Radiohead - Assorted rarities

Well, here is a little treat, in preparation for the next post, the Radiohead Unplugged Acoustic Sessions. But first:

These are a few songs I’ve found that seem to be some of the more obscure Radiohead music. Not one-of-a-kind, but still pretty hard to come by. Rather than an album (it isn’t) this is a collection of assorted MP3s: some seem to be covers or acoustic versions of songs, others are remixes, one is even done acapella (substituting vocal sounds for instruments). It’s worth checking out if you’re a fan. Track listing follows (alphabetical order):

Alligators in NY Sewers
Be Quiet and Drive
Big Boot
Blow Out
Creep (acapella)
El President
Everything In It’s Right Place
Ladytron
Lucky
Morning Bell
My Iron Lung
Rabbit In Your Headlight
Rhinestone Cowboy
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Video Killed The Radio Star

All seem to be encoded in a 192 kbps MP3 CBR format (save for the last one listed, which is at a lower 128 kbps MP3 CBR), but I cannot vouch for their quality.

Still, I thought it was a pretty neat find.

Download (82mb)

Update: (In response to Juliet) Well, it appears the information I used was not so accurate. The last three are not Radiohead at all (I was under the impression that they were covers, or something). However, many are still Radiohead, and not LP versions either (I believe quite a few more are live). Still, this is more an informal release, as noted above, just some songs of interest. Sorry for the mistake.

[FEATURE] The White Revolution (2 Album EPs)

Oh, where to begin.

Well, they are new, first of all. I mean, literally–new, and unsigned. If ever there was a band befitting of the indie title, this would be it. Experience isn’t everything, though. Their sound is very distinct: mellow vocals, guitar licks guitar licks ranging from light to heavy,  melodic piano–an all around ambient sound about the songs.

According to Hugh Smith, a guitarist and vocalist of the band, they are “very unsigned”. Think they sound a bit like the Decemberists? Well, it seems they got the idea from the same period in history: “while we were studying the russian civil war”. “I think we came up with our name before we were cool enough to know who the decemberists were”

Either way, their sound is great break from the norm, and owes a listen from any music lover. You can check out their Last.FM profile, here. Also, I have provided both of their EPs, the Rain Shades EP as well as the Hourglass EP. Be sure to give them a listen, and pass it on if you like what you hear!

1.	Stones Across The Water	3:01
2.	Drop The Facade	3:09
3.	Feet of Gold	3:43
4.	Hey There	2:45
5.	Sketches of Midnight	4:45
6.	Rosie’s New Dimension	3:19
7.	Yiri and the Freefall	3:31

2007 / 7 Tracks 24:13 / 128 kbps MP3 (CBR)

Download Rain Shades EP (22mb)

1.	Disco Disco	1:21
2.	Lilted	3:22
3.	Life Outside	3:17
4.	The Heybridge Anthem	2:54
5.	Algebra	2:49
6.	My Funky House	4:23
7.	Director’s Cut	3:21

2007 / 7 Tracks 22:27 / 128 kbps MP3 (CBR)
Download Hourglass EP (19mb)

Return of FEATURES

Every so often, there is an album, artist, or some post worthy of this awesome spotlight. Admittedly, the posts around here lately have been a bit lacking, as I used to have much free time to devote to this blog. Well this isn’t the case anymore, I’ve decided to bring back the Featured category, for albums or artists I feel have a special worth around here. Rarities, unsigned artists, great albums… expect this in the Featured category. I’ll be featuring a great new band in the next post, stick around.

They Might Be Giants - Flood

One of my absolute favorite albums. They Might Be Giants always delivers imaginative and memorable beats, coupled with allusive lyrics. I mean, what other band alludes to classic literature in one line, then particle physics in the next? There is a reason they’ve gathered a status as “nerd rock”. In the end, they deliver very clever songs, some of which remain quite popular to this day. Although this album is nearly two decades old, it still has a fresh sound about it.

1.	Theme From Flood	0:27
2.	Birdhouse In Your Soul	3:20
3.	Lucky Ball And Chain	2:46
4.	Istanbul (Not Constantinople)	2:38
5.	Dead	2:56
6.	Your Racist Friend	2:54
7.	Particle Man	1:59
8.	Twisting	1:56
9.	We Want A Rock	2:22
10.	Someone Keeps Moving My Chair	2:23
11.	Hearing Aid	3:26
12.	Minimum Wage	0:47
13.	Letterbox	1:25
14.	Whistling In The Dark	3:25
15.	Hot Cha	1:34
16.	Women And Men	1:46
17.	Sapphire Bullets Of Love	1:36
18.	They Might Be Giants	2:45
19.	Road Movie To Berlin	2:22

1990 / 19 Tracks 42:47 / 129 kbps WMA (V2)

Download (39mb)

French Toast - French Toast

As far as I know this is the only album released by this band of superb musicians. Featuring Michel Camilo on piano and two of his compositions (”Why Not?” and “Calentado Man”), not to mention (among others) Lew Soloff on trumpet, Dave Weckl and Steve Gadd on drums and Anthony Jackson bass. Released in 1984 on the Electric Bird label and originally available only as a Japanese import, notwithstanding the fact that it was recorded in NYC. You could say this album is the predecessor to Michel Camilo’s “One More Once”, released several years later.

Personnel:
Peter Gordon - french horn
Lew Soloff - trumpet
Jerry Dodgion - alto sax
Michel Camilo - piano
Anthony Jackson - bass
Dave Weckl - drums (tracks 1,2,5,6)
Steve Gadd - drums (tracks 3,4)
Sammy Figueroa - percussion
Gordon Gottlieb - percussion

Recorded at Skyline Studio, NY, April 7, 8 and 9, 1984.

1.	Why Not	5:46
2.	Joe Cool	6:42
3.	Ion You	9:20
4.	B. A. Express	6:24
5.	Butter - Tribute to Quentin Jackson	6:52
6.	Calentado, Man - Part 2 of the Suite Sandrine	9:07

1984 / 6 Tracks 44:11 / 256 kbps VBR MP3

Download (84mb)

Shiny Toy Guns - We Are Pilots [Rocketship bonus track]

Wonderful album. After being independently produced, then commercially released a few more times, this is the finalized version, containing the Rocketship theme as a bonus track, as well as 15 neat tracks. Shiny Toy Guns is an independent band from L.A., formed in 2002 and recently touring around the States.

1.	Don’t Cry out	4:12
2.	Rainy Monday	3:56
3.	Photograph	3:51
4.	Le Disko	3:26
5.	Shaken	3:54
6.	Turn To Real Life	3:27
7.	We Are Pilots	3:59
8.	The Weather Girl	4:42
9.	Waiting	4:25
10.	When They Came For Us	4:27
11.	Joel’s Theme	2:52
12.	Sky Fell Over Me	3:56
13.	Ritz	2:46
14.	Rocketship	3:28
15.	I Promise You Walls	4:12

2005 / 15 Tracks 57:33 /  160 kbps CBR MP3

Download (65mb)

Navigation tune-up

Well. A new idea occured to me, and here it is:

Now, you can use Tags (found underneath the category listing under each music related post) to navigate through artist or year.

There is a little problem though. At this point, you browse ALL the tags when clicking on a tag through a post. However, if you put in “centralgear.” before wordpress.com, it’ll get to the blog specific tags. This is only a problem with the year and popular artists, though, so it may not come up. I’m working on a way to fix it, but it might not be possible through this blog host.

Eluvium - Copia

And now I conclude the last addition of Eluvium uploads. Considered by many to be his best works in ambient music, Copia takes the spellbinding genre to a new a level. This his latest work to date, and surprisingly hasn’t made its way around the internet as some other albums. So, enjoy it in all it’s glory!

1.	amreik	3:18
2.	indoor swimmimg at the space station	10:29
3.	seeing you off the edges	5:03
4.	prelude for time feelers	5:48
5.	requiem on frankfort ave.	2:41
6.	radio ballet	3:12
7.	(intermission)	0:50
8.	after nature	1:51
9.	reciting the airships	4:35
10.	ostinato	6:08
11.	hymn #1	1:31
12.	repose in blue	9:19

2007 / 12 Tracks 54:45 / 200 kbps VBR (V0) MP3

Download (88mb)

OiNK.cd is dead

Long live OiNK.cd!

DEVO - Watch Us Work It

Well, I admit I’m a DEVO fan. This single of their’s has been in a few of Dell’s commercials, and now has a fair amount of demand. I figured I’d upload it here.

2007 / 2:14 / 214 kbps VBR (v2) MP3

Download (3.5mb)