Girls Aloud “Sexy! No No No…” – If this is the first Girls Aloud song you’ve ever heard, you need to know right away that it’s not even the best, or even the most intense. While most mainstream and indie rock bands are busy mewling and meowing in this decade, Xenomania has been crafting loads of pumped-up pop songs for Girls Aloud and other UK pop acts that drastically exaggerate the dynamics of both rock and dance-pop to such extremes that it makes most everything else seem relatively flat and lifeless. Xenomania isn’t just trying to do a catchy tune — they want to hijack your body and throw you around, and keep pushing you to new levels of manic elation over the course of a three minute song. Girls Aloud may seem a bit blank on the surface, but the singers are ideally suited to Xenomania’s material, especially in the way they convey catty contemptuousness and a creepy sort of chick-lit nihilism. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

Excepter “OP #2” “Stairwells” – John Fell Ryan mumbles through Excepter songs as though he’s unaware that anyone can hear his tone-deaf quasi-melodies. It’s expressive, but not at all communicative, and so tracks that would already come across a bit like some stranger’s brain turned inside-out seem even more alien and aloof. This piece seems slightly chaotic, but its textures are brilliant, and its lateral progression and recurring rhythmic and melodic motifs reveal a knack for detailed composition that is often obscured by their penchant for shapeless longform improvisations. (Click here for the Excepter website.)

Edit:

Matthew,
Your review of “OP#2” is of an intra-band demo ripped from a stolen iPod
an not intended for release. The “official” version of the track is
“Stairwells” on disc 2 of STREAMS 01. The “real” version of “OP” is a
double 7″ coming soon on iDeal Recordings and is fairly different than the
bootleg circulating. You don’t need to take the mp3 down, but maybe you
could properly identify it as an “unreleased demo/outtake bootleg” of
“Stairwells.” Thanks.
Yours,
John Fell Ryan
Excepter

Elsewhere: Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox wrote a really good blog entry about Stereolab’s song “Blue Milk.”

Charlotte Hatherley “I Want You To Know (Acoustic Version)” – Even in this simplified, percussion-free arrangement, Charlotte Hatherley’s “I Want You To Know” overflows with sugary spite and vicious verve. If anything, the streamlined version emphasizes the song’s sharp edges by foregrounding the quick, elegant dynamic shifts of her rhythm guitar part. Whereas the proper album recording aims for a thicker, more overwhelming sound, this version is slim, nimble, and arguably much better in getting across its playful yet bitter lyrics. (Click here to buy it from Charlotte Hatherley’s official site.)

Meneguar “Bury A Flower” – “You get what you want when you don’t want it anymore.” Is that true? It sounds true, at least in the moments when your desire for someone or something is so great that it becomes impossible to imagine ever getting what you want, or knowing how to attain it, or even admitting to anyone else that you have any desire at all. “Bury A Flower” is super-charged with nervous energy, but the band seem hell-bent on keeping it contained, even when it seems like the natural, healthy thing to do would be to let it all out. The singer sounds like a guy doing everything he can to hold back his own id, but with every passing moment, he’s forgetting the reason why. (Click here to buy it from CD Universe.)

Elsewhere: I have two new (but late!) reviews up on The Movie Binge — Hannah Takes The Stairs and 2 Days In Paris. Of the two films, one is mediocre, and the other is quite good. Can you guess which is which?

Also: El Baile Moderno has an interview with me en Español! (It was translated, I don’t speak any Spanish at all.)

And: As I suspected, St. Vincent actually did name her album Marry Me after the running joke from Arrested Development.

Pleasure “Out Of Love” – You know that point in some songs (most especially new wave tunes) when the sentiment of the lyric overcomes the singer and they reflexively close their eyes for a moment and swoon as they hit a higher note? It’s a glorious thing, and most good songs about new infatuation tend to do this at least once, if not a few times over. This new single by Pleasure sounds as though it was engineered to maximize the impact of these swooning moments, and so when they come, the rush is exhilarating and sorta exhausting. “Out Of Love” is a sublime mix of gleeful synthpop bounce and sad-eyed melancholy, and though there are some echoes of Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass,” it tosses out that song’s cynicism and wounded pride in favor of an entirely earnest sweetness. (Click here for the Pleasure MySpace page.) (Originally posted 3/5/2007)

Hilary Duff “Danger” – If Hilary Duff is correct, and the dude she’s singing about was indeed born in ’74, that would make him about 33 right now. Given that she’s 20 years old, she’s probably not wrong to sense a bit of danger in this pairing — it’s not an outlandish or uncommon age gap, but it is a bit inappropriate. The song is most likely being sung about a handsome teacher, boss, or celebrity, but for some reason the harsh, sleazy Eurodisco sound of the track makes me imagine some filthy creep with the most hideous mustache in the world. Like, a coked-up hipster mutant dripping with 22 strains of VD. The type of guy who would make Terry Richardson (NSFW link!) seem like a classy hunk. I’d like to think that every line of this song is a staggering understatement, and that the former Lizzy McGuire is in for a reallllllllllllllly dark year. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.) (Originally posted 4/17/2007)

Muscles “Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon & Lime” – This one’s a bit of an electro-pop Rorschach test — hyper-twee declaration of new love, or possessive, regressive creep-out? It mostly depends on how you would feel if someone told you that they wished that they could shrink you down to pocket-size so they could “play with you all the time.” Either way, the synths are about as fruity as the title suggests, and it’s a good time even if you’re freaked out by the lyrics. (Click here for Muscles’ MySpace page.) (Originally posted 12/5/2006)

James Rabbit “The Whole World Sleeps In Your Bed” – Whereas pretty much every other indie band of their generation is out working a tiresome hustle, James Rabbit display a refreshing lack of careerism. There’s no James Rabbit MySpace page, they barely tour, and they have no record label, much less a PR company. They just churn out a few albums every year, gradually building up an extensive discography for no one in particular, sort of like Bob Pollard in his pre-Bee Thousand days. Each James Rabbit record is better than the last, with incremental improvements in every aspect of its conception, performance, and production. “The Whole World Sleeps In Your Bed” may be their finest song to date, rocking merrily along with a memorable Beatlesque guitar hook and a typically exuberant lead vocal that careens from one killer lyric to the next. The song eventually drifts off from its hyperactive main body into a gentle reverie, but unlike other James Rabbit tunes that follow a similar trajectory, the song crashes in its final moments, tripling its angst as if to make up for the brief period of calmness. (Click here to get a free copy of James Rabbit’s new album Colossuses.) (Originally posted 2/2/2007)

Citizen Helene “‘Til Tomorrow” – It’s only one guitar and one voice overdubbed into a gorgeous harmony, but it’s enough to build this perfect image in my mind. It’s a small apartment, a walk up in some old building with a gray stone facade. There are books in piles, too many to fit on the shelves. There’s empty tea cups on a coffee table, and a newspaper from three days ago folded out of shape. The decor is a bit scattered, but there’s a lot of browns and oranges — curtains, rug, pillows. The window is open, and rain drizzles in fits and starts. It’s a bit too humid, but there’s no fan, no air conditioner. There’s a couch and chairs, but you’re sitting on the floor by the window, and when a bit of breeze drifts in on the 1:13 mark, it might just be the best thing you feel all day. (Click here for the Citizen Helene MySpace page.) (Originally posted 6/12/2007)

Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster “The Millionaire” – In this semi-recent bit from The Best Show On WFMU, Tom takes a call from a strange man who suddenly became a millionaire, but refuses to spend any of his money lest his bank balance drop below one million dollars. Needless to say, this has put the guy in some very awkward situations. Aside from its strong premise, this skit is particularly great for its clever usage of the show’s increasingly elaborate Newbridge mythology, and its bizarre yet casually tossed-off references to a dog zoo, Colonel Jessup’s Salad Plantation, Footlocker Grey, and something called “Lake Muck.” (Click here for the official Best Show website.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Thrushes, Celebration, and Monarch.

Linfinity “Chu Chu Train To Venice” – I’m imagining this guy as a frazzled old prospector, and that he’s playing the crude, manic piano part by jogging in place on the keyboard. Ideally, a video for this song would feature grainy, sepia-toned footage of a punk band comprised entirely of hobos kicking out this jam on a freight train. (Click here to buy it via Linfinity’s MySpace page.)

International Pony “Gothic Girl” – Ha, okay, so the lyrics to this song? It’s basically some goofy dude “negging” a cute goth girl. He teases her in the lamest ways imaginable (“watch out, you might get a sun tan”), but it seems rather good-natured and silly all the same, thanks in large part to the bouncy, easy-going mood of the track. (Click here for the International Pony website.)

Lil’ Wayne “I Feel Like Dying” – Okay, so, whether he intended it or not, this is basically Lil’ Wayne approximating the style of Tricky circa the mid-90s, but without all that complicated sexual tension that I wrote about a couple weeks ago. Really, aside from the fairly straightforward beat, the total absence of sexuality is the one major difference between this and a classic Tricky cut — Wayne’s gravelly yet puckish voice sounds remarkably similar at some points, and the hypnotic female vocal hook sounds as though it could be an outtake from Pre-Millennium Tension. The subject matter is rather familiar as well: The song is essentially a meditation on self-medication that vacillates between dark humor and total despair, and the sampled voice is playing the part of a siren calling Wayne towards oblivion. (Click here for the Lil Wayne MySpace page.)

Grouper “Everyone In Turn” – If you put this on repeat, you may not notice the track beginning and ending. There’s a pause, of course, and a crackle of surface noise, but all the sound just hangs in the air like a dense, slow-moving cloud. The arrangement is not at all static, but its mournful mood and spectral aura is sustained until you shut it off. (Click here to buy it from Type Records.)

The Fiery Furnaces @ Socrates Sculpture Park, 8/26/2007
Restorative Beer (soundcheck) …. Nevers (instrumental intro) / In My Little Thatched Hut / I’m In No Mood / Black-Hearted Boy / Bitter Tea / Waiting To Know You / The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry / Oh Sweet Woods / Borneo / Benton Harbor Blues / Nevers (instrumental interlude) / Whistle Rhapsody / Teach Me Sweetheart / Bitter Tea (outro) / Single Again / Wicker Whatnots / Quay Cur / I’m Gonna Run / Here Comes The Summer / Blueberry Boat / Tropical Iceland / Spaniolated / Name Game / Birdie Brain / 1917

Aside from the wonderful novelty of seeing a show in my neighborhood, this was a very bad gig, and certainly the worst set I’ve ever seen the Fiery Furnaces play. Seriously, it seemed as though the band was trying very hard to get me to dislike some of my favorite songs, or at least lose respect for them as performers.

It was that bad.

The current live incarnation of the Fiery Furnaces has Eleanor Friedberger on vocals, Matthew Friedberger on keyboards, Jason Loewenstein on guitar, Bob D’Amico on drums, and Michael Goodman on percussion. They play the music in a style that can best be described as prog calypso, but with the clumsy, impatient dynamics of a shitty hardcore band. The arrangements kept or reworked some instrumental motifs, and completely threw out others, often resulting in performances that arbitrarily honored or exaggerated certain emphatic moments of the songs while completely steamrolling over other parts. Eleanor warped, mutilated, or otherwise eliminated the melodies from the songs, and mainly recited a steady flow of words as though she was doing an impression of an auctioneer.

I appreciate their desire to experiment, and I don’t doubt that they were having a good time, but the approach to this show displays an alarming lack of self-awareness regarding their strengths as musicians and songwriters, a disrespect for their own material, and a fundamental misunderstanding of how people connect with music. In previous versions of their live show, they rearranged their material to great effect, resulting in sets that delivered familiar songs in ways that were different from the recordings but very faithful to the essence of the material, but this band gutted the work in such a way that, at very best, the alternative arrangement was an uncomfortable novelty. At worst, and really, that’s about 90% of the set, anything that could cause a listener to feel any sort of sentimentality toward a piece of music was excised, to the point that I could hear songs that I love very deeply and kinda hate them.

Do they actually dislike their own material, or do they just despise the ritual of people going to concerts to hear songs that they love played in a way that is familiar to them? I support their desire to avoid the fast-food predictability of most shows, but their apparent disdain for the audience-artist bond seems increasingly misanthropic and self-defeating. It’s becoming very difficult for me to reconcile the careful, deliberate artistry of their albums with the lazy, thoughtless agitation of their current show. I’m not asking for them to slavishly replicate the recordings on stage, but I think they really ought to consider why their songs work, and apply that to the stage show. Basically, they need to slow things down to a reasonable pace, differentiate the tempos so that’s its not all one big indecipherable blur, and respect the melodies of the songs so that people can, you know, connect emotionally and maybe even sing along.

I’m not asking for anything they haven’t done before. If you’ve only seen the current version of the band, these songs are for you. I hate to be constantly apologizing for this band, but you should know that they are capable of being a wonderful live act.

The Fiery Furnaces “I Broke My Mind/Spaniolated/Single Again” (Live @ London Calling, 2003) – When I first saw the band live, they were just beginning to experiment with medleys, and so the set was mostly divided into seamless chunks of three or four songs. Between 2003 and early 2005, they really had it figured out perfectly — the songs were obviously different, but instantly recognizable, and the energy was upbeat but unrushed. Despite the fact that five Furnaces records have been completed since this period, “I Broke My Mind” remains unreleased, which is a bit odd given that it’s such a strong and instantly ingratiating tune.

Eleanor Friedberger “Quay Cur” (Live on East Village Radio, 6/26/2004) – I’m very fond of this rare Eleanor solo performance — her skills as a guitarist are limited enough so that she boils the songs down to their essence rather than erring on the side of over-complicating the arrangements like her brother, and she’s so comfortable with the host that she allows herself to be very playful and cute.

The Fiery Furnaces “South Is Only A Home / Blueberry Boat / Bow Wow / Birdie Brain / Inca Rag” (Live @ the Mod Club in Toronto, 9/12/2004) – The medley tour from late 2004 and early 2005 may be the greatest achievement of the band to date. The medley blended most of the songs from Gallowsbird’s Bark and Blueberry Boat into a 45 minute suite that retained the appeal of its components while having its own dynamics and internal logic. It’s a remarkable piece of work that in many ways improves on the source material (I often anticipate the medley changes when I hear the studio versions), and disrupts the typical concert format without eliminating the audience’s pleasure.

The Fiery Furnaces “Teach Me Sweetheart” (Live on KEXP, 4/6/2005) – Can it be all so simple? I must admit that I appreciate that they avoid the earnest, straightforward acoustic approach, but when they do it, it’s always so perfect and sweet.

The Fiery Furnaces “Waiting To Know You” (Live @ the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC 6/30/06) – I was especially dismayed by yesterday’s performance of “Waiting To Know You.” It’s a rather beautiful and sentimental song, but they went out of their way to make it blunt and ugly, and it just seemed like an insult to anyone who ever liked it. This version of the song from the previous rock-centric incarnation of the live band avoids the softness of the album version, but keeps the sweetness in a power-pop arrangement that reminds me of late-period Guided By Voices.

Elsewhere: Of Montreal recorded a cover of my favorite Royal Trux song and put it up their MySpace page. It’s a really pleasant surprise!

Also: The Gramophone guys went out for a nice dinner.

The Society of Rockets “Guess My Name” – This is life now — everything you do is monitored via some form of surveillance, but you try to keep it out of your mind because if you dwell on it, you start to go crazy, and then the people who can watch you might start to actually pay attention. For a song about the impossibility of becoming invisible to The Man, “Guess My Name” is remarkably calm and relaxed, though maybe I’m just getting that mixed up with a feeling of resignation. (Click here for the Society of Rockets’ MySpace page.)

The Birds of Prey “Love Gone Again” – In 1966, a bunch of teenagers recorded a demo with Joe Meek, but it was never released. They broke up, disappeared, no one noticed. But here it is, this perfectly formed song, a classic oldie that almost no one has ever heard. The fidelity is crap, but the performance is jittery and angst-ridden, and the singer fully commits to his R&B affectations while still sounding like a geeky underdog. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Magik Markers “Last of the Lemach Line” – When I first encountered the Magik Markers, they were opening up for Sonic Youth, and burning through a set that sounded a great deal like that band’s earliest recordings, but with less aggression, and a charismatic vocalist who “shouted the poetic truths of high school journal keepers” like the punk rock girl from “Skip Tracer.” They’ve released a few records in the time since, and though they were interesting, they weren’t very successful in translating their improv-centric aesthetic to a proper studio recording until just recently. On the forthcoming album Boss, they’ve managed to develop discrete, structured compositions without sacrificing the spark of their performances. They dabble in punk and at least two cuts recall the grim atmosphere and gentle, cracked piano-based balladry of Cat Power circa Moon Pix and the Covers Record, but most of the songs are turbulent, gloomy dirges that showcase Elisa Ambrogio’s cryptic lyrics and urgent, emotionally potent vocals. “Last of the Lemach Line” is the most sprawling track on the record, and though it seems to build up to a grand release, it consistently turns sideways or slows to a crawl whenever it feels as though it is about to reach its climax. (Click here for Ecstatic Peace’s Magik Markers page.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Imperial Teen, Home Blitz, and the New Pornographers.

Swizz Beatz “Take A Picture” – Swizz Beatz has always made a point of avoiding samples in lieu of writing his own tracks from scratch, so it’s kinda funny that the best track on his debut as a solo artist features a prominent sample from Bill Withers’ 1979 hit “Lovely Day.” Despite self-consciously veering from his established formula, the song is still instantly recognizable as a Swizz Beatz production, mainly for the way he fills out the arrangement’s abundant negative space with ecstatic shouts and hollers that pump up the energy level without derailing the mellow, syrupy groove borrowed from the Withers tune. Like most of his best work, the composition feels simultaneously giddy and relaxed, simulating a state of blissful, unworried confidence. Beatz isn’t much of a rapper, but he’s competent, and his words simply elaborate on the feeling of the track while playing up his vanity, and hinting at a concern that his days of glory are numbered. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

On A Professional Note: My gigs for MTV and the Associated Press are ending soon, and I’m available for freelance and contract work. If any Fluxblog readers have a line on a suitable job – preferably one with benefits – hit the comments or give me a shout at perpetua @ gmail.com. Thanks!

M.I.A. “Bamboo Banga” – “Bamboo Banga” has an intense beat, but a thin sound that makes the track seem a bit crude and makeshift. It rumbles and shakes, and leaves most of its space open for M.I.A.’s flattened voice, which is so harshly stylized that it sounds as though she’s sharpened it up like a shiv. She often seemed venomous on Arular, but she kicks off Kala with an anthem so acrid and aggressive that it makes the old stuff seem quaint and benign. On the opposite end of the record, she drops her violent front to reveal a compelling blend of vulnerability, desperation, and antagonism on “Paper Planes,” a bittersweet ballad with a chorus mainly comprised of gun shots and cash register sound effects, but the blank-eyed nihilism of “Bamboo Banga” is only intensified, and mutated into a particularly hopeless strain of sorrow. (The most gutting moment of Kala comes when she delivers the line “everyone’s a winner, we’re making our name” like a depressed teenage girl trying to force an enthusiastic smile.) The album finds some small pleasures between these two bookends, but it mostly comes across like a guided tour of our post-globalized planet conducted by an especially bitter and droll docent. Some of it is fun, some of it is sexy, some of it is extraordinarily vicious, and all of it is exciting, erudite, and on point. (Well, maybe not that Timbaland cameo — he sounds so incredibly cheesy contrasted with her caustic rhymes.) (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Uffie “First Love (Demo Version) – The sweetness that Uffie reveals on “First Love” doesn’t contradict her party princess persona, or keep her from indulging in her tendency to contrast the cuteness of her voice with a put-on toughness, but it does make her seem more like a human being and less like a cartoon character. It’s an incredibly sugary song, but it’s also a bit tense and ambivalent, with a track that keeps trying to shrug off its most vulnerable moments by warping either the music or Uffie’s voice. (Click here for Uffie’s MySpace page.)

Monarch “Obituary” – It’s a little early for this song, maybe. It’s chilly and gray and feels a bit like October in New York today, but this is a song for the deep autumn or the early winter, and we’re just not there yet. Very few things make me want to be in school these days, but I can’t shake the feeling that this music would be slightly improved by the context of hearing it on the way to class. It’s all dead wet leaves, fresh new pens and paper, the subtle stress of obligations, and the faint excitement of a new semester. (Click here to buy it from Morphius.)

Elsewhere: Does anyone out there happen to have a bootleg recording of this wedding reception? YSI?

Marnie Stern “Put All Your Eggs In One Basket And Then Watch That Basket!!!” – It sounds like a band tumbling down a flight of stairs or a girly punk band fighting a wind storm, but lately, this is the song I put on when I want to feel calm. It’s like being in the eye of a hurricane, maybe. Stern’s arrangements are like meticulously crafted chaos — it spins around you, pulls you in every direction, but even when it feels like disorienting madness, there’s comfort and safety in the knowledge that every moment is organized and under control. (Click here to buy it from Kill Rock Stars.)

These Are Powers “Little Sisters Of Beijing” – The singing is passionate and intense, but it’s nearly overpowered by an incessant grayish electronic tone that sounds less like a proper instrument and more like the ambient hum of office machines and fluorescent lights. She sounds desperate and trapped, but also powerless and overwhelmed. The thing is, her voice is the one thing keeping that grim, oppressive tone from feeling like a source of strange comfort. (Click here for the These Are Powers MySpace page.)

Elsewhere: People playing chess on rollercoasters.

Rilo Kiley “Give A Little Love” – The most appealing thing about Rilo Kiley’s new album is that they’ve totally surrendered to their least cool influences in a way that seems totally natural and sincere, and not even a little bit glib or ironic. The production is immaculate, and every track, whether it’s a nod to Linda Ronstadt-esque country pop, gooey teen drama balladry, cheesy riff rock, or the whole late 70s coke-fueled “California” aesthetic sounds silky, smooth, and set to impress the sort of people indie rock types usually loathe the most — you know, like “tampon rock” fans and moms. Though some of the numbers hew closer to the (actually quite square) sound of their previous record, the best cuts dive into the deep end and come out stronger because it’s just so clear that the group is either living out some sort of fantasy, or simply being themselves. “Give A Little Love” sounds like a sparkly synth ballad from a late 80s teen pop record that’s been given a slight make-over by Jenny Lewis. The song can’t help but feel a bit dorky, but she plays it very straight, and fully embraces the direct, unguarded sentimentality of the style to great effect, while also drawing on the warm, soupy quasi-R&B backing vocals that complemented her well on her solo album. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from the Thai Pop Spectacular, Who Needs Tomorrow, and Joe Meek Freakbeat compilations.

Prints “Easy Magic” – I’m not exactly against people putting their music in ads. It’s tacky, but people have got to make a living, you know? It’s exceptionally rare that an advertisement taints a song that I already love — I’m kinda stubborn that way, if I like something it’s almost impossible for me to change my mind about it — and so I only really hate it when songs I dislike end up in ads that I end up hearing all the time. (Perfect example: Remember when “One Week” by the Barenaked Ladies was in that car ad, and it’d be on all the time, pretty much every episode of Conan O’Brien for a year back when no one had tivo? That was very painful.) I also dislike how a large chunk of music now is either music from ads, or music that will eventually be in an ad. This song by Prints has a hook that is incredibly crisp, lovely and instantly ingratiating, and so it’s hard to imagine that it won’t be featured in an ad campaign for something or other within a year, especially since it has this sound that sorta quietly whispers “I am smart, stylish, and casual.” Maybe it won’t, maybe no one will be interested, or maybe Prints would refuse, but either way, it still has that vibe, and it’s not even their fault. This is probably how the big companies win — eventually everything we hear will in some way make us think of some totally unrelated product. (Click here for the Prints MySpace page.)

Home Blitz “Hey!” – How’s this for a perfect, brilliant punk rock moment: The band is playing this immediately catchy power pop tune, and the lyrics are very silly but right on. Just after he admits that his guitar cannot “express many different emotions,” the singer stops the song abruptly so that he can “get some gum.” A few seconds later, they kick right back into the tune, but not exactly at the point where they left off. And then — a sweet, sentimental guitar solo that sharply contrasts with the shambling quality of everything else on the track. I don’t exactly endorse everyone taking gum breaks in the middle of their studio recordings, but man, if only every band could sound this alive and present on their albums. (Click here to buy it from Gulcher Records.)

Junior Senior @ High Line Ballroom 8/13/2007
Go Junior Go Senior / Chicks and Dicks / Dynamite / Good Girl, Bad Guy / Rhythm Bandits / Happy Rap / Itch U Can’t Scratch / We R The Handclaps / Can I Get Get Get (with JD from Le Tigre) / Move Your Feet / Shake Me Baby / Shake Your Coconuts / Hip Hop A Lula // You Cannot Trust… / White Trash

Junior Senior “We R The Handclaps” – Okay, so here’s the thing. Junior Senior came out and played a great set — high energy, great crowd, wonderful songs. I really want to emphasize that last one, because it seems to me that people get so overwhelmed by their kitsch and extreme cheeriness that they tend to overlook that they are rather fantastic songwriters with an amazing gift for melody and elegant arrangements that are probably very carefully crafted, but sound totally natural. But the thing is…they kinda dropped the ball on the encore. Instead of coming out and ending the show with the best song from each of their records — “Take My Time” and “Boy Meets Girl” — they played a sorta repetitive new tune and the weakest track from their debut album. (Insert frowny face here.) The encore didn’t totally suck, and it didn’t exactly ruin the show, but yeeeee, that was no way to end a gig! They should’ve at least saved “Move Your Feet” or “Shake Your Coconuts” til the very end! Also, the fact that Cindy and Kate from the B52s were not on hand was no excuse not to do “Take My Time,” by the way — the girl who sang lead on “We R The Handclaps” was absolutely amazing, and she would’ve totally killed it on that song!

But don’t get me wrong, this was a really fun show. Also, don’t get me started about Gravy Train, who opened up and may be the single most puerile band on the face of the earth. Take that as a complaint or as a compliment, and either way you’re right. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

The Mary Timony Band “Killed By The Telephone” – There’s a problem here, and no problem at all. The “problem” is that if you’ve heard a lot of Mary Timony’s music from after The Dirt Of Luck, you can predict this song’s movements from second to second — she’s operating on instinct, not so much imagination, and even the best moments feel like something you’ve heard from her several times before. However, if you’ve heard a lot of Timony’s post-Dirt Of Luck music, you probably like her style, and “Killed By The Telephone” sounds like a new old friend, or maybe even a step up from most of what she’s been doing in the past few years if just because it straight-up rocks out when it’s not floating off into a sea of arpeggiation. I guess I can’t stop myself from wishing she was re-writing “XXX” and “Pat’s Trick” instead of The Magic City, but that’s my problem and not hers. (Click here to buy it from Buy Olympia.)

C.O.C.O. “Your Own Secret Way / Sly” – The singer is hung up on someone, and so everything that person says or does seems like a code to crack, or a path to an answer — yes, no, maybe? This person is occupying so much space in her brain that she hopes and assumes that she’s weighing heavily on their mind as well, but the possibility that she’s wrong just makes it worse. (In other words: you should pay rent in my mind / say like the French say / “bon soir je regret a demain” / do you like me? / do you like me? / do you like me? / do you like me? / I guess.) (Click here to pre-order it from K Records.)

Elsewhere: R.I.P., Mike Weiringo.

Daft Punk @ Keyspan Park 8/9/2007
Robot Rock + Oh Yeah + Technologic / Television Rules The Nation + Around The World + Cresdendolls / Steam Machine / Harder Better Faster Stronger + Around The World / Burnin’ / Too Long / Face To Face + Harder Better Faster Stronger / One More Time + Aerodynamic / The Prime Time Of Your Life / Alive / Brainwasher / Da Funk + Daftendirekt / Superheroes + Human After All // Together + One More Time (approximate setlist, may be slightly inaccurate)

Daft Punk “Face To Face” – How do you talk about a show like this without gushing with hyperbole, or inadvertently making it sound dull by translating an immersive visceral, physical experience into a bunch of stupid words? Daft Punk’s show is the opposite of words, basically. If you want to get an idea of what the performance was like, watch these YouTube clips, but keep in mind that they really don’t capture the full sensation, and I can’t seem to find examples of some of the most stunning bits of the light show:

Daft Punk’s show is essentially a fusion of crowd-pleasing, disco dancing spectacle and high concept installation art. Every moment is precisely calculated to maximize the audience’s pleasure, and their submission to the moment. Though the set was mostly high energy, they allowed for several cool-down moments in which the duo gave the audience permission to slow down and get lost in the visuals before pulling them back with another round of intense beats.

It’s kinda amazing how incredibly thrilling it can be to see guys dressed like robots dancing around in a giant glowing pyramid. It’s a simple pleasure, really.

Though it seemed that everyone was most excited to hear the classic songs from Discovery, the tracks from Human After All were a revelation in the context of a large scale performance. It’s not too much of a surprise that their “rock” songs would go over well in an arena setting, but the raw excitement triggered by the likes of “Technologic” and “Television Rules The Nation” was enough to question why that album received such poor reviews a few years ago. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere & Related: Take a look inside Daft Punk’s pyramid, learn how to make your own customized LED robot helmet, and behold the ecstatic comments thread on Brooklyn Vegan.

The Rapture @ Keyspan Park 8/9/2007
Down For So Long / Get Myself Into It / Sister Savior / The Devil / Pieces of the People We Love / Whoo! Alright – Yeah…Uh Huh / House of Jealous Lovers / Don Gon Do It / First Gear (aborted midway after keyboard failure) / Olio

The Rapture “First Gear” – I’d been really hoping to see the Rapture do “First Gear,” and until some damnable keyboard gave out in the second minute, my wish had been granted. On an album of instantly ingratiating songs, “First Gear” is a slow burner, the one that pulls you deeper and deeper if you just let go. (Weirdly, even though I’ve heard the song a few dozen times now, I always seem to expect Matty to start singing the chorus of “Warning Siren” when he shifts into the “can I ask you a question?” section.)

The Rapture were fantastic — they always are — but their songs work better in smaller places, and situations in which everyone there is there to see them. As it was, there were plenty of folks on the floor flipping out to their songs, along with pockets of people who were just waiting around for the robots. Fair enough, fun enough, but it wasn’t anything near as intense as their show at Webster Hall last year. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Tricky “Ponderosa” – Though it’s not exactly rare for couples to collaborate on music together, nearly all of the tracks produced by Tricky featuring Martina Topley-Bird on vocals foreground what would normally be subtext to the point that the sexual tension present in their work seems overwhelming and contagious. Some of this is due to the contrasting character of their voices — Tricky has a thick, creepy rasp that implies a seductive sort of alien otherness, and Martina is elegant, coy, and slightly demure in a way that suggests that she’s an innocent young girl who is slowly being corrupted by his unapologetic decadence. Though Tricky has worked with other female vocalists with a similar vocal range and timbre, none of them can come close to replicating their unique chemistry, or mimicking the subtleties of her phrasing. For example, there’s a dark, flirtatious wit in her performance on “Ponderosa” that twists a song that might otherwise be taken a self-pitying lament about one’s vices into something that underlines the pleasures of self-medication and self-destruction. Her presence on the track opens up the song’s interior monologue just enough to make it a shared experience, shifting its “I” to an exclusive “we” cut off from the outside world.

“Ponderosa” is a perfect early example of one of Tricky’s most common approaches to presenting vocals: As Martina sings a fairly conventional lead part, he shadows and/or anticipates her words with scratchy, rhythmic whispers. There’s a few different ways to interpret this style, and they aren’t the least bit mutually exclusive:

1) He’s placing a spotlight on his role as a svengali type who is putting his words into the mouth of his beautiful, young female protege. In calling attention to this, he is highlighting a sort of artifice or vocal inadequacy that can be perceived as a flaw while also arrogantly making sure that the listener is aware of his authorship.

2) He’s creating a dynamic between the male and female voices that lends a richer subtext to the work. Her vocal part can be understood as an act of submission to his will, but the result is invariably a track in which the female voice sounds confident and fully expressive, and the male voice seems sickly and weak. Tricky plays up his masculinity, but he almost always seems repulsed by it on some level, and so puts himself in the context of a gorgeous female voice in order to both highlight his flaws, and compensate for them. The women in his songs are placed on a pedestal — even when he’s cursing them out, his self-loathing trumps his persecution complex.

3) He’s splitting the song into two interlocking perspectives. Both of the characters are thinking the same thing, and on some level, one is most certainly parroting the other but is either unaware, or simply unsure where they end and the other person begins. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Tricky “Vent” – On Maxinquaye, “Suffocated Love” was a metaphor, but the opening track of Pre-Millenium Tension takes that phrase very, very literally with its lyrics about a woman who hides her lover’s asthma medication as a sadistic ploy to gain the upper hand in their relationship and/or profit from his demise. The song is sung from both perspectives, so the track alternates between Tricky’s paranoid delusion and Martina’s bitter revenge fantasy. The track is dense and claustrophobic, with its smothering beats implying the couple’s stifling proximity to one another, and its anguished, heavily distorted guitar noise standing in for Tricky’s muted screams. It’s worth noting that the song inverts the usual Tricky formula, and Martina speaks her words just before singing them, as though to clarify that she’s taking full credit for her actions. The result is very chilling, but also sexy in a very intense and unnerving sort of way. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Michael Dracula, Tiny Vipers, and Edie Sedgwick.

Also: There’s a wonderful video feature about the Fiery Furnaces on NewMusicBox that places the band in the context of “new music” as opposed to indie rock.

Midnight Juggernauts “Shadows” – “Shadows” might be a song about something. There’s words, and there is singing, but it’s all secondary to the simple snap of the beat, the relaxed bounce of the bass line, and these breezy, colorful synth parts that just sort of float through you. The song makes you passive, but it’s not the sort of tune that picks you up and throws you around. You just go with it, and it takes you someplace nice where it’s hot enough to be acutely aware of your body, but cool enough to chill you out. (Click here to buy it via Midnight Juggernauts’ MySpace page.)

Liars “Freak Out” – I’ve had a lot to freak out about recently, but it’s…okay. It’s okay, I guess. And that’s what this song feels like — oppressive heat and humidity melting worries into little ice cream puddles, nervousness mutating into boneheaded confidence because you’re too lazy to be self-aware, and the sort of dumb luck that only comes when you are not trying, at all. (I wonder if the Liars only gave themselves permission to write this sort of perfect zoned-out surf rock song because The OC is off the air now. I’m kinda serious.) (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: While the Nouvelle Vague chanteuses crooned in the background, I suffered through a clumsy fondling session that wouldn’t have been even note-worthy in the tenth grade. Except for the part where he looked at me lustily and said “you know… I have Jake Shears’ number in my phone.”