Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

You Want To Hear Echoes

Delta 5 “Try” – This song is the friend everyone has who is stuck in some horrible relationship, hating everything about it, yet desperately attempting to improve it, despite near-total communication breakdown. Trying, trying, trying. But why? And you just want to take them and shake them by the shoulders and tell them to give up, but nothing you can say is ever enough to snuff out that lingering bit of optimistic delusion. (Click here to buy it from Kill Rock Stars.)

Ken Boothe & Joe Higgs “Message of Old” – Ahhhh, the fade-out is too abrupt! The scat singing on the outro is fantastic, it’s such a shame that it’s cut off maybe thirty or forty seconds too soon. Other than that, there’s very little to complain about with this vintage rocksteady cut from Soul Jazz’s consistently wonderful Studio One series. (Also, if you were wondering, the Christian themes running through the lyrics of the songs posted this week are just a coincidence.) (Click here to buy it from Soul Jazz.)

Glory Shone Around

Alabama Sacred Harp Singers “Sherburne” – I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that this is the oldest song to ever appear on this blog, though it is not the oldest recording to be featured here. “Sherburne” dates back to 1783, though it is essentially a rewritten version of the English Christmas carol “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night” adapted for the sacred harp choral tradition of the rural American south. This is a selection from Dust To Digital’s brilliant Where Will You Be Christmas Day?, a compilation of traditional Christmas music that has fallen into near-total obscurity over the past several decades. (Click here to buy it from Dust To Digital.)

No Need For Acting Clever

Belle & Sebastian “Song For Sunshine” – Belle & Sebastian have built their career on an uncanny knack for pastiche, slowly working through the 60s folk-rock canon and on through other familiar sounds of the 60s and 70s. Each new album from the band seems to be a small step forward along the pop timeline, and it’s beginning to seem likely that the band might record a few grunge numbers around 2018, at which point the sound will be suitably old-timey enough for the group’s sensibility. (There will also be a few baggy numbers on that album.) A majority of the forthcoming The Life Pursuit is spent in a nebulous late 70s mode, mainly fixating on the sort of light Thin Lizzy-ish glam that they started on with “I’m A Cuckoo” from the previous LP. “Song For Sunshine” is the most audacious track from the album, as it blatantly apes Parliament/Funkadelic and Stevie Wonder with very polarizing results. I think it’s the best song on the record, and among the most enjoyable selections in their discography. But other people are already blasting it with their Hatorade hoses, and the thing only leaked this week. So approach with caution, and keep in mind that it’s not exactly a proper representation of the album as a whole. (Click here for the official Belle & Sebastian website.)

Gus Gus “Bambi” – Poor “Bambi,” marooned on an album full of so-so late 90s trip hop, cut off from the rest of the world for being the one song that feels timeless on a record that already feels dated despite only being six years old. This is Gus Gus’ end-of-the-movie moment; a gorgeous vaseline-lensed love song complete with sci-fi romanticism and swelling strings. I reckon that it’s at least equal in quality to some similar songs recorded by Bjork around the same time. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sometimes The Dam Just Breaks

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins “Born Secular” – In a recent interview, Bono claimed that his favorite music was about people either running to or away from God. This song seems frozen in place between the two, like a deer in His divine headlights. This is amazing stuff – I’d say that it’s the best song Lewis has ever done, but I’m still pretty stuck on “I Never” from More Adventurous. The forthcoming LP is very good too, even the Travelling Wilburys song with Conor Oberst on guest vocals! I know that seems totally impossible, but it’s true. (Click here for Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins’ MySpace page.)

The Howling Hex “No Numbers” – The latest album from Neil Michael Hagerty floats by in a strange haze, like a half-forgotten dream buoyed to the memory by a handful of vivid details. This track in particular benefits from a liberal usage of reverb and trumpet, making the song sound like a field recording of Hagerty jamming on a subway platform. Sorry to bring Bono into this post a second time, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t seem as though Hagerty is just about to start singing “One Tree Hill” every time he gets on the mic. (Click here to buy it from Drag City.)

Darling, We’re A Fashion, Don’t You Know?

Girls Aloud “Models” – Girls Aloud – British talent show pop girl group, yeah? Well, sure, but don’t get it twisted. They are, in fact, one of the best rock acts in the world right now. I can understand why so many people would make the mistake of believing otherwise – in 2005, rock more often than not denotes a slavish devotion to guitars and the tedium of tradition, with most good acts working within the genre getting by on charm and chops rather than a mad rush of pop energy and invention. Basically, Girls Aloud are a pop rock act that have made the decision NOT to be mind-numbingly boring. They have some obvious peers in contemporary pop – Sugababes, Rachel Stevens, Annie, Kelly Clarkson – but I tend to believe that they are actually most similar to The New Pornographers, at least in terms of the effect that I get from listening to their albums. As with the New Pornographers’ three LPs, Girls Aloud’s Chemistry is on full blast from start to finish, even when they make time for the ballads. The craft is seamless; every track is nearly overflowing with hooks, and every moment is executed with scary precision without ever losing the spark of humanity. The songs give me exactly what I need, but keep me on my toes, often veering from conventional song structures ever so slightly without calling unnecessary attention to craft. As with any great pop art, it has a way of scrambling critical faculties with a manic surge of thrill power, and that’s the kind of high that I wish I could have all of the time. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon UK.)

The Sounds “24 Hours” – There’s a similar sort of energy in this track, though it could stand to up its dosage of adrenaline and sugar. It took me four times to hear this song and realize that she wasn’t actually singing “you fall in love, and then you lose your hair,” which is disappointing, but probably better for the song’s chances in terms of becoming an actual pop hit. Actually, can we find a way to get Kelly Clarkson to record this number for her next album? That would be so ideal. (Click here for the official Sounds website.)

Limited Only By Your Limited Imagination

Ed Shepp “Event To Remember” – Ah yes! It is now open season for holiday-themed recordings. Though the lyrics are focused on a “holiday in December,” I’m sure that many of you will find several of Ed Shepp’s suggestions on how to create a memorable turkey dinner to be very helpful if you’re hosting a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. (Click here to buy it from CD Baby, here for Ed Shepp’s blog, and here for the archives of The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment.)

Comet Gain “The Punk Got Fucked” – As an alternative to holiday cheer, you can instead listen to this bile-fueled spoken word punk midlife crisis. Set to music that sounds vaguely like Can making fun of The Doors, David Feck rants bitterly about crushed expectations and lingering disappointments in a thick British accent until he collapses into a state of indecision and confusion. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

My Feet Are Dancing So Much

Broadcast “Michael Agrammar” – My name is not Michael, but it’s very common for people to think that it is. It’s not far off from Matthew, I suppose, and it’s a nice enough name, so I’m never very offended. (I mean, if people were accidentally calling me Mike or Mikey or Mickey, I might take some issue.) The only time I ever wish that my name was actually Michael is when I hear this song. Trish Keenan sings the name with a quiet grace and gentle authority – Michael could just as well be her child as it as a lover, a brother, or a best friend. Lyrically as well as musically, the track is intimate and woozy, like a disjointed half-asleep late night conversation set to song. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Judy Henske & Jerry Yester “Farewell Aldebaran” – How square are people now that any busker with a stupid beard gets to be called “freak folk” without having to actually sound as bizarre as this late 60s head-scratcher? The song begins as an urgent, theatrical lo-fi prog-folk thing (you could probably trick someone into believing that it’s Guided By Voices at first), but halfway through, the vocals are put through some kind of extreme processing that makes it sound like the mic has been passed to an opera-loving Dalek. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

She’s Out Of This Time

My Project: Blue “Messed Up in the Heart” – Is this just how Canadians sing now? Was it like this all along, and no one ever really noticed? Or is it just the Canadians who write their own David Bowie songs? There’s some lovely lead guitar in this track – it reminds of something rather specific, but I can’t seem to place it. Any guesses? (Click here to buy it from My Project: Blue’s official site.)

Busta Rhymes “Touch It” – Though this is hardly Busta Rhyme’s finest hour as a lyricist (one “Wait” is enough for this year, thanks), this brilliant track from Swizz Beatz emphasizes his strengths as a vocalist, alternating between a slooooooooowed down Daft Punk sample and minimal, primal percussion. Excellent stuff, though I wish the lyrics were as good as everything else in the track. (Click here to buy it from DJ City.)

The Current Takes You For A Ride

Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory “Decisions, Decisions” – I always feel a little bit strange for enjoying so much music that is obviously designed to accompany drug usage when I myself do not take any drugs at all, unless you count over the counter headache and stomach medication. This song practically smells like marijuana smoke with its wispy flutes and mellow psychedelia, but thankfully music does not in fact have an odor, because I would have to crack open the windows or just turn it off. (I cannot find any site for this album, or a site selling it. The Rough Trade site for Mystic Chords of Memory is not particularly helpful, nor is the MySpace site for the frustratingly Google-proof Nobody.)

Times New Viking “Not High” – Midheaven says: TNV successfully skirt the current homogenization of the rock press pigeonhole. Neither are they new-weird-america, nor are they new-noise-underground. I suspect Times New Viking are at the forefront of a new, yet-to-be defined movement. It’s only a matter of time though. And when that time comes I want to be there. My shrine needs a motherfuckin’ name! I say: Isn’t it clear what this is? It’s nü-fi! It’s so obvious to anyone who enjoys fuzzy, quasi-primitive, incoherent pop rock recorded on terrible, terrible equipment. (Click here to buy it from Midheaven.)

Please Go Under With A Smile

Jamie Lidell “Multiply (Gonzales Mix)” – Not a remix in the regular sense, but rather a new arrangement for a song which appears to be one of the most popular songs to be posted here in the past year judging by the comments box, emails, and conversations with people that I meet out and about. I definitely prefer this stripped-down version of the song, performed only with piano and vocals, accompanied by some light piano bar ambience. The faux-Otis Redding style of the original version was fine enough, but that’s such a common affectation that it was easy for some people to mistake this tune for just another bland Joss Stone-ish coffee shop pop song. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

I’ve Got No Patience For The End

Hand Fed Babies “The Fisherman Feels It” – Paraphrasing: Worrying about the End Times is for the lazy and idle! I’m not inclined to disagree. Gorgeous bass on this track, by the way. The whole thing sounds a bit like someone trying to make a screwed version of the Silver Apples with agitated vocals thrown in for a purposely jarring effect. (Click here to buy it from Hand Fed Babies’ MySpace page.)

Sir Alice “L’Amour Made In Taiwan” – Over the weekend, my roommate and I watched Noah Baumbach‘s debut feature Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell soccer movie, btw), in part because of the fact that we both enjoyed his current movie, The Squid and the Whale. Despite what you may have heard, Kicking and Screaming is a pretty awful film, especially in terms of the 90s Indie Flick About Hyper-articulate Angsty Upper Class White 20somethings subgenre. As with many films of that type, a certain level of narcissistic identification is necessary for a person to develop any kind of sympathy for its relentlessly unlikeable characters, and though this is not always a sign of bad art, I think that one would have to be a wanker of epic proportions to relate to the toxic levels of clueless douchebaggery found in all of the film’s protagonists. I actually feel quite relieved that this was clearly not a movie for me. Anyway, I mention this movie because, if nothing, it is a funny cultural artifact of the mid-90s, and as such, features some amusing cliches of the time. One of them being Friedrich, a black-clad, trenchcoat-wearing guy who just came back from a semester in Germany and has suddenly become an intense pseudo-Eurotrash hipster with a silly affected accent who has his eye on seducing Parker Posey. I imagine that Friedrich would really like this song, and I’m not sure if that’s a positive or negative comment on its quality. (Click here to buy it from Soul Seduction.)

You Don’t Have To Scream Because Your Ears Are Bleeding

This post is dedicated to the 13 year old version of me. He would’ve been thrilled to have both of these tracks.

Wayne Campbell & Garth Algar “Pain Cave” – There’s a reason why I’ve never purchased Wayne’s World on dvd – I’m holding out for a box set that would include both movies, all of the SNL skits, and both MTV specials. It’s sort of shocking that this hypothetical set does not yet exist, but I hold out hope. To my knowledge, those MTV specials have not been aired in over a decade, but most anyone with any fondness for Wayne’s World tends to have a vivid memory of this song. I hadn’t heard this song for all of that time before yesterday, and I was vaguely surprised to realize how much of it was an obvious goof on Nirvana – back then, I think it only registered as a metal thing, even in spite of Garth shouting “eat your heart out, Nirvana!” over the bridge. (Click here for the website of a pair of Wayne and Garth lookalikes who are keeping the dream alive well over a decade after the heyday of Wayne’s World.)

Pearl Jam “Hard To Imagine” – When I was a teen, I was very obsessed with Pearl Jam, a condition that was exacerbated by the intense fandom of many of my friends at school, some of whom had been buying cd bootlegs featuring unreleased songs that the band had been playing live. At that point, half of the fun of being a Pearl Jam fan was being amazed by how much excellent material the band was willing to relegate to b-sides and soundtracks, or just not release at all. I had a live version of “Hard To Imagine” dubbed to a cassette from my friend Steve’s cd, and I would listen to it over and over again, totally baffled as to why the band would just abandon what was clearly one of their very best songs. I’d dub copies for friends, and talk it up with any Pearl Jam fan who would listen, totally confident that the band would put it out on their next record. Vitalogy came and went, and I rationalized – it just wasn’t right for that record, it would obviously pop up later on. When the tracklisting for No Code was announced in Ice, I convinced myself and others that the song “Present Tense” HAD to be a retitled version of the song. I mean, isn’t it obvious? The chorus is “things were different then, all is different now” – like, it’s the present tense!!! But no. Though I liked No Code and still do, my interest in Pearl Jam fell off sharply around 1997, and has only dimmed with time.

A studio version of the song was finally released in 1998, tossed off to the soundtrack of an obscure movie called Chicago Cab. At that point, it was hard for me to muster much enthusiasm. I never bought the soundtrack, and eventually just downloaded it from Audiogalaxy. It’s a lovely version of the song, though not quite everything it could have been. It still sounds lonely, nostalgic, and majestic, and the guitar at the beginning still evokes wet snow on the ground and the scent of smoke from wood burning stoves mixing with crisp air (probably just my sense memory from when I first heard the song, but whatever). I maintain after all of this time that it is certainly one of the best songs the band has ever written, and when I was looking at the band’s recent setlists a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but to feel extremely jealous of the audiences who’ve seen them play it, as it has become a semi-regular song in their rotation following the release of their b-sides collection, Lost Dogs. I’m pretty sure that there was one show in Canada where they played this, “Breath,” “I Got Shit,” “Not For You,” and “Release” all in the same set, something that would’ve totally blown my mind when I was sixteen. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I’m Supposed To Be Perpetuous

RZA (featuring Method Man) “NYC Everything” – This p2p/iTunes a la carte era would seem like an ideal time for a widespread critical reevaluation of the Wu-Tang Clan’s post-1995 output – after all, perhaps no other group aside from Guided By Voices rewards the patience of fans who cherry pick the best cuts from a sprawling, intimidating back catalog. It’s understandable that most people would grow bitter and resent throwing down $15+ for cds that rarely feature more than three keepers, but on the other hand, the Wu have a way of stranding some of their most best material on overlong albums packed with filler. Though I would say that RZA’s Bobby Digital album is among the top percentile of Wu solo/affiliate albums, it’s definitely not the best place for “NYC Everything,” a track so relentlessly brilliant that it outshines the entire discographies of many talented artists. The keyboard textures are fabulously bouyant, making RZA and Meth’s verses seem as though they are gliding on neon clouds a thousand miles above the city. This could just as well be a part of my occasional “mix tape” classics series – this tune was one of my mix staples for a solid two years after its release. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Method Man (featuring Ghostface) “Afterparty” – It’s difficult to imagine this light-hearted track ever fitting in on a proper Wu-Tang Clan LP, but it’s a shame that this gem is doomed to relative obscurity on Method Man’s duddish third solo album. The lyrics come off like a cross between Wu-Tang fan fic and an episode of The Real World: Shaolin in which Meth and Ghostface deal with the aftermath of a Wu-Tang house party and bitch out freeloading friends. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Take It Pretty Deep From The Lord

Giant Drag @ Bowery Ballroom 11/10/2005
YFLMD / This Isn’t It / Wicked Game (“I wrote it, it was stolen, I WANT IT BACK.”) / unknown new song / Smashing / My Dick Sux / Kevin Is Gay

Giant Drag “This Isn’t It” – Giant Drag either came ten years too late, or (optimistically) ten years too early. With few exceptions, it seems like a very lousy time to be in a female fronted rock band. Unless you’re a lucky pop star like Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson, or Amy Lee, there seems to be an ever-dwindling market for this music, and with the exception of Sleater-Kinney (who barely count since they were established as indie stars in the ’90s), critics seem to be largely indifferent to upbeat rock made by women, instead favoring more stereotypically delicate female performers such as Joanna Newsom. Not to get off on a tangent that I’m not fully prepared to detail, but it’s not exactly shocking to me that aggressive, critical female voices would be so far from the mainstream of white American culture in the decade of self-defeating, anti-feminist, hyper materialist Female Chauvinist Pigs. (Read the book, it’s great.)

Giant Drag’s Annie Hardy is very clearly a product of the ’90s. It’s all over her music – references to Loveless, To Bring You My Love, Exile In Guyville, Last Splash, American Thighs, Live Through This, and plenty of other records that I’m sure we both owned as teenagers. She’s an impressive guitarist with a gift for instrumental hooks, though it seems clear that she’s still in the process of finding her own style. In person, she’s tiny and girlish, and delivers witty banter between songs in a nasal deadpan similar to that of Sarah Vowell, but with the comedic sensibility of Amy Sedaris. Many of her jokes on stage were at the expense of her drummer Micah, who often plays one-handed keyboard parts while playing the drums with his remaining limbs. I’m certain the band would sound better with a larger line-up, but the two have a strong chemistry that they are probably wise not to dilute. Unfortunately, the band did not have nearly enough time to play all of the songs I would have liked to have seen them play (my first choice for a song to post was not performed!), so hopefully they’ll be back around here again sometime soon. I strongly recommend that you join me, even if it’s just for her jokes. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Marit Bergman (featuring Cecilia Norlund) “Adios Amigos” – Some of you may remember this track from when I originally posted it last year. For the benefit of newer readers: Marit Bergman is like the clever, selfaware Swedish version of Avril Lavigne, mixing up strong pop balladry with rockers that appropriate from the likes of The Strokes and feature funny, self-deprecating lyrics that address the difficulties of fitting into the pop marketplace. “Adios Amigos” remains one of my favorite songs to ever be posted on this site, and I defy you to not feel giddy when its chorus zooms into overdrive. NYC readers take note: Marit will be performing two solo shows in the area over this weekend – Friday 11/11: Pianos, 8 pm (LES) and Sunday 13/11: Barbés, 8 pm (Park Slope). (Click here for the official Marit Bergman website.)

The Future Has A Valley And A Shortcut Around

Nathalie Nordnes “Cars and Boys” – Though the line “(the) next thing I know I’ve got three kids and a dog” lacks the neurotic urgency of David Byrne’s midlife crisis freakout in “Once In A Lifetime,” it’s still communicating a miniaturized version of the same “how did I become an adult, where has my youth gone?” dilemma in context. Nordnes sings nostalgically about a youth spent cruising with her best friend Catie and flirting with boys, trying all the while to reconcile this yearning with her perfectly happy domestic life. It’s not the cars and boys that she misses, per se, but the thrill of novelty, freedom from responsibilities, and the romance of endless possibilities. Lyrically and musically, it’s a lovely companion piece to The Smashing Pumpkins’ hit “1979,” which lamented a similarly romanticized version of an aimless youth spent in the backseats of cars. (Special thanks to Nick Sylvester.)(Click here for the official Nathalie Nordnes site.)

Wilco “Spiders (Kidsmoke) [Live in Chicago, 2005]” – Though it took me a while to warm up to the Neu!-ed up A Ghost Is Born arrangement of “Spiders,” I’ve come to like it much more than the shorter, more new wave-ish original version that was a Wilco setlist staple for two or three years. Conceptually, extending the song so that it stretches out like some kind of endless grey horizon works for the song’s lyrics and allows the emergence of the song’s signature guitar riff to seem like a dramatic, cathartic development rather than a musical inevitability. Live, the song allows touring guitarist Nels Cline some time in the spotlight with slow-motion lead lines and string-shredding noise bursts. Wilco were wise to scrap their dvd plans and release only a live album from their engagement at the Vic Theatre – they aren’t much to look at, but their performances come off very well on disc, to the point that whenever I’ve wanted to listen to them in the past year or two, I almost always opt for a live version of a song if I have one available. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Humanity Is Erased

A Frames “Black Forest II” – If you’ve been watching Late Night with Conan O’Brien with any degree of regularity in the past year or two, you’ve no doubt seen Conan slip into a recurring gag in which he affects “cold, dead eyes” – his entire face goes limp and his eyes narrow into a creepy, thousand-mile stare. In some ways, A Frames’ brilliant, horribly overlooked album Black Forest is just like this bit – a startling expression of emotional emptiness and hopelessness affected for the sake of very dark humor. The members of A Frames insist that the extreme bleakness of lyrics is meant to be deadpan, but there’s no shaking the feeling of doom and pessimism in this music. If anything, the ironic nihilism only serves to deepen the despair by refusing to commit to any feeling at all, not even apathy. And somehow, this is a seductive sound, and an album that speaks to me even when I don’t want it to. (Click here to buy it from Subpop.)

The Chiffons “Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind But Me)” – There’s some beautiful echo in this recording, giving the sensation that the vocals are thoughts swirling around in the echo chamber mind of a stubborn teenager refusing to believe anything but her own irrational heart. (Click here to buy it from Rhino.)

Spoon @ Nokia Theatre 11/5/2005
Telamon Bridge / The Beast and Dragon, Adored / Someone Something / Lines In the Suit / Metal School / The Delicate Place / I Turn My Camera On / Sister Jack – I Could See the Dude / Paper Tiger / Jonathon Fisk / Vittorio E / They Never Got You / I Summon You / The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine / The Way We Get By / Anything You Want / 30 Gallon Tank / The Fitted Shirt // Small Stakes / Me and the Bean / My Mathematical Mind

This was my first show at the new Nokia Theatre in Times Square, and I’ve got to say that it’s an amazing venue, probably the best in the city. The room is laid out so that there is standing room in front of the stage, then a second tier of standing room above that, and then a large section of stadium seating in the back. No matter where you are (or who you are – it’s very wheelchair-friendly), you will have an excellent view of the stage. The sound is crystal clear, perfectly mixed, and at pretty much the ideal volume throughout the room. (I watched Mary Timony’s set from the front, American Music Club and Spoon from the stadium area, and the encore from the middle tier.) There are several bars, snack kiosks, lounge areas, and merch booths just outside of the theatre room. The restrooms are enormous and immaculate. It’s centrally located, and very convenient for Metro North and LIRR commuters. They clearly poured a lot of money into this place in an attempt to make a venue nearly devoid of common flaws, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Spoon “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” – When I say that many of Spoon’s songs sound better live, I want you to understand that I also believe that their last three albums feature some of the best rock production of the past twenty years or so. Unlike many other rock acts, this is not a question of engineering, but rather that in some cases (most notably “I Turn My Camera On,” “The Delicate Place,” “Vittorio E,” and “Small Stakes”), the band figured out a better arrangement for the composition well after they left the studio. So naturally, Spoon is a band that really ought to put out a proper live album. Not a dvd, though – they are not particularly interesting in terms of visuals. In fact, I think I enjoyed myself the most when I kept my eyes shut, as I did for most of “They Never Got You” and “Paper Tiger.”

Much like The New Pornographers’ “Sing Me Spanish Techno,” “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” is a song packed full of lyrics that I identify with very strongly getting mixed up between cryptic lines I haven’t deciphered yet (Is the title a reference to the Book of Revelations? If so, wtf?) and nonsense that doesn’t make much sense to me at all, but that only serves to make it seem like an accurate reflection of life, at least in my experience. Basically, it’s a song about inspiration, and what it takes to commit yourself to art, to life, and to the people you love. It’s also a deliberate call back to a recurring theme in the Spoon catalog – “Believing Is Art,” basically. (Or more simply: “You Gotta Feel It.”) I’d be hard pressed to find better advice for any kind of artist in the form of pop lyrics better than this song’s final epiphany: When you don’t feel, it shows / they tear out your soul / and when you believe they call it rock and roll. (Click here to buy it from Spoon’s online store.)

The Mary Timony Band @ Nokia Theatre 11/5/2005
On The Floor / Friend To J.C. / Silence / song with lyric “in the kitchen every day” / I’m Your Man (Richard Hell cover) / Rider of the Stormy Sea / song with lyric “why can’t you see” / 9 x 3 / Backwards/Forwards

Mary Timony “Silence” – Interestingly enough, a majority of the audience for this show was very young and comprised mainly of very preppy, clean cut college kids. It was almost as if they’d all been tricked into believing they were going to a Coldplay show. I heard many teenage girls complaining about the very concept of opening acts as though they’ve never been to a rock show before in their lives, and it was very clear that I was one of the few people in the room that had a strong familiarity with Mary Timony, which is not something I would have ever expected from a Spoon crowd. I suppose Spoon really has hit the big time, and that the indie rockers who would typically come out for their shows all opted to hit the Sunday night show in Brooklyn. (Did that show sell out, by the way? The Nokia Theatre is very large, and I’d be very impressed if they could fill out both venues in the same weekend.)

This was the first time I’ve seen Mary Timony perform since she was entering her solo Renn Faire period in 2000, so it was exciting to see her playing to her strengths as a guitarist once again. The name Mary Timony Band is somewhat misleading – it was only Mary and fill-happy drummer Devin Ocampo. (Is the increasing commonality of guitar/drums duos in indie rock a purely economical consideration? With the possible exception of The White Stripes, I’ve never seen a rock duo play without the absence of bass or guitar being very conspicuous.) Timony’s current sound is a clear throwback to her time in Helium, but with a cleaner tone and a greater emphasis on sweeping dynamic shifts. Her thin voice continues to be a weakness in live performance, but she is still clearly one of the most criminally underrated guitarists in rock music. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Also!

Check out the Shrag video made by reader Scott Bateman.

We Hardly Saw A Spark

Kapow! “Make You Mine” – Unfortunately, I will not be seeing the Fiery Furnaces show at North Six this weekend due to a scheduling conflict. This isn’t such a big deal in terms of the Furnaces – I’ve seen them several times now, and will see them again before too long – but it’s disappointing in that I will miss the proper debut of former Furnace Toshi Yano’s new band, Kapow! Yano has a knack for ’60s style pop rock, and though that genre’s been strip-mined by a few generations of indie rockers by now, he manages to keep his songs sounding fresh, vibrant, and lacking that icky retro aftertaste. (Click here to buy it from Kapow!)

The Mendoza Line “Golden Boy (Torture in the Shed)” – This is a perfect song for Shannon McArdle’s voice – the guitars seem like a wall of fire, the drums feel urgent but strangely still, and the lyrics about oppression and stifled desire are ideal for a singer who so easily communicates simmering passion and quiet grace. (Click here to pre-order it from Misra.)

You Can Do Anything You Want As Long As It Makes Sense

Mystery Jets “You Can’t Fool Me, Dennis (Justice Remix)” – I would like to think that this is the result of the band sitting down and attempting to compose the most British song they could possibly imagine. This remix isn’t quite what you might expect from Justice (ie, you’re not going to be playing this for a dance floor unless you’re very perverse), but he tightens the song up considerably, dropping out the guitars entirely and adding more pop oomph to the bridge and chorus. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Voluntários Da Patria “Io Io (Tim “Love” Lee Edit)” – This selection is taken from Man Recordings’ new Nao Wave Revisited EP, a set of remixes and edits of cuts from their compilation of 80s Brazillian post-punk released earlier this year. This track is certainly more edit than remix as it keeps the original track more or less entirely intact, but extends the “Brand New Cadillac”-ish intro and adds a liberal amount of echo, which washes out the sound and ironically makes this new version seem much older than its source material. (Click here to buy it from Forced Exposure.)

Waddling Under The Beat

Edu K “Popozuda Rock N’ Roll (Original Version)” – The “original version” tag seems to only be in relation to the remixes on the same single. As far as I can tell, this is a cover of a cover of a cover. But let’s not get caught up in trainspotting – this is a celebration, full of cheesy pop metal riffs, favela funk, and lyrics offering words of encouragement to women with large asses. (That’s what “popozuda” means.) There’s even a strange nonsequitor reference to Star Wars! (Click here to buy it from Forced Exposure.)

Nous Non Plus “Fille Atomique” – Power jaunt au français! NYC-based RISD-educated Frenchies bop on a new wave guitar vamp like it’s a pogo stick, musically approximating the sound of exclamation points! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! (Click here to buy it from Aeronaut Records.)