Revisiting Old Music Part (Do-Es)

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D.O.A. – Bloodied But Unbowed
Straightforward Canadian punk rock.

D.O.A. – True (North) Strong & Free
Slightly less punk, and a bit more cheesy bar band sounding. Dull.

D.O.A. – Murder
Again, not the most innovative band around. Slightly better than the previous CD listed here.

Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age of Wireless
She Blinded Me with Science is so over-played that I can’t enjoy it anymore. Thankfully, many of the other songs are worthwhile on this CD: Europa and the Pirate Twins and Windpower stand out for me.

Thomas Dolby – The Flat Earth
Veers a bit into adult contemporary territory, but there’s enough new wave-ishness here to keep it interesting.

Dollface – Corvette Summer
The finest band to ever come out of Peoria, Illinois. Every song is a gem here.

Dollface – Lights the Pilot
Geez, this band was good. Shoulda been bigger.

Drop Acid – Making God Smile
Kevin Seconds’s post 7 Seconds band. Very 90’s sounding. I saw this band open for Superchunk in Champaign, IL the night Magic Johnson revealed he had AIDS.

Drums & Tuba – Flatheads and Spoonies
Really they are drums, tuba and noodly guitar. Bought this on a whim after seeing them live. Different, but the songs get old pretty fast.

El Vez – How Great Thou Art
A certain amount of pop-music literacy may be required to really appreciate El Vez. Funny, but there’s much more going on to really discount him as a “joke” band.

El Vez – Merry MeX-Mas
El Vez’s first Christmas album. His cover of Feliz Navidad/Public Image is a classic. Highly recommended listening.

El Vez – Boxing With God
Religion-inspired rock from El Vez. His amazing skill as an arranger is in full play here.

El Vez – Sno Way Jose
More Christmas (and Hanukah) greatness.

Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Okay, Wika bought this one. She got it at Wal-Mart so it is edited and bleeped. It’s almost worth a listen just to hear how much this is cut up. Even if we could hear the bad words, this album still would suck as much as it already does.

Esquivel – Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
Wonderful, off-the-wall big band arrangements from the 50’s and 60’s from this musical genius.

Martian Law CDs Are Now Free to Download

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For those of you who don’t know, I like to make music with my computer and have done so in one form or another since the days of The Music Construction Set on my old Apple ][+. In the mid-Nineties I began compiling my solo musical output under the moniker, Martian Law. The first record I produced was actually a cassette tape that I gave away as a bonus to people who bought one of my wood engravings. In hindsight, this tape is pretty embarrassing, but it did contain a few numbers that I still can appreciate.

In 1999 I followed my debut with my first full-length CD release, The Exciting Sounds of a Compaq P133. This disc was comprised of my first purely digital (no more cassette 4-track recording!) musical compositions. The sound is a little rough due to the primitive, non-pro software I used, but I am more-or-less happy with the way it turned out. I have now converted the CD audio tracks into super high quality MP3’s and have made them free for you to download and add to your digital library. In addition, I have taken the songs that I composed in the years after P133 and assembled them into their own proper release, Upgrade Downgrade. This four song EP is sonically superior and is, I think, my finest work to date. Download and enjoy, and please let me know what you think.

  • Martian Law – The Exciting Sounds of a Compaq P133
  • Martian Law – Upgrade Downgrade

These files are available through the file hosting service Drop.io. Each MP3 can be previewed and then downloaded to you local machine using the “download” links throughout the page. The preview versions are a lower quality MP3 than the actual download you will receive.

UPDATE: You missed your chance. No longer free to download, but super cheap on Bandcamp.

Revisiting Old Music Part (De-Di)

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Devo – Now it Can Be Told
Despite being recorded during the waning years of Devo, this live album is actually pretty great. They even make the bad Total Devo tracks seem almost good.

Devo – Smooth Noodle Maps
Devo’s last release is okay. I bit more consistant than Total Devo. But still nothing close to their glory days. The cover fo the Greatful Dead’s Morning Dew is the best track on the CD.

Devo – Post Post Modern Man (single)
A CD single from Smooth Noodle Maps. Nothing remarkable here.

Devo – EZ Listening Disk
Devo covers devo.

Devo – Hardcore Devo Vol. 1
Lacks the electronic polish of their best work, but most of this CD is essential Devo.

Devo – Hardcore Devo Vol. 2
Same as above, just more.Devo – Greatest HitsMost of my Devo collection is in the form of cassettes, so I bought this so I would have a CD version of their best stuff.

Dianogah – As Seen From Above
Two basses and a drummer. My friend Jay’s band revived my waning interest in indy-rock in the early 00’s with this CD.

Dianogah – Battle Champions
My favorite Dianogah album.

Dianogah – Millions of Brazillians
Not their best work. I think I was wanting more from their sound when this CD came out. I still like it quite a bit.

Dick Dale – Tribal Thunder
Dick Dale’s awesome comeback album. Totally insane. Dick Dale was signed as a witness on my organ donor card for years.

Dick Dale – The Best of Dick Dale and his Del-Tones
More great Dick Dale – the self-proclaimed inventor of heavy metal(?!)

Didjits – Hornet Piñata
Champaign band. They were a great act to see live, but in hindsight, their music is kinda lame.

Didjits – Full Nelson Reilly
Same as above.The Dirty HowlersGreat garage rawk from Chicago.

The Dirty Howlers – Behold!
Another batch of raw rockers from the Howlers. They broke up immediately after they released this CD.