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VALLEY MUSIC.

Posted on January 26, 2010 6 Comments

You know them.
You want them.
You need them.

If you didn’t already know, TNUC has strong ties to the Valley. The San Fernando Valley that is. Back in 1984, TNUC worked a grueling 3-hours a week at The Galleria, earning a little extra cash for quaaludes, junk, beer and pizza. In those days we didn’t have Malls…we had Gallerias. So get it right or pay the price.

The highest, most prestigious reward from working at The Galleria was the Valley girls. This place was a fully functional babe lair. Most of them were either skipping school to shop or hitting the stores after a long day of volleyball at the beach. Whether in the food court or the arcade, the girls were here with one objective…spending Daddy’s gold card. But upon hearing about TNUC’s black Trans-AM, the babes were helpless against it’s powers.

When I heard Born to Love from French producer Paul, instantly I was brought back to memories of cruising around parking structures in the Trans-AM, babes intact. So press play, close your eyes and reflect for a moment on the sacred temple of consumer culture and babe universe, The Galleria. This is Valley Music.

Have mercy.

LOVELOCK.

Posted on January 21, 2010 2 Comments

After a brief silence, Lovelock is back to continue it’s reign as the cream of the crop. This week he released the 3-track vinyl, ‘Pino Grigio’, which features edits of Pino Donnagio, Mike Oldfield and Simple Minds. This very limited and vinyl-only release is out now on Belgian edit label Mindless Boogie. Stream one of the tracks below.

The finest display of highbrow sophistication here is the title track, ‘Pino Grigio’. I completely adore what Lovelock has done with this. He chooses an already superb song from the great Pino Donnagio and transforms it into a cigarrette-boat-cruising jam packed with plenty of white linens and $700 leisure suits. So fire up the engines, grab your dream girl and prepare for a trip across vast oceans and into uncharted horizons.

FUTURECOP – 1988 GIRLS [VIDEO PREMIERE].

Posted on January 7, 2010 16 Comments

Been a little slow around these parts lately due to a week-long, holiday Quaalude bender. All that matters is that Uncle T is back and ready to show no mercy. The TNUC book of excellence and elegance didn’t thrust into the new year to bore you with another 09′ Best-Of List like the rest of them because, frankly, we can’t remember what happened in the past decade, never mind 2009.

So here it is! After a lengthy wait, the new TNUC video for Futurecop!’s ‘1988 Girls’ is among us. If you caught the original video which features the vocal stylings of Keith Masters, then good job, but this is the TNUC final cut. This instrumental version of the track pairs up with a slightly altered video that brings a little skin for the dudes and some legendary skin for the dudettes. So turn it up, maximize the screen and make sure Mom’s gone to bed…Get set to get wet.

PROUD TO BE LOUD.

Posted on December 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

Sorry Santa, but those Mariah Carey winter tour tickets that were nestled so nicely under the tree this Christmas are about to be scalped on the street for a couple front row seats to Jim Gillette! Besides being an original member of the band Tuff and co-founding the band Nitro in 1987, this glam metal hero was most famous for his extremely high voice, which he often used, with audio amplification, to shatter crystal goblets as part of his act.

The above clip is an excerpt from Jim’s vocal training video he released through Metal Methods in 1993. He is often cited to have had a range of over 6 octaves,though this has never been proven. An examination of his recorded output puts his range at 4 octaves, from E2[1]-D6[2] (which is still in itself quite an accomplishment) and on the Nitro song “Machine Gunn Eddie”. he was able to hold a soprano high B note (one semitone below soprano high C) for 32 seconds, whilst sliding between a high A and G in full voice. I hoped that these days one could find Jim still shattering crystal goblets, as seen in the picture below. Sadly, his days of ear-splitting have come to and end, as Jim is said to now be focusing on personal training, being a father and most importantly, being a husband and boning Lita Ford…Jackpot!

A REAL HERO.

Posted on December 15, 2009 4 Comments

Position your television antennas correctly and adjust the tracking on your BETA player, because the new EP from Valerie’s main man, College, is making its way through high-frequency airwaves and into our living rooms.

College – A Real Hero
1. A Real Hero (starring Electric Youth)
2. Closer
3. Critical Mass
4. The Mirage Makers
5. Susan Waiting

The title track ‘A Real Hero’, features the vocal duties of Electric Youth. The marriage of the soft synths and airy vocals sound like the commencement speech that these two musical entities never got to deliver at the podium. The song has a somber feeling cloaked over it yet the steady synths welcome the track with a glimpse of hope. Next is ‘Closer’, a track which if you listen closely, you can actually feel the dew forming over the freshly-cut blades of grass. Then we’re introduced to ‘Critical Mass’, a track for cruising on a motorbike through the post-apocalyptic remains of a city. As you coast through the ruins, all that’s left are clouds of dust and a few survivors who spend their nights hovered over burning barrels in dark alleys, trying to keep warm. Following this is a little piece titled ‘The Mirage Makers’, which combines obscure sound-scapes and sludgy electronics to create visions of a space-experiment gone horribly wrong. Lastly, the EP closes with the up-tempo ‘Susan Waiting’, the lost theme song to a forgotten TV show that takes place in San Francisco’s Bay. This song plays over the opening credits, where we see Susan riding her scooter over the Golden Gate Bridge, silhouetted by the late afternoon sun as this week’s episode unfolds.

The EP arrives this Saturday, December 19th in a limited edition of 300, hand-numbered copies. Preview tracks and order the record here. But for now, to harness your anticipation, here’s a new mix by College himself to celebrate his new release. More info + a tracklist for this mix can be found here.