The New Pornographers @ Terminal 5 12/6/2010

Moves / Slow Descent Into Alcoholism / It’s Only Divine Right / Crash Years / All the Old Showstoppers / The Laws Have Changed / Jackie Dressed in Cobras / Miss Teen Wordpower / We End Up Together / Adventures in Solitude / Twin Cinema / Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk / Go Places / Hey Snow White / Your Hands (Together) / Mass Romantic / Testament to Youth in Verse / Use It / The Bleeding Heart Show // Challengers / Up in the Dark / Sing Me Spanish Techno

In short, this was an excellent double-bill featuring two of the best power-pop bands on the planet today. I can’t help but feel that both Ted Leo and the New Pornographers have reached a phase in their career in which they’ve come to be under-appreciated. It’s Spoon syndrome — consistency, professionalism, and a distinct creative voice taken for granted by an indie audience more concerned with chasing baby bands in pursuit of firsties than celebrating career artists. I feel like Ted Leo gets this especially bad. He couldn’t possibly ask for more respect from music fans without going back in time to join Sonic Youth, but it seems like the reception for the Brutalist Bricks, arguably his finest record and probably the best straight-up rock album of 2010, has been frustratingly tepid. If you’ve been sleeping on this, give it another chance.

The New Pornographers “We End Up Together”

“We End Up Together” has more or less the same theme as Spoon’s “The Mystery Zone,” and that may have something to do with why I’ve connected with both so deeply over the past year. Both songs are concerned with contingency phases in our lives, and “the times that we met before we met.” Looking back on the past knowing what we know now, and trying to imagine what life was like before it all happened. “We End Up Together” is the more fatalistic of the two songs. There’s a sense of inevitability throughout the lyrics, this retrospective notion that our genes, our engagement in culture and society, our every stupid decision leads to some unavoidable point, and then we die. It’s not romantic. It’s not beautiful. It does, however, have a ring of truth, particularly in the context of this sweeping anthemic tune. When the song reaches its climax, just as Carl Newman sings the title phrase, I tend to think of the wordless backing vocals as some kind of disagreement, an act of rebellion against some rigid fate. It may be good that we are together, but do you really want to just end up together?

Buy it from Amazon.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists @ Terminal 5 12/6/2010

The Mighty Sparrow / Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? / I’m a Ghost / The Angel’s Share / Where Was My Brain? / The One Who Got Us Out / Even Heroes Have to Die / Bridges, Squares / The Stick / One Polaroid a Day / Bottled in Cork / Timorous Me / The Crane Takes Flight

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists “One Polaroid a Day”

Did you read this article in Time Out New York wondering whether social media is ruining New York culture, and by extension culture in general? Have you read any of the probably hundreds of similar articles and blog posts that express more or less the same notion? They always come off as tedious and reactionary, but with some bit of truth buried under all the sanctimony and tunnelvision. Anyway, in this song, Ted Leo gets at that idea with far more grace. To paraphrase: You take yourself out of the moment when you attempt to document it or frame it in yourself when it’s really about something much bigger. It’s more fun when you let go, when you just let things play out. You can come back and think about it later. Memories are more fun than a digital photo gallery! Ted gets at all of this, but he does it with a smile, and a smooth, lightly funky groove. It’s so much better that way.

Buy it from Amazon.

Fight Like Apes “Come On, Let’s Talk About Our Feelings”

When MayKay sings the phrase “come on, let’s talk about our feelings,” she is mostly being sarcastic. It’s a defense mechanism, a way of cutting through her own earnestness and sentimentality. The jokes, the irony, the dismissive tone — it’s all about finding a way to deal with having “too many feelings.” No amount of sarcasm could ever extinguish the fire in her voice, or temper the passion in her band’s music. They’re too hyper, too committed, too in love with their bold, colorful alt-rock tunes. This internal conflict and tonal contrast is exactly what makes Fight Like Apes so compelling. It’s that Irish thing, you know? Big bleeding heart, dry cutting wit.

Buy it from Fight Like Apes.

Ne-Yo “Champagne Life”

At the start of “Champagne Life” Ne-Yo welcomes the listener to his world, “where dreams and reality are one and the same.” That’s a pretty quick summary of what he’s up to on this song, and his current project in general. The song is a fantasy of easy-going luxury, the album and its accompanying music videos support a strange, only slightly coherent narrative about a trio of garbage men who are given amazing superpowers to protect their city in exchange for giving up the ability to fall in love. In either case, he’s going for extreme escapism, actively rejecting the negativity and limitations of the real world in favor of feel-good fantasy. Even the downside of his superhero scenario isn’t all that bad — it opens his characters up to hedonistic pursuits, and obviously they’ll end up falling in love anyway! That’s how these things work — setting up a melodramatic boundary only to knock it down. Love conquers all! Pleasure is king! What makes this work is a combination of Ne-Yo’s impeccable craft, and his total commitment to his own ridiculousness. He never lets the mask slip, and there are no cracks in the facade. If you enter his dream world, you’re going in all the way.

Buy it from Amazon.

This eight-disc, 157 song mix is a survey of some of the best and most notable music from 2010. It’s fairly comprehensive, covering indie, pop, rock, punk, folk, rap, R&B, soul, dance, country, modern classical, ambient and electronic music, and in many cases, hard-to-classify genre hybrids. I inevitably had to leave out some things, but I think you’ll find that this serves as both a helpful guide to some of the year’s most exciting music and a surprisingly listenable series of mixes. Discover new stuff! Rediscover familiar artists in a new context! Jam out to ten and a half hours of world-class tunes! If you enjoy this, please do pass it on.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Owen Pallett “Midnight Directives” / Vampire Weekend “White Sky” / Spoon “The Mystery Zone” / Joanna Newsom “Good Intentions Paving Company” / Liars “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant” / Janelle Monae featuring Big Boi “Tightrope” / Sleigh Bells “Rill Rill” / Robyn “Dancing on My Own” / LCD Soundsystem “I Can Change” / Sky Ferreira “One” / Bat For Lashes and Beck “Let’s Get Lost” / Arcade Fire “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” / Twin Sister “All Around and Away We Go” / Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Round and Round” / Caribou “Odessa” / Rihanna “Only Girl (in the World)” / Kanye West featuring Pusha T “Runaway”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Yelawolf “Billy Crystal” / Gorillaz featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack “Stylo” / Goldfrapp “Alive” / Alphabeat “Heatwave” / The-Dream “Love King” / of Montreal featuring Solange “Sex Karma” / Dominique Young Unique “Music Time” / Waka Flocka Flame “Hard in Da Paint” / Stereolab “Two Finger Symphony” / The Russian Futurists “Hoeing Weeds Sowing Seeds” / Glasser “Apply” / Shapes and Sizes “Too Late For Dancing” / Marnie Stern “Transparency is the New Mystery” / James Blake “I Only Know What I Know Now” / Tracey Thorn “Oh, the Divorces!” / Victoire “I Am Coming For My Things” / A Sunny Day in Glasgow “Drink Drank Drunk” / Azari & III “Reckless With Your Love (Tensnake Mix)” / Best Coast “Our Deal”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Scissor Sisters “Invisible Light” / Matthew Dear “You Put A Smell On Me” / Ne-Yo “Champagne Life” / Alicia Keys “Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)” / How to Destroy Angels “The Believers” / Gold Panda “Snow & Taxis” / These New Puritans “Three Thousand” / Usher featuring Nicki Minaj “Lil Freak” / Beyonce “Why Don’t You Love Me?” / Fol Chen “In Ruins” / Kylie Minogue “Better Than Today” / Club 8 “Dancing With the Mentally Ill” / Britta Persson “Meet A Bear” / Clinic “Bubblegum” / Wavves “Idiot” / Past Lives “Don’t Let the Ashes Fill Your Eyes” / Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith “Not In Love” / Big Boi featuring Big Rube “General Patton” / M.I.A. “XXXO” / First Rate People “Girls’ Night” / Baths “You’re My Excuse to Travel”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

The New Pornographers “Moves” / Ted Leo and the Pharmacists “Bottled In Cork” / The Roots “How I Got Over” / Phosphorescent “It’s Hard to Be Humble (When You’re From Alabama)” / Sabbath Assembly “Glory Hallelujah” / Erykah Badu “Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” / Kings Go Forth “High on Your Love” / Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings “Money” / Die Antwoord “Enter the Ninja” / T.I. “I’m Back” / Chromeo “When the Night Falls” / Beeda Weeda “Baserock Babies” / California Swag District “Teach Me How to Dougie” / Free Energy “Free Energy” / Los Campesinos! “Romance is Boring” / My Chemical Romance “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” / Nicki Minaj “Girls Fall Like Dominoes” / Ghostface Killah “Together Baby” / Unknown Mortal Orchestra “Ffunny Ffrends” / Beach House “Walk in the Park”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Hot Chip “Thieves in the Night” / Reading Rainbow “Always on My Mind” / Dum Dum Girls “Rest of Our Lives” / The Knife “The Height of Summer” / The Mynabirds “Ways of Looking” / Deerhunter “Helicopter” / Guido featuring Aarya “Beautiful Complication” / School of Seven Bells “Windstorm” / Avey Tare “Ghost of Books” / Laura Marling “Alpha Shallows” / White Hinterland “Bow & Arrow” / Laetitia Sadier “One Million Year Trip” / Society of Rockets “We” / Lil Wayne “I Am Not A Human Being” / Rick Ross featuring Gucci Mane “MC Hammer” / Roach Gigz “Magic Gas” / Titus Andronicus “Titus Andronicus Forever” / Superchunk “Digging For Something” / Serena-Maneesh “I Just Want to See Your Face” / The Magnetic Fields “We Are Having a Hootenanny” / Rose Elinor Dougall “May Holiday”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Four Tet “Angel Echoes” / Pantha Du Prince “Bohemian Forest” / Panda Bear “You Can Count On Me” / Women “China Steps” / Gonjasufi “Duet” / Flying Lotus “Do the Astral Plane” / Prins Thomas “Ørkenvandring” / Tame Impala “Solitude Is Bliss” / Slow Club “Giving Up On Love” / Cee-Lo Green “Fuck You” / Belle & Sebastian “The Ghost of Rockschool” / Jay Electronica “Exhibit C” / Black Milk featuring Royce Da 5’9 “Deadly Medley” / Charlotte Gainsbourg “Looking Glass Blues” / Zola Jesus “I Can’t Stand” / Wolf Parade “Little Golden Age” / Mr. Dream “Knick Knack” / The Fall “Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Thrushes “Crystals” / Bullion “Say Goodbye to What” / Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris “Baby” / Drake “Karaoke” / Sade “Soldier of Love” / Katy B “Katy On a Mission” / Teengirl Fantasy “Cheaters” / CocoRosie “The Moon Asked the Crow” / Dirty Projectors and Bjork “On and Ever Onward” / Deloreon “Real Love” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Freak” / Warpaint “Undertow” / The Morning Benders “Promises” / Emeralds “Candy Shoppe” / Kelis “Acapella” / Discodeine featuring Jarvis Cocker “Synchronize” / We Love “Ice Lips” / Twista featuring Raekwon “The Heat” / Gil Scott-Heron “New York Is Killing Me”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Field Music “In the Mirror” / Electric Six “After Hours” / Das Racist “Rappin 2 U” / Curren$y “A Gee” / Antony and the Johnsons “I’m In Love” / The National “Bloodbuzz Ohio” / Candy Claws “Warm Forest Floor” / Sufjan Stevens “I Walked” / William Brittelle “Vivid Culture” / The Chemical Brothers “Snow” / Brian Eno “2 Forms of Anger” / Stornoway “I Saw You Blink” / Mose Allison “My Brain” / Elaine Lachica “Tumbleweed” / Taylor Swift “Mine” / Weezer “Trainwrecks” / Jenny and Johnny “Big Wave” / No Age “Valley Hump Crash” / The Walkmen “Angela Surf City” / Scout Niblett “Duke of Anxiety” / Dom “Jesus” / How to Dress Well featuring Yuksel Arslan “Decisions”

Yelawolf “Billy Crystal”

Yelawolf has a strange and compelling voice. It’s bright in tone, but oddly choked and constricted in a way that seems slightly alien. This works for him, especially when he’s in observational mode, as in this creepy ode to a rural meth dealer called Billy. He sounds like a fascinated outsider with an eye for detail, an offbeat sense of humor, and no particular interest in judging his subject. The track is alternately dazed and melodramatic, and filled out with harsh electronic textures that sound literally sick, as if the song has caught some kind of painful sci-fi flu. It’s great, highly evocative stuff — without doing anything drastic, this strikes me as a very distinct strain of hip hop that recasts familiar tropes about drug dealers and economic desperation for a different but no less depressing milieu of American culture.

Buy it from Amazon.

My Chemical Romance “Planetary (GO!)”

I’ll be very honest with you: I definitely never anticipated loving a My Chemical Romance record this much, but then again, I also never thought they’d be the band who’d try to make Andrew W.K. seem sluggish and morose. “Planetary (GO!)” is a super-concentrated shot of thrill power, totally overwhelming in its barrage of gleeful, hyperactive hooks. You don’t get a second to breathe. It’s like — POGO! POGO FASTER! DON’T STOP POGOING OR THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE WILL EXPLODE!!! It’s not exactly a surprise that Grant Morrison turns up in the video for this album’s lead single. My Chemical Romance are clearly taking cues from his most energetic and surreal works of superhero fiction, aiming for an absurd, goofy extreme of modern pop-rock merged with over-the-top comic book mythologies and the stylistic excesses of J-Pop and trippy children’s television. Most of the time, they totally nail it. This is something worth freaking out about.

Buy it from Amazon.

Curren$y “A Gee”

Curren$y’s second album of 2010 is better than the first, which is saying something, since the first Pilot Talk was a pretty solid effort. Whereas that album settled into a stoner rap niche, its sequel has a smooth, late night funk sound to it, mellow and jazzy and highly melodic. This brings out the best in Curren$y, whose raps come out sounding more fluid and intuitive than ever, as if his well-crafted verses could be entirely effortless. Remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote about how Stereolab are good at making music that has a good “earfeel”? Pilot Talk 2 is very much like that, it’s just such a pleasure to hear, it’s like eating some rich, insanely delicious comfort food. However, despite the cozy warmth of its sound, there’s a chilly center to this music. Curren$y has an aloof vibe, he plays it up well in his lyrics. The killer line to this effect is here in “A Gee,” it’s one of my favorite lyrics from anything this year: “No matter where you go / one place you’ll never be / is close / even if you move right next to me.” Cold!

Buy it from Amazon.

LCD Soundsystem “Pow Pow” (London Session)

This live recording of “Pow Pow” includes a fair amount of lyrical improvisation on the part of James Murphy, and as such, he cuts out some of the words from the album version. One of the things that didn’t make it into this performance are the two lines that make the song sorta difficult for me to hear at times. This bit:

But honestly — and be honest with yourself — how much time do you waste? How much time do you blow every day?

This freaks me out because I know what the answer is, and the answer makes me feel horrible about myself. It makes me feel like a joke, a loser, an underachiever. Lazy, scared, boring. A person who is actively betraying and sabotaging himself on a daily basis. At this particular moment in my life, this is my greatest fear — that I’m wasting my time, and it’s all my fault.

Anyone could say these words, but not just anyone could say them and have the same impact on me. When James Murphy says this, you hear the blunt truth because you know he is doing it right. He’s always working, always pushing himself. He’s cracked the code, and he’s trying to give us tough love. He knows what he’s doing here, he knows how much it will pain some people to think about how much time they’re wasting not doing what they wish that they could. He knows how many good ideas never end up being fully realized because people are afraid to commit, or too tied up in things that ultimately don’t matter very much.

Listening to the the song without those lines is a small relief, but I am aware that they are gone, so I think about them anyway. I also think about how Murphy is waffling through the whole song, looking at things from multiple perspectives and acknowledging the validity of all of them. These words are a respectful debate going on in his head, spilling out into this song. He goes off on tangents enough times that it’s hard to tell what his main point may have been. He’s exhausted, frustrated by how touring disrupts his life. He’s concerned about using up his desire for discovery. Maybe that’s the point here: You need discovery in your life, but you can’t overload on it. It has to be meaningful. It needs context. It has to take you by surprise. You waste your time, and that’s a crime, but it sets you up for discovery, discovery, discovery, discovery. There just has to be a first step between passivity and the thrill of new things.

Buy it from iTunes.

Russian Futurists “Hoeing Weeds Sowing Seeds”

I like a lot of songs that sound like they are hurtling forwards, eagerly zooming into the future, and this is certainly one of those. The intro sounds like a warm-up — jogging in place before the drum fills comes in like a starter pistol, and it’s off. I like the implied velocity, but most of the charm is in the voice and the melody — somehow all of these words and notes come together to sound like a smile. A smile running off into the unknown, optimistic about whatever is off in the distance or moving in its direction.

Buy it from Amazon.

Sky Ferreira “One”

The first two times I heard this, it didn’t really work. The keyboards and vocal delivery were a bit too familiar from the past decade of icy dance pop music, and I didn’t feel like I needed more. But even the first couple times, that staccato repetition at the end of some lines stood out. And then, on the third and fourth and fifth and thiry-seventh listen, the particular charms of the song sunk in, gaining power and poignancy and ridiculous weapons-grade catchiness with each successive spin. Once it snaps together, even the most shopworn elements of the arrangement seem vibrant. The bright notes that punctuate the chorus while Ferreira’s digital voice repeats one clipped syllable is unexpectedly gorgeous, like a garish Christmas display warped into a glowing abstraction. So yes, listen to this. Listen to it a few times, at least.

Buy it from Amazon.

Dum Dum Girls “Rest of Our Lives”

“Rest Of Our Lives” is one of the best love songs I’ve heard in the past few years. It’s drowsy and dreamy, and sung mostly in sighs even as it hits its swooning peaks in the choruses. It’s basically a song about finding exactly the love that you had always dreamed of, and hoping to hold on to that comfort and stability forever. It’s a ’60s girl group pastiche, but there is not the faintest trace of irony or cynicism in the music, the melody, or the lyrics. It’s just aching, beautiful sincerity, and a sound that feels like innocence and true love. “Rest Of Our Lives” is almost overwhelming in its sweetness, but it’s not cloying, or just some girl bragging about her perfect relationship. To borrow some words from Sonic Youth, it feels like a wish coming true. It feels like angels dreaming of you.

Buy it from Amazon. Originally posted March 30th 2010.

The Knife featuring Lærke Winther “The Height of Summer”

“The Height of Summer” is the final song on Tomorrow, In A Year, and it serves as something of a narrative coda. It is not an opera song or some impressionistic composition, but instead a pop ballad very much along the lines of what is typically expected of the Knife. It’s a strange, beautiful piece of music that has an unlikely yet graceful balance of flutter and bounce. The tone is wistful and nostalgic; it is essentially a piece of correspondence set to song. Lærke Winther’s voice is cool and understated, but she comes across as thoughtful and imaginative, like a person who spends a great deal of time in her head, but is making the effort to check in on the outside world. Darwin the man may be a distant, fond memory for her, but his ideas still resonate for her in the seemingly minor details of life, and in how she imagines a world without her.

Buy it from Amazon. Originally posted February 17th, 2010.

The Mynabirds “Ways of Looking”

“Ways Of Looking” is about dealing with disappointment, or more precisely, admiring the way another person processes setbacks and bad news. The song is gentle and languid, with Laura Burhenn sounding wounded yet calm over guitar chords that evoke overcast skies and recall the Velvet Underground. It’s nearly serene in tone, so it can be easy to miss that it’s also a love song. There’s no drama or turmoil here, only respect for someone’s strength and gratitude for their support. Amidst all the risk and uncertainty, “Ways Of Looking” finds comfort in the moment, and a healthy perspective on the past, present, and future.

Buy it from Amazon. Originally posted June 4th 2010.

Liars “Drop Dead”

Of all the albums that I have heard in 2010, Liars’ Sisterworld has my favorite guitar tone. It varies somewhat from track to track, but there is a consistent quality to the sound — greyish and sinister, with a harsh attack and a brittle decay. The fast, heavy parts are violent and urgent, an idealized version of the kind of punk rock that feels like being chased around by maniacs. The more quiet parts unfold like horror soundtracks, with grim, winding melodies that build up a genuine suspense from note to note. I am not savvy enough to hazard a guess as to exactly how they achieved this sound — alternate tunings? highly specific uses of amplifiers and microphones? vintage equipment? — but the execution is incredible and extremely evocative. In many ways Sisterworld reminds me of Sonic Youth’s early albums, and the way they delivered a similar balance of punk aggression and intricate melodies with distinctive tones and creepy ambiance. “Drop Dead” is an especially Sonic Youth-ish track, particularly in the way the arpeggiated notes ring out like bells distorted by old VHS tape, and the attack on the riff seems to slash at the speakers in reverse and slow motion. The instruments are presented with a fair amount of clarity, but just enough abstraction to seem eerie and otherworldly.

Buy it from Amazon. You are a fool if you buy this in any format aside from the deluxe vinyl package, and this is why.

Robyn “Call Your Girlfriend”

This is a song in which Robyn tells you how to break up with your girlfriend because you are in love with Robyn. Norman and Chris have already addressed the novelty of this song’s conceit, highlighting the fact that what really sets it apart is the way that Robyn seems first and foremost concerned with the well-being of this guy’s girlfriend. This really does get to the heart of what makes Robyn such an interesting and refreshing pop singer — whereas a lot of pop music has gone very hostile and toxic over the past couple decades, she emphasizes kindness and decency even when she’s stealing someone’s man. But you know, it’s still a song about boyfriend stealing! And if you’re focusing on her uncommon generosity or the fact that, yeah, this guy really does have to call his girlfriend and dump her in the most humane way possible, it’s a feel-good sentiment. But what if you’re the girlfriend in question? If you listen to this from her perspective, it is basically the most smug song in the universe! A universe that includes several dozen Kanye West songs! I mean, it’s awfully easy to be super nice about this when you’re the winner in this situation. I can imagine hearing this song and just resenting Robyn so much, you know? Nevertheless, if you are ever in this situation, you should absolutely take Robyn’s advice. It’s very good and everyone should be so thoughtful.

Buy it from Amazon.

Guido featuring Aarya “Beautiful Complication”

I have a slightly irrational distaste for titles like “Beautiful Complication.” It’s the rhythm as much as the sentiment — “Beautiful Liar,” “Beautiful Stranger,” “Brilliant Disguise,” “Brilliant Mistake,” etc. It’s always such a stilted contrast, and it just looks and sounds ugly and off-puttingly self-satisfied to me. To get into this song, you have to buy into that “lovely pain-in-the-ass” premise, but it’s worth it. At its core, this is pretty standard stuff for modern R&B, but Guido’s track is knocked off balance just enough to seem genuinely menacing, which has a way of making Aarya’s vocal performance come off as more desperate and imperiled that it might otherwise. It’s a song about being attracted to a fucked-up guy who treats you poorly, and it’s very effective in getting across the excitement and allure of this dramatic scenario, but also a very real sense of emotional and physical danger. But you know, as the title suggests, it’s a willful thing, and the awareness of the self-destructive act is the main point of the song.

Buy it from Amazon.

Matthew Friedberger “Shirley”

Matthew Friedberger’s voice always seems to be a little different on his solo recordings than when he sings on Fiery Furnaces records. He’s a bit bolder with the Furnaces, his intonation is more blunt, sort of dense and blocky. I think this is because he writes those songs with and/or for his sister Eleanor, whose tone is always rather assertive. There’s a particular lyrical rhythm to those records, it’s very distinct and unusual and I think if you fall in love with it, you end up being a sucker for pretty much everything they do. His diction in his solo work isn’t dramatically different, but it lends itself to softer, grainier aspects of his voice. You hear more strain in his voice, more grit and character. There are some Furnaces songs where his voice reminds me a bit of Chris Eigeman in Whit Stillman’s movies, sort of brash and imperiously snarky, but he always seems smaller and more human when he’s alone. This isn’t always my favorite thing — he sort of recedes into a lot of Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School where I’d prefer him to be much bigger and brasher. He has a much sharper presence in “Shirley”, the first track off of Napoleonette. As I’ve noticed in concert and on songs like “Inca Rag,” Friedberger’s voice is flattered by the piano, the characteristic tonality of that instrument just fits nicely with his natural tone, particularly when he’s banging out chunky yet finely articulated chords in a way that recalls Hunky Dory-era Bowie. There’s some surprising harmony in this composition too — I’m not totally certain, but at some points, it sounds like a regularly tuned piano is paired with a pleasantly shrill prepared piano part.

Buy a subscription to Matthew Friedberger’s series of solo albums from Thrill Jockey. Every two months, a new vinyl album will be sent to you, eventually resulting in an eight album box set. This song is from the first volume, Napoleonette.

Das Racist featuring Chairlift “Fashion Party”

One thing Das Racist excel at doing is calling attention to imbalances in social power, and highlighting ways we can be ignorant of and/or insensitive to other people’s contexts often without necessarily having negative intentions. Some of these misunderstandings and tensions get laughed off, sometimes they are cause for sharper words. A lot of the time their critique falls somewhere in between, as they go for a lot of ambiguous targets. There’s always this understanding that these race and class relationships are complex, that histories are tangled and confusing, and we’re usually not aware of when we’re being racist because, well, that’s what ignorance is — not being aware. Das Racist aren’t the types to offer solutions, but they’re really good at pointing out ignorance, and that’s a valuable service in and of itself.

“Fashion Party” is an interesting song for them in that their songs usually only represent one side of a socially awkward encounter, but this one covers both sides, and they are equally uncomfortable. The premise of the song is that the group have been invited to some fashion event, and while both Das Racist and the woman who invited them — portrayed by Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek, a surprisingly solid rapper — want something from each other, they’re not really committing either way. The Das Racist guys are attracted to the glamor and money and beautiful women, but they feel out of place. It throws them off and makes them defensive, which in turn sends weird signals to their host, who sings “I don’t know if you want to hit me or if you want to dance.” There’s some desire for connection here, even if it’s just for rather shallow ends, but it doesn’t happen because everyone is too self-conscious. The song sounds smooth and relaxed, but at its core “Fashion Party” is uncertain and too self-aware to actually have a good time. Thankfully, that nervousness doesn’t transfer to the listener and override the soft, luxurious tone of the track.

Get it for free via Das Racist’s website.

Bryan Charles is the author of three books — the novel Grab on to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way, the 33 1/3 book about Pavement’s Wowee Zowee, and the new memoir There’s a Road to Everywhere Except Where You Came From. That book tells the story of how he moved to New York City from suburban Michigan with the ambition to become a writer, and how the necessity of keeping a day job set in motion a chain of events that led to him being present in the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11. In this interview, Bryan and I discuss the process of writing a memoir, his experience working on the Pavement book, his thoughts on contemporary fiction, and the way the internet lacks an obvious framework for promoting new writers. Enjoy!

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Stereolab “Two Finger Symphony”

Late period Stereolab is sort of hard to judge. Most anyone would agree that the band has been in a creative decline, but they haven’t become stagnant — there has been a fair amount of experimentation, particularly in the Fab Four Suture period — and their baseline level of quality is admirable. The problem is that few songs from 2003 onward rise far above this baseline level. It’s all very listenable but little of it commands attention beyond noticing some intriguing musical hook that is nonetheless fairly forgettable. You know how food and beverages can be described as having a good “mouthfeel”? Pretty much anything Tim Gane composes will have a good “earfeel.” It’s always going to be a superficially pleasant experience, but you can’t count on the music being resonant or emotionally urgent.

Not Music, the latest and potentially final release by Stereolab, is culled from the same sessions that produced 2008’s Chemical Chords. The albums sound and feel almost identical. Gane’s tracks all have a jaunty, upbeat tone, and are built upon rhythms that draw heavily from ’60s soul. It’s a good twist on the familiar Stereolab sound, but too much of it comes out sounding too sterile and clinical to fully connect. In some cases, it is frustrating to hear so many good ideas in a song that does not totally snap together. Some x factor seems to be missing, but it’s hard to say what that could be. It could be a matter of some necessary tension being absent from the music, or the process that produces the music. In some interviews, Gane has talked about how the character of each Stereolab album is determined by his collaborators. With this in mind, I wonder if the x factor was personified by Mary Hansen, who was a core member of the group through the peak period in the ’90s and died in 2002, just before the band fell into a creative malaise. At the same time, the dissolution of Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier’s romantic relationship could possibly have something to do with the diminishing returns of their creative partnership. Who knows. It could just be a matter of passion and energy — the best Stereolab music comes from a place of anger and restlessness, some critical perspective on modern society. Their more recent material lacks that kind of intensity.

“Two Finger Symphony” is one of the best songs from the Chemical Chords/Not Music sessions, mainly because it has some sense of urgency and humanity to it. The beat is insistent, a choppy dun-dun-dun rhythm that cuts through the polite polish of latter day Gane productions. It’s perky and alert, but Laetitia’s vocal parts are simultaneously assertive and melancholy. As with many of their best songs, these subtle contrasts are what make the tune pop. It’s not just parts fitting together in a lovely way, it’s an expression of something complicated and adult and difficult to define. If the group return from their extended hiatus, I hope they can get back to working with these sort of tensions.

Buy it from Amazon.

Guided By Voices @ Terminal 5 11/7/2010

Tractor Rape Chain / Game of Pricks / I Am A Scientist / Shocker In Gloomtown / Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory / Gold Star For Robot Boy / My Valuable Hunting Knife / Motor Away / A Good Flying Bird / Cut-Out Witch / Matter Eater Lad / Watch Me Jumpstart / Striped White Jets / My Impression Now / Awful Bliss / 14 Cheerleader Coldfront / Lethargy / Break Even / Buzzards and Dreadful Crows / Exit Flagger / Hot Freaks / The Closer You Are / Gleemer / Quality of Armor / Queen of Cans and Jars / Echos Myron / Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy / A Salty Salute / Smothered In Hugs // Postal Blowfish / Hey Aardvark / Pimple Zoo / Bright Paper Werewolves / Some Drilling Implied /// Dodging Invisible Rays / My Son Cool / Don’t Stop Now //// Johnny Appleseed / Weed King

Guided By Voices “Watch Me Jumpstart”

I had forgotten what it was like to be in a Guided By Voices audience. People get very intense; it becomes this very physical and vocal display of deep emotional connection to this large body of work. If you notice, Pollard stacked the top of the show with most of the biggest hits, which resulted in a frenzied energy on the floor for the first half hour of the set. Pollard brings out something rare and special in his fans — most everyone sings along, people move and point and jump and flail about, and it’s all together, people sing along to each other, to total strangers. It seems like you’re all suddenly friends and bonding over these impossibly catchy, ineffably weird, incredibly sad rock and roll songs. A lot of the crowd were holdovers from the old shows, but a rather substantial chunk of the audience were very young — early to mid 20s kids who were experiencing this for the first time. It makes me so happy that this music is finding a new audience.

Guided By Voices “Cut-Out Witch/Man Called Aerodynamics” (Peel Session)

Since I did see GBV several times over between 1999 and 2004, I wondered going into this if I’d miss a lot of the late period concert staples — “Teenage FBI,” “Things I Will Keep,” “Alone, Stinking and Unafraid,” “Subspace Biographies,” “Submarine Teams,” “Glad Girls,” “Back to the Lake,” etc — but no, it was cool. It’d be nice to see them again sometime, though. Late 90s/early 00s Pollard is totally underrated. There were songs from the “classic” era of the band that I wish they were playing, though. Like, where was “Official Ironmen Rally Song,” “Peephole,” “If We Wait,” and “Big School”?

Guided By Voices “Buzzards and Dreadful Crows” (Live in Austin, 2004)

It was so sweet to watch the “classic” band guys in action. I’d never seen this version of the band, only the version with Doug Gillard at the center of things. They have a lot of charm, especially Mitch Mitchell, who is a true midwestern rock and roll lifer badass. (He sang both “Lethargy” and “Postal Blowfish” with a cigarette clenched in his mouth the entire time!) It was nice to watch these guys get a chance to be rock stars again, or really, for the first time.

Guided By Voices “Weed King”

I’m not sure how this started, but a thing that people do at Guided By Voices shows is point up at Bob when he sings a line with particular resonance, as if to signal to him “hey, I like that line!” This is an incomplete inventory of lines that inspired my excited pointing last night.

– “Parallel lines on a slow decline.”

– “I never asked for the truth but you owe that to me.”

– “I am a lost soul, I shoot myself with rock and roll, the hole I dig is bottomless but nothing else can set me free.”

– “P.S. dump your boyfriend!!!”

– “THE GOLD! HEART! MOUN! TAIN! TOP! QUEEN DIRECTORY!”

– “Everything I think about, I think about, and everything I talk about, I talk about with you, but you don’t know what I go through – you don’t know.”

– “Do you think she can change your life?”

– “Shoot me down! And bring me down!”

– “Don’t let anyone find out or expose your feelings.”

– “There’s something in this deal for everyone, did you really think that you were the only one?”

– “She told me, ‘liquor’ – I AM A NEW MAN!”

– “The worst offense is intelligence, the best defense is belligerence.”

– “And all of a sudden I’m relatively sane, with everything to lose and nothing to gain, or something like that.”

– “DIS! ARM! THE! SET! TLERS!”

– “But I believed you! No neeeeed for furrrrther questioning!”

– “SOMETIMES I GET THE FEELING THAT YOU DON’T WANT ME AROOUUUND!”

– “Soooooooooooooooo cherry.”

– Pretty much every line of “Weed King” but especially “We can’t keep this violent pace.”

Buy GBV music from Amazon.

Britta Persson “Some Girls Some Boys”

Britta Persson is very good at writing about the confusing romantic stalemates that can occur between a pair of awkward, shy, emotionally reserved people. In previous songs, such as the lovely “At 7,” she came at this from a more frustrated perspective, but in “Some Girls Some Boys,” she’s clear-headed and patient, waiting out the confusion and ready for the moments of genuine communication and connection. The form of the song follows its emotional arc — the verses are pensive and vaguely uncomfortable, ruminating on what could be going on, while the chorus is calm and reassuring, with a gentle reminder that “what you really need is to let go.”

Buy it via the Britta Persson website.