Archive for September, 2005

Orgasmic Explosion Of Love

Unknown artist, song-poem "Virgin Child of the Universe" - Song-poems are the product of a peculiar sub-industry that quietly thrived in the '60s up through the early '80s or so. Basically, there were a few companies who would offer people the chance to have session musicians transform their poetry into pop songs. The results can be very bizarre - remember, a lot of people don't exactly write poetry with an ear for melody, and that a lot of the people who would respond to something like this were a bit...eccentric. Many of the products are predictably drab, tossed-off things, but there are some song-poems, such as this one, that manage to fill out a lovely melody with lyrics that reach a level of head-scratching wtf?-ness that is truly sublime. You've got to hand it to this session singer - she is capable of not just finessing this obtuse ramble into an appealing melody, but also sell the song's cosmic lyrics about a child born out of wedlock with soulful conviction. (Click here to buy it from the Key Of Z website.)

The Residents "Burn, Baby, Burn" - This selection is sung from the perspective of the daughter of Jephthah from the Old Testament, who is about to be sacrificed to God, who will in turn grant her father, a general, military victory. God digs her daddy, you see. As she patiently waits to be burned alive, she makes a keen observation: "I'm ready to die, but it seems to be odd / that bleeding is better than breathing to God." (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I've Got The Internet Going Nuts

Hollertronix "Tippin' Toxic (Mike Jones & Paul Wall Vs. Britney Spears)" - What's more hypnotizing, the shrieking strings and 007 guitars of Britney's "Toxic," or the mic presence of Mike Jones, a man capable of transforming the most average, forgettable name imaginable into an infectious lyrical hook through sheer force of will? Like the best bootleg mixes, "Tippin' Toxic" mates two songs that are unstoppable on their own into a hybrid that would seem entirely natural as a unique composition if you had never heard its distinct components. Sure, there may not be any "devil cups" to sip from, Slim Thug, or brain-melting screwed keyboards in this version, but the brisker tempo is arguably a better fit for Paul Wall's verse and adds more bite to Jones' key lines. (Click here to buy it from Underground Hip Hop.)

I Realize That I Hate The Sound Of Guitars

Fugazi "Target" - This song is ten years old now. When I bought this record, I was sixteen and the lyrics justified a lot of my snobbishness. Now I'm 26, and to a certain extent, this song describes my career. Forcing silence, sucking sound, forced into your conversation. Actually, it's more like the argument that I'm having in my head every day lately. What is this thing that keeps us from making it, oiling like crime? Morality, pride, fear, laziness? I don't know, but I swear to God, today's thread title rings very true in my heart right now, with all the added irony of the fact that this is very much a song with guitars. But guitars as iconography, guitars as cultural shorthand, guitars as artistic crutch - ugh, ugh, ugh. (Click here to buy it from Dischord.)

Sorry to be posting so many one-song entries, and songs that you probably already know. I want to get back to posting good ol' "Fluxpop" music, but I just can't seem to find any, and people sure as hell aren't sending me any.

Their Love Is Only A Fraction Of What I Can Give To You

The White Stripes @ Keyspan Park 9/24/2005
Black Math / Blue Orchid / Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground - Passive Manipulation - Dead Leaves (reprise) / Jolene / My Doorbell / Cannon - John The Revelator - Passive Manipulation - Screwdriver / The Nurse / Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) / Death Letter / Hotel Yorba / The Hardest Button To Button / I Think I Smell A Rat (Jack integrates a bit of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" - "this shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s") / Walking With A Ghost (Tegan & Sara cover) / Ball & Biscuit (snippet) - Hello Operator / The Union Forever // I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) / Red Rain / In The Cold, Cold Night / Let's Shake Hands / We're Going To Be Friends / Little Ghost / Ball & Biscuit (full version) / Seven Nation Army / Boll Weevil

The White Stripes "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)" - It's going to be interesting to see how that next Kenny Chesney album turns out, huh? Then we get to know whether Jack White is a bitter drama queen, or if Renee Zellweger is a HORRIBLE SHREW WHO DESTROYS LIVES. Or, ha, a HORRIBLE SHREW WHO DESTROYS THE LIVES OF BITTER DRAMA QUEENS. And if that's the case, then maybe she should be commended for performing a public service, especially since she has clearly drawn out some perverse extremes in Jack White's songwriting, as his gallant front crumbles into wounded pride, paranoia, and undiluted spite. It's sort of compelling to see the guy fall apart emotionally on record at the height of his powers, playing the role of the preening exhibitionist at the precise moment when his audience would most like to be voyeurs.

In terms of setlist, performance, venue and visual presentation (I wish that I had a good picture of their set design, because it's brilliant), this was by far the best White Stripes show that I've seen, though I have to say, the experience was diminished greatly by getting stuck next to the lone patch of violent moshing frat thugs, and then after my friend and I made our retreat from them, a duo of middle-aged morons who would not stop gabbing through the quiet songs in the second set. (The shlubby guidance counsellor-looking dude had to keep telling his Flo-the-waitress-looking date that "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" was "like an old blues song," presumably trying to impress her with his VAST musical knowledge.) I suppose that it's interesting to see how the band's fanbase has now extended well beyond that of their mellow, polite indie rock base, but you know what? I don't care. Rudeness is rudeness is rudeness, and that fist-flailing crazy eyed motherfucker to my right for half of the show had me worrying about getting a stray punch in the eye when I should have been happily bopping along to "My Doorbell." (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Love You Both, I Love You Both!

Stratageme "Scripts" - Stratageme's 18 year old mastermind David Vine has a natural gift for blending the dynamics of emocore and laptop electronica, crafting tracks that push and pull between post-grunge guitar tones and shimmering keyboard textures while making the transitions seem organic and logical in a way very few of his peers can manage. Like the best of the band's material, "Scripts" never stops moving, shifting from section to section like a film cutting from scene to scene, occasionally allowing for pensive pauses before dramatically zooming ahead for intense Sunny Day Real Estate-esque guitar riffs. (Click here for the official Stratageme site.)

Kill Me Tomorrow and Dance Disaster Movement "Beautiful Guns" - This track is relentlessly tense and nervey, like having a splitting headache and a cramped stomach at once. It's a creepy, uncomfortable song, but it's very successful at evoking an unwell state. I realize that I'm not making this sound like a very good time, but obviously, not all art is meant to be fun. (Click here to buy it from Tone Vendor.)

Do Your Best To Run Away

Simian "La Breeze" - It's hardly a shock to see a sticker on the cover of this single proclaiming that it was recently featured in some French tv ad. This is exactly the sort of pop song that doubles nicely as a jingle, as the focus of the entire track is placed on this quick hook that embeds itself in your mind upon first contact and sets up shop there until some stronger strain of song evicts it at a later date. The rest of the song builds up towards that moment of bliss, teasing you with false starts, odd tangents, and bridges that coo "here it comes, here it comes, here it comes!" before dropping you back into the chorus like a rollercoaster suddenly woooshing down the incline. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Donna Regina "Little Baby" - If Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space was recorded by a woman overcome with maternal love rather than a despondent junkie, I imagine that it would be a lot like this track. Interestingly, both subjects are rather ideally suited to the same musical setting. (Click here to pre-order it from Boomkat.)

Look At You, The Wide-Eyed Ingenue

Liz Phair "Stars and Planets" - Surely Liz Phair's new album must be Somebody's Miracle, but I have a hard time imagining who that lucky person could be. Most of the record sounds like Phair slowly backing herself out of the corner she painted herself into on her previous album, clearly making some half-hearted attempt to lure back the people who screamed "0.0!" by ditching the Matrix and toning down the lyrical audacity, but obviously unwilling to make a full retreat from a commercial sound for fear of seeming cowardly. Understandably so - I definitely believe that Phair wanted to make that glossy self-titled album, and though a quick "return to form" would have satisfied critics and her core audience, it would have forever relegated that album to the status of oddity/misstep, and I think she'd rather not have to look like a person who second-guessed the bravest (though maybe not best...) artistic decision she's ever made.

The songs mainly fall into two categories - aggressively tasteful AAA ballads that are pretty enough but lack the color and gravity of Liz classics like "Perfect World," "Nashville," and "Explain It To Me," and up-tempo rockers with super-clean bar rock arrangements that don't quite gel with her trademark low monotone cool-girl affectation. This is a problem, since in its own way this record is more alienating than Liz Phair, because there's not much to offer fans of sparkly pop songs like "Why Can't I?," "Extraordinary," and "Rock Me," much less the people who adored the Liz of the first three records.

"Stars and Planets" is an obvious highlight from the record, falling someplace between poppy early 90s fare like Belly, Velocity Girl, and Julianna Hatfield, the Sesame Street theme, and John Lennon's "Instant Karma." I would've loved for all of Somebody's Miracle to sound as bright and optimistic as this number, but unfortunately the mood of the record comes off about as emotionally neutral as it musically indecisive. Still, that song along with a few others continue to provide me with faith in Phair, and the hope that she'll come around to figuring it all out before too long. Maybe it's the next record, it could be two or three down the line. I'm patient, and certainly willing to enjoy the good bits that come along the way. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

I've Made A Tiny Huge Mistake

Giant Drag "YFLMD" - The title is an acronym for "you fuck like my dad." It's one of the creepiest kiss-offs I've ever heard in a pop song, hands down, though Annie Hardy never actually sings those exact words. The song comes from the same family line as the more aggressive songs from PJ Harvey's To Bring You My Love, but it's no cheap knock off. There's one particularly great lead guitar line that comes after the line "you and your gun..." and before "you're just like my father" that lingers uncomfortably and makes you feel those ellipses like you're waiting to get a kick in the face. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Eventually This Future's Gonna Swallow You

Chad VanGaalen @ Bowery Ballroom, 9/17/2005
I Miss You Like I Miss You / Wind Dogs / Echo Train / Dancing In The Dark / I Wake Up / Blood Machine / After The Afterlife / Clinically Dead / Somewhere I Know There Is Nothing / Graveyard

Chad VanGaalen "Echo Train" - At a time when the shrug and/or cringe-inducing Devendras, Obersts, Iron & Wines, and Sufjans of the world are flourishing, it's just my luck that the one indie troubadour that I'm fond of is the one who is met with widespread critical indifference and lukewarm sales. I'm out of step with the needs of the indie nation. Or maybe it's just not the right time for this record. Infiniheart is a lonely, morbid album that sounds like Neil Young shivvering with a 4-track on the tundra. These are not summer jams. This is barely even music for the autumn. But that didn't matter at the Bowery Ballroom, as a handful of eager fans crowded the front of the stage and Chad played about a third of the record along with some strong new tunes and a lean, spirited cover of Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" that made me recognize the Bruce-isms in the rest of the material for the first time. (Click here to buy it from Sub Pop.)

Holopaw "3-Shy-Cubs" - Holopaw were a pleasant surprise in a live setting. Much of Quit +/Or Fight! is almost too cozy for its own good, even if their clever rhythm section keeps things from getting too hazy and predictable. Led by a charismatic vocalist who looks absolutely nothing at all like how you might guess (picture an older, craggier version of Michael Stipe after a career in the Marines), their songs snapped and popped full of life, even the ones with excessive drowsy lap steel. (Click here to buy it from Sub Pop.)

ALSO: Please go off and read my longform interview with Carl Newman from the New Pornographers. It's my very first feature for Pitchfork!

Where's The Damn Elephants?

Sonic Youth "Goo Interview" - In this bizarro promotional recording, a thoroughly baked Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon explain their songs on the Goo album while clips from the record play behind them. The word "interview" is a total misnomer, since it's just them and they don't seem to be answering any kind of questions, just providing liner note details in a quasi-poetic sort of way. It's kind of like what you might get if you dialed up a Sonic Youth phone sex hotline. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Gwen Stefani "Cool (RICHARD X Remix)" - This remix is nothing too radical, it's just like the song with a new haircut. Richard X plays up the romance and the mid-period Madonna-ness of the original version, but adds an extra layer of coolness, so to speak. The character is cool (okay) with her situation with her ex-boyfriend, but there's an icy remove, a distance that they've both imposed to keep themselves feeling that way. This is much better than the massively disappointing Richard X Photek remix of the same song, by the way. I was so excited for that, but it just seems like he slapped the vocal on top of a weak sub-Bravery punk-funk track without any regard for the dynamics and structure of the a cappella track. (The iTunes music store screwed up the credits, leading to this mix-up. Please fix your mp3 file info accordingly.) (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)