Archive for July, 2005

What Was So Scary Once Is Now A Little Bit Quaint

Portion Control Scissor Sisters @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Laura / Can't Decide / Hybrid / Tits On The Radio / Cher Baby / Paul McCartney / Magnifique / Other Side / Take Your Mama / Everybody Wants The Same Thing / Mary / Comfortably Numb (w/ Carlos Alomar on lead guitar) / Filthy/Gorgeous // Music Is The Victim

Scissor Sisters "Everybody Wants The Same Thing (Live @ Live 8)" - Have no fear, Scissor Sisters fans - their next album is going to be fabulous. All six of the new songs performed last night were instantly catchy and lovable, especially the jaunty banjo romp "Can't Decide" and "Everybody Wants The Same Thing," which received the most rapturous audience response to an unreleased song that I've ever witnessed. It was vaguely disconcerting to see the Sisters in such a tiny room after being at their huge homecoming show at the Hammerstein Ballroom last December. All of the songs, especially the new ones, seem designed for big rooms and massive outdoor shows, and their personalities are so much larger than life that it was almost surreal to be so close to them. Before the show, Jake Shears was standing about three feet away from me in pretty normal clothing, which seemed about as weird to me as if someone who I saw every day suddenly started dressing like...well, Jake Shears! (Fun fact: Jake announced that his father made the leather pants that he was wearing. That's one supportive dad!) (Click here for the official Scissor Sisters website.)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Graceful Retreat / Is This Love / Cigarettes / Yellow Teeth / Over And Over Again (Lost And Found) / In This Home On Ice / Details On The War / Satan / Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood [This is taken from the setlist that was on the stage - the unreleased songs may have longer titles, and the order could possibly be different from what was actually played.]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah "Is This Love?" - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah didn't seem quite right coming between the stylish, high energy disco pop sets by Maxi Geil and the Scissor Sisters, but outside of that context, they played a fine if not particularly memorable set of songs that recalled at various points David Byrne, Jonathan Richman, Violent Femmes, and all manner of indie pop from Elephant Six to 80s New Zealand to present-day Pacific Northwest but mainly sounded like the Arcade Fire crossbred with The Shins. (Not such a shock that they would catch on so quickly given that math, right?) At their best, they have a knack for quietly likeable pop ideal for mix tapes and riding around in cars on sunny afternoons, so it's hard to question their sudden success since that's half of what the indie audience is looking for to begin with. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Maxi Geil & Playcolt @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Here Comes Maxi / Teenage Extreme / That's How The Story Goes / Paying For Something New / Sunday Morning / Artist's Lament / The Love I Lose / Makin' Love In The Sunshine / Please Remember Me

Maxi Geil & Playcolt "Makin' Love In The Sunshine" - This set started off a bit wobbly, but Maxi and the band fell into place about halfway through "That's How The Story Goes" and kept it up though the set until the climactic disco showstopper "Makin' Love In The Sunshine," which has quickly become my new favorite song in their catalog. Unfortunately for the band, the superenthusiastic crew of buff gay dudes who danced nonstop through the Scissor Sisters show and the DJ set immediately before it had not showed up yet. I'm sure those guys would've been way into this set.

But oh man, "Makin' Love In The Sunshine" - seriously, if this song doesn't make you all love them, I just don't know what is wrong with you. How do you resist this? How do you not love a song with a verse like this:

This kind of love is like Das Kapital
I often quote it, know who wrote it, never read it all.
This kind of love is like the Red Brigade
What was so scary once is now a little bit quaint.
This kind of love is like the SLA
It took a debutante to make me want to move its way.
This kind of love is like a guillotine
I just lost my head to a cause greater than me.

This track is going to be out on a limited edition vinyl picture disc with "That's How The Story Goes" sometime in the next couple months. Keep an eye on the Maxi Geil site if you want to buy a copy. (Click here to visit the Maxi Geil website)

You're Gonna Know Me For The Rest Of Your Life

Kudu "Physical World" - Ah, it's too bad Missy Elliott just put out a record with speakeasy imagery on the cover - that concept would've been more appropriate for a hypothetical single for this song. (Maybe I'm being too literal, though.) The Kudu album yields consistently strong results in spite (or because) of their restless style hopping, but their singer never seems quite as comfortable and in full command of her voice and persona as on this cabaret/jazz vocal/r&b/electronic mut. (Click here to visit the official Kudu site.)

While I was out yesterday, I saw a teenager wearing what I believe might be the saddest rock band t-shirt that I've ever seen. Here's the front of it:



Now, I'm not trying to rag on Everclear here. I don't hate them (in fact, I quite like at least six or seven of their songs), and the near total lack of coolness of that band really isn't that much of a factor in why I find this shirt so sad and desperate. (If that was the case, I'd surely be mocking a Candlebox or Seven Mary Three t-shirt instead.) The "disco still sucks" thing is the most obvious problem here - judging by the tour dates on the back of the shirt, this was made in 2000, placing it about 20 years after the point when the whole "disco sucks" thing was relevant. It just seems like a pitiful last gasp of a lifelong rockist who is totally out of it, hung up on ridiculous old grudges, and oblivious to the fact that the record the shirt is ostensibly promoting actually sorta flirts with disco-ish pop on a few tracks. But on the other hand, Everclear may be doing the public at large a favor by helpfully marking out clueless rockist (potentially homophobic/racist/sexist) turbodouches in a crowd, so that we can all avoid their company.

And then there's the sad happy face. Is there any better way to force the impression that you're a cut-rate Walmart version of Nirvana than by putting a half-assed generic variation of their iconic, highly ubiquitous stoned happy face logo on your band's t-shirt?

The back of the t-shirt is arguably more depressing than the front, with a long Mother 13-esque tour itinerary comprised entirely of radio festivals. I did not infer that these were radio festivals just from a quick glance, mind you. It says that it's a radio festival tour, right there in big bold letters. Now I guess it's admirable in a way that Everclear is unashamed and unpretentious about sucking up to corporate radio on a full-time basis (after all, it is/was their bread and butter), but um, maybe they should at least be a little more discreet about it! There's really only two ways of reading that itinerary - 1) Everclear is a band desperate to stay in the good graces of Clearchannel et al and will do anything to keep their music in rotation 2) Everclear is a band so beaten down by the commercial process that they just don't care at all what anyone thinks of them. It's a little bit of both, I'm sure, but I can't help but suspect that it was born mainly out of resignation.

I Want To Look Into Your Future

Morningwood "Nth Degree" - Oh my God, it's the audio equivalent of Skittles! The chanting-out-the-letters-of-their-name bit in the middle is probably better suited to live performances, but I suppose they could just be legitimately concerned about journalists getting the name right, being a new band and all. (Click here for the official Morningwood site.)

Clor "Magic Touch" - This song teeters right on the edge of confidence and insecurity, but ultimately errs on the side of self-assurance, but how could it not with a refrain like "you'll come alive with my magic touch"? Nice synth squiggles too, by the way. I'm pretty sure that this song reminds me of some obscure Prince song, but it's a vague feeling and I really can't place it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Lost In The Cracks Between The Paving Stones

Jenny Wilson "Love Ain't Just A Four Letter Word" - I can't tell you how many times I listened to this song before I figured out why it seemed so familiar to me, despite being rather distinct in its oddball Swedish cabaret-pop style. On the surface, it would seem very Kate Bush, but if you just listen to the melodies and the vocal tics and the shifts in structure, it becomes quite clear that this isn't very far removed from Sleater-Kinney's The Hot Rock. That would explain the way the chorus cuts right into my heart very well - really, I'm just a sucker for these kinds of melodies and progressions, and my sentimentality for that particular Sleater-Kinney record only intensifies a reaction that could just be instictive for me. But if you hate Sleater-Kinney, don't be put off - I'm sure many people will think I'm crazy for making the connection in the first place. (Click here to visit the official Jenny Wilson website.)

David Wrench "Sodium Lights" - I love living in a world where there are actually Welsh albino synthpop stars. Many of you will remember David Wrench for his song "World War IV," which I believe to be one of the finest songs ever to be featured on this site. "Sodium Lights" does not quite reach those giddy heights, but it has a grand romantic sweep that is difficult to resist and a chorus that will likely take up residence in the back of your mind for weeks to come. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

The Stars Would Be Their Own

Fannypack "Nu Nu (Yeah Yeah) (Double J and Haze UK Edit) - We've still got a month and a half of summer left, right? It's not too late for this to be the summer jam that it deserves to be. I mean, it'd be great if this was a hit (mainstream, cult, or otherwise) at any time, but let's face it - this song is meant for the summer. Especially the sticky, kinda gross parts of the season that everyone but me seems to loves so much. This track is a thing of perfect pop beauty, as relentlessly hooky as The New Pornographers at their sugary best, or more accurately, like a superconcentrated dosage of early Salt N Pepa. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Helen Love "Debbie Loves Joey" - Awww. So sweet! If Helen Love is the ultimate British twee indie pop band (and I believe that they are), then this must be the ultimate Helen Love song; the one that sums up their aesthetic so perfectly that you can figure out whether or not you'd like, love, or hate the rest of their catalog based on hearing this one track. Amazingly (and luckily, I suppose), this is the very first Helen Love single to be released domestically in the US. (Click here to buy it from Scratch Records.)

This Is The Pressure That Competes To Keep My Soul Alive

Drink Me "Manifesto" - You all can have a ball annotating the bits in this composition lifted from other songs in the comments box. The funniest thing about this track is that one of the bands Drink Me are obviously knicking is Elastica, who built their career with the same sort of magpie songwriting tactics and cool-girl sass. If the bubbly disco beat and sexy vocals aren't enough to sell this song, lyrics detailing dreams involving gossiping with Robert Smith in mundane settings and some vague talk about a manifesto ought to do the trick. (Click here to buy it from Piccadilly Records.)

Avenue D "You Love This Ass (Pete Loves This Acid mix)" - Sticking with EPs, singles, and guest spots on other people's records has been a good career move for Avenue D, whether it is intentional or not. For one thing, a little bit of their hipster booty music shtick goes a long way - a full record of them would be very overwhelming, and inviting numbness and boredom is sort of antithetical to what they're all about. It'd be nice to see them get a bit of credit for being quality songwriters, but lord knows those sort of accolades are rarely bestowed upon anyone who writes fun novelty dance pop songs about loving asses. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

You're In A Sleepless Dream

Annie and the Anniemals "The Wedding (Sirius Satellite Radio Session)" - This new unreleased song was recorded in NYC right around the time Annie and her band were in town for their show at the Tribeca Grand. "The Wedding" bodes well for Annie's eventual second album, boasting a bouncy and immediately catchy synth funk track that sounds like early Tom Tom Club or mid-period Talking Heads, and coy, spunky vocals reminiscent of Cristina on Sleep It Off in place of the wispiness that characterized most of Anniemal. (Click here for the official Annie site.)

Broadcast "Goodbye Girls" - Following a fairly radical downsizing of the band's membership, Trish Keenan and James Cargill continue on with the Broadcast name as a duo on the forthcoming Tender Buttons LP. The personality of the band remains intact, though the ponderous percussion and baroque sci-fi orchestration of The Noise Made By People has been jettisoned in favor of stark, streamlined electronic arrangements which ironically radiate more warmth and humanity than their more organic (and far fussier) recordings. I don't think that I would have gleaned that "Goodbye Girls" is about prostitution just by listening to it, but according to Keenan, the song is about making peace with the idea of prostitution, and the fact that there are prostitutes in her family. It's not a particularly positive or negative song, but rather one which acknowledges and respects the social and emotional complexity of the world's oldest profession. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Tying You Is Fine And Whipping You Is Grand

This is the second in a series of posts dedicated to revisiting songs that were staples of my old mix tapes and cds circa 1996-2001.

Millie Jackson "It Hurts So Good" - I never kept any records so I don't know for certain, but I find it hard to imagine that any other song appeared on as many of my various tapes and cds as this sexy ode to masochistic love. I originally acquired the track on a free soul compilation that came with some British magazine circa early 1998. This song usually came in somewhere in the middle of side a, and I seem to remember that it frequently came after "Seeing Other People" by Belle & Sebastian. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

United States of America "I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife For You, Sugar" - Oh, so classic! I bought the United States of America album on import at Other Music during my "getting to know the canon" phase, and it was worth every penny just for this jaunty little number about a selfish, hypocritical man dismissing his college-aged BDSM partner and embracing the suburban lifestyle with his wife and kids. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Oh Yeah, Captain Fudge and the Fantasies

Amy sings with Prince for Caroline - This is a found recording of a girl named Amy singing along with Prince's "Kiss" at the start of a mix cd that she made for her girlfriend Caroline. Amy makes flirtatious comments throughout the track ranging from cryptic in-jokes and adorable come-ons to possessive (and very pushy) declarations of love. It's a fascinating document of a person putting their heart on the line, and the most devastating thing about it is that it's hard to imagine Caroline not being put off by Amy's earnest intensity. When Amy says "you've got to love me, Caroline, because I love you so much, and you will never love me as much as I love you" on the bridge, I can't help but feel that it was probably a very accurate assessment of their relationship. I hope for Amy's sake that I am wrong! (Many thanks to WFMU's The Professor for acquiring this track and broadcasting it on The Audio Kitchen.)

Pitchfork's Intonation Music Festival ought to become the new template for outdoor multi-band shows in the United States. The park was set up very well, and ideal for a show of this size. The prices, even for concessions, were entirely reasonable. The audience was mellow and low key, but definitely put forth a huge amount of enthusiasm when the artists called for it. Everything ran smoothly, and everyone seemed comfortable and happy even in spite of some rather intense heat. The most encouraging thing about the festival is that it proves that a line up of artists who are either relatively unknown or smallish cult acts can be commercially successful and draw a few thousand people. Sure, a lot of it has to do with the Pitchfork brand name and that it happened in Chicago, but it's a very positive thing no matter what.

The M's - Amiable indie rock, probably didn't get as much attention from me as they deserved. 6.3

AC Newman - It was great to hear all of those songs from The Slow Wonder played live, especially "Secretarial," "The Town Halo," and "On The Table," which was actually played twice in a row at the beginning because Newman's guitar was out of tune the first time. He also played a very good Tall Dwarfs song that I only kinda knew and can't remember the title of - it's the one with the line "I want to screw you" in the chorus. 8.7

Magnolia Electric Company - Not very compelling but a fine soundtrack for sitting in the shade and chatting. 4.9

Four Tet - Pretty good, even if it got to be a little much towards the end. Not much to look at, but it worked pretty well if you were on the other side of the park waiting on line for concessions, as I was at the time. 6.5

Broken Social Scene - I didn't watch this, but listened to it in the shade near the other stage while waiting for the Go! Team. It was okay. 5.2

The Go! Team - So much fun! The audience loved them, and they seemed to be having a great time. The lead vocalist is extremely charming and charismatic, especially when she was dancing with all the little black kids (who had previously been dancing to Four Tet by the public pool adjacent to the park) they brought on stage at the end for "Ladyflash." They played a few brand new songs, and they were just as good, if not better, than the songs from the first album. 9.3

Prefuse 73 - What I heard sounded pretty good, but I left during this set. 6.0

Dungen - They are much better live than on album. Stoner psychedelia always goes over well in the early afternoon at an outdoor festival. The bass player was particularly good, both in terms of playing, and in stage presence. 7.3

Out Hud - Oh. My. God. Out Hud were incredible. They only played five songs and skipped my favorite ("It's For You"), but it didn't matter, they were so on, and got a huge number of people to dance nonstop in the punishing midday sun. I can't believe I've never bothered to see them play before. I need to do it again sometime soon. Wow. 9.5

The Hold Steady - Very enjoyable for about 15 minutes, and then I walked away and met up with some friends. 6.4

Andrew Bird - This was sort of ideal for sitting in the shade and taking it easy in the middle of the day. Very beautiful at times; I'm going to have to listen to the album again. 6.5

Deerhoof - I had intended to get closer to Deerhoof, but never got around to it. It sounded okay from across the park, but nothing really amazing. 5.6

The Wrens - I just thought they were alright. Apparently the front section for their show was packed full of superenthusiastic Wrens fans. Well, good for them. 5.1

Les Savy Fav - I'd always been okay with Les Savy Fav, but hadn't ever bothered to see them. What a mistake. This set was intense, and I had a perfect spot for it, right on the line so I could view Tim Harrington's over the top antics on stage as well as watch the front of the crowd sing along and flip out to every single song in the show. Harrington was an amazing thing to see, starting off in red short shorts and a tank top and eventually stripping down to a speedo and sneakers; making out with people that he brought on stage; setting up a slip n' slide in the audience halfway through the show; getting a huge number of people in the crowd to squat down and make guttural noises through the middle of "She Believes You;" leading one of the most incredible call and response breakdowns I've ever witnessed in "ROME," and dancing with a crazy Napoleon Dynamite-looking dude who got up on stage towards the end. I'm still overwhelmed by this show. Easily one of the best punk shows I've ever seen, and probably ever will see. 9.5

The Decemberists - I think I get the Decemberists thing a lot more live than on record. Their albums are so mannered and mellow compared to their performance, which is very driven by audience participation and silly stage antics. Very fun, even though they did not play "The Engine Driver." 7.6

Watch The Skies: My Star Keeps Glowing Brighter

Rinôçérôse "Bitch" - I spend a lot of time searching for music, and I don't always know what I'm looking for. I think that I do a pretty good job of keeping the quality control pretty tight on this site, but lately I've been feeling like I haven't been getting many new pop songs that have that certain spark that I want need. This song doesn't just have sparks - this is more like fireworks. Like, the grand finale on the 4th of July. Times ten! The vocals are wonderfully androgynous, but there's nothing ambiguous about the song's raw sexuality. The hooks are huge and relentless, as though the music was created in a lab for maximum pop power. Frankly, I'm in awe of it. This is unquestionably one of the best singles of 2005. (Click here to visit the official Rinôçérôse site.)

Special bonus: Stream the JD Twitch/Optimo remix of "Bitch."

Gene Serene & John Downfall "U Want Me" - Those of you who read the comments box yesterday already know, but the bad news is that Louise de Fraine aka Gene Serene was hit head-on by a taxi in Berlin a few weeks ago. Luckily, she is in stable condition and is recovering nicely, and will hopefully be back to her pop antics before too long. Louise has an amazing voice for dance pop; it just overflows with sexual confidence and coy flirtatiousness, but it's not without a subtle undertow of humanity and vulnerability. Her discography is very small at the moment, but as far as I'm concerned she has already recorded four all-out classics including this song, which has yet to be released commercially. (Click here for the official Gene Serene website.)