[Meme!] Summer Six

Quick Six: As double dog dared by birddog

1. !!! - Take Ecstasy With Me
   Single
   
   Generally speaking, anything with an ambient hum or the din of cicadas has me hooked. I really love !!! ("chick chick chick") a lot although ultimately found their first LP kinda slap-dash. This single is however a fantastic summer song. A cover of an older Magnet Fields song it sounds really appropriate when orchestrated by the octet. All those ambient euphoric sounds coming together just right.
   
   I have slumberjack to thank for this tip. Cheers!
   
   
2. Steven Malkmus - Pencil Rot
   Face The Truth
   
   The last record he did with The Jicks was good fun. I mean Malkmus is who he is. The swaggering indierock Elvis shoots quirky charisma with every "Shock! Shock! Shock!" refrain. What's not to like? BONUS: gurgling synthesizers! It's acid after the ecstasy of !!!.
   
   
3. Maxîmo Park - All Over The Shop
   A Certain Trigger
   
   So this is the sorta stuff Warp Records is putting out these days? There are loads of detractors who want their Aphex Twin still but, frankly, I think it's good on them. Maxîmo Park are such fun because they're British Punk that still has that cute reservedness about it. Most Brits these days are desperately trying to act like Americans. People largely call this North Americanization of the culture "Modernism" or some such unconvincing crap.
   
   
4. Shout Oud Louds - Please Please Please
   Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
   
   Let it be known from now on that the Swedes can not only be stereotyped for their practical, functional and elegant design but also for their cute power pop songs and quivering, heartfelt indieboy lyrics. Not particularly remarkable but very pleasant and well executed.
   
   
5. Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves
   When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog
   
   More Sweden! Maple Leaves uses every retro production trick to recall the kinda music you'd imagine kids in the 1950s listened to. Sweeping and majestic strings with a tint of warble against funky-conservative off-beat drumming. Jens has a croon and wit very reminiscent of sadly dormant Jarvis Cocker, albeit a tad mousier.
   
   
6. The Go Find - Summer Guest
   Go Hawaii
   
   Take the Junior Boys, straighten out the beats and subtract one member. Summer Guest is the same brand of modern modern subdued synth-pop. But it dances a little nicer and doesn't navel gaze quite as much as the preciously mentioned band It's also a solo project which is rather impressive.

Listen up! This is a good meme and the sorta stuff I encourage others to participate in. No more ugly HTML table quizzes! However namely I am challenging the following people to come up with their own lists. Fancy graphics are of course not necessary.

• southerncrane
• slumberjack
• umkinda
• cpratt
• jliv
• ranger1

Apple Goes Intel?

C|Net is reporting that Apple is going to announce a transition towards Intel processors. This rumour is about as old as the company but now a major media outlet is parroting it. They didn't say they'd be x86 chips or not but chances are that Intel is a new supplier of sorts, even if they are making PPC chips for them.

I hope this means that Apple can start selling desktops with an LCD display for less than $800US. You know, like everyone else in the market who sells computers? You can still get a Dell with a 15" panel for $350US which gives them a lot of head room for pricing if they intend on staying a premium brand. Which I think they should stop doing because it's fucked up and retarded. Remember that the original Bondi Blue iMac was a big hit because it had a built-in modem, ethernet, USB, browser, monitor and everything you needed to get on the internet for $1300. That was one heck of a deal in 1998. They have the market clout to start allowing all sorts of people to afford Macs again. Now that would be thinking different.