araignée jacques mixtape # 6: MMVII

So it's almost Christmas, and what have we done? Well: here's a mixtape thing with songs from last year. Some novelties, a couple of guilty pleasures and a bongload of instant classics. At least, I think they are. You may think otherwise and skip the Bright Eyes track...

side a
side b

your cover's blown

Will we end up as we started? As a cover band? I don't think so. But we are making plans for Spider James all the time. Here's one plan. We will perform again live the coming year. Yes, we will. And we need some covers in the set aswell. Just for the fun of it. So if you have any suggestions: you're welcome.
To get you guys started: here's one of my favourite band cover some of my favourite songs. Jonny Greenwood pays his respect to Johnny Marr. Thom Yorke does a fine Morrissey impersonation and makes Bernard Sumner sound like Ian Curtis. Radiohead's secret weapon? The drummer. Nice!

araignée jacques mixtape # 5: just some nice tunes

I just want to share some nice tunes with you guys.... I hope you like them!

caetano veloso - alfomega
hot chip - over and over
cansei de ser sexy - alala
stereolab - french disko
charlotte gainsbourg - just like a woman
the shins - australia (peter, bjorn and john remix)
jens lekman - if i could cry (it would feel like this)

animal collective - #1
broadcast - corporeal
radiohead - reckoner
sigur ros - vaka (heim version)
grizzly bear - alligator (choir version)
nathan fake - the sky was pink (james holden remix)
kylie minogue - 2 hearts (alan braxe remix)

reactable

I like Björk a lot. She comes from a cool country and I think she makes great music. Because I'm going to see her live coming weekend I watched some live footage on the internet last week.
I was completely blown away by her perfomance of the song Declare Independence on 'Later with Jools Holland'. Not only by the song itself, which is evil punk-rave or something, but also by a crazy instrument called a reactable. Sir Paul who's watching, is also impressed...

What the hell is that thing? Basically it's just a modular synthesizer. But instead of using knobs to change and build up your sound, you have to move objects on a round display which looks like a table. These objects are called tangibles and each represent different modules and functions of a synthesizer. By moving them you create animations on the display, so you can see what you're doing. You can touch these animations to change the sound. The reactable can even recognise wave forms that a player draws on the table.
In other words: you just have to move some cool looking jigsaw puzzle pieces randomly on a futuristic blue table to make these totally weird sounds. As a bonus a synthesizer player no longer looks like a Pet Shop Boy or Rick Wakeman. Instead you become a sexy wizard practicing witchcraft from outer space!
Well, I wish Spider James could acquire such a 'beestig machien', but it's not yet available for normal blokes from dull countries. But we can watch some demonstrations!

lazing on a rainy afternoon

In the summertime the spider james people are all a bit like Mungo Jerry. Well, maybe not as scairy, but still enjoying the season, even though at the moment the summer feels more like an Interpol album than a Beach Boys song.
Although we get a bit lazy these days, we will have to get some things figured out before we go back to the studio in september. So the part of spider james not on holiday abroad or in Texel, will gather and make music as much as they can or are allowed to... And drink bongloads of coffee of course. We rock big time!

purists are boring

Double guitarsolo's with a lot of chorus, Tyrannosaurus Rex-style bongo's, drumsolo's, long instrumental breaks, epic melotron endings. We are not afraid anymore. We will do anything to be over the top! Now all we need is some lyrics about castles, phantoms, queens and prophets. But seriously (to quote our favourite drummer), we think we will blow your (and our own) mind with the things we recorded last weekend...

a nice pair

We achieved a lot more than expected today! An excellent wild space rock take on King James. A cinematic version of Kam. And a nice little jammie Kinki II. For now we think we never sounded better! Good news: Pidah and Spider James will go on sunday to record some more music. So set the controls for the heart of the sun......

odelay

Next saturday spider james will return to The Void in Eindhoven. We hope to do all the things we originally planned for the cancelled weekend in one day. Sort of. Well, we'll to the best we can! Willem will also show his bandmates some cool dance moves he learned from Iggy Pop last weekend. No fun!

araignée jaques mixtape #4 : hairway to steven

A name with no horse... We like to search for obscure cool music sometimes, but popular songs are classics for a reason. So here are some classic rock tracks. I'm sure you know all of them, but I think they are still nice to hear again.

side a
Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper
Neil Young - Down By the River
Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan
The Doors – Riders on the Storm
Led Zeppelin - No Quarter
Pink Floyd - Echoes
E.L.O. – Mr Blue Sky

side b
The Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll
The Zombies - Time of the Season
T-Rex - Bang a Gong
David Bowie – Moonage Daydream
The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
The Clash – Rock the Casbah
Madness - Our House
The Cure – Just Like Heaven

fortuna dies natalis!

Zorionak! Ilanga elimndandi kuwe! Dogum gunun kutlu olsun! Penblwydd Hapus i Chi! Droonkher Tashi Delek! Feliz Cumplea–os! Ravihi janmadinam aacharati! S dniom razhdjenia! Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu! Veels geluk met jou verjaarsdag! Eid milaad saeed! Parabens pelo seu aniversario! Tillykke med fodselsdagen! Hyvaa syntymapaivaa! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Inuuinni pilluarit! Til hamingju med afmaelisdaginn! Buon Compleanno! Vill Gleck fir daei Geburtsdaag! Som owie nek mein aryouk yrinyu! Felichan Naskightagon! Wszystkiego Najlepszego! ParabŽns a voc, nesta data querida muitas felicidades e muitos anos de vida.... So: Happy Birthday Rob……

situations

Due to tragic circumstances our recording dates got cancelled last weekend. Sometimes there are more important thing in life than music...

watch the tapes

This night one time Spider James member Christian Toonk, and Wouter van Veldhoven (yes, brother of) will perform their music at the Cul-de-Sac in beautiful Tilburg. For more information: visit this page. At the end of the evening everyone will know what ‘circuitbending’ means…

araignée jaques mixtape #3 : scandinavian

I read this novel by Johan Harstad, called "Buzz Aldrin, hvor ble det av deg i alt mylderet?". In Dutch translation of course. It's about a trip to the Føroyar Islands. And a lot more. And after reading the book I wish I could go there to...Well maybe, I'll just use some nice Scandinavian music and Google Earth to pretend I'm there.

side a
(Buzz Aldrin "Magnificent Desolation ", on the moon, july 16 1969)
The White Birch - Your Spain
Lampshade - Plakka Plakka
Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
Under Byen - Af Samme Stof Som Stof
Sigur Ros - Svefn-G-Englar
Emiliana Torrini - Lifesaver
Mum - Here Comes That Fear Again
Sagor and Swing - Det sista aventyret

side b
The Sugarcubes - Birthday
Serena Maneesh - Drain Cosmetics
Jaga Jazzist - Oslo Skyline
Björk - Declare Independence
Whitest Boy Alive - Burning
Annie - Heartbeat
Peter, Björn and John - Young Folks
Dungen - Festival
Hans Appelqvist - Zenna and Marie

the gunpowder plot

Well, saturday saw the full band together for the first time in six weeks. So we finally got to put all the parts of the new King James together. But the hard work, the talking an the gallons of coffee of the last weeks paid off. We think it sounds great. New and improved. Three chords, a steady beat, a double guitar solo and six guys screaming the same silly line over and over and over again. Isn't that what rockmusic is all about? Well, sometimes it is.

araignée jaques mixtape #2

After a weekend of loud rock at paaspop, I just felt like compiling a mixtape with mostly really soothing soft sunny music. Because that's all I really need right now... Hope you like it,
and try to remember always, always to have a good time!

side a
Sybille Baier - Tonight
Emiliana Torrini - Sunny Road
Juana Molina - Tres Cosa
Bango - Genhina
The Flamingo's - I Only Have Eyes For You
Carole King - It's Too Late
The Beach Boys - Feel Flows
Fleetwood Mac - That's All For Everyone
Mama Cass - Make Your Own Kind of Music
29 min 50

side b
Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina
France Gall - Laisse Tomber Les Filles
Miles Davis - Bye Bye Blackbird
Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner of Speaking
Blonde Redhead - Silently
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
30 min 20

araignée jaques mixtape #1

Time for a confession. We are the kind of nerds who like to make mix tapes. Well, at least some of us are. Here's the first one, compiled by me, Guillaume des Cours du Pré. It is a collection of songs I've been listening to on my way to work, riding the bus from Schijndel to 's-Hertogenbosch, which is sort of the theme of this compilation. Here it is, for your pleasure!

side a
Fennesz - Shisheido
The Books - Bonanza
Benoit Pioulard - Triggering Back
Husky Rescue - Diamonds in the Sky
Gruff Rhys - Painting People Blue
Teenage Fanclub - The Town and the City
The Byrds - Goin' Back
Belle and Sebastian - Asleep on a Sunbeam
Peter, Björn and John - Young Folks
29"49

side b
Panda Bear - Ponytail
Sam Gopal - The Sky is Burning
The United states of America - Love Song For The Dead Ché
Broadcast - Poem of Dead Song
The Free Design - Never Tell the World
Hans Appelqvist - Grammofonnummer
Mum - We Have a Map of the Piano
Max Richter - Iconography
Elton John - Rocket Man
29"41