Teaching The Indie Kids to Dance Again

We're moving!

2005-08-29T00:32:00.000-04:00

to www.indiekids.org  Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.  New music should be up at that site by morning.

TTIKTDA IS MOVING!

2005-08-29T00:27:00.000-04:00

Movin' on up...

to www.indiekids.org

Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.

New music should be up at that site by morning.

Hype-Tastic!

2005-08-10T02:01:00.000-04:00

Kano - Remember Me - There is no justice in this world if, by this time next year, this song is not a staple of frat parties everywhere. I mean, it's got everything. Latin-infused shuffling beats, Kanos sick, super-charismatic flow, and a chorus that extolls the joys of booze fueled hookups. What's not to love? Kano is blowing up all over right now, and I only expect that to increase a few dozenfold after his US Debut @ the Knitting Factory here in NYC on Saturday. He deserves it. All the production prowess of Dizzee or Skinner with none of the incomprehensibility or literary pretentiousness, and with a flow so utterly, disarmingly charismatic, I can't NOT see this at least making a run at the charts once a smart stateside label starts pushing it.

[Buy Home Sweet Home from Amazon.com!]

Cloud Cult - You've Got Your Bones To Make A Beat - Equally hyped at the moment are Cloud Cult, the environmentalist collective from Minneapolis operates as a non-profit activist band. When they tour, they go to admirably extreme lengths to minimize their environmental footprint, and spend their days working for The Cause. "You Got Your Bones To Make A Beat" immediately stands out from their new album Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus - the band "does this one simple - just basic riffs," as promised. The result is a song that feels almost tribal in it's insistence. Mutant organ and flute sounds, vocals that trail off into falsetto world, and that Bass and those Drums. They chug through the song like the engines of some mad war machine. It's songs like this that made me call my blog "Teaching The Indie Kids To Dance Again."

[Buy Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus from Amazon.com! - the rofits go to a great cause, so it deserves your support twice over.]

Passive Agressive.

2005-08-02T00:04:00.000-04:00

Calla - Swagger - Brooklyn's Calla have come a long way. They've signed to Beggars Group recently, and with their new album, Collisions, seem poised to finally outshine their oft mentioned siamese twin of a band, the Walkmen. It's "Swagger" that does it really. The bass stomps, high hats in all the right places, not there for the disco set, but for mood - it's dynamics eerily recall earlier Walkmen hit "The Rat", but in all the right ways, and none of the wrong ones. It lacks "The Rat"'s almost whining tone, and maintains the furious momentum and to make the obvious pun, swagger. The song rolls over, but then it pulls you down and proceeds to punch you in the face with drums and hums.

[Collisions drops on September 27th. Pre-order it today from Insound.com!]

The Mobius Band - Twilight - Xylophones ring out and shne over a kraftwerk computerscape as an extremely normal sounding man sings about very normal troubles like shitty jobs and smoking dope and banality and age. The song is gentle, like Casiotone, or the Mountain Goats, but prettier and with more string sounds. But there are drums. Thunderous drums. And electric guitars. Serious Kevin Shields style shit. This is too aggressive to be compared to the likes of Casiotone. The Mobius Band have, after 3 years of hotly tipped singles splitting the difference between heavy electronica, and raw garage rock, moved beyond the titular 'one-sided' pun to put together The Loving Sounds of Static, a debut LP on Ghostly International simply overloaded with songs like this. Songs both gentle and demanding. Songs worth a listen.

[The Loving Sounds of Static is due out in a week on August 9th. You can preorder now from Insound and have it on release day!]

The Animals will forgive us again.

2005-07-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

Tigers & Monkeys - I'll Ruin your Thoughts - Tigers & Monkeys is described as a solo project of Shonali Bhowmik, but she's frequently backed up by a rotating cast of NY Rock all stars. But it's definitely all her at the center. "I'll Ruin Your Thoughts" seductively lopes through droning blues chords with a raspy, scorched vocal style. It's somewhat reminiscent of the Kills, but it lacks the distinctly pissed off razor sharp vibe of that duo, instead sounding more relaxed, more confident, and more welcoming. Be sure to also check out "Vampire in a Dirty City" at the bands website.

[I can't seem to find a link to buy the 5 song demo/EP I bought at a show a year ago, but the band is playing a few NYC shows in August, so if you're local, check them out.]

The Invisible Cities - Birthday - The Invisible Cities take their name from the surrealist Italo Calvino, and this is entirely appropriate. Their debut album, Watertown, has an airy, floating quality, insubstantial, but huge. Birthday is a perfect example. The tiniest hints of a rhythm section creep through the quietly strummed guitar and the wishing, hopeful vocals. Is it supposed to mean something that the song is immediately followed by the drunken, loud, riotous, and short "Double Fisted"?

The Invisible Cities - Bumper Cars - I'll give you three today. "Bumper Cars" is a whole other side of Watertown. Where "Birthday" is all loss and regret and nostalgia, "Bumper Cars" is a wild night on the town, bright lights, impaired judgement, no though, all action, all fun. There's still a certain delicacy in the layering of the instrumental work, but it's all overwhelmed by the momentum of everything. Any element in the song that doesn't move forward is simply left in the dust, in favor of pushing ahead, and pulling the listener along.

[The Invisible Cities have a very nice website where you can buy

Watertown

, and even listen to the whole thing first.]

On the Music News front, Franz Ferdinand, TV On The Radio, and Cut Copy are touring together in the fall. On the one hand, this is the making of a very cool line up. On the other hand, they are playing arenas, which will likely blow. More importantly though, according to Pitchfork, the tour has been dubbed the "Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Tour 2005." I haven't been able to get in touch with anybody to confirm this, it could very well just be some shit that the fork came up with. If someone who knows is reading, please do let us know. As it is, I want my royalty check. Or at least some tickets or something.

UPDATE: Well, that was fast. Pitchforks Rob Kleckner has informed me that is is in fact a classic little piece of Fork Wit and not an official name.

Ah well, the righteous fury was fun for a few hours.

No No, This Can't Be Right

2005-07-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

Hard-Fi - Cash Machine - Hard-Fi are yet another hotly tipped Brit band with all the right namedrops from the Clash and the Happy Mondays to the Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party. But "Cash Machine's" dub bassline, glammed out guitar, and tales of woe and debt have more hook in them their contemporaries, more modern and vital, less forcefully retro, and perhaps most relevantly for me, a heck of a lot more of the great second wave ska sound of the Specials or The English Beat. The band's debut, Stars of CCTV is a big glorious, hornless ska record, with that trademark upward guitar stroke rearing it's head everywhere. They'll be playing the Mercury and Rothko this week for those readers of mine who are NYC dwellers. Go - you won't be dissapointed.

[Buy the "Cash Machine" single from Insound!]

The Solution - Get On Back - Scott Morgan is one of those unknown legends desperately in need of a second chance that the musicblog world so seems to love. In the 60's, Morgan fronted The Rationals, and worked with people like Bob Seger, and Jim Osterberg (AKA Iggy Pop before he became Iggy Pop). Somehow, Morgan has hooked up with an army of soul crazed Swedes from bands like the Hellacopters to form The Solution. Communicate! is an homage to the greats of Chicago, Memphis and Detroit, a hard boiled soul album that boogies through time and captivates with an absolutely irresistible level of catchiness. "Get On Back" is a wild unrestrained frenzy of pianos and horns tinny drums and Morgans frenzied white boy soul howl. Put it on, turn it up loud, and rock out. Be sure also to check out ScottMorganMusic.com where you can listen to an MP3 of the PHENOMENAL "I Have To Quit You Babe" (which was going to be posted here as well before I saw it on his page)

[Criminally, Communicate! has not yet been released in the states. You can pick up an Import from Amazon though, and Morgan's website has some other goodies.]

Thanks for all the well wishes and welcome backs folks. It feels good to be bloggin' again. And I'll reiterate my requests from last week - Hey Music Industry/Music Journo Industry/Other Folks - You Hirin? If so, Hit Me - and I'll throw a Resume your way.

Oh, and finally, those of you who have bookmarked anything other than http://teachingtheindiekidstodanceagain.blogspot.com should probably change your bookmarks since all the other domains are going to be expiring soon.

Why don't you laugh at my jokes?

2005-07-13T10:49:00.000-04:00

The Amazing Pilots - I've Got Wings Irene - The Amazing Pilots are a pair of brothers from Ireland and their many friends that, were it not for some bad label luck (theirs folded a week before their first single), may have stolen all of the Arcade Fires thunder last year. The two bands are certainly of a piece, creating heartbreaking, orchestrated, but most of all big music. "I've Got Wings Irene" is a song about a breakup, about leaving home and loss, about growth and Making It. There's echoes of countrymen the Frames in the musics swell and crescendo, in the rustic orchestra quality that the Pilots seem to be aiming for. It's a song about a relationship thats gone on too long and the messy disentanglement afterwards. The Pilots debut album, Hello My Captor is on Undertow records, and you can check out another standout track, "The Price of Winter" - complete with accordion solo and what sounds like a banjo on the leads - at the label site.

[Buy Hello My Captor from Amazon.com!]

The Church - Chromium - I'd like to think I don't need to tell you anything about the Church. I hope I don't need to tell you anything about The Church. Still, you may never have heard "Chromium". It's a newer Church song, originally found on 2002's more or less forgettable After Everything, Now This. 3 Years later, the band has put out El Momento Descuidado, a collection of acoustic tunes, some old, some new, and "Chromium" is revealed as the song it always should have been. While the album will likely garner more attention for it's acoustic reworking of songs like "Metropolis", and "Under the Milky Way," it's the discovery and reinvention of those more forgotten cuts that make the album worthwhile. "Chromium" is a jangly, nervous ballad, overloaded with internal rhymes, and a swooping falsetto chorus, and a delicate shuffling beat. "Broken records, faded labels" - if they keep this up, it's a fate the Church likely won't be destined for anytime soon, still pushing the boundaries after nearly 25 years.

[El Momento Descuidado will be availiable on July 26th. Preorder it from Amazon now.]

And I said this yesterday, and I'll say it again today. If Y'all're interested in a willing slave employee and are willing to pay decent, just holler over with an email and you can have my resume and such.

Technorati Tags: MP3s

Give Me Unconsciousness

2005-07-12T14:28:00.000-04:00

So, yes I've received many of your emails and instant messages and comments and other harangues to come back to this blog.

I've been working on it. Hopefully I'm back for real this time. No big promises though. Not this time. The world has been falling apart somewhat of late the past few months, and I'm just trying to tread water. (that said, anyone hiring, or just looking for a freelance writer, or whatever, send an email this way, and you'll have my resume promptly. If it's an incentive, a steady paycheck that I can live on makes the return of this blog to full daily status that much more likely.)

But I have some choice tunes to share with you, and many more where these two come from.

The Hypertonics - The Moments We Don't Allow - The Hypertonics are from New York. Some time ago, they decided to say "fuck it" to the whole capitalist record industry. They now give away all of their music for free on their website. They also do a very nice job of explaining why, over on their website. They just today released their newest studio recording, an album entitled Vigilante Ballast that careens between the retro and the thouroughly modern. "The Moments We Don't Allow" is a steady pump of spacey surf rock that wouldn't have been out of place on Bossanova. It pulls at the simple infectious energy of older Hypertonics songs like "Beer get me a Woman, Woman Get Me a Beer," but where those older tracks often sounded laid back, if not downright lazy, the new album is a forceful in it's determination. It makes demands not casually, but powerfully.

[Download Vigilante Ballast from TheHypertonics.com - Be sure to check "America is a Miracle" and "You Get So Uncomfortable When You're Uncomfortable" - they made choosing a track today very tough.]

Rachid Taha - Rock El Casbah - It's a cover. It's a novelty. It's also the best damn thing I've heard on my hiatus from this blog. Announcing an entrance with a fanfare of flutes and drums before those distinctive guitar chords declare to the world that this is not just another Clash cover. This is an ironic Clash cover. See, Rachid Taha is Algerian. The Casbah is in Casablanca. Get it? But enough of that. The point is that Taha has infused the old staple with that soaring Rai trained voice of his and enough raucous energy to make it seem vital again, rather than the last desperate grab for relevance it feels like when I listen to the Clash original these days. The multilayered drums, both the traditionally african rhythyms and the pounding, almost reggae layers under the chorus. The tense stabs of violin. but mostly just Tahas vocals. There's a venom there, and a swing that makes this something special, even translated, and when that English chorus comes in, with the gang vox and the spit in the sharifs eye... Oh, it's something perfect, oh yes.
[Buy Tékitoi from Amazon.com - the album also includes a great collaboration with Brian Eno.]

Pick Your Foot Up Off the Brakes.

2005-04-27T12:31:00.000-04:00

The Mountain Goats - Dialudid (Marrtronix Version) - So, The Sunset Tree has finally dropped, and now I need to say something about it, because it's probably the best album of the year so far. It's wierdly off-putting at first, in much the same way I think, that people expected Tallahassee and We Shall All Be Healed to be. The thing is, Darnielles been working with a full band for 3 albums now, but for the first 2 of those, he was still telling the same stories as always - it gave things a continuity that easily haded off the cries of "sellout!" But now, the stories John is telling are his own. And Dilaudid is the final buildup in an opening quintet that explodes into the riotous, raucous "Dance Music" as the albums first climax. On album, Dilaudid is tense tense tense, eschewing Johns guitar and bass in favor of a syrupy background of cellos while John D's proclamatory vocals lay down an ultimatum to a lover. The Marrtronix remix though, is something else. A B-side to the internet only Dilaudid Single (Availiable from 4AD records for just a few GB pounds - you can also get it from iTunes for 4 bucks.) The cello is replaced by a distinctly Smith's esque jangly guitar loop, which seems terribly out of place given Johns vocals. It desperately needs drums. But it's also compelling. The guitar has a hypnotic swirl after about 30 seconds or so, and I find it dangerous to listen to the song when driving - I end up doing what Darnielle tells me. And somebody, please, add drums to this. My own experiments with Garageband are distinctly lacking.

[Buy The Sunset Tree from Insound.com!]

The Moaners - Too Many People - In setting up my music collection on my computer again, I got to go through a lot of albums I hadn't listened to in some time. Among those was The Moaners Dark Snack, and I had to check 2 or 3 times that I really, actually, NEVER got around to posting this gem. It's dirty southern bluespunk - think The Kills with less sex and more paranoia, or the Drive By Truckers with a bit of the rawness of X. Too Many People is almost claustrophobic - there's no space here, and the effect is to send shivers through a listener. Where most songs about urban sprawl take an outraged tack, going after the traditional punk rock tack of pluggin feelings of alienation and hostility to conformity, the Moaners instead create a song that makes it downright creepy. the idea of crowds, traffic, parking lots, it all becomes something to be terrified of rather than to hate.

[You can Stream 2 more tracks at Yep Roc Records website, and buy the album too!

Come on and Live.

2005-04-25T14:00:00.000-04:00

The Computer is Repaired. The Music is Restored. It's time to boot this motherfucker back up and Push PLAY.

Spread the word: The Indie Kids, they are a Dancin' Again. And this time, there ain't no stoppin the music.

Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel the Illinoise - So, Sufjan Stevens has finished another state, moving south from Michigan and on to Illinois. And the tracklist should have been an indication that he's continued his long steady fall right off the deep end. And thank god. Because if he hadn't, we wouldn't have "Come On Feel The Illinoise," with it's surprisingly dancable horns and choirgirls and xylophones - Sufjan's gone vaudeville, like a whitebread David Byrne without the nervous stutter. Every time I try to listen to another track on Illinois, I end up struggling to suppress the urgge to skip back to this moment of magic. When the guitars and the string section take over and the song transitions into "Part II" we have something transcendant. I don't remember who it was that said Morrissey is trying to become the weird, gay, british indie Frank Sinatra, but it seems like Sufjan might be trying for crazy, christian, indie Sinatra title himself. And he's not falling too far from the mark on "Come On Feel the Illinois" - that whispering croon lacks the force of old Blue Eyes, but the backup singers are downright transformative - the MP3's genre tags may say folk, but thats hardly an appropriate label for this album. It's more vital, more kinetic, and perhaps most appropriately, more urban. Where Greetings from Michigan found it's urban moments in the joblessness of Flint and the desolation of Detroit, Illinois captures the hopeful vibrancy of the windy city on the lake, the constant transformation and rebuilding of a city thats probably been destroyed more times than any other city in America. There's a wierd optimism in that really.

[Illinois isn't availiable for Pre-order yet, but you can buy Michigan from Insound now to show Sufjan some love, and buy the new one when it drops in July.]

The Cloud Room - Devoured In Peace - Once upon a time, a Band sent me an Email. It had Two Songs in it. I posted one, and people seemed to love it very much. That band was The Cloud Room, and the song was entitled "Hey Now Now". Now, about 8 months later, suddenly The Cloud Room are Hot Shit™, and everyone seems to want a piece of them. So I'm going to post the other song they sent me. The recording is serious demo-quality here (it's why I posted "Hey Now Now" in October - this is a better song), but thats okay, because "Devoured in Peace" fucking rules. It's a schizophrenic song, at one point an empty, vocals and drums ballad, and at others a serious Bowie/Bolan rave up full of wordless singalong hooks and a keyboard part that, if thrown behind a debate about the relative merits of llamas and alpacas, would actually make said debate interesting. Thrown into this already incendiary song, and you have something magic. Ignore the tape hiss, ignore the hum, and hum along instead. Unlike other bands that have played the glam card recently, The Cloud Room aren't going for the straight up sleaze card, instead preferring to play on that slightly shady version of class evoked in their name - an old speakeasy in the Chrysler building - and in doing so, have hit on a serious winner.

[If you missed "Hey Now Now" in October, Insound has your back with an MP3, along with the bands fresh pressed full length record full of wondrous songs, and serious studio value. Grabitup!]

Also, The Residents are auctioning off an eyeball.

See ya tomorrow. F'realz.

Keith got the red card.

2005-04-01T00:17:00.000-05:00

Hey folks, Chris from Uncritical here. Keith's having problems, as stated earlier. Thus, I arrive to fill in.

Midnight Movies - Blue Babies - Potentially my favorite track from Midnight Movies' self-titled debut album. People have remarked that its devoid of substance, but style rules the day in the 00s. Personally, I'm quite happy with a band who can so effectively echo the bands of the 80s who entranced me - and not in a sound-of-the-week, "We love Gang Of Four" dance rock reprise. Its the love for the artifacts and echoes of what Midnight Movies purvey that draw people to them, something I don't think Midnight Movies are necessarily against. This is the good side of the post-punk revival, style over substance without such drab style.

You can buy it from Insound.

We Are Wolves - La Nature - Bizarre floods and washes of sound emerge from We Are Wolves, striking down the non-believers and crushes naysayers. Jerky spasms that pass for vocals screech over a cunningly conceived mess of synthesizer and bass guitar, metronomic pace keeps the groove friendly, and the effects are never sparing. There's method to the mayhem and I expect some friendly attention to be paid to this trio as a carryover from the hype over fellow Montrealeans Les Georges Leningrad. They're already rocking Canadian radio charts and I'd love to see more people get on board with them. Can we have something this good as the Next Big Thing for once?

You can find more information at the Mintaka Conspiracy website, home to a whole pile of great acts.

Well wishes out to Keith's computer. Have it drink some ginger ale and go to bed early. That always works for me.

Substitute Teacher.

2005-03-30T10:40:00.000-05:00

My computer is still out of commission, but here is a guest post from the wonderful Hamish of Verbose Coma, the first of a number of Guest Posts from a variety fo individuals.

When I was 14 in the north of England, I would stay up late on Wednesday and Sunday nights to watch Toby Amies and Paul King, respectively, present Alternative Nation and 120 Minutes on MTV Europe. My friend Chods would do the same, and the next day we'd discuss all the new videos we'd seen, and new bands we discovered. One Sunday night at Chods' house, we had a little indie-rock epiphany. A new band from Brighton on the south coast of England, and a track called "You're Not My Babylon". This is a band I have adored since that very first time I heard them, and here is mini-essay as to why.

These Animal Men - You're Not My Babylon - To be struck by a great song is one thing, but when the bands looks so cool at the same time, it's hard not to fall hard. Roughly translated, they looked like my friends and I. Adidas tracksuit tops, Samba trainers, mod haircuts. In fact, with the exception of the amount of amphetamines they were doing, we were all pretty alike.

This song, taken from their debut mini-album entitled Too Sussed? which featured cover art of said skinny English boy in nouveaux-mod attire, crucified–a sign of the times in an England bored of grunge, and striving for its own sound.

[Buy Too Sussed? from Amazon.com.]

Following the mini-album, they released their first full album, (Come on, Join) The High Society, contributing to a new sound of England’s indie scene. A scene the NME and Melody Maker wanted to call “The New Wave of New Wave,” and they even ran a special cover feature on it. The cover featured bands such as Elastica, Menswear, These Animal Men, S*M*A*S*H, Shed 7, and a new Manchester band called Oasis. They were big in Britain, bigger in Japan, and the NME wanted them to make it in the US too. So they sent Oasis and These Animal Men to New York City. Oasis played Wetlands, in what is still heralded as a highlight of their career, and These Animal Men went to a diner with Quentin Crisp. One band made it, one didn’t. You do the math.

[Buy (Come on, Join) The High Society from Amazon.com.]

These Animal Men – False Identification - This track, taken from their third album Taxi for These Animal Men, is where it all fell apart, and at the same time, they made their best work in my opinion. Maybe they couldn’t take the pressure, or maybe they took too much of something else, but they were given a good spot at the Phoenix Festival the summer of 1994, and they were greeted with boos and jeers from a hostile crowd. Not ones to show their disappointment, TAM just stood there. Silent and still for their entire set. The crowd began a football terrace chant of “Taxi… taxi…” and the album title was born. This album was the two-finger salute to their critics, and it remains one of my favorite records of all time.

[Buy Taxi for These Animal Men from Amazon.com.]

These Animal Men – April 7th - After a long hiatus, TAM returned in 1997 with a final album, entitled Accident & Emergency. Gone were the t-shirts and Adidas, they’d gone black pants and leather. The media hated them more, but I embraced it still. The guitar hooks were there, but now they drenched their tracks in Hammond organ and marching drums. This is their live set closing track, a cutting romp through their media history from day one to the present (their first single, Speeed King made headlines after being banned for featuring a place setting of speed and rolled up money). If you need more convincing about TAM, image if the Libertines were ten times better, ten times more raucous, ten times more talented, and ten times less distracted.

[Buy Accident & Emergency from Amazon.com.]

Extra Credit: Check out what is likely the only site dedicated to These Animal Men, Supercharged Soul.

To conclude, I would like to thank Keith for kindly letting me post here, we at VerboseComa are huge fans of this site.

I'm not dead...

2005-03-28T18:43:00.000-05:00

But my hard drive is close.

Regular updates will resume shortly. The music is backed up. If you'd like to guest post, holler @ the address on the right.

Let's go to where it's fun.

2005-03-16T13:03:00.000-05:00

The Ravonettes Feat. Ronnie Spector - Ode to LA - It had to happen eventually. The Ravonettes have dropped all the silly self imposed rules about waves upon waves of distortion, staying in one key, and only writing 3 minute songs. They've finally given up on being the next Jesus & Mary Chain, and given up on being the next White Stripes (Though Sune Wagner hasn't quite given up on imitating Jack White - more on that in a moment). Instead, the Ravonettes have dropped all the pretense, and given in to what they were always meant to be. An absolutely killer guitar pop band, full of 50's revival energy and capitalizing on Wagners intricaat guitar work under Sharin Foo's great vocal range. And then, there's Ronnie Spector, a woman who has been around the music industry longer than most music fans today have been alive. I had the privelige of seeing Ronnie live at a memorial for Joey Ramone a few years back. She still had it then, soing the Ronettes hit "Be My Baby" (With which Wagner has a strange obsession - it's covered on the newest Raveonettes album and he's done so with prior bands as well). And so, Sune Rose Wagner has set out to be the Jack White to Ronnie Spector's Loretta Lynn. (Joey Ramone attempted to coax her into a similar career revival 20 years back. The best he could get was a stunning duet, and a lifelong friend.) Word is, he's working on a whole album with her now. And if "Ode to LA" is any sign of whats coming, I can't wait. The song is absolutely gorgeous, as Sharin and Ronnie harmonize for about a minute and a half before Ms. Spector just starts belting out those rich notes like no one else before or since has ever been able to. She absolutely commands this song, and transforms it from a mere 50's aping bit of guitar pop into a flat out bit of time travel.

Only one track today because I didn't realize that I'm a half hour late for work! I'll give you an extra special bonus tomorrow instead!

Extra Credit: Go download the cover of My Boyfriends Back from The Mystical Beast.

[Preorder Pretty in Black, due out April 26, from Amazon.com!]

You Like Me!

2005-03-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all of you who voted for me for the Best Kept Secret Bloggie award! It's an honor to win and I'd like to thank lots of people, but mostly those people over on the sidebar, and down there in the comments section, and over in my email inbox, because they're the reason I keep doing this whole thang yo. And to those whom I owe replies - you're not forgotten, I'm just crazy busy. Look for some big announcements on the horizon. Shit be moving in the background...

On to todays music:

New Model Army - White Coats - Last Thursday Night, I had the privelige of seeing one of the greatest bands that never got their due play Southpaw, as part of their first American tour in 12 years. New Model Army are back folks, and they have a new album due out this summmer. But a lot of folks out there probably don't know these guys, so I figured it might be wise to do a little retrospective and post 2 of the hilights from Thursday's show, and the bands landmark, 1988 album, Thunder and Consolation. Well, thats not totally accurate. "White Coats" was a single released just before the album, and is included on the album nowadays as a bonus track, to close it out. Fiercly political punk rock, rooted in british folk, New Model Army's brand of post-punk sounds a bit like a stripped down, vicious answer to the bombast of the late 80's hair metal, and the splintered aftermath of punks explosion. NMA's brought it in close, with a 3 piece, filling out the sound with keyboards and the occasional hired string, but really, behind it all is an absolutely punishing rythym section. Original drummer Robert Heaton passed on about a year ago, but he lives on through his work on albums such as Thunder. As the song closes out with a repeated cry of "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH," you can't help but stand up and cry out in chorus.

New Model Army - Inheritance - Inheritance is even more proof of Heaton as the bands soul. The song has a jazzy feel almost, stripped almost entirely to just drums - only an occasional bass note intrudes for the whole of the songs first minute. Meanwhile the vocals are delivered in a vaguely menacing cadence, with harmonies offset just enough to add to the sense of danger in the song, while a pair of archetypal parents are addressed with a variety of nasty remarks, and musings on a future that seems prewritten. The song is a mess of pure tension, seemingly waiting for a release, but that isn't New Model Army's style. This isn't a band about catharsis. This is about that wants to make you squirm. They want to make the world uncomfortable with their presence before they spit in it's face and walk away. If they had done anything else, they'd just be another U2 clone. On album, the track leads in to one of NMA's signature songs (and one written by Heaton), the incomparable "Green & Grey," which is worth the price of the album in it's own right - which is why I'm not posting it here.

[Sadly, Thunder & Consolation is out of print, but most of the vital tracks are availiable from NMA's online store @ Ideal Copy on the many compilations that have been put out.]

Has she got a full deck?

2005-03-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

Fiona Apple - Oh Sailor - So, for those that have been following the drama fest surrounding the release of Fiona Apple's forthcoming album, the full album is circulating online and can now be heard. The leak isn't terribly high quality, but it's good enough to show that the album is. And it's a phenomenal album. Simply amazing really. I've never been huge on Fiona, as in the past, she's tended towards either not having enough control over her own work (the schmaltzily overproduced and overmarketed "Criminal"), or too much (The title of When the Pawn... is proof enough of the problem with overindulgence). And yet in the end, I've always come down on the side of defending her, much to the befuddlement of some of my more rockist friends. The reason's pretty simple really. Fiona Apple is like Nick Cave's fucked up little sister, spinning out murder ballads as wordy as they are gorgeous, dressing up sparse melodies with huge arrangements. "Oh Sailor" is a classic example. The song is simple - almost too simple, a basic 12 bar blues piano, and a ballad from a confused lover. But Jon Brions production comes in and just injects the song full to the brim with syrupy strings, making it sound like something out of a bizarre broadway production, and Fiona's voice just sounds utterly and completely broken. It suggests Sony's reasons for not releasing the album have very little to do with the album, and very much to do with Fionas reluctance to engage in the practice that gave the Wilco story such a happy ending. Fiona's always been known for being a bit tempremental on the road (I remember her walking out on a gig at Roseland in NY some years ago because the sound quality at Roseland was not up to her standards - though at Roseland, the sound does, admittedly, suck), and I could easily see her refusing to tour. Especially in her supposed present state. Supposedly Brion had to beg her to record this one. Thank god he did.

This track will come down tonite, or as soon as somebody from either Sony, or Fiona's camp emails me and says "TAKE IT DOWN". I have no desire to fight with anyone or get sued here.

Thanks to David for the nice work on the new logo, seen above. I welcome any and all unsolicited gifts of art. If they're good, as you can see, I'l use 'em. Also, Uncritical has relaunched as a daily, and has an awesome new look as well. Go tell Chris I said hi.

A Fake Jamaican Took Every Last Dime....

2005-03-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

The Kidz Bop Kidz - Float On - the Kidz Bop Series has been a reliable moneymaker of a compilation for some years now featuring romper room friendly renditions of big pop hits, sung by an arsenal of young children, and occasionally some celebrity soundalike handlers helping with the choruses. The latest entry in the series, Kidz Bop 7, has entered the charts in the top 10 this past week, and features, among other tracks, a rendition of Modest Mouses Float On, one of the tracks upon which I blame this whole MusicBlogging Phenomenon of which I am a part, ever since Sean posted it on Said the Gramophone (speaking of which, Sean is back! Welcome Back Sean! Hooray!) about a year ago. The Kidz Bop version though, this is something else. The instrumentals are just a half notch off, stripped down, lightweight coverband material. But vocally... You've got an army of kids chanting most of the lyrics, and riding herd is what sounds like Isaac Brocks second grade teacher evil twin. Except, if anyone even resembling Isaac Brock started teaching in a school, I suspect there would be a few hundred parental complaints by day two. Which makes me wonder how these kids managed to make it through these sessions. Especially singing about wrecking cop cars, and fake Jamaican scams. But then, I guess, just like with Usher And Lil' Jon, all the kids will hear is YEAH!.

[Buy Kidz Bop 7 From Amazon.com]

Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll - If we're going to be posting Novelty Tracks today (and we are, as you can tell), than theres none better lately than the title track of Mylo's debut, Destroy Rock & Roll - in the midst of an album of 80's pop inflected electronica (think Madonnas instrumental tracks, put front and center, with sampled vocals), is a song that celebrates all of it, while preaching it's destruction. The songs centerpiece is a vocal sample of some evangelist calling for the elimination of such stars as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, the entire cast of Purple Rain, and more artists than I really could get into. He's right about half of 'em, I have to say. But underneath this is a killer, if repetitive little beat that just funks it's way into your brain, as our christian buddy rattles off his Enemies List incessantly. I am rapidly finding the idea of assassinating the likes of Bananarama, REO Speedwagon, and Rick Springfield more and more appealing. It's a little frightening actually. Keep me away from the guns please?

[Buy Destroy Rock & Roll from Amazon.co.uk]

Running out of scary nightmares

2005-02-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

Soldout - I Don't Want to Have Sex With You - This is some groundbreakin shit right here, courtesy of my favorite on-hiatus blogger. Not the song so much, though it's a servicable, if not outright good piece of trashy, funky electro. No, whats groundbreaking is the website associated with the song. Go there. Click on the banner on the top that reads "Make Your Own Sex." Be amazed. Make Your Own Remix. The band offers up multiple drum tracks, alternate leads, 7 possible vocal tracks, and then - once you've got a version you like... just click the button in the corner to BUY YOUR OWN COPY OF THE SONG ON CD.

If thats not awesome, I'll eat my fuckin' hat. And unlike many who say that, I have a hat. I wear it often. It is wool. I can assure you it is probably not tasty.

Something for Rockets - Tragic City - Before starting on Something for Rockets, the bands musical DNA must be addressed. Particularly, frontman/muli-instrumentalist Rami Perlman.His father is Itzhak Perlman, the legendary concert violinist, and yes, Rami is classically trained. Now that thats out of the way, let's look at Tragic City. The so opens okay, but around 2 minutes all the instrumental tracks that seem to have been isolated earlier colide, and the falsettos come in, and the song just becomes a riot of handclaps and skittering beats, and a wierdly motwownish vocal howl that is totally out of place with the somewhat forced sounding baritone of most of the vocals on the album.

[Buy Something For Rockets self titled debut from their website!]

Burnin' Up in Heaven...

2005-02-22T10:23:00.000-05:00

Billy Harvey - Dope Wings - This ones for Hunter. "Dope Wings" is a reggaefied little blast of pop from Austin, TX's Billy Harvey. It's reminiscent of some early Beck stuff in some ways, particularly the reverb heavy vocals and killer little one liners such as "I'll be like Flash Gordon in the atmosphere, givin all the planets just a little tug, wearin a Space Helmet like a Beer Mug." It's a druggy stomp of a number, and Billy Harvey also has a really phenomenal website, where you can listen to songs like "Belly Up" and "Like a Boy" and "Stupid Daniel" which show that he's not ALWAYS trying to be Beck - Sometimes he does Wilco, or the Get Up Kids, or They Might Be Giants impressions - and good ones too.

[This is a link to Billy Harveys website. Where you can like, Buy his Album or something. It's called Pie, okay?]

The London Apartments - Streetlights Are Soldiers - something quiet for a Morning staring at the suns reflection in the snow. The London Apartments are from Ontario, Canada, and make beautiful dreamy music that might get classed as IDeMo, ala the Postal Service, except they lack that groups kineticism and hooks, favoring instead wider, more lush soundscapes, reminiscent at times, of a distortion free My Bloody Valentine, or of the quiet moments in the gaps of an M83 album. The Crescendoes of those artists removed, we are left instead with "Streetlights Are Soldiers," guitars plucked quietly, as the downtempo drum machine shuffles around in back. And high pitched vocals that, by all acounts, are coming from the male half of this boy-girl duo (or so the release notes say), though you wouldn't know it, except that there's a hint of strain on the vocals - at first blush, it sounds like distortion, but in reality, it's probably just flat out difficulty reaching those long, high, whispered notes, echoing out into the void - much in the way of a lamp on an empty street.

[The London Apartments have a great website with Blogs and stuff, and Dialogue of One the EP from which this track is taken, is availiable as a DRM free Mp3 from the Internet Archive under a Creative Commons Liscense, which is very awesome.]

Sorry about my recent disappearance. Things've been busy. Life needs to stop getting in the way of blogging.

That or someone needs to pay me to do something that is at least tangentially related to musicblogging so I can make it look like work. This whole salesgig just isn't cutting it in that department.

Held back by the place I come from.

2005-02-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Little Barrie - Burned Out - Little Barries press material spends a great deal of time puffing the bands frontman up as a guitar virtuoso, a sort of "British Jack White," called upon by the likes of Moz, Weller, gallagher and Marr for guitar expertise. It's hype. Barrie Cadogan is a talented guitarist, sure, but first off, the real work here is being done by bassist Lewis Wharton and Drummer Wayne Fulwood. Barrie happens to be the lucky little guy standing on stage with an absolutely gigantic rhythym section, turning out some absolutely blistering stripped down funk-rock. "Burned Out" is the leadoff track from the bands debut EP which drops stateside in 2 weeks.

[Tour dates and more band info at LittleBarrie.com]

Other Passengers - Bank - I slept on Other Passengers for a long time, having gotten the EP back in October when it came out, on the strength of some big buzz, and at the time, I wasn't blown away. It's been a serious grower though - especially Bank, with it's laid back, computerized opening beat (I'm convinced that high pitched bleeep tone is the digital equivalent of cowbell when used properly), and vaguely industrial, foundsound rhythyms, "Bank" hypnotizes you before the vocals come in and simply take control. It's a commanding performance, the sort of thing that, when placed at the center of the psychedelic swirl of guitars that defines most of Other Passengers first EP, seeks to control visions and induce hallucinations. It sounds like nothing so much as a harrowing flashback to the joyful trip of the Flaming Lips, out of tune, oppressive, and as the song concludes, cathartic and explosive. Where Wayne Coyne trails off in bliss, Other Passengers take their punches until freaked out beyond capacity, they lash out with a sonic storm that demands attention.

[Buy Is It Nothing To You, All Those Who Pass By? From Insound.com!]

Also, Blogger announced this morning that they changed the comment system. For one thing, you no longer need to register to have a post signed with an email address/URL. Obviously this is great news. I hope to see some more comments here now.

Oh, and Yes, I know about the Moz/Firefox download problem. I assure you., the songs are there, the links work. Stream it and File->Save As. I have no problem if you stream the files rather than downloading immediately, though I know some blogs do.

The sun is shinin' but it's rainin now.

2005-02-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

The House of Love - Love You Too Much - Yesterday, I promised to explain my house of Love post. But someone in the comments beat me to it. They're back together. Not only that, but in a few weeks, they'll be releasing their first album in 11 years. Their first album with the original lineup in 15 years. Needless to say, for the microscopic group of demented cultists who understand the gravity of this news, it's huge. For the rest of you... well, when "Love You Too Much," the lead single of Days Run Away hits streets on Valentines day... well, hate to say we told you so. This track is infectious, with cowbell bubbling up from out of nowhere, and a singalong chorus that might be what it finally takes for the House to get some long overdue respect.

The House of Love - Gotta Be That Way - The album isn't entirely a departure into Beatlesesque pop though. Gotta Be That Way is a bit more classic HoL. Terry Bickers almost humed vocals communicate a perfect mix of acceptance and despair. It's an optimistic song about the end of optimism. Faith in the loss of faith. We'll even contemplate prayer at this point. And the guitars ring out in hallelujah.

So I Memorized, The Diamonds in Your Eyes...

2005-02-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

The House of Love - Shine On - The House of Love are one of those rare historical oddities that really needs revisiting and a reputation boost. Signed on the strength of this single in 1988, The House of Love were simultaneously the last breath of british post-punk ala the Smiths, and themissing link between that music and the manchester scene that was to come. Combining a distinctly moz-esque baritone with riging guitars, thrilling rhythyms, and raw, lyrical feeling. "Shine On" is a thrilling debut statement from a band in need of revisiting. The opening hook hits like a brick, and the guitar solo about 2 minutes in absolutely flors. When the song fades away, giving in to loops of feedback and congas coming in from the distance, it's clear whats coming next.

The House of Love - Loneliness is a Gun - An old early B-Side, "Loneliness is a Gun" may be the bands finest moment. A quiet, acoustically driven ballad, it absolutely nails the bands core emotion. The resignation throughout this song, as it swells into a duet, lovers eternally seperated, the pathetic, desperate loneliness, is just cut-to-the-core resonant. Dying to meet you never sounded quite so morbid as in this song. It's almost enough to bring tears.

Tomorrow, we'll learn why I chose to revisit the House of Love today.

[Buy 1986-1988: The Creation Recordings, home to The House of Loves debut and early singles, From Insound.com]

It's Easily Done, My Friend...

2005-02-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

The Kills - Run Home Slow - So, on Saturday, this little Blog that Could turns one. All we're asking for for our birthday this year is a Bloggie award (Best Kept Secret, down near the bottom), which you can vote for. And it's funny how things come full circle. A bit less than a year ago, I posted some tracks by Discount, a pop-punk band of high school ids from Florida fronted by one Allison Mossheart, who made some great Billy Bragg covers. And now, the Kills have a new album coming out in a few weeks entitled "No Wow". It's a phenomenal album, full of the sexual tension and classic blues wanderlust, a formula that simmers in a pot full of distorted guitar fuzz and drum loops and explodes all in a burst. The lead single, "No Wow" is a potent firebomb that plays up the melodic side that many thought Allison (now V.V. Kills) had forgotten in the duos debut record, Keep on Your Mean Side. And then, "Run Home Slow" crosses my inbox. It's an unreleased track (That, I'm told will eventually show up as a Japanese B-Side or some such), but it makes the perfect bridge between both Kills records. It has the same repetitive, droney, almost Jesus & Mary Chainesque quality that made the first record such a strange Blues record, but the mix is a bit more friendly, and lyrically, it's a huge step forward. What it loses in energy from other tracks, it makes up for in it's swinging, narrative style. Now if only they would stop pawing at each other on stage. It's so gimmicky.

Andrew Vincent - Paul Revere - And while we're on a revisiting tip, a few months back, I posted some tracks by Andrew Vincent & The Pirates, a Canadian band that loves Jonathan Richman and the Ramones. Andrew saw the post, and was kind enough to send me his old records. And one of those records, was After School Special, a concept album about the trials of tribulations of High School Life. After School Special is a phenomenal record. It's mostly Andrew solo and shows a more adventurous side of the singer-songwriter, but the most daring track on there easily, is this cover, of the Beastie Boys epic "Paul Revere" - the king of late night rock radio staples for some reason. Growing up, I would always hear this song as the night drew on and DJ's sensed fewer people listening for some reason. There's something very right about that context, the song isn't particularly long, but it can be exhausting due to it's sheer narrative density, and the lack of repetition. But Andrews cover is something else. There's not a hint of irony in my love for this cover, full of lo-fi keyboards and a nifty little drumloop, and Andrew crooning out those rhymes. For once I can understand why the Sherriffs daughter might let somebody "do it like this," and "do it like that", and "do it with a wiffle ball bat." There's magic here. Andrew told me that Kelp Records doesn't really have the money to do another pressing of the old albums, so to all you industry types out there reading this, I'm going to beg you: pony up the cash to reissue "After School Special" with some wider distribution. The tunes are there. If you put them in record stores and get a little marketing done, the sales will follow. Especially with this cover making the rounds on the airwaves.

Also, apologies for no post yesterday. The Arcade Fire have been in town. I won't post more Arcade Fire because everything I have is in wide circulation. But you shuold all do yourselves a favor and track down their KCRW "Sounds Eclectic" session performance of "Intervention." It's a new song and it rules.

I have had enough.

2005-02-01T01:49:00.000-05:00

The Talk - Imaginary Lines - This song opens too quietly and delicately for it's own good. Kicking off the Talks sophomore effort "It's Like Magic in Reverse", Imaginary Lines is about the most frenetic song I've heard in ages. Take a healthy dose of Cars worship, and then, feed it an entire crate of pixie stix, and maybe a bit of coke, and you just might be able to keep up with Imaginary Lines. This song is over almost before it begins, storming through your brain and tearing down sense and reason like a cliche in a bestseller. It's powerful, exhilarating stuff, an atom bomb in the center of a stagnant night musically. The Talk are leading the charge for fledgling North Carolina label MoRisen Records, and for an up and coming, regional label they couldn't have chosen a better standard bearer.

[Buy It's Like Magic In Reverse from Insound.com!]

The Never - Bigger than Jared - I'm not sure if the Jared in question here is the Jared of Subway fame, or some other Jared, but the intent is pretty clear regardless. This is a band that wants to play stadiums. This is a band that wants it fucking all. Perhaps they took the phrase "Emo Drama Queen" a bit literally, because there's some of that operatic dynamic going, as pianos interplay with crunchy metal guitars on the verses, but the chorus is straight up nasal pop punk, and somehow still isn't quite as catchy as that opening piano and vocal hook. Killer stuff, and if this is a labels second string, than they have some serious talent going.

[Buy the Nevers album, Enjoying the Outdoors From MoRisen Records]

DISCO BURN.

2005-01-26T07:16:00.000-05:00

Electric Six - Dance Epidemic - Dick Valentine is a Hyper-Sexual Dance Cyborg on a mission to forcibly shake the ass of every man woman and child on this planet. He may or may not succeed, but there is no denying the sheer power of the sonic arsenal that his crack squadron, codenamed: The Electric Six can bring to bear. Dance Epidemic comes from the bands second assault, an album entitled Señor Smoke, full of songs about Dancing (Dance Epidimic, Dance-A-Thon 2005), Burgers, Gender, Sex, Presidents, and of course, Sex Toys. Electric Six have always been insistently aware of their own Kitsch factor, and have responded by taking it over the top, and deciding that, where living in one kitschy annoying genre hole may get you a hit, living in EVERY SINGLE ONE might get you a career. And so we have Dance Epidemic, combining the insistent, pervasive discohooks of the Scissor Sisters with the Darknesses heavy metal crunch - this Epidemic, I think it might be spreading.

Electric Six - Jimmy Carter - And yet, clearly, the boys from E6 show signs on Señor Smoke of growing bored with that sound. Case in point: Jimmy Carter. You can't really dance to this one. Minor key basslines, swirled around by AM -radio fuzz, as Dick sings of Ex-presidents, boy-bands (Yes, that was "Backstreets Back, all right" that you heard deadpanned to kick off the chorus), and paranoia. There's something wierdly sober about it all, even as the lyrics are complete nonsense. And towards the end, theirs a riff ripped straight from the Killers, but I don't know how many people will notice that and/or care. It strikes me as just being in there to add to the absurdity of it all.

Electric Six - Future is in the Future - This could be the song that takes the restlessness of "Jimmy Carter" and cashes it in to a quality song. The same crunchy metal riffs and disco beats are their, but theres also flashes of Hall & Oates in here, and Valentines lyrical delivery seems more human, more pained than in the past. Gone is the ass kicking missionary of disco, replaced by a washed up musicman, remembering the good times, Karaoke and Macarena, and yet, seeing exactly why he wanted out. It's sober, and yet, the horns and synths lift it out and make it something else entirely. The song is good to begin with, and killer brass solo around the 3 minute mark kicks it into a whole new stratosphere.

[Señor Smoke isn't due out for a while yet, so until then, go to Insound and buy Fire if you haven't already. But you already own Fire. Don't you? You should you know.]

The Words of Dead Humans.

2005-01-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

At the end of last week, I recieved an email from Ted Barlow of the phenomenal Crooked Timber blog with a question. He was planning a friday arts post, and wanted some input from some Mp3 Bloggers. I let him know I'd be late in getting back to him, as things have been crazy, but I wanted to make sure I got to it because as soon as I read the question, the answer was pretty obvious.

Imagine that I've been asked to start a new satellite radio station. We'll be playing songs that should have been huge hits, but weren't. I'm looking for songs from any period that you liked the first time you heard them, songs that are immediately catchy and pleasurable, songs that would please your coworkers rather than the clerk at the local independent record store. The artists could be obscure or famous, but the songs should not be in regular rotation on terrestrial radio stations.

There are a lot of buried 'Hey Ya!'s, 'Tainted Love's, and 'You Shook Me All Night Long's out there. Help us find them. Bonus points if you an think of a popular song that more-or-less shares the appeal of your obscure song.

That post, and it's various replies, can be found HERE. There's some phenomenal music hidden in there. (But as a sidenote, "Chuck the Writer" - "Blue Monday" is the best selling 12" single of all time. I wouldn't call it obscure, though it is of course great.)

Back to the matter at hand though. When I recieved the email, the reason I was eager to write this response was because only one band immediately sprang to mind and stayed there. Osker.

Osker - Motionless - Osker signed to Epitaph in 2000 on the strength of a demo. They soon released an EP of straight ahead, rancid-aping punk rock. It was generic, but not terrible. Especially considering that at the time, the guys were still in High School. Hell, one of them was only a sophomore. The band toured like mad, and quickly earned a reputation as "the most hated band on Epitaph." The live shows quickly became legendary for confrontations with fans. The band would often introduce themselves with a simple "We are Osker, Fuck You." Fights were not uncommon. And then, something happened. The band went back into the studio to record a full length album. And the result was Idle Will Kill. "Motionless" was the albums lead single, and it's one of those songs that, from the crunchy opening riff, to that drum kick, and the soaringly nasal, cheap-trick-esque chorus, screams "pop." And yet, lyrically, the song is... horribly bleak. Leaving aside the wrist-slittingly-emo opening lyric, we have a song that is, essentially, about stasis. About trust. And about a young band, on the brink of success, unused to actually having to give a fuck about what they're doing. Given the content of the songs on Idle Will Kill it's pretty easy to see why Osker broke up in early 2002, while still not of legal drinking age. But that doesn't mean that the breakup wasn't a tragedy, even mourned by as few as it was.

Osker - Contention - if "Motionless" is an opening single, a shot across the bow, than Contention is the knockout punch, to use a terribly pun-itive metaphor (Okay, I'll stop now). I remember the morning pretty vividly. I was in the studio of my old college radio station, with my friend James. I had only been doing the radio gig for maybe... 3 weeks, with James as my Co-Host, and we were playing mostly punk rock, and various ____core stuff. And bouncing bands off of one another. And then, I realized that James didn't know Osker. I put Contention and Motionless on the air, back to back. And while that was happening, we pulled up Oskers website, to see if there were any fun facts we could talk about on the outro. And the site had gone black. About an hour earlier, it was announced that the band had broken up. It's funny, how things like that happen. Here, I was preparing to talk about how huge Osker was going to be. How a song as driving and hook laden as Contention, a song that beat Jimmy Eat World to the "not quite punk, not quite emo, not quite pop" punch, and did it better than Jimmy ever could (I still miss the decidedly Emo Jimmy of old - see a few entries back). Those backing vocals are so sacharine, that snarl so fierce, they were destined to succeed. Except, they parted ways. And in truth, I hate them for it. Most hated band on Epitaph indeed. Osker always did love pissing off the fans.

[Buy Idle Will Kill from Insound.com!]

In other news, TTIKTDA has been nominated for A 2005 Bloggie for Best-Kept-Secret Weblog. The Competition is looking pretty damned tough, so please head on over and vote for me. Early and Often.

Now I just need to find someone to foot the bill on a flight to Austin so I can give an acceptance speech. Hey Music Mags, newssites, whatever - I'll write something for you if you send me!

And it's another prank call, in the middle of the night.

2005-01-10T22:37:00.000-05:00

Chad Van Gaalen - Clinicly Dead - There is a special joy to albums like Chad Van Gaalen's Infiniheart. It's a compilation of a decade of home recordings, fleshed out and remastered and put into a delightful package that is finally enough to get a remarkably talented musician the attention he deserves. Competing rumors have Chad singing to such ilustrious labels as Sub Pop, Secretly Canadian, Arts & Crafts, and a number of others. Infiniheart deserves the distro he'll get from any of them. Clinicly Dead is the albums opening blast, sounding like fellow northlanders Wolf Parade in it's vaguely 80's vibe, full of buzzed guitars and xylophone accents, it's not exactly what the rest of the album delivers, but there's a power to the sort of sci-fi dreamworld that Van Gaalen paints that is utterly fascinating. And when the chorus kicks in, full of fist pumping, power pop, it's hard to not want to sing along, even though it's utterly impossible to figure out what exactly you're singing about.

Chad Van Gaalen - Blood Machine - There is a flatness to the recording of "Blood Machine" that I would often describe as distasteful. The production is muddy, it sounds like a pretty clear case of home recording, of too many overdubs on a basic acoustic song, overloaded with congas and horns and atmospheric background howls. But the closeness of this song gives it a claustrophobic quality that only adds urgency to Chads howls of "Help us Escape!" The song also provides a much better indication of the sort of electronically tweaked acoustic music that makes for Van Gaalens overriding sound - think a psychedelic, distorted Iron & Wine, and you might be somewhere close.

[Buy Infiniheart from Flemish Eye Records!]

McLusky - Dave, Stop Killing Prostitutes - in the case of most bands, it seems a cop-out for a reviewer to begin a discussion by referring to such trivial matters as the titles of songs and albums, or lyrics, before any discussion of the fundamental matter of what a band sounds like. But in the case of McLusky, there have always seemed to be few other options. It's hard to get an album title to match The Difference Between You & Me is that I'm Not on Fire, or a song to match "Dave, Stop Killing Prostitutes", or lyrics to match the immortal ones of "To Hell with Good Intentions". But, now that McLusky have announced their disbandment, perhaps it's time to take a minute to look at what McLusky did in fact sound like. And the answer is that they sounded like pure, distilled awesome. More to the point, they sounded like P.I.L., stripped of John Lydons disco dabblings, and with the noise and distortion turned to 11 while lead singer Andy Falco shouted and warbled with the sort of snotty defiance that Lydon perfected 20 years ago, equal parts arrogant strut and rebel yell. "Dave, Stop Killing Prostitutes" is a B-Side from one of McLusky's final singles, and features a more or less spoken word vocal multi tracked over a pretty straightforward bassline, bringing things back to Falcos considerable talents as a songwriter, telling the story of a friend with a bit of a problem. It's an intervention, and the moans of "WHY, WHY, WHY", are filtered just enough to take on an infantile tone that makes you wonder where exactly the band stands on the moralizing speech they're delivering - do they buy it? Or are they just going through the motions? And more to the point, is this break up serious? Or are they just going through the motions of not wanting to play music together right now, in anticipation of a return?

A guy can hope, can't he?

[Buy McLusky records from Insound.com!]

3-2-1-CONTACT!

2005-01-04T10:20:00.000-05:00

Vagenius - Educated Fool - A while back, I commented that I was sitting on a band from LA that I had been tipped off to that would make me reconsider some not so nice comments about music from the city. Well, a week or two, I got a demo EP from Vagenius, and this is exactly what I needed. Slick, saccharine, catchy electropop. Some killer lyrics, a bouncy synth&bass rythym, and some decidedly sexy vox. And besides, how can anyone hate a song that quotes the theme from 3-2-1 Contact?

Vagenius - Everyone Comes Here - This song shimmers with the sort of vaguely amazing aura that can only come from the future. I don't mean to say that the song sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie (a cliche too tired with respect to synthpop to indulge in), but rather that it sounds like a song that will be a hit in some bizarre futureworld where good music succeeds. With a demanding purr of 'cause I'm from LA I will get it the song hits that exact combination of arrogance and surety that seems to make everything else comprehensible. If I have anything to say about things, Vagenius will most certainly make it. From the buzz I've heard in the past few weeks, I may for once be right.

[Check out Vagenius's website where you can stream six phenomenal songs.

Oh, and in other news, I FEEL GREAT, even if my writing today, for some reason, seems decidedly sub-par. Which is odd, because really, I haven't been as excited about a new band as I am about Vagenius since I first heard the Arcade Fire back in the cold cold months of 2004. I get a similar "Band on the way up" vibe from them.

Also, The Bloggie Awards are taking nominations once again. I feel like I might have a shot at that tagline category - "Feet are for Moving, Not for Staring At" - but if you choose to nominate TTIKTDA for anything, please enter the full url of http://teachingtheindiekidstodanceagain.blogspot.com - thanks!

New Years Day(-ish) is for New Things. (and Transitions)

2005-01-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Todays post contains something Old, and something New. A transitional state. Tomorrow will have one of the most exciting new bands to cross my path in some time. But today, something many of you have likely been waiting for. Some of it, you probably never even knew you were waiting for.

Once There Was a Boy Named Colin

Tarkio - Sister Nebraska - Colin was a young man from Montana. Much enamored of Music, and of the writing thereof, Colin formed a band. That band would go by the name of Tarkio. It was pretty standard alt-country fare, though Colin never did try for the sort of affected twang that too many Johnny Cash and Uncle Tupelo tried for. Instead, in a rich, expressive voice, he sang of cold winters and pigeon toed girls. Leaving behind memories of the coast as he moved inland. The music was good, but it never did reach the audience it could. The doors wallking off Alt-country fromt he rest of the music world hadn't yet been kicked down, completely, and while the country kids were clearly taking an interest in what was going on in the rock world (evidenced by the song you'll be hearing in a moment), the rock world hadn't yet really taken an interest in them. What's really notable here is the lyrics though. Colin had a storytelling style rivaled by few other singers, which fit perfectly into the sort of western gothic ouever towards which he was headed - alternately modern and rustic, twangy and anthemic, it's great stuff... but it wasn't enough. Also, by way of dedication, this one goes out in congratulation to my good buddies Ben & Lesley, Omahas favorite Son & Daughter as far as I'm concerned, who, since last I posted, have become engaged.

Tarkio - Eva Luna - Colin did know how to write rock songs though. Eva Luna is a killer one. It sounds a bit dated now, but for an album released in 1998, it sounds perfectly of it's time. The song is all kick drums and chiming, melodic guitars, and of course, Colins lyrics, full of all the wierdly surrealistic and yet shockingly concrete imagery. There's a very literary sensibility here - not terribly surprising, considering his background and degreen in Creative writing, but nonetheless refreshing in a world of more or less generic lyrical work - or hopelessly pointlessly obscure ala Interpol (Stabbing Yourself in the Neck?).

No They'll Never Catch Me Now

But nowadays, everyone knows who Colin is. And everyone wants to hear some of his new material. And who am I but a humble servant to oblige. These next two tracks are down. The reviews will remain for posterity.

The Decemberists - The Mariners Revenge Song (Bloggers Note: Sorry, this track is down. You missed it.) - Our hero Colin eventually grew tired of the great inland expanses though, and moved to the shore. And when he reached said shore, he ditched the country music. Instead, his new band, the Decemberists, drew attention both for his lyricism, and for a charming anachronism that led to many accusations of Colins Meloy being a writer of "Sea Chanteys" - or just another Jeff Mangum knockoff. Well, Picaresque moves farther away from Mangum territory, but it does so by making the music more literary than ever. These are concrete stories with identifiable charachters - I wouldn't be surprised to read a story like "The Mariners Revenge Song" in a pulp mag - hell, you wouldn't even need to rewrite it. It works just fine without a single word changed. And OH is it a Sea Chantey. Accordions and violins, and Meloys voice ringing out like a trumpet over it all. The story is exactly what the title would indicate, the tale of a sailor obsessed with vengance against his stepfather, the man who had abandoned him and his mother. As the tale concludes, we are trapped in the belly of a whale with these two men of the sea, watching as our titular mariner, finally, gleefully extracts his revenge, and we are left, dancing and singing along, to a scene of delighted, maniacl, frenetic, musical torture.

The Decemberists - The Bagmans Gambit (Bloggers Note: Sorry, this track is down. You missed it.) - And yet, Picaresque is not just another album of Sea Chanteys. It's not Her Majesty Pt. II, and it's not The Tain LP either. The Bagmans Gambit is just as epic, but it's concerns are far more powerful and modern, and proves that for the Decemberists, instrumentation is not a cage, but rather seems chosen to suit whatever story Colin has thought up most recently. And in the case of "The Bagman's Gambit" it's "The Spy I Loved". The song opens with a quiet, simple acoustic guitar melody, as Colin sings the story of his beloved secret agent. He talks of being a pawn in the great game, of rendezvous in bathroom stalls, and of more tender moments. The song is beautiful, but it's too mournful for such happy memories - there's darkness lurking here. Something has gone sour. And when the chorus comes in, we know what. The ever boastful spy must have been captured, for dreams of his boasts begin to dominate the song. The story is filled in as the song progresses, and concludes with meloy reaching for - and fittingly failing on that long, high note. There's something in the striving that is somehow more bautiful though, more aching, the pain becomes more real, the subtle flourish of a violin, the wild cathartic chorus, contrasted with the quiet power of the narrative verses. This may be my favorite of any Decemberists song I've ever heard.

[Picaresque doesn't come out for a while yet, but you can buy other stuff by the Decemberists while you're waiting. And, Colin has also written a great little book about the Replacements which you should all read.]

New Years Eve is for Old Things.

2004-12-31T11:21:00.000-05:00

The Cure - I Just Need Myself (Studio Demo) - The Cure are the latest band to begin the walk down Deluxe Reissue Lane, and while the quality of the bonus discs will likely decline in the coming years, the reissue of Three Imaginary Boys, carries some phenomenal rarities. While the quality of the songs, and their recordings, varies wildly, what they have in common is the fact that, more than any other albums Bonus Disc that I can think of, these recordings truly tell the story of the Teenagers Who Would Become The Cure. While it's easy to listen to "Boys Don't Cry," or "A Fire in Cairo," and think of a band that sprung, full formed from the studio womb as the kings of dark atmospheric rock and roll, the new wave pioneers that the Cure were to become, it doesn't tell the whole story. "I Just Need Myself" is proof. The song is a complete Buzzcocks rip - trebeley distorted guitars, nasal chant along vocals, and the spit in the eye to a disposable girlfriend. It's perhaps that last part thats so un-cure. Smith has over the years, built up quite the reputation as a romantic - his lyrics are notoriously smooth and, when not paranoid or depressive, reveal the sort of pop instincts more commonly found in bands to whom punkrock is an affront. So hearing "I Just Need Myself," wherein Smith talks about how alll those sentimental little promises are lies lies and lies... well, he's a young man, but somehow it totally transforms the way I think of the Cures catalog. And besides, we need a reminder every once in a while that the Cure did in fact start off punk. The official releases never did tell that story.

Over at DrunkenBlog, a post about the inadequacy of existing mac websites concludes in some ruminations on blogging and the nature of it, which somehow managed to be what it took to get me out of the exhaustion induced funk I've been in recently (ProTip: Two Retail Jobs for extra holiday cash is NOT a good idea. working 75-90 hours/week at said jobs is an even worse one). A Snippet:

It's like Plinko. The point isn't whether or not you have 10 readers or 10,000, it's that you never know if someone will randomly hit it from a search or link and something sparks in their head. In the process, you might find that you change a little too.

You do it because you just never fucking know. If you're lucky, something random might happen that makes your day. You might end up inspiring a teenager with an iBook, or a teenager with an iBook might end up inspiring you.

And on the not quite a Teenager with an iBook front (though you wouldn't know it from his enthusiasm), the amazingly knowledgable and opinionated (and longwinded) Andrew TSKS has started a blog and kicked it off with a pretty phenomenal post about how the music media seems to have, outside of sociological approaches, totally ignored Emo. Though I'll use this space to disagree with him on two fronts, It's entirely readworthy, and Andrew makes some excellent points.

As to media ignoring it, well, perhaps I'm biased. I live on the edge of Long Island and digest a large quantity of Long Island Media. And for those that don't know, Long Island is Emo Ground Zero. And the media here just can't get enough of those crazy kids. Thing is, I'm cynical about the whole thing because I remember a few years ago, when Long Island was Ska Ground Zero. And some of those guys who were in Ska bands then, are the folks at the center of the Emo scene now. The problem is exactly what Andrew seems to think is redeeming this music, and thats a lack of authenticity. The feuds, the flavor of the month vocal stylings, the musical chairs bandmates, Long Island Rock is a nexus of trend whores who find out whats cool from a random stop of a band, or some snipet of TV, and then bend it in on itself in an orgy of self referenctial incestuous scenesterism until a few bands put out a gold album and get called the Next Big Thing, and the rest all collapse in on themselves to follow the next trend. It's happened before, and I really do think it'll happen again. A few will hold the faith and Emo won't vanish completely, but it'll become the subject of mockery for the next wave, just as Ska all too unfairly is now. I just don't buy into exactly what so many people seem to about this. There are some good bands on the island to be sure. Some of them may even be playing music that might fall into categorization under the E Word. But the genres standard bearers just don't seem it to me.

Jimmy Eat World - Lucky Denver Mint For those of you who are tuning out, I beg you, stay with me here. I'd wager your first exposure to Jimmy Eat World was their meteoric rise through the world of MTV2 & Pop-Emo last year with the utterly boring The Middle, and their new album which for the most part is downright painful. But before Bleed American, JEW had a stint in the Major Label world back in 1999. They released an album entitled Clarity. It still serves, for me, as the mission statement of what Post-Sunny Day Real Estate-Emo should have become. Rhythmic, and raw, but unafraid of electronics. Full of hooks, with lush wall of sound production, but still close to the chest, and at it's core, something that could have every last element of that production stripped away and still sound every bit as beautiful. "Lucky Denver Mint" is the epitome of that. Live drums are filled out with some smart loops, and the guitars chime away into a background wall that leaves all the melodic work in the hands of Jim Adkins more than capable vocal talents. It's clear in this song how the formula was built up that led to the utter generic blandness of Futures, but it's also clear that this is a band that was capable of so much more.

Jimmy Eat World - Your New Aesthetic - On Clarity this song immediately follows "Lucky Denver Mint", and like the proverbial coin flipped, we see the other side of what made Jimmy Eat World so much different then from now. The song is a gigantic, preemptive fuck-you to the radio stations that didn't give Clarity the support it needed, in spite of critical acclaim, in spite of a sound other bands should've killed for. Perhaps burned by the tanking of Pinkerton, there was no place for this on the radio. And yet, there's something to be said for a band that can turn ona dime from the pleading conciliatory tone of "Denver Mint" to the jaded bitterness of "Your New Aesthetic".

Jimmy Eat World - For Me This is Heaven - When the time we have now ends / and when the big hand goes round again / can you still hear the butterflies / can you still hear the last goodnight. "For Me This is Heaven" is a gorgeous, slowed down song. Pianos chime in on the chorus, coming from seemingly nowhere to join that perfect tenor, pop balladry at it's most perfect. And then the song goes partly acoustic, and the band is throwing a bone to it's roots. Is it wrong to hear echoes of the Smiths here, of the Beatles, of U2? Is it wrong to say that this Emo is not emo at all, but rather perfectly pitched guitar pop of the sort we've lacked on the charts for the past decade? Goodbye 2004. 2005 is bringing some VERY big plans.

Happy New Year everybody. My Resolution is to get back to daily posting. We'll be starting on Monday with a belated New Years Day is for New Years Day is for New Things post. Including some shit so hot, I'll only be keeping it up for a day or two.

If this CD were played in heaven... heaven would explode.

2004-12-20T13:21:00.000-05:00

Put Down That Science Pole - Sci' Pole Summa' - There's a thick blanket of the white stuff surrounding me right now (no, not THAT white stuff), and as I stare outside at the vehicle that is going to need to be brushed before heading off to work this afternoon, there's something comforting about this song from San Diegos Put Down That Science Pole. School is in fact out at the moment, for college students, and day by day an increasing number of highschoolers, but except for those lucky few headed south, there will be no beaches and boogie boards and bikinis. Instead, we'll have to settle for Sci-Poles demented synths-and-sound effects hip hop, channelling generations of boys, fro the Beach to the Beastie, but with far less tunefulness (though Brian Wilson could still probably beat them out on the batshit insane front, it's close.)

Put Down That Science Pole - W.Y.L.D. - "W.Y.L.D." vomes in just before the closing track off of the bands most recent Outrageouz Dewdz EP, and it's a complete fucking mess. Casio beats, blasts of horns, bizarre turntable scratches, mutant disco skronks and bossanova breakdowns, the only thing holding it together is the sci-poles crews completely impenetrable flow - dropping rhymes and screams and noise like they've never heard of this thing that some have called "music". This is music for the party at the gates of the asylum. And you know those crazies know how to get DOWN.

Put Down That Science Pole - Where's the Gold?!?! - And if you don't have proof, there's "Where's The Gold" - alternating between fucked up mining metaphors, surreal philosophical musings, and again, sound effects, sound effects, sound effects, "Where's the Gold?!?!" isn't half as long as it should be. I know where the gold is. If you want more, tomorrow, Tuesday Night (Wed. Morning), at Midnight, PST, Sci Pole will be live in studio on KCSB (http://www.kcsb.org/) for 2 hours DJing and performing.

[Check out Put Down That Science Pole's website, and be sure to download the Camry Sessions EP, and buy Outraegouz Dewdz for 3 bucks.]

I'll run.

2004-12-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

Magneta Lane - Mare of the Night - For the last time, no, I do not intend to move to Canada. Instead I will merely, as an Imperialistic American, steal all of our northern brothers and sisters wonderful music and demand that they come to New York City to play for me. Magneta Lane did just that, along with the rest of the Paper Bag Records roster (most notably Controller.Controller), for a showcase during the CMJ festival a few months back, in the basement of CBGBs. Magneta Lane were the first act that night, and I was instantly hooked. Quickstep rhythyms from the likes of Erase Errata meet up with hooks that the Kinks would've been happy to figure out and a dash of Sonic Youth riffing to create some solidly poptastic garage rock. "Mare of the Night" bounces and kicks like the titular steed, as lead singer Lexi Valentine moans and howls and commands her band and her audience through the motions.

Magneta Lane - Their Party Days - it isn't all raw angular riffs though. These girls can throw down some pogo inducing power pop like the best of 'em. This song positively bounces with an infectious little melody and a fuck you chorus and a completely undeniable beat - why doesn't this stuff get radio play again?

Magneta Lane - Cheap Linguistics - This is a track from an upcoming 7" that the girls have coming out in February - they're moving in a more garage direction, pushing French's bass to the front of the mix - a wise descision that makes Lexis deep vocals sound all the richer, and when the song bursts out into a crescendo of melody on it's chorus, it's really all the more striking from the chorus. Expect big things, both from Magneta Lane, and from Paper Bag, a fantastic up and coming label in Toronto. Did I mention these girls are pretty much fresh out of high school?

[Buy The Constant Lover from Paper Bag Records]

The war broke out and I dropped my camera.

2004-12-15T23:16:00.000-05:00

Superwolf - Beast for Thee - When, a few months back, Matt Sweeney (formerly of Chavez, and Zwan) announced his collaboration with Will Oldham (operating under his Bonnnie "Prince" Billy moniker"), to be known as Superwolf, people knew to expect something special. They would use a songwriting style that Oldham had devised working on split EP's back in the day, approaching songwriting as a duel, treating each song written as a challenge, and using each song of his own to force his partner/opponent to new heights. And in Sweeney, he's met his match and then some, because Sweeney is one fucking hell of a songwriter. "Beast For Thee" is proof. I BELIEVE (if what I understand of the track order is correct), that this is a Sweeney song. And it's a fine one. It's quiet, strummed guitar and violin, and nearly whispered vocals. It's a song of love as servitude - not as submission, but rather that implicit understanding, that for those you truly love, you can carry any burden. It's a song of unrequited, constant devotion, and of the sort of selfishly selfless acts to which we're driven constantly. Sadly, this album is not availiable for pre-order yet due to Drag City's minimalist web design. It will be out on Jan. 17 in the UK, and Jan. 25 in the States. Buy it.

Grizzly Bear - Deep Sea Diver - In their early press release materials, Brooklyn trio Grizzly Bear referred to their sound as "cave-core" as a joke. They got taken seriously, and now lots of press folks are hopping on and calling them genre forming visionaries. It's not hard to see why - Grizzly Bear have taken elements of the burgeoning freak-folk scene - particularly mining depths earlier explored by Animal Collective and Sufjan Stevens, and fused it with the sort of echo-laden, soaring baritones that are found in the 80's revivalism abound. It's Shoegazer music without the distortion and feedback, Glam without the flash, and Folk without the singalongs, and the result is something that really does sound like it might deserve the name of "cave-core." The band has tapped into something primordial, with vocals that sound like they're being alternately whispered from mere inches, and yelled from miles away, at the heart of the vortex that constantly threatens to pull everything in. This music is constantly expanding and contracting, at one moent, open and full of space, silence humming between notes, and the next full of sound and noise and crashing down upon itself.

Grizzly Bear - La Duchess Anne - Also from Horn of Plenty, Grizzly Bears debut LP, is La Duchess Anne, which is an odd sort of song. It starts off as a little acoustic lullaby, but there are signs that something is not quite right - the vocals go out of sync, and develop subtle distortions - they come in and out of focus. As the song reaches it's conclusion, it's clear that something isn't right, as a refrain of "how could you fit in?" is repeated until the worlds lose all meaning and the song falls apart. Something is disentegrating on record here, and I only wish I was able to figure out what.

[Buy Horn of Plenty from Insound.com!]

The Kids Have Taken Over the Classroom, Pt. 3

2004-12-13T01:36:00.000-05:00

Our Guestblogger today is Cameron, who covered this site for a week back in June, and is generally my ol' reliable connection as concerns all bands British, and all things excessively pop.

Hi, my name's Cameron. You may remember me from such TTIKTDA guest posts as Morrissey: Throughout the Ages and Brit-Pack: Vols. I, II and III. I'm honored to have been asked to guest MP3J again! Yay!

Anyway, enough of the shitty intro, onto the pop bands...

Aberfeldy - Vegetarian Restaurant - I don't know much about Aberfeldy, only that a) They're an awesome indie band from Edinburgh, Scotland, a country that pretty much has the market cornered on cutsie pop outfits featuring two or more girls, b)they have a new album out on Rough Trade and c) "Vegetarian Restaurant" is, quite plainly, awesome. "I like the way that you shell the peas/I only wish you were shelling me." And a new genre of music was spawned: Vegggiemo.

[Buy Aberfeldy's Young Forever from Insound.com]

Television Personalities - Geoffrey Ingram - When I look back on 2004, for years and years to come, it will stand out not as the year I turned 20 and thus became totally disillusioned with this sick little ride we call life, but as the year I spent approximately 15 hours a day listening to Television Personalities' ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It?. I would give just about any part of my body to have been in London last Friday to see TVPs' comeback gig (singer/songwriter Dan Treacy was apparently in jail for some time and was released earlier this year). The brilliant thing about Dan's songwriting is the one-take, make-shift feel; close your eyes while listening to songs like "The Angry Silence" and "Parties in Chelsea", and you might as well be in Dan's flat, having some tea while he pens a little masterpiece. Let's hope for some US reunion dates in the near future...

[Buy Television Personalities' ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It From Insound.com!]

Baby Shambles - "Killamangiro" - WHY change an awesome song title like "Kill a Man For His Giro" to "Killamangiro"? What the fuck? Was this one of Pete's crack-fueled bad decisions like "quitting the Libertines" and "not showing up to most of the shows you schedule with your side project"? We can only suppose so. Anyway, this song has been circulating on sites like BabyShambles.com for ages now, and it ties in to what I was just saying about TVPs. Although you can't really tell with this single mix (wow! Real production!) most Baby Shambles songs are recorded in Pete Doherty's London apartment, and posted directly onto numerous BabySham fansites. IN one track, you can actually hear a guy bringing in Chinese food. If that's not fantastic, then I just don't know what is.

The Kids Have Taken Over the Classroom, Pt. 2

2004-12-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

Our Guestblogger today is Ryan. He is enthusiastic about good music. Sorry for the lateness of this post. I've been away from the Internet.

Need New Body - Show Me Your Heart - Need New Body makes you feel exactly what their name implies-- like a completely inadequate physical being: "Why do I not have 16 arms and 112 legs and eight fucking heads so I can TWITCH LIKE THEY WANT ME TO?" Well, suck it up, bitches, you aren't good enough to dance to this. A circular, bleeping melody charges out of the speakers and into your brain, stuttering and spiraling into itself. Followed by some cheerful maracas, Show Me Your Heart gets off to a nice rollicking start, but then-- an explosion of bass and piano informs the song with a disturbing evil that reverberates for the next 3 minutes. From then on, schizophrenic noises circle the outskirts of your hearing while Jeff Bradbury moans that "this time we want your brain." A delightful little banjo interlude gives the proceedings a kick in the ass from Our Collective American Roots, &c., but the real beauty of this shuffling, mechanized lump from heaven/hell is in the bizzarely hilarious lyrics. Ahh.

[Buy UFO by Need New Body from Insound.com]

Mohammed Rafi - Jaan Pehechaan Ho - This Bollywood masterpiece makes an appearance in Ghost World. First off, fuck Ghost World. I have never seen it and never will. This song rocks eight ways from Sunday: gigantic, shrill horns flourish all over the track, painting everything in preposterous gold and white. Surf-guitar weaves in and out of the vocal track, occasionally bursting into an irresistible stream of extended rhythmic riffing. And those DRUMS! Tinny though they are, they propel the song with a breathless energy, and occasionally, a hint of madness. The vocals are just too catchy, too coy to withstand: you WILL try to sing along in a language you don't understand. You just know this guy has never had this much fun in his fucking life. And whenever his fevered wailing reaches the level of a ululation, the song bursts apart at the seams, and snaps back into place with karmic predestination. We get a final coo to our ears before he lets out a barbaric yawp followed by a fantastic outro wherein the drums flip into hyperspeed. God exists, children!

[Buy the Soundtrack from Ghost World at Insound.com]

The Kids Have Taken Over the Classroom. Pt. 1

2004-12-08T01:04:00.000-05:00

Things are getting really crazy here, so rather than abandon you for a week, I've lined up some great guestbloggers for you. The first is one of the many people I've come into correspondence with courtesy of this blog, the wonderful Gretchen, who lives in Chicago, and has submitted some stuff thats gotten posted by me in the past. She has great taste, and I suspect you'll like her picks.

And I Know That This Will Hurt You More Than It Hurts Me...

I've never done this, so I'm not sure why Keith asked me to do it. My positive musical criticism usually consists of "No, this song is amazing! Listen! Seriously, this one part, voom." So forgive me my writing. And I've been on an Elvis kick lately, so you're getting two Elvis tracks that you possibly might not have heard, but can always stand to be heard again.

Elvis Costello - I Hope You're Happy Now (Acoustic) "I Hope You're Happy Now" is one of my favorite Elvis songs. It's so loud and bouncy, and above all, angry and bitter. Something Elvis excels at, and I appreciate him for. This version is just him and his acoustic guitar, which doesn't allow anything to be hidden. With the original version (on Blood and Chocolate), you can play it anywhere and people will bop around without really listening. In this, you hear every single word and cannot deny anything. It has possibly the meanest line I've ever heard in a song, "I knew then what I know now / I never loved you anyhow." But you know full well that he did, otherwise he wouldn't be writing the song. And you know you've done the same thing.

[Buy Blood & Chocolate - the Expanded Reissue - from Insound.com]

Elvis Costello & the Brodsky Quartet - I Almost Had a Weakness Even a lot of Elvis fans don't seem to know about The Juliet Letters. The entire album is gorgeous; I'm particularly fond of "Taking My Life in Your Hands" and "This Offer is Unrepeatable." With just the strings backing him, Elvis's voice is really allowed to shine, and no one can deny what an amazing voice he really does have. Each song is built as a letter, to lovers, strangers, parents, or anyone who will listen. "I Almost Had a Weakness" is Elvis as a rich old woman, letting the gold diggers in her family know that she sees right through them. When listening to it I can't help but conjure images of crazy, old, rich people in the 1900's, insulting each other in the manner of Oscar Wilde with a couple of drinks in him. The pure vitriol when he spits out "and you little swines will get nothing" is enough to make me smile in even my worst moods.

[Buy The Juliet Letters from Amazon.com! - it's only $3.50 for fucks sake!]

It'll be so Long Until it's June.

2004-12-06T13:32:00.000-05:00

The Fiery Furnaces - Sing For Me - Matt Friedberger needs to sing more. The Fiery Furnaces, as has been announced, are releasing a compilation of their singles and B-sides to date, on Rough Trade Records, next month. You've already heard a few of these probably ("Single Again," "Evergreen", the alternate, rollicking single mix of "Tropical Ice-Land") Others have never been released in the states, or never on CD. This is the result of The Furnaces style - one that, at least on album, doesn't lend itself to singles. Which lets them go and record lots of singles and non-album tracks, that, note for note, minute for minute, song for song, easily outdo most of their album brethren, packing tons of punch into simple structures, with less of the short attention span for which the Friedbergers are infamous. Instead we have songs like "Sing for Me". A gorgeous lullaby of a song, built on a jangly little guitar riff and an instantly familiar blues piano that only diverts into wierd synths in the songs final moment. But really, what the song focuses on is Matt. And more to the point, his singing, which is really absolutely stunning. I can't recall him ever flexing his vocal chops on a song like this on album. He should. It probably won't happen on the next album (it being mostly duets between Eleanor and the siblings grandmother), but perhaps on album # 4 (which is also underway! Talk about productive!).

The Fiery Furnaces - Here Comes Summer - EP(not so aptly named at 10 tracks and 42 minutes), has another truly standout track though, in "Here Comes the Summer," a track that didn't see the light of day to wierd UK single rules. Eleanors vocals here are more forceful than usual, conveying the nostalgia and childishness for which she has gained a reputation, but taking on a demanding edge - as if the child is bitter at the return of school and cold and rules. The other thing thats notable here is the guitar - Blueberry Boat featured this washed out, distorted guitar on occasion, but it's really been allowed to mature on the singles recorded since that album, and "Here Comes the Summer" is the showcase. Synths and wierdness abound, and if you have "Single Again" and "Evergreen" you can queue this up in between them for a nice little effect. Oh, and I should probably voice the fact that I concur with Matt Perpetua, Rough Trade really needs to figure out how to market this stuff to the kid&parent market. (He's also Reposted Christmas Rhapsody, a track I remember grabbing last year from him and which is utterly awesome. Get that too.)

[Buy The Fiery Furnaces EP from Insound.com]

The Kleptones - Jazz - A hip-hop sample from a group I'd never heard of going by the moniker of "Task Force" over Queens original "More of That Jazz" with some vocals from the ubiquitous "We Will Rock You" results in some killer guitar driven hiphop with a male vocal hook from the master of the falsetto.

Unfortunately, I can't find a buy link for the Taskforce track, it's entitled "Tears on My Pillowcase" If someone would oblige, I would love you for it.

[Buy the "We Will Rock You" Remix single from Insound.com!]

[Buy Jazz From Insound.com]

And when the AMA don't care:

2004-12-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

Ted Leo - Treble in Trouble - Today is World Aids Day. Go donate some money. Or some time. Or remind a friend that the AIDS Epidemic is still the single greatest crisis facing world health today. And that millions are dying in Africa, and we had better get off our asses and do something about it. This is from the first Ted Leo solo EP on which he really found his voice as a songwriter, and is just a blast of classic punk rage over pop jangle and what might've been harmonies become scremas from a mob of thousands. (Yes, I post a lot of Ted Leo. It's for a good cause today. Deal.)

[Buy the Treble in Trouble EP from Insound.com and get 10% off with coupon code "Indie Dance"]

Pit Er Pat - I Am The Jungle - Pit Er Pat are a band from Chicago, formerly known as Blackbirds. A trio, comprised of a classically trained pianist on organs, a former member of Neutral Milk Hotel on drums, and a founding member of Alkaline Trio on bass, you would not be amiss in wondering what the fuck the band will sound like. While the band self describes as "post-rock", I think it's more apt to think of them as part of the emerging "Toddlerclash" movement I've talked about here. Singer and Pianist Fay Davis Jeffers sounds not unlike Eleanor Friedberger, or Blonde Redheads Kazu, her voice weaving in and out of drunken basslines and steady, insistent drum work that makes the song swing with a momentum all it's own.

Pit Er Pat - Too Many - A song full of sunshine for these harsh, short, dark winter days. A sonic trip to beaches and cabanas and the sort of problems we all wish we had. The keys are really played up here, coming front and center and dominating the entirety of the song, setting it's mood and subjugating all else to their will. Why is this called "post-rock" again? Clearly this just flat out rocks. There is nothing for it to come after. It is a unique moment all it's own. Do not expect Sigur Ros.

[Buy Pit Er Pat's Emergency EP from Insound.com and get 10% off with coupon code "Indie Dance"]

Back to the Kleptones tomorrow.
And there are rumors on the internets.

Sometimes I Go To Church, Just to Watch Her Pray.

2004-11-30T17:23:00.000-05:00

The Citizens - Blusher - The Citizens are full of the hallmarks of pretentious prog. Oblique lyrics (Sally got smacked / With a blue knapsack / before she passed out from blood loss and boredom.), constant time changes with no regard for structure, and a lead singer with the sort of rich, operatic tenor, that most of the pretentious 70's bands I'm referring to would kill for. But this isn't prog. It's pop in the purest sense, a 3 minute nugget of singalong nonsense and dance able beats that I'm convinced, that, were it to come from a certain Atlanta based hiphop duo, and not 4 white guys in Fedoras from New York, it would be storming up the charts right now.

The Citizens - Kaleidescope (Do You Recall?) - But really, the Citizens debut album, Are We There Yet?, shines on it's ballads. Kaleidescope is a gorgeous little slipe of classic pop. Delicately strummed guitar, and those vocals. At the 2:50 mark, they kick into high gear, drums and cymbals crashing around, and words just seem to float in an absolutely gorgeous atmosphere before the song goes into a break full of fuzz and everything falls apart. A shattered memory, only to once again be pulled together by those vocals. Multitracked and gorgeous. Reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, or a young Bono on a high note. Epic and excellent.

[Buy Are We There Yet? from Insound.com and get 10% off with the coupon code "Indie Dance"]

The Kleptones - Bite - Things are gettin INTERESTIN now. "Another One Bites the Dust." ODB's "Baby I Got Your Money". And a hint of Justin Timberlake to kick things off. It fuckin works and then some. ODB's insane confrontational cadence works perfectly over the gutterfunk of what will always, for my money, be Queens finest moment. R.I.P. Dirty.

[Buy Justified by Justin Timberlake from Insound.com and get 10% off with the coupon code "Indie Dance"]

[Buy Nigga Please by ODB from Insound.com and get 10% off with the coupon code "Indie Dance"]

[Buy The Game by Queen from Insound.com and get 10% off with the coupon code "Indie Dance"]

It isn't just the lyrics, it's the BEAT!

2004-11-29T15:26:00.000-05:00

The Fatales - Ministry of Defense - If there's a dominant mode in current indie rock, I'd have to say it's probably tension. Interpol was the first band to realize that the vein was running through everything that was going on, stick the needle in, and tap that shit, but since then, bands as diverse as the Arcade Fire, !!!, and Panthers seem to have picked up on it and run with it. Add the Fatales to that list. I was sent Pretty In Pixels, the fatales debut EP, by their manager, who also does some occasional blogging as part of the crew over at Verbose Coma. "Ministry of Defense" is a rocking number, reminiscent of Interpols recent direction in it's singalong chorus, Joy Division-esque vocals, and edges filled out with flashes of xylophone and cello, adding a trace melodicism, and hints of a shoegazer aesthetic to the whole affair.

[Buy Pretty In Pixels from Insound!]

Emiliana Torrini - Nothing Brings Me Down - It seems like everyone is in love with Joanna Newsome these dayse. There's clearly a reason for it. The woman has one hell of a voice, and the songs she writes are breathtakingly gorgeous. But personally, I was more struck by a recent discovery of mine, Emiliana Torrini. She operates in similar territory to Newsome, but where Newsome gets choked up, and is hushed, Torrini isn't afraid to let her voice soar over gently picked guitar chords. Truly beautiful folk pop.

[The Fishermans Woman EP is very expensive from Amazon.com but you can Buy Love in The Time of Science from Insound much more affordably.]

The Kleptones - Live - Propulsive, rocking, powerful. Evocative of everything that makes rock and roll exhillirating, and dangerous. A Killer single. Samples from Queen, and Afrika Bambaataa.

[Buy Afrika Bambaataa CD's from Insound.com]
[Buy Queen from Insound.com!]

A reminder: Insound.com is offering a special 10% discount to TTIKTDA readers, through December 6th. Just enter the code "Indie Dance" at checkout, and 10% will be deducted from your order.

Teaching the Indie Kids to Drink Again.

2004-11-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

The Burdocks - Battle of the Band - The Burdocks are from Canada. I lost their press release, so I can't really hide behind the music writers classic shield of Biography this time around. Instead, I'm stuck talking about the music. And such music! The Burdocks produce Indie Rock in the oldest sense of the word. Close to the chest, cathartic, melodic, jagged pop riffs and anthemic choruses, produced on old tape decks with passion and energy than skill. Battle of the Band is like all 4 Guided By Voices song templates smashed together into one epic jangled masterpiece. Alternating between slow, sparse despondent verses and a rousing chorus full of spiky riffs and fist pumping power. When the song dissolves into a wall of noise and feedback, it slowly mutes itself, recovers some melody, and rediscovers it's starting point - rebirth rather than death, it's an excellent finish to the Burdocks self-produced debut. They're working on an LP in a studio now, and I have high hopes for it.

The Burdocks - Save The World - Save the World hews a bit more closely to the Alien Lanes/Isolation Drills - era Guided By Voices formula explored in places elsewhere to the album, to excellent effect. Catchy power-pop hasn't sounded this good in ages.

[Buy Airplane Tracks from Sonic Unyon!]

Saturday Looks Good To Me - Alcohol - You may be wondering about the title of todays entry. Well, for those of you that don't know, today is my 21st Birthday. For those of you that aren't from the States, 21 is the legal drinking age here. So I'm offering up this probably overplayed Saturday Looks Good to Me song, as Part One of my Birthday Gift To You. It's a great song, distorted buzzsaws of 60's guitar, rich, melodious girl-pop vocals, sound as if they're coming out of the distance, perhaps truly being sung from that Liquor Store on the Ocean Floor. it was a tough choice between this song and the New Pornographers "Slow Descent Into Alcoholism". I went for the one I figured fewer people have heard.

[Buy All Your Summer Songs from Insound.com!]

That brings me to gift #2 for you guys. In the old tradition of GIVING gifts on ones birthday, I'd like to give you all a coupon for 10% off of ANYTHING you'd like to buy from Insound.com. Just enter the coupon code "indie dance" at checkout, and 10% will be deducted from your order. And if you click through from here, I'll get a cut. Which would be nice. They have a lot of great music for you to buy over there.

A few other Notes and Things.

Blogtheque is one of the best French Mp3 Blogs on the net, and now they've put together a fantastic bilingual mix CD entitled Point D'Ecoute full of great MP3's, including one previously featured TTIKTDA track. You should all go download it, because it is good.

Also, a quick note since a few people have asked about RSS Enclosures and Podcasting and such: TTIKTDA will never be Podcast. I post copyrighted MP3's here, and not always with permission. The nature of what I do is inexorably tied up in attachign the writings to the songs. Please, don't request just the music as enclosures. It isn't going to happen.

Opsound is a killer new label that is releasing all of their music under a Creative Commons liscense, and will be putting out their first release, by Catalpa Catalpa next week. You can listen to the whole thing online, but you should buy it because the packaging is fantastic. If you are in New York, you should come to the release party next week:

More Kleptones and more great music on Monday.

I'm off to get hammered.

I can't tell one from another.

2004-11-22T09:17:00.000-05:00

The Arcade Fire - Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place) (Talking Heads Cover) (CBC Studio Session) - That may take the record for the most parenthetical statements in a song title I've posted here. Well, a few weeks ago, I said you wouldn't be getting a rare Arcade Fire bootleg. Well, you can have it now. Last week, the CBC recorded a studio session with the Arcade Fire of 5 songs, including, at last, a high quality recording of the bands cover of the Talking Heads' "Naive Melody". It's a change of pace for the Arcade Fire, with a number of new isntruments added to their (already formidable) arsenal specifically for the song - most notably steel drums and xylophones that give it a very tropical bent. But mostly, this is a chance for Win to show off his vocals and prove that he really does have that same sort of nervous energy that made David Byrne such a great and unique frontman. But where Byrne stuttered endearingly, Win howls and screams. Where Byrne would say as much with the silences of his clipped words as he would with his long notes, Butlers notes trail off into oblivion - not so much nervous as alternately enraptured and horrified. Have I mentioned recently how much I love the Arcade Fire?

[Listen to the whole session of the Arcade Fire on CBC Radio 3 Online, and read the great article. Bruce Springsteen couldn't get a copy of Funeral!]
[Buy Funeral From Amazon.com!]

Carissas Wierd - Die - They coulda been contenders. They coulda been huge. They were on the road to being legends. Such is the now eternal lament of the Carissa's Wierd fan. The band broke up about a year ago, after a legnthy farewell tour, and has just released a second posthumous album. (The first, Scrap Book was a collection of B-Sides and covers). And while I've always been a fan, it really has taken the post-breakup release of I Before E to make me one of the converted on the bands potential legend. More particularly, it took "Die". For the most part, I before E is a collection of live material. But the first 3 tracks are new songs that the band had been touring, and felt it was right to give studio versions of to the fans. One last parting gift. And what a gift Die is. The band is clearly more confident than ever, as vocals are pushed way to the front and multitracked into a layered call and response that I can only dream of having caught live on that farewell tour. Most notable though is the songs instrumental density. In the past Carissa's Wierd songs were mainly notable for being extremely sparse affairs - as desolate as their often spiteful subject matter. But "Die" is hate of a different color. Well fed and all grown up, this is what CW could've been. It's a huge loss.

[Buy I Before E from Amazon.com!]

The Kleptones - See - Continuing what began last week, I will be syndicating the entirety of A Night at the Hip Hopera, continuing with track 2, "See" takes Queens "One Vision" and mashes it with some old school hip-hop - most notably KRS-Ones Rap vs. Hip Hop's (B-Side to Sound of The Police) academic tone, and Grandmaster Flash's classic single "The Message," which is about as close as the genres come to Operas scope with it's true tale of Social Decay is the pessimistic dark mirror of Queens "One Vision" optimism. The song finishes out with some Kelis... it's only going up...

[Buy Krs-One's Return of the Boom-Bap from Amazon.com]
[ Buy Message from Beat Street: The Best of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five from Amazon.com]
[Buy Kelis's Tasty from Amazon.com]
[Buy Queen's A Kind of Magic From Amazon.com]

I'd like to eat rice cakes and listen to classical music

2004-11-17T23:41:00.000-05:00

Buck 65 - Wicked & Weird - Yesterday I promised, as Fatcitizen noted in a comment, some Buck 65. The occasion? He's finally getting a US Release! In January, Virgin will drop This Here is Buck 65 a compilation of some of Bucks greatest stuff from the past few years as the US's introduction to Canadas foremost white trash rapper. Wicked & Weird seems to be the radio single at the moment, and it's a fine choice for an introduction to Buck. The backing track is Beck-esque mix of equal parts country-funk and spacey electro blues, with a dash of turntablism, but what carries the song is Bucks utterly inimitable MC-ing. The voice is a ciggarette and whiskey scorched gravel reminiscent of Tom Waits in some ways, or what Kid Rock was always trying to be, and the rhymes are as tight as anything coming out of the conventional, urban hip-hop world - but it's the subject matter that sets Buck apart. Self aggrandizing, with the tossed off Jesus reference, sure, but this is a song about and for the road - thats clear all throughout, and besides, lines like "Back on the road, not a moment too soon / Dish ran away with some other spoon" are just classics.

Buck 65 - Centaur (Acoustic Version) - But This Here Is isn't entirely repackaged Buck tracks. There's a pair of new cuts too, particularly this alternate, acoustic take on the classic track "Centaur". Narrowly skirting the line between mythology and metaphor, "Centaur" is both novelty track and the heartbreaking lament of a man who just wants some privacy and some honesty. The acoustic take plays up the more serious side of the song (in part because the lyrics are cleaned up a bit, probably at the request of Virgin for a single), with a slow, melodic take on the instrumental, and a vocal track that plods through depressed and lonely.

[This Here Is drops in January. Those who can't wait should pick up Talkin' Honky Blues from Amazon.com]

In other news, I'm saddened to note that internet icon Waxy has recieved a C&D from Disney for linking to Mp3's of the Kleptones A Night at the Hip Hopera. For those that haven't heard me say it before, I'll say it now. I think the Kleptones are the absolute masters of the bootleg/mashup genre. They bring a level of technical skill and invetiveness to things that noone else in the game does. Yoshimi Battles the Hip-Hop Robots was good. Hip-Hopera is probably the best bootleg album this year. I can't be one of the many folks out there doing a full album mirror, so I'm gonna do the next best thing. For the next few weeks, I'm going to post this album track by track, along with each days post. And with the track, I'm gonna post links to buy the source of every single sample on the track. And when you buy one of those CD's, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, post a comment here, so that we can show Disney & the rest of the IP obsessed fools of the world exactly what they are suppressing here.

The Kleptones - Precession - the opening track of the album, is primarily a Queen track, with various snippets of fun dialogue scattered about it. It's nothing special in it's own right, and primarily serves as an introduction to much much much more fun to come. Grab it while it's hot. It's the beginning of something special.

[Buy Queen II from Amazon.com!]

Finally, I'm one of the panelists in Kyle over at Information Leafblowers 2nd annual top 40 American bands poll. Since the Cool Kids are posting their ballots, here's what I sent to Kyle over the weekend. Keep in mind that my list was constructed with the following directions in mind: "...the Top 40 Bands In America today. Not last year when they were hot or when their new record drops in '05, I mean right the fuck now." As a result, the list tends towards acts that have just dropped albums, and/or rising stars. Also, the USA only rules cut off a whole buttload of Canadian bands that would probably dominate my list at the moment. There's something in that northern water I say. I also voted a bit strategically, leaving off a few artists I was convinced would rank well without me. Some did (Interpol), some charted lower than I'd've liked (TV On the Radio), and some amazingly didn't chart (Mission of Burma). That said, here's what I sent Kyle:

1) Gogol Bordello
-- Eugene Hutz has, over the past 3 years, completed his transformation from drunken ukrainean punk to rock and roll god. Gogol Bordellos live performances have become the stuff of legend thanks to his unmatched stage presence and the tightly chained chaos the band can unleash. Gogol Bordello are the most essentially American band out there - a hodgepodge of Immigrants from all over, brought together in NY by gypsy punk rock, and good alcohol, this sounds like nothing else on this earth. Take the mantra to heart: Drink Locally - Fuck Globally.

2) The Fiery Furnaces
-- 'Fork hype aside, the siblings Friedberger have put out an album that managed to challenge every hipster preconception of current music while simultaneously enthralling us with hooks, storytelling, and an album more generally packed full of STUFF than anything else this year.

3) The Mountain Goats
-- John Darnielle is, quite simply, the best working American songwriter. For anyone else, the addition of a band, as Darnielle did on 2002's Tallahassee would have been career suicide, the backlash enormous. But for the Mountain Goats, it was only a logical extension, as Darnielle is still telling the same stories, of broken homes and everlasting hope.

4) Brian Wilson
-- 37 years later, and the mans still got it. Smile is everything we were promised and more.

5) Ted Leo / RX
-- Smart. Literate. Politically charged. Catchy as fuckall. Can anything be said about Ted Leo that hasn't already? Shake the Sheets continues his growing move into his role as the Billy Bragg of a new generation - it suits him.

6) The Hold Steady
-- Like a Heavy Metal Sonic Youth, The Hold Steady burst out of the gate this past winter with "...Almost Killed Me", an album of blazing distorted guitar insanity and a twisted proclamatory lyrical style that is utterly inimitable.

7) MF DOOM
-- Does Metalmouth ever sleep? First he collaborates with Madlib on the fantastic Madvillainy, before assuming his Viktor Vaughn persona for another posse release, and now he's poised to drop MMM FOOD, home to the sickest beats and the best rhymes on the continent at the moment.

8) ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
-- Getting their label to agree to pay for the replacement of all equipment destroyed while on tour was the smartest thing these Texans ever did. As they prepare to release a new album in a few months, they've been touring relentlessly, tearing shit up left and right, and showing hints of a broadened sound that brings in flashes of prog and krautrock to an already explosive mix of no-wave distortion and smart pop song construction.

9) Green Day
-- My teen years have returned from the grave with a political vengance. Who'd've thought Green Day had it in them to return from a decade of mediocrity with the most powerful and anthemic protest album in decades? If President Bush is what it takes to make Punk rock relevant again, than maybe 4 more years is just what the doctor
ordered...

10) The Decembrists
-- They aren't Neutral Milk Hotel, but noone ever will be. They carry the torch like none other though, and thats more than enough.

And a quick show announcement for New Yorkers: The Blow will be playing at Barnard tomorrow night (tonight?) the 18th, with YACHT, Knife Skills, and Dear Nora. It's 5 bucks. More info at WBAR.org. You should go. Because I can't.

A lot of stuff happens that the news won't tells yous

2004-11-16T13:51:00.000-05:00

MF Doom Featuring Mr. Fantastik - Rapp Snitch Knishes - Ol' Metalface is back, but he hasn't exactly gone away. With his 5th(!!!) release this year by my count, MM...Food?, Doom finally drops the follow up to '99's Doomsday that we've all been waiting for. "Rapp Snitch Knishes", is classic Doom, with squealing, echoed out classic rock guitar doing it's thing in the distance while Doom and Fantastik lay down the rhymes that make the metalman one of the most respected MC's in independent hiphop, lambasting the industry that abandoned him as he was poised to storm the heights. Most of the album is Solo-Doom, so it's nice to hear a collaboration, and in the wake of the disappointing Venemous Villain, a collaborator who can hold his own up against Doom.

MF Doom - Kookiez - If MM... Food? is a three course meal, than "Kookiez" is desert. The track opens with some vintage funk beats, snares and horns, and Doom is in full attack mode, turning from his traditional targets to spam E-mail and moral decline, before giving a litany of shout outs to the great baked goods of the world. The production is absolutely ace here, with some killer drum fills and one of the albums better Cut'n'Paste collage skits in the albums finale - in Dooms world at least, he is poised for the takeover that eluded him a decade ago. "If anyone can do it..."

[Buy MM...Food? from Amazon.com!]

It's rapidly turning in to hip-hop week here at TTIKTDA.

Why not? Tomorrow, some Canadian white-trash Rap-Funk.

Diamonds, Candy, Pills, One Million Dollar Bills.

2004-11-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

Handsome Boy Modeling School w/ Cat Power - I've Been Thinking - Dan The Automator has been plenty busy lately. And just when it seems like he's ready to slow down, along comes a project that he's contributed even more to - in this case White People the aptly titled new album from handsome Boy Modeling School. White People brings together the talents of the Automator and Prince Paul - two of the best producers out there, and a litany of rappers both famous (De La Soul, The RZA, Pharell Williams), and Undie (El-P, Cage, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien), with Indie Rockers (The Mars Volta, Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand, Cat Power, Mike Patton), and a few whatthefucks (John Oates, Chester Bennington, Father Guido Sarducci), for an album of smartly produced beatcentric hip-hop and R&B. It's a hit and miss affair. But "I've been thinking" is a firm contender for Flux's idea of hits from an alternate reality. The song is a suffocating, paranoid love ballad, and Chan shows off a side of herself we've never seen, with a soulful vocal performance that would be instantly familiar to anyone - not just her usual audience. Part of it is the reverb, as her vocals multitrack the inherent innocence of her voice away in places("I've been thinking about the things you made me do too"), and and give it a more playful, childish quality in others. While the song at times seems a bit cliche - the paradoxical litany of the "strong unbuyable woman" coexisting in the same song in which said woman begs for the man she insists cannot buy her - it's pretty clear that Chan knows what she's doing here. It's not a case of an artist taking the easiest path to accessibility, but rather, confronted with an opportunity to sing in front of those low key beats and muted strings, to play with a narrowly defined genre normally out of reach - taking it's cliches and it's rules, and using them as boundaries to define herself while she works in other directions, rather than struggling to break through and make something new. Besides, it's completely hypnotic, and nearly the only thing I've listened to this past weekend.

[Buy White People from Amazon.com!]

Snowden - Kill the Power - Snowden are from Atlanta. You wouldn't know it, what with the large NYC photo on the front of their website. You wouldn't know it from their sound either, which is as zeitgeisty as it gets. And you wouldn't know it from their being on the bill at tomorrows NY-centric Movable Hype show at the Knitting Factory in NY tomorrow night, which you NYers should go to. But they're from Atlanta. And Kill the Power, a track from their demo EP, is meant to let New York City know that in the age of the internet, it's not enough to live near the hip people - because they can hear you from anywhere. "Kill the Power" has all the trademarks of a band that looks back to the late 80's. MBVesque distortion scattered about - but rather than pouring it on thick, the shoegaze influence is just a flourish here, as we see equally heavy references to the likes of the Cure, or Joy Division, or drums that recall the Stone Roses on a less frenetic moment.

[NYers should go see Snowden tomorrow. Everyone should download their Demo EP from the website.]

John has the definitive ODB obit, so I don't think I need to bother.

The soundtrack to the end of the world.

2004-11-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

M83 - A Guitar and a Heart - M83 seemed to come out of nowhere last year with Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, a mammoth album that took the beauty under fuzz aesthetic of a My Bloody Valentine, and fused it with a downright cinematic sense of scope. Dead Cities was a long slow boil of album hype, starting out only availiable as an import from the French label Gooom, before being picked up stateside by Mute. And now, M83, reduced from a duo to, once again, just Anthony Gonzalez, have prepared a follow up, entitled Before the Dawn Heals Us. The sounds are more natural this time, with an increased sense of live instrumentation as the layers strip away, and vocals are introduced, but what comes through the most in the album is an apocalyptic tension. "A Guitar and a Heart" provides the albums climax, picking up in many ways where Dead Cities left off, as elements heard throughout Before the Dawn are reintroduced and brought up to a fever pitch. The mushroom clouds can be seen off in the distance, and it's all we can do to save ourselves. There is fear here, and fury, but most notably, there is a sense of salvation in the distorted wails of guitars, the crunch of what might be boots marching or thousands cheering, and when the noise fades, it goes straight into pastoral bliss.

M83 - Safe - There is however, another sort of climax on Before the Dawn, and it's one that has pretty much divided the folks I've spoken to about this album down the middle. Mainly because it's an enormous departure for M83. The song opens with a quiet, tragic piano line, and vocals by Gonzalez... and, well, aside from some ambient effect, not much gets added - in fact, it strips down to just spoken word in places, though there is some moog organ for drama. For an artist that has built a reputation on sweeping soundscapes and huge dynamics, this is a pretty big gamble, but in my estimation, one that pays off. By placing at the core of the epic scale of the album a song so quiet, so strikingly emotional, everything around it takes on an extra weight. It's a delicate thing to do, but M83 have pulled it off stunningly. The song ends in fireworks, and the sounds of children amazed. Count me among them. Before the Dawn will hit streets on January 25th.

[Buy Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts from Amazon.com!]

We could've been - We Should've been Wonderful

2004-11-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

Hi again everyone. Things are normal now. It's been rough past week for me, and very little of it having to do with politics. Things should be in order now though. Thanks again for all your kind words on the 11/3 entry. I'm honestly rather surprised at how much it resonated with people, considering that in the weeks leading up to the election, everytime those sentiments would come out of me, I'd end up getting shouted down. Ah well, sometimes peoplle just aren't ready to hear things I guess.

Sukilove - Girl on the Moon - Thick, fuzzy bass. Drums that want to regulate your heartbeat for you. That fat low end is what holds Sukilove together on Girl on the Moon. Against that backdrops, singer Pascal Deweze chants his hypnotic chant, as shrieks and stabs of guitar come in from the ether, unearthly howls from left field, and the random interspersal of handclaps., only to retreat before the assault of rhythym. There's a very tight dynamic at work on Sukiloves third album, You Kill Me, and it shines through on this song, as much like on Spoons Kill the Moonlight, there is a constant conflict between vicious four on the floor rhythyms, gorgeous melodies, and a frontman who just wants to rock. The song goes back and forth, neither side able to claim victory, while Deweeze screams and chants for his unreachable girl.

Sukilove - My Son - the band manages to bring all tose elements into a strange sort of harmony though, on "My Son". The drums lope through the song slowly, setting a slow deliberate pace, in sharp contrast to the manic freneticism of much of the album, but nonetheless pushing always pushing forward. The real difference here is the production though - awash with tiny melodic flourishes, as Deweeze tries his hand at Van Morrisson territory, the song drips with reverb and multitracked backing vocals. He may not reach that plateau, but in the swirl of noise and melody that is Sukilove, Deweze accomplishes something else that is, in it's own way, very admirable, and at it's core, is utterly and firghtneingly honest.

[Buy You Kill Me from Parasol Records!]

In other news, I'm looking to do a redesign, but have absolutely no skills to do so. I'd also strongly consider a move towards Movable Type or WordPress or somesuch and hosting the blog at it's own domain. If anyone out there is interested in lending a hand, get in touch with me. There may be some sort of compensation involved, be it some CD's, or some cash, or whatever we can figure out.

We've got a whole lot of walking to do.

2004-11-03T11:13:00.000-05:00

I had hoped I wouldn't have to write this. I had hoped things might go differently.

But the truth is, I knew all along. I knew the night Kerry shattered expectations in Iowa, that we were setting up to have our hearts broken. I knew the moment Gay Marriage measures got tossed on the ballot in key states like Ohio. I knew the moment Bush took that stage in New York. I knew the day that Terry McAuliffe announced a frontloaded Democratic primary.

So, A lot of shit went down yesterday. We won a few big races around the country. We also lost some big ones too, including a few real major heartbreakers.

But some of the biggest prizes, Senate Seats in Florida, and Alaska are still too close to call, though things don't look very optimistic.

And of course, the biggest prize of all is being held hostage by the people of Ohio, those confused bastards.

But it doesn't look good there either.

But you know what? After all this, in spite of all this, I couldn't be happier about the outcome of this race. To be honest, in many ways, this is what I've secretly wanted this whole time. I hold the somewhat unpopular view that the Democratic party needs this heartbreak. Terry McAuliffe, the old Clinton hack establishment - the party bet the bank on Kerry before the first dollar was raised for the primaries - much less before the first vote was cast. Deans rise and subsequent fall never had any chance of impacting anything. The fix was put in in late 2002 - I remember having conversations about Kerry and knowing he would be the nominee as I worked for Common Cause in Washington that summer. I remember when one of my fellow interns, an awesome fellow named Drew who I sadly completely and totally lost touch with, put me on the trail of this guy Howard Dean, calling him "the future of Democratic politics - if he could ever get through a primary because of the Gun thing." Drew knew what he was talking about in some ways. In others, he and I both were hopelessly naive. The fix was in. We were set up. We've been had.

If you have any energy left. Any outrage to spare, don't spew it at Bush, Rove and company. They are deserving of it, to be sure. Probably moreso than anyone else in this country. But spewing bile at them won't accomplish anything. We had our second chance to turn that rage into change yesterday, and we blew it. At least, for now. But, the third times the charm. After today, McAuliffe and his race to the middle, race to the bottom, frontloaded primary washington insider establishment strategy will have been exposed for the worthless, corporate whore ideology that they are. The worst vestiges of Clintonism can finally be excised, but only if we remain focused, and remember who put us in this situation - of one of the lousiest primary candidates managing to basically clear the table.

In 2000, Democrats, rather than turning from Al Gore and this establishment, and renouncing what had clearly failed them in a terrible campaign, blamed Nader. Nader who drew no more votes than any other third party candidate does normally, was blamed for Gores failings. The man was scapegoated for being completely and totally statistically unremarkable. There's no Nader to blame this time. It shouldn't have been that close last time. And this time, all signs point to Bush widening his margin considerably anyway. This time, we have to understand that we didn't have anything stolen from us. We gave it away.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - A Whole Lot of Walking to Do - Let me tell you why I'm so happy about all this though. I've found, in my time as an organizer, that few things are as energizing as a narrow defeat. And this one was close, to be sure. But we have to learn from it. We didn't learn from 2000, we scapegoated. Now, it's time to start doing some homework. It's time, as Kos put it, not to mourn, but to organize. Or, as Ted puts it in Walking to Do - "All those people waving all the big signs - should just quit waiting on the divine." It's not going to come to us people. The man on the white horse does not exist.

If we want to save this country, we've got to save it ourselves.

That means that if the local city council decides to try to impose a curfew - tell them no. And if they don't listen? Vote their asses out. And if no one is willing to run against them? Run yourself.

That means if your State Legislature just banned Gay Marriage, get your friends together, and ORGANIZE. Groups have power. Politicians respond to a lot of things. Money. History. Booze. Sex. Which ones they'll respond to varies. But I'll tell you, there's one thing they all respond to. POWER. And what is power? Power is being able to visibly and loudly demonstrate that you have enough votes to get them out of office. We made a solid start to demonstrating that yesterday. But we won't have true power until we make them realize that we don't just vote when we're pissed off and at war.

In 1964, Barry Goldwater revitalized the Republican party with a new brand of conservatism. He was firey, and radical. He had unprecedented youth support, as 20 year olds flocked to him in droves. He also alienated most of the country and was crushed in a landslide by Democrat Lyndon Johnson. But Goldwaters followers didn't get crushed. They organized. And now, 40 years later, that organization is in full glory.

Which brings me to why I'm happy about yesterday. I've seen more energy this year, than I ever have in my short life. I've seen more power exercised by young voters, whether through MFA, or through NYPIRG, or just walking New York, and not being able to go a block without seeing an anti-bush T Shirt or button or something. If we can keep only half of this energy, then we're headed for a realignment in this country.

But that can only happen if we stop thinking so much in the moment. All of this "most important election of our lives" bullshit. All of this "end of the world if we have 4 more years" bullshit. It needs to stop. Yes, this loss is a tragedy. Yes, thousands more will die now. But if we just go home and cry, we won't stop the draft. If we go home and cry, we won't stop the next war. If we just go home and cry, Jeb or Rudy is going to be elected in 2008, and it's going to keep getting worse. We need to keep this energy alive. The fact is, thousands more would have died if Kerry had won too. The fact is, if Kerry had won, I fear we'd've gotten complacent. We'd've let the Republican congress continue to run roughshod over our environment, our labor laws, and our constitutional rights, all udner the radar while we look at that wonderful D next to President John Kerry's name in the history textbooks.

Instead, this loss gives me hope. It gives me hope because this time we have no one to blame. It gives me hope because now we have nothing to lose. It gives me hope because now we're poised to take over - before, we were just trying to keep the worse guys out.

Ghost Mice - Austin to El Paso - Alright guys, whose with me? Who wants to join the revolution? Keep your browser here. I'm fairly certain that MFA is in this for the long haul (and if it's not, there's gonna be some serious explaining to do). I'm in this for the long haul - hell, I'm already kicking around some plans for some serious work in 2006. But to make it happen, we need you. We need the folks who got engaged in involved this time because it was "the big one". Because the fact is, that in the end, it was just another election and we lost it. It won't be "the big one" until we win. And we won't win until people realize they need to stick around. As Ghost Mice say - "I would be so grateful, just to know that you still care."

I chose the songs in this entry not just because they're great, but because they represent so much of what I'm feeling right now. Yes, we've got a whole lot of work to do, and the chips are down. But the fact is, I'm more hopeful right now than I've been in years. And I'm hopeful because I think, yesterday, it finally clicked with people, what it means to live in a politicized society. I'd like to think that as of yesterday, a lot of people realized just how much this shit means, and just how important they are. I'd like to think that the opportunity we have to say things like this will, for once, matter in a way it hasn't in the past because, for once, people are actually scared, and have no other alternative.

As I said before, I had hoped I wouldn't have to write this. But the times, they do call for it. This is rushed, unedited, and classic bloggy half-assedness in some ways. It's first thoughts in the truest sense. Just so I'm not unclear, I'm gonna give you a brief summary that hopefully clarifies a bit of what I'm trying to get it.

1) Yes, Kerry Lost. It's bad.
2) It's not as bad as many of you will likely make it out to be.
3) America is still the same country it was on November 1st. Thats not a bad thing, but it's not armageddon either.
4) The only thing we can do now is to get organized, and make some real change happen.
5) The key to getting organized is to tap into all the energy thats shown this year, and to redirect it into positive finite tasks. There's a lot of rage and despair right now. We can rack up a lot of small victories in January if we stick together that long. And who knows what we can manage in 2006.
6) If you're pissed off, run for office yourself. There's nothing stopping you, and we need you, now more than ever.
7) If this election serves as the Democrats '64, I can safely call it a success for us, and look forward to many years of long term success.
8) If this isn't our '64, and the party continues to act like a bunch of fucking morons, strike all of the above.

I think that sums it up. Thanks guys. It's been a hell of a ride - please don't step off just yet. Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle.

Nonpolitical musicblogging will resume soon.

Edit: Some additional Nonsense - I was, in the last weeks, increasingly ambivalent about the prospect of a Bush victory for a few reasons. One of those reasons - the prospect of retaking the Senate, has been shattered before my eyes, and that is possibly the most depressing news of yesterday. But the other, bigger reason, I've alluded to, but didn't really lay out. So let me.

I think that Bush has, over the past 4 years, set this country on an unimaginably bad path. By taking three branches of government, the Republican party has effectively shortcircuited our government and put all sorts of HORRIBLE laws in place. Yes, they will want to do more. But the fact is that Bush got most of what he wanted already. Most of the really horrid Bush changges were subtle and insidious and happened in his first year or two in office. But we're only just feeling the effects of any of it now. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Rumors of a draft. The Patriot Act. The War in Iraq. All of these things are wheels in motion that, regardless of who was elected yesterday, would not have stopped. Kerry as president would have had very little ability to actually reverse course. At best, he might've hemmorhaged the bleeding. But, let's take Iraq as an example - how much could Kerry have done? Either he could've kept us in there until we "win" - a recipe for instability and increased terrorism. Or, he could cut and run - a recipe for instability and increased terrorism. See where I'm going here? No matter what Kerry would do, most of the negative effects of the Bush Administration are going to occur over the next 4 years.

I strongly suspect that there will be a backlash to those negative effects, and I strongly suspect that if they were to occur during a Kerry administration, that John Kerry would be blamed. George Bush made this mess. Let him deal with it. And when the American people finally notice it nationwide - because this news will travel slowly - let him bear the brunt of their wrath. And please, let those of us who knew all along be there to reach out a hand and show the better way.

A Public Service Announcement from: Bloggin' For Democracy

2004-10-29T11:29:00.000-04:00

What follows is a public service announcement from Bloggin' for Democracy, a coalition of musicbloggers that coalesced recently to attempt to turn some of the energy and readership we have here around into getting asses into voting booths. If you'd like to join in, just copy this post and toss it up on your own blog, website, messageboard, whatever. If you want the text all handily precoded for you, just email me.

Hey!! Stop what you're doing! You're not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, you're not going to stumble across the b-side to "Hand In Glove", and you're not going to find the unreleased Pixies album. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important election of our lives.

Find your polling place and prepare to vote. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote. If you are not a U.S. citizen than please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Participation by all is crucial.

What follows are a bunch of links. Some are funny. Some are helpful. Some are to crappy official websites for really good people. Some are for crappy official websites fo really bad people. I'm not going to tell you not to vote if I disagree with you. I'm going to tell you to go and campaign for your own guy because thats what Democracy is about. So even he gets a link.

Internet Vets for Truth - Comprehensive site containing all those MP3's and Videos and Memes that have been spreading for months. A fantastic piece of work, with a staggering pipe of bandwidth.
MusicForAmerica.org
Moveon.com
RockTheVote.com
John Kerry
DeclareYourself
MyPollingPlace.com - find out where to go to vote!

A PSA from Chris Stamey w/Yo La Tengo
Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Political Blogging Will continue through the weekend, with a bunch of shorter posts full of songs and videos and other things that people should be seeing and hearing before 11/2. On November 3rd, regular blogging will resume.

Thanks,

Bloggin' For Democracy, TTIKTDA, and everyone else whose involved.

I'm never pleased, so take your shots.

2004-10-28T13:56:00.000-04:00

Delegate - Modern Man - the hardcore scene gets the absolute worst rap. They're widely regarded as the meatheads of alternative music, known for mosh pits and loudness, for raucous shows, and confrontational attitudes. The perception couldn't be further off. The most open minded friends I have musically, are the folks that come, primarily, out of a hardcore punk background. The folks that listen to Refused, Zeke, The Blood Brothers, and Agnostic Front are also the ones who are totally unashamed to drive around blasting Donna Summer back to back with Wu-Tang, with a healthy dose of Interpol and NOFX in the changer. Though hardcore music is, somewhat justifiably, maligned for a lack of variety in the scene for the most part it's not, contrary to what many seem to believe, a reflection of any sort of lack of musical education or ability. Indeed, it seems that many of the most prolific musical innovators of the past 20 years came from just that scene. Ian Mackeye, Bob Mould, and countless others now drooled over by the wider indie community got started playing noisy, raw, fast and loud. Which brings me to Delegate. Daron Hollowell used to be the frontman of Four Hundred Years. A Hardcore band from Richmond VA, Four Hundred Years gained a pretty substantial following before breaking up a few years ago. And like so many before him, Hollowell went on and formed a new band. But it's nothing like you would expect from the guy that used to scream in front of a lot of noise (to the uninitiated). Nope. Instead, Hollowell went out and put together Delegate. The band released a self titled album, on a tour earlier this year (now sold out), and it's one of the most promising sets of demos I've heard all year. "Modern Man" is piano ballas at first - Hollowell crooning as the keys and some atmospheric guitar chords play out. And then, slowly, in comes the beat. Like a broken celphone, skittering through everything, a futurism is inserted at the heart of the song, the beats skittering slowly more and more out of control, everything becomes unhinged, and as the song reaches it's conclusion, anarchy breaks loose and the guitars are unleashed.

Delegate - Treason! - Church organs, video game bleeps, and a rhythym like the beat of a broken heart. Treason is a song for worship, and a song for despair. Guitars chime, vocals swoop in and out, and the drums pound with the fury of new loss. Like Interpol covering Leonard Cohen, there's something simultaneously trascendently sad and ass shakingly rhythmic here. A Britpop plea for an end to the chaos, straight from the heart of Virginia.

[Check out Delegate's website, and see them in a club near you!]

Some other quickie, NY-Centric notes:

Jin informs us:

Jinners.com is giving away a pair of tickets to the sold-out November 11 show at Bowery Ballroom featuring The Arcade Fire, The Hidden Cameras and Dirty on Purpose(Ed. See Yesterdays Post). If you are not already signed up on the Dirty on Purpose email list, all you have to do is sign up through the band's website (www.dirtyonpurpose.com). I will be sending out a special email through the band's mailing list with instructions on how to enter to win tickets. If you're already on the list, don't worry, you don't have to sign up again.
Good luck!

Get on it people! This is gonna be the show of the season. Hope to see 2 of you loyal readers there.

The Malachi Constant will be playing the Lit Lounge tonite, it should be a good show.

Hell On Wheels, a trio from lovely Sweden, are playing 2 shows in New York this weekend. Says reader Sarah:

HELL ON WHEELS... has been a staple in my listening rotation since I caught them at the Swedish Showcase at CBGB's this past spring. Rickard, Åsa and Johan had such a great time in New York and were so well received that they're coming back over from Sweden to play two shows this week.
...
This band is just so awesome, so fresh, I feel like they're worth it. Anyway, all those Swedes can't be wrong-- HoW have played everything from 7,000 person stadiums to dive bars, from Japan to Brazil, and opened for Teenage Fanclub and the Pixies...

So. Before I ramble further and lose you, the important information:

Head on over to the Bands website, and click on the "listen" link...

Thursday, October 28th at The Lion's Den
HELL ON WHEELS
with The Tiny, Prime Sthlm, and Jamie Meyer
doors open at 9; they'll go on around 10:30

Saturday, October 30th at Delancey Lounge
HELL ON WHEELS
opening bands TBA
10:45

More good things tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-url.

Break the Fever.

2004-10-27T14:00:00.000-04:00

Dirty on Purpose - Spider Eyes - Dirty on Purpose don't sound anything like you would expect them to. I mean, they're from Brooklyn, right? And they got started playing venues like Electroclash hole Luxx, right? And they have a name like Dirty on Purpose, and have keyboards, and a girl singing, and there are Hipsters swooning all over this band, right? Well, get ready to hear something you don't expect. Sure, "Spider Eyes" opens with a killer 80's style drum fill, and the guitars ring out those spacey individual notes that seem to fill a chasm every time, and sure, it builds to a frenzied, dance your ass off break. But none of those other bands, do things this beautifully. None of those other bands get props not just for being retro, or being dancable, but also for being smart, and for melodies so delicate they sound like they could break under a raindrop. It's a testament to the harsh reality of the NYC music scene that "Spider Eyes" isn't being played to death in every club on the planet, that the band can't play it as their entrance song in a thousand cavernous rooms filled to the brim with hundreds of hipsters waiting for that first frenzied guitar part to start jumping up and down and going crazy and knowing that this band is the reason they feel cooler than all the people at the arena downtown for the Rolling Stones "Look! We found some more enbalming fluid to pump into Keith Richards Tour!"

Dirty on Purpose - Cheat Death - What's that? That not unique enough for you? Not beautiful enough? Well, give a listen to "Cheat Death." It's a ballad, a slow, haunting one, dominated by those long, drawn out atmospheric notes you get from a guitar player who uses a bow for a reason that isn't being a pretentious ass. And the vocals, a duet this time, soar and weave through it all, like a Belle & Sebastian song with all of the sorrow and none of the bounce, Dirty on Purpose turn what might be a plodding moment into something transcendant. It's a song that left me, on first listen, simply stunned into silence at the beauty of it. The first time I can remember that in a while.

Dirty on Purpose will be opening for the Arcade Fire & The Hidden Camerass at the Bowery Ballroom on November 11th. Those of you who will be there - get there early. You do NOT want to miss this set.

[Check out some Dirty On Purpose MP3's, buy an EP, and check live dates at their website.]

A legend died today.

2004-10-26T11:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterdays post went up very late. If you missed it, be sure to scroll down for it.

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks - For those of you who haven't heard, the worlds greatest Radio DJ, John Peel, passed away this morning, of a heart attack, while on vacation. I'm still trying to sort through what this means in my head. There was no replacement for John Peel, waiting for him to retire. There's no equivalent anywhere else in the world. What he's done, in 37 years on the air, is quite simply inimitable. By playing "A balance between things that you know people will like and things that you think people will like," Peel managed to provide a stage for generation upon generation of some of the worlds most influential music. The inclusion of "Peel Sessions" - recordings done in his studio - is de rigeur bonus material today for an untold number of bands. His influence is going to be felt for decades, but I fear noone will ever step up to do just wehat he did. If we MP3 Bloggers can accomplish the barest hundredth of it though - we'll have made a pretty damned large contribution to the world of music ourselves. "Teenage Kicks" was Peel's favorite song. He often cited it as "The Perfect Single," and with good reason. It's a beautiful nugget of classic guitar pop. Listen to it, and then, take a moment of silence for a man who loved music with every fiber of his being.

We Start Fires - Queen Bee - We Start Fires are the sort of band Peel would've broken, I suspect. 3 Girls and a boy from NorthEastern England, playing beautiful, catchy, piano laden, punky pop music. "Queen Bee" is the debut off of the bands self released debut, Caught Redhanded, and is one of the albums more dramatic moments. The song starts slo, gaining intensity and tension, the drama building to a defiant shout. The band is still unsigned. I expect that to change soon.

[Buy Caught Redhanded direct from the band!]

Maddening Monday: Billions have Got The Hunger

2004-10-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. Still sick, and I've been working on this post for most of today, on and off because things have been busy here. You're patience will be adequately rewarded I assure you.

This week is going to consist mostly of bands without much of a profile and without many releases. Stuff thats been sent to me, or that I've sought out, from bands that in quite a few cases are still unsigned. Hopefully, that'll change soon. Label people who read this blog, this is your heads up - get callin!

Dear Leader - Raging Red - Dear Leader are from Boston. The band coalesced around frontman Aaron Perrino after his old band, Boston favorites The Shiela Devine broke up somewhat abruptly. The result was Dear Leader. They're set to release a new album, All I Ever Wanted Was Tonight on Lunch Records, on November 2nd. Todays 2 tracks are from that album. Raging Red is an anthems anthem. Guitars cry out like claxons, drums pound furiously. And Perrino screams out in defiance. A song of revolution and toppling empires, "Raging Red" is a equal parts war cry and party song.

Dear Leader - Billions Served - In the release the band sent me, the band evoked all sorts of 'hot again' 80's acts. New Order, The Smiths, the Pixies. And while there's a definite echo of the Pixies dynamics (No small credit there goes to sharing a producer with the Boston legends), and Morrisseys righteous rage at the meat eating public in Billions Served, the band that's really echoed here is U2. Particularly that late 80's Can-Do-No-Wrong, Top-Of-The-World U2. Bono had discovered his politics, and the power of his band, but the band hadn't softened or gone too over the top just yet. "Billions Served" replicates that enraged and creative peak. Blatantly inspired by Eric Schlossers Fast Food Nation, the song relates a litany of the horrors for which Schlosser has indicted the fast food industry - Factory Farms, Sub-par Wages, and of course, the much maligned deceptive advertising. Beneath it all is searing, Edge style guitar work, and a killer rhythym section.

[Check out Dear Leaders website!, or Buy the album from Lunch Records!]

8 days and counting people! Let's make 'em matter!

You're never gonna wanna dance again.

2004-10-22T15:17:00.000-04:00

Sorry I'm so late today. Been feeling like crap this week, and it's finally caught up to me in a big way. Damn you CMJ!

But enough about my health. You want music.

The Silent League - Linus - I was lucky enough to catch the Silent League last Saturday Night, playing a showcase put on by Better Propaganda, Flameshovel Recors, & File-13 Records. Were it not for the Morning 40 Federations riotous basement show, it would have probably been the hilight of my week. Some background: The Silent League is the new project of Mercury Rev keyboardist Justin Russo. Originally a front for his solo work, The Silent League eveentually grew to the pop orchestra it is today, including horns, multiple keyboards and percussionists, the usual guitar and bass suspects, and work from the likes of Interpols Sam Fogarino on drums. The music is deeply personal, densely layered, classic pop. Pianos, guitars, and marracas shuffle through "Linus" like a dance number thats decided to take the night off, lazing about, swirling and swooning, letting the atmospheric flourishes and lyricism dominate. When the song slowly escalates as a number of members of the orchestra take their turns in front, from the pianos, to Russo's acoustic guitar to an instrumental break dominated primarily by handclaps. Just beautiful stuff.

The Silent League - The Catbird Seat - This though, is the song that brought the house down. Like some bizarre otherworldly vision of glam rock, free of the bombast and the theatrics, but with all the tension, all the hugeness of sound, and a singalong finish to die for. I don't know if the blog of the same name takes it from this song, but there are worse places to get it from. But really, if you want to be blown away, get to the bands website and check out the live version of this song, with it's absolutely KILLER sax solo.

[Buy The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused from File-13 Records!]

Come here baby, I need your company.

2004-10-21T13:15:00.003-04:00

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights - On Friday night, at CMJ, I hopped from seeing Camper Van Beethoven in the relatively swanky Bowery Ballroom to seeing Death From Above 1979 (The 1979 is the result of legal threats from the megaproducers cum record label) at the lovable shithole that is CBGB's. Walking into CBGB's as DFA1979 took the stage was about as frightening an aural experience as one could imagine. Like a sonic buzzsaw to the face, this duo produces a louder, fuller, and more menacing sound than any of those other duo's out there. Bass, Drums. Thats it. Thats all that DFA 1979 need though. Romantic Rights is the lead single off of their new full length, You're a Woman I'm a Machine. It's a pounding, jagged song, one that will tear your brain out of your skull and pound it into a puree even as you're ass gyrates and you find yourself mysteriously getting down to this metal madness. What's the secret to this madness? The press release says it all really, "while their sound is rooted in metal and hardcore, they are not scary or angry in any way-- in fact all of their songs are very pop and all are about wanting to have babies with their girlfriends." I couldn't put it better myself.

DFA 1979 - Sexy Results - okay, first off, this song title, grabbed from a Simpsons line if I recall correctly, is one of the best out there short of a McLusky or Minus the Bear album. On a more relevant note however, is the song itself. Where most of YAWIAM makes a name for itself on it's intensity and speed, "Sexy Results" finds the band getting a groove on. The basslines are still spinning death machines, but slowed down to a sizzling, dancable congas pace set by the masterful drumwork by Sebastien Grainger. Besides, it has cowbells. Who can argue with Cowbells?

[Buy the album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, or a sweet ass T-shirt direct from the band.]

A few links and shout outs today as well:

Grandaddy has a new video. [Quicktime Link] it's full of people in fursuits. And yet, it's strangely compelling. Yiff?
Dizzee Rascal also has a video. [NME link to Real Video] I'm not a huge fan of his choice to sample - and sing along - to showtunes on Dreams... but the video is great. Especially when the 2 little gangsta marionettes boost the TV. Classic. (Props to Cameron for the link.)

I have been remiss in not yet giving credit to Oh My Rockness. Their listing of shows got me through CMJ week in one piece, and it's fast becoming a daily stop for me. Here's hoping they keep it up!

See ya tomorrow kiddies!

HELL HAS FROZEN OVER.

2004-10-19T23:56:00.000-04:00

The end times are here kiddies. Thats right, the signs of the apocalypse are mounting. It's only a matter of time. First, Brian Wilson went back and finished Smile. And now... this.

For those of you that don't recognize the man in the photo, That is Jandek. Jandek played live at a festival in Scotland over the weekend. For those of you who know who Jandek is, allow me to reiterate this. JANDEK PLAYED LIVE.

Here are Mp3's of the final 3 songs of his 8 song set - so far as I know, noone has identified these yet. If anyone has titles, please toss 'em my way:
Song 6
Song 7
Song 8

Now. For those of you who don't know who Jandek is. First off, the magnitude of Jandek playing live, is to Brian Wilson finishing Smile, as the completion of Smile is to Usher rereleasing his latest album. It's THAT BIG A DEAL to folks who are concerned with Jandek. Who is he? Jandek is a dude from Houston who, for over 30 years has been making music, and releasing it himself, under his own Corwood Industries label. He has NEVER performed live. NEVER allowed himself to be photographed (other than his own album covers), and NEVER consented to an interview. A bit of the mystery came down earlier this year with the release of the documentary Jandek on Corwood (Buy the DVD!), but for the most part, he was still a pretty damned reclusive figure. And then, in Scotland this weekend, he performed. The music live, just like on record, is trying to listen to. It's not for everyone. But the desolation of the sound - the sparseness of his guitar playing, the shuffling and thuddering floorboard percussion. The howled vocals - alwsy sung, no matter how off key, never surrendering to his shortcomings, is 100 % Jandek. This is no hoax. And now, one must wonder, is The End of it All not a signal of retirement, but of a return? or, really in Jandeks case, a first coming?

For more Jandek information, the definitive resource can be found here.

We spent our lives, down to the dime.

2004-10-19T11:12:00.000-04:00

Hi again folks! Sorry for the lack of updating, but thats what CMJ will do to you. It kicked my ass to the curb and left me to crawl back up and demand more music 4 times in a row. Some quick reviews:

Wednesday Night: Controller.Controller and the Morning 40 Federation at two seperate venues. Controller were good. But seeing the Federation (illegally i assume) in the basement of a pizzeria (a space the size of the living room of the apartment I lived in in Albany), filled to the brim... WOW. Best show of the year to date. Hands down. The next 4 days were not going to make that an easy judgement however.

Thursday Night: I got to meet lots of Mp3 Bloggers, including the folks from Fluxblog, Music for Robots, Stereogum, and Catchdubs, at Coolfers first musicblogger happy hour. Much talking of shop and swapping of musical tips went on. We need to do it again sometime guys. Then I hopped across the bridge to catch the Polyvinyl Records showcase at Northsix. It's good for 2 of this weeks posts most likely (including todays!). Decibully, Bishop Allen, Ida, Aloha, and Volcano I'm Still Excited! all put on a great show.

Friday: Long day. Started off at a party thrown by Better Propaganda, consumed much alcohol, watched a few bands. Headed uptown to see Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, and in between those sets, sets by various members of both bands playing solo. 3 and a half hours of non stop music. Much awesome. Then from there it was off to the Vice Records showcase at CBGB (from which another post this week will be drawn), including Death From Above 1979, Panthers, and the Explosion.

Finally, Saturday, I took it easy, with only one show, a Flameshovel/File-13/B-Prop showcase from which another post this week will be drawn. More details on all forthcoming, as the songs come.

Decibully - Holy Angel Choir - Decibully have one hell of a pedigree. Former members of The Promise Ring, Pele, and Camden have come together to show what happens when a bunch of emo kids grow up and move past high school heartbreak. In some cases, like Action Action & the Straylight Run (who I will never stop slagging on - the risk of being my hometown bands...) they don't. In the case of Decibully - well, they've disccovered that there's really only one answer if you really want to make music about heartbreak. I'm not talking about "my girlfriend dumped me my life is over." I'm talking about bottle of whiskey heart bleeding on the floor crushed under the heels of the woman who was everything heartbreak. I'm talking about the sort of depression people spend decades wallowing in. And if you want that, the only answer is to go south young man. It helps that both the Blues and Country music have had a revival in the indie world in recent years. Decibully have capitalized. Like the shins after a fifth of whiskey, "Holy Angel Choir" is bouncy keys and mournful banjo, falsettos and glockenspiel, the song slowly growing quieter and quieter until it's only vocals... building up a wall against the pain and rage, until it all breaks on through and the song comes back with it's force returned a hundred fold.

Decibully - Uncle Sams Yard - The album, the bands debut by the way, reaches it's climax with "Uncle Sams Yard" Beginning with an off-key a capella choir that sounds like a family reunion on the farm trying to out Polyphonic the Spree, the song settles into a gorgeous male/female harmony when the instrumentation kicks in, sparse, down home banjos and a xylophone that gives everything a delicacy that reminds me of Peles earlier material. It's a song of utopia lost, of broken promises, and failed hopes. It's very sad. But I think all of you will like it.

[Buy City of Festivals from Polyvinyl Records!]

Also, welcome Mackro to the world of the musicblog! I'm sure I go for everyone who knows a bit about you in saying we expect great things.

Gonna Get a Fifth 'o Liquo' and a Snicka' Baaaar.

2004-10-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

The Morning 40 Federation - Bottom Shelf Blues - WHEN THOU WAKETH UP IN THE MORNING, BEFORE THOU BRUSHETH THY TEETH, BEFORE YOU TAKE A LEEK, BEFORE YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR, GO DIRECTLY TO THE CORNER STORE AND SOME HOW OBTAIN A 40 OZ. OF MALT LIQUOR. IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK THOU NEIGHBOR. - this is the manifesto of the Morning 40 Federation - a motley crew of New Orleans transplants joined not by a love of music by Debauchery - myth would have it that, when the band formed, they didn't know how to play their various instruments. In the ensuing years, the Federation have become local legends, known for a raucous live show (New Yorkers! Catch them tonite at L'asso at 10:30 PM!), and their unique brand of "Sleazy Burlesque", a sound that can only be described as 100 % New Orleans. Filter the swagger of Reverend Horton Heat, the psychosis of Tom Waits, the brashness of John Spencer and the moodiness of Morphine through a strainer of bayou blues and cheap malt liquor, and you might be somewhere close to describing the bands sound. Most of the time. "Bottom Shelf Blues" is all gravelly vocals and bkaring honkytonk guitars and keys, with a saxophone wobbling drunkenly through the whole affair, and when the song goes into those cleaned up vocal breaks, everything makes sense. "We'll all spend every last dime" indeed.

The Morning 40 Federation - Gotta Nickle - Gotta Nickle has to be the weirdest song on the Federations debut full length though. It opens with a hard driving bass stomp, before blowing through a distorted take on the classic "Tequila!" The vocals, screamed through a megaphone, are so washed out by feedback as to be incomprehensible. The guitars whine at the high end of their amps capabilities. And then, out of nowhere, the horns disappear, and the song falls apart. The vocals clarify, and we enter this weird electro-bridge that sounds like the southern hedonist cousins of the current New York art rock scene before everything goes noisy again and the whole thing charges out all punk rock stylee.

[Buy Morning 40 Federation from Amazon.com]

As a final note, I'll be at Coolfer's little Music Blogger get together tomorrow evening. You should drop by and say hi. I'll be the guy in the cabbie hat with tons of pins on the back of it.

Cleaning the Inbox.

2004-10-12T13:06:00.000-04:00

Very Secretary - Sister Psyche - this track comes my way from friend and longtime reader Ryan who likes Radiohead and Modest Mouse and the Decembrists a whole lot and whohas introduced me to a bunch of good music, some of which has made it here in it's roundabout way. It's sleepy, country twinged indy pop - kinda Belle & Sebastians cousins from tennesee - except they're from Illinois - and last I checked Very Secretary were never quite so poppy. But you get the idea. It's gorgeous alt folk that needs far more exposure than it got at it's release a few years back.
[Buy Standing in the Shade from Amazon.com!]

The Cloud Room - Hey Now Now - The Cloud Room are from Brooklyn. Thats all they told me in the email they sent me this morning. I don't need to know anymore. You can't hear the song without making inevitable comparisons to that band that formed at NYU, and has 4 immaculate haircuts, and are named for a global law enforcement agency. Which is a shame. Because when theres an elephant in the room like that, people can ignore a song as catchy as this. Interpol are great, with their atmospheric hooks and a rhythym section that manages to create a strange sort of dreamworld. The Cloud Room aren't out to do that. They're out to make you dance. To sing along. To clap your hands with the fucking beat. Come on guys - clap with me.

[The band is playing a free show at Pianos on Thursday. Go check it out. And their website too.

Maddening Monday: The truth keeps calling me.

2004-10-11T13:43:00.000-04:00

Sage Francis - Slow Down Gandhi - Sage Francis is one of my favorite MC's, with a style that is at once confrontational and inquisitve. Often derided as 'emo-rap,' the term sells short francis vicious and incisive politics, and unfairly attacks his somewhat meandering style - Francis tends to move across subjects, free associating, either with the vitriol of most of this track, or as he does at the end of "Slow Down Gandhi," when he starts talking about the specifics of modern politics. "'Friendly fire' - thats a funny term - like 'civil war'" - a classic Sage line, at once cutting to the core, and dancing around the heart of things. But what I find most notable about this track is the subject matter - it's a direct attack on a certain breed of stereotypical liberal activists - people who aren't quite so committed to their cause as they are to a self image as some sort of heroic rebel. We all know the self-righteous, not fully informed sorts that tend to be a bit more dogmatic than they are effective - Sage is just here to call them for their shit - for the fact that if you can't make even a serious attempt at swinging a local election, why do you think you're enough to change the country?

This is from Sage's new album, which will be out in February on Epitaph.

The Congregation of Vapors - With Love From America - On Friday, I was sufficiently lucky to attend Be Well - The Ramones Beat on Cancer a benefit in memoriam of Joey, Dee Dee, and the recently departed Johnny, and a rocking party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. The show was opened by NYC based Singer/Songwriter Jed Davis, who performed in front of the band Bandcamp. More on that in a minute. First though, I want to share a track from Jed's band, The Congregation of Vapors. Because it's political. Because today is Maddening Monday. And because it's a fantastic fucking song. This is the sort of protest song we've needed for sometime, the sort of thing that David Byrne hit on with his Future Soundtrack for America track (Buy that from the Music For America Unstore), and the sort of thing that people can sing along to. It's a unifying song, full of references to great songs of ages past (and if you don't catch them, the Congregations website includes some incredibly detailed "Hubris Notes" full of detailed lyrical explanations), and a powerful message. While the sarcasm of "I'll Make you Love Me" in a song about anti-americanism is a bit bitter, theres a desperation to it as well, a crying out that we, as Americans, need to show that we are not the bombs, we are not the CEO's. They may not care, but we do. The Congregation of Vapors have a full length album due out in December.

[In the meantime, check out their website, pick up the "With Love From America" single, and check out them "Hubris Notes"]

Jed Davis, with CJ & Marky Ramone and Daniel Rey - The Bowery Electric - I mentioned that there was a reason that Jed opened that Ramones tribute show last week. It's because a few years back, not long after Joey Ramone died, Jed wrote this song. It's the sort of thing Joey would have written, considerring that Joey always was the great balladeer of punk rock. It's a horribly sad, and utterly beautiful tribute to the king of New York punk, as he undoubtedly was. At Fridays show, Jed gave out copies of the CD that this song was from. It was a CD, produced by marky Ramone, of the songs he would play during his opening set (Hint to bands playing CMJ showcases. This is a good idea and CDRs are cheap). Produced by Tommy Ramone not long before the show, and hastily pressed and handed out, all Jed asked for in return was a donation to the Lymphoma Society that Friday nights proceeds benefitted. If there's a problem with this song, it's that listening to it, I can't help but think of how it would sound with Joey Ramone singing it. Sorry Jed, but you probably know as well as I do that the man would have done this song right. New York City, Let's Rock.

I'm not one to post the full lyrics to a song, but in this case, i think I'll make an exception.

"The Bowery Electric"

I got so lost in thoughts of you
I missed the F at Second Avenue
I came in from the rain
And heard it pull away

I stepped back out into the street
And with the Bowery beneath my feet
I squint to see it as it was
When this neighborhood was yours
It never seemed so distant
All that's clear is something's missing

New York City is a little less warm tonight
It's a little less cool tonight
New York City is a little less kind tonight
And a little less rockin tonight

Debbie's hanging on the phone
Danny's speechless, and hey hey, Arty's home
And now the Bowery Electric crew
Shines a spotlight star for you
While on the streets below
We wander slow, already lonely

New York City is a little less warm tonight
It's a little less cool tonight
New York City is a little less kind tonight
And a little less rockin tonight

I still get lost in thoughts of you
And in those moments, I know what to do:
I put my headphones on
And you are never really gone

Do you remember "Hullaballoo"?
"Upbeat", "Shindig" and Ed Sullivan, too?
You know that I remember you
Yes, I still fuckin remember

New York City is a little less cold tonight
It's a little less lame tonight
New York City is a little less cruel tonight
New York City, let's rock tonight!

[And please, donate to the Leukemia/Lymphoma folks. Don't let another person die from this horrible crippling disease.]

Also, New Yorkers - What are you doing during CMJ week? I haven't hammered out my schedule yet, but I'm curious as to what you people think is worth seeing. Let me know! (and if you happen to be an artist or with a label or venue, and can give me a hand with a badges only show, be sure to drop a line - I couldn't scrape the 300 bucks this year, and won't have time to volunteer.)

If you look confused and you don't know what to do...

2004-10-08T13:32:00.000-04:00

The Futureheads - Decent Days & Nights (Phones Bad Acid Remix) - Chris told me that I would want to post this. As usual, he was right. (He also has a fantastic MP3 by the Flesh up at his site now. It's what Har Mar might sound like if he wasn't a fat disgusting freak with no talent. Get it while it lasts.) This is the B-Side to the Futureheads latest single release, and opens full of electrocashy bass fuzz and glitchy synth beats. The only thing kept intact here is the original vocal, with it's harmonies and somewhat bizzarre round pattern. But taken out of the original context, a saccharine, Jam-esque number overloaded with hooks and melody, and recontextualized here, what was once slick and spazzy in the most accessible of ways becomes punishing. The combination of declarative vocals and that abrasive electronic guitar noise makes for something wholly new. When the song breaks to nothing and reassembles itself, it speeds up, and suddenly, we're not just listening to something entirely different, the beats skitter all over the place, yelps appear out of nowhere, and the world spins out of control. Excellent.

[Preorder the Futureheads Self Titled Debut from Amazon.com]

I have to head out the door now. Look for a bonus weekend post tomorrow.

How do I survive in suburbia?

2004-10-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

Just one song today, and a lot of writing.

Ednas Goldfish - Veronica Sawyer - Last week, I made a passing reference to Ednas Goldfish. But they deserve the full post treatment. This is the band that blew my teenage mind. I remember, being in middle school, and seeing 7 guys on a stage at the youth center thing in the basement of my local library... and seeing them just go insane. The horns, the guitars, there was an energy there that I had never before experienced it. I hadn't realized what I was going to, but when I walked out, I knew I had experienced my first ever rock concert. And I also knew in my soul that Ska was the future of music. I had no grasp of history, wasn't really aware of what was going on, but I was convinced I had seen the next Nirvana or something. Well, most of that didn't come true obviously. Local newspapers still tout whatever trend shows up here as "the sound thats sure to make Long Island the next Seattle," the fact is, they've been repeating that mantra ever since the Ska revival - Ednas Goldfish really were the islands best chance, and at this point, the Suburban sound has just become so trendy and vapid it's beginning to lose meaning. Case in point: after Ska, LI kind of quieted down a bit into it's norm of Billy Joel covers, with the occasional one-hit wonder breakout like Nine Days (if you don't remember that particular aural stain upon history, be glad). Then, Emo hit. Emo was EVERYWHERE. All the guys who had been in Ska bands back in the day started Emo bands (i.e. some former Goldfish formed The Reunion Show - talented, but pretty boring really). Bands like Taking Back Sunday are still doing well too. But Long Island is too trendy for that. Dancepunk has begun to take over LI. The Reunion Show has reconsituted itself as Action Action, and the sound, I think, can officially be declared dead. Long Island is way too fucking trendy for it's own good. It's only a matter of time before the whole institution collapses. And yet, sometimes, there's nothing better than digging through the old cassette tapes of my youth, and remember the glory of the Goldfish at their height. And no song from those days was better than Veronica Sawyer. It's an anthem of Suburban boredom. A tale of a region so stuck up, so isolated, that if you're not younger than 15 or older than 21, you have NOTHING. Those Sunday Afternoon all ages shows were just so important. I could be wrong about what the lyrics are going for here, but to me, thats what they've always meant. The rejection of not being old enough for those evenings, the glory of being able to enjoy youth for that one shining moment on Sunday.

[Buy The Elements of Transition from Amazon.com!]

Going to see Mountain Goats/Vanderslice tonite. Should be most wondrous.

Machine guns for the Weak and Disabled, Alcohol for Everyone Else.

2004-10-05T13:08:00.000-04:00

Thirdimension w/ Caroline Schutz - The Only Healer - Thirdimension are a Swedish band who count among their membership 2 guys named Björn. What is it about Scanadnavia exactly that keeps the region churning out wave after wave of perfectly timed pop trends? And it's never just one band. Invariably there's a whole army of them, even if only one sticks. Maybe it's some sort of ingrained cultural malaise built around a desperation to recapture the success of Abba? But why would they want that? Nonetheless, Thirdimension fit in perfectly with the newest wave of psychedelia influenced Scandanavian music, fitting in perfectly alongside Soundtrack of Our Lives and current Peefork darlings Dungen - and conveniently continuing a backtracking trend from the Black metal stereotypically associated with the region to the garage rock of the Hives et al, and onward to this. When the bands newest album, Permanent Holiday came across my doorstep yesterday though, it was none of this that caught my eye. Rather, it was the presence, on a track, of labelmate and Folksongs for the Afterlife singer Caroline Schutz on this track, The Only Healer, that had me salivating with glee. Folksongs put out one of the most horribly overlooked records of last year with Put Danger Back In Your Life, gorgeous songs about sadness and what it takes to lif on up out of it. And I will easily admit to my crush on Caroline, based almost entirely on the sound of her voice. And this song... This song is just so lush, so melancholy, but the band resists the urge to equate sadness with sparseness - or worse yet, to equate it with tenthousand layers of syrupy strings. Instead, the production is decidedly tight - creating a simple but evocative rythmic background and allowing the sound of two voices in harmony to fill the room, an envelope of sadness, and of hope.
[Buy Permanent Holiday from Parasol Records!]

Nick Cave - Supernaturally - Nick Cave is back. I, like many others, found Nocturama to be a bit of a fumble for the old crooner, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that his new release - a 2-in-1 double album is a real return to form, as well as a branching out. But while Abbatoir Blues is a powerful romp through gospel and Delta Blues, the sets second disk, Lyre of Orpheus finds Cave doing what he's always done best. There's always been a gothic quality to Caves work - and no, I'm not talking about the black makeup and bad poetry set, though much enamored of him they are. It's a throwback and Cave is, in many ways, himself a Byronic figure. It shines through on this song more than anything else comes through. Unlike most of Orpheus's subdued, instrumentation, drawing attention to vocals primarily through a quieter tone, Supernaturally is a bouncing, rollicking tune. The pianos jumble and shake like the birth of rock 'n' roll all over again, the violins quiver and shake like a coward at the mouth of hell, and Cave is the rock. Cutting through the tension and the noise like a knife, he maintains his composure, his clarity, and declares "NO," commanding respect, and bringing everything into his masterful control. It's a technique Cave has used many a time before, but it hasn't gotten boring yet.

[Preorder Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus from Amazon.com!]

Maddening Monday: We're Gonna Take That Dancehall Back

2004-10-04T05:36:00.000-04:00

Bloc Party - She's Hearing Voices - So, Bloc Party are officially Hot Shit™, what with the glowing Pitchfork review, a sold out show in NYC last Thursday, and the fact that their single, Banquet, sounds almost exactly like Gang of Four. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with their earlier single, "Tulips". I believe I dismissed it as "Frannz Ferdinand meets the Get-Up Kids". On relistening, I'll stand by that statement. But then, on Saturday night, almost entirely at the urging of Cameron, I came out of my cave and saw them play in the basement of the Tribeca Grand Hotel. The night began horribly, with just about every "Damn, I guess I can't get in to this show now" moment happening in rapid succession, followed by daringly more or less sneaking in to an overcrowded room full of aging hipsters who didn't know what to make of a DJ that went from Interpol to Black Flag to Minor Threat to Op Ivy (Speaking of Op Ivy, thats a band that really needs a post. For another day however). The band though, destroyed any doubts that the EP or the crowd had left in my mind. Bloc Party is not the next Killers, though they might be the next Franz Ferdinand. "She's Hearing Voices" is easily the best song off of the EP, if a bit uncharachteristic. The instrumentation is kept spare, with the rhythym section pounding away eternally, and a vocal chant style that sounds a bit like David Byrne covering Gang of Four and issuing dance commands, all punctuated by frantic stabs of guitar, inserted at key moments for the greatest of urgency. While the song itself is not explicitly political, (and thus not really fare for a Monday here), the band is somewhat obsessively so (can Gang of Four be referenced enough when talking about these guys? Hell, they even both have Communist inspired band names), and it's sufficiently 'of the moment' that it deserves to be heard. The song gives me high hopes that the band continues in this direction - it's a marked improvement over their first release.

[Buy Bloc Party's EP from Insound!]

Leftover Crack - Gay Rude Boys Unite - Leftover Crack produce one of the most brutal, searing fusions of hardcore punk and ska ever put on record. They also hate you, and everything you stand for. As political as bands come, Leftover Crack have, on their latest album "Fuck World Trade" developed a bit of an anti-cop fixation thats keeping me from posting a track from that album today. They're horribly inconsistent, but when they hit a good note, they hit it hard. So, instead of a new track, here's "Gay Rude Boys Unite" which is as good a note as they've ever hit, managing to sound equal parts Op Ivy and Minor Threat, the song serves as a callout to the various proudly "anti-racist" musicians out there who still manage to be homophobic assholes. Particularly targeted at the ska and raggae music that the song simultaneously imitates and lampoons, and where the same problems linger today, the song manages to be at it's most effective in it's choruses - the verses, as with most Leftover Crack songs, fall flat under the burnt out vocals and pretentious attempts to put down the rest of the world. Nonetheless, when the band keeps it simple, the band shows a knack for a rallying call and that chorus always manages to get me cheering along.

[Buy Mediocre Generica from Leftover Cracks store on Interpunk.com!]

Punk-Rocklamation of the steadyrock easy groove council!

2004-09-28T10:08:00.000-04:00

Panthers - Stroke My Genius - I remember, back in my earliest days of college radio, a CD showed up on the rack from this band called Panthers. The liner notes were full of somewhat asinine political slogans, but the Similar Artists mentioned intrigued me and my Co-DJ, and he, (an Orchid fan), decided we could give it a shot. I thought my ears were going to bleed. It was TERRIBLE. Just... really really bad. See, Panthers is a frankenstein outfit, with alums from a number of bands, with members from all sorts of musical backgrounds. And then, something strange happened. Panthers started getting all sorts of good buzz, and hanging out with bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs... Turns out, they had produced another EP. And this one was good. Let's Get Serious made waves by turning the blistering intensity of members past hardcore projects into full throttle garage rock, full of screeching riffs, fist pounding lyrics, and drum work that people can actually dance too. So of course, I was wary when I got an email from Vice Records offering me the chance to hear panthers new album. Would we be getting the shitty hardcore poseur panthers? Or the thrilling garage rock outfit? On Stroke My Genius at least, we definitely got the latter, but it seems that Panthers have begun to reconcile thier two sides. The rhythyms here are definitely more reminiscent of orchid than anything on the EP, as the song opens with a slow pound before exploding into a somewhat milder take on the chaos that was the trademark of past bands like The Red Scare and Orchid. The song stomps and thrashes for another 3 minutes, unrelenting.

[Buy Things Are Strange from Insound.com!]

Hepcat - Open Season... Is Closed - I haven't posted a ska track in ages. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Ska needs to ditch the bad rap it's gotten over the years. In my mind, it's aged better than most of the mid 90's fads that come to mind (does Bush have fans anymore? I can assure you that bands like Ednas Goldfish and The Slackers still do...), and I make no bones about having come to music as a Long Island skakid. Hepcat were some of the best that the 90's boom had to offer, hailing from Southern California, and playing a variety of ska so thoroughly retro, I can segue between Hepcat and my collection of old Studio One tracks, and not blink an eye. This isn't the Ska-Core of Big D, or, hell, in spite of being on Epitaph, this ska has nothing to do with punk. Smooth swinging horns, velvet vocals, rhythyms - I can't remember a diss track ever having been this smoothe.
[But Right on Time from Amazon.com!]

P.S. - a note to people that send me things: I DO get them, and I DO often like them. It's just that I have a terrible memory/tend to lose things. Obviously, this is bad, and I'm going to try to get a little better in the future/start clearing the backlog of great music people have sent me. Please do keep it coming, be you a label, an artist, or merely a fan of a band I've never heard of.

Crusty Old Punks - Part II - and a little something else.

2004-09-27T01:48:00.000-04:00

Quick note in front of todays post - I'm testing something today that may or may not work. If it works, you'll have no idea.

I have too much Political Music. And the times, they call for it. That said, I don't want this blog to become purely politics. So I'm gonna toss it in the ghetto from now on, and try to keep the overtly political songs to Mondays only. How's that? So, Maddening Monday, Volume One.

Jello Biafra & The Melvins - McGruff the Crime Dog - Last week, I hilighted a new album from Social Distortion. Today, I go for another seminal west coast punk getting on in years, who hasn't changed a bit. Jello Biafra's back, and in collaboration with the Melvins, has a new album out on his own Alternative Tentacles Records The entire thing is classic Jello, full of his trademark lyrical political caricatures, over the Melvins typical noisy screechy work. Painting a portrait of America in the era of the Patriot Act, Jello shows that some things haven't changed since the Dead Kennedy's days. One of the foremost musicians associated with Rocking Against Reagan has returned as an elder statesman, just as the modern Punk Rock community has discovered it's second wind thanks to Rocking Against Bush.

[Buy Never Breathe What You Can't See from Alternative Tentacles Records!]

King Missile - Another Political Poem - Yes, That King Missile. The guy responsible for such landmarks of wit as "Detachable Penis", and "Gay/Not Gay". He's back with a new album, entitled Royal Lunch, which is packed to the gills with political tirades. This isn't the best, and it isn't the funniest. Hell, like most King Missile tracks, none of them have much shelf life. But there's something... honest about this one that makes me think it's the most worthwhile on there. Over a Casio bossa-nova instrumental, we get classic King Missile chatter, and then he gets to the point. The self effacing remarks, the shame over yet another political song, but in the end, he decides it matters, because he "hate[s] this president even more now than [he] did before 9/11 - a cancer on the world and in [his] soul..." And then, it begins in earnest. It's simple. To the point. Direct. And speaks for a great many out there. The rage, the sense of hopelessness, and in the end, the apathy of it. Is this all there is?

[Buy Royal Lunch from Important Records!]

And, here's a bonus for you... Jello Biafra - Live from the Battle in Seattle - This is Jello's remarks from the Seattle protests in 1999, 15 minutes of, what is, for my money, the best piece of political rhetoric from the past 5 years. Though the movement he's addressing has fallen into something of a "Grateful Dead" phase as Naomi Klein has referred to it, the issues are still relevant, and more importantly, Jellos remarks stretch well beyond the movement. The message here is a broader one, an impassioned defense of the importance of activism, and the need to keep on grinding away at things, even when the media fervor dies down. This election will be over in 38 days (barring a 2000 style recount debacle). But it won't be over. There will always be work to be done, and if we let the energy die because Bush is out of office - or because Bush is still in office and we've gotten all defeatist - then we'll never achieve anything.

Don't hate the Media. Become the Media

I won't be confined.

2004-09-24T13:08:00.000-04:00

Jon Brion - Walking Through Walls - Jon Brion is well known as the genius behind soundtracks for such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia, and the upcoming I <3 Huckabees. Less well known is his work as a singer/songwriter, gorgeous psychedelic pop that easily recalls the sunny Beatles/Beach Boys sound, without the cloying cuteness of some Elephant 6 acts. 'Walking Through Walls' is packed to the gills with bouncy Sgt. Peppers-esque guitars, and a decidedly unbeatles vocal harmony of "motherfuckers". The slight touches of guitar fuzz on the chorus, the honkytonk pianos, the hints of something more dangerous, just waiting to explode in a live show, are everywhere in this song.

[Buy Jon Brion's album, Meaningless from CDBaby!]

J.U.F. - Last Wish of the Bride - I posted about Gogol Bordello a few months back, and people really did like what they've heard. Well, they're in Chicago right now, recording their 3rd proper album, with none other than Steve Albini at the boards. In the meantime, this is from a release from Gogol Bordello side project "Jewish-Ukrainishe Freundschaft" entitled Gogol Bordello Vs. Tamir Muskrat. Borne of Eugene Hutz's longtime DJing gigs @ Mehanata, the JUF is a DJ based take on the gogol sound, expanding the Gogol Bordello sonic pallette to take in elements of Rai, Reggae, Hiphop, and just about anything else Hutz manages to find interesting. Th is particular song is built around singer Eugene Hutz's storyteller persona as the band plays frantic party music, with the horns more dominating than in past Gogol music, and the rest of the band exploring a more global influence - especially in the rhythym. When the flutes solos kick in, it's clear that this is just a band having as good a time as it can, and showing off just how global they are. And when Gogol Bordello is the band in question, thats no sin.

J.U.F. - Gypsy Part of Town - What's this though? Have Hutz & Company decided to take on hip-hop? Eastern European Horn fills, and funny accents aside, the dynamics of this song scream hip hop to me. Hutz's vocals are definitely going for that vibe, and the breakbeats and female Rai vocal hook all scream that thats what they're trying for. So, it's Gypsy-folk-punk-rapper now? I'm down with that. And this is making me REALLY excited for the Gogol proper album. EXCELLENT stuff.

[Buy Gogol Bordello Vs. Tamir Muskrat from Amazon.com!]

Crusty old Punks.

2004-09-23T11:16:00.000-04:00

Social Distortion - Reach for the Sky Social Distortion are legends for a reason, and I'm not referring to their (admittedly legendary) substance abuse - the whole band is clean and sober now, as their new albums title Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll (Due next Tuesday, 9/28) would attest. Rather, as some of the leading lights of the early LA Punk scene, their blend of Blues, Rockabilly, Country, and punk rock puts them in the elite of that scenes more interesting and longevity oriented acts, along with the likes of X. Though the band has had more than it's share of personnell changes and deaths over the years, they've managed the rare feat of having never put out a bad album (probably due to the relative lack of recorded material). Well, they're back this year with a new lineup, a new album, and they're on tour now. And the new album shows the boys (old men?) from Social D to be as crusty and caustic and great as ever. "Reach For The Sky" is an exhilarating road trip sort of song. It's about leaving the past behind, living in the moment, and all sorts of other rock and roll cliches that have been done to death a thousand times. But if you notice that, you're clearly missing the point. Let the song roll over you, and roll out with it. This is music to pump your fist to on the highway. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less.

Social Distortion - Angels Wings (Acoustic) - the bonus track on Sex, Love, & Rock N' Roll is this, an acoustic reworking of the albums closer - reminiscent of the band legendary cover of Fulsom County Prison Blues, Social D have always been as much Johnny Cash as Johnny Rotten. The song is a spit in the eye of the old nihilistic conceit of far too much punk rock, full of optimism, of hope. Promises of marriage, proclamations of love - this is an older, wiser Social Distortion to be sure. They've seen the belly of the best, and battled their way out from the throes of addiction, of failure, of themselves. And while I can't neccesarily find it in me to rely on faith as Mike Ness certainly seems to have found his, the music it brings is just gorgeous enough that I can't bring myself to care. And when he proclaims that "I won't live or die that way," you can tell that the man saying it almost did do just that... that he understands exactly what he;s turning away from.

[Buy Sex, Love, & Rock & Roll from Amazon.com!]

It turns out he was selling saviors door to door.

2004-09-22T09:50:00.000-04:00

The Divorce - Samoas Revenge - The Divorce are current hotshit next-big-thing kids from Seattle. Their debut album There Will Be Blood Tonight, from which todays tracks come, is a romp through punked out pop music that echoes Pavement, the Pixies, Fugazi, and other presskit platitudes that I won't bother with from here on out. What you need to know about this song is that it builds itself by interspersing classic shriekey hardcore breakdowns with the BATMAN THEME SONG. Thats right, campy 60s batman + hardcore breaks = AWESOME. Mosh away good fellows.

The Divorce - Redcoats - Redcoats though, is where the band hits it's stride, and offers promise of whats to come for the band. The drums have that heavy, loping quality that Brendan Canty has made so distinctive, but the guitars have the skitter of an older post punk band - or perhaps a more high energy pavement track. But the chorus? What is this? could it be... pop-punk? It's certainly nasal enough... and it has that bounce to it, that bleating, high-low guitar thats associated with the worst excesses of the skaters at your local shopping mall. Thing is, that whole idea was never bad to begin with - it's just been exploited by bands without the talent to use it sparingly, to pull it off properly. The Divorce certainly aren't ready to take on the world yet, but they're well on their way to it.

[Buy There Will be Blood Tonight from Amazon.com! or Check out The Divorce's Website!]

Maybe I should just move along.

2004-09-21T10:22:00.000-04:00

The Frames - Sideways Down - There's an old Jewish tradition that says the 10 days between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur - between the new year, and the day of atonement, should be spent reflecting on the year past. It's a time to remember past lapses, to forgive old grievances, repair burnt bridges, and to apologize. So, it seems fitting to kick off my posting during that week with a few tracks from the Frames new album, Burn the Maps, released last week. The Frames have long been known for their dynamic sound, quiet and intimate one moment, and bombastic the next. On Burn The Maps they've compressed those tendencies down to single tracks. The song opens with echoes of a distant bassline, vocals front and center. Slowly a beat comes in, filtered, it almost sounds like the intro of some weird, acoustic take on IDM. And then, the musicians come into the same room. The instrumentals move front and center as Glen Hansard sings about how "everybody fucks up, it's just something thats been going 'round." When the song explodes into the mid point of the Frames range, and the strings come in, the sense of longing, of regret - the desire to set things right shines through - even if it means leaving the past, and leaving love behind.

The Frames - Finally - Finally shows the Frames in a full on assault mode, revealing why they may be Irelands best kept secret at the moment. With string arrangements giving the song a delicacy as it opens, and then tightening, enclosing, the song picks up a martial quality. The song is a challenge and a scream, and when the song breaks, a bit before the two minute mark, there's real pain there - you can feel the anger over mistakes made, over grievances that cannot be undone. And the strings come front and center, and it's just beautiful.

The Frames - Fake - I would be remiss if I didn't include "Fake". The song is the perfect merging of the sides of the Frames sound, half Spectorized symphony, half stripped down, lo-fi rage. The dynamics of this song careen between resignation and the most vicious bitterness possible. The song opens in full on guitar attack mode, but quickly quiets down to just vocal and acoustic - resigned and weary, but with hints of a bubbling rage in the guitar work. And then, the words that set Glen off "you're telling me I should forget you..." And the song explodes with rage at this new man. The bitterness and the jealousy shine through, and as the song bounces between it's extremes, we see the Frames slowly finding a middle ground... never quite accepting, but the rage cooled, the process of falling apart and finding the pieces all over again.

[Buy Frames tracks from the Itunes Music Store, or buy Burn the Maps from Road Records!]

My Future Scares Me.

2004-09-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lateness of todays post. it was a long time in the writing.

First off, L'Shanah Tovah to all of my fellow Jews. Next week is going to be a themed week to fit the season, but for now, we're going to commemorate sundays upcoming holiday of International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Andrew Vincent and the Pirates - Good Time - Andrew Vincent & The Pirates are, a canadian band in the tradition of the Ramones and the Modern Lovers, the best high school band out there today. Which is not to say that they're in high school, but there's an innocence, a simplicity to what they play that so affecting, you just want to sniff some glue and relive bygone days. The music is not the work of virtuosos, but there's a rightness to this simple, laid back jangle, as Vincent proclaims "My future SCARES ME," Jonathan Richman is the only reference that seems even halfway appropriate. These are not brainy or high minded lyrics, and the guitar work is nothing special, but it works. Oh god does it work. The Modern Lovers have found their heirs - or perhaps their plunderers.

Andrew Vincent and the Pirates - Bahamas - from the sparse, frightened alienation of Good Time, to this, I Love The Modern Way's closing track, we see the Ramones influence. When the Ramones started out, they weren't looking to destroy music - just to turn back time. They wanted to recapture the era before the Beatles started recording big concept albums full of studio tricks and overdubs and indian weirdness. It was about recapturing a simpler Rock 'n' Roll, that belonged to Ronnie Spector, Buddy Holly, and thousands of garage bands. Taking Rock music back from the superstars and putting it back where it belonged. The Ramones aren't around to keep that tradition alive, and growing fewer by the year (RIP Johnny), but the Pirates take on the mantle admirably. The guitar is a propulsive force, the vocals simple, unprofessional. I could sing them. The drums are workmanlike. And yet, this is at the same time the greatest music ever played. Because in the moment, when the listening carries you off, and there is no need to analyze every chord, every beat and every word - in that briefest of glimmers when you really understand - everything is right.

[Buy I Love The Modern Way from Kelp Records!]

-----

One last item for today. This weekend, Sean from Said The Gramophone will be writing his last post before an extended hiatus before he goes off gallivanting through Europe. Sean - before you go, I just want to thank you. You're probably the single biggest factor in inspiring me to set up shop over here, and you've been a wealth of both music, and musicblogging wisdom. You're writing is some of the sharpest and most eloquent in our little corner of the blogosphere, and it's been a pleasure and an honor to know and work with you over the past 7 months. You'll be missed, and you'd better stay in touch somehow while you're across the pond. I'm sure you've left Said The Gramophone in capable hands, but nonetheless, we'll all be eagerly and impatiently awaiting your return. May your adventures in the new year and this new era of your life be as worthwhile and fulfilling as I know running Gramophone has been for you.

The dreams and the communities to come are electric.

2004-09-15T08:28:00.000-04:00

The Projects - If There Are More of Us - The Projects is, well, a side project, of Stereolab keyboardist Morgane Lhote. The influence of Morganes other band is extremely obvious, at times to the point of being oppressive, but the Projects manage, for the most part, to take the 'Labs distinctive keywork and dueling boy/girl vocals, and fuse it with an angular guitar and bass style more readily associated with Gang of Four, or Wire. This song, opens with a skittery electric piano, and a flattened, buzzing, bassline and the Labs melodicism, but by the minute mark, they're counting off and going into a section of just chaos as the vocals fly from multiple directions and the guitars pick up, and all of a sudden it all makes sense. Postpunk has gone twee.

The Projects - Happy Endings - The album finishes with, fittingly, "Happy Endings" The bassline sounds, to my ears, like the first 2/3rds of Wires famous bassline for "Three Girl Rhumba" (one of the best grooves ever BTW), and slowly layers go on over the top of that bass, sinking the angles and edges in a warm, soft, pop package. Melodic, but still sharp guitar gives way to pianos, as both yield to gorgeous sugary female vocals. The sonng strips itself down again after the first verse, and when everything returns, it's darker. Theres a new element. And the vocals, where once there were words, nearly belt out that one long note. Over the course of all this happening, as the song returns the form, and then breaks down into a furious instrumental conclusion, that bassline is still going, and it's speeding up too! Great stuff.

Learn more about the Projects at their website!
[Buy the Projects debut, Let's Get Static from the Track and Field Organisation! And be sure to check out their single, Ulysses in the Supermarket!]

UPDATE: I'vee just learned that tonights Wolf Parade (and secretly Modest Mouse - but Wolf Parade are cooler anyway, right Sean?) show at Webster Hall that I had thought was sold out, and that I had missed the boat on... HAS TICKETS AVAILIABLE. GET YOURS NOW. And drop me an email, as it looks like I'll be going alone, and I'd love to meet some readers.

Also, be sure to drop by The Tofu Hut, where I've just done an interview as part of John's "Meetin' the Neighbors" series. Here's a taste.

Drop on by Better Propaganda and pick out a track to hype.

Gravenhurst - The Diver

I may have blogged gravenhurst at some point, but I don't think so. I've come very close on a number of occasions however. Nick Talbot creates dark, gorgeous slices of poetry with an acoustic guitar and a falsetto to die for. The album, titled Flashlight Sessions has that sort of light in the darkness feel to it, and this song in particular is full of that. When he croons "And I, am never frightened, no I am never afraid." the hope in his voice, the power of it, is all we have to fight off the opressive darkness of those low, sparse chords. But it's a powerful light to shine.

It goes on and on and on...

2004-09-13T03:37:00.000-04:00

The Thrills - Whatever Happened to Corey Haim? - The Thrills have a new album due out tomorrow, entitled Let's Bottle Bohemia. It's great. I wasn't too high on the Thrills after their first album, and apparantly their label wasn't either. They almost got dropped. Then the numbers came in, and it turns out, they're close to platinum. Bohemia's draft is gonna drag that last record over the top and then some. The first single from the new album, "Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?" is one of a few songs on the album questioning the worth of fame, taking the Thrills trademark california sunshine and adding a twinge of darkness to the sweeping, Roxy Music-esque strings (Especially Country Life). Though the Brian in charge may be more Wilson than Ferry. It's a song full of grandeur and beauty and pain questions. But in the end, it's those strings that just keep selling it. The song spirals out of control, and it's all lead singer Conor Deasy can do to keep everything around him from exploding as he croons.

The Thrills - The Irish Keep Gate Crashing - It's the vocals that do the heavy lifting on this track, the albums closer. Hopeful, bouyant falsettos delivers acerbic lines like "Lust... Top 40 Fame... I can smell your Catholic Shame...", and the pianos bounce and the song just makes you want to dance because this is a party of Irish boys who wish they were california boys who have listened to lots of british music about America. And it does indeed go on and on. One of the greatest things about Rock & Roll, and pop culture as a whole is it's endless ability to cannibalize itself eternally. The Thrills are hopelessly derivative, endlessly nostalgaic, and some of the most fun you'll have listening to music this year.

[Buy Let's Bottle Bohemia from Amazon.com!]

Just like... terrorists, on a... Day of Rest...

2004-09-09T08:17:00.000-04:00

Adult. - Pray for Pills (Dirtbombs Cover) - On the unlikely split EP's front, this new release from Adult. and The Dirtbombs is probably the present top of the pile. The bands are about as unlike as any you're going to find out there, with Adult. carrying on the tradition of Electro begun in Detroit in the early 80's, and the Dirtbombs fusion of Motown and Garage Rock, the only real common thread is geographic. Nonetheless, they've decided to cover each other for a split 7", and the results are definitely worthwhile. (Be sure to snap this up if you're vinyl friendly, or scour the web for the Dirbombs side, a cover of Adult.'s "Lost Love" that might be the better track, but I've posted the 'bombs before.). Adult.s contribution is a cover of a VERY early Dirtbombs b-side. The track opens with a somewhat canned synth & bass line, but it's made up for by the sheer exuberance of the vocal work, and as the track moves, it just keeps on getting stronger, even as Kuperus's vocals just keep sounding more and more desperate. This is a limited run, 3000 pressing vinyl release, so snap it up people! You can listen to half of the 'Bombs track, and get more info here.

[Buy the Split/Split/Split 7" from Cass Records!]

Kasabian - Processed Beats - Kasabian are a quartet from Leicester, England that have had a fair amount of success at home, but haven't amounted to a blip stateside. Following very much in the tradition of early 90's Manchester, copping a fair amount of style from the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, with some mid-career Blur in the mix, and a dash of contemporaries such as the Coral, Processed Beats was the bands first single across the pond. It's since been announced that the single that made a splash was a demo, and this, the album cut, is the final version. It's a bouncy ditty, sounding like an energetic, menacing Cooper Temple Clause that might just kick your ass if you don't dance to it.

[Check out more Kasabian tracks, and pick up a CD from their website!]

I let my work consume me. I got something that keeps me real busy now.

2004-09-07T07:19:00.000-04:00

Back! How was yer Labor Day weekend? Mine was punctuated by seeing Liars, Panthers, and Lightning Bolt in a dirty old parking lot on Saturday, which was rather awesome, and seeing Zaitoichi on Sunday, which was somewhat less awesome. Also, discovered Stylus Mag's new Stypod MP3 blog, focusing on rarities. Sadly, you've missed the lost Album section full of gorgeous Dennis Wilson and Kraftwerk and other tracks. Nonetheless, this week has some great selections too. get on it.

Oh, one last piece of weekend news before the musics. You can now reach this side by typing in www.TTIKTDA.info into your browser. Thas right, we done got ourselves a cheap domain name, so that your poor typing fingers don't cramp up too much typing in the long version. The blogspot address isn't going anywhere, so don't change your bookmarks. But for those of you that type it in... this should be easier. www.teachingtheindiekidstodanceagain.info and www.teachingtheindykidstodanceagain.info also work now. As does www.funnierwithmonkeys.info

Now for the Musics!

Brian Wilson - Child is The Father of Man 2004 - It's coming. SMiLE is coming. Child is the Father of Man has never had a proper release, despite showing up in a variety of bootleg releases. But the bootlegs never even approached the masterfulness of this track. It can be argued that tracks like Heroes & Villains, and Good Vibrations, no matter how good the new recordings are, will never approach the strength they had when backed by brians voice in all it's youthfullnes, the full compliment of original Beach Boys backups (instead of the Wondermints playing reserve) And I will admit to a place in my heart for the sparse, creepiness of the bootleg mix I have, with it's delicate, brooding piano intro. But then, I go and listen to this (admittedly strangely cut (with splices out of Wonderful, and a strange horn intro - this is part of a Suite of songs thats kinda strangely spliced)), and wonder why I bothered with that bootleg. It captures the brooding moodiness, and yet, offsets it with a strange, cheerful jaunt, like a Music Box that at first seems delicate and cheerful, but as it runs down, it slows, and reveals a sadness, the weight of memory, and things unfinished. When, at 2:20, the song enters it's final phase, full of echo, finally recalling the version we had all known, a dark and inverted version of Wonderful. The song slowly builds into a crescendo, the approaching storm. Surf's Up!

[Buy SMiLE from Amazon.com, due out on 9/24]

Troubled Hubble - Where Racoons Don't Live - it's kinda cruel to make anybody follow up Brian Wilson, don't ya think? But I'm not gonna give you only one track today. So, here goes. Troubled Hubble are a band from Chicago that tends to play bouncy, catchy shuffly indie rock. Sorta like Weezer with a dance beat. "Where Racoons Don't Live" though, is a new B-Side, from the A Happy Day Went off the Cliff EP, and takes the shuffle out of the occassion. Mostly spoken word vox, and some sparse strumming produce the sort of bitterness I haven't heard in a song in ages, and pulls it off well, which is even tougher. But the bitterness is only a guise for a man who simply has not given up. As the song speeds up, and becomes more painful, we learn that our narrator is a wee bit obsessed. When he takes his vengance, the song erupts, dense guitars, a bass line, and the percussion kicks in. The insanity of that final moment, of "I box up live raccoons and ship them to countries where they don't live." shines through. Great stuff. And be sure to download Dulcinea Duct Tape off of the bands website.

[Buy Troubled Hubble merch from their webstore!]

Thanks for all the great feedback last week kids! Question of the day: What is your favorite track/Favorite Band you've discovered off of TTIKTDA?

I wanna be a part of something bigger than me.

2004-09-02T10:49:00.000-04:00

Central Services - I Work For The Government Now - So, last night, me and John hopped on down to the Bowery Ballroom to catch Who's America a benefit concert for Music For America, presented by Def Jux Records, with Chuck D hosting the whole affair. Needless to say, the evening was tight. Be sure to check the track John has up now from opening act Hangar 18, "Where We At" - and any DJ's in the house, please try to do us the favor of recreating that song the way it is live, the way it is MEANT to be - rhymes over G'n'R's "Welcome to the Jungle". But enough of that. You want to know about Central Services. Central Services is Def Jux impresario El-P, and Camutao (who was doing backing work for El-P and Aesop Rock last night). But to close out last nights set, Camutao took center stage, Ace danced around, and El worked the hooks. Central Servics had taken over the night with "I Work for the Government Now". You could feel the room transformed by funk. And this song IS funk. Just listen to that bassline and try not to groove. Feel those vocal hooks, perfectly placed scratches. The song is off of Def Jux, System Recordings, and URB's new protest song comp, Who's America, which also features tracks from Mr. Lif, RJD2, and the aforementioned Hangar 18. And just to add to last nights magnificence, both El-P and Aesop Rock registered to fucking vote. You should too.

[Preorder Who's America from System Recordings, availiable Sept. 7]

El-P Feat. Cage - Oxycontin Pt. 2 - How to follow up that? Well, how about with El-P & Cage's high drama "Oxycontin Pt. 2." The song has a gorgeous piano line running through it, and El-P & Cage play out the role of a pair of rival dealers, feuding over a woman. They each have room to breathe in their own narratives before confronting each other, both in narrative, and in verse at the end - as the two distinct styles clash and merge, struggling for dominance, you begin to hear the conflict of the song given sonic life, something beyond words. It's epic, in all the ways it should be.

[You can buy this track on Def Jux Presents III, availiable online from Def Jux.]

And yes, I know I've been unusually political lately. The RNC is in town, and I spend about 20-40 hours a week doing various political work of all sorts. It's hard to not do it. If it's really buggin ya, let me know.

And y'know what, for that matter, let's make this a little Reader Survey Day. I've been doing this for about 6 months now. What do you like? What don't you like? Has my writing been off lately? particularly on point? have the track selections been good? Is there a genre/artist/label you want to see/hear more of? Is there a particular entry that you thought was particularly magnificent? Does the design suck? is it awesome? I want to make this blog better, but I can't do that until I know what works and what doesn't. And just to offer some incentivization, I won't post another track until I get 10 responses from you folks. So I'd better see some feedback!

The Debut of the Year. Hands down.

2004-09-01T07:27:00.000-04:00

The Arcade Fire - Crown of Love - Back in Late July, I recieved my promo copy of The Arcade Fire's Funeral. I recieved this by default, as a friend had no idea who the Arcade Fire are, and I - well, I was too covetous to even think of letting him in on the secret before I laid claim upon it as MINE. That night, I dashed off a quick e-mail to Sean (who has 2 more genius Arcade Fire tracks today), asking him if he knew the bands thoughts on the album. Turns out his copy was still en route - probably because he is in Canada - so I sent him this song. This is the response he sent me:

Keith, holymoly, it's like magic over here - something to believe in and something to dance to. The gliding strings, Win's vocals, arrow-to-heart. And then DRUMS, guitars that GROWL. I am desperate to hear it all all all.

He was right. This song is like magic. I've remarked in the past that someday, I think Connor Oberst is capable of a masterpiece. Well, Win Butler & Co. have beat him to it. This song is the masterpiece Oberst should have made. It opens tortured. Piano and acoustics. And Win. Always Win. If anything distinguishes Funeral from the band's Debut EP, it's Win's maturation as a vocalist - his ability to convincingly deliver the tortured chorus of this song, to sound utterly and completely devestated and devestating. There is pain here, and beauty, competing for the highest attentions. But the song slowly builds. On every chorus, new elements come in. Strings. Regine's backing vocals, moans in the distance. It sounds like something out of a 70's variety repretoire, complete with the psychotic disco strings at the end, but this is so much more - more honest, more raw, more confessional, more powerful than any of that. A fierce contender for the years best single.

The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood # 2 (Laika) - This song is part of the albums opening 4 part Neighborhood suite, and, more than any other track on the full length, manages to capture what made the EP work for me in the first place. The declamation in Win's vocals, when he shouts "If you want nothing! Don't ask for something!," the intertwining of Win and Regines vocals on choruses, sounding like (as I've referred to The Arcade Fire's vocals in the past) the howls of terrified children, grabbing hold of you by the collar, and staring straight into your face as they scream for their lives, like a scene from a horror movie. But the band is doing something with this song - moving away from that sound within a track. There's definite movement here. It opens with accordion, a sound which defined the EP, and a lo-fi, unproduced buzz hangs around the voclas, but by the end, Win and Regine are chanting about how "The Neighbors can dance in the disco police lights" (a disarmingly gorgeous lyric if ever there was one), and the keyboards are in full swing, and the production seems to have slowly become more and more crisp over a matter of minutes. Utterly beautiful, strikingly powerful, and terrifying in it's way. The Arcade Fire have arrived. Their debut full length will be out on Merge Records in a matter of weeks. Pre-order it now. Be cooler than all your friends. You HAVE been advised.

[Preorder Funeral on September 3rd from Merge Records]

Now I'm taking a few steps back...

2004-08-31T09:49:00.000-04:00

Lansing-Dreiden - The Eternal Lie - Lansing Dreiden are a media corporation from Miami. They are not a band. They scorn the term 'collective'. They are a corporation. They work in a variety of media, of both the visual and audio variety. They do not perform live. Their website has a Legal Disclaimer that will baffle you. Lansing Dreiden believes Art and Commerce to be one. Thus, Corporation. Company. The music than, is obviously full of a slickly produced, almost soulless sheen. This is sellout rock - but it never had any principles to sellout in the first place - the logical extension in many ways, of Warhols Factory aesthetic, merged with the Residents wholesale consumption of individuality in the face of collective identity. The Eternal Lie is a bouncy little garage number, echoes of the Police and perhaps a Brian Setzer-ish vocal, a gallloping bassline and obligatory, perfectly timed, calculated solos.

Lansing-Dreiden - I.C.U. - This song is just flat out New Order. No other way to describe it. Whereas much of this albums hype has been the New Order meets the Rapture vibe of Glass Corridor, I.C.U. is far more appealing on repeat listen. Copping it's style from Subculture era New Order, dramatic, dancable, 3 minute electro. perfect for bouncing around the room to. And besides, puns on hospital rooms and spotting people across the dancefloor are always welcome, right?

[Buy The Incomplete Triangle from Lansing-Dreiden.com!]

My country, Tis of thee.

2004-08-30T11:57:00.000-04:00

So, yesteday I attended the mega huge UFPJ march across manhattan, along with 399,999 other awesome people who care enough about their country and the world. All through this week, I'll be helping out Music For America with their over 70 events of all shapes and sizes, from concerts, to basic activist skills trainings, all over the city. In case you haven't picked up on it, that fucking ROCKS.

Death Comet Crew - America - if marches such as yesterdays can be said to have a musical theme, it's percussion. More specifically, it's the noise for noise sake beating of thousands of buckets and hand drums as people try to make themselves heard through the din. And yet, many of the drummers there are in full command, laying down all sorts of complex rythyms, that when intertwined with voices, lifted in protest, creates it's own sort of beautiful music. On the face of it, this would seem to have nothing to do with the Death Comet Crew's totally synthetic brand of 80's electro, full of turntable work, clearly sampled breakbeats and wisps of bassline, single word vocal simples chillingly overlaid wth squeals. And yet, in those beats, I hear the echoes of the power I heard yesterday - of rhythmic music as something so truly open, so democratic, that I cannot escape the power of it. This is from a reissue of a classic early 80's album, just released recently on Troubleman Unlimited.
[Buy This is Riphop from Troublemans store]
Only one track today because things is crazy. We'll be on a better schedule soon folks. I promise.

Guilt?

2004-08-26T09:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm switching the redirect links back to Shrinkster, for a number of reasons, but mostly because site founder Kyle has been so VERY helpful in getting us a workaround on the issues people were having with right click->save as, and because now I can track and find out how many people are clicking on various songs. Let me know if you have any problems.

Green Day - Letterbomb - It's confession time kiddos. I love Green Day. Or, more specifically, I love Dookie It was the first CD I ever bought for myself, and just hearing it, it warped my fragile little middle school mind. I don't think I knew anybody growing up who didn't have a copy of that album. It was the album, and more specifically, "Basket Case" was the song, by which we all suddenly seemed to become cognizant of Music as this... thing, with power, with meaning, something more than just background noise on the radio, and that stuff you sang in chorus or played in the band. It was the soundtrack of my preteen years. And then, I abandonded Green Day, and Green Day abandoned me. Around when I started high school, I discovered NOFX, and the whole wide world of other punk bands, not to mention my local booming ska scene. Green Day meanwhile, were going all soft. As my friends followed them off and away from punk, I stuck with it, and grew to ignore Green Day. I still tend to listen once to anything enw they put out, just for nostalgias sake, but they haven't managed to impress me since, or, for that matter, amuse me even most of the time. But Green Day have a new album coming out soon, entitled American Idiot. Letterbomb is a song from this album. And by god, it's the second coming of Basket Case. The sound is tightened up, the production denser, but Billy Joe's forgotten all those fancy chord changes, and plugged back in, and the band has remembered how to be all they were ever good at - overgrown adolescents with a Ramones fixation and a California sneer. And they've still got it. My inner 12 year old is pogoing his ass off, and I've got a grin a mile wide.
[Buy American Idiot from Amazon.com!]

Head Automatica - Brooklyn is Burning - Our other selections today come from Head Automatica, the fusion of Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo (yes, THAT Glassjaw, the emo band from LI. I told you, this entry is about Guilt.), and Dan The Automator. Basically, Dan does what he always does, and Daryl, well doesw what he always does too, and proves that he's never not one to cash in on a trend. Thing is, with these two tracks, he does it pretty damned well. Palumbo calls it "Electronic Cock-Rock" - which sounds about right. If the Scissor Sisters represent Glams softer side, all Elton John Pianos and disco beats, Head Automatica, bring the rock. Fuzyzy rolling guitar licks, and vocals that wouldn't sound out of place circa 1982. Meanwhile, Nakamuras contributing a pretty vicious beat that could serve handily in a hip hop song if it weren't so overlayed.

Head Automatica - Beating Heart Baby - unfortunately, Palumbo hasn't totally lost his emo tendencies. Fortunately, in the context of beat heavy, party ready glam rock, it manages to make for a pretty decent power ballad. And besides, you can never have enough cowbell. Now if only they could sound a bit less like the Rapture, and maybe if Palumbo could release an album when a trend is actually hot as opposed to dying, he might have something. It's a damn shame he's always late to the party, because at least in this genre, he's got some real talent. (I'm a long time hater on glassjaw for reasons that only have a little bit to do with their music. But this blog is for talking about the music, so I will spare you.) Okay readers, you may all proceed to tear me to shit for todays entry.

[Buy Head Automatica's Decadence from Amazon.com!]

I am talking to my contacts... they always bring me flower, but no intelligence.

2004-08-24T07:57:00.000-04:00

Camper Van Beethoven - Militia Song - So, the other day, my attention was drawn to this lovely little piece of under the radar news. It seems that the US is looking to start up local militias to help various countries "combat terrorism from within" as it were. Because we all know how well this has worked out in the past. What does this have to do with todays song? Well, aside from the tangential conection of the word Militia, it has to do with the fact that this is a song off of Campers new album, New Roman Times. The new album is, in David Lowery's own words, a "sci-fi prog rock concept record," about the current politicultural divide that is tearing this country in two. Or, to put it simply, it's about "Wacko-grape-koolaid-drinking-fascist-homophobe-Christian-right-winger-cretins vs. smart, tolerant and decent people," in a ficitonal war between California and Texas. The song itself is a classic camper hoedown. Flashes of the folksier side of Telephone Free Landslide Victory, and the referential, silly sort of somberness from the bands self titled album. It's also a poignant little ditty about the unabomber. And who hasn't wanted to have a song about Ted Kasczinski, for that sort of morning? really?

Camper van Beethoven - I Am Talking To This Flower - I'm still sadly, trying to work out the full narrative arc of this album, so I wish I could give a better explanation of this song. Near as I can gather, it's a song from the perspective of a Texan spy in California, who has managed to find himself falling in love with "flower," and the various cultural baggage which it entails, running around stoned, and generally not being a very effective spy. Hard to misss the political context that Lowery & co. are going for - especially when he sings of not being able to "run for the power" and it's hard to disagree with the sentiment.

Camper Van Beethoven - Discotheque CVB - Campers biggest strength though, has always been their instrumental numbers. "Border Ska", "Mao Reminisces about his Days in Southern China," etc. While silly little songs about punks and weed and the unabomber are fun, Campers unique instrumental folk rock is where they slay. And Discotheque CVB is no exception, adding in a nifty little dance beat, and stabs of violin that give the song a weird sort of urgency it's an odd sort of closing number, full of the sort of laid back "everything will be all right" sort of energy that has always driven Camper, but with stabs of a fuzzy electric guitar that warn that maybe it won't - a new element for camper, and one that speaks to the atmosphere that has led to the birth of New Roman Times.

[You can buy 3 tracks of New Roman Times at the Itunes Music Store or this album and many more, from Pitch-A-Tent Records.]

Sunshine goes sinister...

2004-08-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everybody! Sorry about the lateness of todays post, but trust me, it's worth it.

Rouge - Happy Together (Turtles Cover) - Our first selection today is my little play on the news. Seeing as John Kerry's vietnam service has been all the rage of late, what with Swift Boat Vets for Fraud coming out and saying all sorts of nasty things, and then Kerry turning around and filing an FEC complaint, I figured I'd be wise to post a track from Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again - it's a compilation of covers I picked up at a Q & Not U show last week, featuring a bunch of leading indie lights doing covers of 60's and 70's tracks... (Q & Not U do "Don't Let it Bring You Down", Enon do "White Rabbit", Death Cab do "Fortunate Son" and many more - good stuff). This takes the sunshiney 60's pop of the original, and reinvents it as something dark, something sinister - the stuff of a smokey and empty bar at 3 AM - the optimistic hippy becomes the bitter femme fatale and happiness has disappeared.

Ted Leo - Many Rivers to Cross (Jimmy Cliff cover) - I know I know, I hype Ted Leo too much.... The man deserves it. This is another Ted solo track, covering a classic piece of 70's songwriting. His falsetto is on full display here, and I think it's that which makes his covers work - he's got the vocal range to just belt out a tune by anybody - something very few artists can lay claim too. Mellow, beautiful monday morning (or, by the time this goes up, afternoon.... music.) Most excellent.

[You can buy Don't Know When I'll be Back Again, a comp to benefit the VVA from Exotic Fever Records]

Still looking for work. Anyone out there got my back?

Isn't it Weird?

2004-08-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

The Toadies - I'm not In Love (Talking Heads Cover) - The Toadies are one of those forgotten mid 90's bands that people don't like to talk about for some reason. I never fully understood it myself, though i will admit to having forgotten them. My own rediscovery of the Toadies came when my old college radio station aquired a Toadies live album, and "Possum Kingdon" showed up on my chart show. And then, recently, Chris Uncritical sent me this song, off of the soundtrack to Basquiat, a great film about the artist of the same name. And like any movie about a cutting edge, downtown New York artist from the early 80's should, the soundtrack is full of songs by the likes of PIL, and Bowie, and this song, by Talking Hea- oh. It's a cover. But damn is it a good one. This was recorded in 1996. 1996. If it wasn't it would probably be pretty unremarkable. But the fact is, 8 years ago, it points out the fact that the Toadies were smarter than all of us. They saw all this spazzed out dance punk coming. They were onto it before you and me. A fantastic cover.

[Buy the Basquiat soundtrack at Amazon, or The Best of The Toadies: Live from Paradise, also at Amazon.]

Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless (Live) - I would be remiss if I didn't mention in this blog the rerelease of what is possibly the greatest live album ever. The Name of This Band is Talking Heads was never released on CD, until yesterday, when it got the double disc, half hour of extra material treatment. This is good because for years, Stop Making Sense was all fans had to judge the Heads Live - and while Sense does a fine job of relaying what the Heads were visually, in their later years as they went off on their art bender, the essential audio document has always been "The Name of This Band." The first half of the album is early live cuts, but this track is from the second half of the album - from the Remain in Light tour. Which means the lineup on this track was from the Heads in all of their Big Band excess prime, multiple percussionists finally giving Byrne the complicated multiple rhythyms that he so loves, multiple backup singers, and most notably, Adrian Belew contributing a frenetic, slicing lead guitar that obliterates everything else on the track until Byrne resumes command with his little rap about 2/3rds of the way in. An ESSENTIAL album for anyone who calls themself a Heads fan.

[Buy The Name of This Band is Talking Heads from Amazon.com!]

And for those of you out there who might be hiring, I'll restate the fact that I'm unemployed and hungry...

I've got a Heavy Metal mouth that hurls obscenity...

2004-08-17T09:49:00.000-04:00

Elliott Smith - Kings Crossing - I was extremely wary of posting this song when I first got it, mainly because the album didn't seem to be leaked all over everywhere the way most of the leaked stuff I post is. So, what makes me post it now? Because I haven't stopped listening to it since I first heard it. Because the song pulls you in slowly, with tence, atmospheric strumming, and then that ragtime piano, and suddnly, Elliott is there, pulling you close by the collar, breath soaked in booze. Because he's trying to tell you, to tell me something, and for gotssakes, it must be listened to! This song feels important somehow in a way few songs manage to. It's an old live song, but being released in this context, and with this performance, it takes on new heights of urgency. When Elliott trails off, singing "don't let me be carried away..." you can feel him reaching, feel the grasping for something else - something to save him. Do what you can folks, Donate to the Elliott Smith fund for Abused Children if you can afford to. It's a good cause, and they need every penny. You were only gonna spend it on drinks and cd's anyway, right?
[Preorder From a Basement on the Hill at Amazon.com]

Rhythym of Black Lines - One Red Eye - 2004: The return of Prog? First, we had the Fiery Furnaces schizophrenic prog-opus diving between a thousand ideas, and now Rhythym of Black Lines come along, with Human Hand, Animal Band to play the genre the way it was intended. But somehow, they do it without coming off as the pretentious bastards that so many prog bands do. Oh sure, there's technical prowess here. but more than that, there's a lot of ideas, and some genuinely good songwriting going on. Who said Glammed out texas prog, full of horns and strings, would automatically suck? Okay, so maybe I did when I first heard about these guys. Mea culpa. This is some great stuff, and fully worthy of your listening attentions.

[Buy Human Hand, Animal Band from Insound.com]

If I could see straight tonight...

2004-08-16T10:37:00.003-04:00

Hookers Green No. 1 - On How The Illustrious Captain Moon Won The War For Us - Hookers Green No. 1 is a 2 piece from Scotland in the sense that They Might Be Giants are a two-piece from Brooklyn, operating under the monkers of J. Turgenev and NHG. Warm, lo-fi, orchestral indie rock, in the mold of the Microphones, with some of the jazzy swagger of Karate, this is the title track from Hookers Green's debut on SnowStorm records. Not only does it bump off McLusky for the "best album/song title of the year" award, it manages to be utterly fantastic. Exploding out of the gates full of horns and booming bass drums, and swaggering through warbly vocals and flutes and organs and the de rigeur bass and guitar. The thrill of discovering a band like this never gets old. There's noplace to buy this on either the bands site or the labels for that matter, but there are some more free MP3's, so go listen.

The Gunshy - Your Favorite Dylan Song - The Gunshy is another name for Pennsylvania based singer-songwriter Matt Arbogast, and whoever he manages to round up to play drums and stuff. "Your Favorite Dylan Song" is what Tom Waits might sound like if he had Dylans penchants for long, guitar driven epics. Nicotine scorched vocals, raw, intense guitar work, and a stripped down, bare bones approach to the word epic that makes every note, every phrase, burn with tension, with power. This track comes from TTIKTDA reader Gretchen, along with a bunch of other stuff she's sent me that may be popping up in the not too far off future. She's also one of our guest reviewers for the TTIKTDA mix thats going out as soon as I type this up. There's more MP3's at The Gunshy's site.

[You can buy the Gunshy's latest album, No Man's Blues from Latest Flame Records]

Things are brewing. You may see some changes here soon.

PSA - Oh, and like The Fork Man at the TofuHut it's my turn to start begging. Anyone got a job for a go-gettin night school student finishing his bachelors? I need money to keep this blog going! And Money means a job! Anybody?

Water softly running running running...

2004-08-13T08:49:00.000-04:00

Q & Not U - Wonderful People - I've always been a fan of Q & Not U - not a huge fan, but they were always a fun band live, and "9 Things Everybody Knows" is still one of my favorite songs. But they always tended to shine when they slowed things down. The more energy they tried to exude, the more they often came off as faking it.. Then, last year, they released a single, entitled X-Polynation. X-Polynation was way ahead of anything they'd done before. Sounding like Fugazi covering '77 era Talking Heads, X-Polynation offered a tantalizing hint of their new album, Power. And now, Power has leaked. And damn if X-Polynation wasn't only a hint of what was to come. With Wonderful People, Q & Not U open the album with a statement. They done gone disco. The classic DC drums and skittering minor chords are there, but this time with some well defined downbeats and a rapturesque falsetto. Talking Heads, seem, to me, to have been an overlookeed touchstone in much of this recent revivalism - critics love to use it, but very few bands (with the exception of the occasional Radio 4 song) seem to have taken the lessons of Byrne and company to heart. Most certainly not Franz Ferdinand (But then, when was NME ever right with a comparison...) When the gang vocals kick in, it's clear this is still the same Q & Not U. They just want you to dance while you're rioting nowadays.

Q & Not U - Wet Work - Wet Work though, screams single. with a groovy bassline, stabs of organ, vocals right out of the Mackeye toolkit, and not so much of that damned trendy Falsetto - which i know Q¬U have had for years, but it's still trendy now. When, about 2/3rds into the song, the "congas and shakers and shit" to steal someones description of Radio 4 kick in, you know it's on. This is the album that Stealing of a Nation should have been. Outraged, beautiful, dancy as hell, and innovative in all the right places.

[Power is due out in September from Dischord Records. Buy it!]

Toddlerclash?

2004-08-12T08:38:00.000-04:00

The Go! Team - Ladyflash - I frankly have no clear clue what to call the Go! Team, or their new album, Thunder Lightning Strike. But I will say that, along with the Arcade Fire, the Fiery Furnaces, and others, we're seeing a definite... childish movement in new music right now. My initial instinct upon this realization is that Kindercore Records stole the most obvious name for the whole trend, for those who like to name things (to my dismay, I generally am one - I'm just a very verbal person I suppose.) So... well, Toddlerclash works. And I have to say, all this kid stuff isn't necesarily a bad thing. In fact, in the case of the Go! Team, it's quite awesome. This track seems to pick off where Junior Seniors D-D-D-Don't Stop the Beat left off last year, with vocals that are uncannilly reminiscent of Jackson 5 style kiddie soul, a bouncy piano/bass interplay that wouldn't be out of place on a Fiery Furnaces track for about 15 seconds, and a killer steel drum fill.

The Go! Team - The Power is On - Fluxblog posted this track a while back, and referred to it as something akin to the Hello Kitty Death March. That sounds about right. There's something in the marching beats, in the shouts, in the urgent horn fills, that just makes this a war song. With singers who sound like kids. If the Arcade Fire are like a depressed and angry childish Polyphonic Spree, then the Go! Team are the militant kids choir answer to Jr.Sr. There's just so much energy here. Anthemic and addictive.

The Go! Team - Huddle Formation - Some people seem baffled by the comparisons this band has at times drawn to Sonic Youth. If there's a song that deserves it, it's this one. The guitar drone is straight out of 80's youth, layered over with playground chant vocals that never fail to produce a smile. Thunder Lightning Strike is rocketing out of nowhere to be in fierce competition for the title of this years best debut.

The album is set to be released in September.

Oh, and you can check out another track that Seans posted over in Gramophone land.

[Watch this spot on the labels site for buying type info.]

'ey blud. There was FIVE pies on this table 'ere...

2004-08-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've been doing a bad job of midnights lately. And I'm out early in the mornings lately. Let's try Evening updates to see if I can make them more consistent.

Wiley - Pies - Okay, so grime is reaching saturation in some circles. And Dizzees new album has leaked, and everyones heard of Wiley, so why am i bothering with this track? Well, consider it an attempt at exorcism. Ever since The very awesome John Darnielle nominated Wiley for president a week ago in Last Plane to Jakarta... well, I've been unable to excise this song from my head. I try to sleep. i try to work. I try to listen to other music. All I can think about is the fact that WILEY HAS EATEN ALL OF THE PIES. I can't really describe this track. I will merely say that it is utterly and completely awesome. And that Wiley is a pie thieving scoundrel - but he's an honest pie thieving scoundrel.

[Buy Treddin on Thin Ice from Amazon.com!]

The Teenage Harlets - I Ain't a Square
&
The Teenage Harlets - Nancy - So, this past weekend, I made a pilgrimage to the Punk Rock Flea Market that is the Warped Tour, to do the whole activist thang (registering voters, clean air/clean energy), as well as to catch a few bands and, as per usual, go shopping at the tours massive Merch area.

While wandering said Merch area, I came across the "Space Station Stage", a tiny little stage in the corner of the fest area, not one of the listed stages, where I stumbled across the Teenage Harlets, giving an absolutely ELECTRIC performance of bracing, spasmatic surf punk, of the like I hadn't heard, and hadn't been so thoroughly engrossed by in a LONG time. Singer Johnny Dismal wasn't on stage more than 5 minutes out of the set, opting instead to run around at the end of the leash his mic provided him, accosting passersby, writhing on the ground tourettically, dancing with the crowd he attracted, picking up litter, and climbing under the stage. If you're going to one of Warpeds last few weeks, CATCH THESE GUYS. And, more importantly, buy some CD's from 'em. They could use the business, and they're selling 'em cheap! The bands website is here, but you can't buy anything online, so if you'll be at Warped in the next few fays, be sure to catch the Harlets, and tell 'em TTIKTDA sent you!

Are you kidding me? You must be kidding me!

2004-08-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

First off, some linky links.

First off, everyone, please send your best wishes in Sean's direction - he's been recuperating from what I understand to be a pretty nasty accident, and while we all expected him back sooner, I take it from his lack of activity that he's just needed the R&R. Here's hoping yer up and running in no time Sean!

Secondly,check out this: Ergo Phizmiz "and his Orchestra", cover the Velvet Undergrounds White Light/White Heat (the whole album!), with "Banjo, Bass Guitar, Ruler, Music Box, Violin, Toy Piano, Electric Guitar, Accordion, Squeezebox, Euphonium, Ukulele, Kazoo, Xylophone, Pixiphone, Uumskither, Mbira, Pod, Delay, Turntable, and Percussion." Check out the "Dirty Duck" vocals on The Gift...

Finally MP3Blogs.org seems to have some serious competition. Web Nymph has a slicker look, and a more 'edited' feel, with regular spotligh features on particularly great posts, and unique icons for all indexed blogs. Also, Web Nymph isn't just for MP3 Blogs. The tradeoff is that the Nymph indexes fewer MP3 blogs than MP3blogs.org. It's your call aggregator peoples. I know where I'll be going.

Now, MP3s!

The Aquabats - Love Without Anger (DEVO cover) - The Aquabats are a, for the most part, forgettable comic-ska act, mainly notable for 2 modest hits within the ska/punk scene, and for letting Blink 182 steal their drummer. I don't know when this cover happened, or what album it's from (god bless file sharing, and very obscure tribute albums), but their mariachi take on Devo's classic just always manages to bring a grin to my face. I'm posting this now because I never got around to it during my abortive string of Devo posts, and well, it deserves a post. I mean, check the conviction in those vocals. It's extremely clear that these guys 'get' DEVO, better than many who have tried.

Against Me! - Pints of Guiness Make You Strong! - I made my annual pilgrimage to the Punk Rock Flea Market this weekend. (The Warped Tour. I wouldn't have paid to get in... but if the ticket is free...) Amidst the 12 year olds and the occasional good sets throughout the day, (including one surf-rock band that blew me away, check in for them later this week), I got to revel in nostalgia and I got thinking about Against Me! Against Me are a bunch of Floridian anarchist cowpunks who when I first heard them a while back, revived a great deal of my faith in new and exciting punk rock. This song has the guts and the wisdom to ignore the modern 'punk' formula of "really fast, really short, really loud." By no means a slow song, theres a defenite sense of pacing, with a rhythym section recalling old westerns, and vocal that recalls a young, drunken Paul Westerberg at times, these guys have something. Their second album, was disappointing at first, but on revisiting it, I find that it's merely more subdued. I suppose I was expecting more chaos... Nonetheless, it is in fact quite good. I have high hopes for number 3.

[Buy Against Me albums and Merch from No Idea Records, including this track, from Reinventing Axl Rose]

Sorrow is the Key that Gets our tears out of Eyejail...

2004-08-06T08:28:00.000-04:00

Augie March - Songs in the Key of Chance - Augie March are a new Australian band, whose second album, and American debut, is due out on SpinArt records in September. This is a fantastic song, with lyrical content reminiscent of the Decembrists, but sonically, the song has all of Nick Cave's dark brooding swagger, a hint of the melodocism of a Leonard Cohen, and something of the swirl of the Flaming Lips. This is really promising stuff. Oh, and I will admit it. This time, the Aussie was intentional. I figure if I got this far, I can finish it out.

[Buy the album, Strange Bird from Spinart in September!]

The HornRimJobs - Alice's Livejournal - This song was reccomended to me by the awesome Largehearted Boy, over at the newly opened Last Plane to Jakarta Forums. The Hornrimjobs are a "spoken word emo" duo from Lincoln, Nebraska. This song is, quite obviously about Livejournal. And of course, true to form, it is VERY VERY EMO. It's also funny as hell. How can you top a line like He was wearing khakis for christs sake!?

[Download the Vegan Brownies EP from the bands website!]

And do you people honestly mean to tell me that not a one of you wnats a TTIKTDA mix CD?

Honestly? There's like 1000 of you reading this blog every day.... Speak up folks!

Things went down that I don't understand....

2004-08-05T09:05:00.000-04:00

It's fast becoming the week from Down Under her at TTIKTDA.

I swear, it's not intentional, but... seeing as I don't hear anyone complaining...

Black Cab - Good Drugs - Black Cab are another Australian duo, straddling the line between rock and yadda yadda yadda. You get it all. The essentials, are that their new album, Altamont Diary, is a concept album - essentially an alternate soundtrack to Gimme Shelter. The album is inspired, and follows the course of the days events, of the Rolling Stones infamous free concert at Altamont in 1969. As a result, the album opens full of sunny, colorful psychedelia, full of optimism, and bouncy, sunshiney riffs, before beginning a slow plunge into an industrial nightmare, as the Hells Angels break loose, and the riot starts. A man is killed. And the Stones kept on playing. It's been called the death of innocence for the hippies, and the end of an era. "Good Drugs," appearing halfway through the album, more than any other song, shows the dichotomy of the day. The song is full of tension, of a sense of forboding - something bad is about to happen, and it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart.

Black Cab - New Speedway Boogie - This is the albums high point though. The song is a Grateful Dead cover, a choice with a story of it's own. The short version is that The Dead bailed out of playing Altamont that day, was friends with a lot of the Hells Angels players involved in the riot, and wrote this song as a lament of the days events. The cover captures the emotion perfectly. The song captures the sense of confusion, of chaos of the days events perfectly, simultaneously upbeat and rocking out, while at the same time full of regret - there is a palpable sense of pain in this music.

I'd've posted 1970 to give you a better taste of the albums dark side, but it's like... 10 minutes long.

Again, I R Lousy at hunting down buy links on Import CD's. Feel free to post one in the comments.

In other news, I'm thinking I'm going to do a Mix CD tofu hut style. I'm gonna be a bit pickier than John though. If you want to get a mix to review, post your take on any 2 tracks up on The blog right now, in the comments section of THIS POST, and BE SURE TO LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS. I'll email a few people (I don't know how many yet), to get addresses to mail off a CD.

It'll be entitled God has left the building: A Pop Hymnal.

All of this time on my hands...

2004-08-03T00:49:00.000-04:00

Returning to the Southern Hemisphere for a second evening...

The Dissociatives - Somewhere Down the Barrel - Okay, first off, to get accreditation out of the way, I'm biting off of Uncritical here, and he deserves full credit for introducing me to these guys, by posting "We're Much Preferred Customers" last week. (It's still up! Go Get it!). Now, onto the band and the track at hand. The Dissociatives are sort of Australias answer to the Postal Service. Though the pedigree is far weaker, it is the collaborative joining of a DJ (Aussie House guru Paul Mac), and a Rocker (Silverchair singer Daniel Johns), and the music they produce is FAR greater than the sum of their parts. This track is the Dissociatives first single, and with good reason. Where the Postal Service cop tired synthpop touchstones, (and yes, reinvigorate them, but they're tired nonetheless), these fellows have the smarts to pull a healthy dose of Primal Scream, into the mix, toss in some vocals that sound more soulful than sweet or whiny, and when the song kicks up in the second half, full of reverb laced hand claps, and echoing nananas, all becomes right with the world. Every musician probably dreams of recording one song this good, this complete, this... downright perfect.

The Dissociatives - Horror with Eyeballs - But the Dissociatives aren't done. No. They're going to throw Tom Waits style circus melodies into the mix. And a vocal hook that could be the best moment of the best boy band that never was. And it's going to work. There's a defenite sense of thematicc recurrence here - the nananas heard as faint echoes at the end of "somewhere" return front and center in this track, and give this song the vibe of an otherworldly sort of circus of the damned. And at the center of it all, Dan is running in circles, lost, confused, mourning. If there's any complaint that is ultimately the Postal Services true failing, it's the somewhat mechanical, robotic sound of many tracks. Even Gibbards usually fragile vocals, when run through the lens of Tamborello production, take on a slick, indestructible sheen that takes something of the humanity out of many of their songs. (See Iron & Wine's cover of "Such Great Heights" for the utter majesty that can be achieved upon returning said humanity.) The Dissociatives have a far more organic sound - Johns' guitar work is clearly front and center in many instrumental sections, and the vocals have a rawer, more lo-fi tone to them. It allows a song like this to take on a creepiness that the robotic tones of a Postal Service rendition of Waits' themes would never allow - and is why the Dissociatives, in my book at least, have a lot more promise than the Dream of Evan and Chan.

This is what The Postal Service should have been. You owe this album to yourselves people.

[Buy the album from the bands (Australian) Website!]

Who's waiting? Why Satan of course!

2004-08-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry about disappearing like that, and not delivering more Devo. We had some technical difficulties here in TTIKTDA-land, but everything should be back and firing on all cylinders now.

The Shocking Pinks - Us Against The City - If Sean can post Shocking Blue, then I call pink! This is a reader submission from a whiiiiile back that fell through the cracks. The Shocking Pinks are a Christchurch, New Zealand based 4 piece, whose debut, Dance the Dance Electric, has been winning it's share of raves from all the right people, for both it;s DFA-aping funkhappy numbers (such as this one), and for their tendency towards genre hopping. This track sounds like everything in NYC dance punk just got tossed into a vat and stirred into a fine, greasy broth of pure funk. It's got !!!'s slithering basslines. The Raptures tension. Interpols moodiness. But it isn't any of those bands. Very good stuff. Can't seem to find a buy link for this one, though I remember seeing it on Insound once upon a time.

Anyone wanna help a guy out?

Japanther - Symptoms Vocal - Japanther are easily one of the hardest working bands in NYC right now, as it seems a week doesn't go by without them playing a show somewhere. The two piece produces a decidedly abrasive, noisy form of dance rock that fits the tenor of the town right now - equal parts mosh pit and rave, something like a brand of electro-hardcore. This song opens with a slow, distorted synth/bass line, before exploding into typical Japanther chaos. It's a fairly standard MO, but it's pulled off here with enough style and enough skill, not to mention a fair share of lo-fi ambiance (they use refitted (stolen?) payphone handsets as microphones!) to more than make up for things. There's also a healthy dose of Ratatats hip-hop informed sensibility towards beats here.. This is off of the bands most recent album, Dump the Body in Rikki Lake There's also an instrumental version of this track on the album for those, that find the vocal grating (as I know many do... I think it has a certain charm myself.)

[ClickityClick here to buy "Dump the Body in Rikki Lake" and other Japanther titles from insound!]

In other news, the folks at I Love Music are taking stock of the past half decade. Have you voted yet?

My ballot: (keep in mind, the limited choices were... somewhat baffling)

My favourite albums (in order of pref.):
01. 45pts The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird Bark
02. 40pts The Liars - They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top
03. 36pts Radiohead - Kid A
04. 32pts Wrens - The Meadowlands
05. 28pts The Rapture - Echoes
06. 24pts Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Hearts Of Oak
07. 20pts Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
08. 16pts The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
09. 13pts Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
10. 10pts Fugazi - The Argument
11. 7pts Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
12. 5pts Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
13. 3pts Junior Senior - D-D-Don't Stop The Beat
14. 2pts Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
15. 1pt The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

My favourite tracks (in order of pref.):
01. 45pts The Dismemberment Plan - The Face Of The Earth
02. 40pts LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
03. 36pts Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone
04. 32pts Radiohead - Idioteque
05. 28pts The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
06. 24pts Life Without Buildings - The Leanover
07. 20pts Le Tigre - Deceptacon (Dfa Mix)
08. 16pts New Pornographers - Letter From An Occupant
09. 13pts Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U
10. 10pts Jay-Z - 99 Problems
11. 7pts Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene
12. 5pts M83 - Run Into Flowers
13. 3pts Flaming Lips - Fight Test
14. 2pts The Streets - The Irony Of It All
15. 1pt Outkast - Hey Ya!

Have a bearable Monday folks!

IS HE NOT A MAN? HE IS DEVO!

2004-07-25T23:16:00.000-04:00

Devo - Beulah / Jocko Homo / I Need A Chick (Live in Cleveland, Halloween 1975)- This, like the version of Satisfaction I posted on Friday, is pulled from Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years. This is from Devo's first ever show, a WHK Radio Halloween concert, opening for Sun Ra. They were hired as a joke. The audience of sotned hippies expected a cover band. They were introduced by Murray the K (Murray Saul, of the famous "FRIDAY!" bit posted to Flux some months ago). They proceeded to rock the fuck out. This three song medley marks the finale of their set, opening with a deranged, and deliberately terrible cover of Beulah, before moving into their Devolutionary mission statement, Jocko Homo. And this is where things get fun. The audience has had enough. The band is becoming increasingly weird and confrontational, and the audience begins to respond in kind. You can hear the angry audience members climb to the stage, grab microphones, and threaten to beat the shit out of the band. By the time Jocko Homo is finished and the band launches into the vicious, and vulgar "I Need a Chick" - well, it's clear there aren't many people left, and the few who are seem very intent to try to cut the band off. An example of Devo's unique performance art in it's early formative years, and most certainly at it's finest, this performance shows Devo as nothing so much as band that sprung, as a god fully formed from the womb, completely cognizant of their direction from day one, their most crucial songs and basic plan laid out very clearly and bared to the world. It would take 4 years for their Devolutionary program to find fans, another 3 after that for it to find commercial success, and another decade or two for them to be properly recognized as legends. But damn if it wasn't worth it.

[Buy Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years from Amazon]

Tomorrow: Why Devo has the deepest catalog of any "one hit wonder" ever - and perhaps a song from a car commercial.

I was born a Spud-Boy... Just a reaal Potato!

2004-07-23T08:21:00.000-04:00

I was raised on Devo. My father has always been a huge Devo fan, and from an early age, he was sure to indoctrinate me in the ways of De-Evolution. When my friends were watching Disney videos, I was rocking out with Booji Boy, and Devo's short film The Men Who Make the Music. So, it should be no surprise that when I heard Devo were playing Summerstage, I raced to get tickets. I'll be there tonight. So, your musical selections for today, are a couple of Devo's best. For those of you only familiar with Whip It, who call Devo a 1 hit wonder? Prepare to be blown away. For those of you who are familiar with the catalog? Well, I hope I've dusted off a few tracks you haven't heard before.

Devo - Satisfaction (Rolling Stones Cover, Live @ Max's Kansas City, 1977) - This is pulled from Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years, a one disc set that compiles a few shows from Devo's early years. This was Devo's last show as without a label, 5 guys from the "Gruesome Post-Industrial Boot Camp," of Akron, Ohio (Gerald Casles words) - After this show, the band would begin it's Record Label wringer, and begin the career for which they're known. The album also collects a few cuts from Devo's first ever show (Opening for Sun-Ra as part of a radio stations halloween prank, and being assaulted and threatened by hippies as the show goes on (You can hear the death threats!)), and a show a year later, opening for fellow locals The Crypt (Who hated them).

I've always loved Devo's cover of Satisfaction. In the beginning, I didn't know it was a Stones song. I just liked the funny dance mark did for it on Video, along with Praying Hands. In later years though, I rediscovered this cover. It conveys a tense, paranoid, frustration that was always so much more apt for the song than Jaggers sexy swagger. I mean, does Jagger look like a guy who can't get any? More to the point, does he sound like one? His swagger is too strong, his voice too confident. Devo transform the song, with a relentless, metronomic bassline, and Mothersbaugh's deadpan "Hey Hey, That's what I say!" kicking off a tortured, stuttery chorus that screams of the repressed, manic sexual energy that is De-Evolution.

[Buy Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years from Amazon]

Devo - Head Like a Hole (Nine Inch Nails Cover) - I've long held that some of Devo's best material is from the covers section of their catalog. And I've recently been thinking about why. I think it has a lot to do with Mothersbaugh & Co's ability to completely take ownership of any song they cover, and really bring it into line with their own unique manifesto. Not much was needed on this one though. In a beautifully circular event of a band covering a band that, quite frankly, wouldn't have existed without them, the flowerpotted ones have rescued Reznors most covered song from goth oblivion (despite AFI's most recent putrid attempts to pull it back there), and brought it forth in technicolor, yellow jumpsuited glory. The industrial drum machine grind stays, but the synths sound bubblier here, the ambient noise, weirder, and strangely happier, and Mothersbaugh demands cash like a proclamation from General Boy himself.

[Buy Pioneers Who Got Scalped -A Devo Anthology at Amazon!]

I had a few other Devo that I'd considered posting, but I think I'll just pick up after the weekend if the reaction is good. So, if you want more Devo, let me know, and I'll bring back some more on monday!

Have a good weekend folks! I know I will!

(P.S. - anyone going to Ted Leo's East River show tomorrow, drop me a line.)

I can't believe they never bothered to Move On...

2004-07-22T09:24:00.000-04:00

William Shatner & Joe Jackson - Common People (Pulp Cover) - yes kids, you heard that right... Shat's back! (No, not that Shat, though from the singing talent...) I didn't want to like this song. Not one bit. But, I honestly can't stop listening to it. Say what you will of Shatner, he has never pretended to be a musician - his deadpan drawl is designed not to present songs as works of music, but rather as texts, to be read aloud, and y'know what? I can't think of a single song more suited for that treatment than "Common People". It sounds like a narrative set to music - a less talented, American Streets kinda vibe... If anything desecrates pulp, it's not Shatner, who delivers the song's final lines with all the appropriate venom, gained over years of hammy acting, but Joe Jacksons HIDEOUS guitar work, and terrible attempt at singing the songs chorus near the end, which is just utterly cringeworthy. Of course, production by Ben Folds isn't helping matters there, but when has it?

Hot Hot Heat - Move On - Hot Hot Heat were busting this song, the B-Side to the Bandages single, pretty regularly on their last few laps of the world, before heading into the studio to work on album #2 (or 3 if you count Scenes), and with good reason. It's all the jangley poppiness of their debut EP (and still their peak todate IMHO, mixed up with the stuttery freneticness of Breakdown. Whent he song breaks into a 3 part harmony about a minute and a half in, we begin to see HHH's new drection - but it only lasts a minute. This may not be Fiery Furnaces level jampacked with ideas, but it suggests at least a half dozen new directions for Hot Hot Heat to head for their new album, and all of them are good ones. And am I the only one who sees this song as fitting, not just with the name, but also the mission of a certain political group that is much in the limelight?

[Buy Hot Hot Heat albums from Amazon.com]

Other news: Saw Radio 4 and Ted Leo on LonGuysland last night. Ted leo was fantastic as always. The new material is GREAT, and he's touring with a stripped down band now (Just Bass and Drums + Him. No key's or violin or second guitar, as he was when supporting Hearts of Oak. This seems to suit the new material best.) And he PLAYED HEARTS OF OAK! Finally, after 5 times seeing Ted, and never hearing it, I finally got to see him play his "Radio 4 Song" when playing with Radio 4.

R4 were incredible. They've moved so far beyond what they were when last I saw them. The new material is FANTASTIC live, as all the new songs pick up healthy doses of the "Congas and Shakers and Shit" that make Radio 4, Radio 4. Not to mention, Ted came out and did a mean Cowbell Solo on Struggle. The band was REALLY in a good mood, what with playing at the center of all their respective hometowns around Long Island (the guitarist introduced each band member between songs, and noted what high school they went to. Classic LI - even a decade removed, the only way to register where someone is from is their High School.) And just a generally fantastic set. "The Death of American Radio" is GREAT live, and "Transmission," a song that, on record, seemed buried under it's production to me, becomes a complete fucking anthem live. Dominated the whole set when they finished with it.

BAD BRAINS BAD BRAINS! ROCKNROLLROCKNROLL!

2004-07-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

(AKA, phoning it in because life is hectic)

Jeff Buckley - I Against I (Acoustic, Radio performance) - Okay, so this is just a random rarity of Jeff Buckley fucking around in a radio studio with an Acoustic guitar, but he's covering one of the greatest punk songs ever penned, and it finds Buckley going so far out of his range, and stumbling to get it together so desperately, that it manages to be worth a listen.

For the hell of it, here's the original track.
[Buy Banned in DC: Bad Brains Greatest Riffs at Amazon.com!]

The Nein - Handout - Today's other selection is by a band called the Nein and comes from TTIKTDA reader Jen who writes: Song's called Handout and I think it's great. Kind of a cross between latter-day Archers of Loaf and current electro-stuff. And while that description is halfway decent, I'd go for a comparison to Les Savy Fav more than anyone else out there right now. Fantastic stuff.

And Hey Readers: Keep it coming! If you're not seeing your submissions posted here, it's not because I'm not liking them, it's because I'm buried under such a pile that I'm treading water just to sort through it all, and some nights, I just end up going to what i've got instead. It has nothing to do with your taste sucking, because ti doesn't. It has to do with me being a lousy email-reciever/responder.

[Find out more about the Nein, Listen to more of their Music, and maybe even buy some at their website.]

Also: I'm trying something a little new w/ the MP3 links tonight to try to foil people using wget to scrape the mp3's from this site and generally being leeches about it. I'm sorry to those of you who read this blog and are also using wget to save time, and I'm also sorry to those of you who this inconveniences with a referrer link. If anybody has any other suggestions, keeping in mind I'm hosted on blogspot, let me know. And if this is causing anyone any problems, let me know.

If you really must aggregate mp3 blogs to save time, please don't use wget. Use RSS. Mp3blogs.org has done a very nice job of consolidating a whole bunch of us for your reading and timesaving pleasure.

'nite folks!

THIS IS MY EVERYDAYS LIFE!

2004-07-19T09:16:00.000-04:00

Polysics are a Japanese band that Loves Devo. I mean they really really love Devo. Which is good. Because I love Devo too. Though I don't dress up like Devo (the Polysics do), I do think that they are one of the most vastly ignored and underrated bands of the last 20 years (one hit wonder my ass! Whip It may have been a fluke of a success, but they had a HUGE catalog of work.). I was raised on Devo, so I'm very happy to say that I'm going to see them LIVE at Summerstage this Saturday! IN that vein, here's some Polysics, a band that has clearly worshipped at the altar.

Polysics - Making Sense - this comes off of 2003's Neu!, and is a wonder of bent moogs and tape-machine-gun drumming. The song doesn't move much, preferring to focus on the mechanichal loopiness of it's synth, and a seemingly utterly random placement of those DAT snare beats. When the song does break, finally, near the end, it's merely to provide a big finish. But then, this is not a song about movement. This is ear candy at it's finest.

Polysics - I'm A Worker This is the song that convinced me to bother with Polysics though. Like Devo all freaked out on Cocaine, a tightly wound ball of utterly spastic energy, just waiting to collapse into a seizure. The mechanized sheen of Making Sense evaporates here, as the robots begin to short circuit and malfunction, beats going haywire, guitars, synths, drums, all operating as if they have no idea what the other is doing, pure sonic chaos, but somehow, inexplicably, the center holds, and when the song goes into an extended rockabilly freakout on guitar, while the synths keep doing their thing, and the vocals just stop, it works.

[Buy Neu! from Amazon.com!]

P.S. Sirenfest was In-fuckin-credible.

Electro-Blues and Not so Electro Blues.

2004-07-14T01:08:00.000-04:00

I just spent an hour typing up a post, and Blogger ate it as I was pasting in the final fucking link.

God hates me. Or google does anyway.

So this post will suck, because I need my sleep. But the music is fantastic.

The Fiery Furnaces - Single Again - This is the Fiery Furnaces new UK Only Single, which has just cracked the top 40, and may be their best individual song to date, healthily fusing directions charted on both previous full length outings. The result is a healthy snippet of what I can only think to call Electro-Blues. Washed out lap steels provide rootsy blues chord, as the drums are overlayed with a somewhat glitchy sounding snare loop, and fuzzy synths pulse out the songs melody, all as Eleanor Abandons the childlike innocence with which she sings for much of Blueberry Boat, opting instead for a wounded, destroyed, but ultimately hopeful tone, a woman beaten (literally!), and wasted, but not out yet, dreaming of a day when she might be "Single Again." If this is the direction the Furnaces are headed (something of which, if we've learned anything.... there are no guaruntees), than the next album promises to be something special. The ADD sound shifts, the operatic flourishes, are, if not gone, than certainly subsumed here into a song that is far more of a coheisve whole than anything on Blueberry Boat. There's a reason that this is the track that cracked the top 40 for the Furnaces. This is a song that, in some alternate dimension, might actually sound radio worthy. The Friedbergers have finally found their pop song. Please join me in rejoicing.

[No, Rough Trade isn't paying me, but, according to them, Single Again "comes on like a deranged DJ Shadow monkeyed off his eyeballs on uppers and downers, whilst various members of the Beta Band and the Delgadoes point and laugh." You can also buy the single there.]

[Buy Blueberry Boat from Amazon.com!]

Ludes - Your Dog Don't Bark - This is the first in a string of Reader submissions I'll be posting, coming from an anonymous Dancing Indie Kid, Ludes are a band from South London, about whom information is sadly lacking. This song though, speaks for itself. Stones style Blues Swagger, a killer harmonica solo, and a swingin beat. Fantastic stuff, and, in it's stripped down glory, the perfect antidote for those who might find the Furnaces take on the blues to be a bit too... heavily produced. (I am decidedly NOT among those though. As should be obvious.)

[I don't know where you can buy this. Here is the bands Web Page. Go see them live and report back, London readers!]

Ugh. Not happy with this, but need sleep.

Note to self: Stop writing drafts of posts in Blogger. It will only cause pain.

'nite everyone!

Oh, and check out the amazing stuff John @ The Tofu Hut has been doing with Spiders, and Daft Punk Remixing Franz Ferdinand over @ Gramophone. See Sidebar for linkage.

It's BLUEBERRY BOAT DAY.

2004-07-13T02:16:00.000-04:00

In other words, get Thine Arse to a Record Store, and buy a copy of the Fiery Furnaces Masterpiece.

It is a Masterpiece.

You're still here.....

...

...

...

Okay, music for today.

Before I get to that, a few notes -

1) Be sure to check out the new sexed up AMG, which should be live at some point today.

2) the Boys & Girls over at GYBO have completed the follow up to London Booted - Parkspliced - notable are mashups of the title track w/ the Beach Boys "God Only Knows", a healthy dose of Marvin Gaye inserted into "Badhead," and Lenlows fantabulous B-Side featuring Peter & The Wolf. I may end up posting a track or two from this later in the week.

The Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Mr. You're on Fire Mr. (Liars Cover) - Karen O covering Angus. 'tain't that sweet. Well, there's nothing sweet about this song, a B-side from the Pin Single. It finds the YYY's revisiting the production style found on the Machine EP, washed in feedback and muddled into a flat sort of tonelessness that, when combined with the tape loops and electrobleeps found here, manage to turn Liars original screamfest, the song that prompted a P-fork review to remark that Liars eat ground glass, into a slowed down, dubbish sort of number, punctuated by Karens trademark yelps. I didn't like this the first time I heard it, but since then, I've just kept on coming back. There's something here, some indefinable quality, that makes what is, objectively, a lousy recording of a halfassed cover, sound like something much better.

[Buy it from Insound!]

The Hong Kong - Mazerati - Few things are so great as the experience of discovering a song capable of making you bounce around the room - the tightly wound, hyperactive ADD kid inside of you breaking free and refusing to sit still. Mazerati is such a song. From the Hong Kong's debut, Rock the Faces, the blondieesque vocals and bubbly basslines, this is what al summer music should be.

Bliss.

No buy link for this one because I can't seem to find anywhere online to buy it. I got my copy at a show. Anyone have a lead?

Tomorrow: TTIKTDA Reader submissions make their debut. (P.s. those of you I emailed? please do resend those tracks. Dropload hates me and I really do want to listen to them - I have the space in my mailbox to recieve attachments of up to 10 megs, so no worries there.

Now GO BUY COPIES OF BLUEBERRY BOAT.

10 OF THEM.

I don't care if you don't have 10 CD players, or even 10 friends. Just do it.