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December 30, 2005
Kobold [updated]
Long-delayed, I know, but here's part 3 of the mix. This is surely the most up-beat portion, with a bulk of the momentum coming from those first few songs (I especially enjoy the Test Icicles->Think About Life transition, there's just no chance to catch your breath, plus the White Rose Movement->Mt. Eerie is actually kind of smooth) and stretching out to the end, to the echo-clap race of Panda Bear's 'Comfy in Nautica'.
27 Sunset Rubdown - Snake's Got A Leg pt. 1 (Snake's Got A Leg) [BUY]
28 Test Icicles - Circle Square Triangle (For Screening Purposes Only) [BUY]
29 Think About Life - Paul Cries (demos) [INFO]
30 Kiss Me Deadly - Dance 1 (Misty Medley) [BUY]
31 The Sun - Must Be You (Blame It On The Youth) [BUY]
32 White Rose Movement - Love Is A Number (Love Is A Number 7") [BUY]
33 Mt. Eerie - I Hold Nothing (No Flashlight) [BUY]
34 Wooden Wand - Sundrum Ladies (Harem of the Sundrum & The Witness Figg) [BUY]
35 Racecar - Out Tonight** (10 Songs) [INFO]
36 Cadence Weapon - Black Hand (Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand) [BUY]
37 Feathers - Grandmother Constellation Fade Away (Tour Paint) [INFO]
38 Raccoo-oo-oon - Call Out Your Friends (Raccoo-oo-oon Is Night People) [INFO]
39 Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica (I'm Not/Comfy In Nautica single) [BUY]
27 Sunset Rubdown - Snake's Got A Leg pt.1
(archives) Few other songs this year have held such sway over me: it's one of those 'songs that are bigger than songs' (to borrow a wonderful concept and phrase from Yancey at Get Up Stand Up), i.e. that the story contained within 'Snake's Got A Leg pt.1' is almost too expansive and detailed to be contained within the song itself- the Prometheus allusion (when Spencer talks about feeding the crows), the 'cool in the shade of the woodshed', being 'chased by a hundred snakes in the morning'- all of these pieces of song are so compelling that it almost feels like they should be spun-off into their own songs. This song (and this album) is essential. Go listen to one of the new tracks from the forthcoming EP over at Global Symphonic's snazzy new Myspace page.
28 Test Icicles - Circle Square Triangle
I love the Blood Brothers relentlessly, so when a band exists that is described in shorthand as being a British, dancier, sloppier version of that band, then I am obviously going to be interested. 'Circle Square Triangle', despite beginning almost the same way the Strokes' 'Modern Age' does, is classic, if only for the way the song moves, as the guitars sound like they're painting the small walls that the drums erect, as Sam Merrann stands and spits petulance/angst throughout.
29 Think About Life - Paul Cries
(archives) The first thing about this song that I loved was the fact that the intro sounds like a distorted Simon that's lost its zeal for randomness. The live drums + Casio beats = pure gold, and Martin (?) sounds so perfectly sad and serious when he sings "please wait/wait for me". Unbeatable(!!). Cannot wait to hear their album.
30 Kiss Me Deadly - Dance 1
(archives) 'Dance 1', which also appears on their new full-length, is a slinky, late-night, taboo makeout session. Emily Elizabeth's voice is sexy in that breathy, sort of petulant-sounding way (the v. best way), and she coos, squeals, and begs her way through this track (also, she says "making out like a thief", which is just too cute). The guitars here are all over the place- aggressive, subdued, clean- however, the prettiest parts are the little delayed-note eddies they create, which remind me a lot of the undertow pull of the guitar phrases in Disco Inferno's 'Arc in Round'. The beginning of this song though, with tough little metallic beats, spindly guitar, and handclaps, is terribly addictive.
31 The Sun - Must Be You
(archives) It starts off with a bass pulse and a flowery, circular riff. A second, buzzsawesque guitar gives the track a nice sandpaper-to-marble contrast (which is the same sort of dynamic that lead singer Chris Burney uses with his vocal delivery, traversing the spectrum of calm to unhinged within a few verses). 'Must Be You' seems to explore the theme of ex-girlfriend as supra-Eeyoric cloud of doom, which taints some experiences (good weather) and makes others less imposing (seeing the angel of death- really, this is all in the song, I'm not kidding) due to the depth of previous tragedy. Although some of the lyrics are a little awkward ("I stopped to think about the bad times that I've had/with a smile on my face/warm with the birth of the sad"), the track is redeemed by Burney's unreserved passion at the end, when he sings, "You forgot your dagger when you left/six inches deep/buried in my chest/and if you've come back to pull it out/to look at the blood/well I'll slap your hand away/at least I loved you". Short explanation: sounds like the Replacements' 'Can't Hardly Wait', which I love, so by transitive property, I love 'Must Be You'.
32 White Rose Movement - Love Is A Number
I could write about this for months and not top the succinct and entertaining description that XXJFG gave this originally: "A bit of a Joy Division bass line, tasty keyboards and soaring vocals reminiscent of Dex Dexter or if you got really bad taste Classix Nouveaux even...all played with tight exuberance that leaves an impression of Magazine having cheered up a bit. While White Rose Movement are a little band we will love them, but as is often the time honored English tradition when they reach the mainstream we will moan on about how there first ep was the best and there not the same at big gigs etc... build em up, knock em down. For now we are loving it and should cherish this moment when they are special and just yours."
33 Mt. Eerie - I Hold Nothing
"In all of Phil Elv(e)rum's recorded work to date, there is an overwhelming emphasis on introspection and brute phenomenology. Take for instance, these lines from the song "You'll Be in the Air" from The Glow, Part 2 which recreate the first-person feeling of flying: "But if you just moved your arms then you could tell / That you are in the air / You'd feel the yawning gulf grow wider / And you'd feel the dwindling fuel for your lungs / So your breaths would slow". Considering the force with which these minutiae are conveyed it's almost like Elv(e)rum has uncovered some kind of phenomenological lingua franca with which to express each and every experiential nuance. For another example, take the simple phrase "the awful feeling of electric heat" from the same album's opener. It's so compellingly evocative that it borders on hypnotic suggestion. You don't just know what he's talking about it, you almost literally feel it." ---this is from Matt's amazing essay on the Microphones/Mt. Eerie discography, which you can read the rest of right here.
34 Wooden Wand - Sundrum Ladies
(archives) 'Sundrum Ladies' is just jaw-droppingly pretty. Think Folkways records, think sitting in a green summer field full of Queen Anne's Lace, think a temperate sunset with a playful breeze. There is nothing complicated about this song, technically- but James Jackson Toth creates a thick and enveloping narrative atmosphere, with just his voice, a simple acoustic pattern, and a sinister (sneaky) violin. My favorite part of this song is the way Toth says, "Okay" right before starting each verse, as if he's trying to explain a particularly salient part of the story to an inattentive audience. "Quick modulations in a crystalline sky/quiet recollections and the wine/putting new ideas into your spine", nice words indeed.
35 Racecar - Out Tonight
(archives) [note: I'm not sure, but I think Racecar have called it quits- their website's gone, they haven't played any shows in the past 5 or so months, and there's been no response to emails. Would be a shame if that's true] It's like going over a waterfall in a barrel- 'Out Tonight' starts off as a leisurely, delicate thing: guitars chiming and commiserating over the "stale cigarette breath", the "hands made with Teflon". Then it starts to pick up a little- static hissing small whirlpools of turbulence that flank the chorus, "you and me/ we'll go out tonight", and suddenly the song switches gears entirely, and it's a freefall through wild torrents of bass, drums, yelling, and foamy siren-sounds. And, subsequently, a return to the calmness of the first part of the track. 'Out Tonight' reminds me of Ted Leo's 'Timorous Me' (one of his best songs ever, by far), just in the way it delivers such a joyful blast of melody and energy in the middle of the song- and like Ted Leo, Racecar know enough to exercise some restraint and leave it at that (just once), which just makes you want to play the song over and over again (not a bad indulgence, really). Plus, for whatever reason (and also like 'Timorous Me'), this song makes me think of a huge party, like a wedding reception or something similar, where everyone's smiling and dancing and happy either in their own right or in reflection of the atmosphere.
36 Cadence Weapon - Black Hand
(archives) Anyway, 'Black Hand' breaks out of the gate with some quick sirens, then there's a small break (the beats are intense, sounding like deep, live drums), and Rollie flows over top of an insanely addictive acoustic guitar (or what sounds like one- the vibrations sound like the E(bass) string ringing out) run, and his voice fluctuates between an aggressive, aloof tone and something that's more just like the confidence of someone stating the facts. One of my favorite lines in 'Black Hand' is "hand black like the Moors/and I ran to the back with seven years and four scores", which is tied with, "I get my point across like an atheist archer", whew, so good. And I mean how can you not love a song that references the Anti-Franz Ferdinand? (go buy Breaking Kayfabe!)
37 Feathers - Grandmother Constellation Fade Away
(archives) 'Grandmother Constellation Fade Away into the Earth' is pretty representative of Feathers' sound, as much as any one song can be really. They're extremely versatile (obviously, with almost 10 members playing like 5 different instruments each), turning on a dime from Incredible String Band cooing to Amon Duul-esque headfucking jams in the space of a minute or two. 'Grandmother Constellation...' definitely reminds me a little bit of the more explicitly melodic songs of Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice (or esp. of the Wooden Wand solo album), in that it's got that same wide open feel to it, running down hills, rolling around in the dirt, yelling out for friends to come play. Some good news for those of you who don't have record players: the band just recently announced on their website that a CD version of their debut LP will be released in the spring, on Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic's Gnomonsong label.
38 Raccoo-oo-oon - Call Out Your Friends
(archives) I feel like Raccoo-oo-oon are going to have a hard time escaping the Animal Collective comparison (and on this track, it's all too easy to hear the similarities to 'Here Comes the Indian'-era A.C., or, even moreso, "Hollinndagain"-era A.C.), but really, they're doing something quite different from Avey Tare and co. This song alone shares traits with Hella, Boredoms/Vooredoms, Excepter- and the rest of the "Is Night People" tape (which is sold out) has the same kind of sprawling, decaying energy that made Black Eyes so exciting. Short review: Fauves running loose and panting, get hold of drums, wreak havoc.
39 Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica
(archives) Speaking of Animal Collective: 'Comfy In Nautica' is Panda Bear's attempt to record the equivalent of Disco Inferno (circa "Technicolour") covering the Beach Boys' 'Our Prayer/Gee'; no but really Noah and his samplers lay down the confetti-ridden joy-march of the year on this one. "You try to remember always/always to have a good time", Noah's vocals are huge and airy, he is confident that this song will make you happy (and it will). It's almost ridiculous that both Noah and Dave can toss off gorgeous songs like this and 'Judy Biworker' in their solo work and still write like, what, 20 or so classic songs per album session for Animal Collective without breaking a sweat...
Posted by Kevin at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2005
warren demontague as 'professor ape'
Mixes 3 and 4 coming soon...I wish I could say that I slipped into that post-Xmas haze of watching DVDs and wearing the same pajamas for days on end, but no, I've just been busy at work (lame). Mixes 1 and 2 will come down soon, so grab them while you can (and let me know what you think of them, please).
So even though I said I was busy, I have been watching a few episodes of this show (genius).
Posted by Kevin at 06:28 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2005
Quitandinha
I forgot to say this before, and it seems like something that should have been addressed at the outset: my favorite songs of '05 aren't presented in any order. So, for example, Mahjongg's "Hot Lava" is not my 14th favorite song of the year (although it's up there). Of course there are tracks that stand out (Kelley Polar's "Here in the Night", Page France's "Chariot", Sunset Rubdown's "Snake's Got A Leg pt. 1"), but I'm way too disorganized/busy to make any kind of hierarchy. Anyway. If this portion of the mix has any kind of theme, it's "Songs Discovered Through Other mp3blogs", as at least 5 of these tracks were featured (and written about very well) at places like Said the Gramophone, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Goldkixx, and Get Up Stand Up.
14 Mahjongg - Hot Lava (Raydoncong 2005) [BUY]
15 The Double - Idiocy (Loose in the Air) [BUY]
16 Vitalic - Polkamatic (Ok Cowboy) [BUY]
17 Fanny Pack - Not This (See You Next Tuesday) [BUY]
18 The Cay - Untitled (demos) [INFO, read the sidebar]
19 Akron/Family - Dylan pt.2 (Angels of Light & Akron/Family split EP) [BUY]
20 Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut [Fast] (EP To Be You & Me) [BUY]
21 Jane - Berserker (Berserker) [BUY]
22 Wolf Parade - Fancy Claps (Apologies to the Queen Mary) [BUY]
23 PAS/CAL - Dear Sir (Citizen's Army Uniform demos) [INFO]
24 New Pornographers - Jackie, Dressed in Cobras (Twin Cinema) [BUY]
25 Spoon - The Beast And Dragon, Adored (Gimme Fiction) [BUY]
26 Wind-Up Bird - Brainbowsstereo (live) [INFO]
MMV Molars Mix pt.2 (zip file)
14 Mahjongg - Hot Lava
(archives) Everything about this track, save maybe the vocals, is rendered in wide strokes of bright hues and outlined by a heavy black border. What makes this song for me are the points of intersection, between the percussion, guitars, and bass (or the spaces in between, full of anticipation). Also, that chorus? "This is not far from over/there's mud in our blood"- is it just me or is Mahjongg making a Harry Potter reference? (probably just me)
15 The Double - Idiocy
(archives) "Palm Fronds" was one of my very favorite albums of 2004, due in no small part to David Greenhill's excellent lyrics ('Blanket on the Beach' is still as heartbreaking as ever). "Loose in the Air" didn't quite measure up to the delicate abrasiveness of "Palm Fronds", but this song (which is probably the most accessible the band's ever produced) has stuck with me: the phrases ("little diggers take on all believers", "keep coming back to play/on the carpets laid out and stained/your stories run ragged and frayed"), that light background piano, the jumping-jack keyboards, the clouds of noise drifting through are all just unshakable.
16 Vitalic - Polkamatic
(archives) What I said before sounds about right: 'Polkamatic' is the best of artificial colors and flavors-'blue' raspberry, bright green watermelon, purple grape, orange mango. It sounds a lot like how you'd feel if you consumed a full gross of Lik-M-Aids on a sunny day out at the pool (notice the differing tempos in the keyboard progressions- fast, then slow, then fast again- never with any warning, just like a crazy sugar-high).
17 Fannypack - Not This
"See You Next Tuesday" was easy to overdose on, in retrospect. Playground chants + musique concrete lite production + sweet voices = pretty much irresistible. But this song (which closes the album) is different. Belinda sings about addictions (her own, or someone else's), attendant struggles, and closes 'Not This' with a bleak judgment: "it's not in the magazines/and it's not even in my dreams/the things that I need/ain't in the VIP/don't know what it is/it's definitely not this", prodded and cuddled simultaneously by sharp, sweeping, brittle strings.
18 The Cay - Untitled
(what Jordan wrote about his own song) The Cay is a trio (I think): Jordan Himelfarb (from StG), Christine Maki, and someone else whose name I do not know- and this song is gorgeous, gentle, and bright in a way that makes me want to listen to it for days on end. Which I (just about) did this past June- that line, "I just want to smile/close your eyes/I just want to sleep for a while/til the morning comes and we must rise/for a while", and the sunny warp and weft of the guitars so strongly evoke that sweet feeling of lying in bed late into the morning, next to someone you care deeply about, and willfully disregarding any sort of external obligations or distractions (basically anything outside the domain of the bed). Cannot wait to hear more from this (wonderful) band.
19 Akron/Family - Dylan pt.2
The beginning (and end) of 'Dylan pt.2' moves like a weak tin toy spider (legs racked with rust). Accept that, because it's true. Okay. But from 1:58 (a simple bass blurt) until about the 4 minute mark, this song is a roar, a multi-voiced wail, a sound that pushes out the air in your lungs and just about cracks your sternum. I love 'Dylan pt.2' because it is so furtively urgent.
20 Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut [Fast]
This song will, on occasion, favorably and forcibly alter my brain chemistry. It's *extremely* difficult to maintain any kind of anger, disappointment, malaise, shade of angst, etc. when listening to 'Major Label Debut'. I don't think I can say anything that would really do this justice.
21 Jane - Berserker
(archives) What I said before: The first minute or so of 'Berserker' is vinyl-esque clicks and pops, coupled with some Cocteau-Twins-at-the-wrong-speed percussion. That changes quickly though, when Mou brings in a soft drone and what sounds like a bushel of tinsel to accompany Noah's formless vocals. There are short and ethereal jet engine sounds occuring intermittently. I feel like this song is what it would sound like to listen (over a walkie-talkie) to someone singing to themselves over top of very pleasant television static. The production on 'Berserker' is so deep and dense that there are dozens of fleeting ribbony drones that slip quickly back into the mix before you can really get a handle on what's happening (i.e. make sure you listen to this at a high volume, or on headphones).
22 Wolf Parade - Fancy Claps
(archives) One of the technically newest songs that Wolf Parade have released, 'Fancy Claps' is a song that will never lose it's luster, if only (and not only) for Spencer's amazing lyrics, about which I said this:...it's the emphasis he places on body parts (either synecdochically or as body parts qua body parts): the mouth and heart in 'You Are a Runner...', the eyes, bones, blood and voice in 'I'll Believe in Anything', and the feet and hair in 'Fancy Claps'. I like especially when Krug imagines himself as a sort of Lilliputian, tiny enough to be stowed easily in the tresses of someone's hair, small enough to crawl down someone's throat to gently graffiti their heart's wall.
23 PAS/CAL - Dear Sir
(archives) From last month, read how I fumble with words in trying to talk about music and art history: PAS/CAL, taking a left turn from the viciously delightful 'The Summer Is Almost Here', have grafted some gorgeous pop vocals from Casimer Pascal onto a framework of leaden drums and dusty bass (the band has created a backing track here that's very early Liars-esque, esp. in the reverb-craquelure guitar tone), and wow it works better than anyone could have guessed. For whatever reason, one of the first things that popped into my head when I heard this song was Duchamp's "The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even", maybe it's the disconnect between Casimer's calm, airy vocals, and the almost utilitarian seriousness of the music (listen to it: it's all-business)- but it reminds me of the disarmingly pretty way "Bride Stripped..." expresses the dynamic between the bride (gas cloud) and her interested parties (mobiles, lampshades, hangers, inscrutable pipes) via basic media that amount to construction materials, dirt, and automotive supplies.
24 New Pornographers - Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
'Jackie, Dressed In Cobras'. First of all it's a sequel song, expectations were high, and they were met (exceeded, really). The song is full of wild, fantastic images (the title phrase, "orchids hanging from the reverend's door", "vampires drawn across the ballroom floor") and has more zing (yes) to it, musically, than most other whole albums. However this was by far the hardest track to place in the mix (that sprint-start intro makes it sort of impervious to any kind of smooth transition).
25 Spoon - The Beast And Dragon, Adored
At this point, I think that anything that Britt Daniel and Jim Eno do together ends up sounding just about perfect. They really can't help it. I probably could have picked any song from "Gimme Fiction", but that line about "when you don't feel it/it shows/they tear out your soul/but when you believe/they call it rock and roll" really hits home for some reason.
26 Wind-Up Bird - Brainbowsstereo
(archives) From before: This is something new from Joseph Grimm. Phased in such a way so that his voice seems to be rotating very quickly around the more central drone, it gives the track the feel of a zoetrope- you only get a few quick glances at the deeper, heart-hollowed center of it...Wind-Up Bird concentrates everything in a small space, loop upon loop, into a very involuted shape. Ridiculously pretty.
Posted by Kevin at 12:12 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2005
try to write a sexy thriller in sonnet form
Over the next couple (4 let's say 8) days, I'll be putting up my favorite songs of the year. I say favorite because, personally, there are songs that I love that I might not consider the 'best' of this year, and these are songs that are attached to definite (mostly good) memories, to specific times and places, to certain moods (this is sounding like an ad for scented candles now). There are some conscious omissions though- acts that I had written about way too often (e.g. Animal Collective; Feels is probably my album of the year though), or who have already received a ton of attention from other, better blogs (Franz, Superwolf, Devendra, etc.). Hmm. Anyway, this is an actual mix (not in the sense that all the songs are blended, but I did try to sequence it so that there are interesting and smooth transitions- the Sufjan->Excepter->DFA1979 works especially well, in a strange way), if you care to listen to it as such. Here's pt.1 (pt. 2 on Friday, pts. 3 and 4 after Christmas):
01 Kelley Polar - Here in the Night (Love Songs of the Hanging Gardens) [BUY]
02 Oneida - The Eiger (The Wedding) [BUY]
03 Torngat - Alberta Song (La Rouge) [BUY]
04 Broadcast - I Found the F (Tender Buttons) [BUY]
05 Caribou - Hello Hammerheads (The Milk of Human Kindness) [BUY]
06 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - House Fire (Broom) [BUY]
07 Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois (Illinois) [BUY]
08 Excepter - Shoot Me First (Self Destruction) [BUY]
09 DFA1979 - Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix) (Romance Bloody Romance) [BUY]
10 Hardfloor - Groupie Love (4 Out of 5 Aliens Recommend This) [BUY]
11 Hot Springs - Bacteria (Rock Partouze) [BUY]
12 Ungdomskulen - Foursome and Then Some (7") [BUY]
13 Art Brut - My Little Brother (Bang Bang Rock and Roll) [BUY]
MMV Molars Mix pt.1 (zip file)
01 Kelley Polar - Here in the Night
(from the archives) Song of the year? Maybe (stiff competition from Page France's 'Chariot'). I have commitment issues with accolades like that. But this song and this record are unstoppable. Makeout jam? Check. Beat-heavy dance-party starter? Check. KP's vocals are a thing of beauty.
02 Oneida - The Eiger
(archives) Once you've heard this at least twice, it's almost impossible to resist singing along to it. In fact, I dare you to not sing along. Great storyline, amazing strings, makes me yearn for a mountain range I've never seen in real life. And of course, there's the Clint Eastwood connection.
03 Torngat - Alberta Song
(archives) Breezy, melancholy instrumental. Pretty much the apotheosis of 'autumnal music'.
04 Broadcast - I Found the F
(archives) I stand by the "Blow Up" comparison, even if only, say, two people know and/or care about that movie. Trish Keenan sings like she's walking alone in a city park that's been neglected for years.
05 Caribou - Hello Hammerheads
I love this song because it is soft and quiet and colorful. Here's a linen analogy: this song is the equivalent of your go-to pillow case (you know, the one that you use when company's staying over, the one that's mature, but also pretty damn stylish. Yes).
06 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - House Fire
(archives, different song though) Catbirdseat recommended pop-powerhouse. I am a sucker for any lyrics involving a car crash ('Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck' would play at my wedding if it weren't grossly inappropriate), especially in the context of a song that travels as sweetly and sadly as this one.
07 Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL.
The first time I heard this song, it was being played on a surround-sound home theater speaker system. And I was extremely drunk in the middle of the day (long story). Those initial piano chords struck me though, with an almost physical force- their clarity, their buoyancy, their brightness- just undeniable. Still my favorite song from that album.
08 Excepter - Shoot Me First
(archives) "Self Destruction" was not as good as I had hoped it would be. I liked it, but it didn't quite measure up to the promise of "Throne" (which was definitely the better Excepter record of '05)- however, this song is a fantastic distillation of the way the old Excepter line-up (Calder and Caitlin are now ex-Excepters, in their own band, Vizusa) did things, and it's the perfect serving size of the band's scrambled, analytically dancey jeremiads.
09 DFA1979 - Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)
The original is the best song on "You're A Woman, I'm A Machine", but Justice somehow improved on it. Let's say by dressing up the hairy monster that is the album version in shiny shoes, a snappy shirt, and a freshly-pressed suit; said beast then goes on a date, gets married, and gets divorced- e.g. this is the kind of song that the things in "Where The Wild Things Are" would listen to if they had to make alimony payments. And Justice knows that.
10 Hardfloor - Groupie Love
Hmm. Don't think I can say anything about this better than Rich Four Four already did: --"The best song on the best tracky house album you'll hear this year (the as-yet-import-only 4 Out of 5 Aliens Recommend This), "Groupie Love" is another chapter in the never-tired series of tracks that equate dancing and fucking. "Love" is a moan-a-thon in the tradition of Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby" and Lil' Louis' "French Kiss," with a twist of A Jackin' Phreak's "Acid Sex" and maybe James T. Cotton's "Press Your Body." Its classic bloodline sounds right at home pumping on 4 Out of 5, an album-as-ode to early Chicago acid house that's the always-acidic Hardfloor's most blatant throwback."-- [Is this song NSFW? Probably.]
11 Hot Springs - Bacteria
(archives) Why isn't more attention being paid to this band? Is it because the songs are too good, too energetic? Is Giselle's voice too sexy? Their debut EP, "Rock Partouze" is solid fucking gold, please do yourself a favor and go get it. The stuff they're doing now is even better- check it out.
12 Ungdomskulen - Foursome and Then Some
(archives) Even though I wrote about the B-side of this 7", the A-side is just as spectacular: if you like quick riffs, if you miss McLusky, if you like fun, then this is your band and your song.
13 Art Brut - My Little Brother
Haven't made up my mind about Art Brut just yet, but I do love this song, mostly because it reminds me of my own, dear, personal little brother (who is, in fact, 22 yrs. old). Also it's just a fantastic straight-ahead rock song.
Posted by Kevin at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
Susquehanna says:
Mix coming some time today.
Popsheep has a new Sunset Rubdown track, "Three Colours II", from the forthcoming EP. Go there. Listen to the song. Read Ian's words of wisdom. Then listen to the Daddy's Hands song. Love both songs, equally.
One more recommendation, for my college-age readers who have month-long vacations:
Make a sandwich (either turkey + cheddar with a small amount of mayonnaise, or peanut butter straight-up). Think about possibly writing a play loosely based on your experiences in the language lab at school. Kind of like "the Interpreter", but blazingly lame and with much more binge drinking and way less Sean Penn. Scratch that idea in favor of cold-calling some girl from your accounting class. You've spoken twice before, both times awkwardly. Her mom picks up when you ring her house. You freeze. Mom coughs into the phone, angrily. You hang up, heart racing. Try again the next morning at 6:07 a.m., you're bound to get lucky at some point. Repeat for the next 25 days until school starts again, or until you get that first restraining order.
Posted by Kevin at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2005
forest love songs, from a birch to a maple
Animal Collective have covered Nirvana on two separate occasions: once during an in-store at Other Music in New York, and another time during the Breezeblock sessions (the same one that 'Sleeper Factory/Doggy' came from). Both times, the band drastically (of course) reworked the original song, to amazing effect. The guys in AC have remarked that Nirvana (like Pavement) was particularly important to them when they were growing up-
Animal Collective - On A Plain
Avey Tare and Panda Bear show this song a sort of gentle reverence, as if they were art historians brought in to clean a painting that had grown dingy and tinted, displayed for too long in public. They're not overly careful with it though, as the song is so much lighter in their hands, almost fragile and oddly celebratory in a way (listen to Avey's intermittent yelps). One of the best moments of this cover comes in the verse from 3:17 to about 4:00, when Panda and Avey punctuate the end of each line with an exclamatory avalanche of wild strumming. (This one's from the Other Music in-store)
Performed during their Breezeblock session, 'Polly' moves in a sort of halting, asthmatic way. Avey Tare sings the words as if they're being beaten out of him by the pulses of the guitar; everything about the song is delivered in a way that seems to imply some sort of extreme physical effort on the part of the band. Similar to one of the songs from "Campfire Songs" (specifically 'Moo Rah Rah Rain') texturally, this cover is a little harsher than 'On A Plain', but given the original, that seems like the way it shoulde be.
Posted by Kevin at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2005
statues melted roses blighted
Blood Brothers - the Butchery (Metronomes) [outtake from the "Crimes" sessions]
"Crimes" ended up as maybe my retroactive favorite record of 2004- I listened to it for the first time in March of this year, bracing myself for something that I thought would be composed entirely of blood-curdling screams and guitar-killing. But of course I was dead wrong; I mean, OK, "Crimes" does have some of that, but it also has moments of whiplash melodies and lyrics that make you want to stop, rewind, and listen to every track until you've got the words down pat. See for example the totally unfuckwithable 'Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck'.
'The Butchery' is from the sessions the band did for "Crimes", and it's a crazy goddamn shame that this was left off the album. Although I can see where it might have been too similar to the title track (just listen to those drums- they are the slower, dirtier, more insensate cousin of the vengeful percussion on 'Crimes' [the song]), the Blood Brothers (arguably) still could have made this work. Every element in 'The Butchery' seems to only work within a variable of the verb "creep": the drums crawl, the bass slinks, even the mandolin (or what sounds like one in the chorus), in a very unmandolin-like move, seems to snake its way into the song, covered in dust, stitched up along its sides, grimacing in pain.
Johnny Whitney handles the vocal duties in the verses on this one, lushly and beatifully describing a landscape of fire and violence, a burnt purple swath of waste, populated by skyscraper-burning children and shrieking businessmen. It's a pastoral ode written in the middle of a ground-scarring battle, the attention to detail is so striking: "so watch the trees/swaying in the breeze/keeping beat to the butchery". It's gorgeous, in the strangest, best way.
Buy "Crimes" here, and look out for the Blood Brothers split EP (w/Liars) of Doors covers here (soon). Also, the band has a (pretty great) remix they did of Gang of Four's 'Anthrax' for download on their media page.
Posted by Kevin at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2005
Neptune and Aeolus' winds
On snooze until Thursday (unforeseen work + holiday distractions). Immediately upcoming: Blood Brothers, Animal Collective, Disco Inferno and a band with all vowels in its name.
Working on the end of year mix. Matt of Greenideas may have something to put up too- a sequel to his Holiday Depression Mix of '04 (last seen here) which should rival, if not surpass, the Eeyorish depths of last year's installments.
Posted by Kevin at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
A wireframe mother-in-law
Cutest Puppy in the World - Venus Fly Trap
With 'Venus Fly Trap' you can sit on the beach and watch a slow set of slide guitar notes come rolling in, see how the cap of each wave crests and curls inward, under the weight of dense, foamy keyboard phrases. At 4:24, the guitar sounds like it's calling out a name, over and over again. Listen, at 6:40, to the way the song moves along the spectrum: from placid to turbulent.
Cutest Puppy in the World are an improv(!) duo, and have a live CD coming out on the excellent Sockets CDR label (which is run by Sean P., the man behind FFFFs and half of Hand-Fed Babies), sometime around the middle of January. You can listen to some more of the band's material over on their other site, right here. Also great is Layne Garrett's (half of Cutest Puppy in the World) solo improv material, which he releases under the name Space Superiority Is Not Our Birthright, But It Is Our Destiny- and you can listen to (and enjoy) that right here.
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Just saw this yesterday: Sunset Rubdown have signed to Absolutely Kosher (for their US label, still with (the great) Global Symphonic in Canada). Notice, as mentioned before here and elsewhere, that Sunset Rubdown is no longer just Spencer Krug- he's joined by Jordan Robson-Cramer, Mike Doerkson and Camilla Wynn Ingr now. I'm pretty sure though that the new EP (which you can pre-order over at AK) that's released in January is more solo stuff from Spencer. More good news: the band's heading into the studio this month to record the follow-up to "Snake's Got A Leg", which apparently already has a release date of May 2, 2006. Yes.
Posted by Kevin at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2005
Nothing says Christmas like This Heat
Can't believe I didn't mention this earlier.
Only 45 pounds (currency, not mass)! That's like, what, $75 (about)? Not bad. All the albums, remastered, plus a disc of unreleased material. A perfect gift for any family member (or friend, teacher, administrative assistant, hair dresser, reluctant lover, et al.).
Tomorrow, music. Cutest Puppy in the World, coming on Monday. They're too good to be relegated to a weekend post. woo!
Posted by Kevin at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2005
pull that hand back from the bonfire slowly
Someone once told me that their favorite kind of love songs were the ones that closely approximated the qualitative feeling of falling in love- mirrored that sort of exaltation and wild, breathless joy. Soft definitely imbue 'Higher' with that energy: the guitars are thick (they're just a touch less viscous than, say, Slowdive's) and restive, and lead singer Johnny Reineck's light vocals tread carefully through the small explosions taking place within the song. Lyrically, it's a cinch, "can't even get no rest/can't even get my mind inside again/you really got me higher", dude's been smacked by the heavy pink hand of infatuation. 'Higher' has the sort of ethereal catchiness that you want in a good wintertime love song (cold hands, warm breath).
Sidenote that caught my eye: for their single 'Droppin', Soft worked with the one and only Rory Allen Phillips , ex-Slowreader, ex-Impossible, and subject of at least four (1, 2, 3, 4) different posts on this site (and another one soon). Soft obviously have great taste in producers, they're bound to go far...anyway: 'Higher' is from the "Soft EP", which you can purchase right over at Insound (for a mere $6.50- steal). Can't wait to hear more stuff from these guys, especially if they keep up the heavy-gauge guitar sound...
Posted by Kevin at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2005
dig deep but don't dig too deep
Islands at the First Unitarian Church in Philly, 12/5/05 (the following song order is probably all wrong, outside of 'Tsuxiit' and 'Swans'):
1. Tsuxiit
2. Ones (???)
3. Jogging Gorgeous Summer
4. Rough Gem
5. Don't Call Me Whitney Bobby
6. I Feel Evil Creepin' In
7. Volcanoes
8. Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone
9. Humans
10. If
11. Swans
encore:
1. Graceland
I had consistently missed out on the Unicorns live show- seemed like I was always in the wrong city at the wrong time. So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that, during their quick US tour, Islands were going to be stopping in Philly, and would be playing one of my favorite venues in town. The First Unitarian Church is the go-to spot for R5 Productions, and understandably so- the neighborhood's nice, there's lots of room (it's a basement, a really nice basement), and the stage is situated so that everything feels pretty intimate, casual, and comfortable. So anyway though: Islands put on a ridiculously exciting show; their sound is big and bright, and it felt like something brand new.
The snow here last night did nothing to help punctuality, and we (3 of the little brothers were in tow) walked in on the tail-end of the A-sides' second-to-last song. Which was great. Then the last song was even better. Made me (almost) regret that I didn't drive recklessly fast on the way into the city. What I heard was poppy and thick, the last song featuring some heart-stoppingly deep bass and a full-on pastel-colored jam; didn't really hear too much of the Spector/Beatles biting that a lot of the band's reviews talk about fixate on, maybe they work the songs into a heavier lather when they play them out live. Wish I had caught their whole set.
Hail Social (who are Philly-based, like the A-sides) have recently traveled in wider circles, opening for Interpol on tour last fall. And there are a few similarities between the two bands- mostly in the way the bass moves (crossing up around the vocals), but Hail Social are a little bit lighter in some respects (lyrically and melodically). Singer/guitarist Davye Hawk has got some stark falsetto chops (every time I hear this song, I can't help but think he sounds like a late-night-wandering-the-streets Sam Prekop). The rhythm section is tight though, dudes've got the shift from dark brood to dance-fluffed rock down pat. From interviews with the band, it sounds like Hawk has already got another album finished (apparently with noisier guitars, synths, and a slant towards R&B danceability), drastically different from the self-titled Polyvinyl one-off.
Both the A-sides and Hail Social are featured on the recent "Songs from the Sixth Borough", a compilation of Philadelphia bands covering other Philly artists (of the past and present), put together by Plain Parade, and available right here.
Islands - Jogging Gorgeous Summer (live at the Echo, 10/30/05)
They came out together on stage to set up their equipment- went backstage and returned in their baptismal whites; Jim Guthrie joked that Tide was the secret to their spotlessness ("we get $5 every time we mention TIDE"). All 7 of them (Patrick Gregoire on bass clarinet/guitar, Jim Guthrie on guitar, J'aime Tambeur on drums, Nick Diamonds on keyboards and guitar, Alex and Sebastien Chow on violins, and Patrice Agbokou on bass) stood still, poised, until Nick huffed into the mic and they launched right into 'Tsuxiit', a rolling instrumental that is violin-spiked and slathered in keyboard hooks.
They played everything that's slated for "Return to the Sea" and more ('I Feel Evil Creepin' In' is chronologically new(er), I think- the chorus of which is indescribably catchy; Guthrie, Diamonds and Sebastien Chow all singing the title phrase simultaneously) and put an effective exclamation point on the "Graceland" influence by, you know, covering the title track of that album (funny moment: after the punishingly amazing finale of 'Swans', the audience started leaving, slowly. Guthrie came back out after a minute, but it looked like he was just retrieving equipment. Then Nick Diamonds came out and said, "just packing up". So everyone turns their backs and suddenly the band's all there, rocking the intro of the Paul Simon classic).
A socially awkward moment: someone called out for 'Tuff Ghost' midway through the set, and was met with boos from the rest of the crowd. Diamonds was nice about it though, first echoing the audience ("boo, that's not funny"), then thanking the crowd for coming out to the show, for taking a chance on an act that hadn't yet released anything.
But, as someone astutely pointed out, there are bootlegs- this version of 'Jogging Gorgeous Summer' (via the nice people over at the Secret Unicorns Forum), from the band's appearance at L.A.'s Echo at the end of October, is probably the cleanest live recording of Islands that I've heard, and you can get a good idea of the band's sound from this track. Here's a clumsy simile: Islands make music that's like a strange present, an aggregation of brightly colored, sun-bleached paint chips, bound together by cool, wet winds and yarns of varying texture. One of the elements that has carried through from the Unicorns is the uniform excellence of Nick's lyrics- which is why I chose this song in particular. Check out the heartbreaking simplicity of "billions of sunsets/one I'll remember/it's the one where you told me/you'd love me forever".
"Return to the Sea" will be released in the UK in January.
Posted by Kevin at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2005
some laughs can be condensed back into jokes
Starlight Ballrom was perfect for Ted Leo, for his music and for the dance/should-we-dance(?) crowd that came to see him. Interesting mix of high school indie-boppers, college brahs, blank-eyed parents, etc. The venue has a nice wide-open feel to it, with a sweet hardwood floor that's dying to be rollerskated upon, all bracketed on the edges by rows of large, soft booths.
Mountain High - Georgie and the Robbers
Some portions of the crowd clotted into circles of indian-style sitting before Mountain High came on, but by the time the band was done with their set, just about everyone was up on their feet. Definitely a high-wattage sound, with roots in Rye Coalition jamming out on Les Savy Fav's "Go Forth", and I'm not just saying that because the lead singer looks like he could be Tim Harrington's younger brother. Double drums mean lots of punctuation, but the guitars keep everything lively, moving gracefully (but with heavy feet).
Chris Richards played with something written on his cheek, standing on a stool, working with his guitar and an array of effects pedals. Live, the songs from "Purple Blaze" are particularly elliptical and delicate (the guitar patterns are full of perfect lacunae), carried by Richards' tender falsetto and supported by ribbony static. He definitely won over a lot of people, despite being "not that rocking", as he said in the middle of his set. RPR's got stage presence to spare too, telling fantastic stories about tours with the Pharmacists, both in the recent and remote past; his cover of "Sword in the Stone" (which was amazing- the kind of reworking that you get when the coverer obviously loves the source material) was motivated by repeated/therapeutic listens over the course of his last cross-country tour. Great set through and through, cannot wait to hear what his new band sounds like...
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Sons of Cain (live on KEXP)
I had never seen Ted Leo live before Friday night, but my little brothers had- they told me that his shows were all kinetic, composed of peak after peak after peak, with no let up. This turned out to be true. From the start of 'My Vien Ilin' until 'Treble in Trouble' at the end of the night, Ted and the Pharmacists were on point and played viciously tight, only pausing for short tuning breaks which were mostly filled by Ted's hilarious and educational banter. There was some minor crowd unpleasantness*, e.g. someone shouting 'play Kelly Clarkson', or 'fucking do it' (this was when Ted was dealing with guitar problems midway through the set), but nothing too egregious. Ted told a matching story about one of the tours that Ris Paul Ric had mentioned, about a house party they had played a long time ago in Boise, ID, where there were only about 4 people in the crowd. He said that, apparently, there are so few 'non-normal people' in the town that each one chooses an entire sub-genre to represent, i.e. goth, indie rock, hardcore, etc., but that all of them had come to the show together and had a good time (I'm telling it 100x worse than he did, it was actually really funny). Anyway, the set took songs from every release, and all of them were played immaculately- it was something to hear people shout back the "I'm here' line in 'Walking to Do' and sing along to everything in 'Me and Mia'. Played my favorite song, 'Timorous Me', towards the end, and they played it like it's been a prom standard for 30 years or something- more dramatic, more celebratory than even the recorded version.
This new song, 'Sons of Cain', which I found via the nice folks over at Timorous Me (to whom Ted dedicated 'Under the Hedge') has got me as excited for his next album as I was for "Shake the Sheets" when I heard those early demos for 'Me and Mia' and 'Angels' Share'. Some things to make you love this song: Ted's got an interesting take on Descartes: "I've got to sing just to exist/I do exist", AND it features some strongly propulsive bass-works from Dave, a la 'Hearts of Oak'. Ted finished 'Sons of Cain' on Friday night with two good rock-screams, must have been feeling it. Definitely one of the more fun shows I've seen this year.
--Didn't go to Akron/Family because my left ear was still semi-deaf from the show on Friday night. As much as I wanted to see the band, I also would love to still be able to hear when I'm 50. Hopefully will catch them on the return trip, when they play Philly again on the 9th.
Posted by Kevin at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2005
leisure receipts
Weekend schedule
Tonight: Ted Leo, Ris Paul Ric
Tomorrow: Akron/Family
Monday: Islands
Should be fun.
Oh, if you haven't seen it already, Rollie put up a brand new track ('Grim Fandango') from his Cadence Weapon full-length debut, "Breaking Kayfabe", over on Razorblade Runner; go grab it now, it's got some zing to it.
Posted by Kevin at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)