Archive for March, 2005

Study Your Mouth Movements

Solex + Maarten Altena Ensemble "Go Easy on the Fun Fund" - Elisabeth Esselink has flirted with jazz sounds on every Solex record, but for this recording for Konkurrent's In The Fishtank series, she got to collaborate with a full ten piece jazz ensemble. The results are not very far off from the typical Solex sound, but with a looser feeling and more expressive leads. On this particular track, Esselink's vocal cadence recalls Kim Gordon in spoken word mode, but no one could ever confuse her bright, girly voice for Gordon's guttural tone. (Click here to buy it from Midheaven.)

Dr. Dog "The World May Never Know" - At this point in time, there is hardly a need for more 70s soft rock pastiches, but when a song as lovely and agreeable as this comes along, it's easy to forgive the glut of bands out there trying to write their own Fleetwood Mac and Todd Rundgren songs. Nice reverb on the drum fills, by the way. (Click here to buy it from Devil In The Woods.)

I Never Knew That Time Could Get So Far Away From Me

Electrelane "Bells" - Video treatment: All of the footage will be shot on a warm, sunny day in a large public park, preferably in the early summer. As the song begins, we see a lot of calm, quiet activity - people strolling, reading, having picnics, lying in the sun. The band ought to be the central figures at this point, if just because it's their song and they are very attractive people. Scenes should change every other measure, and then every measure once the high-pitched keyboard lead comes in. There should be some hints of sun glare in the footage, but not too much just yet. When the guitar comes in, the editing should cut on the downbeat. The glare of the sun should become more prominent, and the action should be more physical - running, game playing, dancing, swimming. The glare and contrast should increase as the song reaches its climax, leaving us with a blown-out, mostly white or yellow image at the end, and the screen fades to white. (Click here to buy it from the Beggars Group.)

The Constellations "Let's Face It, Our Kids Are Stupid" -In contrast to the more manic depictions of ADD in recent music (like, say, "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" by the Fiery Furnaces), this song seems to illustrate an inability to concentrate that is less severe and more common. The song shifts back and forth between a lethargic but serene instrumental and a jumpier section in which two vocal parts sung by the same voice compete for attention - one repeating the same thought, and the other chanting letters in a distracting sing-song. That part is catchy and light, but whenever the instrumental part kicks in, it feels like a relief. (Click here to buy it from Dominion Recordings.)

I Count On You, I Do

Elastica "I Want You" - I'm not sure how this one ever fell through the cracks, both in how this song never ended up on a proper Elastica album or single, and in that I never bothered to get a copy of their Radio One Sessions compilation til just recently. There is some excellent material on the collection, including several songs that I'd never heard before, and some raw, energetic versions of some familiar album tracks. During their existence, Elastica took a lot of heat from narrow-minded critics for knicking hooks from other bands (particularly Wire, whose music served as the basis for at least eight songs in their catalog), but the truth is, they were fearless and utterly ruthless appropriationists with excellent taste and a knack for improving upon their source material. The active ingredient in the Elastica formula was most certainly the effortlessly sexy phrasing of Justine Frischmann, who could very well be the most seductive rock singer of the 1990s. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Whomadewho "Satisfaction" - The appeal of this one is fairly straightforward - it's a cartoonish punk version of Benny Benassi's recent club hit "Satisfaction" performed by an obscure band from Denmark. From what I've read in the paper this weekend, posting this sort of thing makes me "cheeky." So be it! (Click here to buy it from Limelight Records.)

Houses, Bedsits, and Squats

Scritti Politti "Is and Ought the Western World" - Like a lot of post-punk songs from the late 70s, this sounds almost as though it was recorded in black and white. That sound most certainly suited early Scritti Politti, who were like the musical equivalent of homemade photocopied manifestos dropped along the street. It's a far cry from where the band would end up, though - only a few years later, they would become a slick, highly produced soul-pop group, with only Green Gartside's distinctive voice and grad school lyrical obsessions carrying over between the different incarnations. Though much of their 80s material is very worthwhile and interesting, the production style is very dated and has not aged nearly as well as the earlier work, which could easily pass for contemporary arty indie rock. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Moolah "The Hard Hit" - I spent part of my weekend talking to a heavily medicated kid who can't look anyone in the eye. (He just stares glassy-eyed off over your shoulder.) I'm alone in this house and it's grey and wet outside. My mind is surprisingly clear. I slept in today, which is pretty rare for me. Under the circumstances, this song feels just about right. Drone, drone, menace, menace. They did this kind of thing so much better in the 70s, didn't they? It seems so much less selfconcious than say, Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor. Or God help us all, The Album Leaf. This was recorded in New York sometime around 1974. Whatever keyboard they are using on that one main drone, I love it. (Good luck trying to find an official copy of this one.)

In My Room With The Curtains Drawn

Yo La Tengo "Tom Courtenay (Georgia Version)" - At their best, Yo La Tengo mask their potent emotions with a stoic affect, lending a consistently low key vibe to their work, along with a quiet subtext of repression. Ira Kaplan in particular always seems to be slightly embarassed by his heavier feelings, insisting on framing everything in the context of the everyday and burying his often whispered vocals under the squall and drones of his guitar. Their emphasis on the nuances of domesticity is rarely found in rock music (particularly in rock music that can actually rock), and has wisely become the band's general niche over the years. (Well, that and the penchant for obscure cover versions.)

"Tom Courtenay" is one of the band's most impressive songs, and is rightfully featured on their new career retrospective, Prisoners Of Love. It appears twice in the set - the first is the album recording, and this is the alternate b-side version featuring drummer Georgia Hubley on vocals rather than Kaplan. This take on the song manages to be even more low-key than the original, which struggles to smother its lovely melodies and lonely nostalgia with loud feedback and a diffident lead vocal. I'm sure that someone out there can and will one day record "Tom Courtenay" will all the passionate emoting that Yo La Tengo are holding back, but I suspect that it would not work as well, since their aloof restraint rings so true to a song about memory and distant longing. (Click here to buy it from the Matador store.)

KaitO "Nng (Demo)" -Fluxblog exclusive! This is a demo for a song that will appear on the forthcoming new KaitO album on SpinArt. On this track, the band sounds as relentless and urgent as ever, but the guitars seem to have been replaced entirely by the sound of very disagreeable computers. (Click here to visit the official KaitO site.)

Dodging The Wrath Of God

Della Reese "Compared To What" - There's a lot of protest music from the Viet Nam and Reagan eras that ring true today due to their vagueness or because they are about political situations analogous to current events, but this song, with lyrics written by Eugene McDaniels, is so specific to the current American political climate that it seems like it could have been written yesterday. Della Reese changed the original lyrics slightly, softening some of the harsher lyrics and downplaying the line about abortion, but the performance is still quite vitriolic and intense. This is a selection from Soul Jazz's new Soul Gospel compilation, which (like virtually everything else put out on that label) is of uniformly high quality and decked out with informative, well-designed packaging. Highly recommended. (Click here to buy it from Soul Jazz.)

Sunship (featuring Warrior Queen) "Almighty Father" - This is very disorienting, but in a pleasurable sort of way. The ragga vocals zoom along over a broken beat backing track that sounds like it's been reduced to slow motion, creating this odd effect that is kinda like being half-asleep on a rollercoaster. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Turning Into Something Of Another Kind

Tanya Stephens "Need You Tonight" - When this single first came out, I passed it over in favor of Ce'cile's "Rude Bwoy Thug Life," which was also based on the Cure Riddim. At the time, it didn't make a lot of sense to me to feature two songs with essentially the same backing track. "Need You Tonight" didn't stand much of a chance up against "Rude Bwoy," but that's no comment on its quality. That Ce'cile song is probably one of the top 20 or 30 best songs that I've ever posted on this site. The Cure Riddim is essentially a remixed version of The Cure's "Close To Me," and with or without Robert Smith's lyrics, the music can't help but to convey a strong sense of romantic anticipation. Tanya Stephens runs with that general theme, but darkens the tone by making her version about anxiously planning an adulterous rendezvous. (Click here to buy it from Germaican Records.)

Tahiti 80 "Changes" - Okay, so now we know what Phoenix would sound like if they became obsessed with the Neptunes. This track is utterly immaculate 00s pop, and seems almost like a musical tribute to two or three years ago while still sounding like it could be from two years from now. The voice is thin but pleasant, the beats are crisp, the hooks won't let go. Unsurprisingly, people in Japan love this song. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

I'm Here To Sing A Song About Privilege

Nouvelle Vague "I Melt With You" - Though most of the Nouvelle Vague album is a pleasant novelty (80s new wave and punk hits recorded in a bossa nova style, perfect for your next dinner party), they pull off something on their version of Modern English's "I Melt With You" that is rather similar to what the Scala Choir did with The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself." Essentially, they rescue a beautiful love song from I Love The 80s kitsch and Burger King commercials by toning down the intensity and putting the focus squarely on the lyrics and melody. I'm sure that over the years, this song has appeared on countless mixes made for crushes and romantic partners, and that at least half of those people put the song on to express the sentiment of this version - cuddly, low-key sexiness rather than epic romance. In one of the most adorable ad libs that I've ever heard, the singer deflates the song's most bombastic line ("I made a pilgrimage to save this human race") with a smirky "yes I did!" that brings the lyric back down to earth without disrespecting the earnest ambition of that verse. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Stephen Malkmus "Pencil Rot" -"Pencil Rot" starts off the new Malkmus album with a keyboard riff that sounds like it got lost on its way to the auditions for Blueberry Boat. It's a move that makes me wonder whether he's actually influenced directly by The Fiery Furnaces, or if I've been right all along, and they just sound a whole lot like him. The similarity to the Furnaces is limited to the keyboard sound on this track though, as the song takes off in another direction once the guitars kick in. It's sort of like a warped, less predictable version of "Dark Wave" from Pig Lib, with odd lyrics about being tortured by a villainous alter ego named Leather McWhip and crawling (and dancing) to the top of the "human shit pile." It's fairly representative of Face The Truth as a whole - familiar Malkmus songwriting spiked with a bit of experimentation in arrangement and production. At this point, the guy can't help but to be himself, so he's wise to shift his focus to texture rather than attempt an awkward reinvention. (Click here for the not-particularly-useful official SM site.)

Melinda and Melinda - Speaking of artists who can't help but be themselves and ought to avoid reinvention; Woody Allen's new film wisely avoids the severe flaws of his previous picture by sticking to his regular formula to the point of self-parody. Anything Else was a thoroughly mediocre romantic comedy brought down further by Allen's profound cultural disconnection from anyone under the age of 30 to whom he is not currently married. Though it is important to come into any of his films ready to suspend disbelief, Anything Else pushed the limits of what a viewer could rationally expect of the interests of 20somethings played by Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci. Allen's artistic and philosophical obsessions haven't changed much since the mid-70s, and that isn't such a problem in terms of what he wants to say in his art, but since he uses his characters as mouthpieces for his own tastes and views, he ends up coming off as oblivious to cultural changes and doomed to anachronism.

Melinda and Melinda is focused on characters in their 30s and 40s from a uniformly wealthy and well educated background, so the cultural signifiers make a bit more sense, even if the film seems more like a mid 80s period piece rather than something taking place in this decade. The premise of the film is that two writers - one specializing in comedy, the other in drama - are giving their take on essentially the same story, and the film cuts back and forth between their versions of the events. The drama is heavy and occasionally over-the-top, and very much written as a parody of earnest tragedies. In contrast to the comedy, which includes some of the funniest material that Allen has produced in years, thanks in part to the performance of the currently unstoppable Will Ferrell, it seems rather like Allen wants the viewer to walk out of the theatre thinking "wow, comedy is so much better than tragedy!" I get the sense that this is on some level intentional, and that Allen is defending his legacy against the criticism of self-righteous dramatists. That insecurity is obviously warranted by a film culture that elevates drama and generally disrespects comedy, but it's somewhat unseemly when it becomes the subject of a film.

Do Some Ab Crunches, Pack A Bag Lunch

I Hate You When You're Pregnant "Tanning Booth" -I'm not quite sure what to make of this little oddity. It's a super-catchy funk song about getting fake tans set to a slap bass groove straight out of Seinfeld by a dude from Arizona who looks like this. Depending on your demeanor, you may or may not love having the words "tanning booth, tanning booth, you're my best best friend in the whole wide world" running through your head for the rest of the day. But it will happen, so be careful. (Click here for the official I Hate You When You're Pregnant site.)

Four Tet "Smile Around The Face" -It may not always seem like it, but I really do try not to be too repetitive in how I describe the music on this site. I've fallen back on variations of "it sounds like happy" many times in the past, primarily because that seemed to be the most accurate way to frame the music, but now I feel like I'm just being hacky when I do that. I want to say something else about this song, but no matter how much I think about it, it all keeps coming back to "it sounds like happy." And it does. It sounds just like happy. Clearly Four Tet knew this was the case when they put the word "smile" in the title and put it on a record called Everyting Ecstatic. Happy happy happy. Enjoy. (Click here to buy it from Pure Groove Records.)

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Wide Eyed And Open Mouthed

Clor "Love And Pain (James Ford Remix)" - Can you believe this band rejected this remix? I don't know what the original version sounds like, but I almost don't want to find out since I can't imagine a rock-band arrangement coming close to the giddy heights of this dance mix. I can keep an open mind, but the nagging doubt remains. (Click here for the official Clor website.)

William Onyeabor "Better Change Your Mind" - Every time William Onyeabor asks a political superpower (as of 1978, anyway) "do you ever think this world is yours?," he punctuates the rhetorical question with a dismissive "eh" which is invested with a mix of disappointment, frustration, and muted vitriol. This epic psychedelic/afrobeat jam fills in the gaps between many contradicting thoughts and feelings, as it acknowledges on several levels the complexity of the situation that it addresses lyrically. (Click here to buy it from the Giant Step store.)