Fluxblog
August 11th, 2006 3:44pm

Om Immersed


Sonic Youth “Jams Run Free” (Live in Washington DC, June 15 2006) – For the first two months that I knew this song, I couldn’t quite figure out exactly why its chorus hit me so hard, especially when Kim Gordon sings the words “I hope it’s not too late for me” over Steve Shelley’s signature gallop and this gorgeous lead guitar figure that sounds like a more wistful version of the theme from “Bull In The Heather.” Shortly after the record was formally released, I stumbled into this post on fansofsoft which speculated that the lyrics of the chorus refer to a rare optical phenomenon known as the “green ray.” Basically, if you have a perfect, unobstructed view of the horizon, most likely on the ocean under perfect weather conditions, you can observe a brief flash of green light on the edge of the horizon moments before the sun rises or sets.

Here are the full lyrics to the chorus:

I love the way you move
I hope it’s not too late for me
it’s too good on the sea
where the light is green
the light is green

The “green ray” thing cracks the song open for me, particularly in light of some of the cryptic throwaway lines in the verses. As I see it now, the song is essentially about being aware of all the incredible, beautiful things in the world, and being forced to recognize that you can’t possibly experience them all, even if you are a person of incredible means. Emotionally, the song is riding a thin line separating self-pitying melancholy and peaceful acceptance of the way things are, ultimately striking a balance where the feelings of regret are not diminished and brushed aside, or allowed to consume the singer. It’s one of the most mature songs you could ever hope to hear about thwarted desires, and I desperately hope that they play the song tonight when I see them. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Elsewhere: Carrie Brownstein + Fred Armisen = SO CLASSIC. The best part is when he does the PSAs at the end.



August 10th, 2006 1:47pm

We’re Not Out Of Ammo Yet


My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: Matthew Friedberger, Ratatat, and a selection from Rio Baile Funk: More Favela Booty Beats. Also, my review of Talladega Nights is up on The Movie Binge, though that site seems to be down as of this writing.

Be Your Own Pet “October, First Account” – For better or worse, most of Be Your Own Pet’s first proper album sounds like the work of excited teenagers, which is exactly what they are. Fair enough. A lot of the more wild tracks are fun and above average, but they really shine on this raggedy alt-rock/punk semi-ballad, which hints at the fantastic band that Be Your Own Pet has the potential to become. Better yet, it presents almost all of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs best moves without any of that band’s extremely obnoxious tics, basically making Karen O & Co. look like the Chump Chump Chumps without even trying that hard. Let’s just hope and pray that BYOP singer Jemina Pearl doesn’t end up like Karen O, who came off like a severely retarded PJ Harvey in a hideous superhero costume on Conan the other night, and has basically made me dread seeing her band on tomorrow night’s bill with Sonic Youth. (Click here to buy it very cheap from Insound.)

The Loud Family “Total Mass Destruction” – It’s been nearly seven years since Scott Miller recorded a new album of songs, and so What If It Works? arrives with a odd mixture of anticipation and diminished expectations, given that he’s been out of practice for ages and there were only two very good songs on 2000’s Attractive Nuisance. Sadly, I’m probably one of 400 people in the world that actually cares about Miller, which is unfortunate, since he’s written an impressive number of clever, catchy postmodern rock songs in the 80s with Game Theory and with The Loud Family in the 90s. He’s been in semi-retirement since the beginning of this decade at least in part due to the increasing indifference of the indie marketplace and a desire to focus on his dayjob and family. Easily the least cohesive album in the Loud Family discography, What If It Works? is a piecemeal collection of covers, mediocre songs written and sung by Hyde from That 70s Show Anton Barbeau (the album is actually credited to The Loud Family & Anton Barbeau), and an EP’s worth of Miller originals. “Total Mass Destruction” is the album’s best cut, though the fact that it’s not actually a very new song makes me slightly nervous. Still, it’s an amiable, catchy tune that articulates Miller’s difficulties in rationalizing putting in the effort of making a new album when few people even care about the existing records. (Click here to buy it from 125 Records.)



August 8th, 2006 3:23pm

Never Felt So Good Sleepy Smiling


The Similou “All This Love (Original Mix)” – When I hear songs like this, that make the singer’s life sound like some kind of nonstop carefree joyride, I wonder if they are writing fiction/fantasy, or if these people actually do have astonishingly great lives. I suppose that if you’re going to write something that sounds as incredibly happy as this track, you’d want to match the lyrics to it, but still. I like the song, but if this is in any way non-fiction, I kinda resent them! (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Clark “Vengeance Drools” – This track reminds me so much of Sonic Ciccone Youth’s “MacBeth,” both in terms of the creepy, dense sound of the recording, but also in how it implies horror in this sideways, knowing sort of way. David Markey’s video for “MacBeth” is among my favorite clips of all time, mainly for the way that he makes a virtue of his total lack of budget and has the tossed-off lo-fi footage work to his advantage by seeming somehow far more scary and weird than something with high production values, if just because it looks like it was made by someone who might actually be insane. (Click here to buy it from Warp.)



August 7th, 2006 1:11pm

I Like You Better When You’re Possessed By The Devil


Electric Six “Infected Girls” – It’s really no wonder that the Electric Six’s records are packed top to bottom with ridiculous, over the top lyrics. Dick Valentine’s voice is so confident and authoritative that he can get away with singing most anything, be it an excited invitation to a gay bar in a surf rock tune, a Backstreet Boys lyric presented as a solemn remembrence in a modern rock ballad, or highly detailed instructions on how to order drugs by sending a S.A.S.E. to the band’s P.O. box in a rollicking glam number. The great thing about the Electric Six is that the tunes are as good as the jokes, and the jokes nearly always contain some kind of interesting, thoughtful subtext, usually involving a self-reflexive critique of male sexuality. “Infected Girls” is a dark twist on Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls,” celebrating ladies with vd with a bumper-sticker ready slogan in the chorus, while also presenting a vague feeling of dread in its Robert Palmer-ish groove. Everything about the song signals the character’s conflicted feelings about the “infected girls,” vacillating back and forth between disrespect and admiration, and desire and fear. (Click here to buy it from Metropolis Records.)



August 4th, 2006 2:57pm

It’s Hard To Tell The Parents Apart From The Children


My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: The Big Sleep, Justice, and Page France.

The Rogers Sisters “Money Matters” – The Rogers Sisters are a brave band, willfully jumping into the fire by opening up for Sleater-Kinney on their final tour, playing to audiences who are practically melting in overheated rooms while anxiously waiting for the headliner, and no matter how well they play, their set is a distant memory by the time S-K finishes their encore. They definitely put on a strong show in NYC, or at least played well enough for me to reconsider The Invisible Deck yesterday. I’m sort of baffled as to why I originally took a pass on that album; at least half of the songs are exactly the sort of 90s-style indie rock that I normally go for — strong hooks and harmonies, punky spirit, guitar noise that errs on the side of impressionism, singing that falls somewhere between Kristen Hersh and Kathleen Hanna on the indie girl vocal spectrum. It’s true that I’d definitely prefer the band if the guy never sang at all, but he’s not that bad, and Jennifer Rogers is especially great, both as a guitarist and as a vocalist. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Space Cowboy “That’s What Dreams Are Made Of (MTV) (Alan Braxe remix)” – Extended to nearly 400% of its original length by Alan Braxe to the point that it actually better resembles Space Cowboy’s previous singles, this mix drifts along in a blissful haze for several minutes before getting to its first verse. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of an aspiring pop singer, and addressed to an older pop star that inspired them when they were watching MTV back in 1993. It’s almost too sweet and naive, but it’s so incredibly true in how the sentiment is verbalized. There’s this weird mixture of awe and ego and ambition and vulnerability, and the song gets totally lost in those emotions. It’s as though they made a song out of some stray soundbite from American Idol, but weren’t trying to make fun of the earnest contestants. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Elsewhere: NPR’s All Songs Considered has the entire Sleater-Kinney show from last night in Washington, DC as one big downloadable mp3 on their site. It’s a good show, but nothing on the previous night in terms of energy and song selection. But hey, “Burn, Don’t Freeze!,” “Buy Her Candy,” and “Little Babies” were played, so that’s pretty cool.



August 3rd, 2006 6:17am

Hush Hush And Rock


Sleater-Kinney @ Webster Hall 8/2/2006
Start Together / The Fox / The Drama You’ve Been Craving / Wilderness / Jumpers / Light Rail Coyote / Night Light / Ironclad / Rollercoaster / Hot Rock / What’s Mine Is Yours / Youth Decay / Modern Girl / Let’s Call It Love / Entertain / Sympathy / Dig Me Out // Ballad of a Ladyman / Oh! / Call The Doctor / Get Up / Words + Guitar /// Turn It On / One More Hour

Okay, no fucking around. Just look over that setlist a few times. Count your lucky stars that this show was filmed for a forthcoming dvd, because this was probably one of the best Sleater-Kinney shows ever. And really, maybe one of the best rock shows of all time. There’s no doubt in my mind that this was one of the four or five best concerts that I’ve ever attended.

That said, let’s move on.

Before getting into Webster Hall, I was chatting with a girl on line outside who was seeing them for the very first time. She had wanted to go to the Roseland show last June, but it happened to fall on the day of her high school graduation. Though I’m sure she would have loved it, I think she sorta lucked out because that show was really not that hot, and this was pretty much the best possible S-K set that you could hope for if you’re only ever going to see them once, assuming that you’re fine with only one song from Call The Doctor.

This girl was exactly the right person for me to speak with before this show. She had the sort of intense enthusiasm that comes from wide-eyed teenage fandom, which is exactly where I started out with this band back when I was a senior in high school. I’m not a big fan of “full circle” as a narrative device (seriously, Joss Whedon, you’ve got to stop with it), but it was ideal for this occasion. Thinking back on my review of that Roseland show, I was just so bitchy and annoyed, and though a lot of my criticisms at that point were valid and sincere, I think it was mostly me grappling with the band drifting away from what I wanted them to be/become. Now that I accept The Woods as the end point of their career (at least for now; they’ve never said anything about breaking up) I enjoy it so much more as a whole LP. Even “Let’s Call It Love,” which was tedious when I saw them last summer, was mindblowing tonight. Maybe the Roseland show was uninspired; maybe I was being a dick. It doesn’t really matter now.

Sleater-Kinney “Hot Rock” – When I saw that they played this song in Philadelphia over the weekend, I was overcome with this odd mixture of joy that I might see them play one of my all-time favorites again for the first time in years, and dread, because the song is tied to extremely painful memories, and I wasn’t sure how I’d react to it. I mean, as much as I totally adore this song, I normally avoid it because the “it’s not real / you don’t need to tell me that it’s not real” part on the bridge hits me like a truck (a truck of…emotion? with wheels made of…memories?) just about every time that I hear it. One of the most visceral moments of any show that I’ve ever seen came when they did this part at the only other time I’ve seen it before tonight, back in 1999. But somehow, tonight, it was like a bloodletting. It was empowering and therapeutic. Not to get back to the full circle thing, but it felt like closure. There’s another song on The Hot Rock (which is my favorite S-K album; it would be an understatement to say that I was overjoyed when they did “Get Up” towards the end of this show) that starts with the line “don’t talk like you’re 19, you’re 35 if you’re a day,” and though I’m actually going to be 27 on Saturday, it’s still a good thing to fully let go of all that bad late-teenage emotion.

I’m not old at all, but I think this show does mark a clean ending to my weird, weird youth. I started on this band when I was about to turn 17! They aren’t just tied to angst, their songs are connected to so much of my life, good and bad, from the past decade that I can barely get into it; it’s just too personal. (To steal a line from Whit Stillman: I never confide anything in you, and so I guess you’re forced to extrapolate.) I’m sure a lot of you can say a lot of the same things about them, and might even end up missing them more than I will. But I’m grateful, and I don’t plan on ever not listening to their music, and I had so much fun tonight that I’m still awed two and a half hours after the show ended. Thank you, Sleater-Kinney. Have a nice time being moms, students, solo artists, studio musicians, senators, astronauts, scientists, or whatever it is you all plan on doing for the forseeable future.

(Click here to buy The Hot Rock and a whole bunch of other Sleater-Kinney albums and merchandise from Buy Olympia.)

Elsewhere: Brooklyn Vegan has some great photos from the show. He must have put them up like ten minutes after it ended or something! That guy is incredible.



August 2nd, 2006 2:05pm

A Series Of Futures


The Dirty Projectors “Fucked For Life” – The new Dirty Projectors EP lacks the warped high concept of The Getty Address, but refines the sound of that record, resulting in a set of bizarre, off-center stunners that do not fit comfortably in any pre-existing genres. Dave Longstreth’s voice recalls Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside’s timbre and specific type of soul affectations, but there’s something a little off about his phrasing and melodies, which extends to the rest of the arrangement. “Fucked For Life” is essentially all about the bass, which bumps along throughout the track, serving as the focal point which all the other elements orbit. The track grooves, but it’s not exactly a groover; it’s catchy, but is only pop by the loosest definition; it’s jazzy, but it is only informed by jazz. If rock implies something solid, this music is a vapor. (Click here for the Marriage Records’ Dirty Projectors site.)

Guther “Many Frames Per Moment” – Video treatment: Julia Guther is walking around ar large airport terminal looking zoned out and moving passively through a place filled with people moving briskly and appearing busy and rushed. For most of the clip, she should appear to be passively moving along with the tide, at other times washing out to quieter hallways and corridors where she appears even more directionless. We see her pace around inside of shops, barely even looking at things, and getting some food that she barely eats. At the instrumental break, she picks up her pace and appears more deliberate in her movements. As the song reaches it climax, she walks out of the structure into the morning sun, and onto a bus that disappears into the glare of light. (Click here to pre-order it from Boomkat.)

Elsewhere: My review of Scoop is up on The Movie Binge.



August 1st, 2006 2:50pm

Crowded Five To An Apartment


Jeffrey & Jack Lewis “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror” – If you’ve ever been on the L train, or walked around Williamsburg and its vicinity, you can see a lot of people who clearly have some variation of this song’s lyrics running through their mind. It starts out as self-deprecation and a mixture of pride and revulsion for the lifestyle that they’ve attained. The next step is getting sucked into an undertow of fear and doubt about the inherent lack of pragmatism in pursuing the arts as a career, and then the art itself is torn apart after the ego has been fully eviscerated. Then, at the lowest low in this moment between subway stops, there’s a crazy nightmare scenerio played out in the imagination. In the case of this song, it involves Will Oldham mercilessly attacking the singer of this song on an abandoned subway platform. There’s a moment of realization at the conclusion, and that’s about the time when the person gets off the train, goes about their day, and maybe cycles through another permutation of this set of thoughts five more times before getting to bed at night with their cute boyfriend or girlfriend, who is covered in bad tattoos, has a questionable haircut, and has also thought the same thing through a half dozen times over in the previous 24 hours. (Click here for the Jeffrey Lewis site.)



July 31st, 2006 2:38pm

Good Weekend: Pitchfork Music Festival ’06!


Once again, the good folks at Pitchfork were successful in putting on what has got to be the most intelligently run music festival in the United States. Here’s a rundown of what I saw over the weekend.

Edit: I recommend reading Marathon Packs’ posts about the festival. Eric put a lot of time and thought into his posts, unlike me — I dashed this post out as quickly as I possibly could at an internet cafe in Wicker Park, and left out quite a bit of what I wanted to say.

The Mountain Goats – John Darnielle came off well, but I’m not sure if this was the right setting for his songs, which gain a lot from intimate venues which are more conducive to hearing his lyrics. I know that acoustic guitar is Darnielle’s thing, but my mild allergy to the instrument when it is strummed keeps me from really bonding with his music, aside from “Dance Music,” which he played and I love without reservations.

Destroyer
Crystal Country / European Oils / Your Blood / Painter In Your Pocket / Modern Painters / It’s Gonna Take An Airplane / Rubies / Looters’ Follies

Destroyer “Looters’ Follies” – Destroyer’s set was an early peak for my experience at the festival. Though I would have most enjoyed a set of nothing but songs from Destroyer’s Rubies, Dan Bejar at least treated us to the entire first side of that record, along with a few solid oldies. I was especially excited for “Painter In Your Pocket” and “Looters’ Follies,” which were both gorgeous and rate as two of the four of five most memorable performances of my weekend. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Art Brut – I might be wrong, but I don’t think anyone on either day had as much of the audience as completely psyched as Art Brut, who tore through pretty much all of their first album as well as a handful of new songs, some of them apparently only half-finished. I wish that some people weren’t so hung up on the humorous, novelty elements of the band and would just embrace them as one of the most fun and consistently catchy punk bands in the world today. And seriously, if you can’t immediately tap into the raw, specific emotions of “Rusted Gun of Milan,” “Emily Kane,” and “Good Weekend,” then perhaps we should just consider that you may be an unfeeling turbodouche.

Ted Leo/Pharmacists – I missed the first half of this set, but arrived just in time for a really, really good new song with a rocksteady sort of sound to it, and a fantastic performance of my favorite Ted Leo song, “The Ballad of the Sin Eater,” that closed out the set. People were totally flipping out for Ted, as well they should.

The Walkmen – The new songs were a droney, non-melodic bust, but at least they played a bunch of solid oldies — “Stop Talking,” “The Rat,” “Wake Up,” “We’ve Been Had,” “Little House of Savages.” Those were great. Hugh McIntosh from the Childballads filled in on drums, which was…well, worthy of some extrapolation, I suppose.

The Futureheads
Decent Days and Nights / Area / Cope / Meantime / Back to the Sea / A to B / Favours For Favours / Return of the Beserker / Skip to the End / He Knows / Hounds of Love / Carnival Kids / Man Ray

They were alright. I’m just not that into them aside from “Decent Days and Nights” and “Skip to the End,” which were both great. I was impressed by the group’s harmonies, which were as crisp and clean as on the studio recordings.

Silver Jews – Not good at all. I’m fairly certain that every song was in the same key, which only made the sameness of the material that much more dull. Much of the set sounded like they were headlining the Pitchfork County Fair.

Bonde do Rolê

Bonde do Rolê “Ma´quina de Ricota” – I enjoyed them a bit more than I did at the Warsaw, though I had trouble seeing them from where I was in the tent. The sound was much better for this show, allowing their weird sort of Baille punk to have a greater visceral punch. Unfortunately Marina took a bad fall after crowd surfing in the penultimate song, and had to be sent to the hospital. The girls from CSS filled in on the final song, and it was great, though, you know, it would have been a lot better if Marina wasn’t injured. (Click here for the Bonde do Rolê MySpace page.)

CSS
CSS Suxxx / Patins / Alala / Fuckoff Is Not The Only Thing – Work It / Meeting Paris Hilton / This Month, Day 10 / Alcohol / Off The Hook / Art Bitch / Music Is My Hot Hot Sex / Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above

I’ve written so much about CSS lately, so I’m just going to leave it at this: CSS was rad, and they totally got the audience that they deserved.

Cage – I wasn’t very familiar with Cage before this set, but he was very convincing live, in spite of, or maybe because of, his odd mix of emo and Def Jux-style rap. Not bad.

Aesop Rock & Mr. Lif – I lost interest in this about halfway through, but it’s more of a comment on the overbearing heat and my desire to hang out for a bit than anything to do with the quality of their performance, which was pretty tight and entertaining.

Mission of Burma – They lost me on a few songs, but this was mostly quite good, and well worth standing around in intense sunlight for, especially on the old punk anthems. It was a thrill to look around and see all the fists banging to “Academy Fight Song” and “Photograph,” and I really enjoyed seeing them play “1001 Pleasant Dreams” from the new album.

Yo La Tengo
Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind /
I Should Have Known Better / Mr. Tough / The Weakest Part / Watch Out For Me, Ronnie / Beanbag Chair / I Feel Like Going Home / The Story of Yo La Tango

If they ever release a cd of this set, it should be titled Yo La Tengo Is Murdering Your Attention Span. They played no hits whatsoever, and focused almost excusively on the long, droning songs from the forthcoming record. I’ve got nothing against those songs, per se, but it was just the wrong thing to play at this festival, where people had been baking in the sun for hours and maybe were up for something a little less boring. “Mr. Tough” sounded wonderful, though. Pretty much everything else that they played was very unengaging. Would it have killed them to throw in a few hits?

Spoon
Don’t Make Me A Target / The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine / Stay Don’t Go / Jonothon Fisk / The Beast and Dragon, Adored / I Turn My Camera On / Someone Something / Paper Tiger / Rhthm and Soul / They Never Got You / I Summon You / My Mathematical Mind

Spoon never disappoints me. After that passive-aggressive performance from Yo La Tengo, it was good to see the most pop

ular band at the festival bring their A game. Spoon are nothing if not a tight band, but they did seem a bit out of practice, or at least Britt did, as he botched a few lyrics here and there. The two new songs were promising, but the big thrills came from the familiar classics. “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” never seemed as anthemic as it did last night, and “I Summon You” revealed itself to be a major hit with the audience.

Os Mutantes – I really wish that Os Mutantes had gone on before Spoon, because as good as they were, I was pretty much done after Spoon’s set ended, and I suspect that was also the case for a lot of the audience. Never the less, they were a fine come down after a rather intense weekend, and concluded the festival on a rather spirited note.



July 27th, 2006 10:14am

I Never Lose Myself


My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: Camera Obscura, Erase Errata, and SCSI-9 from the new Kompakt Total compilation.

Tigarah “Girl Fight” – Tigarah is like some kind of over-the-top, fully formed high concept wet dream for lifestyle magazines, the kind of thing you might make up if you were coming up with something to parody the taste and style of, say, The Fader. She’s cute and Japanese! And she makes ersatz Baille funk! It basically comes out sounding like M.I.A. with a Japanese accent — there’s less menace in her voice, but the force of the tracks compensates a bit, and “Girl Fight” in particular sounds totally fierce, even when it’s drifting off on a floaty acoustic tangent. (Click here for the Tigarah official site.)



July 26th, 2006 12:41pm

Yr Girlfriend Do What Yr Boyfriend Can’t


Excerpt from Cut Copy Fabric Live 29: New Young Pony Club “Get Dancey” / In Flagranti “Bang Bang” – DJ mix cds err heavily on the side of tedium, with many of them degenerating into a beatmatched zombie lockstep that may work on a dancefloor but is not much fun at all when played on a home stereo. Cut Copy’s entry in the famed Fabric series is several steps above the competition, presenting a top notch electropop party that glides from hook to hook and emphasizes melody, humanity, and fun as well as beats and continuous flow. (Click here to pre-order it from Fabric.)

Thom Yorke “The Clock (Live on KCRW)” – On The Eraser, “The Clock” seems to recede into the background a bit, lost in a haze of electronic textures too similar to its neighboring tracks. On an album of songs that reveal themselves slowly, I find it to be the most stubborn and dense. This live acoustic version (that many of you have no doubt already heard if you happen to look at the ads on Stereogum and Pitchfork) cracks the song open, boiling the studio recording’s tangle of sounds down to a mesmerizing guitar rhythm and Yorke’s plaintive voice. The result is a track that sounds more anxious than anything Yorke has previously recorded, which is obviously quite an accomplishment given his discography. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)



July 25th, 2006 2:28pm

Fashioned Out Of Corn Husks


Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster “Montgomery Davies”Inspired by a recent and totally bizarre news item, Scharpling and Wurster break some new ground in their act by embracing FCC rules keeping them from making specific references to sexual perversity. As the skit moves along, the description of the “devices” becomes more ridiculous, but the implied usage of the machines is totally vague, leading the listener to extrapolate hilarious images from the clues presented by Wurster’s character. It’s one of the more subtle Best Show skits, not unlike the classic “Radio Hut” bit on Chain Fights, Beer Busts, and Service With A Grin cd compilation. (Click here for the official Best Show website.)

Hello Stranger “We Used To Talk” – It’s just a bit over two minutes long, but “We Used To Talk” is sentimental and heartbreaking enough that it’s sort of difficult for me to get through on some listens. Set to a plaintive, pretty melody and a gentle arrangement, Juliette Monique Commagere laments an extraordinarily close relationship that has become estranged. The reasons for the apparent dissolution of their bond is not explained, but the tone seems forgiving enough that you can tell she’s wondering why she or the other person can’t just find the strength or time to call the other and talk. (Click here to buy it from the Hello Stranger website.)

Elsewhere: My review of The Lady In The Water is up on The Movie Binge.



July 24th, 2006 1:07pm

With You Everything Feels Ecstatic


Nump featuring M.I.A. “I Got Grapes (Remix)” – Aside from the extremely high quality of its hooks and beats, the most compelling thing about Arular was the very sound of M.I.A.’s voice. Everyone who ever compared her to Johnny Rotten was completely right on; she has the same sort of imperious tone, evil wit, and nihilistic glee. The latter most often manifests itself in apparently value-neutral references to terrorism, which in in this remix comes in the form of name dropping Osama bin Laden as she hijacks the first minute and a half of Nump’s track. Her style is so overpowering that by the time she’s gone, it sounds like the DJ has mixed into another song completely though the beat remains exactly the same. Don’t tune out when she leaves — the Nump single is strong enough to merit your attention with or without her. (Click here to buy it from DJ Shadow Merchandise.)

Revl9n “The Box” – Long term readers may remember Revl9n’s “Walking Machine,” one of the leftfield highlights of this blog circa 2004. At long last, Revl9n have a full length record featuring the track, and though to be honest it’s not all up to the high standard of “Walking Machine,” the group turn out some impressive tracks when they are aiming less for fashion mag sleaze and more for angst-ridden existential synthpop. “The Box” is overflowing with neuroses and emotional distress, with a track that sounds jumpy and anxious except for in the brief moments when it finds some peace of mind in a high pitched-keyboard break that sounds like something out of a mid-80s Madonna knockoff. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: It’s a little late, but my review of You, Me, and Dupree is up on The Movie Binge. Coming tomorrow: My review of The Lady in the Water, which is easily one of the worst films that I’ve seen in a good long time.



July 21st, 2006 3:12pm

You’re So Talented, I’m In Love!


CSS @ The Warsaw, 7/20/2006
CSS Suxxx! / Patins / Alala / Fuckoff Is Not The Only Thing You Have To Show –> Work It (Missy Elliott) / Meeting Paris Hilton / This Month, Day 10 / Alcohol / Off The Hook / Art Bitch / Music Is My Hot Hot Sex / Let’s Make Love and Listen To Death From Above / quick punky song I did not know

CSS “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” – Though their LP has a certain shine and polish, CSS are essentially a punk band live. They aren’t exactly a tight band, but they pull it off, indicating disco textures when they need to, but mainly sticking to simple, primal rock and roll. As on the records, singer Lovefoxxx is the star of the show. She’s ridiculously cute and effortlessly charismatic, and has the demeanor of a giddy teenage girl who is deeply thrilled by every moment of your attention. She spent most of the show either jumping into the audience or fiddling with her outfit — removing layers, pulling her top over her head to simulate a hood, tugging and stretching the fabric, pushing layers aside to reveal what’s underneath. She’s not long on dance moves, but she’s incredibly physical and was not still for more than five seconds for the entire duration of the set, or immediately afterwards at the merch table.

One of the things that really grates on me about a lot of the bad or middling reviews that I’ve been seeing for CSS’ album is how people are routinely dismissing them as being shallow hipsters, and it seems rather like how pretty, confident fashionable cool girls are routinely hated on by jealous women and misogynistic dudes. But it just drives me nuts because out of the HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of records that I’ve heard this year, Cansei de ser Sexy is one of the few that positively overflows with sincere emotion, goodwill, and critical thought. They make references to pop, junk culture, the internet, bands, and people take that as being stupid and trendy, but they are projecting, because it’s really just them setting up a context firmly rooted in the present tense. As I see it, “Meeting Paris Hilton” isn’t about loving or hating Paris Hilton but rather what it’s like to come face to face with ultimate vapidity and privilege and trying to interact on its terms rather than attack it out of spite and arrogance. I love Tom Breihan’s writing, I really do, I seriously think that he’s one of the very best music critics in the world right now, but I don’t think he’s ever written anything so ridiculously off the mark as when he suggested that “Art Bitch” is some kind of Yeah Yeah Yeahs rip when the thing is, the members of that band are exactly the sort of people being satirized in that song. “Art Bitch” is a pretty right on slam of a very specific sort of artist that’s been popping up all over in this decade in galleries, at art schools, and on the interet. Have you ever seen Nick Zinner’s photo book? HE’S A FUCKING ART BITCH.

The most exciting songs for me are the ones that cut to the core of crushes and raw enthusiasm. “Patins” and “Let’s Make Love…” are floods of lust and confusion and fear and joy. I especially love the tossed off lines in “Let’s Make Love…”: “You’re so talented, I’m in love!” “You come to show me your mad love!” “Come and erase me take me with you!” and especially “You knew my ideas when they were still in my head!” Lovefoxxx has a real gift for expressing desire in complicated, nearly profound ways while also being funny and conversational. “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” may be silly, but that’s exactly as it should be. Music is amazing, and beautiful, and for some people (people like me), incredibly incredibly important, but most often when you try to express that you end up sounding like some obnoxious Nick Hornby/Rick Moody jackass. Lovefoxxx and her crew found another way, and it’s totally right on. (Click here to buy it from Sub Pop.)

Bonde do Rolê “Solta O Frango” – If I had my way, I’d be posting the first song in Bonde do Rolê’s set – a BAILLE FUNK VERSION OF “THE FINAL COUNTDOWN”!!! I desperately want to get a copy of it so that I can play it at every goddamn DJ thing I ever do for the rest of my natural life. It’s a song that combines my love of Brazillian dance music and G.O.B. Bluth! It’s like a gift from above, I swear. But this song is also quite good, as was their live set, though I could’ve done without the skinny guy scolding the audience for not flipping out for everything they were doing, though it was surprising that a bill made up entirely of dance-centric acts (Diplo was the headliner, but don’t ask how he was, I left after CSS cos it was late) didn’t get a little more into them. Maybe they were saving their energy for later, though it’s more likely that people just were not drinking enough to get loose. Possible third option/factor: these people, especially the girl, were so incredibly sexual and uninhibited on stage that it made most of the people in the room feel intimidated and inadequate. Very likely! (Click here for the Bonde do Rolê MySpace page.)



July 20th, 2006 1:29pm

You Left The Window Open


My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, Shapes and Sizes, and a new song from James Rabbit. Speaking of whom…

James Rabbit “Birds Rush In” – It hasn’t even been close to a year since the previous James Rabbit record, and the new one, Cavalier, sounds like this huge leap forward. All the charm of their previous gems carry over to the new tunes, but there’s a greater sophistication in the harmonies and arrangements. Strings suit Tyler Martin well, as do strange extended metaphors about weather conditions. “Birds Rush In” sounds like an underground hit to me, definitely well ahead of the unfocused banality of some of the more popular purveyors of strummy blandness on the indie circuit at the moment. Nothing’s boring about these birds rushing in!(Click here to get a free copy of the album from the band.)

J.R. Writer “Zoolander” – I owe this guy something or other for turning me on to Writer, who may not be a tremendously consistent rapper, but can turn in some brilliant work when inspiration strikes. This isn’t quite on the level of my favorite, “Jamaican Diplomacracy,” but Writer’s tendency for composing rhymes thick with alliteration and assonance for percussive effect is on full display in this track, which surprisingly lacks any direct shout outs to Owen Wilson or Ben Stiller. At this point, he may be latching on to it as a bit of a gimmick, but it works for him if just because it sounds like he takes such incredible pleasure in popping those repetitive consonants. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)



July 19th, 2006 6:20am

They Call Me The Head Honcho


My sets @ Beg Yr Pardon party at the The Delancey 7/18/2006

Set 1: Elastica “Generator” / CSS “Patins” / Futon “Gay Boy” / Dog Ruff “Jon E Storm” / Devo 2.0 “Big Mess” / Art Brut “Good Weekend” / Belle & Sebastian “White Collar Boy” / The Pipettes “Dirty Mind” / Hank Collective “Ferox” / Andrew WK “Party Hard” / Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone” / Maxi Geil & Playcolt “Makin’ Love In The Sunshine”

This set came immediately before The Song Corporation‘s show, and those last three were played all in a row at the end mainly because this guy happens to be a member of that band. Their set was great, evenly divided between some pretty sweet mellow jams (think late period Sonic Youth) sung by guitarist Kristie Redfield and some more upbeat numbers that Mr. Barthel sang. That last one about maps was especially great.

Set 2: Killer Mike & Big Boi “ADIDAS” / Jagged Edge “Stunnas” / Beyonce “Check On It” / M.I.A. “URAQT” / The Make Up “Pow! To The People” / Le Tigre “Deceptacon” / Robyn “Konichiwa Bitches”

This set was between the Song Corporation and Pink Noise performances. I regret leaving the room for the middle of Pink Noise’s set — they were pretty intense, and have a pretty great frontwoman. Medic Medic, who were on before the Song Corporation were also kinda rad and also had a compelling female vocalist. They had kind of a Huggybear thing going on.

Set 3: The Silures “21 Ghosts” / The Knife “We Share Our Mothers’ Health” / Basement Jaxx & Dizzee Rascal “Lucky Star” / Muscles “One Inch Badge Pin” / Vanneshina & Allesandra “Gira” / Christina Aguilera “Ain’t No Other Man” / Edu K “Baille Jean” / Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait” / Los Super Elegantes “Dance” / Erasure “Stop” / Annie “Chewing Gum” / Kylie Minogue “Love At First Sight” / Prince “Controversy” / The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love” / The Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” / The Rolling Stones “Let’s Spend The Night Together” / Britney Spears vs. Mike Jones and Paul Wall “Tippin’ Toxic” / Shawnna, Ludacris et al “Gettin’ Some (Remix)” / Joe Jackson “Steppin’ Out”

Shawnna featuring Ludacris, Too Short, Lil’ Wayne and Pharrell “Gettin’ Some (Remix)” – I had more of a plan for the main set, but it got thrown out when I was inundated with requests for songs that I did not have, and ended up shuffling everything around and playing a long string of crowd pleasers at the end. I had originally intended to play “Gettin’ Some” earlier, but managed to squeeze it in towards the end. It got a much better reaction than I had anticipated, but it’s a hard song to deny (Oh my God, that Ludacris verse at the end!!! Wow.), and at that point, I think the people dancing were just totally up for it. They were dancing up to the final notes of “Steppin’ Out,” a song that I had intended to be a floor-clearer that would send people on their way home. Now I know otherwise. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)



July 18th, 2006 2:18pm

We Spent All Our Summer Drinking Lemonade In Hammocks


Muscles “One Inch Badge Pin” – It can be so hard to form coherent thoughts with these sort of brain-hijacking dancefloor anthems since the best of them are designed to switch off your critical faculties. Muscles essentially sound like a butched up Australian version of the Pet Shop Boys, with sorta-macho vocals mingling with really really really fruity synth parts. The verses and instrumental hooks are great, but this song is really about the chorus, which demands a fist-pumping singalong like few other tracks to emerge this year. (Click here to buy it from the Muscles website.)

MSTRKRFT “She’s Good For Business” – This is actually the very first time I’ve ever posted anything by MSTRKRFT at all whatsoever, which is sort of strange maybe. “She’s Good For Business” has a very fun vocal hook and a strong groove, but it could do to have a bit more momentum and more of a climax. There’s a pretty fantastic additional keyboard part that comes in toward the end that kicks things up, but it just sorta peters out, which is sort of a let down. Still hot, though. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)



July 17th, 2006 3:42pm

A Glass Of Bubbly and Brand New Shoes


Basement Jaxx “Hush Boy” – I somehow get the impression that this won’t end up being my favorite song on the forthcoming Jaxx LP — I mean, come on, one of the song features Robyn! — but how do you deny this sort thing of thing? It’s exactly what you would expect of Basement Jaxx in terms of boldness, seamless genre blending, and intense exuberance, but also a bit fresh, offbeat, and ridiculous at the same time. There’s a delightful sense of cheesiness to this cut, but they pull it off, especially when they play off some mindnumbingly prosaic details (they looked up a Mexican restaurant on the internet, she enjoyed her chicken fajitas) with some wacky soap opera plot developments. (Click here for XL’s Basement Jaxx site.)

Hey “Cisza, Ja I Czas” – This is the beauty of file sharing, right here. This is exactly the sort of random music that you can find when you’re barely even looking, but it’s astonishing and exciting, and almost entirely unknown in your part of the world. Hey are a Polish rock band who’ve been going for well over a decade now and have apparently achieved some measure of success in eastern Europe and (I think) Australia, and sound a little like Royal Trux if all of their vocals were in Polish, and they were gunning for modern rock radio hits circa 1995. If you ever wished Neil Haggerty would’ve thrown in some la la la’s to balance out the gruffness of Jennifer Herrema’s voice, this might be the song for you. (Click here for Hey’s official site.)

A Sunny Day In Glasgow @ Cake Shop 7/16/2006
Laughter (Victims) / A Mundane Phonecall To Jack Parsons / Ghost in the Graveyard
/ The Horn Song / Fabulous Friend (Field Mice cover) / The Best Summer Ever

Last night’s A Sunny Day In Glasgow show went over much, much, much better than you would have expected given Ben Daniels’ warnings that I reprinted in the previous entry. Though the band most likely would have sounded better with live drums (this is something they hope to work out before they play their next show in August, so no worries there), they did a pretty great job of playing the songs and getting across their peculiar aesthetic in a live setting. Much in the way the recordings sound like fuzzy memories of old 80s indie records, the live performance sounded as though they were trying to replicate the sound of an audience tape of a My Bloody Valentine show from 18 years ago. It was strange and overwhelming, and not quite like any other band that I’ve ever seen live. As on the recordings, the lyrics were almost entirely unintelligable, but the timbre of the vocals and the melodies were clear and gorgeous. It barely mattered that the Daniels siblings did not appear particularly comfortable on stage — after all, who expects much of a stage show from what is essentially a shoegazer band? If anything, the band’s ordinary appearance and slightly awkward stage presence added to the show by contrasting with the somewhat alien sound of their music. If they themselves were as stylized as the music, it might not have worked as well. There’s certainly room for improvement, but as it stands, it was definitely the best abstract postmodern rock show that I’ve ever seen.



July 14th, 2006 1:40pm

Follow Down The Path Of Least Resistance


My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site. This week: David Bazan, Poni Hoax, and a song from Yo Gabba Gabba.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow “C’mon” – People in the NYC area hungry for a LCD Soundsystem “I was there!” moment ought to consider going to the world’s first A Sunny Day In Glasgow show this Sunday at Cakeshop. However, if you do go, please keep your expectations modest. Band leader Ben Daniels explains:

Now, you should know, there is no way this show will not be a total disaster for the following reasons:

– This show was kind of a last minute thing and there was no time to put together a “real” band. SO, my ipod will be playing drums. When I last saw the Flaming Lips play, they didn’t have a live drummer and it was awesome, but we don’t have their equipment.

– My sisters (who do the singing) have never ever performed in front of an audience before. They will also be playing bass parts on keyboards. To my knowledge, they’ve never sang and played an instrument simultaneously. Also, one of them has a knee injury and i’m not sure that she will be standing for the show.

– We’ve only had 2 practices and at yesterday’s practice my ipod crashed.

There is more, but I can’t go on. Bands should play shows, and really, no matter how bad this is we have no doubt history will be good to us and all that anyone will remember was that they saw the first Sunny Day in Glasgow show EVER!!! So, we’d love it if you would come out and say hi. I have no idea when this might happen again.

(Click here for the A Sunny Day In Glasgow MySpace page.)

My DJ sets @ Insound Pre-Siren Fest Party, Supreme Trading

Set 1: Erase Errata “Rider” / Clinic “The Second Line” / Elastica “Hold Me Now” / Can “I Want More” / Loose Joints “Tell You (Today)” / Girls Aloud “Biology” / Relaxed Muscle “Sexualized” / Missy Elliott “Can’t Stop”

Set 2: M.I.A. “Bingo” / Ce’cile “Hot Like We” / LCD Soundsystem “Give It Up” / The Rolling Stones “Let’s Spend The Night Together” / The Beatles “Drive My Car” / The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love” / Stevie Wonder “Sir Duke” / Jagged Edge “Stunnas” / Prince “Head”

Set 3: The Silures “21 Ghosts” / The Knife “We Share Our Mothers’ Health” / Edu K “Bundalele Baile Jean” / Lady Sovereign “Love Me Or Hate Me” / CSS “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” / Christina Milian “So Amazing” / Vanessinha & Alessandra “Gira” / Christina Aguilera “Ain’t No Other Man” / Spektrum “May Day” / Basement Jaxx & Dizzee Rascal “Lucky Star”

Elastica “Hold Me Now (BBC Session)” – I just sort of made it up as I went along this time, with mostly pleasant results. It was especially fun to drop in an Elastica song, which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but just never went through with it. I find it a little perverse that I chose to break out the big crowd pleasing hits when virtually no one was paying attention, but eh, whatever. It was nice to get away from a lot of songs that I play very frequently, anyway. If you haven’t heard “Stunnas” yet, you really really really should. I wrote that one up for MTV. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I only managed to catch the last 30 seconds of the Professor Murder set, so I have no opinion on that at all. The Big Sleep were heavier than I had been led to believe, and I was kinda into what I saw of their set, though they would be wise to draft some kind of charismatic singer into their band. I saw about 20 minutes of Oh No! Oh My! and they were okay too, but in more of a “local band” sort of way. They definitely have some spark of talent, but it’d be nice if they developed more of a unique voice before they get super hyped. I’m not sure if it’s the best thing for a young band to get popular entirely on the strength of sounding a little like a bunch of other bands who are moderately popular on the indie circuit. It is sort of weird to me that out of all the bands of the mid-to-late-90s, Modest Mouse ended up being the one every little indie band decided to emulate. If you told me that in 1998, I would’ve thought that you were insane.



July 13th, 2006 1:03pm

Blue For Red, A Boy For A Girl


Both of today’s selections are from the new PDX Pop Now 2006 compilation, which features tracks by somewhat famous residents of Portland, Oregon as well as numbers by artists who are virtually unknown within and without the area. Still the indie rock capital of the United States after all these years, Portland is a town capable of filling up a double disc compilation with local bands without allowing the quality level to dip below the “oh, it’s alright” level, and for the high points to be plentiful and surprisingly varied.

Treva Jackson “Drive” – No, not Trevor Jackson. “Drive” sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” turned inside-out and drained of its nostalgia so that its restlessness and longing is anchored in the present tense rather than some far-off adolescence. Jackson’s voice is remarkable on this track, communicating a sense of uncomfortable stillness and enormous emotions barely being held in check by a desperate attempt to come off as stoic and cool to the person being addressed in the lyrics. The mask slips a bit as the lines become more confessional, and she repeats, “I can’t take it, take it, take it anymore,”and though she obviously can’t, she never really lets go. (Click here for Treva Jackson’s MySpace page. Let’s get her up to at least a hundred friends, okay?)

The Blow “Babay (Eat A Critter, Feel Its Wrath)” – On the surface, this is quite lovely and nicely composed, but closer inspection reveals that beneath its fairly minimal synths-and-drum-machine arrangement and sweet vocals, this song is built around one of the more…unpleasant lyrical conceits that I’ve encountered in recent months. Want a hint? Check the parenthetical part of the title. (Click here for The Blow’s MySpace page.)




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