review of the album it's from (What We Call Progress), and an interview with the band.

(…) Is film important to Saloon? (‘Bicycle Thieves’ would sound great on a soundtrack.)
Michael: Well, "Bicycle Thieves" is a great Italian neo-realist film. When we're working on new material, we sometimes discuss ideas in visual terms, and these will often refer to Cinema. It's interesting to describe and understand sound in terms of related images, and in that sense music is certainly more refined - as such you need to work harder to impress people. We get a lot of people watching us with their eyes closed - if that's possible - maybe that tells us something?!

(…) In 2001, Saloon recorded their debut album. (This Is) What We Call Progress, which was engineered by singer Amanda Gomez at the Reading College School of Art and Design (now part of Thames Valley University) and mixed by Andrew Prinz of Mahogany in his New York studio, who also designed the sleeve. The album was released in April 2002 to mostly favourable reviews including the Sunday Times in the UK who listed it amongst their top 10 of the year.

(…) Think of all the best British bands from the 1980s and you have the basis for Saloon. Think New Order, The Cocteau Twins, The Smiths. Revel in the hint of a Wedding Present thrash-out in 'Le Weekend'. Wallow in the My Bloody Valentine bit in 'Static'. And then...
And then ask me what's so special about this , if I can so easily and effectively refer it to the past.

Music

The Pasties - Bikes Are Sexy

Artist: The Pasties

Song: Bikes Are Sexy

Album: Worst Parts Win

The Pasties play indie-dance-folk punk from olympia, washington An orchestral army that plays from acoustic alleyways to electrified stages.

Our official band color is pink.

Bikes Are Sexy, a 7" vinyl record, now with a CD of the previously unreleased song "Worst Parts Win", a live version of "Fist In The Air" and a version of "Bikes Are Sexy" featuring SCREAM CLUB!

music

Crackerbilly - Bicycle Song

Artist: Crackerbilly

Song: Bicycle Song

Album: My Shirt Looks Good On You (1999)

Crackerbilly’s take a mix of Oldtime, Bluegrass, Country, Florida Folk, Americana and tranform it into their own blend of upbeat drunken, beer snobbery, moonshine drinkin, biscuit eating entertainment. They have been referred to as a Jug Band & also a "Live example of late night campfire fun"
The music is always up beat and entertaining. If you just want to have fun, this is a must see.

Music

Zegota - Bike Song

Artist: Zegota

Song: Bike Song

Album: Movement In the Music (1999)

Zegota is an American hardcore punk and post-hardcore band originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, formed in 1997.

My space

NO! Pedal away from global decay
Every pedal strikes a blow for freedom
Every pedal strikes a blow against global decay What will we sacrifice?
What will we sacrifice for life and land?
When will we understand that we're responsible for the environment?
What will we justify?
Making way for you...
It's not your fault Don't know what else to do...
Taking the prescribed path, you'll have to wreck your life It's not our fault, we had to wreck our lives We wreck our lives.

Music

Video live

Queen - More Of that Jazz

Artist: Queen

Song: More Of That Jazz

Album: Jazz (1978)

The Band

The Album

The Review

Queen’s “bicycle songs”

Fat Bottomed Girls

Bicycle Race

The song

"More of that Jazz" is yet another one of Taylor's bitter comments about current society and the way rock and roll is disrespected. It is loop based and Taylor plays most instruments and sings all vocals, reaching some very high notes (peaking on a E5). The outro also contains short clips from many songs on the album, including "Dead on Time", "Bicycle Race", "Mustapha", "If You Can't Beat Them", "Fun It" and "Fat Bottomed Girls".

If you're feeling tired and only
Uninspired and lonely
If you're thinking how the days seem long
All you're given
Is what you've been given a thousand times before

Just more, more
More of that jazz
More
No more of that jazz
Gimme no more
No more of that jazz

Only football gives us thrills
Rock and roll just pays the bills
Only our team is the real team
Bring out the dogs
Get on your feet
Lie on the floor
Kinda think I've heard that line before

Just more
More of that jazz
More
No more of that jazz
Gimme no more
No more of that jazz

Oh no matter
Fool got no business hanging round and telling lies
Bicycle races are coming your way
If you can't beat 'em join 'em
Fun it
Oh you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round

No more, no more, no more of that jazz

Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls

Artist: Queen

Song: Fat Bottomed Girls

Album: Jazz (1978)

"Fat Bottomed Girls" is a hit single by Queen. It was released in 1978 on the album Jazz. The song was written by Queen guitarist Brian May. It was one of the few Queen songs played in an alternative guitar tuning commonly called "drop D tuning". The lyrics express the narrator's preference for voluptuous women. It is noted as one of the few hit rock songs to reappropriate the negative stereotypes of women's bodies

"Fat Bottomed Girls" was released as a Double A-side with the song "Bicycle Race". This cut includes the line "Get on your bikes and ride". Bicycle Race also contains the line "Fat bottomed girls, they'll be riding today, so look out for those beauties, oh yeah", completing a double cross-reference between the two songs.

The original single cover featured a nude woman riding a bicycle. When many stores refused to stock the single because of the cover, the label altered the image so that the woman was wearing panties.

Queen guitarist Brian May wrote this. It's about a young man who comes to appreciate women of substantial girth.
May told Mojo magazine October 2008: "I wrote it with Fred in mind, as you do especially if you've got a great singer who likes fat bottomed girls… or boys."

Are you gonna take me home tonight
Ah down beside that red firelight
Are you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls
You make the rockin' world go round
Hey
I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew love before I left my nursery, huh
Left alone with big fat fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman you made a bad boy out of me
Hey hey!

I've been singing with my band
Across the wire across the land
I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way, hey
But their beauty and their style
Went kind of smooth after a while
Take me to them dirty ladies every time
C'mon

Oh wont you take me home tonight?
Oh down beside that red firelight
Oh and you give it all you got
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round

Hey listen here
I've got mortgages and homes
I got stiffness in my bones
Ain't no beauty queens in this locality (I tell you)
Oh but I still get my pleasure
Still got my greatest treasure
Hey big woman you gonna make a big man of me
Now get this

Oh (I know) you gonna take me home tonight (please)
Oh down beside that red firelight
Oh you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round
Yeah
Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round
Get on your bikes and ride

Oooh yeah, alright, them fat bottomed girls
Fat bottomed girls
Yeah yeah yeah alright, hey, c'mon
Fat bottomed girls
Yes yes

Ghoti Hook - My Bike

Artist: Ghoti Hook
Song: My Bike
Album: Banana Moon (1996)

Formed in the autumn of 1991, the Washington D.C.-based pop-punk outfit Ghoti Hook comprised singer Joel Bell, guitarists/cousinsConrad and Jamie Tolosa, bassist Christian Ergueta and drummerAdam Neubauer. After developing a strong fan following in the northeastern U.S., in 1996 Ghoti Hook issued their debut LP Sumo Surprise; after the release of Banana Man the following year, Conrad -- also the group's primary songwriter -- exited to return to school. A covers project, Songs We Didn't Write, appeared in 1998. Two Years to Never followed two years later.

Banana Man is Ghoti Hook's second CD on Tooth and Nail Records. It continues the band's trademark sound started with Sumo Surprise, combining Christianity with humor and fast melodic punk.

(…) This was a pretty good cd. I have to say though, it wasnt as good as their previous CD, because the lyrics weren't nearly as deep (although they did have a few serious songs on this album, it was more just funny and messing around). This definately was their last REALLY good album though....after Conrad left, they lost alot of their musical talent as he was pretty much their main music writer and lyric writer. Notice they did a cover CD after he left because they weren't all that good of songwriters wihtout him. ANYWAYS, this is a good, happy, fun punk CD, and Ghoti Hook is a great band....even in their later CDs.

There's just one thing that I love more than anything.
I hold it so near to my heart.
It has just one gear and a pair of blue training wheels,
A headlight to see in the dark.
I like my bike.
It's not like other bikes.
It has pinwheels and a purple banana seat,
Loud cards in the spokes as they bend.
It has a big horn that I honk when you're in my way,
So I don't run over my friends.
I like my bike.
It's not like other bikes.
I ride my bike to the girl that I like,
And she looks at me and my bike.
A tear fills her eye as she's filled with great pride,
When I ask her to take a ride.
Me and my girl, we ride all over town on it.
My guide is the street and the sun.
We stop for a shake--I pretend we'll share all of it,
When I hit the eject button.

I like my bike.
It's not like other bikes.

Video live

World Atlas - Girl on a Boys Bike

Artist: World Atlas

Song: Girl on a Boys Bike

Album: World Atlas (2010)

Brooklyn band World Atlas started in 2006 as a handful of four-track bedroom demos- sketches of songs mirroring stories afforded by the city. The idea culminated in a full ensemble including guest member Fred Thomas of Saturday Looks Good to Me on guitar and The Umbrella Girls, who often serve as the group’s hand clappers, back-up singers and tambourine shakers. Their first self-titled EP is a pop atlas steeped in nostalgia and allegory that exudes an aesthetic of a library of weathered books, stolen glances and faded colors. Their instrumentation includes vibraphone, organ, shakers, trumpet and string arrangements taking the music beyond the pop confines of drums, bass and guitar. Infused with boy / girl harmonies and countermelodies the resulting songs depict both innocence and experience. World Atlas fit comfortably into the orchestral pop genre wearing Belle & Sebastian's and Camera Obscura's influence on their sleeves while garnering comparisons to earlier artists as well like Donovan, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground and French YéYé. Their first EP was released on Magic Marker Records in March, 2010 and work on a full-length follow up is underway.

Music

Catie Curtis - Bicycle Named Heaven

Artist: Catie Curtis

Song: Bicycle Named Heaven

Album: My Shirt Looks Good On You (1999)

There's something so honest about folk rocker Catie Curtis' voice. It's full ... Full Description of life and is the kind of voice that comes from someone who doesn't exist, but rather lives. The product of Curtis' life thus far is served up on her soulful fourth set, My Shirt Looks Good on You, a winning and driven folk-rock collection that explores love in Curtis' signature idealistic fashion. "Love Takes the Best of You" offers up an exploration of not romantic love, as many of the disc's 14 songs do, but maternal love, as Curtis sings of adopting an international baby. The song's lyrics are so simply touching: "And I wish I could promise you a beautiful world/That would never break your heart/Maybe that's what we are here for/We try and fix what comes apart." Sometimes full of adolescent charm, as on the title track; sometimes stark, as on "Don't Lay Down," a song-letter to a dying friend, Curtis is always full of heart on this collection. Musically, My Shirt Looks Good on You is a pure folk-rock fest, inspiring a good toe-tapping, eyes-closed-in-affirmation listening experience. The fabric of the sound is a tapestry of Curtis' robust voice and guitar and Jimmy Ryan's electric mandolin backed by a generally mid-tempo beat. The prominence of the electric mandolin transcends the disc's sound into something lofty and mesmerizing. This record will look and sound good on audiences' players. ~ Liana Jonas

Music

Long nights, no sleep
Let's not turn alarm clocks on
Calls wait on my machine
Papers piling up on the front lawn

Love and happiness ruined my ambition
Love and happiness
Love and happiness, that's my condition
Love love love love and happiness

Take your time, stay for breakfast
And tell me why that tattoo
Why drive home this morning?
My shirt looks good on you

Love and happiness ruined my ambition
Love and happiness
Love and happiness, that's my condition
Love love love love and happiness

Who's the president?
I don't care
Who's the monkey, who's the mayor
What's the story
What's the news
What's the difference
All I want is you

I don't want to leave this feeling
I don't want to leave this house
I turned myself in with you and
Only you can turn me out

Love and happiness ruined my ambition
Love and happiness
Love and happiness, that's my condition
Love love love love love
Love and happiness
Love love love love love and happiness

The Jellydots - Bicycle

Artist: The Jellydots

Song: Bicycle

Album: Hey You Kids! (2006)

The Jellydots are a highly skilled band of music teachers. The lyrical themes are silly, fun, and sometimes serious.

“Hey You Kids!” was recorded in June of 2006 with Mark Addison at his Aerie Studio in Austin. Jim Wilson mastered it in his new home, Airshow Mastering in Boulder, CO.
“Hey You Kids!” is a compilation of all the hits songs by The Jellydots over the last four years with three new songs (Captain Sleep, Bicycle, and Three is a Magic Number.” Tracks 1-9 are uptempo dance tunes designed to wear your kid out. The album ends on a slow note with four soft and mellow tunes perfect for naptime. “Hey You Kids!” was recorded live with the band, so you’ll feel like you’re right there with them at a show.

Hey You Kids! has just been voted number seven in the
Fids and Kamily Poll top 16 albums of 2006.

"No album this year had a better opening song than Hey You Kids! from the Austin, Texas-based Jellydots. “Bicycle,” evoking the joy of being on a bike, whether you’re a kid or a grownup, is simply an exquisite song from start to finish. And who hasn’t wanted to ride a bicycle on the sea or in the sky?"

myspace

music

video

The Jellydots perform a special version of their song "Bicycle" live at ImaginOn. This song closed the first show of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's Tricycle Music Fest.

Davi Ivar, Herman dune - My Brand New Bike

Artist: David Ivar - Herman Dune

Song: My Brand New Bike

Album: Ya Ya (2004)

Herman Düne is a French duo, formed in 1999. Originally a trio, the band now consists of David-Ivar Herman Düne (guitars and vocals) and Néman Herman Düne (drums and sometimes backing vocals). Néman, who is from Switzerland, replaced former drummer Omé in early 2001. On 13 December 2006, André Herman Düne played his last show with the band, and subsequently changed his name to Stanley Brinks. With Andre's departure, the umlaut was dropped from the name. The band are often joined by other musicians on live performances.

Some of Herman Düne's influences include: Leiber & Stoller, Chuck Berry, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Carole King.

Herman Düne have worked with several other bands and singers such as Turner Cody, Julie Doiron, Leah Hayes, Laura Hoch and the Wave Pictures.

In addition to the band's own albums, its members have worked on many side projects, some of which include Kungen, Ben Haschish, Ben Dope, John Trawlings, Fountain Boats, Satan's Fingers, and Fast Ganz. They have also played as the backing band for recordings by Julie Doiron (ex-Eric's Trip) and Kimya Dawson (ex-Moldy Peaches). Both André and David-Ivar have also released numerous solo CDs (mostly self-released CDRs). André and David-Ivar each contributed a song to the 2006 album by Françoiz Breut, Une Saison Volée. In 2006 he did a Take-Away Show video session shot by Vincent Moon.

This song 'I Wish That I Could See You Soon' was #89 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

review

music

well i decided to change my name to write that comic book
that i was talking about over the phone
and it turns out to be a pretty good idea
with all the many stuff that's coming out of me
i don't know what to think about that crap
all those dark weird panels that i come up with
it must be something inside of me
that i didn't want anybody to see
it must be something inside of me
that i didn't want you guys to see
and if i changed my name, it would be david cohen
well i have always wanted to be called a cohen
first class seats at the downfall and it's a great name to be a singer
well i wonder if i really wanna be a singer
at least it would make me die younger, in the dark, in the corner of an empty pub
it must be something inside of me that i didn't want anybody to see
it must be something inside of me that i didn't want you guys to see
and i'll be standing there with my brand new name
i'll be proud as the king of nowhere
talking shit about people that i have no reason to talk shit about
then they'll be like "cohen's getting bitter thoughts days"
and i, i wouldn't give a fuck, i wouldn't give a fuck
cause i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other
i'll be riding my brand new bike from on bank to the other

Ox - Stolen Bike

Artist: Ox

Song: Stolen Bike

Album: Dust Bowl Revival (2003)

Music

From the long, hard running American interstate comes the latest incarnation of alt-country anti-hero Mark Browning. With disdain for the singer-songwriter stereotype and a spirit of collaboration, the collective 'OX', has become Browning's new voice for the deconstructed pop song and the anthem of the musically disenfranchised. The concept is plain, reflect the hardness of this land, the spirit of the folks living on it, and blow it out like diesel exhaust. After all, it's only rock & roll. The debut OX: DUST BOWL REVIVAL (to be released December, 2002) is a collection of studio weary fragments, fragile masterpieces, sonic accidents; a candid album in the truest sense. Recorded live to analog tape and spliced cassette demo recordings made across the mid-west, DUST BOWL REVIVAL is literally, a record of a record; a behind the scenes look at recording an album. Production, exposed; a musical affirmation that the air in the room is part of the song, that space is part of the song, that the musical scaffolds of count-ins and tube-amp hum are part of the song... that the song, is only a part of the song.

"Headlining Vancouver songman OX plies a sensitive but scuffed, delicate but twisted variant on the cracked alt-country thing. On the evidence of a forthcoming album, 'DUST BOWL REVIVAL' he is a significant talent." Ross
Fortune, TIME OUT, LONDON UK

Apparently, Ox really enjoyed that song and its chord progression, since they wrote new words for it and created "Stolen Bike", which comes a few songs later. Maybe Kanye West, Jay-Z, or the Beatles are allowed to refer to other songs they wrote, and preferably songs from prior albums, but Ox has not earned that right. It is appalling that they either expect the audience to not notice that "Stolen Bike" is the same as "Stolen Car" -- just sped up -- or worse but more probable, that they do expect the audience to notice, and to find it terribly clever or interesting. That said, with its robust drum beat and its foot-tapping chorus, the song is easier to digest than "Stolen Car", so maybe the solution would have been to get rid of the first song.

Lucky 7 - California Girl

Artist: Lucky 7

Song: California Girl

Album: Lucky 7 (2002)

Lucky 7 was an American pop punk band from San Diego, California. They formed in 1997 and the next year independently released their first record, titled "Miss Fortune". After touring with bands such as Goo Goo Dolls, New Found Glory, Something Corporate, and Allister, along with immense internet buzz created by their high download rate at MP3.com, Lucky 7 signed with Shock Records/Omega Records, where they released their self-titled label-debut in 2002. The group disbanded in 2003. (wikipedia) (Allmusic)

This is one of the best CDs I have heard in a long time. Their punk-pop mix is driven and catchy, but it never gets old and it always sounds fresh. And I just think it's cool because my friend Brad had never heard of them (And he thinks he's so much more underground than I am!) I heard of them on MP3.com and got hooked, and the minute I saw the CD I felt the compulsion to buy it. The ol' instincts were right of course...Lucky 7 is greatness in the making!

"Crammed with more hot singles than an Ibiza dance club... Face the World, an obvious radio smash in wait."

(Intro)
You know dat girl in school?
(Yeah) She so fine and sooo mine!
Well..ok!

(Verse 1)
I met her at the dock
I couldn’t break the lock
On her bicycle
But that’s ok
We walked home anyway
(We don’t need a bike!)

(Chorus)
Who?
California Girl
What?
California Girl
Where?
California Girl
Why?
California Girl
When?
California Girl

Who, What, Where, Why, When?
MAN! That girl is fine!
Bump..(5x) What?

(Verse 2)
Check it out yall
To the beat yall
Jump up and touch your stinky feet yall

(Chorus)
Who?
California Girl
What?
California Girl
Where?
California Girl
Why?
California Girl
When?
California Girl

(Verse 3)
Say what? She mine! I know she always blows my mind!
Say what? She mine! I know she always blows my mind!
Say what? She mine! I know she always blows my mind!