Archive for October, 2005

The Pipettes "Dirty Mind" - If you were with me this weekend, you surely would have freaked out at some point and begged me to stop playing this song over and over again. But you weren't, and I did, and I loved every moment of it. In fact, I'm fairly certain that I only love this song more every time that I hear it. This is modern "Northern Soul" girl-group pop performed by three beautiful Brits from Brighton, but as twee as the lyrics get, it avoids tackiness through total mastery of the subgenre's form and elegant touches such as the sparkling piano that enters the arrangement on the breakdown. Sublime. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK and here to watch the very adorable video for the song.)

A Heart That Hurts Is A Heart That Works

North American Hallowe'en Prevention, Inc. "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en? (Cadence Weapon Remix) - By now, most of you have probably heard the original version of this benefit single featuring a host of indie rock stars and hipsterish celebrities, but here is a fresh new mix of the track by Fluxblog favorite Cadence Weapon. The mix was commissioned by Vice, but has yet to be officially released. As with the original version, David Cross is the highlight of the production as he sings "our babies are sobbing" with maximum melodrama. Actually, I like to think that he's doing that part in character as Tobias Funke, wearing nothing but cut-offs and blue paint. (Click here for Vice's NAHPI site or here for the Cadence Weapon site. To contact Cadence Weapon for remixes and parties, please write to razorbladerunner @ gmail.com)

Juliana Hatfield "Universal Heartbeat" - The very tragic thing about this song is that if it came a decade before or after 1995, it's possible that it could have been a real pop hit, but it's also very hard to imagine this song being written and produced in a time other than the mid-90s. The other thing is that it seems to be damned to the sidelines of pop if just because of the fact that it is written and performed by Juliana Hatfield, a woman who at the time of its release was already seeming like a curious relic of cutesy early 90s indie culture. In spite of some solid pop chops and an appealing appearance, Hatfield has never seemed able to overcome that strange Sassy stigma, and it's a shame. Anyone who can write a tune as charming and catchy as "Universal Heartbeat" deserves so much better than to end up as a footnote to Evan Dando's wikipedia entry. (Thanks to Matty!) (Click here to buy an out-of-print copy of the original album for less than a dollar from Amazon Shops or here for the significantly more expensive Juliana Hatfield greatest hits compilation.)

Also! Bobby Sherman!



It's been quite a while since I've written about comic books on this site, but I feel compelled to recommend Michael Allred's issue of Solo, which is easily one of the most joycore comics that I've ever read. In 64 pages, Allred (along with his brother/co-writer Lee and his wife/colorist Laura) runs wild with a heartfelt homage to the DC Comics of his 60s youth. The highlights are "Doom Patrol Vs. Teen Titans," in which the original Teen Titans have a dance party in Bruce Wayne's loft, disrupting the Doom Patrol's rest on the floor below, and the brilliant "Batman A-Go-Go!," an ambitious story that makes a strong case for the upbeat, flamboyant Batman of the 60s over the dreary, oppressive Batman of the past twenty years. The story is as much about Batman's cultural evolution as it is about Allred's pro-joy philosophy of art. He totally nails it on this page, as Alfred Pennyworth challenges the popular notion that the only valid depiction of reality in art is ugly and relentlessly negative. It's an incredible piece of work, and I can't possibly recommend it highly enough.

No Matter How Well Done Or Rare

My DJ set @ Scenic 10/26/2005
Spektrum "May Day" / Cristina "Mamma Mia" / Ludus "Breaking The Rules" / Dolly Parton "Baby I'm Burning" / Klaus Nomi "After The Fall" / Rachel Stevens "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" / Papas Fritas "Sing About Me" / Lo-Fi-FNK "Unighted" / United State of Electronica "La Discoteca" / Erasure "Stop" / Robyn "Konichiwa Bitches" / Junior Senior "Take My Time" / Out Hud "It's For You" / Gene Serene & John Downfall "U Want Me" / Ladytron "Destroy Everything You Touch" / Kelly Clarkson "Since U Been Gone (Jason Nevins Dance Edit)" / Hollertronix "Tippin' Toxic" / Girls Aloud "Biology" / Gold Chains "Rock The Parti"

Klaus Nomi "After The Fall" - This is certainly one of the more optimistic songs about an impending Apocalypse. Taking off from his previous hit about nuclear annihilation, "Total Eclipse" (both songs were written by Kristian Hoffman), Nomi sings reassuringly about the bright side of doomsday, insisting that the surviving freaks can build a better world upon the ashes of civilization. The verses sound quite a bit like early B52s, but once Nomi kicks into the soaring chorus, he reveals an operatic range far beyond Fred Schneider's reach. Unquestionably, this is exotic glam pop at its best. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Papas Fritas "Sing About Me" - How can I possibly resist a song so relentlessly joyous, casually self-confident, and unapologetically vain? There's so many songs about girls out there, but this is the only one that I know of about a girl demanding to have songs written about her. With its unyielding pace and insistent beat, the music sounds like nothing so much as the girl willing her romantic fantasies into existence. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

It Feels Funny In My Tummy

Noblesse Oblige "Daddy (Don't Touch Me There)" - Incestuous child abuse isn't a common topic for dance music, but I suppose this works if you've really got some heavy issues to work through on the dancefloor or just have a very wicked sense of humor. It's not as though this is some kind of euphoric happy hardcore track - there's certainly an undertow of dread in the music itself - but there's a creepy incongruity to this song that is hard to ignore, and I am certain that makes the piece a success in terms of its author's intentions. (Click here for the official Noblesse Oblige site.)

Consequence (featuring Mike Jones) "Been Robbed" - Though I never posted it here (mainly because it's on one of the year's top selling albums), Kanye West's "Gone" is easily one of my favorite tracks from 2005. There's a lot to love in that song, but among its many highlights is the verse by Consequence, a somewhat blandly named MC who raps like a lighter, more graceful version of Kanye. He continues to show promise on this mix tape cut with Mike Jones (Who?) (MIKE JONES!), though his flow isn't dramatically different from his lines on "Gone." As for Mike Jones (Who?), he's (MIKE JONES!!!) just one of those guys who can add a lot to any track just by showing up. (Click here to buy it from All Mix Tapes.)

The Beat Gets Closer

Girls Aloud "Biology" - If only the American pop market would allow for this sort of bizarro assertive hyper-pop. Every great Girls Aloud single is overflowing with energy to the point of seeming entirely restless and fidgety, as though the girls are hopped on megadoses of caffeine and are overeager to get to the next hook or wtf?-inducing lyric. ("We're gift-wrapped kitty cats" from "Love Machine" is the all-time best, but this song's cappuccino tangent is a pretty solid nonsequitor.) In their own way, they are like the Ramones of UK girl pop groups. (Just go with me on this.) (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon UK.)

It Runs Like A Cheetah, Jerk

Kelley Polar "My Beauty In The Moon" - This track achieves an amazing balance that I don't believe I've ever encountered before - stunning, immaculate beauty mixed with a distinct feeling of anxiety and discomfort. It feels so wonderfully alien and enigmatic, as though it's a gorgeous sound that we were never meant to hear. It's romantic and soothing, but also sort of terrifying. (Click here to pre-order it from Environ Records.)

Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster "The Jock Squad" - In this recent Best Show On WFMU instant classic, Tom deals with Horse, a representative of Radio Hut's new in-house computer repair specialist center who has called in to let him know that his computer has been washed out and is ready to be picked up at the store. Unfortunately for Tom, Horse and the Jock Squad combine all the arrogance of a tech geek with the raw aggression of a jock on a steroid rampage. (Click here for the Best Show On WFMU Archives, here for Friends Of Tom, and here for Stereolaffs.)

Also: Au Revoir Simone fans in the UK should take note - they are playing their first set of shows in Great Britain this week, starting off with a gig at the Dublin Castle in London tomorrow evening. Information about specific performances can be found on their site, along with two mp3s which have both been featured on Fluxblog in the past. If you live in Scotland or Sweden, keep your eyes open because there is a strong chance that they will play a show on short notice in your area while they are in Europe.

Elsewhere: PopText relaunched yesterday with a brand new look and a track from The Veronicas.

Who Gives A Damn About The Prophets Of Tesco?

Franz Ferdinand "The Fallen" - It's a good thing that I have a site like this so that I can shed some light on obscure artists such as Franz Ferdinand, U2, and Fiona Apple. Who knows how you might find out about these hidden gems any other way, right? (I kid, Sony and Interscope!) My feeling for Franz Ferdinand has been consistently lukewarm in spite of some sharp singles, but this is the first song in their catalog that I can say that I love without hesitation or qualification. Though twitchy funk is their bread and butter, I definitely prefer them with their Franz-o-meter set to Ultra-Jaunt, which makes them sound vaguely like late period Grant Lee Buffalo decked out in Dior. (Trust me on this, or check the used bins for a copy of Jubilee.) The lyrics conflating Jesus H. Christ and Tyler Durden only sweeten the deal, really. Nicely done, boys. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Jarvis Cocker "This Is The Night" - Jarvis Cocker and Harry Potter are an inspired match, and it's not just due to the obvious resemblence. Thumbs up to whoever it was at J.K. Rowling Inc. that tapped him (and some members of Radiohead) for this soundtrack. The lyrics seems to be sung from Harry's perspective, but I prefer to think of it as being a song that Harry would deeply relate to (you know, one of those songs where every single line seems to directly refer to something going on in your life) and play on repeat while moping around the Hogwarts campus. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

I'm Getting Married To The Music

Masha Qrella "My Day" - Ah, poor underrated Masha Qrella. Unsolved Remained is too chilly and remote for AAA, too guitar-centric for ambient fans, and not nearly tuneless enough for the freak folk crowd. It's an album full of songs more appropriate as a soundtrack to a field of melting snow rather than an accompaniment to lattes and wi-fi. Oh misfit album, I love you so. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Kevin Blechdom "What You Wanna Believe" - Also sadly overlooked, but less surprisingly so given its intense weirdness, is Kevin Blechdom's concept album Eat My Heart Out. The record is a bizarro bipolar off-off-off-off-off-Broadway one-woman-show documenting the singer's seemingly insurmountable neuroses following a bitter break-up. There are many "confessional" records out there, but few that sound as much like the product of a particularly grueling therapy session, much less homemade musical theatre. Blechdom rapidly cycles through her emotions and rationalizations, sometimes hitting upon moments of clarity, but more often settling into shame, self-flagellation and intense self-loathing. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Illusions Cause Confusion In Our Big Red Bleeding Hearts

Tiger Tunes "Pancake America" - It's amazing how well this lyrical narrative holds up, though it comes off as a stream of nonsequitors at first: Lovesick guy goes on a mescaline trip, travels to America, has trouble with insomnia, takes some more drugs and freaks out a bit, admits to himself that he wants his ex back for "comfort and sex," and decides to try to work it out and make some pancakes. Not just any pancakes, mind you - these flapjacks are made of love. (Also, they are made in America, which I suppose is kinda special if you live in Denmark.) It all makes intuitive sense to me, anyway. (Click here for the official Tiger Tunes website.)

The Double "What Sound It Makes The Thunder?" - The majority of the songs on The Double's first album for Matador are not far off from what passes for mainstream-ish indie rock in this era - vague hints of new wave, atmospheric keyboards, and thin but polite vocals singing jaunty if not particularly memorable melodies that wouldn't seem out of place on the KEXPs of the world. It's decent stuff, but it doesn't move me like this song, which is more in line with the raw, shambling indie of my 90s youth. This track sounds like Chavez barely holding it together after a weekend bender but still managing to hammer out a huge riff that drags the rest of the song down into its powerful undertow. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Welcome To The Prime Of Your Life

The Fiery Furnaces @ The Town Hall, 10/14/2005
I'm Gonna Run / Crystal Clear / Straight Street - Tropical Iceland / Quay Cur / Does It Remind You Of When? (brief instrumental intro) / The Garfield El / The Wayward Granddaughter / A Candymaker's Knife In My Handbag / Forty Eight Twenty Three Twenty-Second Street / Guns Under The Counter / Seven Silver Curses / Slavin' Away / Rehearsing My Choir / Does It Remind You Of When? (brief instrumental outro) / Bow Wow / My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found / Up In The North / Asthma Attack / Evergreen / Chris Michaels // Chief Inspector Blancheflower / Blueberry Boat / Two Fat Feet

The Fiery Furnaces "The Wayward Granddaughter" - This was sort of a middling Furnaces show. The highlights - a thrilling start-to-finish version of "Chris Michaels," the return of "Crystal Clear," the reworked versions of the first three songs from the new record and especially "Slavin' Away," Matt's hilarious Bob Dylan impression on the first section of the stripped-down "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" - were all very inspired, but too much of the show was muddy and awkward. This is most obviously due to the new rhythm section (former Sebadoh bassist Jason Loewenstein and Bob Dimico), who favored thick distorted basslines and overly busy drum fills to the point that it crowded out the songs. This was especially ineffective for the latter half of the Rehearsing My Choir songs - Eleanor's spoken vocals were mostly obscured or rendered entirely unintelligable. I just wish the band would feel confident enough to slow things down and embrace nuance in a live setting. The Eleanor-and-Matt-only versions of "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" and "Blueberry Boat" in the encore were a welcome change of pace, and far better suited to a sit down venue like the Town Hall.

Some notes for Furnaces fanboys: Eleanor played guitar for the majority of this set, and Matt mostly played keyboards. The only medley in the set was "Straight Street" into "Tropical Iceland," everything else was played as an invidual track. Both songs were rather radically altered, and Matt sang the "we'll meet in Christiania next summer..." verse of "Tropical Iceland." "Quay Cur" was more or less played straight through, though Eleanor sang all of Matt's parts. "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" cut off on the line "I was going to stay with my young brother Michael," and "Blueberry Boat" was just a fragment with the main verses, as per usual. Matt sang some of the Olga Sarantos parts for the Rehearsing My Choir songs, but most of her parts were omitted from the live versions. Of those songs, I'd be happy to see "Slavin' Away," "Garfield El," and "The Wayward Granddaughter" stick around in future sets, though they would be wise to never play the songs from the middle of the album ever again, especially "Guns Under The Counter."

Also, I'd be very happy if Matt sang more in the shows and on the albums. There's plenty of him on Blueberry Boat, of course, but it seems that the tendency overall is to defer vocals to Eleanor, which isn't a horrible idea since she is so gifted and charismatic, but I certainly feel that his voice and persona is just as compelling. (Click here to pre-order it from Insound.)

The Childballads "White Chocolate Tea (aka The Onion Domes of Tallahassee)" - Former Jonathan Fire Eater frontman Stewart Lupton has been an enigma to me for so long that finally getting to see him perform was slightly surreal, since he was more like a mythical creature in my mind rather than an extremely thin grad student in a plaid shirt strumming a vintage acoustic guitar. Lupton is a tremendously magnetic character onstage, blurring the line separating strung-out crackpot and jovial poet, and generally coming off like the most charming dinner party guest imaginable. Lupton's new songs are clearly indebted to early Bob Dylan, and he was not shy about inviting that comparison as he invoked the man twice during his stage banter and seemed genuinely elated to be playing in a venue that figured so prominently in Dylan's early history. His band (which includes Judah Bauer of the Blues Explosion) is very strong, especially singer/multi-instrumentalist Betsy Wright, who is an ideal foil for Lupton with her soulful drawl and stunning appearance. Seriously, this Childballads record can't come out quickly enough - I'm already figuring it to be one of next year's best releases. (If you're involved with the band, please drop me a line!) (Click here for the official Childballads site.)

My DJ set @ Cake Shop 10/15/2005:

Spektrum "May Day" / Cristina "Mamma Mia" / Ludus "Breaking The Rules" / Dolly Parton "Baby I'm Burning" / The White Stripes "My Doorbell" / Hank "Ferox" / Hollertronix "Tippin' Toxic" / Helen Love "Debbie Loves Joey" / Queens of Noize "Indie Boys (Don't Deserve It)" / Le Tigre "Deceptacon" / Rinocerose "Bitch" / Robyn "Konichiwa Bitches" / Junior Senior "Take My Time" / Bjork "Big Time Sensuality" / Maxi Geil! & Playcolt "Making Love In The Sunshine" / Ladytron "Destroy Everything You Touch" / United State of Electronica "It Is On!!!"

Dolly Parton "Baby I'm Burning" - Thanks to everyone who came out to this party, especially the people who came up and said hi to me while I was on. I'm sorry if I was a bit abrupt, I was trying not to screw up any transitions. I felt that this set went pretty well, and that there was a good energy in the room. Since this was an Indie Pop party, that is mostly what I played, though I never got the impression that people wanted to kill me when I played the more disco-ish stuff, much less the Mike Jones/Britney Spears mash-up, which I had been vaguely worried about. I was glad to finally play some of these songs out, particularly the first four songs, which flow together beautifully. Someone came up to me while this Dolly Parton song and asked if it was Huey Lewis, which I find sort of funny and puzzling, especially since the track was pitched up a bit. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)