2003 / 2002

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8:57 Shut up, Usher!

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

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

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

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

9:14 Chappelle is squandered.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9:51 Wayne Coyne emerges in a bubble!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10:17 Shut up, Lenny!

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

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

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

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

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

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

10:53 Dave Chappelle is back, thank God.

10:54
Tribute to Jay Hova!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11:13 Beyonce grooves along earnestly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Renegade Underground Society

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s Written All Over Her Face

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

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

THE-THE-THE ROCK

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

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

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

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

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

Better Than Crack Or Smoking Dirt

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

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

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

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

This Time The World Did What It Told Me It Would

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

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

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

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

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

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

All My Friends Have Turned To Shadows

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

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

I Still Want To Dance

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

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

Can’t You Hear Me Going Insane?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Freedom At Last

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

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

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

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

Miscellaneous show notes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Jealous Games People Play

Skinnyman “Love’s Gone From The Streets” – I promise you that it is only coincidental that this is the third track by a British MC to be posted here this week, but it is certainly indicative of the steady flow of quality hip hop records coming out of the UK this year. Unlike Dizzee, Wiley, and the rest of the grime gang, Skinnyman doesn’t have a background in garage, and so this is a fairly straight-ahead hip hop track. This is somewhat dated in terms of the US mainstream, owing a lot to the most melancholy Wu, Nas, and Biggie tracks from the mid-90s, but all of that stuff is pretty timeless ten years on, so it doesn’t quite feel retro. Bonus points are given for making great use out of a Todd Rundgren sample. (Click here to order it from Rough Trade.)

Fun Boy Three “Our Lips Are Sealed” – Lately, I’ve become semi-obsessed with watching VH1 Classic. It’s just about the most addictive non-fiction programming on television, aside from the I Love The (____)/Best Week Ever snarkfests on regular VH1. VH1 Classic is essentially the only music video channel which even comes close to approximating the free form aesthetic. Though there are some obvious limitations, you never really know what to expect while watching the channel – it’s one of the few places in contemporary American culture where you can be genuinely surprised to hear what comes next on a playlist.

It’s pretty clear that the people at VH1 Classic enjoy fucking with your expectations too, because they often play non-hits by familiar artists. Sometimes this is fantastic, and either gives you a new perspective on an artist you may have written off or lets you hear a less-than-obvious song by a well-loved artist. Other times it’s just aggravating, because you’d much rather hear a hit than some lame second-rate single which never caught on. Often it seems as though the programmers are deliberately attempting to embarass famous artists by airing cringe-inducing videos for songs from their most marginal, lackluster albums. It’s not unusual to see, say, two videos back to back from Lou Reed’s awful 80s period, or a double-shot of post-Ozzy hair metal Black Sabbath from the late 80s.

I suspect that the true intention of VH1 Classic is to show us how virtually no one who was successful in the 60s and 70s made it through the 80s without making at least one spectacularly awful record and/or fashion statement. A great example of this would be a recent Tuesday Twoplay airing of two Stevie Wonder videos, the first being a live performance of “Superstition” from German television circa the mid 70s. In this clip, Wonder looks like the coolest guy ever. He’s got some rad sunglasses, a nice little black hat, a black leather outfit – this look was clearly one of the templates for Andre 3000’s current style. Flash forward to the 1985 video for the sappy ballad “Overjoyed” and we have Stevie walking around an airport in a drab baggy purple sweatshirt with a dragon design on the chest, with its head forming some kind of Rob Liefeld-ian shoulder pad. It’s just tragic to behold. Stevie is a slightly obvious example, given that he’s well known for wearing clothing only a blind man could appreciate, but what’s the excuse for Roger Daltrey going from mod rock icon to a look in the “You Better You Bet” video which suggests “dreary home-permed used car salesman”?

Anyway, this is the long way of saying that I first heard this slightly goth new wave cover of the Go-Gos “Our Lips Are Sealed” on VH1 Classic a few weeks back. It was good timing, since the Hillary and Haylie Duff version of the song has recently made me realize just how much I adore this song, no matter who is performing it. I don’t enjoy this version as much when compared to the candy-coated Duffs recording (on which Hillary sounds strangely similar to Tammy Ealom from Dressy Bessy) or the classic original, but this certainly has a period charm to it which I find pleasing. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Know It Sounds Filthy

Infinite Livez “The Adventures Of The Lactating Man” – Hip hop has always been a genre well suited to giving voice to cartoonish, perverse sexuality, and Brit MC Infinite Livez exploits this to the fullest on his debut LP Bush Meat, indulging in a series of high concept gross-out gags which revolve around scatological references to foodstuffs and animals. “The Adventures Of The Lactating Man” tells the story of, er, a lactating man who gets all “milky” when women touch his nipples. It’s equal parts freakshow and erotic fantasy, alternating between stock porn scenarios (naughty nurses! facials!) and bits which suggest that this lactation is a serious medical concern for the protagonist. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

(The Real) Tuesday Weld “The Ugly And The Beautiful” – Is there a proper (sub)genre name for this kind of alt-pop? There ought to be, since there seems to be quite a few artists (almost always on major labels, but never with much chart success) since the mid-90s covering this ground – breathy singsong vocals, arrangements which attempt to make their lushness seem understated and laid back, canned beats or heavily treated percussion, occasional samples. Perhaps my memory is short and the breadth of my knowledge in this area is narrow, but I really don’t remember there being much of this sort of thing before the Eels had their MTV hit (or perhaps more accurately, before Nic Harcourt came along). Either way, this is a lovely little song with a pleasing melody which stops just short of being a slow version of “She’s Electric” by Oasis. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

One Two Three, Let’s Make It Work

Dead Prez “Hell Yeah (Pistol Pete Remix)” – This is a Fluxblog exclusive! Pistol Pete has outdone himself this time, matching up Dead Prez’s “Hell Yeah” with the music from The Slits’ version of “I Heard It In The Grapevine” (aka One Of The Best Pieces Of Music Ever). It’s a perfect fit, easily one of the most inspired bootleg mixes from the past two years. I’m not essing around, you need to hear this. (Click here to buy the original mix from Amazon.)

Wagon Christ “Saddic Gladdic” – For those of you familiar with Luke Vibert’s work as Wagon Christ, this song shouldn’t come as any surprise. It follows the typical Wagon Christ formula – elegant bass grooves, light funk percussion, lots of great keyboard textures playing nice little melodies. Though almost all Wagon Christ songs sound alike, they certainly aren’t all equal. “Saddic Gladdic” has this wonderfully joyous, floaty sound to it; as though it should be the soundtrack to the most confident, pleasurable moments of your life. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: The Morning News has just published a roundtable interview about mp3 blogs featuring the writers of The Mystical Beast, Said The Gramophone, The Tofu Hut, Cocaine Blunts & Hip Hop Tapes, Soulsides, and er, Largehearted Boy, which isn’t exactly an mp3 blog, but hey.

Talk About Things You’d Like To Do

Dizzee Rascal “Dream” – Ever since Boy In Da Corner came out last year, I’ve been slightly mystified by some of the intense praise for Dizzee Rascal coming from several critics whom I respect and admire. With only a few exceptions, I think that record is only alright. It’s above average, for sure, but certainly not a work of genius. After hearing “Dream” from his forthcoming second album, I get it. Only a person of frightening brilliance could put something like this together; an archetypical “let me tell you about what I was like before I was famous, but in the context of my new success” rap (see: Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy”) matched with the chorus from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Happy Talk”, accompanied by a backing track from the Captain Sensible cover version which sounds like something from a low budget children’s show. This could very well be the most adorable hip hop song of all time, and not just for how childlike the singing and the music sounds. Dizzee is relentlessly endearing from start to finish, reaching the peak of his cuteness when he tacks on a parenthetical “thank you” after announcing that over a 100,000 people bought his first album. This is essential listening, without a doubt one of the finest songs of 2004 thus far. (Click here to preorder from HMV UK.)

Baby “Free Los Angeles” – This is one of those songs which sounds as though it was engineered precisely to make riding around in cars in California seem like the summit of human achievement and spiritual fulfillment. Baby is Craig Wedren’s new band, and this song is taken from his first proper non-soundtrack album since Shudder To Think’s severely underrated swansong, 50,000 B.C. The Baby record picks up right where that album left off, with an emphasis on jubilant, summery glam pop, but this time around mixed with electronic textures and a occasional nod to glitch and broken beat. Though Wedren mostly leaves the proggy touches of his old band behind, he still has a fondness for unlikely song structures and sudden dynamic shifts. If you’re a fan of Wedren’s work, the album will certainly feel familiar in spite of its cosmetic differences – it’s a bit like meeting up with someone whom you’ve been out of touch with for years, and immediately falling back into the old rhythms of your relationship as though no time had passed at all. (Click here to buy it from the band’s website.)

Also: If you haven’t heard it yet, Into The Groove has “Chewing Gum” by Annie, which is so good that it makes me feel deliriously happy every time that I hear it.

As of today, everything is back to normal on Fluxblog. Thank you to everyone who helped out over the past week – Tom Scharpling, Tom Ewing, Ben Hoh, Maura Johnston, Hillary Brown, Paul Cox, Douglas Wolk, Joe Macare, Grant Balfour, Mike Barthel, Mark Slutsky, Fred Solinger, Jacob Wright, Geeta Dayal, and Chris Conroy. There were a handful of people who intended to post over the week, but never got around to it – hopefully they can participate in something else here another time.

underwater

Midnight Oil, “Weddingcake Island” — I have an ambivalent attachment to these guys, who’ve always flitted rapidly between self-conscious “artificiality” and “authenticity”, thus making even their best albums very strained affairs. Plus there’s the weird mix of fundamentalist Christianity, green politics and nationalism. So those who only know Midnight Oil for their rock-monumentalist declarations might be surprised by “Weddingcake Island”, from their 1980 EP, Bird Noises. It’s a gorgeously delicate instrumental that pays homage to their origins in the early 70s as a pub band for surfers.

Sorry about the whole not posting that Dave Tarras MP3 thing!

but i am very sick, dizzy with fever, and encoding mp3s just isn’t going to work out for me today. thank you all for reading my humble contributions over the last week, and a big hand for mr. perpetua, who so kindly hosted all of us guests. now i’m going to pass out! bye!

Dead On Arrival, The 90s Revival (Part 6)

Dr.Alban “No Coke” And the winner is…EUROPOP! With 27% of the ‘Nineties Revival’ poll vote, the bouncy sounds of Europop stand as the style you most want to come back: record industry be warned (or not). This is the track I wrote about on Thursday, it seemed only fair to give you it.

Midi Maxi And Efti “Ragga Steady” And this is another Swedish track – from the (as far as I know) only album by Midi, Maxi And Efti, who were three Eritrean-Swedish teenagers plucked a from Stockholm obscurity to which they have probably and sadly returned. If I am ever asked to contribute to any kind of ‘great lost albums’ project the MME record is my likely pick: yes it’s primitive but there’s an atmosphere to it which I’ve never heard anywhere else, a kind of resigned nonchalance, like making a pop record is just an everyday thing to be doing, halfway between homework and dancing. Maybe in a better world it would be.

(Final notes: 1. Thanks enormously to Matt for inviting me and to you lot for reading my stuff. 2. You may have noticed that yesterday’s entry never materialised. Blame the heat. If you do want to find out more about Crusty, I’ll be talking about it on NYLPM later this week, with an MP3 – though not one for the faint-hearted.)

I Don’t Know What’s Good For Me

The Futureheads “Hounds Of Love” – My ex-boyfriend strong-armed me into becoming at least a mild Kate Bush fan over the course of our relationship; he made a point of buying me Hounds Of Love after about a month and a half of dating. He told me to pay particular attention to “The Ninth Wave,” the bizarre mini-narrative-album that makes up the disc’s second half, but I never could get into it at all; I vastly preferred the skewed pop of the first five tracks, especially “Hounds Of Love” itself, and now The Futureheads have gone and re-made it into the song I always wanted it to be. That “Oh oh oh” hook sounded great surrounded by Bush’s oh-so-80s drum patterns, but it sounds even better when snuggled into a backing track that sounds like a bizarre fusion of The Proclaimers and The Jam. (The Futureheads are this week’s Band Of The Century in the UK press, or so I gather. Their album is readily available from Amazon UK, and I thank my friend Stuart for the tip-off to this track.)

The Twilight Singers “Hey Ya! (Live In Rome)” – “By God!” I hear you saying. “An alternative rock band covering ‘Hey Ya’? That’s soooo December 2003! Fluxblog is losing its edge, to the kids etc. etc.” Well, at least one Fluxblog All-Star needed to peddle you something tragically un-cool or out of date in order to make the others look even hotter, and I suppose the task should fall to me. Greg Dulli’s version of this song is clumsy, and he rushes or fumbles more than a couple of the hooks, but there’s just something about hearing him cut loose with the full throat-shredding “HEEEEY YAAAAAAAAAA” that’s actually managed to at least temporarily obliterate the original in my mind. Maybe it’s just Dulli’s well-documented enthusiasm for cover songs that sells it for me — I’ve been thinking a lot about covers lately, in ways both profound and ridiculous, and The Afghan Whigs & Twilight Singers’ fetish for playing as many covers as possible at any given time is immensely appealling to me right now. (The Twilight Singers covers album, She Loves You, is released Aug. 24th, but “Hey Ya!” is not on it. The full concert this track is taken from is readily available on Soulseek.)