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April 30, 2008

Texas: May Concert Listings

May in Texas starts off with the big names: MS-adored M.I.A. plays Austin and Dallas, Kanye & Co. in Big D and H-Town. Don't want to drive four hours to see your favorite act twice in a row? The Raconteurs and Wilco each play two shows in two days at Stubb's in Austin.

There's a drop-off after all that, but let's face it, almost everything would be a drop-off after that kind of start. No home Spurs game on Cinco De Mayo, but Juanes fills the void. (Shouldn't there be more shows, state-wide that day?) Candlebox takes a break from playing the grand opening of a furniture showroom near you to play Beaumont. Some other solid shows all over the state (MS picks in bold), but nothing too noteworthy. Right? Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah...

HOLY JESUS CHRIST ON ROLLER SKATES RADIOHEAD IS COMING TO TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Austin
01 M.I.A. w/ Holy Fuck at La Zona Rosa
02 Atmosphere, Abstract Rude DJ Rare Groove at Emo's
02 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at Stubb’s BBQ
02 Tapes ‘n Tapes w/ White Denim at Antone’s
02 John Waite at the Cactus Cafe
02 X w/ Detroit Cobras at La Zona Rosa
03 Atmosphere, Abstract Rude DJ Rare Groove at Emo's
03 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at Stubb’s BBQ
05 The Breeders w/ Colour Revolt at Emo’s
07 Stars of the Lid w/ Christopher Willits at the Ritz Theater
09 Brett Dennon, Mason Jennings & Missy Higgins at La Zona Rosa
10 Supersuckers at Parrish
10 The Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees, Dead Black Hearts at Antones
11 Pennywise, Strung Out, Authority Zero at Emo's
11 Wilco at Stubb’s
12 Wilco at Stubb’s
15 She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, The Virgins, Switches at Stubb's
15 ZZ Top at the Backyard
16 Islands at Granada Theater
16 Liars at Red 7
16 Mindless Self Indulgence w/ the Birthday Massacre & Combichrist at La Zona Rosa
16 Old 97’s at Waterloo Records
17 Japanther, The Pharmacy, Vivian Girls, MVSCLZ at Red 7
19 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Duke Spirit at Antones
28 Subtle at Mohawk
30 Big Head Todd & the Monsters at Stubb's
30 The Black Angels & Possessed by Paul James at Emo's
30 Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Peel at Emo's

Beaumont
03 ZZ Top at Ford Park
07 Candlebox at Ford Park

Corpus Christi
02 Alan Jackson at American Bank Center

Dallas
01 Bonde do Role at the Palladium Loft
01 Kanye West w/ Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco at Superpages.com Center
01 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at the House of Blues
02 M.I.A. at Palladium Ballroom
02 Roger Waters at Superpages.com Center
04 Meat Beat Manifesto at Granada Theater
04 T-Pain at House of Blues
05 Mike Ness at House of Blues
06 The Breeders at the House of Blues
08 Stars of the Lid at Granada Theater
09 Louden Wainwright III at Sons of Hermann Hall
09 Pennywise at Granada Theater
11 Menudo at House of Blues
18 Radiohead w/ Liars at the Superpages.com Center
20 The Beach Boys w/ DSO at Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center
22 Eisley w/ the Myriad at House of Blues
24 Sin Bandera at Palladium
25 The Kills at House of Blues
29 Big Head Todd and the Monsters at House of Blues
29 Black Angels at Granada Theater
30 Steve Miller Band & Joe Cocker at Superpages.com Center
31 Dresden Dolls at Palladium
31 Old 97’s House of Blues

Denton
03 Tapes ‘n Tapes w/ White Denim at Haily’s

El Paso
06 Carrie Underwood at Don Haskins Center
21 Liars at Club 101

Fort Worth
15 Kris Kristopherson at Bass Performance Hall
19 Liars at Lola’s
24 Tanya Tucker at Billy Bob’s Texas
31 Cross Canadian Ragweed at Billy Bob’s Texas

Frisco
03 Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Leann Rimes at Pizza Hut Park

Grand Prairie
03 Widespread Panic at Nokia Theatre
14 Alicia Keys w/ Jordin Sparks at Nokia Theatre

Houston
01 Gov’t Mule at Meridian
02 Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rihanna at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
02 Widespread Panic at Sam Houston Race Park
06 Mike Ness at Meridian
07 The Breeders at the Meridian
07 The Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees, Dead Black Hearts at Warehouse Live
10 Pennywise, Strung Out, Authority Zero at Warehouse Live
10 REO Speedwagon at Sam Houston Race Park
12 Ace Frehley at Meridian
13 Mindless Self Indulgence w/ the Birthday Massacre & Combichrist at Meridian
15 Ass Jack & Hank Williams III at Meridian
16 Backyard Tire Fire, Rev. Horton Heat & Nashville Pussy at Meridian
17 Pat Benatar at Sam Houston Race Park
17 Radiohead w/ Liars at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
17 She Want Revenge w/ the Virgins at Meridian
18 Alicia Keys w/ Jorkin Sparks at Toyota Center
29 The Gourds at Discovery Green
30 Dresdon Dolls at Warehouse Live
30 Old 97’s w/ Hayes Carll at Meridian
31 Big Head Todd and the Monsters at Meridian
31 Kansas at Sam Houston Race Park

Laredo
01 Alan Jackson at Laredo Entertainment Center

Lubbock
07 Carrie Underwood at United Sprint Arena

San Antonio
05 Juanes at AT&T Center
12 Bowfire at Majestic Theater
19 Pink Martini at Majestic Theater

Selma
21 Iron Maiden at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Woodlands (Spring)
04 Roger Waters at Woodlands Pavilion
20 The Police at Woodlands Pavilion
31 Steve Miller Band & Joe Cocker at Woodlands Pavilion

Posted by Randall Monty at 05:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Retrohump: Debunking Can Theories With More Can

Can - "Mother Sky"
(live on West German television, 1970)

Last week's bit of glorious Can footage presented a compelling alternate reality in which clean cut young Japanese street busker Damo Suzuki was eventually corrupted by the evil long-haired German jazzniks that became his band mates. This clip, culled from the same reliably avant West German television network but broadcast two years earlier, shoots it all to hell. I guess Damo had just gotten a new shirt and a haircut for"Vitamin C" day, because "Mother Sky" features the monastic hermit/homeless vet look that we all know and love. He looks like the ghost in a J-horror flick. If you see black water mysteriously oozing from a bass amp, do not investigate!

As with most vintage clips of un-telegenic krautrock from the vaults, the clip is mainly enjoyable for the befuddled reaction of the teenagers gathered in its audience. It looks like they were given free tickets to Das Dancepalast!, and entered fresh-faced and excited, only to have all the joy of life beaten from them by the cruel warlords on stage. Nodding off and sitting on the ground chain-smoking can be noted in the advanced ennui cases. The best of all is the girl who sits beside the speaker lighting some sort of antique opium pipe. Only she, getting casually blitzed on national television, has the necessary detached nihilism to really belong in the bleak rhythm's midst.

Below is the full fifteen minute version of the song's studio version, which I admire greatly in parts, but have perhaps never listened to in its entirety. For the chic opium smokers among you...

Can - "Mother Sky"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kanye West photo ban flaunted!

From the non-news News department: Denver Post's Reverb blog breached Kanye's draconian photo rules.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 05:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 29, 2008

Monolith Festival announces initial lineup

[Photo cred]

My hat is tipped in the direction of the Monolith organizers. So far it looks great!

Monolith Festival > Denver Mile High Music Festival

Blogging from vacationland so check the press release after the jump for full details. Initial lineup below.

Saturday, September 13
Devotchka
Silversun Pickups
Neko Case
Vampire Weekend
Mickey Avalon
Del tha Funky Homosapien
Cut Copy
The Fratellis
Superdrag
The Kills
Holy Fuck
White Denim
The Night Marchers
A Place to Bury Strangers
The Photo Atlas
The Hood Internet
John Vanderslice
Darker My Love
Cameron McGill & What Army
Blitzen Trapper
The Presets
Pop Levi
Pwrfl Power
The Morning Benders
Boyhollow

Sunday, September 14
Justice
TV on the Radio
Band of Horses
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
CSS
The Avett Brothers
Tokyo Police Club
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
Akron/Family
The Bronx
Tilly and the Wall
The Heavy
The Cribs
The Ting Tings
Airborne Toxic Event
Bright Channel
Chester French
Grampall Jookabox
The Rosewood Thieves
Hearts of Palm
The Giraffes
The Elms

MONOLITH FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY ESURANCE,
HELD ON SEPTEMBER 13-14
AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE,
ANNOUNCES LINEUP

JUSTICE AND DEVOTCHKA,
ARE JOINED BY SILVERSUN PICKUPS, BAND OF HORSES,
TV ON THE RADIO, SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS,
VAMPIRE WEEKEND, THE AVETT BROTHERS, NEKO CASE,
DEL THA FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN, CUT COPY, MICKEY AVALON,
CSS AND MANY MORE

TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY, MAY 2nd at 10am MST
AT MONOLITHFESTIVAL.COM AND TICKETMASTER.

MONOLITH FESTIVAL presented by Esurance returns to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Saturday September 13 and Sunday September 14. The festival, which debuted in 2007 as the first multi-day, multi-stage festival ever held at Colorado's beloved outdoor venue, was instantly adopted as an indie fan favorite and a staple of the summer festival season.

Each year, MONOLITH hand picks an impressive lineup of indie favorites and blog darlings, which for 2008 includes Denver's own Devotchka and French electro-buzz-band Justice as headliners. MONOLITH co-producer Josh Baker explains, "It's a true testament to Colorado's burgeoning music scene that one of this year's national breakout acts is also a hometown favorite." Joining the 2008 headliners is a deep and diverse roster including Silversun Pickups, Band of Horses, TV on the Radio, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Vampire Weekend, Avett Brothers, Neko Case, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Mickey Avalon, CSS, Cut Copy, The Kills, Tokyo Police Club and many, many more. A complete list of currently confirmed acts is included below, with additional artists still to be announced. Visit www.monolithfestival.com for ongoing updates.

MONOLITH fills a niche in Colorado's already vibrant indie music scene, and even within a seemingly saturated U.S. festival market. With five stages and premium facility amenities, MONOLITH builds on the natural splendor of Red Rocks and has quickly become a requisite for festival goers and indie hipsters. As Billboard Magazine reviewed, "The outrageously beautiful Red Rocks has been screaming out for an underground/indie-style music festival for many years...Thanks to the tireless work of an elite group of Colorado scenesters, the dream is now a reality."

Tickets on sale beginning Friday , May 2, 2008 at 10am MST at www.monolithfestival.com and Ticketmaster.

Ticketing Levels:

2-Day Ticket: $110 On Sale Friday, May 2 at 10 am MST
Single Day Tickets: $59.50 On Sale Friday, May 2 at 10 am MST
*2-Day and Single Day Tickets will be on sale at all Ticketmaster Outlets

For those looking to enhance their MONOLITH experience, MONOLITH will offer upgraded VIP packages, including premium festival amenities such as reserved soundboard seating, VIP parking, kick-off and after-party access, and more. Visit www.monolithfestival.com for details.

VIP Gold Pass: $225 - On Sale Friday, Mat 2 at 10 am MST
*VIP Gold Passes are only available through monolithfestival.com

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Coachella: Roger Waters' Pig is either for or against Obama

The message of Pink Floyd's dirigible pig, one of greed, corruption, and other not beautiful things, would spoil any name written on it considering the symbolic nature of such a tainted canvas. On the other hand, big, bold army stencil lettering spelling O-B-A-M-A, with strategic underbelly placement for clear viewing seems like an act of campaigning with exact target specificity considering 50,000 (?) people could see it. Don't ever say Mr. Roger Waters has issues with communicating or he'll go The Wall on your ass.

Begs the question, was it a pro or anti Obama statement? Finally, if it was pro, how is this supposed to be helpful?

I'm just now hearing the pig floated away. Hmmm.

Pig, floating away (via)

Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:57 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Coachella: Sifting through the goods

[Pssst]

Checking in from the late hours from a dark and sleepy California night. There was no live music to see today. Just the task of gathering ourselves and heading back into the real world. Which is maybe why the weekend is catching up to me as hard as it is, forcing a slow down.

Here are some really quick highlights to add some protein to the sprinkling of notes sent from Coachella via our Twitter outpost.

Friday:

The National was amazing. The Raconteurs not only sound more put together as a band than ever before, they are looking and sounding terrifyingly great together. Datarock came out of nowhere (for me anyway) and beat you into acceptance. Their rousing numbers were super sized dosages of pep. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings gave by far the most energetic performance by any artist and one of the best overall of the weekend. I'll say it again, this woman is the female James Brown. Spank Rock didn't show due to "being sick" and his replacements sounded like sissy white rappers. That's because there were a couple of white female rappers substituting. Not sure everyone who missed the announcement realized this in the tent. Now you know. Black Lips were pretty good, but it's hard to get past the caricatures on stage.

Saturday

To me Bonde do Role were more noisy kids screwing around with records and microphones than brilliant innovators of emerging mashed up styles. St. Vincent was cute and awkward in her stage banter. Stephan Malkmus looked like grandpa beekeeper, was vocally proud fronting the Jicks, and the noodling music was extraordinarily loud. Hot Chip brought the house down. Not three notes were played before the dance tent turned into insta-rave. The desert should cease rattling from the sensational performance of "Over & Over" any day now. Islands got started late, seemed to have a problem setting something up, dealing with it in a "temporary, but not quite pleased with solution" type of way only to have whatever it was arise as an issue during the set. It was weird and ate into their momentum, but no plagues of locust to report. I literally sprinted around the fields to see some Kraftwerk before sneaking in to a over capacity dance tent for M.I.A. Disappointing, but not terribly. M.I.A. fell into the pitfalls of every bad hip hop show I've ever been to. Too much MCing, too much crowd baiting, not enough actual performances to back up the build up. Somehow managed to catch a whiff of Animal Collective, but it was just too short to have an opinion. Portishead sounded crisp, clean and pretty great. I'll defer to my Portishead obsessed friends for direct quotes, forthcoming. Prince played forever and left no doubt in anyone's mind on his abilities and talents as a performer.

Sunday

It seemed like we had nothing going on for a good part of this day. The Field didn't show for their scheduled midday set due to allegedly being denied access into the country by the US government. Looking back though, we saw Duffy, Gogol Bordello, My Morning Jacket, a babbling Sean Penn saying nothing noteworthy (though I'll report on it later anyway), Sons & Daughters, Roger Waters, and Justice.

-- -- --
Coming soon...details, tons and tons of photos, and furthering of mostly everything mentioned above.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 28, 2008

Video: Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes"

I don't know where I've been while she's been steadily amassing buzz, but this song is totally great even if the vid is a tad overwrought.

Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ripping Vinyl, part 2

After many years of musical obsession completely removed from a record player, my pile of vinyl now grows incrementally, aided by the quality LP sellers of New York City. Baubles from the treasure chest will be posted here whenever it seems appropriate...

It's a bit obvious to remark that without a record player one can't investigate vinyl-only record labels. The racks of Other Music's east wall had intrigued me for quite a while, though, and no single release more than the strikingly packaged compilation pictured above, a 2006 effort from tireless excavators of my beloved Euro synth sounds from the early 80s, Minimal Wave. Complicating the format fetishism is the fact that all of the LPs songs come from mainly forgotten cassette releases. Funny now to think of blocky little cassettes as a thrilling glimpse into the future when viewed from 1983. While the entire record (and the label's entire back catalog, really) is worth some in-depth investigation, for my abridged purposes I have to go with the unstoppable pop song.

Linear Movement - "the Game"

"The Game" by Belgian band Linear Movement is much much catchier than you'd think given its intense obscurity and the barriers thrown up in front of its discovery. It's billed in the Lost Tapes liner notes as being taken from an "unreleased album." The band would only produce a single proper release in its meager two-year existence, and its difficult to imagine this being topped. Band mastermind Peter Bonne had recently left the equally obscure, and majorly obtuse, synths-trumental band Autumn to cozy up with a "rhythm box" and some appealing female vocals courtesy of a lady named Lieve van Steerteghem. The sound is akin to the Human League keeping the experimental flavor of their underrated "Dignity of Human Labour" instrumentals intact as they morphed into new-wave floor fillers (and had also negotiated their contracts to mandate that all vocals should be recorded in a cave of some sort). There are plenty of legitimate reasons beyond, you know, the lack of an actual release, that this song wasn't a smash on the pop charts. There are far fewer obstacles to it becoming a hit at your next house party,

Previously: the Raincoats, live @ the BBC

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.28 - 5.04

[Raconteurs]

Raconteurs were awesome at Coachella. See this show.

Monday, April 28
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
The Raconteurs @ Fillmore Auditorium

Tuesday, April 29
Gza @ Bluebird Theater
John Croghan @ Larimer Lounge
Les Claypool's Electric Apricot @ Boulder Theater
Midnight Juggernauts @ Hi-Dive
Rooney @ Fox Theatre

Wednesday, April 30
Chamcha @ Larimer Lounge
Drowning Pool @ Gothic Theatre
Gza @ Fox Theatre
Indian Jewelry @ Hi-Dive
Sick Puppies @ Bluebird Theater

Thursday, May 1
Dark Meat @ Hi-Dive
David Greco @ Walnut Room
Joe Jackson/Paddy Casey @ Boulder Theater (e-Town)
Oblio Duo @ Larimer Lounge
People Under The Stairs @ Fox Theatre
Spring Creek @ Bluebird Theater
Trever Keith @ Marquis Theater

Friday, May 2
Elbow @ Bluebird Theater
Hearts Of Palm (fka Nathan & Stephen) @ Hi-Dive
Kosmos @ Walnut Room
Meese @ Fox Theatre
The Nadas @ Gothic Theatre
The Night Marchers @ Larimer Lounge
NOFX @ Fillmore Auditorium
People Under The Stairs @ Marquis Theater
Stuart Davis @ Soiled Dove

Saturday, May 3
Cat-A-Tac @ Bluebird Theater
Cut Copy @ Larimer Lounge
Destroyer @ Walnut Room
John Brown's Body @ Fox Theatre
P-Nuckle @ Gothic Theatre
Sirhan Sirhan @ Hi-Dive

Sunday, May 4
The Amended @ Larimer Lounge
The B-52's @ Gothic Theatre
Buh Blam @ Hi-Dive

Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 26, 2008

Video: Annie - "I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Video: Atlas Sound - "Recent Bedroom" (and a recent bedroom recording)

I'm not sure if this is an official clip or not, but if strictly fan created, its at least got Bradford Cox's blessing...

Atlas Sound - "Recent Bedroom"

In other notable recent activity from the continually productive Deerhunter blog, there's this sorrowful cover of Rodgers and Hart's 1930s standard, "Blue Moon." Bradford recorded it in tribute to his Dad, which is so sweet that the continual creepiness his haunted covers convey is almost entirely mitigated this time.

Atlas Sound - "Blue Moon"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Coachella: Judiciously Phrased

Mssr. Swankster has his hands full at Coachella right now, but you can follow his happenings in brief by occasionally checking our Twitter site here.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 25, 2008

Islands, Live @ Bluebird Theater, Denver 04.21.08

Commonalities between the Vampire Weekend Bluebird show earlier this month and last Monday's Islands sojourn through the Colfax theater begin and end with a tiny handful of amateur music fans annoying the crap out of me and others in the front pit area.

I fully understand the limited use for readers to hear (what amounts to pure whining) about fellow compatriots not knowing how to behave properly at live music settings. But this time it transcended into behavior inappropriate for any public setting. If you count yourself as such a person, that is, one who lacks the basics of human interaction in crowds, or strive to someday have the strength to leave the house and successfully tackle the gauntlet of humanity gathering, I present a primer to enjoying yourself, not having strangers immediately hate you, and basic points on personal space.

Rule #1: Don't start a mosh pit with 3 of your friends. Four dudes banging into each other and bouncing off innocent bystanders around them does not a mosh pit make. It is pure testosterone fueled homoeroticism disguised through violent aggression. Also, sauce fueled aggro, or other substances legal or otherwise is not a valid excuse for douchebaggery.

Rule #2: Don't become fight-ready psycho when others around you tell you to quit slamming into them.

Rule #3: Don't be an asshole.

That last one should really be the only true edict, effectively replacing the rest. The new golden rule if you will. Don't be an asshole, ok? Friends again? Great! I feel much better.

Once again I got rant-y and pontificated in a preface that has little to do with the music. My hand was forced this time however. Islands' whiteface sporting leader, singer and guitarist, Nick Thorburn agreed too! And he wasn't the one getting pushed around. After the unstoppable force of the current single, the excellent pop wave of "Creeper" he called for calm. It wasn't but twenty minutes into the show.

"Be gentle" he said, clearly disgusted. "Not everyone signed up for that."

Moshing at Islands. You can't make this stuff up. The whole while I wondered about the state of mind of these louts. Did they simply get loaded beforehand and decide to catch a random show and expect it to be Rage Against the Machine? Perhaps circa 1996? I reckon they were lured by the rough and tumble sounding name of the band. Right.

The situation was horribly distracting. The sheer weirdness of their antics caused me to again consider whether Islands' karma in Denver needs a prompt tune up. The band must have the blood of a dead hooker on their hands or something. Something in this town is setting off the sinister forces of evil to taunt them. Those annoying dudes did end up getting the boot about six songs later. Six songs too late I say. Fittingly it was during "J'aime Vous Voire Quitter". The not so veiled named track from the upcoming Arm's Way that takes the name of former Island (and ex-Unicorn) J'aime Tambeur. Tambeur left the band the same night of their first show in Denver. Karma at work all around. I'll see if this aura of bad vibes surrounding the band is limited to Mile High city locales or is a more permanent, buzzkilling black cloud when I scope them out at Coachella this weekend.

Although the evening's preoccupation with ensuring my face would be free of flying elbows battled for a significant part of my attention, I still managed to tune into the show enough for a proper dispatch.

With seven new songs from the the new album, Islands' set heavily favored new material. Performances varied greatly in execution however. Second song "The Arm" followed opener "Flesh", an early unreleased Islands tune. A long extended intro wandered at times and I'm not 100% certian if there wasn't actually a separate instrumental track squeezed into what otherwise felt like the lead-in. The chosen bubbly ziz zag route ceased before turning into pure blistering bliss before the recognizable parts of the song began to finally leak through the speakers. Sounded great.

On the other hand one of my favorites from the new album, the sinful confessional of "I Feel Evil Creeping In", fell flat. Thorburn's singing failed to reach the nuanced playfulness of the record's chorus, sounding thin and barely audible. The lack of energy from the rest of the band wasn't exactly inspired either. I'm willing to give them a pass considering the tour just started and most of the new songs are barely fleshed out. Grain of salt for now.

The entire evening felt hit or miss. Felt like the necessary tonic for full launch into locked in mode was missing. That is, until the second song of the encore when Islands played their best song and finally, truly connected. (We swooned, no pun intended, over "Swans" during our early, still crawling days when the qualifier of "ex-Unicorns" was necessary in all mentions of their new reincarnation.)

"Swans" rocked really hard. To the point that 99% of the bad vibes and iffy moments of the night could be wiped out. It was that kind of performance. Like with everything in life impressions leave indelible marks. Thankfully for the Bluebird crowd, the band left with their best before exiting.

SETLIST:

Flesh
The Arm
Creeper
Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone (minus the rap)
Pieces of You
Volcanoes
I Feel Evil Creeping In
We Swim
J'aime Vous Voire Quitter
Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby
Abominable Snow

Encore:
Red Football (Sinead O'Connor cover)
Swans

-- -- --

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Indie Pop: Short and Bittersweet

the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Kurt Cobain's Cardigan"

"I'll take 'Things that would make me indescribably sad if I saw them in a Hard Rock Cafe in Tucson' for a thousand Alex." The fey New York City sounds of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart's latest single don't seem to have much of a concrete connection to the famous fuzzy in Courtney Love's footlocker. If we want to try extra hard to make a connection though, the occasionally strident beat and subtly noise-speckled guitar does bear a bit of resemblance to Cobain's Scottish favorites, the Vaselines. The vocals aren't as giddy or as odd as that, but Kip and Peggy (indie pop vocalists should always be referred to in the familiar don't you know?) have an adorably defeated quality to them. It's as if they've prematurely cracked the secrets of Kurt's Leonard Cohen afterworld, and are already sighing eternally. Perpetually, at the very least.

the Capstan Shafts - "(I Dream About You Because) You Have Such Low Standards"

If posts were to be drafted every time lo-fi workhorse Dean Wells hatched some new material, we'd have a new weekly feature. The extremely prolific Vermont home-recorder's 8th release since 2007 (you read that right) is a 12-track EP cryptically called Miles Per Famine. The EP designation is excusable given the writer's extreme brevity. There's only a minute and eight seconds of diminished expectations here. Even Wells' daydreams are contingent on a girl with poor self esteem it seems. But as always, the charm in his broken hearted sing-alongs come from his melodic interpretation of sharp words that carry more lascivious intent they they initially appear to. "If I take your hand, and then some..." he yells, as the camera pans to the roaring fire.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 24, 2008

Coachella 2008: On our way

Has it really already been a year since the last pilgrimage to the desert? I feel like Coachella snuck up on me this year. For the first time since I've been going (this will be year four), the '08 edition has yet to sell out, even since the news of Prince joining the lineup. If I were to care about such things I'd no doubt have a witty joke prepared about Jack Johnson or the state of the music industry, but I don't and the Jack Johnson bashing is beyond tired.

For the most part I agree with critics pointing to the weak headliners, but as I've said many times headliners at these types of festivals should never be the main reason to attend. Especially when the lower and middle tier level acts are so great. Does it suck that M.I.A. and Animal Collective are playing at the same time? Of course. Sucks even more when the two artists overlap with Kraftwerk. A clear example of being spoiled by choice. Still, nothing more than it being an amazing problem to have. With that said, I present the Merry Swankster's plans for the weekend. We'll see how things actually turn out.

On with it...after the jump.

Friday: Are Islands truly cursed, or is that just a Denver phenomenon? (Ed Note: Islands Denver review coming very soon!) Santogold vs M.I.A., who wins?

Les Savy Fav > Black Kids > Dan Deacon (Deacon's brand of triumphant spectacle is suited perfectly for Coachella) > Jens Lekman > The Breeders > Vampire Weekend (Every year there seems to be a reserved set for hugely buzzed about bands in the late afternoon at the Outdoor theatre. VW gets the nod this year. We'll see how they handle what should be their biggest gig to date.) > National > Raconteurs or Santogold > Aphex Twin (Break time here? No intentions of catching the Verve, so maybe...) > Datarock () > Sharon Jones & Dap Kings (Last year the Dap Kings backed Amy Winehouse and this year they get upgraded from that unheralded position to actual recognition behind Sharon Jones's old school rhythm and blues flavors. Then things begin to get freaky.) > Spank Rock (Officially freaky!) > The Black Lips

Saturday: By far the most solid individual lineup of the weekend is on the Main stage.

Teenagers (Is a European artist mimicking the (television defined) teenage experience in America satire or are they mocking us?) > Man Man > Devotchka (Denver represent!) > Bonde Do Role > Stephan Malkmus & the Jicks > St. Vincent > Hot Chip > Death Cab for Cutie > Islands (Mostly to see if the black cloud hovering above them in Denver dissipates.) > Kraftwerk > (Original krautrockers may only get 30 minutes of my time because...) > M.I.A. or Animal Collective are playing at the same time (Tough. Game time decision here.) > Portishead > Prince (Saturday night will officially be awesome.)

Sunday: Weakest day of the weekend, but one that may bring a few surprises once this Sean Penn business is figured out.

Sean Penn (Curiosity - killed the cat, will draw me to the Gobi tent. Ed Vedder is that you?) > I'm From Barcelona or Holy Fuck > Duffy (Is the UK sensation worth all the fuss?) > The Field > Stars > Gogol Bordello > Sean Penn (Fool me twice..?) > My Morning Jacket > Sons & Daughters > Roger Waters (High School psychedelia revisited *or* Black Mountain -- 00's psychedelia?) > Justice (Unopposed Frenchmen close out the weekend. Finally providing an easy decision on who to see.)

Useful Coachella links:

//Tickets - buy
//Set times
//Event map
//Scheduler - "Coachooser"
//Indio, CA - Weather
//Need a ride?
//Coachella from your couch - (Live webcast) - AT&T Blue room

Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 23, 2008

Retrohump: Hey You! You're Losing...You're Losing...

This is one of the very first songs I sought out once it became clear just how great a clearinghouse for classic footage YouTube would soon become, though I'd forgotten to keep checking until a whim delivered this to me yesterday. I remember first hearing this song in my college days and being knocked out by the modernity of it. Those drums sounded like they could have come from a Bjork record, and this was from 1972! I still can't quite fathom Can sitting around their practice space, listening to White Light/White Heat and Stockhausen, somehow winding up here. For all their alien appeal and undeniable rhythmic prowess though, there are very few moments when the band really connects with me on more than a head-nodding, intellectually appreciative level. This is, of course, first among them...

Can - "Vitamin C"
(live 1972)

While the clip makes clear what sort of a frantic and inspired drummer Jaki Leibezeit could be when his inner jazz man didn't take over, most of its transfixing power comes from Damo Suzuki. The urban legend paints Damo as a crazed nomad, discovered by the German members of the band literally singing on a street corner. The clips I'd previously seen supported the myth of the long-haired, frequently shirtless feral child. Here though, Damo is a well-kempt and striking figure (wispy mustache aside). The song as performed in this live snippet has its edges rounded by a groove that's more organic than the dystopian album version. But Suzuki keeps it uncomfortable, by giving his nonsensical warnings a convicted sense of dire consequence. While later videos I investigated seem to degrade into free-from wonkery, whatever peculiar magic Damo possessed had not been dulled by by the scourge of fleeing vitamins as of 1972.

Can - "Vitamin C"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2008

The New Wolf Parade Album: A Track-by-Track Preview

Sometimes we hear albums before most, and occasionally when they are still pretty top secret. It's horribly unfair, we know. But in an attempt to at least soothe your curiosity, we are not averse to laying out these tantalizing near-future albums in extensive detail. You may remember our guide to the still(!) unreleased new Portishead record. Now, in regard to the successor to the site's favorite record of 2005, we turn to part-time music critic and occasional krautrocker John Motley. Take it away John...

As great as Wolf Parade's 2005 debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, was, it showed a band democratically divided between two distinct personalities. Throughout the entire record, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner politely flip-flopped between melodramatic prog tendencies and homespun Springsteen worship, respectively. In the three years since, the band has been seemingly drawn and quartered by myriad side projects. Most notably, Krug issued two albums and an EP as Sunset Rubdown; moonlit in Frog Eyes; and indulged a studio one-off as Swan Lake with Dan "Destroyer" Bejar and Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer. Boeckner, on the other hand, unveiled every trapper's delight: his own Handsome Furs, a drum machine-fueled duo with his wife Alexei Perry.

Recording this still-untitled second album (both Pardon My Blues and Kissing the Beehive were red herrings, apparently) must have been somewhat arduous. According to the band, early candidates for album number two were shelved for sounding like Apologies holdovers. To trigger fresh strategies, they began recording improvisational sessions to see if something spontaneous could be extracted and developed into a more structured composition. But how well did such a disjointed band reconnect? And did it manage to evolve creatively, rather than simply lapse into formula? Based on some rather compulsive listening, the answer is: not so easily. While the new album does reveal Wolf Parade to repeatedly play against its instincts and expand its sound, half the album sounds like Apologies-era paint-by-numbers. Yes, that's a slight, but remember: Wolf Parade still slay the competition.

Here's the breakdown:

1. "Soldier's Grin"

As an opening shot, this one's a little timid. The Boeckner-penned song is a tidy segue from Apologies' farewell, "This Heart's on Fire": steadily driving rhythms, Krug's bubbling budget synth tones, and Boeckner's keening, earnest vocals. But around the two-minute mark, the song slows to a looser, more ambling tempo for some necessary breathing room and a satisfyingly plodding climax.

2. "Call It a Ritual"

The rollicking ragtime noir piano riffing immediately announces that this is a Krug composition. While the jerky vamping conjures Apologies opener "You Are a Runner," "Call It a Ritual" gradually fills out with passages of teeth-clenching guitar scrawls. As Krug sings "while you turn your flower petals so slow," the song continually blossoms into something lovelier than Krug's scrawny sketch suggested at the beginning.

3. "Language City" (mp3 is live bootleg)

Back to Boeckner — and the first sign of the Wolf Parade we've missed so much. Here the band bang out a serviceable verse, but knock it out of the park on the restrained choruses, in which Boeckner sings, "All this work in, just to tear it down" over several complementary keyboard melodies. The song's coda drags more than it explodes, though, as Boeckner cribs lyrics from the last time he recorded an outgoing message: "We are not at home! We are not at home! We are not at hoooooooome!"

4. "Bang Your Drum"

With its creepy harpsichord, descending melody, and archaic lyrical tropes, "Bang Your Drum" sounds like a cameo by Sunset Rubdown to me. Here, Krug wonders over some character of ill repute: "Do they beat that drum to get you back home or do they beat it to keep you away?" He also shows how his friendship with Dan Bejar has paid off in musical collateral, ending the song with a beloved Bejar device: the song-within-a-song. Like the conclusions of "A Testament to Youth in Verse" (from the New Pornographers' Electric Version) or "Leopard of Honor" (from Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams), Krug leads a chorus of la-la-la's, ostensibly belted out by the "you" in this song.

5. "California Dreamer"

Here's where things start to get good. Yes, there's the unmistakably clichéd title, but Krug uses the Summer of Love connotations to craft something far more sinister. While the song retains the Mamas and the Papas' conceit of displacement and love lost (Krug laments a lover's departure for the Golden State, which strands him in Canada to make snow angels solo), it scrambles the rest of the signal. (Key lyric: "I thought I might have heard you on the radio/But the radio waves were like snow.") In spite of Krug's sunny, Supertramp keyboards, Wolf Parade detour through Los Angeles' ghettos with a bludgeoning caveman riff and honking sax passage that evokes the Stooges' Fun House.

6. "The Grey Estates"

Another predictably direct Boeckner tune spoils the first sign of legitimate experimentation. Upbeat, instantly catchy, "The Grey Estates" is the album's lone shot at a single. Sadly, that means this is the most defanged, declawed pup of the litter. As Boeckner sings about "rolling past the grey estates" on his way to "a new world" it's an apt metaphor for enduring the drab scenery — especially since the album's most exciting songs lurk just around the corner.

7. "Fine Young Cannibals" (mp3 is live bootleg)

Finally, Boeckner breaks out of Bruce idolatry on this sprawling workout. Stitched together like a dance track, "Fine Young Cannibals" never really deviates from a single groove, but aggressively adds and subtracts elements for an engaging listen. Against a relatively static (albeit funky) backdrop, Boeckner focuses on his vocal chops and wrings ample emotional gravitas out of his precise phrasing.

8. "An Animal in Your Care"

Like "Call It a Ritual" and "Bang Your Drum," Krug indulges more moody, echoing production values on "An Animal in Your Care." On their own, these production decisions are sound, but, compared to the frill-less treatment of Boeckner's tracks, sabotage the album's bid for coherence. Still, this is one of the album's standouts. Beginning hushed and skeletal, "An Animal in Your Care" grows full and feral by its end. Krug lets a repeated descending piano line dangle like a false ending, but the entire bands converges for a cathartic finale.

9. "Kissing the Beehive"

Named after Jonathan Carroll's novel of the same name, "Kissing the Beehive" is fittingly long. Spanning nearly 10 minutes, the song is notably co-written by Boeckner and Krug, who share vocal duties on this multi-part epic. After a brief lull as Krug sings the disappointed kiss-off of the title ("As if you didn't know that it would sting/Kissing the beehive…"), its fiery middle section builds until it burns itself out. After a brief interlude of silence, the band reloads for an epilogue of sorts: two more minutes of dance-floor detonation. Krug's bouncing synths lock gears with Arlen Thompson's mechanical drumming, while Boeckner and Dante DeCaro's guitar debris skitters and squeals toward a tidy master-fade that's more like a curtain call.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:00 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Coachella Schedule Released!! - Sean Penn?

"Coachella schedule includes Sean Penn" - Wtf?

The westward bound Merry Swankster brain trust is currently analyzing the festival schedule so graciously released by the Palm Springs Desert Sun.

So far we're confused on what exactly Sean Penn will be doing with his two (!!) alloted time slots on Sunday, pissed about the Raconteurs/Santogold and Kraftwerk/Animal Collective/M.I.A. conflicts on Friday and Saturday, respectively. On the other hand we're stoked about our personalized raunchy headliners on Friday night. Starting with the reliably up for it Spank Rock in the Gobi tent immediately followed by the Black Lips dirtying things up next door in the Mohave tent. All the while ignoring Jack Johnson's mellowness on the main stage. "Shake It 'Til My Dick Turns Racist" vs "Bubble Toes"? C'mon now!

Spank Rock - "Shake It 'Til My Dick Turns Racist" - Live @ North Six, Brooklyn

Jack Johnson - "Bubble Toes" - Live @ Greek, (SF or LA)

UPDATE 5:36PM ET:

Rumors are floating that Sean Penn is actually code for Eddie Vedder or maybe even Pearl Jam. I guess we'll know soon enough for sure, but my money is against a full band Pearl Jam show considering the time slots are so short. The second Sean Penn scheduling block precedes My Morning Jacket's set and MMJ has performed live with Eddie Vedder in the past. Hmmm. The plot thickens? Or is there even a plot?

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:06 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Who Watches the Marketing Teasers?

This is a geek dog whistle, see if you can hear it...

That's not even real footage from anything, and I'm already like Michael J. Fox in his dad's hardware store. Wait, what's that? Oh, music...right. Umm, here...

the Long Blondes - "Nostalgia"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 21, 2008

Numerology: Sizing Up 46

Just when I am about to conclude that 46 has no special significance to the average person I must reverse myself completely. Forty-six matters to everybody, and not in some obscure way: Humans have 46 chromosomes. And while this fact might not come across as the type to pay the same kind of musical dividends as other numerical certainties, e.g., “24 hours a day,” that sure didn’t stop Tool from confronting the chromosome angle, tossing in Jungian imagery, and whipping these elements into a robust prog-metal froth called “Forty Six & Two,” which describes mankind’s ascendancy to a higher level of existence via an additional two chromosomes (hence the title). I don’t know about you, but too much Jungian imagery in a pop song, whether it’s by the Police or Peter Gabriel or Tori Amos, is not something I welcome. Pop music is something I turn to for less heady joys; if I’m in the mood for Jung, I’ll just curl up under a Navajo blanket with a flashlight and my dog-eared copy of Man and His Symbols. Still, Tool’s song is undeniably well played and ambitiously conceived; the band understands the power of a strong hook but they’re unwilling to let one or two carry a song. I guess they’re just too busy contemplating the next level of existence to write a song that doesn’t sprawl all over the space/time continuum.

Tool - "Forty Six & Two"

So that leaves a jam band, ‘60s R&B outfit, a popular indie group, an obscure ‘80s Barcelona pop combo, and a religious collective…

The term “jam band” didn’t really exist when the Grateful Dead were around. The Dead were the entire scene; there was no one else. When Garcia finally gave out, jam bands began to proliferate like softly glowing roses, blooming in time-lapse, all over America, and Phish soon became the Dead of the jam band scene. Phish did a lot of the same things the Dead did, but the paradigm had clearly shifted. For one thing, Phish were too young, spry, and together to ever be the sprawling mess that the Dead could be concert. It takes years of monumental excess to manage the trick of achieving genius-level improvisation along with shocking displays of sloppy playing and off-key singing, all within the same song, as the Dead did regularly. The Phish guys were not talented singers either, but they could remember the words and hit the high notes most of the time. While “46 Days” is squarely in the Dead tradition of rootsy syncopation and traditional American imagery (“Leigh Fordam sold me out/46 days and the coal ran out”) mixed with touches of mysticism and stoner ambiguity, it doesn’t approach the Dead’s mythic Americana because Phish sorely lacked what the Dead had in Robert Hunter (and the Band had in Robbie Robertson): a poet.

The Trees Community, an early ‘70s band/religious community, put several psalms to music, including the mostly instrumental “Psalm 46.” It’s compelling, but not as audacious as “Psalm 42,” the mind-blowing12-minute opener from The Christ Tree, the recently re-released collection now being hailed as a major work and a progenitor of the so-called freak folk scene.

Goes Cube - "Goes Cube Song 46"

“Goes Cube Song 46” is another seething slab of post-metal by a Brooklyn band so uncompromising that their songs have no titles, just numbers. All of them are head bangers that avoid self-parody. Punishing indeed.

The All Music Guide says Rilo Kelly’s “Love and War 11/11/46” could pass for “Stereophonics covering Lone Justice,” but deep in my heart I believe that no band should ever cover Lone Justice, nor even be able to pass for doing so. Lone Justice had a few good songs and the world should just leave “Sweet Sweet Baby Mine” and “Ways to Be Wicked” alone. Besides, no offense to the perfectly fine Rilo Kelly, or, for that matter, the Barcelona pop band Brighton 64, creators of “La Calle 46,” but it’s getting hard to ignore two 46 songs that just tower above the rest.

“54-46 Was My Number” by Toots & the Maytals surely belongs in the pantheon of great reggae songs; it could win 54 or 46 with its hands tied behind its back. I hate to tip my hand, but I’m holding off conferring hero’s status upon Mr. Hibbert & Co. until we reach the 54 peg, for purely tactical reasons. I wouldn’t want those of you keeping score at home to think I had somehow missed this numerically rich classic.

the Showmen - "39-21-46"

While “39-21-46” by the Showmen lacks the ideal configuration for the no. 46 slot, (the list would certainly scan better if “46” came first) we need to be thankful for either a printing mix-up or some record company chicanery that enables the original 45-rpm of this single to be here in the first place. The record—our winner for no. 46—is really called “39-21-40 Shape”—and it’s clear to the naked ear that the singer never sings “46” at all. General Norman Johnson, who wrote and sung it, believes the title was deliberately changed by execs at Minit Records, as a ploy to “arouse curiosity.” Makes sense to me. It would be hard to imagine someone really mishearing “40 shape” for “forty-six,” and it was a common practice among labels to change the names of songs, and even performers, at their own discretion. Johnson’s own group had been called the Humdingers until Minit changed the name to the more upscale Showmen. And on a more practical level, even to those who like ‘em big, most would agree that 46-inch hips stray from the feminine ideal. The hips that the song celebrates are still plenty ample, just not 46-inch ample:

“You with your 39-21-40 shape/you got me going ape-ity-ape over you.”

And, o how the kids went ape-ity ape for that “mislabeled” single. It became a huge hit on the jukeboxes of Myrtle Beach, SC, which in the early ‘60s was the hotbed of the Carolina Beach Music scene, where the hip white kids went to do The Shag and listen to forbidden “race” music. The Showmen, led by General Norman Johnson, were the kings of the scene. Eventually the Showmen became the Chairmen of the Board, and had hits with “Give Me Just a Little More Time” and other classic singles. Johnson also had major success writing songs for other bands in the ‘60s and ‘70s, working with the legendary Detroit team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, and earning himself a Grammy for writing “Patches” by Clarence Carter. Much later, he sang a beach-music style duet with Joey Ramone on “Rockaway Beach,” and it’s about as un-Ramones-y as you can get.

General Johnson & Joey Ramone - "Rockaway Beach"

“39-21-46” falls squarely into a tradition of songs, like Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Eyesight to the Blind,” that depict women’s sexuality as having healing powers. The Who covered “Eyesight” on Tommy, and in the Ken Russell film version, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton perform it as a pair of Les Paul-playing clergymen in a church that worships Marilyn Monroe.

In “39-21-46” the voluptuous heroine has the power to make a crippled man walk, a blind man see, and the quietest man in the world talk. Johnson imparts this in his distinctive moan, with every fiber of his being. The interplay between the lead vocal and the doo-wop style accompaniment makes for an irresistible tribute to the divinity of women, one that calls to mind a quotation from the Book of Talking Heads. (Trees Community might not approve, but I’m sure General Johnson would):

The world moves on a woman’s hips/the world moves and it swivels and bops

The world moves on a woman’s hips/the world moves and it bounces and hops/

A world of light/She’s gonna open our eyes up

Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. It's starting to creep everybody out.

Previously: No. 1, 2-4, 5-7, 7 (counterpoint), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45

Posted by David Klein at 02:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.21 - 4.27

[Islands - TONIGHT! Our interview with Islands' Nick Thorburn here]

[Kraftwerk]

Monday, April 21
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
The Dodos @ Hi-Dive
Islands @ Bluebird Theater
Minus The Bear @ Boulder Theater
Saul Williams @ Fox Theatre

Tuesday, April 22
Apocalyptica @ Gothic Theatre
Awol One @ Larimer Lounge
Kimya Dawson @ Bluebird Theater
Ligion @ Soiled Dove
The Phenomenauts @ Marquis Theater
Rogue Wave @ Fox Theatre
Siberian @ Hi-Dive
The Waifs @ Boulder Theater

Wednesday, April 23
Danny Vegas/Missing Dufrenes @ Larimer Lounge
Dirty Heads @ Marquis Theater
Junior Brown @ Soiled Dove
Kraftwerk @ Fillmore Auditorium
Mike Doughty's Band @ Fox Theatre
Neva Dinova/Ladyhawk @ Hi-Dive
Shelby Lynne @ Bluebird Theater
Stars/Basia Bulat @ Boulder Theater

Thursday, April 24
9/10s Of The Law @ Bluebird Theater
Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet @ Boulder Theater (e-Town)
Black Diamond Heavies @ Hi-Dive
Boombox @ Fox Theatre
Gavin Degraw/Jason Mraz/Graham Colton/Landon Pigg @ Soiled Dove
Mac Lethal @ Marquis Theater
Vonnegut @ Walnut Room
Widowers @ Larimer Lounge

Friday, April 25
Blood On The Wall @ Hi-Dive
The Flobots @ Fox Theatre
The Gibson Brothers @ Walnut Room
Jucifer @ Larimer Lounge
Kill Syndicate @ Gothic Theatre
Levi Weaver @ Hi-Dive
Soul School @ Soiled Dove
The Wood Brothers @ Bluebird Theater

Saturday, April 26
A Cursive Memory @ Marquis Theater
The Build Up @ Larimer Lounge
Colin Meloy @ Fox Theatre
Karrin Allyson @ Soiled Dove
The Messengers @ Hi-Dive
Onesidezero @ Gothic Theatre
The Sword @ Bluebird Theater

Sunday, April 27
Big Time Entertainment Show @ Hi-Dive
The Classic Crime @ Marquis Theater
Cunninlynguists @ Fox Theatre

Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Summer Begins to Beckon...

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 20, 2008

Video: High Places - "New Grace" live @ the Market Hotel

Pitchfork.tv, which I think we can all agree has turned out to be pretty rad, has done us the great service of posting an entire set by MS's Brooklyn favorites, High Places. It's the very set that was the featured silver lining in my controversial rain cloud of a review of the night in question as it turns out.

Enjoy here, and then further enjoy safely turning away without your shirt reeking of Camel Lights.

High Places - "New Grace"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:11 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Book Review: Cult of the Amateur

For almost the entirety of his debut book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, author Andrew Keen comes across like a mom forbidding her children from watching MTV: old fashioned and bitter. But instead of attacking one of the more popular channels from the advent of cable television, Keen bemoans the advancement of the most popular trend of communication in the twenty-first century: the Web 2.0 phenomenon. By the time he claims to be “neither antitechnology nor antiprogress” (184), Keen* has already established himself as a jealous and elitist curmudgeon and a completely contradictory and misleading rhetor. Perhaps it’s fitting that the photo of Keen on his own Wikipedia entry makes him out to be a dead ringer for Walter Peck.

Radiohead - "2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)"

The author aims most of his ire at that axis of internet evil, Wikipedia, YouTube and MySpace, but does take time to target the internet’s other influences as well. He freely criticizes that, “…sites like Craigslist that offer free classifieds, undermining paid ad placements” (8), as if the E section of the newspaper has some sort of divine ownership of print advertisement. The crux of Keen’s argument lies in the idea that there are experts in each field, whether it be politics, art, literature or the critique of these or any similar areas, such as music. Furthermore, the commutative, collective opinions of genres are faulty and lead us into the temptation of narcissism, not to the truth. For the purposes of this assignment (and this website), however, let’s focus on what Keen has to say about music, a topic that he devotes two of the book’s eight chapters to in sections affectionately titled “The Day the Music Died [sides A and B].”

Intermittently spattered throughout the book, there are hints that this internet free-for-all is hindering actual artistic creativity, “The new Internet is about self-made music, not Bob Dylan or the Brandenburg Concertos” (14). This, at first, seems like a viable argument, most of the no-talent hacks filling the series of tubes are far removed from the greatest music has to offer. Reasonable, of course, until one wonders what exactly he means by “self-made.” Is he suggesting that Dylan is some corporately-created musical product? That N*SYNC is the zenith of musicianship? Come to think of it, aren’t most of history’s greater artists “self-made”? Never furthering on these points, he later adds that, “Finding and nurturing talent in a sea of amateurs may be the real challenge in today’s Web 2.0 world” (30). This is factually correct, but Keen is stressing the wrong result. Ask most purveyors of online music criticism and they will tell you that this “finding and nurturing” is one of the better aspects of the current movement. This is not the last time that the author implies the conceptual existence of this fictional artist, the one operating exclusively by “…the sweat of their creative brow and the disciplined use of their talent…”, the one that is only trying to make the best art possible and because of people like Brianna LaHara is now poor, starving and on the verge of quitting for a much less rewarding cubicle job. (Go here for one reason as to where all the money once spent on CDs has gone.)

Keen argues that we should defer to “expert” opinions, a term he seems to define as individuals educated and/or trained specifically within a certain field. While this assertion seems logical at its onset, it is at best elitist and at worst propagandist. Education and training do not an expert make. If they did, we’d have a lot more experts! I’ll admit name-dropping the hilarious A. O. Scott helps his cause; trumpeting Rolling Stone (particularly anything from 1977-present) does not.

The idea that we should follow expert opinions is less a pitch for further education than it is a complaint about amateurism and, in the author’s opinion, sloth. Recycling the same argument used against, at different times, marijuana and masturbation, Keen argues that too much role-playing game, er, playing, will cause people “…[to cease] to be productive members of society” (162).

While this error is theoretical, assertions such as, “Web 2.0 economy is not creating jobs to replace those it destroys” (130), is flat-out wrong. I’ll submit that the current technological shift costs jobs, and not just white-collar or no-collar ones, either – the lower middle class working the phones and docks of shipping companies stand to lose from this move to internet commerce. Artists, executives, shipping companies, and stores all lose work and money to downloading. However, new industries are propping up in their places. Before the last part of the twentieth century there was never a need for internet security companies and parental control software. These things need to be created and consistently improved. What more, computers do break down – perhaps a future industry lies in technological repair services.

Keen goes so far as to liken the now-unemployed Tower Records employee to the main characters of the Nick Hornsby novel (also a film and, appropriately, a musical) High Fidelity. He remembers the Tower people as friendly, cutting-edge trend setters, “cultural tastemaker[s]”; I remember them as disinterested and uneducated. This analogy is funny not just because it involves a pre- Shallow Hal Jack Black, but because the employees of Championship Vinyl on more than one occasion make points to shit on mall-located record stores such as, I don’t know, Tower Records!

The author then attempts to tie the death of megastore Tower to the death of independent record labels. If Keen is to be believed, without enterprises like his beloved Tower, labels that brought little known classical, jazz, opera and world music to the rest of the world would go belly-up. Oddly, he includes hip-hop on this list, as if some enormous, faceless company was the sole provider of underground rap music. Isn’t the opposite actually true?

But who is the real culprit of Tower’s demise? YOU and YOUR crazy downloading, of course! “As a specialty retailer, [Tower] hadn’t been able to compete against digital piracy or the low prices of Internet retailers like Amazon and iTunes” (100). Bemoaning the loss of Tower in favor of cheaper, more convenient alternatives is George Amberson-esque. For that matter, Target stores, and their $10 for new CDs, is probably just as much to blame for Tower’s fall than any online service, legal or not.

This leads to my most/least favorite argument against file sharing, the notion that illegally downloading music is akin to stealing foodstuffs from a restaurant. Is illegally downloading music stealing? Yes, and anyone that says otherwise is ignoring fact. (Although I acknowledge that there are an infinite number of gradients contained within that claim.) However, stealing the new Andre 3000 song is not the same thing as taking some kernels from the man selling elote; the former is easily duplicated, while the latter is a one-use-only product.

Devin the Dude - "What a Job"

Perhaps Keen is auditioning for a job at FOX News, because he reduces himself to playing the “you’re either with us or you’re against us” card in defense of his claims: “…by depriving artists and writers of the royalties due them, they aren’t just hurting those from whom they steal – in the end, they are hurting us all” (145). As is usually the case with these sorts of baited statements, how exactly they are “hurting us all” is never clearly defined.

The fear mongering doesn’t stop there, as Keen somehow blames Web 2.0 for individual companies like Google and Yahoo! selling and giving away individuals’ search history, citing specifically the case of Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for releasing information deemed undesirable by his nation’s government. While the intellectual result of this trick is minor, the rhetorical damage is irreversible: Keen is claiming that your MySpace page is responsible for this man’s unjust imprisonment.

In spite of its elitism, fear mongering and straight-up wrongness, Cult isn’t a terrible book. Unfortunately, one must drudge through almost two-hundred pages of Keen’s tired complaining before the author offers some viable solutions. His favorites include Citizendium, Politico and eMusic (an assertion this website will not disagree with). He even answers one of his own hypothetical questions, suggesting that the music industry would benefit from reducing the prices of CDs in order to compete with the contrastive cost of downloading.

In that spirit, this review is frontloaded with set up before getting to the substance. Keen provides insight into his thesis pretty early on in stating that, “What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment” (16). Had he substituted, “this book” at the beginning of that statement, he’d have done my job for me.

Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture. Doubleday. New York, NY: 2007. [buy]

*Pay no attention to Keen’s history as a failed web entrepreneur. Audiocafe.com’s (lack of) success has absolutely no bearing on the author’s current perspective.

Posted by Randall Monty at 01:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

April 18, 2008

Quarterly Report: First Quarter of 2008 Podcast

I've had an extra two weeks to mull over the selections for this tardy podcast, as at the actual end of quarter one, my computer was in a deep and dramatic coma. The internet-less meditation crystalized a few things for me:

- No matter how epic the Juan Maclean's "Happy House" is, there was no way to shoehorn thirteen minutes of early 90's techno into the mix smoothly.

- If I couldn't remember a single song from an album well enough to not have to extensively review it before picking its stand-out track, it got the ax. Thus the fate of Black Mountain.

- And older neglected songs looking for redemption with a proper release actually seem worse in the context of wholly annoying full-length albums. So These New Puritans and Los Campesinos! continue to languish in neglect.

The remaining best tracks of the first three months of '08, in a CD-R length dose below...

Album of the Quarter : Times New Viking - Rip It Off
Runners up: Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair, Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend, Beach House - Devotion

"Merry Swankster First Quarter Podcast 2008"

Tracklisting :

01: the Magnetic Fields - "Too Drunk to Dream" (from Distortion)

Distortion may indeed rely on its titular affect to the point of monotony, but this marvel of rationalization is a stone classic.

02: Times New Viking - "Drop-Out" (from Rip It Off)

I don't just claim songs are my favorite of the year arbitrarily. Even in April, that's a solid music nerd covenant. I know that there are a number of people who just can't handle the physical effects of its woozy guitar and in-the-red clatter. I don't think they're wrong exactly, I'm just sad for them. If I could loan them my already dulled eardrums I would. In the song's language I think that counts as both "a bad idea" and "a fucking cure."

03: No Age - "It's Oh So Quiet" (From Stereogum's Enjoyed, Bjork cover)

Not a suck up in exchange for yesterday's link, we swear. Of all Enjoyed's tracks (and in the end it looked slightly better on paper) this was the only one where I had the classic great cover reaction metamorphosis: from "There's no way that's going to work" to "Oh man, this makes perfect sense."

04: Blood on the Wall - "Hibernation" (from Liferz)

I don't think Blood on the Wall is particularly outstanding at anything, except perhaps evoking a bygone smoky basement located somewhere in the early 90's. That can be enough occasionally.

05: Be Your Own Pet - "Becky" (from Get Awkward UK edition)

No one suffered more injustice this quarter than Be Your Own Pet. In truth they really are more of a rousing teen anthem band than a little underground noise machine to be stroked and coddled by Thurston Moore, so the move to a major label made some sense. But then said label randomly decrees that the killer songs that might have assured a die-hard following among the Hot Topic set are excised from their album due to "violence." Just nonsensical bullshit, no two ways about it. Do you think both participants need to be high schoolers, or is it still considered "teenage homicide" if your stabbing victim is a middle-aged record exec?

06: Atlas Sound - "Activation" (from Orange Ohms Glow digital EP)

This was the quarter that saw the release of Atlas Sound's proper debut Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, so it almost feels perverse to go with a Deerhunter blog track over the proper record's high points. But it's also perverse to write maybe your best individual pop/rock ballad and then just hand it out with little fanfare from the flip-back neck of your personal song dispenser, so I'm not going to sweat it.

07: the Ruby Suns - "Kenya Dig It?" (from Sea Lion)

The rest of this record is kinda of a mess of fashionable and overly busy neo-tropicalia, but this one starts with playful whimsy and ends radiantly aglow.

08: Telepathe - "I Can't Stand It" (from Living Bridge compilation)

Affectingly spooky girl vocal song # 1 was first posted here in the summer of '07 and admired enough to earn slot # 41 on our 50 Best Songs of the Year List. It's a pleasure to finally be allowed by our bi-laws to include it in this forum.

09: Valet - "Kehaar" (from Naked Acid)

Affectingly spooky girl vocal song # 2 is a slow winder that's lovelier than it sets out to be.

10: Beach House - "Astronaut" (from Devotion)

Affectingly spooky girl vocal song # 3 was the prettiest by far. I hate to make some kind of hacky reference to a "sonic beach house" or some nonsense, but there's a sense of space in this new album's production that really does conjure drafty rooms with open screen doors.

11: Destroyer - "Foam Hands" (from Trouble in Dreams)

I continue to not know what Dan Bejar is singing about. The sublime melancholy of being a Knicks fan? I guess that'd be "Foam Fingers" though wouldn't it?

12: Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - "Cold Son" (from Real Emotional Trash)

Listening to current Malkmus tracks is like begrudgingly hanging with a formerly dear friend from childhood who I've no longer got anything in common with, but can't bring myself to excommunicate due to intensely bonded memories. In this scenario "Cold Son" would be great ten minute conversation at a party that lets me guiltlessly duck calls for a few weeks.

13: Vampire Weekend - "Campus" (from Vampire Weekend)

Nick Thorburn's favorite new band rocketed to semi-stardom with nary the need for a place holding day job, found the cash to record lush string arrangements on their debut record, instantaneously materialized on Saturday Night Live, and still, somehow, managed to get sort of a raw deal. This is a good record, it truly is.

14: the Pains of Being Pure At Heart - "Teenager in Love" (digital download from RCRDLBL)

I was so sure that this song was a properly released single that I spent an unfortunately extended period of time scouring and rescouring the web to find its hypothetically very cute cover. But really, why wasn't it? Such a hazy John Hughes fantasy of a song deserves the chance to finally overcome the crippling influence of music scene cliques and just totally bond with that popular yet sensitive jock in its Civics class.

15: Palms - "Der Koenig" (from Living Bridge compilation)

A second Living Bridge inclusion originally posted by us almost a year ago. But this is the second coming of Malaria! and I don't care if anyone else cares. It belongs.

16: LCD Soundsystem - "Big Ideas" (from 21 original motion picture soundtrack)

I just can't imagine any scenario in which this 6 minutes of wiry creeping kick-ass isn't the best part of 21, and I will not be paying one red cent of Kevin Spacey's back-end to prove it. James Murphy could have phoned it in like KS does, but the man is a pro.

17: Hot Chip - "Out at the Pictures" (from Made in the Dark)

I had such high hopes for this album, and it ended up sort of weird and forgettable. Weren't you getting really excited during those first three songs though? I secretly think this one kind of sounds like Gorillaz, but it's fun anyway.

18: Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind" (from Hercules & Love Affair)

This song is a genetically engineered hit from its first seconds, and there must be something fundamentally wrong with our current time and place that it's so far from what passes for an actual one.

19: Mi Ami - "African Rhythms" (single)

The rhythms are indeed African, but everything else is good old American white noise. I do not want to fuck with the warrior tribe who's battle cry this is. Their weapons are made from the horns of lightning-struck rhinos! The podcast delay was needed to warm to this menacing late bloomer.

20: High Places - "Sandy Feat" (from 03/07 - 09/07)

From scary to adorable in one move! This e-music collection's name exposes the slightly fraudulent nature of this inclusion, but we're not going to see a High Places full-length until the end of summer, so in podcast terms that means we'd be waiting until September to include them, and forget that. This technicality is about a duck who flies to Mars, so just cool your jets people and say "awwww."

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 17, 2008

New Love Is All Song! New Love Is All Song!

Man, I'm just recently starting to realize how desperately I want this new album to exist. Via Gorilla vs Bear, I give you "Wishing Well."

Originally from a Scandi video blog, called Handheld Shows.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 09:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

After the Jump Spreads its Sinister Tendrils...

A couple of events this weekend from separate After the Jump mafia capos:

The Music Slut threw this little shindig together for tomorrow night...

...and then the very next night you have this nasty piece of business from Pop Tarts Suck Toasted.

Consider yourself in the know.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Coachella by the Numbers

This is actually a harmless pie graph showing the percentage of Indie acts playing Coachella compared to those on major labels. Not, however, a pacmanization of varying segments of the music industry.

For more Coachella graphs and overly emphasized Youtube statistics go here. (Thanks Marina)

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Where Nick Thorburn's Head is At

Islands' frontman Nick Thorburn has always been a bit of a tough read. His interviews during the brief and exemplary run of early decade indie-pop band the Unicorns were frequently peppered with tall tales and absurd non-sequiturs. As he shifted his Nick Diamonds persona to the task of anchoring his own band and their debut record Return to the Sea, interviewers were often left to wonder if his newly forthright responses were yet another put on. Now, finally performing under his given name, and launching a US tour for the May 20th release of his band's new record Arm's Way tonight in Cleveland, he seems comfortably candid discussing his work. Which is not to say that things didn't get kind of weird, rather fast.

I had a short but substantive chat on Tuesday with Nick as he prepared to head out on the road. We covered his recording process, the persistence of death in his lyrics, and the continuing modern influence of Paul Simon's Graceland, among other things. Caution: it may get psychoanalytical.

--

Jeff Klingman: How's your Pitchfork.tv VJ gig going?

Nick Thorburn: Um, didn't work out so well. It turns out Fred Armisen is a total asshole. I got fired.

JK: How did that skit come about? Did they just call you up?

NT: Yeah, I know some of them just from, you know, doing music and stuff.

JK: So you didn't have to audition against Win Butler or anything?

NT: No, I did audition against Owen Pallette, but it looks like I won out I guess. It went up.

JK: I wanted to ask about the Arm's Way album cover. Most of the reactions I saw to it were pretty perplexed. To me it suggested that if you opened up your chest there'd be some sort of 70s classic-rock utopia inside. Is that fairly on-base?

NT: No, it's a vagina.

JK: So if we opened your vagina there'd be a 70s classic-rock utopia inside?

NT: Exactly. If you opened my vagina, you'd find, you know, pregnant 11-year-olds embracing. You'd find sasquatches. That's the nature of my vagina.

JK: Roomy?

NT: Yeah, I guess so.

JK: On the album there is a bit more of a 70s classic-rock thing going on though. I mean "In the Rushes" actually turns into a Who song. Why re-write "A Quick One While He's Away"?

NT: You know, it was a comment on the finitude of rock music. The dialogue between us and the history of pop music. And switching "you are forgiven" with "you are forgotten" seemed like a way to poke fun at the forgetting of pop music. That's kind of what it was about.

JK: Was the Who always sort of an on-the-sly influence on your multi-part songs?

NT: Not explicitly. But you know, it appeared. It was definitely lingering somewhere in the background.

JK: It strikes me how much your lyrics continue to be death-centered, even if it's tongue and cheek. Why do you think that morbid subjects work particularly well in pop songs?

NT: Do they? I don't know. It wasn't a calculative attempt to reach a wider audience fixated on death or anything.

Islands - "Creeper"

JK: Well, like "Creeper" for example, did you start writing it knowing it'd be about a home invasion/stabbing? Did the music come first and suggest it?

NT: The theme and the music were really composed at the same time and it was an overt attempt, a cynical attempt really, to write a pop song. To say, "O.K. I can fucking do this." On the surface its got hooks and a refrain that'll stick in your head, but also the arrangement is pretty weird and there's no simple structure, strange bridges and stuff.

The song was written...it was inspired by our old label. One of the inspirations was a Morrissey song called "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself" which is just about bad dealings with industry people. And that one is more of a literal take about getting ripped off. I took a more figurative approach to getting..uh..stabbed in the heart and feeling like you knew somebody and having them take advantage of that naive, I guess, unguardness. Because I'm a pretty open person.

JK: But why do you think death, and accidents and such, loom so large in your lyrics? Not to be crazy psychoanalytical, but do you have any theories?

NT: Let's get psychoanalytical. No man, I'm all about psychoanalysis. Let's get into it.

JK: My girlfriend had a theory that the cold in Canada made you more closely attuned to death. Think there's anything to that?

NT: I think there's something to that. "Abominable Snow" is a bit of a direct reaction to the weather, and how the weather can make you feel like everything is disappearing. A sense of impending doom, I think when everything is covered in snow and everything seems like it's slowed down or stopped entirely. There's a bit of a doomsday sense of dread, I guess. (chuckles)

I guess I'm just fixated on death because it's such a strange inevitability. Everything comes to such an abrupt and final end. It really blows my mind. I gotta get past that. You know, I'm trying. I think it's a form of therapy to be writing songs.

JK: About "Abominable Snow," that was probably the first Islands' song that most, or at least a lot of people heard. Why did you hold it back for this new album?

NT: It didn't fit with the first record. You know I'm not making conceptual prog-rock records, I'm not far from it, but I'm not making concept records. "Abominable Snow" wasn't really in line with the rest of Return to the Sea. It wasn't where my head was really at. We recorded that song in January right after the Unicorns' had split. It was a song the Unicorns were playing out before we broke up. When I went back to go through songs that would become Arm's Way it just fell in more naturally.

For me it's not just a collection of songs that we have. We have tons of songs left off the record. They just weren't really where my head was at. There was a lot of fluffy disposable pop songs. When we started to get really serious about amassing the songs it was a matter of picking the best ones. On some level I guess an overarching concept of material, or a connecting thread that's weaving all the songs. And it's not just the subject matter or the relationship to death, it's just the sonic similarity. Without appearing homogenous...I would hope.

JK: So you have a stockpile then of songs that didn't make this record?

NT: Yeah, and they might never make it on another record. But who knows? "Abominable Snow" I didn't know what was gonna happen with that. It just kind of presented itself. It's not like we were explicitly forcing it to put on a record. It's a song we played on tour. And touring is just something we do, that we enjoy to do, and really the record is a document of touring, a product of that. It's not like we tour to promote a record, but we record to promote the songs we've been playing. If a song's in our live catalog we'll consider putting on a record.

JK: Next week you'll be back playing in Denver. The city's been sort of bad luck for you it seems are you feeling a little apprehensive about going back to the mountains?

NT: It's funny you say that. The first time we played Denver was the day after J'aime (Tambeur formerly of Islands and Unicorns) announced he was leaving the band, I dunno if you knew that...

JK: Right. And the next time you got stuck in a snowstorm?

NT: We had a twenty-four hour commute, nonstop. The vehicle we were in was moving for twenty four straight hours, and the driver was going insane and we were going a little loopy ourselves. You know, I'm banking on the third times a charm scenario.

Suspicious mural at the Denver Airport

JK: Fingers crossed?

NT: Hopefully people come out. I don't know if it has something to do with the airport. I know there's an underground base in Denver, a sonic underground base in the airport. And I know the Queen owns some land around there. There's lots of weird stuff going on with the murals, they're painting over them because there's been alot of speculation about the New World Order and its connection to Denver airport, that there might be some sort of weird conspiracy theories about that. There might be some kind of contribution to the negative energy surrounding us when we get off in Denver. It might have something to do with the underground base, the New World Order. The New World Airport. The Queen.

JK: One thing I did want to ask you about. With Return to the Sea you had commented a lot that one of the big influences was African pop songs. And since then, that's become sort of a full-fledged trend. Do you feel like you started a wave or do you think you narrowly missed out on all the current attention?

NT: Well I mean we were ahead of it on some level and I don't think that means we missed anything. I think everybody missed us.

JK: So is the moment now somehow more conducive to it?

NT: I don't know, I think there's alot of things that I've been apart of that...you know the Unicorns were one of the first Montreal bands of this generation that kind of started to make a name for ourselves. And we took Arcade Fire on tour before their record came out. We don't take credit for the Montreal wave of music, but I'm not gonna say I'm not slightly ahead of the curve sometimes. It's not an ego thing, it's just a fact.

You know we didn't write Graceland, we were just influenced by it. People who grew up around that time were. The difference between us and Vampire Weekend is that we're not parroting the genre, going in and mining the territory that Paul Simon was in such a boring and uncreative way and just basically ripping him off. We were doing it in a way that wasn't reducing it to...parody really. I mean when Paul Simon was doing it it was a discovery for him and we were trying to just get in sync with that same sense of musical exploration. I feel like with a band like Vampire Weekend it just seems so calculated, going through the same narrative styles and trying really hard to imitate. And it just sounds like an imitation. I don't even liken what we did to what they're doing. We had the same touchstone which was Graceland, which is a great starting point. That's what Paul Simon's great thing was is that he opened alot of people up to South African music and Brazil and all over, and he was creative about it. You have to be creative in the way that you interpret and explore music. And I don't think that band is a very creative band I guess.

JK: So, if you're a bit of an oracle for what we'll be getting in a while, maybe the newest stuff you've already recorded can give us an idea of where the scene will soon be?

NY: I'm not thaaat far ahead. I mean I've recorded little demos and stuff. Nothing like I'm sure where it will end up. The songs always take on a life of their own when the whole band puts our creative heads together and they always end up sounding way better than I would make them if I were all by myself. I don't know where things will be and I don't have a real sampler of the new sound, but definitely the songs I'm working on now are alot shorter. Alot of them are under three minutes and most of them are under four except a couple. But that's what I was saying last time, in between Return to the Sea and Arm's Way. I was telling people that the songs we were working on were all three-minute pop songs and when it came time to record the record only a few of those survived and the rest became these, you know, progressive, arrangement-heavy songs, which I love, and that's where my head's at now.

JK: Is that the process? You'll demo material and then bring it to the full band, and then it becomes an Islands' song?

NT: Yeah, I'll demo it and kind of root out the weaker tracks. Or bring it to the band and see if we can make it sound good. I'm definitely a couple steps ahead of myself, because Arm's Way hasn't even come out yet. I gotta pace myself a little bit.

JK: Is that frustrating?

NT: A little bit. I guess I wish the records would come out a little sooner because it's so fun to make records and have them available, and it's so fun to write songs and I definitely could release more if I had the opportunity.

JK: Are you going to be playing stuff that's even ahead of Arm's Way on this tour?

NT: Not on this tour. No, thank God. We've taken a breather. But I'm holding on to the new songs to let the Arm's Way songs sort of soak in and focus on them.

photo credit

JK: What's the origin of the white face paint that you've been wearing at recent shows? Is this just a concept for this tour or does it just look particularly good on stage?

NT: No, I'm always wearing white face paint.

JK: Right now?

NT: Yeah, it's a part of who I am. No, I'm kidding. It's just to accentuate the performative element to touring. It's just to distance myself from the banalities of my everyday life. You know you're sitting in a van all day and then you're going on stage. So let's put on a show. I think that's a way to get into character. I've always felt like changing into something whether it's weird clothes or just clothes specifically for the stage. It's just a nice ritual to feel like you're getting into character on some level. I mean I'm still me. I'm Nick Thorburn not Nick Diamonds anymore. I feel more confident about my identity but I still like to get in to character when performing. I think that's just a tool to get there faster.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:15 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

April 16, 2008

Video: Portishead - "Machine Gun" (Live on Jools Holland)

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 04:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Deerhunter, live @ Market Hotel, Bushwick 04.11.08

photos by Devon Banks

Last Saturday, Deerhunter played a hastily announced but hardly secret show at Bushwick, Brooklyn's loft venue the Market Hotel. The occasion was a more newsworthy than usual first public airing of the songs that will make up the band's third record Microcastle, which has no release date as of yet but is expected later this year.

I gave a full accounting of my problems with the space and how the shows there are run a few months ago, and nothing about Friday night really changed my opinion in either direction. You can direct your attention to the predictable dust up in this Brooklyn Vegan comments thread. Why refight the same comments battle here by rehashing? On with the show...

Knyfe Hyts

I wanted to be on Knyfe Hyts' side, I really did. When the band began their set it was actually rife with promise. There was an enchantingly evil kraut bass groove, sharp guitar stabs, and a drama-masked theatricality that I was willing to embrace. But as the set wore on, the sound never progressed. The individual songs kept bloating to longer and longer lengths, and the spastic vocal stylings of the George "the Animal" Steele-level hairy singer weren't helping. But I never really despised the band until their final song, when they invited a beefy bald man known as "MC Tracheotomy" from the audience to join them.

At first the bloke just sat around in the background as another extended jam unfolded, occasionally clapping and continually resembling Herc from the Wire. When silent, his presence made me like Knyfe Hyts more. "Ah, they are doing a riff on the Happy Mondays/Bez and making it funnier by elaborately calling him up from the crowd," we naively thought. If only. What he did actually do was unleash a torrent of despicably enunciated freestyle rap that veered perilously close to similar abominations by world class MCs like Anthony Kiedis or Barney in that one Fruity Pebbles commercial. At which point any lingering good will I might have had was lead quietly behind a nearby shed and shot twice behind the ear with a service revolver.

AIDS Wolf

Listen, I'm not so dumb. I know that a band that calls themselves "AIDS Wolf" has different goals in mind then cracking the pop charts or soundtracking a Starbucks. I was expected abrasion (well actually I was expecting to miss them entirely as they were billed second on the poster, but...). AIDS Wolf's set was like being punched in the ear repeatedly for a good 25 minutes. There just wasn't enough nuance or apparent construction involved in the band's indistinguishable songs to make their time on stage anything more than an endurance contest. While waiting for it to end, I was imagining what their practice sessions must be like: "OK, guitarist, you just start fucking shredding. Drummer, pound the living shit out of that drum set. I'm gonna start screaming, and we'll all just kind of peter out in four minutes. Go!"

It's music for masochists and I sincerely didn't "get" it.

Deerhunter

When Deerhunter began setting up around 2 A.M. it was a profound relief. Many of less dedicated stock had already fled for the exits, with a late running time and grueling opening acts peeling a guesstimated 150 people from the back of the room. Which, in light of a heavily publicized performance of completely unheard new material from one of the underground's most acclaimed and debated bands, is more telling than any snark I could offer. As the unmistakable bass notes of their fellow Georgians' dance hit began to roll over us, the long national nightmare had finally come to a close.

Their version of "Cool" was entirely spot-on--concerned primarily primarily with nailing the original and not adding a new twist-- and entirely not why we were there. "So now Microcastle," began Bradford Cox. It's hard to get deep into specifics about songs heard once and then stored in a rapidly dissipating memory bank so forgive the generalities. The songs were shorter and more immediate than the band's previous material. it seems some of the sixties pop romanticism that informs the Atlas Sound material has seeped into Deerhunter as well. Previously known songs like "Calvary Scars" and "Activa" were present, but possible less drawn out than their sketches have been.

The performace was notably lacking any sort of vocal pedals to warp and manipulate Cox's voice; a factor that probably accounts for some of the lingering notion of increased accessibility. The ambient experimentation of Cryptograms seemed mainly chucked as well. Thankfully the occasional tidal wave of shoegazer guitar was not. Guitarist Lockett Pundt took the mic for one of the songs, ably showcasing a voice he's used in material posted on the band's continually seminal blog. "It'll sound alot better than this," promised Cox late in the dozen or so song set. Given the consistent quality of these under practiced songs in less than pristine conditions, that's a pretty tantalizing prospect.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Retrohump: Once Upon a Time Near Mexico

The first time I heard Mana, on one of my first nights in the Rio Grande Valley, I was, yes, in a bar*. And like most other RGV transplants, my first thought upon hearing them was: “When the hell did Sting learn Spanish?” In person, every single member of the band seemingly aspires to be a hybrid of Bono and that “rockstar” guy from the Forgetting Sarah Marshall commercials, yet Mana manages to be not half as bad as this paragraph probably insinuates they should be.

Mana – “Clavado en un Bar”

Back in 2006 I totally dropped the ball on my year-end best-of list, and it still bothers me: Julieta Venegas’s Limon y Sal deserved a spot in the top ten, but I didn’t really give it a full listen until months later. These are the sorts of things that keep me up at night, and it’s probably why I still have not finished my thesis. Keeping with the retro theme, however, this creepy, accordion-laced track comes from her debut album, 1998’s Aqui.

Julieta Venegas – “De Mis Pasos”

The dance clubs in Mexico (or, at least, the ones in Reynosa, Matamoros, Monterrey and Guanajuato) still play ‘80s stars Erasure, When in Rome, the Cure, the Smiths and New Order on a regular basis. (Although, oddly, not too much Duran Duran.) I say “still” because these acts seemingly never left the rotation. In fact, I just heard (and danced along to) “A Little Respect” at a wedding last weekend.

New Order – “Bizarre Love Triangle”

On my first trip into Mexico, some five years ago, I heard this song no less than a half dozen times over the course of a three day weekend. I don't think I had heard it once in the previous 15 years. And then, well, here you go...

Baltimora – “Tarzan Boy”

And finally, he’s something for the future Mr. and Mrs. Swankster:

Belle & Sebastian – “Your Cover’s Blown”

* = OK, so it was a Bennigan's.

Posted by Randall Monty at 12:50 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 15, 2008

Video: Wu Tang Clan "The Heart Gently Weeps"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 14, 2008

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.14 - 4.20

[Blitzen Trapper]

Monday, April 14
Blitzen Trapper/Fleet Foxes @ Hi-Dive
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
Jeffree Star @ Marquis Theater
Mike Relm @ Fox Theatre
My Chemical Romance @ Fillmore Auditorium

Tuesday, April 15
DevilDriver @ Gothic Theatre
The Infamous Stringdusters @ Fox Theatre
Meat Beat Manifesto @ Bluebird Theater
Nick Lowe/Ron Sexsmith @ Boulder Theater
Shitwolf @ Larimer Lounge

Wednesday, April 16
Conscious Elliot @ Larimer Lounge
Dark Star Orchestra @ Fox Theatre
Dillinger Escape Plan @ Marquis Theater
Hazel Miller @ Soiled Dove
Meat Beat Manifesto @ Bluebird Theater

Thursday, April 17
Bouncing Souls @ Gothic Theatre
Dark Star Orchestra @ Fox Theatre
Enon @ Larimer Lounge
Gregory Alan Isakov @ Boulder Theater
The Pirate Signal @ Hi-Dive
Time Again @ Marquis Theater

Friday, April 18
Action Packed Thrill Ride @ Hi-Dive
All Capitals @ Bluebird Theater
Dark Star Orchestra @ Fox Theatre
Eyes And Ears @ Larimer Lounge
The Fall Of Troy @ Marquis Theater
The Neville Brothers @ Boulder Theater

Saturday, April 19
Danny Shafer @ Walnut Room
David Dondero And The Entire State Of Florida @ Larimer Lounge
Dimmu Borgir @ Ogden Theater
Ghostland Observatory @ Fox Theatre
Jackie Green @ Bluebird Theater
Luckyiam @ Marquis Theater
Ransom @ Gothic Theatre
Tipper @ Boulder Theater
Under A Blood Red Sky @ Soiled Dove

Sunday, April 20
Big Time Entertainment Show @ Hi-Dive
Divine Heresy @ Marquis Theater
GSP @ Fox Theatre
Man Man @ Bluebird Theater
Poi Dog Pondering @ Walnut Room

Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ripping Vinyl, part 1

I've only owned a record player recently, despite a lifetime of musical obsession. It turns out New York City is a really good place to find vinyl. I'm as shocked as you.

I'll be posting unearthed treasures here occasionally...when the mood strikes...

From the 1994 John Peel Session that was later commercially released as Extended Play, comes this version of the lead track from the British band's 1981 LP Odyshape. They were rubbing slumped shoulders with the alt rock elite then, after Kurt Cobain had leveraged for the re-release of their records and sacrificed Incesticide's liner notes to be evangelical on their behalf. Accordingly, the kit for the BBC set is manned by Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley. This "Shouting Out Loud" is just as urgent, mysterious, and pretty as the one committed to tape 13 years earlier. In the band's handful of true classics, there is a balance of chaos, craft, and charm that is very hard to achieve. Whenever a new song is winningly ramshackle, I find myself tempted to cite the Raincoats as a forebear of its appeal. The tightrope their best songs walked might be to thin for anyone to truly follow though.

the Raincoats - "Shouting Out Loud" (John Peel Show 1994)

Interesting note from Wikipedia, regarding the band's original drummer and former Slits member "Palmolive" (aka Paloma Romero):

"After leaving the Raincoats Romero looked at changing her life around and spent the next six months exploring India. During this time she met and married her husband Dave McLardy. In 1979 Romero gave birth to her first child, Sandy, after moving back to Spain. Soon the family would move back to England. After moving back to England and feeling unhappy with life in general, she became a born-again Christian.

She currently lives with her husband and three children in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As of 1995, she and her husband led a cover band called Hi-Fi, rewriting key lyrics to reflect their Christian beliefs. Included in their repertoire is The Slits' song "FM," with the chorus' lyrics changed to "Jesus is the answer / Why don't you let him in?"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:45 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 12, 2008

About last night...

Deerhunter - "Cool" (Pylon Cover)
(Market Hotel, Bushwick, 4.11.08)

Whoah, this unARTigNYC fella is fast. The full blow-by-blow from the Microcastle premier will come next week, but for now we have an instant gratification video of one of the (very late) night's clear high points, the band covering Pylon's immortal "Cool".

Pylon - "Cool"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 11, 2008

Writing Through the Billboard Hot 100

It started with a harmless headline, “Mariah Carey tops Elvis Presley's No 1 mark.” At the moment I really didn’t think much of it, I never claimed loyalty to the sequined saint and always thought of Mariah Carey as the please touch museum of the pop charts. Had I not been influenced by the aura of April Fools I wouldn’t have even read the article. But I did, and as a result I think I completely lost control of what follows. This post did start out as an April Fools joke, but it is now a full week and a half past that excuse and I’d be the first to admit that since then I have paddled way too far into dangerous water. If the truth can set me free then let this is my get out of jail free card, so here it is… I bought Carey’s hit song from iTunes but I didn't stop there, I attempted to make “Touch My Body” into poetry…

The facts hold true, MC’s (as we paying fans call her) “Touch My Body” surpassed Elvis with her 18th trip to the top of the billboard 100. Elvis's last number one while he was heavily drugged but still alive was “Suspicious Minds.” Accept it or not Mariah Carey is only three ballads about some part of the feminine physique away from topping the Beatles who hold the record at 20.

***editorial note—I’m about a paragraph and half into this experiment and suddenly am having second thoughts on this project. Am I really going to go through with this? F$ck I’ve already paid 99 cents on iTunes and Mariah Carey is now officially on my iPod. I have been watching her video for 10 minutes at the coffee shop and I know the table next to me has seen the screen. I have lost all credibility and self respect; I'm in far far too deep. I must go on and make something out of this or else I am just the guy who has been walking around Philadelphia with a song called “Touch My Body” on his iPod top playlist.

Exhibit A: There is no turning back

So it must be done. If I don't succeed in this project I fear that within weeks I will have Glitter on my netflix cue. But how can I attempt to make poetry out of lyrics that already poetically employ the subtle beauty of veiled sensuality? Carey's genius is that she only hints at sexuality and thereby lets the listener do the dirty work of undressing the words. For example, look at the delicately placed sexual undertones in this lyric:

Let me wrap my thighs
All around your waist
Just a little taste
Touch my body

What more can I add to a lyricist who has an ear so remarkably sensitive that she could hear a rhyme in the adverb “too” with the numerical equivalent?

I know that you've been waiting for it
I'm waiting too
In my imagination I'd be all up on you
I know you got that fever for me, 102

As a result the only chance I had to make poetry out of "Touch My Body" would be to tip my hat to chance itself. The tactic that I would use would have to be similar to the poetical experiments of visionary composer John Cage who "wrote through" James Joyce's final novel, Finnegans Wake. If I can’t make poetry out of a Mariah Carey lyric maybe I could make poetry in a Mariah Carey lyric (that sounds much dirtier than the reality).

Using the first line of Touch My Body as my guide “MC you’re the place to be” I pulled every word in the song that contained the letter "M" or "C." The results may or may not be poetry. In reality it sounds like the Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks having phone sex, "me touch my can/ me my caress," but nonetheless here are the results. You can find the original lyrics to "Touch My Body" here if you would like to play along at home.

Touch My Me
Touch My Me My

MC, place my
imagination me
same my temperature's

camera me camera
catch flick cause mouth secret
'cause my
touch my
me me
me some more

touch my
me make touch

my me my touch
my my curves
come
me touch my can
me my caress
me tropical Caribbean

camera me
camera catch flick
'cause mouth secret

'cause my
touch my
me me me some more

touch my me make
touch my me my
touch my my curves
come me
touch my

I’m-ma me
touch my
touch my
me me me some more
touch my me
touch my me my

touch my my
curves come
me touch
my touch my

So what did this prove? Absolutely nothing! Even with 80 percent of the lyrics trashed the song is still exactly the same. For example here is the original chorus:

Touch my body
Put me on the floor
Wrestle me around
Play with me some more

remove all words with an "M" or "C" and you get:

touch my me
me me some more

Amazingly, the song is lyrically tighter with just the "M" and "C" words. Pretty much all I did was take out all the references to foreplay and just got to the heart of Carey's self infatuation.

Though I don't know if I was successful in turning ""Touch My Body" into poetry, I do know that I can claim journalistic integrity when my day job finds that I have spent the afternoon googling the phrase "touch my body." Perhaps this is only the start and I can push this experiment a little further and attempt the bold mission of "writing through" future chart toppers of the ultimate canon of the musically divine, The Billboard Hot 100.

Posted by Yonah Korngold at 03:21 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Officially Psyched

This is a supposed Microcastle inclusion, but I guess we'll know for sure soon enough. A full report will be forthcoming...

Deerhunter - "Calvary Scars" (Daytrotter Session)

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Service-tastic

This is what happens when you cannot sleep - and settle on Vh1 Classic.

Did anyone else know these songs existed?

Power Station (80s supergroup featuring! Robert Palmer) - Bang a Gong

Pet Shop Boys featuring! Dusty Springfield - What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 06:11 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

April 10, 2008

Universal Music Group is fucking you "Generous!"

Hey, radio disc jockey/magazine or newspaper album reviewer: You know those promotional CD's you get* in the mail from record companies hoping that you'll hype their product?

Well, turns out that Universal Music Group is claiming that they still own those disks, and, citing copyright infringement, is suing at least one ebay seller for resellling the discs he bought at a used CD store. Not only can you not sell these promo CD's, according to UMG, but you can't give, or even throw, them away. (Don't want the hobos scoring any free Def Leppard.)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is taking the UMG to task. Thanks, Consumerist.

* = Maxim magazine: No.

Previously: Ticketmaster

Posted by Randall Monty at 11:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

New Stuff and an Old Ass-Kicker

Ladytron - "Ghosts"

With only limited exposure to the new Ladytron album Velocefiro, it seems that the Liverpudlians are still painting from their usual neon black palette. But "Ghosts" feels a bit different, straining in schizophrenic directions. It starts with an unexpected tough guy swagger but is then upended by maybe the sweetest, most playful vocal Helen Marnie has ever committed to wax. Usually she's H-242 the robot girl, but even singing of guilty ghosts and solo drinking sessions her nimble melody line is almost, dare I say, flirtatious? The knobs twiddle all over any ideas of a bouncy spring pop hit soon enough, but I'm still surprised to find the word "breezy" where "windscarred" used to be.

Of Montreal - "Feminine Effects"

Not much has changed in the months between the Fall '07 radio session where this candlelit ballad debuted and this studio-recorded final cut. The differences can be measured in slightly abbreviated sighs and finally perfected minor chords. But why would Kevin Barnes mess with such a crystalline torch song? It sounds like the perfect hypothetical first act curtain closer in an improbably moving sixties musical. What its inclusion on a new Green Owl Records' compilation means for its penciled-in place on this year's Skeletal Lamping I cannot say.

(via Fluxblog)

Titus Andronicus - "No Future"

The release date for Titus Andronicus' debut LP The Airing of Grievances is still sadly on the run. But I have managed to cut down another of its children to stuff and display on the blog mantle. As opposed to the instantly rambunctious songs readers of this site have come to know, half of the spic "No Future" is dusty build-up (you have to wait for the building dust-up). You can hear the primal scream of (not-so) old favorite "Upon Viewing Bruegel's Landscape..." warming up in its disappointed embers.

Vivian Girls - "Tell the World"

A May release that is, as of now, far too un-noted is the self-titled debut from Brooklyn trio Vivian Girls. The Henry Darger inspired ladies have a wobbly and infectious energy that recalls wobbly and infectious groups of yore like the Raincoats or Tallulah Gosh. If my lo-fi blind spot endears me to the warm fuzz around the track's edges, the converging voices form harmonies big enough for all. They sing of refusing to keep a good feeling to one's self, which should be enough to spurn you into slipping this into a MuxTape at least.

Monotract - "Cafu y Kaka"

Alright, "old" is only a relative term is this case, but the 2007 release that birthed this monstrosity didn't exactly scorch the blog rolls of the fickle indie nation. Monotract are a blazing herky-jerky noise band; the kind the Lower East Side used to make in the days when it looked like the West Bank. "Cafu y Kaka" blasts of noise aren't entirely perpetual, but there's never more than a second or two for caught breath. I imagine electroshock therapy involves a bit of residual buzzing between doses as well.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 09, 2008

Video: Matador launches "Zebra Sessions" with Times New Viking's "Drop-Out"

The inaugural posting from Matador's jump on the live video bandwagon is from Colombus' scratchy sweethearts, Times New Viking. I have a hard time seeing how I could like another song this year the way I like "Drop-Out." I can't even really defend it rationally, it's just a gut level, warm blanket sort of thing.

Times New Viking - "Drop-Out"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 05:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Ticketmaster is fucking you "Convenient"

[Coachella ticket is $269 before fees. ]

[Handsome Furs ticket is $12 before fees.]

I know this has been said a million times before, but just because of that doesn't mean it is acceptable. Why the fuck does their "convenience charge" change on the price of the ticket? Extortion! We need more Pearl Jams testifying in Congress.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:53 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Breaking News: Prince joins Coachella lineup

Prince has joined this year's line-up for the ninth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA (Friday, April 25, Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27) as the headliner for the second night of the critically acclaimed festival. (Coachella)

Previously: Coachella: Prince added to lineup?

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Retrohump: Dreaming About Eleanor Bron...

Yo La Tengo - "Tom Courtenay"
(live @ Waterfront Records, Sydney Australia, 1998)

I think the main reason "Tom Courtenay" is my favorite of all Yo La Tengo songs is the uncomfortably familiar fan boy longing in Ira Kaplan's nasal voice. I don't think it's too presumptuous to guess that many readers in our blog's hypothetical demographic might also relate to a song about wasting hours pining after glamorous images of women whose charm zeniths are frozen on celluloid filmed in decades past. This clip, which is horrifyingly now a decade old itself, takes away that bond of identification. Georgia Hubley's unassuming lilt conjures a much sweeter image of a starstruck girl living her life in magazines. The stripped down arrangement reduces some of the original's masculine guitar wank as well. It's a lovely rendition, but you can't compete with nostalgic projection now, can you?

Yo La Tengo - "Tom Courtenay"

Stanley Moon - "Love Me" / Drimble Wedge & the Vegetations - "Bedazzled"
(from the original 1967 version of Bedazzled)

Another man who spent too much time thinking about Eleanor Bron was Stanley Moon, Dudley Moore's character in the 1967 film Bedazzled. Those of you unfortunate souls who stumbled across the 2000 Brendan Fraser remake know that the basic storyline is of a man attempting to win the object of his affections by navigating through 7 ill-fated wishes given to him by the devil in exchange for his immortal soul. In this amazing clip, Stanley has wished himself a pop-star to woo Bron's era-appropriate hysterical teenage fan. The music, written by the versatile Moore himself, is a drolly hilarious distillation of the fickle affections of young girls in any time period. Stanley's needy Tom Jones croon "Love Me" is no match for the aloofness of Peter Cook's exquisitely named devil-in-diguise Drimble Wedge. Clueless young turks reading this take note: "I'm not available" is more intriguing than "love me" every time.

What's more interesting to me is how cool the Vegetations sound outside the bounds of the movie's joke. The disaffected deadpan spoken word reminds me immediately of Kraftwerk, the alternation between frozen call and psychedelic lady response conjures a Lee Hazlewood duet, and the dripping irony could have come from the in-cheek tongues of early 90's slackers. You'll notice that the best line ("you fill me with inertia") was brazenly stolen by the Long Blondes. An mp3 below for the fellow impressed.

Dudley Moore & Peter Cook - "Bedazzled"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Numerology: Klein's on 45

Numerically speaking, 45 is royalty. The seven-inch 45 rpm vinyl disc is the medium that delivered rock & roll (arguably in its golden age) to millions of teenagers in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The sight of a spinning 45 was an iconic image even before it appeared in the opening moments of Happy Days, which, along with American Graffiti, persists in coloring my mental picture of 1950s. So popular and ingrained is the retro cool of the 45 that a slew of strange bedfellows, like Morrissey and Ricky Skaggs, have recently issued new collections of old hits, on CDs that model the look of classic vinyl singles.

When you name a song after your band, it had better be good. 45 Grave has an interesting bio, so I was hoping “45 Grave” would be a fist-clenching anthem, but these West Coast goth punks—led by mainstay Dinah Cancer (say it out-loud)—come up a bit short. I’ll take “45 Grave” over “Living in a Box,” but it doesn’t compare to “Talk Talk.” Actually, when it comes to songs sung by women who could eat me for breakfast, I much prefer L7’s “Ms. 45.” But before we abandon the subject of song titles doubling as band names, let me ask you this: wasn’t “Stars on 45” by Stars On 45 the worst of them all?

OK, Stars On 45 wasn’t a band in the true sense; it was a bunch of studio musicians taking cues from a guy named Jaap Eggermont, a man who had devoted much time and energy to a project that was a nightmare to assemble. But Eggermont—former drummer for what is now the longest-running rock act in existence, those proud sons of the Netherlands, Golden Earring—had spent 10 undistinguished years as a producer, and wasn’t about to let go of an idea that he could feel in his bones would be a huge hit.

And so it came to pass, like a Dutch kidney stone, in 1981. Primarily voiced by fake Paul McCartney (Okkie Huysdens), fake George Harrison (Hans Vermeuien), and fake John Lennon (Bas Muys), “Stars on 45” ascended to the top of the U.S. charts a mere six months after Lennon’s murder. (It would take 25 years and the strenuous intervention of Cirque du Soleil to render the Beatles this unpalatable again.) Many found the singing soulless, the beat mind-numbing, and the medley form wanting, yet “Stars On 45” spawned a short-lived revolution. It wasn’t just novelty purveyors like Weird Al Yankovic (“Polkas on 45”) and the British Weird Al, Ivor Biggun (“Bras on 45”) who lined up for a ride on the medley train; legitimately cool bands like Squeeze (“Squabs on Forty Fab”) and Orange Juice (“Blokes on 45”) got into the act, too.

Orange Juice - "Blokes on 45" (John Peel Session)

Eggermont’s first attempt to milk the formula using Abba tunes did pretty well, but the subsequent Stevie Wonder version pretty much tanked, and the Stones medley had to be scrapped completely. It hardly mattered though; the man was already set for life. I’m sure he must have chuckled upon receiving a royalty check recently, from the house-style reworking of his song by the French duo Global Deejays. I get a headache just imagining the complex web of royalty payments that a cover of a Beatles medley would spawn. A final numerical point: Stars on 45 was not the only 45-related venture in Jaap Eggermont’s career: he played drums on Golden Earring’s war-themed “Another 45 Miles,” but probably hasn’t seen any cash from that one in a long time.

Shinedown had a big hit a few years back with “45,” a slice of packaged angst with a testosterone-fueled chorus that goes, “And I’m staring down the barrel of a 45/Swimming through the ashes of another life…” But hang on; it’s not what you think: According to singer Brent Smith, “[B]asically, the 45 isn’t an actual literal term for a gun, I used it as a metaphor for the world, the 45 is actually the world and what it hands you every day of your life.” Maybe so, but don’t tell Bronson Arroyo. The Cincinnati Reds pitcher (and decent guitarist) almost certainly chose “45” as his entrance music because it inspires him to go out there and be aggressive early in the game, not for its metaphorical implications.

Metaphors are grownup thoughts, and 45 is a grownup age. Somewhere around 45, it becomes incumbent upon you to give at least a passing thought to your own mortality. In 1955 the Irish soprano Mary O’Hara sang the longevity-minded “45 Years.” Ms. O’Hara’s name may not be familiar in these parts, but her life has been made into a play, and for good reason: Twice she achieved fame as a recording artist, separated by 12 years of living in a convent. If that doesn’t scream biopic I don’t know what does. Is Holly Hunter available?

I wish Mary O’Hara were here right now to sing a brief medley of songs that were ineligible to win but worthy of mention. It would go like this:

Brimful of asha on the 45/Brimful of asha on the 45.…The only girl I've ever loved/was born with roses in her eyes/But then they buried her alive/One evening 1945…Bleep bleep bleep, bloop bloop.

Cornershop - "Brimful of Asha"

The bleep bleep part was an attempt to conjure up the instrumental “45:33” by LCD Soundsystem. While the innovative Murphy takes the medley to a rarely reached height, “45:33” is an album masquerading as a song. And the fact that it’s priced on iTunes as an album proves my point.

45 is the name of Bill Drummond’s collection of cranky tales about life and the music business. Drummond, whose musical sojourn began in the early ‘80s behind the scenes of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes, went on to score worldwide hits with the KLF and notoriously burned a million English pounds in 1994. (He now says he regrets it.) The book is an intermittently fascinating account that veers between fanciful discourse on interstellar lea lines and brilliant punchy writing, like this thumbnail description of Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant (circa ’78): Short-order chef with black moods and beautiful eyes. Favourite Stone: Brian Jones. If the book has a musical equivalent, it would have to be a song that is both sharp-eyed and fanciful, one that considers multiple implications with skill and a sneer: in short, a song by Elvis Costello.

Before conferring honors upon Mr. McManus, let me present the bronze, silver, and brass medal winners. The quietly harrowing “2:45 a.m.” finds Elliott Smith on a dark night of the soul, his fragile voice sounding as nakedly vulnerable as ever, even when double-tracked. I just question whether the drums that enter during the last verse need to be there. The simple beauty of the melody, the intimacy of Smith’s voice and guitar are compelling on their own and the drums feel almost like an intrusion, like someone came into the room and turned the lights on too quickly. “Colt 45” by Metal Urbain is an appealingly reverb-laden rave-up that gives French punk a good name. Contemporaries and acolytes of the early Clash, the band employed a declamatory singing style and distorted keyboards, bringing to mind a Gallic take on Suicide. Gang of Four’s “5:45” is a stubborn screed decrying death as entertainment, as only Gang of Four could do it: “How can I sit and eat my tea/with all that blood flowing from the television?”

Elliott Smith - "2:45 a.m."
Metal Urbain - "Colt 45"
Gang of Four - "5:45"

Fine songs all, but not especially concerned with 45. Leave it to Elvis Costello, wordsmith nonpareil, to deliver one song containing all the major connotations of the number: 45 the year, 45 the 7-inch single, and 45 the gun—as well as writing it at the age of 45. Impossibly clever lyrics are what you expect from Elvis, but the sound of “45,” which leads off When I Was Cruel (2002), marked a return to the kind of music he hadn’t made since he was 25. Gone, at least for the moment, was Elvis the UCLA artist in residence and Anne Sophie von Otter collaborator. Back after a long absence was the seductive, bitter, guitar-strumming Elvis who charmed a million hearts with an audacious vinyl troika in 1977-79. That voice is still that voice, the lyrics still sting, and the guitar crunch hasn’t aged badly at all.

Elvis Costello & the Imposters - "45"
(A&E Live By Request, 2003)

Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. It's starting to creep everybody out.

Previously: No. 1, 2-4, 5-7, 7 (counterpoint), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44

Posted by David Klein at 09:17 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 08, 2008

Vampire Weekend, Live @ Bluebird Theater, Denver 4.1.08

I like to think that I'm not the type who easily falls for the accepted narratives when it comes to certain cultural, socio-philosophical, or political happenstance. As a human being with some intelligence I prefer to allow myself a wide enough subjective margin to work out my thoughts and opinions to the many things I hear or read about. Focusing this budding ramble solely on music, I want to believe I'm still capable of coming to terms with my own perspective with new artists. For mostly stupid reasons it seems especially important to justify a stance on those blessed (some say cursed) with the non-musical, ancillary perils that success can bring when a ride on the un-crestable wave of ascending popularity occurs. Stupidly because its rather embarrassing to have what is ultimately an existential crisis with clinging to what is or what is not cool. If a slight indulgence into meta cultural critiquing can be granted, I present the Hipster Problem. We're not fourteen anymore, but it sure doesn't seem that way.

I always struggled to understand the motivation behind tenuous justifications of negative attacks directed at popular artists. Mostly it's for petty and circumstantial reasons. Just because sketchtown residents like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse get so much attention for their junkie ways, though genuinely sad and we hope (by now) curbed with tragedy, it doesn't mean their body of work should be diminished anymore than the work of saintly artists with glowing credentials. History, through its virtues of distance and perspective has a way of sorting out the problems of real time conclusions by contemporary analysts by providing elucidation of the "real story.”

But we are in a new frontier of constant, 24/7 evaluation. Seen real time through the checkered wisdom of progress, it is chipping our ability to consciously step back enough to allow serious stocktaking of so many unfettered opinions.

Let me further that last point by pointing to the word "allow." We are in a unique time in history. Never has the ability to spray the world with independent judgment been so great. Not only for free societies, but for tiredly oppressed folks in places like Iran, China, and other so-called closed locales enjoying from the proliferating black markets of ideas. That said, the fact we all have a soapbox has muddled things a bit has it not? Spend some time perusing the reader comments of your local newspaper’s website to see some of the more egregious examples of unfiltered gabbing. Articles on immigration, the war, and even seemingly banal bulletins on the weather all serve as catalysts for the crazies to spew their venom. The terrible irony of the great final realization of a true free market of ideas seems to be that given the chance to proselytize, everyone comes off sounding like a douchebag. You might be thinking the same thing about me right now!

For more topical fare to the Swankster mission, see if you can make it through the comments at Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan. One might shit on emo kids for sporting guyliner where another will discredit death metal for the overtly intricate satanic dungeon motifs. Either way, both are empty criticisms ringing as hollow as the old man decrying the glories of his youth and the last great era of “good” music." See? Total bullshit. Everyone is a douchebag. Even this missive, instead of a tale on the irresistible pop hooks of Vampire Weekend, quickly devolved into a pretentious defense to my own history of defending a young band doing whatever the fuck they want to do. Caring little if looking preppy isn't cool and caring less to actually have written a line in a song referencing one's butler. If that is not embracing the punk ethos of fighting against the established grain then nothing is. Jonathan Richman can attest to this. Dude loves his parents and wants to keep the ladies at the government center in high spirits. Not exactly a wild rebellion, but is it not exactly that?

In real life, where real life is not framed by the Internet, Vampire Weekend is still a tremendously talented new band. Their story arc is simply not long enough to draw a safe verdict for posterity. Of course I don't expect anyone to stop from trying. This is not my point at all. I just think we need to be aware who we are listening to. Clearly a quick Google search of "Vampire Weekend backlash" proves this point rather well. And by rather well I mean insufferably self involved and achingly predictable. "They sing about rich people!" "They wore scarves!" Is it too much to ask to be spared from fashion nitpicking when talking about rock and roll? Act fast before you blink and miss the next Midwestern band relocating to Brooklyn. Oh they just bought their skinny jeans? Grew beards? Added a new keyboardist who happens to be a gorgeous ex-model with a cute bob haircut? Let the hype cycle play again. Puh-leeze.

Rock critics get slack for rockism, but I'd like an answer on the rampant pseudo-liberal ideology of oppressing the rich kids? The Strokes experienced some of the same via thinly veiled jealousy colored through suspicions of nepotism from Julian Casablancas' famous model brokering father. And while the pedigree of an artist is fair game for discussion, often most of the critical tones get punctuated with scorn amidst additional piling on to prove unworthiness. Why can’t haters just stick to hating the music on its own? Bank accounts, closets, and frequency of showers are completely irrelevant when headphones are involved.

So what the hell does this have to do with Vampire Weekend playing Denver's Bluebird? I was really stoked to see the band play live for the first time. I really do love their self titled debut. I think this space has said plenty on the band to get into the why again. I really wanted to love the show, I really did. What actually happened is I got caught up in the maddening amateurism of a crowd more interested in arguing about who got to the front pit area first rather than listening and *gasp* taking the show in. I hate doing this when reviewing a show because it’s not reviewing the show at all -- it’s reviewing my own personal experience.

Unfortunately I can't help it. In order for me to avoid discharging from the spigot of disingenuousness I must call out the drunken morons behind me who kept screaming "Mystic Seaport". I don't know if you fellows are from the region of Mystic, CT, where the historical maritime Mecca familiar to all field tripping, Northeastern, elementary schoolchildren is, or you just really dig the song "Walcott", but you were killing me. Sure it was probably more a me thing than a you thing, but God it was just tearing at the fiber of my being.

Other than a weird crowd Vampire Weekend was great. Really tight and just as clean as the record. Too clean perhaps. The bass may need additional decibels for filling out the bottom end a bit more. Lead singer Ezra Koenig was very chatty. Distractingly so, but I'll give him a pass since the band doesn't have that much material to fill out a set. We’ll talk again after record #2 is out. Nice talk. Thanks.

[Setlist scan]

Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Follow up: Shea Stadium Rickroll

[Photo cred]

Rick Astley has made the cut for 8th inning song at Shea Stadium this season...sorta. The people behind the knobs at Shea are holding a run-off vote to gauge crowd reactions:

[Today], during the eighth inning [of Mets home opener], they’ll play [Astley's] "Never Gonna Give You Up", followed by "Living on a Prayer" on Wednesday, "I’m a Believer" on Thursday, "Movin’ Out" on Friday, "Sweet Caroline" on Saturday and "Build Me Up Buttercup" on Sunday. (via)

My notes on the candidates after the jump.

Previously: Say Shea, "Never Gonna Give You Up"

"Living on a Prayer" - Too ominous a title for still rattled Mets fans.

We've gotta hold on
To what we've got
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not
We've got each other
And that's a lot

No! We don't have to hold on to Shea. That is exactly what we're not doing. It certainly does make a difference. At least for my sanity and probably the jobs of Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph. This is not at a lot Mr. Jovi. It's bushleague.

"I'm a Believer" - Fits the famous "Ya Gotta Believe" sloganeering of the Flushing faithful, but too many scrappy connotations of hope for a team with high expectations of success in 2008.

I thought love was more or less a giving thing,
Seems the more I gave, the less I got.
Oh, what's the use in trying,
All you get is pain,
When I needed sunshine, I got rain.

Cue: 1988, 2006 NLCS, 2007, Pedro's 1st game back, the Bobby Bonilla and Art Howe eras, etc.

"Build Me Up Buttercup" - See above.

Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around

"Movin' Out" - Billy Joel is canonized in parts of New York. Long Island especially. The Mets draw a lot of Long Island fans. Shea Stadium is closing this year. Obvious front runner. I hate front runners.

Ack, ack, ack, ack, ack.

"Sweet Caroline" - THE METS ARE NOT THE *#$&ING RED SOX.

"Never Gonna Give You Up" - Most. Apropos. Song. Ever.

We've know each other for so long
Your heart's been aching
But you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

and yet...

Never gonna give you up

[Note: The feverish feelings towards the New York Mets are the sole views of the Merry Swankster and not necessarily of merryswankster.com. Though Colorado is far from Queens, he's as anguished and hopeful as ever. Look for him this summer at Coors Field when the Mets face the Rockies. He'll be the most obnoxiously loud Mets fan being hushed by his embarrassed girlfriend...who happens to be a Braves fan. She knows not what she does.]

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:00 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 07, 2008

Crystal Stilts - "Temptation Inside of Your Heart"

Light posting from me for the past week or so, as a long drawn out computer struggle appears to be finally nearing an end. The normal rate of provided delights from my keyboard will resume shortly, but as a harbinger to this flurry of greatness I point you in the direction of Crystal Stilts covering a lesser loved track from the Velvet Underground songbook, currently streaming at their MySpace page. It's the version they opened their terrific Neon Lights gig with. The one whose title I totally flaked on in my blur of memory for the night but will be accurately ingrained in my remembrance now, forever more.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 10:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.7 - 4.13

[Black Keys]

Also - Radiohead announced more N. American dates, yet still no Denver. Boo.

Monday, April 7
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
Today Is The Day @ Marquis Theater

Tuesday, April 8
Ellegoria @ Larimer Lounge
Ernie Halter @ Walnut Room
Family Force 5 @ Marquis Theater
Luciano @ Fox Theatre
Seether And Flyleaf @ Fillmore Auditorium
Streetlight Manifesto @ Ogden Theater
Tift Merritt @ Bluebird Theater

Wednesday, April 9
Alesana @ Marquis Theater
The Black Keys @ Ogden Theater
Eels @ Fox Theatre
Mark Pickerel @ Hi-Dive
Weather The Storm @ Larimer Lounge

Thursday, April 10
A Skylit Drive @ Marquis Theater
Andrea Ball @ Hi-Dive
Dead Ringer @ Larimer Lounge
Perpetual Groove @ Fox Theatre
Story Of The Year @ Ogden Theater
The Subdudes @ Boulder Theater
Trampled By Turtles @ Bluebird Theater

Friday, April 11
Band Of Heathens @ Soiled Dove
The Beautiful Girls @ Bluebird Theater
The Brothers Mor @ Walnut Room
Great American Taxi @ Boulder Theater
Lotus @ Fox Theatre
Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band @ Larimer Lounge
Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers @ Gothic Theatre
Vital Remains @ Marquis Theater
Why? @ Hi-Dive

Saturday, April 12
Laurie Anderson's Homeland @ Boulder Theater
Laylights @ Bluebird Theater
Lotus @ Fox Theatre
Maga Bo @ Walnut Room
Megadeth @ Fillmore Auditorium
Ministry @ Ogden Theater
Pattern Is Movement @ Hi-Dive
The Unseen @ Marquis Theater
Workhorse @ Larimer Lounge

Sunday, April 13
Anti-Flag @ Ogden Theater
Converge @ Marquis Theater
Forecast @ Hi-Dive
Larry Bagby @ Walnut Room
My Chemical Romance @ Fillmore Auditorium
Ukulele Loki's Gadabout Orchestra @ Fox Theatre

Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 04, 2008

Say Shea, "Never Gonna Give You Up"

The Mets have a new stadium that is slated to open next season and there are all kinds of 'last season' happenings in honor of the current dump. Most of them dubious given we're talking about an uninspired relic of architecture in Flushing that is going to be missed by nobody. Growing up we used to say that Shea looks like a pizza pie with a slice taken out -- that slice transported to Jones Beach for an amphitheater of equally sad aesthetics contrasting with the beachy environs.

Anywhoo...a scroll through the interweb is all one needs to see there is no shortage of pranksters trying to leave their mark on the final season before the wrecking ball. Now, the steamrolling Rickroll prank has its sights on occupying the 8th inning song slot at the stadium.

Currently at Mets.com, the team is asking fans to vote from 10 choices, including a write-in option, to elect a new eighth-inning sign-a-long song, which could potentially replace Sweet Caroline.

However, FARK.com is encouraging it’s community to bombard Mets.com and vote Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up as a write-in candidate. (via)

Anyone else not the least bit offended by this one? In fact I would much rather have Astley's hit over the Fenway borrowed "Sweet Caroline". Talk about unoriginal.

Rick Astley - "Never Gonna Give You Up"

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 03, 2008

Little America And So Can You!

Last night, R.E.M. put together an altogether impressive performance on the Comedy Central linchpin The Colbert Report.

I've heard nothing but positive reviews for their latest album, Accelerate. Still, I've got the sneaking feeling that it's just a bunch of long-time R.E.M. fans that are sick of saying bad things about one of their favorites.

So far, I've only heard the first single, "Supernatural Superserious". It's certainly embodies the "return to rock" aesthetic that has been floated around, which is a nice change from the "boring Beach Boys" feel of the last two albums. Thankfully, unlike on Monster (R.E.M.'s other "return to rock"), it doesn't seem like Peter Buck has thrown away his bread-and-butter "jangly" guitar for Accelerate.

Interview:

I was really hoping that Colbert would take the "comeback" angle further and call out R.E.M. for their last two (or three) sub-par albums.

R.E.M. - "Supernatural Superserious"

It took me about sixteen years to figure this out, but Mike Mills might be my favorite male back-up singer.

Posted by Randall Monty at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A replacement for the Replacements

I've already prattled on about how emusic is great for Spackling the holes in your back catalog, and now they've gone and added the Rolling Stones' first ten albums proper. (Plus a bunch more of the "greatest hits" variety.)

What's more, the site offers both the US and UK versions of the early albums, if you're into that sort of thing. From the website:

Ladies and gentlemen, may we present the entire Rolling Stones ABKCO catalogue: 25 titles covering "Satisfaction," "Paint It, Black" (possessor of the most famous comma in music history), "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and so many other stellar singles. There are classic albums, as well: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet, Aftermath and on and on. In terms of rock & roll, there is little better.

Still, I should have downloaded Let it Be when I had the chance. The other one.

Posted by Randall Monty at 06:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Video: Under Byen & Danish Radio Sinfonieta

Glacial art-rock combo Under Byen are still mainly a word of mouth blog whisper in this country, but in their native Denmark they are a bonafide big deal. Big enough to score a collaboration with their homeland's celebrated chamber orchestra Danish Radio Sinfonieta. These songs were intensely beautiful when played to an empty Bowery Ballroom last year, but they are so naturally epic in scope that this would have to be considered their more natural setting.

"Af Samme Stof som Stof"

"Tindrer"

Previously:

Under Byen, Live @ the Bowery Ballroom, New York City 03-05-07

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 02, 2008

Retrohump: Neu!, Under Sad Circumstances

Neu! - "Hero"
(live, 1974)

R.I.P. Klaus Dinger 1942-2008, founding member of Kraftwerk and Neu!, rhythmic visionary.

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 03:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 01, 2008

Still Glowing Lightly From Inside Closed Lids...

photos by Devon Banks

So I officially have some sort of a mental block when it comes to neatly wrapping up the concerts D and I book. It has been one month exactly since the last Neon Lights Presents... night in Brooklyn, and here comes the wrap up just now limping across the finish line. Perhaps it's the sedating blush of an event completed or the psychological reluctance to move beyond a fleeting triumph that leads to the perpetual delay? It's kind of tough to self-diagnose. How about this: if the lack of immediate closure following a solid week of pre-show hype, maybe you should come to the next show, huh? No, I'm not ignoring you, non-New Yorkers. Who doesn't love a grueling cross state bus ride?

Anyway, the goods:

Crystal Stilts

The Crystal Stilts were about as cool as possible. In Galapagos' cavernous main room, their minimal sound became overwhelmingly big. I don't mean to equate sonically filling a room with anthemic preening. The unsung Brooklyn band was tenaciously aloof, pushing Liam Gallagher levels of hands-in-pockets nonchalance. Echo and reverb were magnified tenfold though, to the point that low-key iciness became all-encompassing. From the opening VU cover to the heighth of their self-titled EP's "Crippled Croon," the sound was consistently dark, but far from lifeless. It was far too snappy to constitute a perpetual mope. Also, a special technical merit badge is awarded on the basis of the ingenious "let's just lay a tambourine on top of this standing drum and pretend we can simultaneously thwack tom and cymbals" set up.

The Stilts' aren't one of these Brooklyn bands who you won't be able to avoid due to pervasive PR blasts, so do yourselves a favor and make an effort to seek them out if the name happens to cross your path.

Titus Andronicus

As much as we were all enjoying the disaffected badassery that the Stilts had to offer, there were no complaints once young Titus Andronicus climbed the stage with hearts pin snugly on-sleeves. This band rocks. Hard. Every song in what frontman Patrick Stickles described earlier in the evening as a "hits" set was drenched in flailing enthusiastic energy. Three guitars, a keyboard, and a shrieking New Jersey-ite up to no good is quite the potential powderkeg. The band has previously been complemented as a drunken bloody mess. Having had a bit of control over the drink tickets this evening, I'd say that's just projection based on their refreshing lack of self-conscious inhibition.

The high water mark of a positively flooded set was probably the Pogues-lilting but Wolf Parade-pounding self-titled anthem, "Titus Andronicus." This is the number that gives Patrick his permission to stalk the crowd screaming to people that their "life is over" (see post photo #1). His bandmates--clapping and shouting behind him--let him play grim reaper quite affectively. But I despite the easily assumed authority, it was charming that an attempt to act out the song's opening "throw my guitar down on the floor" was made impossible by a stubbornly placed mic stand and a strap that just wouldn't fucking give. As far as subsequent magic moments went, the part in "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, New Jersey" when the band pulled to a halt, simply to scream "Fuck You!" in unison, was hard to eclipse on a pure punk scale (of 1 to OI !).

The actually quite pleasant lads don't seem to know when their Troubleman debut, The Airing of Greivances is slated to hit shelves. So obviously that much anticipated news will have to wait for a later date. Perhaps their April 13th gig at the Knitting Factory will provide a much-needed update.

Eamon Hamilton

In retrospect we probably did Eamon no favors by slating him to play amid the still smoldering wreckage of Titus Andronicus' energy bomb. A more prototypical singer/songwriter, armed only with a weathered acoustic guitar and a microphone, might have shrunken away from the challenge. Our Eamon responded with a surprising bug eyed intensity. The spiky rock numbers from the Brakes' songbook were delivered with full-throated gusto. The sweet ballads were aided by a lonesome vulnerability. Really, it was all unreasonably compelling for such an unadorned set.

Spontaneous decision makers heed my notice: Eamon plays tonight at Manhattan's Lit Lounge.

So thanks to Galapagos, the bands, DJs Professor David Klein and the Rich Girls are Weeping, and especially our very kind and thoroughly rocked patrons. There's a bit of a quandary as to when the next Neon Lights evening will go down, but trust that wheels are in motion and the congregation will be thoroughly preached towards when the theoretical show is actually approaching. If you've got a bright idea that you'd like to run past me, hit me up at neon lights nyc at gmail dot com.

Much more photo-documentation after the J...

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 06:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Video: the Long Blondes - "Century"

Previously:

- On "Century"

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bon Iver, Live @ the Echo, Los Angeles, CA 3.20.08

I enjoy visiting Los Angeles. It gives me a chance to catch up with some good friends while temporarily suspending whatever weather I'm currently experiencing. Idyllic climate doesn't come without a cost. Though what you hear is true about it never raining in Southern California, the infamous downside is the not insignificant mind-numbing traffic. You can count on the cake arriving but nobody gets to eat the damn thing.

My latest visit was last month for what I would have preferred to be a purely indulgent few days of summery carefree activities instead of the boring work related reasons. However, never one to be blamed for not taking advantage of advantageous situations I took the opportunity to make the decidedly Swankster move of catching Bon Iver's show at the Echo in Echo Park - the hipster neighborhood near downtown LA.

Although I've recently professed my admiration of Bon Iver's magnificent For Emma, Forever Ago I really wasn't sure what to expect with the material's live treatment. This is typical for singer songwriter types, even more so for ones with mythologized back stories of isolation as muse. With the thinking going, If other musicians were not involved in the songwriting then would any be enlisted for a tour? Turns out that was entirely faulty logic as Justin Vernon, the man behind Bon Iver, has a full touring band. A good one at that.

It didn't take long to recognize that his band transcended appearing like set pieces filling out the stage, and more importantly rounded out the mix quite nicely. I was struck by this very early in the set during a moment that had little to do with an actual performance. During vocal tuning exercises the band appeared to do what I can only describe as a group harmony check. To presumably match tones and collectively clear throats while warming the innards involved in the singing process. It stuck with me in ways a comparable on-stage guitar tuning session never does. And it was pretty pleasant to listen.

Later in the set I would think back to these precursory actions with sincere admiration that is rare for such a shortened reference point of reflection. It struck me that on the stage was a special group of talent not limited to the star of the band. Moment after moment of vocal dexterity was showcased with Bon Iver's disposition towards playfulness with pitch tones. Proper execution of such arrangements demands perfection. A fact that cannot be overestimated enough with music when it's this sparse and airy, albeit heavy air weighed down with intense emotionality. Unlike the hard driving, punk ethos flavor of 'less is more', mistakes are infinitely more noticeable when the material is of decidedly lighter fare. You can growl your way out of a missed cue here and there when you're a snarling punk, but good look if your section of harmony gets pooched.

Worth noting was Vernon's resiliency with singing duties while battling a cold. Something he referred to repeatedly during the night whether apologizing for setlist changes or trying to rationalize having a beer. It seems clear that no returning SXSW attendee from the flocks of artists, fans, and industry left Austin without carrying some sort of bug. The tenderly pulsating "Lump Sum" was the third song of the night and introduced as a wild card addition because "I'm sick." It was dedicated to "Matthew, a new and eternal friend." As with much of the lyrics on For Emma... Bon Iver takes a poetically deceptive route even in banter.

"The Wolves (Act I and II)" followed. Sounding even more like TV on the Radio gone acoustic than the single "Skinny Love" ever will. Just think of the scene, Tunde Adebimpe, alt-folk artist playing in a Brooklyn coffee shop. Hmm. Unclear whether "Wolves" was another setlist change, but I'm sure the extended audience participation of the refrain, "What might have been lost" didn't bothering the Austin-irritated throats of the band. Not to say Vernon or his mates sounded effected by illness for even a second. If it was not for smalltalk from the stage referring to the less than 100% internal comfort, nothing else hinted problems. Maybe it was the cool California night, or perhaps the friendly pro-Eau Claire attendees excited to see a native son perform.

Shouts from crowd members citing Bon Iver's hometown were part of an ongoing audience/artist conversation. Any one of the many exchanges seemed to teeter dangerously into full digressions of "oh do you know so and so from high school, me too!" and "I totally dig that bar" type things. The proclivity to tie Bon Iver back to a neighborhood coffee shop where the locals call for songs and ask how the family is doing may be obvious, however it would only seem that way. And that would mean we were talking about yet another generic singer songwriter with a guitar and not, Bon Iver.

[Phosphorescent opened]

//Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago - buy
//Bon Iver - Myspace
//Bon Iver @ Jagjaguwar

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:12 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April Fools' Day Pranksters Should Try Harder..

From what I sincerely hope is a wildly transparent 4/01 joke press release...

"Ben Gibbard is Just Jazzin'

BENJAMIN GIBBARD ANNOUNCES NEW SIDE PROJECT

Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie) is proud to announce a new musical project called Just Jazzin'. Born out of an interest in exploring music free from rules and convention, Just Jazzin' offers the world a chance to see another side of Ben.

"....There's this side of me and my music that desires a lack of structure and Just Jazzin' does that for me because I am allowed to just play whatever note comes into my head.", says Ben."

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:57 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack