Archive for 2004

The Whole Bee Hive

Jukes “I Wasn’t Even Looking” – This song, which sounds like a cross between a solemn Ennio Morricone score and Broadcast at their most portentous, feels like an ideal soundtrack today, as New York enters day two of an incredibly dreary rainathon. It’s not exactly shocking to me that this artist is from Bristol – sometimes it seems as though everything which comes from there sounds as bleak and resigned as this. (Click here to buy it from Twisted Nerve.)

String Quartet Tribute To Beyonce “Work It Out” – For the past two years, I have been collecting string quartet tribute records, mainly those released by Vitamin Records. Since Vitamin tends to focus on current hitmakers and the giants of 80s/90s alt-rock, I assume that their target market must be young fans with a compulsion for completism and a taste for novelty. On one hand, these albums are amazingly inessential and inherantly ridiculous – what exactly is the point of making Marilyn Manson’s music sound ‘classy’? Nevertheless, the recordings can be surprisingly good and suggest an unexpected continuity between modern pop and actual classical music.

In some cases, the character of a song can change rather dramatically with the new arrangement. Nearly all of the songs on last year’s String Quartet Tribute To Beyonce reveal a regal, martial bombast to Beyonce’s music which is mostly obscured by the abundance of soul and funk on the original recordings. In retrospect, this makes a lot of sense – the urgency of “Crazy In Love” is rather like a battle march in its way; the romantic yearning of “Baby Boy” does take on the heightened drama of a grand opera; and “Work It Out” certainly commands attention and respect as though the singer were entitled royalty. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Happy Hardcore Piece

JDS “Higher Love” – When you listen to Happy Hardcore you get stared at. You can be quietly walking down the street one day, perhaps unware of the volume of your headphones, until you realize all around you can hear the metronomic WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP of happy hardcore at 180 bpm. Or try flipping through your Case Logic booklet in mixed company and watch the shrunken grimaces, haughty “evil eyes,” and condescending chuckles when you come to the CD covered with grinning smiley faces and Prince-ly grammar. Even your most pop-friendly friends will view you with a newfound concern.

Obviously the tweest of rave genres, even my ex-girlfriend Nancy – a notorious indie-pop fan – described her one visit to a happy hardcore party as “scary.” The cliché (true, of course) is the “candy raver”: an infantile mind trapped in a (mostly) adult body, all stuffed animal cuteness and body-glitter. As warped as it may seem, it’s really not so different from any other subculture you might toss up as a counter-example. How is a guy caked up with foundation and black-eyeliner any less goofy than someone wearing a dozen candy necklaces? (And besides all candy ravers want to do is hug you, usually, not burn down your church. Admittedly, neither mademy list of things to do today.)

Happy hardcore raves have names like “Hardcore Uproar,” “OVERLOAD!,” and “Lost the Plot.” The last is telling; an ancient phrase for drug-addled delirium, it also highlights that – like their contemporaries sporting rockabilly coifs or ’77-style liberty spikes – they’re essentially reproduction antiques. It’s not for nothing that the genre makes heavy use of sound-tropes that sound best under the influence of ecstasy. Like its cousin in “big room” trance, the sound of happy hardcore is tailor made for that rush surrounding dancers first few ecstasy experiences.

So – the most important part for you playing along at home – what does it sound like? A friend of mine once described it as “fast rave music,” and that’s as good a definition as any, especially if your working definition of “rave” is as superficial as most Americans. It shares gabba’s (happy hardcores angry loner cousin from the European mainland) ridiculously fast kick drum, a sound so attenuated by speed it sounds like a cartoon “sprooooooing!” Unlike gabba’s death-metal atmosphere, it is “toytown techno” taken to an almost religiously pure extreme. Melodies are those of calliopes, video games, cartoons. Synth riffs and stabs have an almost comical, campy flair. Samples are pitched up to levels of near-incomprehensibility. Vocals are mostly trilling divas exhorting you – the dancer – to let yourself go. There are sometimes warp speed breakbeats skittering around the thump (although these may be currently out of vogue), so fast and linear they lose any pretensions to “funk.” It is also, in the words of my friend, “the best thing ever…when you’re in the mood for it.”

My favorite happy hardcore track ever is JDS’s “Higher Love”, the second track from the first Happy 2 B Hardcore mix CD. It’s utterly generic in the best possible sense; my description of the genre as a whole works just as well as a description of this specific track. You can dance to it, but I’m old and out of shape and my days of hardcore stimulant abuse are long behind me. So my suggestion is getting behind the wheel on a sunny day, cranking this up, and just flooring it. It’s bliss overload. Jungle is my favorite music ever, because it’s funky, because it’s got (or had) an incredible range of moods/feelings/textures, because it combines so much other stuff I love (house/techno/ragga/rap/R&B). I could never call happy hardcore even close to a “favorite genre” (I wouldn’t call the soundtrack to Super Mario Brothers my favorite music either), but I’d be lying if I said that when “Higher Love” was playing it didn’t seem to make all other music seem redundant. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

(Jess Harvell is a freelance writer who has been published by the Village Voice, Seattle Weekly, and the Phoenix News Times, among other publications.)

For My Bliss

Twitch “Chop Dis Up (Dirty)” – I am not 100% certain if this is the same Twitch from Optimo in Glasgow, but either way this is the kind of quality track that I would expect from him. With its punctuating bursts of white noise, manic beat, and forceful, intimidating vocals, the song is raw and frenetic to the point of seeming like a violent fit. (Click here to buy it from Piccadilly Records.)

Mylo “In My Arms” – This composition reworks the keyboard riff from Kim Carnes’ “Betty Davis Eyes” into a dance track which gradually builds in intensity while at the same time feeling like one moment of pure ecstacy stretched out and sustained for four minutes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: I’ve been very lazy in keeping up with all of the new mp3 blogs popping up lately, but I do recommend checking out 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Music Is A Virus, The Stypod, Orbis Quintus, Mewsic, Womenfolk, and Sounds Of Sweden.

Also: Do you like Fluxblog, but wish that I would stop being so aloof and open a little, so that you could get a chance to know the real me? If so, check out this interview with me over at The Tofu Hut.

And: Though I am not sure whether it will run tomorrow or the day after that, Jess Harvell will be doing a special fill-in post here sometime this week.

Such Wonderful Examples

Lady Sovereign “Ch Ching” – This song is exactly the reason why we actually need the word “grime” as a genre descriptor. I’m not sure if “grime” is really the best word to describe this sound, but there really needs to be some way of categorizing this music. A lot of what gets referred to a grime just sounds like interesting hip hop to my ears (for example: Dizzee Rascal, Wiley), but this track is just barely hip hop. It’s this strange, mesmerizing, strangely alien mixture of dance music, hip hop, reggae, modern r+b, video game music, and IDM. This exists primarily as a result (or is that a synthesis?) of the past six years of popular black music from both sides of the Atlantic, and a global culture which accelerates and encourages subcultural cross-pollination at a rate unthinkable even ten years ago. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Q And Not U “Wonderful People” – This is apparently part of an ongoing campaign to teach indie kids to dance (again) by presenting dance beats and synth lines in the comfortable context of punky guitar rock – a bit like taking your pills in a bowl of pudding. I’m not criticizing anyone. mind you, and if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I am obviously a big fan of this sort of thing. Q And Not U get some bonus points for a) that excellent synth solo which begins at the 1:50 mark b) feeling a lot less oppressive and heavy than a lot of other indie bands playing in a similar style (!!!, The Rapture, The Faint, Interpol), and c) for getting a great, crisp mic sound on their guitar and drums. (Click here to pre-order it from Dischord.)

We’ll Be Living In Stardust

Mousse T (featuring Emma Lanford) “Is It Cos I’m Cool?” – This might be the best ego trip set to music since The Black Album. It’s hard not to get caught up in the sweep of this song as it shifts from post-punk bass chug to full-on glam rock to orchestral grandeur in the space of four minutes; amping up the drama and piling on the hooks every 30 seconds or so. Much like the Girls Aloud single from last week, this is a ruthlessly efficient song designed for maximum pop thrill. Unless you really fight it (and why would you want to do that?), you will have no choice but to love it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Alpha Zeta (featuring DJ Zeph and Azeem) “Here Comes The Judge” – Okay, I want someone who knows better than me to tell me if I’m crazy for hearing a bit of Afro-beat in this song. It would be a bit too kind to even call me a dilettante in that genre, given that most of my listening experience is limited to buying a few Fela Kuti reissues back when every magazine was running articles praising him up and down about four years ago. Even if I’m totally off-base in terms of musicology, it at least feels like a hip hop approximation of that sound to me on some level. At any rate, this is a great, soulful tune with some excellent lyrics, particularly the line about your feet falling asleep and dreaming the beat. (Click here to visit the Future Primitive site for more about DJ Zeph and Azeem.)

Elsewhere: Eppy has returned from a brief blogging hiatus with a detailed critical analysis of The Fiery Furnaces’ “Chris Michaels.”

The World Will End, But Not Today

David Wrench “World War IV” – With this song, ghostly pale Welshman David Wrench distills wartime paranoia and election-year angst into one of the most exhilirating pop singles of the year to date. The song moves from one killer hook to the next, building up to what could be the best pop-rock chorus since The New Pornographer’s “The Laws Have Changed.” Thematically, Wrench isn’t far off from the New Pornographers either – like several songs from The Electric Version, Wrench advocates hedonism as a sanity-preserving reaction to political and economic decadence. Since 1999 has come and gone, Wrench just wants to “party like it’s World War IV.” There are certainly worse ways to cope. (Click here to buy it from David Wrench’s official site.)

Excerpts from “The Interactive Dubya,” 8/31/2004 – WFMU listeners grill a “reasonable audio fascimile” of George W. Bush on a wide range of issues including his confusing stance on 527 groups, disgraced New Jersey Governor James McGreavy, and the lyrics to “Desperado”. This was broadcast yesterday as a part of WFMU’s “RNC Remix” stream, which will carry on through Thursday night.

Billions and Billions of Stars

Zolar X “Test Tube Baby” – Zolar X were a pre-punk heavy glam band from Los Angeles in the mid-70s who insisted that they were from outer space and dressed the part on and off stage. The band were mainly inspired by Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie and Star Trek, but somehow ended up sounding like Geddy Lee fronting the Stooges. (Click here to buy it from Other Music.)

Magnolia “It’s All Vain (Sticky’s refix)” – The original mix of this song is becoming a big hit on the UK club charts, but this stuttering, glitchy version by Sticky is the mix which impresses me the most. The arrangement and production is quite busy and frantic, but the pop vocal and shiny robo-acoustic guitar (which is most definitely going to be seen in the future as a distinctly 00s affect) smooth out the sound and sweeten the song like a juice or soda mixer. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Scott Williams & Kelly Jones “Dick Jokes (Rounds 1-3)” – Please note that WFMU will be broadcasting a special “RNC Remix” stream over the internet during this week’s Republican National Convention in New York City. There will be a variety of programming, almost all of which will in some way be protesting the Bush administration and the convention. As a reference to Bill Hicks’ claim that he was “Chomsky with dick jokes,” the stream will occasionally air clips of Scott Williams and Kelly Jones rattling off a series of ridiculous dick jokes to lighten the mood.

Lord Have Mercy On Me

Tundra “Satellites” – Video treatment: A group of people (the band?) walk through the wilderness on a summer evening near a pond or a lake. We never see close-ups of the people; every shot with a human in it is taken from a distance or with the figure in silhouette. Everything is shot in black and white, with a lot of greys on black. We see trees sway slightly in the breeze, and watch as moonlight ripples over the water. There are shots of the people sitting around a campfire and skipping stones in the water. Halfway through, the people take off their clothes and enter the lake. As the song ends, we pull farther away from the action, ending on an expanding panoramic view of the lake and the wilderness around it, the human figures becoming smaller and smaller until you can no longer see them.

This is taken from Tundra’s debut ep, which also includes a long instrumental titled “Evlin Anjra” which is among the most beautiful drone rock pieces that I have ever heard. (Click here to buy it from Microclimate.)

Mary Lou Williams “Anima Christi” – This is a selection from the recently reissued album Black Christ of Andes, an amazing collection of Williams’ gospel jazz recordings from 1962. I am not a religious man, but this is the sort of secular music that makes the idea of being one seem somewhat appealing. Essentially, this is a modified version of the 14th century Catholic prayer “Anima Christi” set to a lovely gospel melody, and sung with an easy, confident passion by the Ray Charles Singers. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

2003 / 2002

7:19 I have the pre-show on in the background. My enthusiasm for the actual awards show is at an all-time low, mostly due to a deeply lackluster line-up of performers, but I can barely pay attention to this pre-show thing. Ashlee Simpson is performing her single right now, and I just don’t care one way or another. I can’t bring myself to even pretend to care about this girl. Her sister at least has the retarded Barbie doll thing and the hilariously histrionic singing voice going for her. There’s just nothing going on here.

7:23 Ashlee has given some of her time to a mall punk band called New Found Glory. Zzzzzz.

7:25 Sway whoops it up like somebody doing a lame Randy Jackson impression. John Norris (who, like Kurt Loder, is brought out like MTV’s fine china at these things) is talking to P. Diddy, who looks like a high society version of Mr. T.

7:41 Wow, Jay-Z looks great. He feels “very vindicated.” They are hyping him up tonight, making his victory in every category seem like an inevitability.

8:00 J Lo begins the show with a…speech.

8:01 Usher performs “Confessions.” This is not even a little bit exciting. Usher is pretty much as big a star as one can be outside of modern rock without having any charisma whatsoever. Usher is only big now because all the big guns didn’t put out records this year. His hugeness is an entirely default thing.

8:03 Usher is looking at himself all wet in the mirror!

8:04 Now he’s doing “Yeah” and it’s just, eh. Snore. Catchphrase song of the year. This is theoretically a medley, but without all of those pesky transitions. Dullest MTV awards opening EVER!

8:07 Will Smith is here to remind us that he had a hit called “Miami.” Now he wants to “give something back.” He’s stalling. Is he just killing time?

8:09 Wait…Will Smith is here to present a presenter? Wha?

8:10 Shaq is here. We know this, because there is a wall of digital flame spelling out his name. Now people are throwing around white towels or something. What is going on? Is this meant to be exciting? Is there a significance to the white towels? Does it symbollize surrender to the…tallness?…of Shaq?

8:13 Way too many techical difficulties! This is such a mess so far.

8:14 No Doubt wins best pop video. Gwen looks adorable.

8:20 Jay-Z wins an award for “99 Problems”, which is no big shocker.

8:23 If this was Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Shakira was a demon, you’d kill her by smashing that big silver shiny thing on her chest.

8:25 Jet performs. Dullness ensues. At least the mod dancers are cute. Nothing can stop this from being the poor man’s White Stripes.

8:31 Did they put all the rock songs in a row on purpose? The rock ghetto? Hoobastank performs “The Reason,” the worst rock hit of 2004. “I’m not a purrrfect puuuuurson.” Ugh. Hoobadude is totally tone-deaf, too.

8:32 The rock block goes on, this time with Yellowcard, who are this year’s Blink 182. Borrrring. This makes Jet seem incredibly great in comparison.

8:37 Jon Stewart! This is not his venue at all, but it’s nice to see him.

8:38 I thought that they announced Bill Murray, but it turns out to be some black dude that I’ve never heard of. Eva Mendes is here, apparently on leave from the set of Romancing The Stone III. Who is that black guy? Is he famous? Is he meant to be amusing?

8:40 Beyonce wins. What do you say about Beyonce? Her outfit is insane. It’s all boobs, legs, and hair. No, not hair. Mane. It’s all about mane.

8:43 Kanye West performs “Jesus Walks.” Can anyone out-pompous this tonight?

8:45 They switch to “All Falls Down” now. Major improvement. Kanye looks fabulous, by the way.

8:47 Chaka Khan is here to do the intro to “Through The Wire.” Nice. I approve. So do Beyonce and Jay-Z, who are grooving politely.

8:55 Missy is back from a safari or something. Xtina looks supercute.

8:56 Usher wins, somehow besting Jay-Z.

8:57 Shut up, Usher!

9:00 Kerry daughters: kinda cool, I guess. Bush daughters: dim, passive aggressive.

9:02 Thankfully, Lenny Kravitz has lost the long flat-ironed hair. Now he’s 2% less douchey.

9:04 Alicia Keys wins for best R+B video, and she deserves it. “If I Ain’t Got You” is a very good song.

9:12 Dave Chappelle is here! Deliver us from mediocrity, Dave!

9:14 Chappelle is squandered.

9:16 Okay, it’s crunk time. I’m just not that into the crunk.

9:18 I swear to God, they just showed a bunch of day traders in suits going crazy to “Lean Back”! Best shot of the night.

9:20 Maybe not! Bruce Willis and P Diddy are dancing together now!

9:23 Owen Wilson and Gwen Stefani give Jet a rock award. Nnn.

9:32 Those creepy Olsen twins bring out Jessica Simpson. Hasn’t she been married for about two years now? What’s with the wedding imagery? Does she exist primarily to boost the wedding industry? Is this part of a program to get little girls fixated on marriage to counter trends in young people getting hitched later in life? Either way, her voice is all over the place. She’d never make it on American Idol.

9:37 D-12 (minus Eminem) and two of the guys from Good Charlotte are here to present the award for best video game soundtrack, even though video games are not part of MTV’s regular programming. Welcome to the horrifying future.

9:44 Gap ad. Sarah Jessica Parker shaking her boney ass as though she’s a voluptuous sex bomb = DUD, Lenny Kravitz looking as though he’s been attacked by the dudes from Queer Eye = DUDDER.

9:49 Will Forte is the funniest thing about this show so far, and they didn’t even announce that he’s there. He’s right, Jimmy Fallon is a “complete turd.”

9:51 Wayne Coyne emerges in a bubble!

9:52 Outkast wins best hip hop for “Hey Ya!” I shouldn’t be surprised that Andre 3000 looks great, but somehow I am still wowed.

9:55 Xtina is looking really hot, and this song with Nelly is fantastic. No complaints here.

9:57 I officially really love this song. Is it going to be on her next album?

10:08 Oh come on, another award for Usher? At least the Black Eyed Peas didn’t win. Britney, Beyonce, Missy: robbed!

10:12 LL Cool J has tv screens on the chests of two models standing behind him, promoting his new album.

10:13 Alicia Keys peforms “If I Ain’t Got You.” Nice, but someone needs to tap her on the shoulder and let her know that she isn’t Stevie Wonder, no matter what Clive Davis says.

10:15 Oh wait, now Stevie Wonder is actually there!

10:16 Oooooh, “Higher Ground” now! Pretty awesome, even with Lenny Kravitz on stage.

10:17 Shut up, Lenny!

10:27 Whoa, Ashlee Simpson’s hair looks hideous! Bad call, stylists!

10:28 First video games, now skateboards? I am so not a part of this target demo.

10:30 Maroon 5 beat Kanye for best new artist? Weird upset.

10:37 Alicia Keys pays tribute to Ray Charles, which is nice, but not particularly entertaining.

10:44 The Beastie Boys are here to present the MTV2 award. Yellowcard win, beating out Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Elephant Man. This category makes no sense at all. The guy from Yellowcard looks like Alan Cumming playing Eminem in a tv movie.

10:45 Mandy Moore and Marilyn Manson introduce the Polyphonic Spree. Neat! People from all over the nation are probably confused by this Polyphonic Spree performance. Is America truly ready for an adorable joycore choir?

10:53 Dave Chappelle is back, thank God.

10:54
Tribute to Jay Hova!

10:58 JoJo is remarkably composed and professional for a 13 year old girl. I think that J Lo is controlling her body by proxy.

11:00 Linkin Park get the Viewer’s Choice award. Don’t blame me, I voted for Xtina!

11:01 I’m pretty sure that I mentioned this last year, but Linkin Park really seem like a bunch of IT guys.

11:07 Gwyneth Paltrow is looking pretty great post-pregnancy. Video of the year time. It’s got to be Jay-Z, right?

11:08 No, Outkast. Makes sense though, given that “Hey Ya” is the biggest hit of the century to date.

11:10 Amy Lee’s music is lousy, but she sure is adorable. John Mellancamp wants you to vote for anyone, but we all know that’s not really true.

11:11 Andre 3000 performs “Prototype” on guitar. I remember someone telling me that this song sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins, and yeah, you know what? It does. It’s like a smooth soul version of “Mayonaise” from Siamese Dream.

11:13 Beyonce grooves along earnestly.

11:14 Big Boi is here with “The Way You Move.” I’d prefer “The Rooster,” but okay.

11:15 Now it’s “Ghettomusick.” Good choice.

11:16 “And for the millionth time, “Hey Ya,” goddamnit!”

11:18 People are skipping off to vote on stage as though it’s the happiest thing ever. Voting is a party!

11:20 Wow, they actually have the nerve to cut off “Hey Ya” at the breakdown – the best part of the song!

11:22 I appreciate all of the pro-voting sentiment in the show tonight, but I really wish that everyone would be a little less non-partisan.

Eh. The show is over. I don’t think that it was the worst MTV VMAs ever (that’s probably the one with the two Wayans from the Scary Movie series), but it’s definitely in the bottom three. This was mostly a pretty big waste of my time.

Renegade Underground Society

The Close-Ups “I’m On My Way” – This is apparently meant to be the twee pop equivalent of the Gorillaz, but I’ve yet to see any of the corresponding animation. The cuteness is clearly being dialed up to 11 on this track, with its sunny, super-catchy melody, little-girl vocals (literally!), and lyrics about yummy food in snack bars. There’s really no sense in trying to resist this song’s charms unless you are a robot or have a heart of cold, dark stone. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

Romanowski “Dance Dance Dance” – Though this may not be the floor-filler that the title implies, this is a very impressive bit of moody funk which blurs the lines between soul, jazz, and rocksteady. This is certainly one of those songs which will make far more sense when heard very late at night. This is a selection from Romanowski’s forthcoming Party In My Pants LP, due out in October. Click here to visit the Future Primitive site.)

Elsewhere: Fluxblog was mentioned in this brief segment reported by Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin on NPR’s Day To Day.

I’d Rather Feel Bad Than Not Feel Anything At All

Pixies “Ain’t That Pretty At All” – This is the second new recording from the Pixies since Trompe Le Monde was released in 1991. It was recorded for the forthcoming Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich on Artemis Records, which will also include renditions of Zevon tunes by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Van Dyke Parks, and er, Adam Sandler.

Those of you who may have felt that the iTunes-only release “Bam Thwock” (which I absolutely adore, by the way) sounded more like the Breeders than the Pixies should be pleased with this track, which is heavy on Kim Deal/Black Francis vocal interplay and feels much more like the Pixies of the Surfer Rosa era. It’s raw, noisy and visceral, as well as catchy and playful. It feels so great to hear Kim and Black Francis trading off lines like this, as though there was never any bad blood between them. The spark is clearly still there, and now I’m suddenly quite eager for them to record some more new material when at first I felt a great deal of trepidation about that possibility. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Band Jolle “Hand In Hand” – I know next to nothing about this band aside from the fact that they are Swedish. I wish that I could figure out who this girl’s voice reminds me of – I keep thinking Shirly Manson from Garbage, but that’s not quite right. There’s a certain girliness to her voice and glossiness to the sound which is very teen pop, but the guitars and beat are very much from the Strokes/Interpol school of nouveau post-punk. (Click here to visit the band’s official site.)

Also: As of this week’s 500th column, Glenn McDonald has concluded his regular weekly run of The War Against Silence. Though I seldom share Glenn’s taste and opinions, and occasionally find his prose to be a bit too indulgent and long-winded, I have a great admiration for what he has accomplished with that site over the years. TWAS was one of the first self-published music sites that I ever encountered on the internet, and was part of what inspired me to start this blog. Godspeed, Glenn.

It’s Written All Over Her Face

Kings Of Convenience “I’d Rather Dance With You” – On his recent DJ Kicks mix cd, Erlend Oye covered The Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” but on this Kings Of Convenience track he goes all the way and writes his own damned version of the song without all of the doomed-romantic lyrical baggage. Perhaps I am being a bit unfair, but there is more than a passing resemblence here; and hey, if you’re going to rewrite a Smiths song, you may as well do the very best one of them all. This is more than just a Morrissey homage, of course – there’s bits of The Cure, the Psychedelic Furs, Echo & The Bunnymen, and just about every other romantic British alt-rock band in the mix. Much like the Har Mar Superstar song from last week, this seems as though it was deliberately written and produced in accordance with a dead tradition. This goes beyond retro pop – it’s more fetishistic, like building a highly detailed miniature replica of an old boat. Oye’s attention to detail, along with his gift for melody and low-key vocal phrasing keep this song from being just another tired retread. This is actually good enough that it would’ve probably been a huge 120 Minutes hit if it had only been released in 1988. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Embassy “Flipside Of A Memory” – There’s a good chance that this could’ve been somewhat popular in the late 80s as well, though it is not quite as much of a period piece as the Oye composition. I’m not sure whether or not the lead guitar line in this tune is intentionally paraphrasing Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” Given that both songs touch on the subject of memory, I’d prefer to believe that it’s a clever and catchy reference, but it could just as well be a lucky coincidence. (Click here to buy it directly from the band.)

THE-THE-THE ROCK

Thank you, Matthew, for having me over, especially since I stood you up the first time. If we do this again, I’ll bring my passions. Today, I have questions.

“Nickelback Sucks” – Nine different strangers emailed me an anonymous MP3 a few months ago. Its original title is “Nickelback Sucks.” My theory is that the real title is “A Whole Kind of Music Sucks” but the fella who cut this together was too much the coward to cop to the concept. The “critical engine” here is that Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me,” the most popular song of 2002 (and 2003?) is structurally identical to their recent hit “Someday.” Lay the songs on top of each other, as our anonymous hater has done (haterz are always nameless, aren’t they?), and we discover the mimesis. Hardy har. Silly, overwrought, unoriginal Jesus Christ Superstars!

But self-similarity can’t really be the point, can it? Would the demographic feel the same way about three Pole tracks laid on top of each other? (Not that you could tell.) Two Ramones verse-chorus affairs stacked up? The Magnetic Fields folded onto themselves, give or take maraca? Hell, I don’t care if someone repeats him or herself, as long as he or she repeats something that works. I think most pop listeners agree and pay attention to results, not Checkpoint Charlie ideas about idiosyncrasy. Only the mad and miserable would deny “Pass The Dutch” because it was kinda like a bunch of other Mosley/Elliott kutchies. As Joshua Clover pointed out to me, “How You Remind Me” is like a Squeeze song: one killer hook run, full speed, into another. Who doesn’t want a Squeeze song wearing Man Rock slacks? Other than a crazy, profligate, crazy person? “Someday” is a lesser single with a better conceit, sort of a grey market rebuild of the engine inside Prince’s “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man”: I love you, but it isn’t happening right now. Build-up, desire for resolution, then deferral. Problem is, “Someday” has some lame-ass verses and is an unworthy heir. Whatevs. But what it is exactly that people hate? The sincerity? The Broadway vocalizing? The hair? Do they hate, perhaps, the nation of millions goldbacking Nickelback? It’s impossible to point this finger without people resorting to taste: “Come on, we’re open-minded. We love pop. Nickelback just suck!” It is hard for me to think of a band I love that doesn’t have some flaw, maybe even a big flaw. I’d love to see a discussion in the comments section. (It would be nice to not revert to “Nickelback sucks!” but do what you gotta do.)

Bluebird “Falling Back To Earth” – Bluebird feel related. They’re on Dim Mak, a hip label. Most of their EP is accomplished, hyper, young man rock watermarked very clearly “2004.” But the first song on this record could be a Buckcherry B-side, and Buckcherry were never tied particularly to the present moment. It’s hot and it’s the first song, so they probably like it as much as I do. (Nobody accidentally puts the best song first.) The singer has neither Joshua Todd’s pipes nor his attitude, but he does a great job moving between hairy, sweaty boy verses and the coasting, girly choruses, a move I will not shortchange. Here’s the chorus now: “Falling back to earth….only to be cut for change?” What is he saying? No matter. Dude is falling back to earth. He skipped Ground Control and just went out there without permission. Listen to the chunked out changes and alpha swagger and then tell me, honestly, how different this is from Nickelback or Buckcherry. Then ask yourself why you care. (Click here to buy it from Dim Mak.)

Josh Todd “The Walls” – Why anyone would care? is a question Joshua Todd must have asked himself at least once. Buckcherry broke up a year or two ago. Who noticed? Todd released a solo album in January of this year. I had no idea. Who did? I only know because moments ago, in an eruption of email kismet, I received notice from a publicist that Todd is now touring this album. Unlike Bluebird, who are poised to enter the indie label pipeline and get their clippings on, Todd is major label refugee putting out his own records. This is a not cool. This is a categorical mismatch. It’s like Dr. Dre on Navarre. If you’re a de jure rock star, you need hotel windows to jump out of and town cars to befoul. You need a budget. Big personalities burn big advances. And yet, Todd continues on the dolo. You Made Me isn’t on a par with the final Buckcherry album Timebomb, an improbably torqued and resonant thing, overstuffed in every direction. You Made Me is more modest, built to accommodate—it’s modern rock with domestic themes and minor modes. But it still has Todd’s voice, which transforms a generic bid into a useful record. I don’t entirely buy “The Walls” but I’m happy to hear Todd run his sales pitch over and over. I hope to see Todd working on Babylon’s dime again. (Click here to buy it from Josh Todd’s official site.)

Better Than Crack Or Smoking Dirt

Mr. X and Mr. Z “Drink Old Gold” – This is an early example of hip hop product placement dating back to 1987. I suppose that in the context of history, Mr. X (the MC) and Mr. Z (the DJ) are a poor man’s Erik B and Rakim or Kool G Rap and DJ Polo, but at least in terms of this one record, it had nothing to do with skills – this is just as good, really. As far as classic hip hop booze anthems go, this is top shelf material. It’s a minor tragedy that this is currently out of print.

The Tough Alliance “Take No Heroes” – This is the work of two young Swedish men who apparently have a deep and powerful love for synthesized strings and horns. Strangely, the guy sings in that nasal whiney style used by lots of corporate mall punkers, but with a peculiar Liam Gallagher-esque inflection which sounds alternately brilliant and irritating. This is a massively catchy song, so if you are trying to avoid getting something stuck in your head for a few days, you may want to sit this one out. (Click here to buy it from Srvice.)

FYI: Sasha is going to be doing a special fill-in post here tomorrow, but I’ll be doing an extra post on Sunday covering the MTV Video Music Awards in real time, as has been the tradition here for the past two years.

Also: Sean over at Said The Gramophone is taking a well-earned vacation, and has a team of guest writers filling in for him this week. It should be pretty interesting.

This Time The World Did What It Told Me It Would

Poto & Cabengo “Life In San Diego” – In the context of the Poto & Cabengo LP, which mostly features electronic manipulations and approximations of acoustic folk music, this song is a bit of an oddball. But then again, this song would probably seem like an oddity in most any context. I’m not sure how to classify this track – it’s not quite loungey, it’s not quite disco, the vocals are slippery and hard to define, a little bit like David Byrne doing an impression of Damo Suzuki. Whatever this is, it is most certainly pop, in a dizzy, roundabout sort of way. (Click here to buy it from Ear-Rational.)

Experimental Dental School “Hideous Dance Attack” – Now this is peculiar. It’s like a garage band playing circus music, with a spazzy singer who manages to somehow combine the most irritating vocal tics of Anthony Kiedis, Julian Cassablancas, and R2-D2 without sucking. Baffling yet totally compelling. (Click here to buy it directly from the band.)

Guided By Voices @ Pier 54, NYC 8/19/2004

Sad If I Lost It / Everybody Thinks I’m A Raincloud (When I’m Not Looking) / Sleep Over Jack / Girls Of Wild Strawberries / Navigating Flood Regions / Things I Will Keep / Closets Of Henry / Asia Minor / Mascara Snakes / Run Son Run / Window Of My World / Christian Animation Torch Carriers / Back To The Lake / Chief Barrel Belly / Gonna Never Have To Die / Buzzards And Dreadful Crows / Red Ink Superman / My Kind Of Soldier / Queen Of Cans And Jars / Sons Of Apollo / Fair Touching / Beg For A Wheelbarrow / Tractor Rape Chain / Game Of Pricks / Secret Star / Watch Me Jumpstart / The Best Of Jill Hives / Cut-Out Witch / Alone, Stinking, And Unafraid / Glad Girls / Murder Charge

Though I’ve had more fun at other Guided By Voices shows (read: I’ve been in the front of the crowd with all the Postal Blowfish fanatics), this was probably the best GBV show that I’ve seen in terms of performance quality. Though the concert ended somewhat abruptly and without an encore (the venue apparently insisted that the show be over by 10 PM), this was a very strong and satisfying show, focusing mainly on material from Half Smiles Of The Decomposed and other recent releases. In my experience, GBV shows usually start somewhat weakly and build up to an ecstatic climax, but this show began with four consecutive highlights, including “Sad If I Lost It,” a major sentimental favorite of mine which I never thought I’d get to see played live. “Beg For A Wheelbarrow” and “Alone, Stinking, and Unafraid” were particularly memorable and spirited, though “Red Ink Superman” and “Mascara Snakes” were tedious duds which ought to be dropped from the setlist ASAP.

Note to Bob Pollard: just because it ends on the lyric “and that’s the electrifying conclusion” doesn’t make an obscure tune like “Murder Charge” an actual electrifying conclusion!

All My Friends Have Turned To Shadows

Girls Aloud “Love Machine” – For a moment there in the first verse, it sounds as though Girls Aloud are advocating some kind of gender war, but then the song goes off in a more conventional pop direction. Well, as conventional as a song can be with references to “gift wrapped kitty-cats” and the joys of being amphibious. This is mega-shiny upbeat British chart pop with the dial set to DOMINATION. If you are even slightly predisposed to enjoying this sort of thing, it will take over your mind and own you. I wasn’t totally feeling their previous single “The Show,” but this is more like it.

M. Craft “Emily Snow” – I fear that this may sound kind of typical and boring in print, but this is a very lovely indie-folk melody set to a bossanova beat, with some nice distorted electric lead guitar thrown in for good measure. It’s twee, but not excessively so, and the tune has enough late-night charm to set itself apart from the legions of post-Belle & Sebastian indie bands trying for the same thing. Simply put, the melody of this song is just too good to ignore. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

I Still Want To Dance

Johnny Boy “You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve” – This is a soaring, somewhat twee Phil Spector-esque mini-epic which feels so intensely British that the lyrics may as well be all in rhyming Cockney slang. Only people from the UK make these kind of records nowadays, it has become something like the indigenous music of the British isles. It’s a lovely, vaguely Christmas-y tune, and it really soars when the girl emphatically sings “yeah, yeah!” as the back-up singers coo “ooh baby, ah baby.” (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Superthriller “Ahjustwannadance” – Not all copycat Prince tracks hit the mark, but this funky, shiny little electro tune has enough charm and bounce to it to make it a suitable surrogate for the real deal, circa the late 80s. It’s hard not to love this song, especially when the singer’s Prince impression ends up sounding a bit more like a smarmy Lyrics Born. (Click here to buy it from Rough Trade.)

Can’t You Hear Me Going Insane?

Drexel “East Dayton Saturday Night” – Feeling at once pleasantly familiar and strangely unique, Drexel play a sort of white trash cabaret music that sounds a bit like Tom Waits after a serious drinking binge. Set to lonely piano chords and vocals which tread a fine line between histrionics and soulfulness, the song describes an average night in economically depressed East Dayton, complete with methheads, crack whores, pregnant teens, and lots and lots of booze. There’s a ragged elegance to this music which is quite lovely and evocative; it’s really a shame that more people haven’t picked up on this band yet. This ought to be a classic. (Click here to buy it directly from the band.)

The Mo & Kris Le Mans “Nostalgia Locomotive” – God bless the Swedes, not just for creating a pop song as delightfully weird as this, but also for the fact that they have collectively made this a successful hit in their country, peaking at #13 on their pop singles chart. This is basically a huge, melodramatic modern stage theatre sort of song; a duet between some alt-glam dude and a woman who sounds as though she’s trying very very very hard to sound like Kate Bush. You have never in your life heard anyone sing the words “choo-choo” with as much passion and intensity as these two Swedes. As they say, the “Nostalgia Locomotive gives one hell of a ride.” And they look like this! (Click here to visit The Mo’s official site.)

You Can Say What You Want, But It Doesn’t Mean It’s True

Pixeltan “Get Up/Say What (DFA mix)” – On this song, Pixeltan drops the busy, intense percussion that dominated their first EP in favor of the kind of sparse, pulsating disco beats that we’ve all come to expect from the DFA. It all seems a bit goth to me, not so much in the Crow make-up/vampire fetish/ripped fishnets sense, but in the “I am dancing to my pain” post-apocalyptic-themed warehouse party sort of way. If you love the gloom disco, this should work for you.

Har Mar Superstar “Body Request” – I’d prefer to think of a song like this less as some kind of stupid retro joke and more as being part of a tradition cut short by pop fashion. After all, we only really think of recent genres and subgenres as being time-specific because of the economy built around pop music which demands a high turnover in musical trends to make marketing easier and to keep press shills from wanting to kill themselves out of boredom. On previous releases, it was more obvious that Har Mar’s music was clearly meant to be taken as a selfconcious parody, but “Body Request” is straight-faced enough to fit right in with hits by Billy Ocean or Rick Astley. In other genres, I may be a bit alienated by such faithful devotion to convention, but in this case, there are so few artists currently keeping this sort of tradition alive with such earnestness that I feel respect is due. It certainly doesn’t hurt that it reminds me of the lite FM that I grew up on as a kid – WHUD, represent! (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Also: If you haven’t already seen this, I am quoted in this New York Times article about Music For Robots posting a song by the Secret Machines that was sent to a whole bunch of MP3 blogs (including this one) by Reprise/Warner Brothers. I don’t really have any problem with labels sending music to mp3 blogs, and I’ve been getting a lot of records sent to me for a while now, though it seems that less than 10% of it ever actually makes it to the blog. I try to keep this blog focused on my own experience with music, posting music which I am interested in on a day to day basis. The way I see it, finding music that excites me on a record sent to me by a label or artist is just as valid as discovering it via tv/radio/the press, so it’s not a big deal to me.

I considered posting that Secret Machines song because I do genuinely like that tune, but a few things got in the way – it arrived during my week off, MFR posted it first, it was already getting airplay on MTV. I’m glad that they are having success with that record, and I applaud the label for embracing the internet and being creative with its marketing, though I do think it was tremendously lame for them to send the song to blogs which have nothing to do with indie/prog rock and to (apparently) post fake praise in the MFR comments box. If labels seriously want to embrace mp3 blogs as a way of marketing records, then I suggest that they develop relationships with individual blogs rather than treating the lot of us as though we are some kind of monolithic entity.

Also: Here’s another article about marketing potential of mp3 blogs from Billboard via Reuters, including a quote from Scenestars curator Rachel Hurley.

Freedom At Last

Sonic Youth “Brother James (live somewhere in Europe, 1992)” – Dear Sonic Youth – Please play “Brother James” tonight at Webster Hall. It would be very rad, and apparently it wouldn’t be entirely out of the ordinary for you to play it. I may have lost count, but I’m pretty sure that this will be either my thirteenth or fourteenth Sonic Youth show since I was 14, and “Brother James” is one of the few live staples that I haven’t seen you perform over the years. (“Expressway To Yr Skull,” “Mote,” and “Silver Rocket” would be the other songs on that short list.) Thanks a bunch. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sonic Youth @ Webster Hall, NYC 8/13/2004

I Love You Golden Blue / Stones / Pattern Recognition / Unmade Bed / 100% / Mariah Carey & The Arthur Doyle Handcream / Paper Cup Exit / Teenage Riot / Karenology / New Hampshire / Dude Ranch Nurse / Drunken Butterfly // Rain On Tin / Pacific Coast Highway /// Expressway To Yr Skull

Okay, so no “Brother James.” That’s fine. “Expressway To Yr Skull,” “PCH” and “Teenage Riot” trump that anyway.

Miscellaneous show notes:

* “Pattern Recognition” comes off much better live than on the album, with a greater sense of urgency and dynamics. I’m still a bit mystified as to why it’s one of the more popular songs from Sonic Nurse, but I think I understand a bit better now.

* I hadn’t ever paid much attention to the lyrics of “Stones,” but last night they made a lot of sense to me – it’s all about refusing to fall under the power of politically motivated fear mongering, isn’t it? Don’t bother telling me otherwise, I like the song so much more this way.

* “100%” started off with a few minutes of drumstick-guitar noise, and was played a bit slower than usual once the song proper kicked in. I don’t mean that they were playing it like some kind of ballad, it was just a lot more blues rock than punk. Thurston didn’t play any guitar until the outro freakout, and took it as an opportunity to ham it up with the crowd.

* “Paper Cup Exit” was one of the night’s highlights for me, which is no shock since it’s my favorite off of the new record. The song seems far more epic and rocking when played live. I get the sense that this song will be sticking around in the setlist after the Sonic Nurse touring runs its course.

* “Teenage Riot” was preceded by a bit of a rant about “right wing Fascists” from Thurston, who was encouraging the audience to protest the RNC when it comes to town in a few weeks. The song itself was amazing, reinforcing my perception of it being the ultimate Sonic Youth song. Those riffs and chords are magical, there’s just no other song quite like it.

* Seven songs out of the set were either preceded by or punctuated with long improvised sections, which is obviously par for the course for the band, but it felt as though they went a bit overboard this time. “Karenology” and “Expressway” already have those bits integrated into their stuctures, but the extended noise jam after “Teenage Riot” just felt a bit superfluous. It was a very loooooong show, which I definitely appreciate, but after about 70 minutes (roughly around the time “Dude Ranch Nurse” started), I felt extremely exhausted.

* “Rain On Tin” is a great live song, but it makes so much more sense outside in the sun than indoors. That song feels trapped by the roof and stifled by the darkness, you know? It’s not the best choice for an encore, either – it’s too long, it’s not old enough, it’s too easy to get distracted during it when you’re tired from standing up for four hours or so.

* “Expressway To Yr Skull” was just as amazing as I always thought it would be, and feeling quite tired and woozy only seemed to make it feel better. The same goes for that mellow middle section of “PCH,” which just felt incredibly appropriate at the time.

Magik Markers were the first of the two opening acts, and they were just unbelievably great. They played some high quality art-punk noise that sounded quite a bit like SY on Confusion Is Sex and Bad Moon Rising. The lead singer was intensely charismatic and loveable, and “shouted the poetic truths of high school journal keepers” like the singer from “Skip Tracer.” I’ll write some more about them in the near future, I promise. If you’re going to see one of the SY shows with them as a support act, please do yourself a favor and arrive early.

White Magic were a major let down. The singer was overly dour and entirely lacking in enthusiasm, and too much of the set sounded too dirgey and samey. It wasn’t completely awful, but after the Magik Markers’ rather euphoric and exciting set, it was too much of a downer.

Note to White Magic: though I realize that going back and forth between instruments throughout a set can be a hassle, I strongly question the wisdom of breaking up your setlist into clusters of nearly identical songs. Also, on those slow guitar numbers, are you attempting to be an off-brand Cat Power, or more like an Amerindie Beth Orton? Either way, if you play your cards right, you might be able to get on the soundtrack of the forthcoming episode of The OC in which half of southern California is devastated by terrorists, and Seth Cohen must struggle to nurse his orange-skinned girlfriend back to health on an irradiated beach.

This site has a series of photos from the show. There are a few really wonderful shots in there, waaaaaay above average for amateur rock show photography.