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February 28, 2006

A torrent of SxSW material

Inasmuch as the music industry was assailed 5-7 years ago facing the digital revolution as competition rather than a new business model, perhaps it's unfair that it does not get its due when participating in something wise.

In a move that would have seemed completely [and erroneously] suicidal five years ago, all 713 [or so] musicians heading down to SxSW have made available one track to SxSW to promote, via a BitTorrent file. The tracks are available here.

While I'm only 50 songs in [and have yet to find something truly super fantastic], it becomes obvious that there are haves and have nots, and it's likely that there are hundreds if not thousands of others plowing through all before the show takes place. Thus, showcases with good, undiscovered bands will likely be packed. Oh well...

A quick take on contrasts.

I'm digging this 1986 song - the lead singer sounds like Thurston Moore and, perhaps, the band sounds like Sonic Youth if the band members spent their lives on Valium.

1986 - Holiday

Another song that made an instant impression.

Black Lipstick - Bob Fosse

And the nadir?

Andy Dick (channelling B-52s) - Comsic Dust

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

YYY - Phenomena

Kofi's Hat has the much buzzed about YYY's song "Phenomena." It sounds awesome (MP3 link).

Jeff was at the NYC show on Friday and described the track as so:

"Phenomena," was a juggernaut of propulsive rythym. It's performance was highlighted and enhanced by some serious lighting design. Towering shadows of Karen and Nick traded wall time as guitar squeals and the "White Lines" lifted chorus cohered into a dark and borderline funky banger. A highlight of the show's stellar stagecraft and a fitting lead in energy wise to a manic "Mystery Girl."

Listen to the chorus. Then answer this - does LL Cool J share songwriting credit?

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones, Phenomena, LL Cool J

Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:03 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

LCD Soundsystem - 'Introns'; Digital album release of b-sides and rarities

According to a press release fetched by Prefixblog, "on March 14th, DFA/Capitol Records will release LCD Soundsystem’s Introns, a digital album of b-sides from U.K. vinyl singles, remixes and other rare gems previously unavailable in the U.S. The collection will be available strictly as a download, available through iTunes and other digital retailers" (link).

Introns track listing:

1. Yr City's A Sucker
2. Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (Soulwax Shibuya Mix)
3. Disco Infiltrator (FK's Infiltrated Vocal)
4. Disco Infiltrator (FK's Infiltrated Dub)
5. Slowdive (xfm session)
6. Tribulations (Tiga’s Out Of The Trance Closet Mix)
7. Tribulations (Lindstrom Mix)
8. On Repeat (xfm session)
9. Thrills (xfm session)
10. Too Much Love (Rub'n'Tug Mix)

In other news James Murphy will be spinning at Hiro Ballroom in the Maritime Hotel in New York this Thursday March 2nd. The party is fittingly called "Cheeky Bastard." The DFA website claims that "doors open at 10pm. For the $5 reduced admission list email alejandro@gbh.tv with your name and number of guests. Tell them you are on the Cheeky list."

If you need to be reminded once again, everyone at Merry Swankster loved LCD Soundsystem in 2005.

Previously: Best Albums of 2005 - Jeff, MS, Keith.

//LCD Soundsystem - site
//DFA Records - site

Tags: LCD Soundsystem, James Murphy, DFA Records

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Broken Social Scene on: Solo records, movies, videos, longing for manageable dinner seating

It's all gonna break (maybe)

Broken Social Scene are worried. The band is approaching Polyphonic Spree numbers and without the smashing Jonestown invoking robe getups, the fear is their size will cause a kinda lame band moniker to spell a prophetically sad truth. They're worried about the demise of the band in spite of itself. The headlines will be terrible.

"Broken Social Scene lives up to it's name" or worse "Social Scene Broken for Canadian collective"

According to MTV News, the band is growing weary of the logistical problems of touring with such a large group. Until someone comes forward with some magical kool-aid the band has some other ideas on how to stay vibrant amidst the cramped tour bus and European hostel feel. Not the nice pension you and your traveling partner stayed in Spain, more like the Eastern European 24 person room - $10 a night steez, but your band breaks up. Tough call.

Apparently BSS has scored two films, including 2004's "The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess" and the upcoming "Snow Cake" with red pill popper Carrie-Anne Moss and mother of potential antichrist saved by the Ghostbusters (who else!) Sigourney Weaver. A third film starring Ryan Gosling called "Half Nelson," while not exactly scored by the band it does feature a whopping 16 BSS songs from Feel Good Lost and You Forgot It in People

Enough solo albums to justify their own label are planned as well.

Kevin Drew of BSS:

"I'm gonna do a solo record, [Brendan Canning and Ohad Benchetrit] are gonna do solo records. If we tour, it's gonna be so amazing just to [hit the road on a small scale]. Going into a restaurant, I've never been able to ask for a table for three, and that would be nice one day."

Awww. Just a rockstar who wants a cozy meal. No different than you and me. Read more (link).

Tags: Broken Social Scene

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 27, 2006

Matriarch musical express, Vol #3: Cat Power 'The Greatest'

Chan Marshall - marvel or blanch at this fact: I managed to sneak the playing of your entire CD on an O'Brien tri-generational SUV trip to New Hampshire. At the time, Sue O'Brien claimed to like the melodic Nashville-insipred sounds, but changed her mind after soaking it through.

Without further ado, a terse, Sue's first negative review.

Okay - I listened again, and there is not one song that I really liked. The music all sounds the same. I could feel myself floating in the air with nothing in my brain…I really couldn't get into any of the songs... I will probably never listen to it again.

Sue Addendum:

"Guess what - I saw another CD from Cat Power in the newspaper - I wouldn't have know about her if you hadn't given me the cd........keep them coming...........I am on the cutting edge!!!!"

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 05:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Swarm Coverage! Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live @ the Bowery Ballroom, 2-24-2006 part deux

The showmanship, drum staccato helmed by Brian Chase as Nick Zimmer and, after some delay, campy Cleopatra-attired Karen O sauntered to the stage to start with Cheated Hearts let the audience in on two bits of important information.

One: the YYY’s have not moved on without us – they remain as fervently devoted to their unique sound as before.

Two: they reaffirmed that they know how to put on a show.

The prevailing thought I had during the YYY’s show at Bowery Ballroom – from the delayed arrival of Karen O to begin Cheated Hearts to the glacial pace of Modern Romance – is that this is the band I want to represent our generation.

I want to listen to Black Tongue before while driving to pick up my children from futuristic school and listen to Maps as I’m sweeping my futuristic apartment floor with my futuristic broom.

No other band, I feel, represents what I would hope is the summation of our talents, our pageantry, and our energy.

While it may have been safer, with internet negative-buzz fretting about new directions, to open up with Bang or Date with the Night, they went with a new – and YYY-unprecedented anthemic – track Cheated Hearts, with the equally inspirational refrain “Sometimes I believe I’m bigger than the sound.”

A quick note (and it truly pains me to have to waste digital ink on this): Internet denizens, stop your exegeses on crowd participation! People, I have some advice. When you go to a show and are blown away – or at the least excited by new material – it’s probably worthwhile to focus on that.

In Village Indian’s otherwise stellar post on the show and the band...

“A&R folks, put away your pads, this is no formula. This is Karen O, a singular artist, and one of our generation's truly iconic rock stars.” Ed. – in absolute concurrence]

...he continues to opine on Karen O’s manufacturer stage presence as he did on his own blog.

“…something about Karen's racy, beer drenched vixen always came off as a bit of an (admittedly amazing) act.”

Of course, it's an act! Do you think David Bowie watched Premiership matches in gold lamme? Perhaps this is what blogs have wrought: the need to needlessly needle on every fucking aspect of a show.

Whether the crowd undulated or not is irrelevant; the new album shows promise to usurp Fever to Tell as the best YYYs album in a young, but promising career.

Highlights included the great [live, original, or Diplo remixed] Gold Lion and Fever to Tell Black Tongue. And for all the talk about whether YYYs would tone down their sound, it's perhaps ironic that Maps seemed to elicit the most enthusiasm.

The show was great. Those who feel otherwise, I allege, were too busy taking decibel levels of their fellow crowd members.

After reading this, please go to the next post to read Jeff Klingman's admittedly better review.

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones, Bowery Ballroom

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 09:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Swarm Coverage! Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live @ the Bowery Ballroom, 2-24-2006

To come straight to the point and acknowledge the elephant in the chat room immediately, Show Your Bones should be awesome. Any lingering doubts of that were smashed the moment the Yeah Yeah Yeahs took stage to face an especially buzz filled room and launched into what is likely to be their new album's biggest hit, "Cheated Hearts." A funny, tongue in cheek lyric in which Karen addresses fan fears of a Gwen-ish caterpillar to boring/glossy butterfly transformation head-on goes:

"I'm taking, taking, taking, taking, off/ Sometimes I think I'm bigger than the sound/ I think that I'm bigger than the sound."

It's then on goth axman Nick Zinner to rebut by making the biggest sound possible on the electric guitar. Check. It was everything good about the YYY's in miniature. Acccessible, but prickly enough to avoid feeling safe. Melodic and unhinged, alternately. Quiet, loud, rad.

Alot of the instant internet reaction to the show focused on the supposed apathetic nature of the crowd, but from where I was standing I didn't get that at all. I'm not ready to build the stone throwing porch on my glass house by deriding the fact that the crowd make-up was at least 40 percent blogger, but if you were constantly glancing around to notice if fellow attendees were having a good time only to notice the others glancing around, I'm sorry that you missed what was happening on stage.

Which was Karen O in peak form with an audience mainly situated in the palm of her hand. Getting a hyper-critical NYC audience half hoping for a newsworthy crash and burn to not only sing and clap along, but to instantly belt out a "Happy Birthday" to your beaming Mom in the balcony can't be easy. Sure maybe there was no Vice magazine, slam dance, beer in the air anarchy, but thank God for that. I'll take enthusiastic cheering and head nodding over forced debauchery 10 times out of 10. As the also brand new "Way Out" jacked up the intensity level from the dizzy heights of the opener, all was fairly golden in my little slice of the Bowery Ballroom for the rest of the evening.

Industry types and looky-loos only fleetingly familiar with the band and presumably not combing the blogosphere for new tracks daily were thrown a bone early in the set with a racous "Black Tongue" next. Karen's showmanship continued to impress as she performed a fan dance with a long feather, stripping it of it's plumes with her teeth at a climactic moment, and greeting the crowd with a triumphant Sylvester grin.

Following a Johnny six times assertion by KO that she had to "pick the feathers from her teeth" we were given a trio of songs including the previously MS linked tracks, "Honey Bear" (mp3) and "Down Boy (mp3)." "Honey Bear" had a trashed garage rock feel to it, but with enough flourishes to keep it from being too standard. Something like a more thought out and intelligently arranged "Shot Down." "Down Boy" blew the tinny mp3 I have of it completely out of the water, and made me long for a clearer copy. Karen used her ethereal Adidas commercial voice, floating it above a simple keyboard line only to switch to full throat on the chorus when Zinner split the dreamscape with thunderclap guitar.

New addition Imaad Wasif was only used occasionally on songs needing more texture than NZ could provide alone. He stayed to the side mainly, playing and banging his fro enthusiastically and then dissapperaing into shadow when not needed. Since Karen's kinetic stage antics suck in most of the crowd's eye time, he was able to move in and out of formation without disrupting the formidable chemistry of the band's founding members.

Wasif's one real moment in the spotlight came during current single "Gold Lion." His strumming (which to be specific to a completely unneccessary degree reminded me of the acoustic version of "Creep" from Radiohead's Iron Lung EP) gave the band a different dynamic then they have had in the past. While the YYY's of old might have settled on a more familiar quiet/loud electric arrangement, or just left an empty space in the song awaiting the inevitable riff, the foursome allows a softer texture to segue into electric mayhem while providing a fuller sound over all.

Next newby, "Phenomena," was a juggernaut of propulsive rythym. It's performance was highlighted and enhanced by some serious lighting design. Towering shadows of Karen and Nick traded wall time as guitar squeals and the "White Lines" lifted chorus cohered into a dark and borderline funky banger. A highlight of the show's stellar stagecraft and a fitting lead in energy wise to a manic "Mystery Girl."

The set proper ended with the palette cleansing softball "Turn Into." Tuneful and soft, but destined to be a headphones and cuddles grower in comparison to the peacock strut of the rest of the debuted Show Your Bones material.

The encore started with "Maps," and it was good but unneccessary. I've seen them play it person on multiple occasions, on video, at the MTV Video Awards, on late night TV, etc, etc. To have launched into another new number or a more obscure oldy would have been another challenging and interesting move in what had been a set full of them. But, you know, it's "Maps" and it's good and folks liked it.

"Our Time" followed, but not before Ms. O engaged in a streak of brilliant audience baiting. A rambling diatribe about moving to L.A. and "scheming some plans" drew the ire of the jilted New Yorkers in attendance, and a chorus of boos followed. But I have to believe it was a masterful piece of manipulation straight out of a pro wrestling ring. How better to dissipate the wave of good will that greets your biggest hit then to tell your former home town audience of your move to its despised coastal counterpart? Then to follow that with by detailing your "year to be hated"? It struck me as both funny and and clever, and of course they nailed the song.

"Modern Romance" ended the night on a down, but sweet note. Those who weren't grumbling about the lack of recognizable tracks or how insufferable their peers in the audience made the show might have been gushing about the fact that they had just seen a top of their form performance by a band who just announced their intentions not only to stick around for a while, but to surpass the Manhattan size expectations their debut garnered. But it could have just been Keith and I, and to be fair, we were pretty drunk.

Keith's take, from a foot behind me and vodka rather than beer colored, is soon to follow...

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones, Bowery Ballroom,

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 09:20 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 26, 2006

Matriarch musical express, Vol #2: Postal Service 'Give Up'

Oh mocktastic Web 2.0, a milieu where your father is IM’ing you at work and your mother is reviewing Ben Gibbard side projects for your web-based publication. Mother, while she picked up her prolificacy (next review to come tomorrow) and has become an autodidact reviewer, she is an editor’s nightmare for failing to conform to the agreed upon-structure of reviews. But since this is the Internet, we can let it slide and let Mother’s review be posted, unfiltered.

Today, she reviews The Postal Service’s Give Up, which soared to the advertised level, placing 17th in the 2003 Pazz and Jop Poll and 29th in Pitchfork Media’s Top Albums of 2003.

With out further ado, super reviewer Sue O’Brien

The Postal Service CD is not in the real world – all the songs seem to be either in his head (dreams) like [he is] sleeping in. He could accomplish a lot in his dreams, he just didn't apply it when he was awake. He liked being in his dreams, everything always looked better from afar, but not actually in real life. I don't think he could handle real life so he made believe everything was perfect.

The first couple of songs seemed to move slowly in their music and then [the album] got a lift with Clark Gable, he was trying to make out that he still had his girlfriend and everything was great and rosy, then he went back to morose with This Place is a Prison.

Nothing Better was a favorite.
He still wanted another chance with his girlfriend and she wanted to show him graphs and charts showing him how many times he wanted another chance. I loved it. Men seem to feel that if they say they are sorry, the woman will always forgive, there comes a time when that just doesn't cut it anymore [ed. note: did I open Pandora’s box?]

Natural Anthem
The beginning sounded like his brain going in all directions; he didn't know where to turn. Everything was breaking down; maybe he was going to actually try to stay in the real world and make decisions and take responsibility and actually face everything, bad and good without slipping off to dream world again.

Such Great Heights
He missed her because she was away. Once she came back home, he probably wouldn't remember that he missed her.

Sue O’Brien’s, channeling Oprah, “I think Postal Service needs to get a reality check and come back to the real world. It wasn't the most uplifting CD.”

Previous matriarch musical express

Have a CD suggestion my mother should review, e-mail keithobrien@merryswankster.com

Tags: Postal Service, Give Up,

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 09:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 24, 2006

On YYY, on internet, onwards to SxSW

Tonight, fellow MS.com'er Jeff and I see the YYYs perform live in NYC. We are angling to pick up at least half of the Blood on the Wall set.

And, tomorrow, I finally get internet delivered to my apt (no more spotty wife piggybacking for me, neighbors), and I will make some long-overdue postings about SxSW, specifically what showcases and day shows I will attempt to push my way into. Perhaps you don't care; but I do. That's dedication, Holmes.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 23, 2006

Merry Swankster.com @ SxSW

Keith O'Brien, MS contributor extraordinaire, PRWEEK writer, and inventor of the flux capacitor, will be in Austin for the SxSW music festival filing reports and scouting albums for his mother. Keep abreast of his activities by clicking on the attractive festival marquee on the right hand side of this page. It's the first prominent graphical link in Merry Swankster history. We are very proud.

Last I checked he was looking for partners with a history of non-violence to run around with in Austin. To keep him honest and share a beer (or ten) with. He can be reached via email.

Previously: The road to Austin begins

Tags: SXSW

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Indie Clerk Assholes

Stereogum is hosting a HIGH-LARIOUS video they dubbed "Indie Clerk Assholes." Check it out (link). It'll remind you of the annoying snobbery experienced at independent record stores.

Which kind of makes this drudgetastic headline from Pitchfork so damn laughable. Yes, cheap CDs at big box stores like Best Buy are hurting independent music stores that cannot compete. Also hurting sales are the mohawked twenty-five year old clerks desperately clinging on to their indie-ness who would rather donate a kidney instead of providing valuable assistance. I love these record stores, but curb the woe is me complaining.

I commented on Best Buy's "Outside the Mainstream" $7.99 CD promotion last month. Check out the MS take here.

Tags: Best Buy, Independent Record Store Clerks, Pitchfork

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

I am a rock, They are the Islands...

In the instant classic Unicorns track "Tuff Ghost" off of their debut (and only, sniff) album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? this lyric always makes me laugh;

"I don't care about anyone else/ I'm a strong black man/ Looking out for myself"

Just a ridiculous statement coming from A: an indie pop band, B: an indie pop band from Quebec, and C: these guys specifically. I mean look at them, they're pale bordering on translucent.

Unicorns - "Jelly Bones"

But beyond silly B.I.G. references and ironic 40 tippage, iIt's pretty clear that these guys have a sincere love for black music and culture. This love manifested itself in the truly weird rhymes over Unicorns tracks side project Th' Cornn Gang, and is further displayed by ex-Unicorns' man Nick Diamonds new crew the Islands on their impending album, Return to the Sea.

Islands - "Rough Gem"
The Islands desire to emulate African pop structures Paul Simon style has been well documented, and the sunny melodies and skittish rhythms of this album standout are a testament to that. It was a hit with the crowd live, and comes as close as the album comes to casting off the long shadow of the uni-horned ones. It's funny diamond mine lyrics probably aren't a riff on Kanye's "...Sierra Leone," but I'm not as willing to write off the melodic similarities to Prince's Dirty Mind hit "When You Were Mine." I could see N. Diamonds as a Prince man.

I however, have no love for Prince and will gladly dance to techno music on his career's purple tombstone. Thus, I have included Cristina's mumbly synth version of the afforementioned track.

Cristina - "When U Were Mine"

See? Totally similar.

Islands - "Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone"

As for rap music, its pretty hard to miss its influence here. You might pick up on it when the dark and interesting melody is completely derailed by alternating spitfire verses of Del tha Funky Homosapien-esque rhyme from Cornn Gang members Subtitle and Bus Driver. As much as i like the prologue and epilogue to the rap battle, this one just doesn't work for me. I'm all for trying new sounds and combinations in music, and am often willing to make excuses for a noble failure. But that said, it's still up to the song writer to make these combinations sound like an essential, organic part of the track.

A similar Canad-indie/ rap expirement was attempted on last year's Broken Social Scene cut "Windsurfing Nation" to better effect. It's not my favorite song or anything, but it's not as much of a stylistic trainwreck because the full on rap eruption both matches the beat set down in the earlier part of the song, and comes onthe heels of a Feist vocal that edges perilously close to hip hop delivery. When the song finally takes the plunge it makes more sense. In comparison, the hip hop shoehorned into the middle of "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone" sounds totally out of place.

It's like mustard on an ice cream sundae.

Islands - "Swans (Life After Death)"

But rest assured, the Islands completely trounce BSS in the more prestigious "10 minute long epic" event. Whereas 'Scene album closer "It's All Gonna Break" weaves in and out of tempos at random, stunting any chance at the momentum needed to sustain attention over such a long song, "Swans..." is all build up for its first 7 minutes, stumbling forward with an infectious energy before FINALLY deciding to rock it out for its last three minutes. Absence of guitar licks makes the heart grow fonder. They sequence their albatross at number one too, which is ballsier. A decisive knockout, really.

See them on their victory lap before the inevitable return to the sea. Tour dates after the jump.

02-24 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
02-25 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
02-26 London, Ontario - Centennial Hall
02-27 Kitchener, Ontario - Elements Nightclub
02-28 Kingston, Ontario - Queen's University (Grant Hall)
03-01 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
03-02 Peterborough, Ontario - Club Vibe
03-03 Ottawa, Ontario - Surface
03-04 Ottawa, Ontario - Surface
03-06 Quebec City, Quebec - Cabaret du Capitole
03-07 Boston, MA - The Roxy
03-09 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall
03-11 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
03-12 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
03-13 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
03-15 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom
03-17 Austin, TX - Caribbean Nights (SXSW)
03-21 San Diego, CA - House of Blues
03-23 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
03-24 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
03-26 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
03-27 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
03-29 Victoria, British Columbia - Legends (early show)
03-29 Victoria, British Columbia - Legends (late show)
03-31 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
04-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom (early)
04-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom (late)
04-04 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall
04-06 Edmonton, Alberta - Shaw Conference Centre
04-07 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - The Odeon
04-08 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Burton Cummings Theatre

Previously: Islands – Live @ the Knitting Factory, New York City. 12.6.2005

Tags: Islands, Unicorns, Prince, Cristina, Broken Social Scene,

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 03:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

MS Pick - The Gossip - Listen Up! - Lady 'House of Jealous Lovers'

[republished post since correcting technical issues]

Last month it was wondered aloud whether “evoking Lady Rapture” was “denigrating” towards The Gossip. I don’t believe so. It happens all the time, its called comparing. No denigration necessary or implied; however, I do wonder what Mr. O’Brien would think of this next Rapture mention.

In both title and composition, “Listen Up!” is the frontrunner for taking over where “House of Jealous Lovers” left off.
Take a minute to let that sink in, especially if you own a bar in Silverlake, Williamsburg, or some other gentrified hipster colony in a formerly sketchy (“formerly” interchangeable with “still”) part of town. You will be hearing this one a lot.

The Gossip - Listen Up! - mp3
The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers - mp3

The Gossip version has the requisite cowbell. Not as dominant as “House of Jealous Lovers,” so sorry Bruce Dickenson, this fever is cured without overdosing on the meds. The driver of “Listen Up!,” as in all Gossip songs, is the powerful voice of Beth Ditto.

Ditto’s huge voice never ventures beyond just innocent flirting with her launch pad. A bass line at first reminiscent to “Seven Nation Army” holds the ground under Ditto’s smooth and commanding singing. About now you realize the bass line is not like the White Stripes at all. With the help of a cowbell the song builds into a legitimate dance-punk track. Love the cowbell.

Once Diplo or DFA get their tweaker fingers on the knobs, we’ll be a remix away from the century’s first post-punk/faux-motown dance classic. Here is a secret, it may already be. You heard it here first.

The Gossip tour dates, after the jump.

More on famed producer Bruce Dickenson - video

PS - Their myspace page cites MS featured group, The Long Blondes as an influence. We'll be dreaming of a joint tour with both bands as we continue to get high on grrrl rock. Yeah!

Previously: MS Daily Picks - Am I denigrating this by evoking Lady Rapture?

//The Gossip - site
//The Gossip - myspace
//The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control - buy

Not in US Tour

2.25 - Melbourne @ Spanish Club w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves
2.27 - Perth @ The Rosemount w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves
3.01 - Adelaide @ Jive w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves
3.02 - Brisbane @ The Zoo w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves
3.03 - Sydney @ Gaelic Club w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves
3.05 - Sydney @ Laneway Festival w/ Pretty Girls Make Graves

US Tour

3.12 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
3.13 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
3.16 - Austin, TX @ KRS SXSW Showcase
3.21 - Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
3.22 - Greensboro, NC @ TBA
3.23 - Washington DC @ Black Cat
3.24 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
3.25 - New York, NY @ Knitting Factory
3.26 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
3.27 - Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
3.28 - Montreal, QUE @ La Sala Rossa
3.29 - Toronto, ONT @ X Space
3.30 - Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
3.31 - Milwaukee, WI @ TBA
4.01 - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
4.02 - Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
4.05 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos

Tags: The Gossip, The Rapture, The Long Blondes

Posted by Merry Swankster at 08:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Update - Bitter Tea Leaks Fast

It appears that the long simmering Fiery Furnaces Cold War is on the verge of full scale meltdown. No longer content to silently horde unreleased tracks from the impending Bitter Tea, Fluxblog dropped the "Police Sweater Blood Vow" bomb yesterday as noted here. This prompted a quick retaliation from blog superpowers Stereogum and Said the Gramophone who today launched "Teach Me Sweetheart" and "Nevers" respectively, towards the ports and factories of Indie Rock America. Mutually assured destruction to follow. Location specific, highly alliterative destruction.

This again begs the question, if this album's been done by all accounts for at least six months, why the April 18th release date? They have to know that the thing's going to leak. Can album art and marketing plans for a band with a cult following take so long to formulate? If I were a betting man, I'd wager on the hold up being lyric transcription related.

"Can we get a spell check on Kathmandu?" "Wait, is this part in Inuit?"

Tags: Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 22, 2006

YYYs Announce Tour, MP3s Culled

So the YYYs extended their "mini-tour" into a full fledged National and UK jaunt. Couldn’t help but notice a pair of shows at Hollywood’s teeny Troubadour (already sold out) following the San Fran dates. We would love feedback from LA peeps who will be attending as MS predicts complete insanity at a venue that small. The question, “Can Karen O literally blow the roof off the Troubadour?”

Those not familiar with the Troubadour, picture a NYC apartment, add a bar, a few rows of balcony seating, a stage and voila. There you have it.

MS staff will be filing field reports from several of these shows cause if you didn’t already realize, we kinda like this band. YYY tour dates after the jump.

Here's a list of YYY MP3s being pimped on the Internets:

-Village Indian has "Let Me Know", "Gold Lion", "Gold Lion (Diplo Remix)", and "Dudley" (LINK).

Yeah Yeah Yeah's Winter/Spring 2006

"She's got a gallery in the US"

02-23 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
02-24 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
02-25 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
02-27 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
03-01 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
03-02 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
03-04 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
03-05 West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
04-03 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-05 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
04-07 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
04-10 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
04-11 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
04-12 Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre
04-14 Chicago, IL - Riviera
04-15 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
04-16 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04-18 Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
04-19 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
04-21 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
04-22 Salt Lake City, UT - University of Utah
04-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum Theatre
04-25 Seattle, WA - Paramount Ballroom
04-26 Portland, OR - Roseland Ballroom
04-28 San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
04-30 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella Festival)
05-02 New York, NY - Roseland

"And an agent in the UK"

05-13 Camber, England - Camber Sands Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties)
05-16 London, England - The Forum
05-17 London, England - The Forum
05-19 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
05-20 Manchester, England -Academy
05-21 Birmingham, England - Academy

Previously: MS Picks - a Whisper, a Shout, Should we fear "Gwen Stefanization" of Karen O?, YYY- Gold Lion, MS Daily Picks - Williamsburg forever!, Yeah New York, Yeah Chicago, Yeah San Francisco!, Yeah Yeah Yeahs next album not about cats! Debunking the feline myth, The Rock DVD: Type 2: DVD as Independent Product

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Show Your Bones, MP3, Troubadour,

Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Movie Review - Neil Young: Heart of Gold

Neil Young: Heart of Gold
Directed by Jonathan Demme

A Review - by Yonah Korngold

It seems that the movie camera and Neil Young have had a bit of an up and down relationship through the years. They had a rocky beginning when Young refused to be filmed during CSN&Y’s Woodstock performance in Michael Wadleigh’s 1970 documentary. The next image that comes to mind is the way the camera captured Young’s astonished gawks at Dylan’s performance during the last scene of Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. Since then Neil Young has become the subject of many film cameras all seemingly trying to catch a glimpse of the musician that could costume change from a moonlight serenade to one of the fathers of Hard Rock all within a single chord change.

For all these reasons it seemed that Jonathan Demme had quite a challenge to face not even to mention the drama behind the medical scare that surrounded the recording of the album Prairie Wind. I imagine that the words “aneurysm on the brain” probably were used more in the first sentences of a couple hundred music and film reviews than in all 194 years of the New England Journal of Medicine’s existence.

Yet Demme does succeed with this film. Just as he managed to capture the spectacle of the Talking Heads in the 1984 heavyweight, Stop Making Sense, he also manages to color all of the exaggerated subtlety of Young’s performance and the emotional relationships shared between every musician when walking out on the same stage. In doing so, all who partook in that event during those two nights in Nashville, from Young to the stage crewman who is curiously filmed walking out on stage to take away Neil’s water table, ultimately become characters in the film. As a result the films arcs, dips, and climaxes are based on the inter-relationships drawn out by the glimpses and nods picked up by the patient cinematography.

Demme paints almost an uncomfortably close portrait of Young and his band, letting the camera at times sink as close to Young as an Optometrist would be while giving him an eye exam. (of course the original metaphor I used involved a Dermatologist…which made sense since the close-ups are right against Young’s skin and not his eyes but I guess I didn’t want to assume Young had acne problems and then get sued for libel…) Demme waits for Young to come through to the camera instead of the opposite, there are no quick cuts, and only one audience shot that I could remember. Instead the camera just sits and waits for the singers and song to develop and take shape. As a result there is an amazingly subtle flow to the film where every measure is given its space to fall into gaps and ghostly spaces of Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

All of this and of course my first comment when walking out of the film had to be, “there were some strange looking old people on that stage,” followed by “did Neil Young say something about Chris Rock?” (Young does mention “something Chris Rock had said” in his song “No Wonder”) Yet, even these reactions show that Neil Young is completely on his game. The songs and music are vintage Neil Young, all additions to the questions of age and time he first introduced to us in Harvest as a young rich hippie and then in Harvest Moon as a husband going through a divorce. In Prairie Wind he adds to this now trilogy taking on the idea of growing old when the words ‘Young, Neil’ rests on the top of his W2 form. Somehow he is able to seesaw dealing with these universals while staying in the individual moment through the individual experience in which one could even recall something Chris Rock had said during an HBO comedy special.

-Posted on behalf of Yonah Korngold

Previously: Retrohump Day - Rock and Roll Can Never Die

//Neil Young: Heart of Gold - movie site

Tags: Neil Young, Heart of Gold, Jonathan Demme

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Retrohump Day - Rock and Roll Can Never Die

Godfather of grunge, elder statesmen, the most enigmatic letter of CSN&Y, a Buffalo Springfield, a folk singer, and a heavy rocking, take no bullshit, doing things the way he damn pleases, rock and roll legend – Neil Young.

Influential to the point that rock stars reference his words even when they off themselves, evident by Kurt Cobain’s literal take to Young’s lyrics in his suicide note. The infamous “better to burn out than to fade away” line taken to a tragic fruition.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

This Buffalo Springfield televised performance starts with their biggest and most recognizable hit, “For What It’s Worth,” before abruptly changing gears when the towering Young steps forward to the mic and immediately proceeds to kick ass.

Buffalo Springfield – Mr. Soul

Check back later to read a review of the recently released feature film about Neil, Neil Young: Heart of Gold by long time friend of MS, Yonah "don't call him a Phanatic" Korngold.

Tags: Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Retrohump

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New Fiery Furnaces - "Police Sweater Blood Vow"

Fluxblog has a track from the forthcoming, allegedly straightforward, Bitter Tea album. It's real good.

Focused, melodic. But simple only in comparison to their epic, and occasionally intolerable song suites. There is all sorts of overdubbed scraping electric guitar, acoustic flourishes, a grounding piano melody, occasional keyboard pops, unexpected backing vocals from Matt F, and even a cheery "Na Na Na Na Na" breakdown.

All in aid of a long distance relationship narrative, with the chorus inventively using onomatopoiea to evoke a middle of the night heartsick cell phone call. Listen to it here.

Early interviews with the siblings Friedberger have claimed the album would sound like "Devo with pianos." This does not sound like Devo with pianos. But, if we get tuneful half ballads like this, and Devo with pianos? The album anticipation meter just notched from "Cautiously Optimistic" to "Actually Excited." Or from burnt umber to a light periwinkle for those who are more familiar with the color based system.

Bitter Tea for all on April 18th via Fat Possum Records.

Tags: Fiery Furnaces, Devo

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 21, 2006

The road to Austin begins

Count Keith O'Brien as one of music-hungry masses at South by Southwest. Fortuitously, I will be attending the interactive festival (before the music festival) for my employer, and have taken vacation days off for the music part.

I will likely try to meet up with PR professionals at the music fest for work-related matters, but will otherwise spend my time drinking beers, eating Tex-Mex, watching March Madness, and, oh yes, seeing bands.

Just skimming the night shows, my wish list is the Matador Showcase (MS 2005 pick New Pornographers and 2006 front runners Cat Power and Belle & Sebastian), Serena Maneesh, The Gossip, Field Music, Pink Mountaintops, The Boy Least Likely To, Love is All, Clor, The Go! Team, and many, many others.

I started listening to some singles from bands previously unknown to me the weekend past, and found some early favorites: The Dead Science, Sound Team, and The Capitol Years. I also found some bad ones. So bad that when I explained to my fellow car passengers who accompanied me on a trip to DC that it was a SXSW CD hastily created without any editorial purview, they sighed.

So, you may notice the newly-created SXSW category on MS.com. This will be where I place my musings, reviews, and so on. Alternatively, you can also check out how I’m getting my folksonomies on via my del.icio.us page.

I am going Solo, Hans, so, if you don’t already have your chaperoned bus set up and wish to uncomfortably try to prove the social networkability of blogs, shout either via comments or at keithobrien@merryswankster.com.

Tags: SXSW, SWSXi, Austin, Clor, Sound Team

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 05:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Summer Festival Update – Sasquatch, Lollapalooza

American festivals are evolving. Gone are the days when a traveling musical circus came to every town. The current playbook takes inspiration from European festivals by keeping the locale the same, fostering an atmosphere of a “happening,” and planting local roots deeper with an eye towards future vitality.

The big boys holding the most clout are the California desert's Coachella, and Tennessee’s massive Bonnaroo. Lollapalooza, now stationary in Chicago, and Washington’s Sasquatch have also confirmed dates and filed permits for mass gatherings.

While Coachella has kept itself relatively modest and manageable, and the ‘Roo actually scaling back from last year’s heavily criticized enormity, these other festies are growing bigger and longer as they bloat into three day events. All will share the pleasures and odors of sweltering music fans making bad decisions with alcohol under a hot sun.

Sasquatch

Sasquatch will be held May 27-28 over Memorial Day weekend amongst majestic canyons and vistas at the beautiful Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA. Notable acts are NIN, Death Cab, Queens of the Stone Age, the Flaming “we just do one off festivals instead of touring” Lips, the Shins, Arctic Monkeys, Hasidic novelty and Jeff Klingman fave Matisyahu, Decemberists, …Trail of the Dead, Rogue Wave, CYHSY, Beck, Wolfmother, We Are Scientists and Sufjan Stevens in his only scheduled show of the summer.

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is back at Chicago's Grant Park on August 4-6. The lack of a confirmed lineup invites rampant speculation on acts, among them: Smashing Pumpkins on and off again reunion, Thievery Corporation, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Disco Biscuits. Not running to book plans for Chicago in August? Well this may pique your interest:

The rock festival said it will schedule 130 artists to play eight stages over three days, Aug. 4-6. Promoters estimated that as many as 225,000 people would attend over three days (via Live Music Blog).

If accurate, it would be more than twice the size of last year when 60 bands entertained 65,000 people over a weekend.

In other festival news – Trey Anastasio, String Cheese Incident, MMW, and an army of wookies are confirmed for a weekend of camping and music at Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes Festival.

Summer of 2006 Music Marathons:

//Sasquatch
//Lollapalooza
//Coachella
//Bonnaroo
//10,000 Lakes

Previously - Coachella Lineup, Coachella additions, Radiohead Headlines Bonnaroo

Tags: Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo, 10,000 Lakes

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

MS Picks - a Whisper, a Shout

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Hyperballad"
(Bjork Cover, W-END 107.7 Seattle, WA Radio Session)

I managed to miss this older track completely despite what I thought was a thorough search during the first wave of Yeah Yeah Yeahs press a few years ago. Now, at the edge of wave number two, it stands as a reminder that the band was very capable working with the volume down all along, and any claims that an emphasis on acoustic melody is a total departure aren't entirely accurate.

Bjork's version of this song exudes joy and alien confidence. The futuristic production keeping the strange lyrics at bay, a rising beat making the open ended statements sound triumphant. Yeah, she throws things off the cliff so that she can feel happy and safe again. I guess it's a bit odd, but you're dating Bjork. She's going to do some weird stuff before you wake up, man. Deal with it.

In contrast, Karen O's reading is drenched in vulnerability. The lyrics are gutted, losing both the playful tosses of "car parts, bottles, and cutlery" and the more grave imagined chasm dive. With only a minimal guitar line to hold the vocals up, the song is given a sad facelift not unlike Cat Power's signature reinterpretations. Here is a narrator afraid to be alone, killing time back at her cliff, waiting to be joined by her lover. Whether or not that'll help is in doubt. Listen to her struggle, voice straining, to choke out the word "safe" in the chorus. As if she can barely bring herself to think it, let alone shriek it to the heavens.

Gentle and evocative.

Love is All - "Motorboat"

But whether a softer YYY sound is well accomplished or not, there still might be a segment of the population that now has a "girl fronted trashed art rock" shaped hole in its heart. May I direct you to Swedish upstarts, Love is All.

Starting off with a boat motor that sounds suspiciously like a 8 bit NES "Spy Hunter" sound effect, and seguing into stomping horn and drum beats, this track evokes a sweet party where the din of accumulated conversation threatens to make any meaningful one on one interaction completely impossible.

Streches of the lyrics are indecipherable and snippets that can be sussed out are deliriously goofy. "Modern deco, a punk rock (unitelligible)" "Shampoo your head in a hurry!" "Dancing on the ceiling! Dancing with the feeling!" It's dizzy and disorienting. What's going on? Where are we?

Motorboat. Motorboat? Motorboat. Motorboat? MO - TOR BOAT!

Then, when lead LIA girl Josephine loses the plot and just starts making "BRRRRRRRR" propeller noises, you just have to give in and start doing the Swim or the Mashed Potato or something. Something frantic and giggly.

Note: This is an unreleased, non-album track. But, the recent album (Nine Times That Same Song) it doesn't appear on is not to be ignored.

Previously: Williamsburg Forever!, Addition, Subtraction

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Love is All, Bjork, Cat Power, Motorboats

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 20, 2006

Paris Hilton cites Babyshambles as biggest influence; Principle Member may not Exist

A philosophical conundrum for the great thinkers of our time. If the greatest influence for Paris Hilton, singer, never existed, what chance does her singing career have?

Tags: Paris Hilton, Babyshambles, Pete Doherty

Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Muito bom Estação de rádio

To whoever is running this radio show in Portugal. Keep up the good work.

Sample Playlist:

01_"Grass"_Animal Collective_[Feels, 2005]
02_"No more (oh child)"_Ernesto_[A new blues, 2005]
03_"Hey Saturday sun"_Boards of Canada_[The campfire headphase, 2005]
04_"Flashback (Jazzanova Breathe Easy Mix)"_Jazzanova_[Jazzanova: The remixes 2002-2005]
05_"Baby"_Anabela Duarte+Mário Delgado+Alexandre Frazão+Zé Nabo_[Uma outra História, 2005]
06_"Your ex-lover is dead"_Stars_[Set yourself on fire, 2005]
07_"Could we"_Cat Power_[The Greatest, 2006]
08_"Act of the apostole part1"_Belle and Sebastian_[The life pursuit, 2006]
09_"Ramblin' Man"_Isobel Campbell+Mark Lanegan_[The ballad of broken seas, 2006]
10_"Bad Timing"_dEUS_[Pocket Revolution, 2005]
11_"Present"_Bloc Party_[V/A Help: a day in life, 2005]
12_"Bullets"_The Editors_[The back room, 2005]
13_"Come on feel the ilinoise!"_Sufjan Stevens_[Ilinois, 205]

Tags: Portugal, Indie Rock

Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

February 17, 2006

Pete "Buddy Holly" Doherty?

From a colleague.

Total speculation follows

I have some serious questions about this, but it's floating around there. Perhaps Pete Dougherty doesn't exist? (Via Gawker)

According to an email we got, Pete Doherty is a giant hoax created by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of KLF/ burning a million quid/ firing blanks at Brits audiences/ leaving dead sheep lying around fame.

What does this say about The Libertines' first (overhyped, but still good album)? The Guardian called it the most important band in Britain.

What does this say about hype machines? Dubious media? Subjective taste? Does intent matter when it comes to music?

Read the whole thing with great, great skepticism. Let's see how far this goes...

Tags: Babyshambles, The Libertines, Pete Dougherty, hoax

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 01:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 16, 2006

Something Elusive and Temporary - Ladytron Video and Tour Dates

We are always in pursuit of zen here at MS. So when presented with the dark void of Black Mountain this morning, how are we to preserve balance? With a white mountain, clearly.

Luckily there's a big, anthropomorphic creepy one to be found in the video for "Destroy Everything You Touch". It comes from 2005 career highpoint the Withching Hour by the Liverpool lovelies of Ladytron (and a couple dudes who stand in the background and I dunno, play instruments or something).

Ladytron - "Destroy Everything You Touch"

I guess the White Mountain men represent the cool disconnect of the deadpan vocals? Or maybe paranoid electro pop and piles of white powder just go hand and hand? Either way it's visually interesting.

The band hits the road in March, as you may have read in Pitchfork this morning or a week or two ago on Brooklyn Vegan. That was the way, was the way that I found them:

03-16 Jacksonville, FL - TSI (DJ set)
03-17 Austin, TX - Emo's Annex (Pitchfork/Windish Agency SXSW day party, DJ set)
03-19 Cleveland Heights, OH - B-Side Liquor Lounge (DJ set)
03-24 London, England - Queen Elizabeth Hall (Ether)
03-29 Oslo, Norway - Rockefella
03-31 Palmela, Portugal - Casa Mae Rota dos Vinhos (DJ set)
04-01 Dublin, Ireland - Remedy (DJ set)
04-14 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-15 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-16 Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts
04-17 Boston, MA - Paradise
04-19 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda
04-20 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House
04-21 Chicago, IL - Metro
04-22 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
04-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos
04-27 Portland, OR - Berbatis Pan
04-28 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine
04-30 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)

Got my tickets for the NYC show on my lunch break, but I think my skinny pink tie will have to remain in mothballs. Too soon.

Buy their record here.

Or visit their website.

Tags: Ladytron

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

MS Pick - Black Mountain - Druganaut

Black Mountain's self titled album was a favorite of two-thirds of MS.com's writers in 2005. The remaining third, your own Merry Swankster, recently rediscovered the band after some much needed music spring cleaning. Since then two things changed. My iPod is happier since retiring the impromptu Lazy Sunday screenings. And I’ve been channeling the ghosts of mind altering bands like Black Sabbath and others, filed under the “Classic Vinyl" genre.

"Like V[elvet] U[nderground], they play rock music suited to more dangerous, debilitating drugs than a Queens of the Stone Age fan's mid-grade hydro." - Brian Howe for Pitchfork

If I didn't know any better and was handed this album at my fictitious job for the Classic Vinyl channel, I'd place them into heavy rotation straight away.

I would be fired immediately due to the misclassification of the psych-tinged, contemporary rock outfit that is Black Mountain. With a name like Black Mountain and a sound as such I'd be surprised if others haven't made this mistake already.

Black Mountain - Druganaut - mp3

These guys were somehow picked as openers for Coldplay's '05 fall tour. An evening that was to be payback for girlfriends, bitter about watching Pink Floyd's The Wall a hundred and fifty times, ends up being a blessing in disguise for stoner boyfriends everywhere. Then of course Coldplay performed. Hope you fellas upgraded from mid-grade hydro.

//Black Mountain on Myspace
//Black Mountain on Jagjaguwar label - site
//Black Mountain - site (shared with side project/evil twin - Pink Mountaintops)

Tags: Black Mountain, Pink Mountaintops

Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 15, 2006

Should we fear "Gwen Stefanization" of Karen O?

Village Indian beat me to this and penned a term I wasn't clever enough to come up with. After hearing a few of YYY's tracks from the upcoming "Gold Lion" I couldn't shake the thought of Karen O going the Gwen Stefani route.

For those too young to remember Gwen before she went all Hollywood, here you go.

Is Karen O destined the same fate? Without passing (too much) judgement on these new songs, they are definetly more mellow than say, "Art Star." Check out the tracks and judge for yourself (link).

In case you forgot, the Tri-Yeahs will be traversing the country on a short tour starting next Thursday. Shows are all really really sold out, so if you did forget keep it that way. Tour dates.

Previously: YYY - Gold Lion, Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion (Diplo Remix), MS Daily Picks - Williamsburg forever!

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gwen Stefani, Karen O, No Doubt,

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Retrohump Day - British Invasion

the Zombies - "She's Not There
(Unknown Teen Hit Parade Show), 1965

Singer Colin Blunstone is doing his best to look a little freaked out, but the band is too dapper to sell it. Although I'm sure mothers across the Atlantic were still mighty threatened by the mop top and the "druggy" organ part. Which is kind of adorable. The tragic part comes a couple years later after recording minor masterpiece Odessey and Oracle when the lack of lasting success would force Colin to put in some time as an insurance clerk. Hope he saved the suit.

the Kinks - "Waterloo Sunset"
Beat Club, June 1967

The Davies Bros. et al, on the other hand look pretty ghastly. Two years on and the fashions have definitely taken a turn for the worse. Can't fault the song though. My personal favorite song changes all the time, but this gorgeous ballad will never leave the top five.

Fans of these songs should absolutely check out the Clientele. Both the Suburban Light singles compilation and last year's Strange Geometry are highly recommended.

Tags: the Zombies, the Kinks, British Invasion, the Clientele,

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 14, 2006

Valentine's With an Old Flame

Belle and Sebastian were the (admittedly wussified) soundtrack to my college years. I bought into their elusive, no band photos, no interviews, "drop a stellar 4 track EP whenever we feel like it" aesthetic and smartly miserable lyrics as only a newly relocated 17 year old could. I fell out of love with the band around the Storytelling soundtrack and never came back completely.

Last year they absolutely blew my mind with the multi-part discotastic "Your Cover's Blown" but I fear I'll never really love a Belle and Sebastian release again. Not like I did.

We can however remain good friends, and their new album, the Life Pursuit is getting alot of play around my place right now. Still smart, still funny. But now they're sort of a good time AM radio party band.

They've moved on and are doing well, good for them. Sigh.

Check out the fuzzed out synth this one dances over...

Belle and Sebastian - "White Collar Boy"

(note: you have to scroll down a list to listen, but MS readers who don't actually have MS should be able to find it right quick)

And their new (UK) hit single, in video form. In all it's slant rhyme glory.

Belle and Sebastian - "Funny Little Frog"

Production values have definitely reached a new level, but the video is dodgy as ever. The more things change...

New converts and long time fans alike are invited to check out my all-time, desert island, CD-R length pre Life Pursuit B & S playlist (with scattered random links) after the jump, but I won't force it on those who can't be bothered. In chronological order, naturally.

01: The State I Am In - Tigermilk ('96)- 4:57
02: My Wandering Days Are Over -Tigermilk ('96)- 5:25
03: Expectations - Tigermilk('96)- 3:34
04: Seeing Other People - If You're Feeling Sinister('96)- 3:48
05: The Stars of Track and Field - If You're Feeling Sinister ('96)- 4:48
06: Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying - If You're Feeling Sinister ('96)- 3:25
07: Dog on Wheels - Dog on Wheels EP ('97)- 3:11
08: String Bean Jean - Dog on Wheels EP ('97)- 4:43
09: Lazy Line Painter Jane - Lazy Line Painter Jane EP('97)- 5:50
10: Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie ...3,6,9 Seconds of Light EP ('97)- 3:10
11: Simple Things - The Boy With the Arab Strap ('98)- 1:46
12: The Boy With the Arab Strap - The Boy With the Arab Strap ('98)- 5:14
13: Slow Graffitti - This is Just a Modern Rock Song EP ('98)- 3:25
14: Winter Wooskie - Legal Man EP ('00)- 2:41
15: There's Too Much Love - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant ('00)- 3:27
16: Don't Leave the Light On, Baby - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant ('00)- 4:41
17: I'm Waking Up to Us - I'm Waking Up to Us EP ('01) - 3:49
18:Stay Loose - Dear Catastrophe Waitress ('03)- 6:41
19: Your Cover's Blown - Books EP ('05)- 6:00

Tags: Belle and Sebastian, Nostalgia

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bad publicity - Irrelevance's red headed stepchild

We don't make a point of reporting gossip on MS.com. That being said, I find the rapid deterioration of Scott Stapp too irresistible to not communicate. Its not enough that the dude will live the rest of his days known as "former Creed singer," that he has gone the road of self destructiveness. He is either:

a) Flirting with the dark side to before following with a 'comeback' album facing his demons, appearances with Dr. Phil, Oprah, et al; or
b) Finally realized he is actually the "former Creed singer" and the only way out is through heavy marination, fisticuffs with other irrelevant bands, and into the warm inviting hands of the LAPD.

An intoxicated Scott Stapp was arrested Saturday at Los Angeles International Airport. An Airport Police representative confirms to Billboard.com that the former Creed singer was taken into custody for being under the influence. (Billboard link)

Tags: Scott Stapp, Alcoholism, Bad Decisions

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Matriarch musical express, Vol #1

Everytime you -- in your mid-twenties -- return home for a quick jaunt, something changes. I am no different. About three spells ago, I learned that my mother -- a Catholic in heritage only -- was listening to Christian music.

My mother, a passive, but nonetheless eclectic music listener, has always had a peculiar interaction with music. She often drove to work listening to WSOU, which any proper New Jerseyian knows to be (or, perhaps, was) a haven for Pantera and other heavy metal, thrash music.

During my inevitable foray into house/trance music in college, my mother listened with a keen ear to Paul Van Dyk. My most recent return home -- and the revelation of her Christian music affinity -- coincided with my devout listening to Sufjan Stevens' Come On, Feel the Illinoise (KO MS #1 pick.

So, for Christmas, I purchased her the same album, and we proceeded to rock-out, as it were, to Illinoise during our co-preparation of Christmas dinner. She dug it, as well as demanded I become her personal DJ. Given the wonderfully vague template of MS, I decided to make my mother an unknowing blogger. I think I mentioned it to her, but her grasp of blogging is probably rudimentary at best. So, in order for her to receive two new CDs (CDRs mind you, I'm not made of money), she has to review what I previously gave her. The arbitrary rules I initially created were that she needed to give each CD a five-word review, 1 to 5 stars, and name her favorite song and why. Well, that didn't work so well.

But she did give her enthusiastic approval and her comments, dictated to me, will appear below.

This will be a semi-regular feature here at MS. The next two CDs in the queue are Cat Power's The Greatest and Postal Service's Such Great Heights.

The overall album evoked a "country bumpkin trying to escape his mundane life," who "thinks the outside world is much better than what he has now."

Song highlights: Chicago: "He keeps saying, I made a lot of mistakes, like he's sleeping in the car or something" Casimir Pulaski Day: "Soothing", and John Wayne Gacy Jr.: "Chilling."

Despite Stevens' wonderfully exploratory lyrics and her recalling of the more chilling of the Gacy lyrics, she loved the music, which was slow and soothing, and allowed her to work without thinking much about what he was singing.

Have a CD suggestion my mother should review, e-mail keithobrien@merryswankster.com

Tags: Sufjan Stevens, Illinoise

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 05:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 13, 2006

Frog Eyes for the Wolf Guy

First things first, let me apologize for two things:

1: The incredibly lazy title. Shameful.

2: Yes, I know that Gorilla vs. Bear beat me to the punch on the Sunset Rubdown track. My fault for waiting/ taking a break from blatantly blogging at my job.

Man's gotta pretend to work sometime. Anyway...

When describing new bands, a reference point is only effective if folks can easily conjure up a mental idea of what something might sound like. So, in the mountain of press for last year's champion of a Wolf Parade album it makes sense that indie heavyweights Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse where the most mentioned. Your average indie fan was likely to know what that might sound like, and feel free to start getting psyched up. Busting out the more marginal description of "Frog Eyes-esque?" Not so much. I mean the Vancouver B.C. freak out squad definitely has a growing cult presence, the mere sight of their name isn't going to be responsible for setting thousands of hearts on fire.

Clearly, it's a comparison the band might be more comfortable with, as evidenced by the double FE name drop in a recent Pitchfork interview;

Arlen Thompson: "We have a pretty strong, more musical kinship with Frog Eyes than with Modest Mouse."

Dan Boeckner: "Some of my favorite records have these weird open-ended statements like The Golden River, the Frog Eyes' record, which is kind of an open-ended statement about I guess, movement, movement of people. In so many of those songs people are fleeing somewhere-- right?-- there's an exodus. And then you take another record of theirs like The Folded Palm, which is more about city life-- it seems like that whole record focuses on some mythical large town, this metaphor for a big city."

This close musical tie is even more apparent in the new EP by the Sunset Rubdown, the side project of WP co-frontman, Spencer Krug. In predicting a terrifying post-Wolf Parade future at the end of last year, I failed to take into account the fact that Mr. Krug was already happily following his own more obscure muse right now. Maybe there's hope for our boys yet. Obtuse keyboard art 4eva!

the Sunset Rubdown - Three Colours II

While the backing track is unquestionably sunnier than your average Frog Eyes cut, the real similarity here comes in Spencer's vocal delivery. He sings in breathy run-on sentences, a quivering desperation complicating the jangly guitar. Both bands successfully use this method to suggest a narrrator seeing a world of frightening clarity, but struggling to relay their impressions. In the rush to communicate, the urgency of the skewed wordplay fails to provide a concrete meaning, but provides passion in earnest.

In spite of the similarities, Krug deserves originality points for the songs's neatest trick. 2:20 in as the lyrics give a shut ins point of view, as a tempest of multi tracked moaning voices simulate a wind tunnel howling at the window pane. The sonic results are impressive as SK's voice takes on an even more desperate tone, alone, facing down the chill outside.

Wolf Parade - Claxxon's Lament

Exhibit B

A cover of an unreleased Frog Eyes song that appeared on the CD for the Believer's 2005 music issue. It was sort of the Silver Surfer to Apologies to the Queen's Mary's hype Galactus (love for the nerds) and might have slipped some by unnoticed.

With no official release it's hard to say, but it's difficult to imagine a Frog Eyes recording of this track being so subdued. Even their slow songs are frought with psychic tension due to the caustic vocal inflection. With a hushed and echo drenched sound, the surreal lyrical content is put on display. The mix is rich, incorporating non standard Wolf Parade elements like a mournful Roxy Music style horn part and what could be the faded voice of recently deceased children's choir on the chorus melody.

Frog Eyes - the Oscillator's Hum

But its a tall order to out Frog lead Eyes' man Carey Mercer. About as catchy as this band comes, but also characteristically uncompromising. A maniac stomp from it's first seconds, it slows down to console with the cryptic "It's a pity, It's a pity, It's a pity your baby died," before overlapping it with the non sequitar yell, "idon'tdodrugs, idontdodrugs, idon'tdodrugs, I don't DO drugs!"

Whatever you say, Carey.

Compare and contrast for yourselves, as the Sunset Rubdown opens for Frog Eyes in a typically eccentric stagger across North America this May.

Tour Dates
5-3 - Portland, OR - Holocene
5-4 - Seattle, WA - Crocdile
5-6 - Victoria, BC - Logan’s
5-9 - Calgary, AB - Broken City
5-12 - Winnipeg, MB - Collective Cabaret
5-13 - Fargo, ND - VFW
5-14 - Mount Vernon, IA - The Orange Carpet in the Commons Building, Cornell College
5-17 - Northfield, MN - Cave, Carlton University
5-20 - Montreal, Quebec, El Salon
5-24 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
5-25 - Cambridge, MA - TT the Bear’s
5-26 - Hanover, NH - Fuel Rocket Club, Dartmouth University

Click here for;

Frog Eyes myspace page

Sunset Rubdown via Absolutely Kosher records

Wolf Parade via Sub Pop records

Tags: Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 09, 2006

The Grammys - Like Yelling at Poop in a baby's diaper

While its fun to make fun of the Grammys, its easy to misconstrue criticism into frustration that the awards are not fair or that the show is crap. Defamer lays out why going the latter route is as pointless as baby caca (link).

The Grammys were, well, the Grammys. Allowing yourself to become frustrated by the absurdity of the event is like bringing your toddler to the doctor every time he fills his diaper, demanding to know why he’s broken. And so once you make the unfortunate choice to tune in, there’s nothing to do but sink a little deeper into the couch each time brain-damaged Grammy producers facilitate the unholy onstage pairing of Madonna and Gorillaz, Mary J. Blige and U2, and Sir Paul McCartney...[with] Linkin. Fucking. Park., suspecting that the music in an eternally stopped elevator in Hell is less insanity-provoking.

Tags: Grammys

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Grammys Sucks itself from Relevance.

They Love Mash-ups

Too bad the Grammy producers didn't realize that the majority of mash-ups are terrible.

I thought last year’s Grammys were very good. Even so, I was not expecting much brilliance this year. I was still disappointed when 2006’s edition failed to meet even the lowest expectations.

Some headlines:

Gorillaz opened as themselves – on a 2D screen, and were joined by collaborators De La Soul before mashing into a Madonna led 70s discoteque.

Coldplay sucked. Chris Martin looked like a manic ecstasy kid fiending for action as he ran around the venue. The antics disguised the terrible sound mix though, mostly because he didn’t sing when he ran around the Los Angeles Staples Center.

The White Stripes won best Alternative Music Album and LCD Soundsystem lost to Chemical Brothers for Best Dance Album. This is learned by the Grammy crawl.

Sound problems got so bad that feedback and mics cutting out marred a country singer's performance. Control room voices bled into the mix on two occasions. How production mistakes can happen on an event as big as this is just mind boggling. She was a trooper though, trudging through her set.

U2 played their new single Vertigo, and joined with Mary J Blige, played the rare b-side “One.” The pairing was not only odd but did not work on any level. This piss poor combo would later be outdone in magnificent fashion. Doesn’t it seem that one U2 album is allowed to cover two years worth of Grammy awards? I know everyone loves them but is that allowed?

The announcement that David Bowie is getting a lifetime achievement award was announced by Ludacris and Matt Dillon, seconds later Kanye won Best Rap album.

That guy that plays the young Clap Your Hands Say Yeah fan on The Office Ben Rothlisberger introduced Kelly Clarkson.

Paul McCartney started sucky but was immediately forgiven when followed by a stellar Helter Skelter. Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas cannot stop talking about himself. Teri Hatcher looked hot. Awkward is not strong enough a word for the Linkin Park, Jay Z and Paul McCartney grouping. A play on the Grey Album? No way are they that clever. Music's greatest night honors...Richard Pryor?

Kanye and Jaime Foxx kicked off the marching band arrangement of "Gold Digger". This and "Helter Skelter" were the few highlights.

The rest was a runaway trainwreck, sort of oxymoronic, but nothing about these Grammys made sense. The Sly Stone tribute was the icing on the horrendous artist orgies that dominated the evenings live performances. It sounded bad, it looked bad, it was bad. The Howard Hughes of Funk, recluse Sly Stone appeared Mohawk’d, bandaged and looking as banged up as the Sly and the Family Stone medley sounded. He muttered some lyrics, before leaving the stage abruptly prior to the end of the show. He was just ‘over it’ I guess. I really want to punch the Black Eyed Peas Will.I.Am. in the face at this point.

I have lost hours of my life that I will never regain.

And Kanye was robbed.

He shouldn't care though. How can awards by a so-called institution that is in such miserable shape be taken seriously anyway?

Tags: Grammys, Kanye West, U2, Trainwrecks. Terrible Productions

Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2006

Retrohump Day - Talking Heads

Since this is the inaugural Retro Hump Day, I thought I'd take Mssr. Swankster's ball and run with it. In the opposite direction of Jimi.

A lily white, nervous direction.

Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC 1978

They're so constantly name-dropped these days that you might as well go to the source.

Tags: Talking Heads, Psycho Killer, Old Grey Whistle Test

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Retrohump Day - Jimi Hendrix

New Video Feature

We're going to try something new and see how it goes. Every week merryswankster.com will scour the depths of the Internet and present a video we think is cool. The focus will be on older acts, the pioneers, the originals, the masters. The clips will be of very poor quality.

I'll kick it off with one that encompasses all the previous mentions. Jimi Hendrix performing Machine Gun. Jimi is ripping it up badass style for about ten minutes. Not recommended for people with low tolerance to solos.

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun

Tags: Jimi Hendrix, video, Machine Gun

Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 07, 2006

Coachella Additions - Massive Attack, Celebration, Ted Leo, more

"Lineup subject to change" disclaimers prove true just one week from festival announcement.

Massive Attack - In. Performing on the mainstage prior to second day headliners, Tool
Ted Leo & Pharmacists - In
Daft Punk - In
Eagles Of Death Metal - In
Celebration - In - Recently spotlighted here.
Murs featuring 9th Wonder - In

Cat Power - Out, as well as the rest of her 2006 tour.

Tags: Coachella, Eagles of Death Metal, Celebration, Daft Punk, Murs, 9th Wonder, Massive Attack, Ted Leo, Cat Power

Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Big Infatuation - The Long Blondes

With the eyes (and lips) of the world's music press attached firmly to silly teens the Arctic Monkeys, Sheffield has emerged a vibrant center for English guitar rock. Sadly, most of the attention is squarely on the wrong band.

In the shadow of "beers and blokes" lad mag mediocrity stands the best new band in Britain, the Long Blondes.

Since I long ago stopped taking anything the NME says seriously, I passed by frequent notices of the group. It wasn't until I fell similarly in lust with What's Your Rupture? label mate Love is All that I gave the kids a chance, and was subsequently blown away. Any self respecting Anglophile feels so because Brit culture provides a smarter more sophisticated alternative to its frequently dunder headed American step child. A quick peek at East Enders or a cursory listen to the chart topping "Crazy Frog" will kill that of course, but I want bands to fuel my illusions, not depress me with street level tales of urban stupidity.

Lead singer Kate has a marvelously expressive voice. Like Britpop vixen Justine Frischmann before her, she manages to purr out lines that come off as equal part come on and put down. The tough and bouncy spirit of Elastica also resonates in the band's smart wordplay and hook crammed guitar. But the Blondes don't borrow as heavily from any band (Elastica included) as much as Elastica did from Wire. From girl group pastiche to punk shouter, they have a wider range of styles at their beck and call. Since I've included three rave-ups, you'll have to either take my word for it or do some leg work yourself, heaven forbid.

the Long Blondes - Giddy Stratospheres

The first track I heard, and I was already sold at the handclap intro. Then in love as soon as the echoing, icy Siouxsie and the Banshees vocals entered. Some might shriek blasphemy at me, but S & the B's have always struck me as putting an emphasis on atmospherics over songcraft. This is better.

The effortless grace of its intial verse and chorus would be enough but at the two minute mark when you think you have its number, it surprises delightfully with a second chorus. The song's "that girl is no good" story explodes with a second much brattier female vocal asking "Is she a femme fatale?"

"That's what she wants you to think," replies Kate coolly. The call and response progresses, with Kate's class stopping it from devolving into camp, and the backing vocal giving it a more tangible sense of fun than the grave seriousness of something like Interpol. Fantastic.

the Long Blondes - Autonomy Boy

Getting 20-something NYC kids to dance at an apartment party shouldn't be that hard, but for some reason it is. This song, however, achieved lift off for its entire length when trotted out in a recent social expirement. Nothing else could really match it. That tight groove is unstoppable, and the vocal rings Kate runs around it add to the hypnosis. Can't. Stop. Dancing. Like what happens at a cobra party when somebody turns up the Indian flute jam.

the Long Blondes - Appropriation (By Any Other Name)

This song is a study in efficiency. In only three minutes we get a complete Hitchcock "Vertigo" narrative, excellently structured and insidiously catchy. Again, the vocal performance is the star. Passionate and clearly enunciated, which doesn't happen very much these days. And how's this for an opening verse?

"eighty percent of lovers never forget their first/ that significant other who's departure makes things worse/ well, this is you down to a tee/ i can see you won't forget her/ yet she met untimely death a year ago"

It's all gold from there, with nary a bum lyric to follow. My personal favorite part is how the simmering background vocal refrain of "I know how your mind works now," gains momentum until it becomes the main lyric, and leads to the defiant line "Before I met you I never wore dresses like that!"

Then within five seconds she's lost her nerve, switching from angry to vulnerable on a dime, helplessly repeating "Someone stop this man!" as strings by fellow Sheffield resident, Pulp's Russell Senior, swell up and the music comes unglued around her.

My girlfriend's new favorite band by a huge margin. Mine too. You're next.

Obsession is only a click away.

Watch their video for the also terrific single "Seperated by Motorways"

See them play live on the reliably awesome Punk Cast.

Check out their offical site, and My Space page.

Tags: Long Blondes, What's Your Rupture?, Love is All, Elastica, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pulp

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 04:03 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Shout Out to the Often Overlooked South - New Drive By Truckers

I've been accused of being a bicoastal elitist. Ironically, by others with strong bicoastal ties themselves, but who now happen to live in a non-traditional "elitist" state...you know who you are.

Accusations aside, deep down in the soul of the Merry Swankster lies a compassionate person who welcomes everyone without regard to geographical location, or musical preference. You may recall I'm a recovering Phishhead. I will not deny that in the past two weeks I may have patronized a super heady wookie bar, and no, I'm not ashamed of admitting that.

The Drive By Truckers have a new album coming out on April 25 titled A Blessing and a Curse. A promotional site for the upcoming release has a Valentines Day themed MP3 for the aptly titled "Feb 14."

For the record, I don't particularly care for it. Valentines day songs are cheesy and this one stinks like lindbergh limburger.

Drive By Truckers - Feb 14 - MP3

//Drive By Truckers - Site
//Drive By Truckers - Blessing and a Curse - preorder

Tags: Drive By Truckers

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:53 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 06, 2006

(UPDATE) YYY - Gold Lion

UPDATE: A reader points out that the YYY's original is streaming on the news section of their website (thanks Tim underscore g!). As suspected, it's much slower.

Karen O's voice sounds great in this subdued setting. Nowhere near "Maps" mellow, but teetering on the verge of a primal scream without making the jump. "Oh oooh, oh oooh, oh oooh, aahhh oohh"

More surprising is the acoustic guitar during the intro and verses. It's interchange with the more familiar, surfish Zinner crunch, leads me to believe a fuller sound sound will define Show Your Bones. Nick Zinner's new guitar mate, Imaad Wasif, will evidently translate this onstage. I predict awesomeness to rival an unexpected, delicious cupcake.

You can check more of Imaad Wasif at his myspace page.

This is a picture of Wasif holding a weird head.

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Diplo, Gold Lion, Imaad Wasif

Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion (Diplo Remix)

My little hipsters in the flock, you were giddy with excitement this morning upon seeing Pitchfork awarded 4.5 stars to a new Yeah Yeah Yeahs song in their daily Track Reviews section. The reviewed "Gold Lion," set for the new Show Your Bones album which drops March 28 in the US, is actually a remix by the DJ behind M.I.A.'s beats, and now officially omnipresent, Diplo.

I think it sounds like Madonna. Someone else will say it sounds like Madonna on acid. We may both be right, but the "sounds like [artist] on acid" comparison is trite so I'm not going to write that. Wait for it though, I'm sure it'll come.

If you hate both Madonna and/or acid, do not fret! This remix may sound nothing like the original. Judging from Karen O's sped up delivery, the vocals at least will be much different. Unless she has honed her Chipmunk skills since Fever to Tell came out.

Central Village has the track. Get it now, hurry! MP3 Link

Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Diplo, Gold Lion,

Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Apeman is the best we can hope for?

Lots of D.S. happening in the world (D = dumb; S = shit). Like seriously, is any of this necessary? The Contrarian over at B&P wins the unheld contest for best "What the fuck?" response:

"This Is Somehow Worse Than You Calling Us "Infidel Monkeys And Pigs"?

At least the Stones can still be counted for getting censored on National (& super billion - global) television. What you probably didn't realize is that before yesterday, the most infamous Stones & Censorship tandem was when Ed Sullivan forced Mick Jagger to change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together" to "Let's Spend some time Together." The golden nugget for you trivia geeks - that January 15, 1967 Sullivan show was a few hours after the first Super Bowl ever.

Super Bowl XL's dirty words below:

From "Start Me Up"

You make a grown man cry
You, you make a dead man cum

The much more sleazy and Stonesque lyric comes from 2005's A Bigger Bang standout, "Rough Justice"

One time you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
And once upon a time I was your little rooster
Am I just one of your cocks?

I was fully expecting to hear about the "controversy" on Monday morning the second I heard the chords to "Rough Justice" kick in. Makes you sympathize with regressing to Apeman days, as The Kinks so cleverly laid out.

The Kinks - Apeman - mp3

I think I’m sophisticated
’cos I’m living my life like a good homosapien
But all around me everybody’s multiplying
Till they’re walking round like flies man
So I’m no better than the animals sitting in their cages
In the zoo man
’cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees
I am an ape man
I think I’m so educated and I’m so civilized

Tags: Rolling Stones, Super Bowl, Dumb Shit, Censorship, The Kinks, Apeman,

Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 03, 2006

Pumpkins, Unsmashing

It appears the worst kept secret in Chicago is coming together. The Smashing Pumpkins are reuniting, sans D'arcy & James Iha however.

MTV.com reports:

Rumors of a Smashing Pumpkins reunion have been rife ever since bandleader Billy Corgan took out a full-page ad in a Chicago newspaper saying he wants the group to re-form. And according to onetime Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur as well as a source close to the situation, the rumors are true. In fact, Auf Der Maur said Corgan has been working on material that will, at some point, surface in the form of a new Smashing Pumpkins album.

"From what I understand, Billy [will be] making a Pumpkins record over the next little while," Auf Der Maur told MTV News last week. "Everyone knows Billy doesn't need too many people to make a Pumpkins record, other than Jimmy [Chamberlin, longtime Pumpkins drummer] — who he has [on board]."

A spokesperson for Azoff Management confirmed Thursday (February 2) that Corgan and Chamberlin have signed on with the firm as Smashing Pumpkins, and that the two are writing new music. A source close to the situation told MTV News that the duo plan to record over the summer and that the new Pumpkins could surface before the end of the year — however, no definitive plans are set.

Heh. The rumors suggest a Pumpkins headlining slot during Lollapalooza, which returns to Chicago's Hutchinson Field in Grant Park on August 4 - 6 (check last paragraph in this Chicago Sun Times article).

Tags: Smashing Pumpkins

Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

2005 Music Bloggregate

There are thorough people and there are completists. They guy behind Heart on a Stick evidently subscribes to the latter. By compiling a bunch (i.e. shit-ton) of 2005’s best of lists into a “searchable, linked, ranked compilation,” Heart on a Stick earns the blogger masochist award for, per it’s definition, “enjoyment of hardship, need for pain."

Some great work though. Our three lists are included in the project.

Check out the 2005 Music Bloggregate:

• Intro
  
• Main
  
• Chart
  
• Excel File (no joke)

Inspiration for the "Bloggregate" name?

“I was looking for a heinous-sounding word that smacked of political scandal.”

Tags: Best Albums 2005

Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Rainy Friday Video Jukebox

The rain in NYC is keeping us from enjoying another freakish winter 60 degree day so I thought I'd give everybody some choice viewing material as long as we're cooped up. Maybe its not raining where you are, but with all of us "killing time at our day jobs by trolling indie rock blogs" types, I'm certain that it's raining in your hearts.

Wolf Parade - "Shine a Light"

Finally a prominent artist touches on multi-head discrimination.

Jens Lekman - "You are the Light"

In which Jens gets arrested ODB style for illegal body armor. Skunk!

Giant Drag - Kevin is Gay"

I still think it's hilariously smart/stupid for Annie Hardy to rip off a My Bloody Valentine guitar lick in a song with a title questioning Kevin Shields' sexuality. Plus meowing.

Xiu Xiu - "Pox"

1000 miles over the top, as you might expect. Also has the honor of being MS's first not safe for work link, which is doubly impressive because it features entirely children's dolls.

Serge Gainsbourg - "Couleur Cafe"

We finish up with a classic from the dirtiest Frenchman in history.

While we're talking about Serge, I just couldn't help putting up this clip of him wasted on a 1984 French talk show w/ Whitney Houston. As awesome as that sounds.

Tags: Wolf Parade, Jens Lekman, Giant Drag, Xiu Xiu, Serge Gainsbourg

Posted by Jeff Klingman at 09:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 02, 2006

Radiohead Headlines Bonnaroo, Trey & Dave wondering where they went wrong

It is officially Music Festival Announcement Season! After much speculation, doctored lineups, and rumor mongering, the Coachella lineup was announced earlier this week. Yesterday the eclectic Bonnaroo festival's "initial lineup" was released. The fifth installment of the 'Roo has a roster as eclectic as ever, but is noticeably more balanced between the not entirely opposing worlds of Jambands and Indie Rock - umbrella terms for two of the more vibrant and dynamic musical scenes today.

What began as a mega version of the neo-hippie music and camping festivals that mark summer weekends, Bonnaroo has evolved into a premier multimedia event boasting enough variety to quench the thirsts of the most demanding music snobs. For all the potshots that are tossed at hipsters and hippies, the cooler than thou posturing, and passionate connection with Rock and Roll are shared traits that may someday produce peace between them. Now that Radiohead has been announced as the headliner, replacing stalwarts such as Phish axe king, Trey Anastasio and United States of Abercrombie hero, Dave Matthews, that day of peace may occur in the backwoods of Tennessee.

In the future, the children conceived at Bonnaroo will grow up. They will be way cooler than you.

Tickets for Bonnaroo go onsale Saturday Feb 11 at 10am ET.
Tickets for Coachella go onsale this Saturday Feb 4 at 9am ET.

Bonaroo lineup:

Radiohead Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Phil Lesh & Friends Beck Elvis Costello & the Imposters Bonnie Raitt Death Cab for Cutie moe. Bright Eyes The Neville Brothers Bella Cleck & the Flecktones Buddy Guy Damien Marley Ben Folds Robert Randolph & the Family Band Dr. John Matisyahu G. Love & Special Sauce My Morning Jacket Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder Steel Pulse Mike Gordon (Phish bassist) & Ramble Dove Cat Power Medeski Martin & Wood Nickel Creek Gomez Atmosphere Steve Earle Blues Traveler Amadou & Mariam Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks

The Dresden Dolls Son Volt Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Jerry Douglas Soulive Rusted Root Devendra Banhart Donavon Frankenreiter Mike Doughty Sasha Grace Potter & the Nocturnals The Magic Numbers Bill Frisell Seu Jorge Bettye LaVette Dungen Shooter Jennings Rebirth Brass Band Robinella Andrew Bird Ivan Neville's Dumstaphunk Steel Train Jackie Greene Devotchka The Wood Brothers dios (malos) Toubab Krewe The Motet Marah I-Nine Balkan Beat Box The Cat Empire

Tags: Bonnaroo, Radiohead

Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 01, 2006

Forget you, MTV

This is a test. Apologies MS, if it causes us to crash.

We all know about Lazy Sunday. We all sort of know about YouTube.com. But do we know how badass it can be? That I can simply copy and paste a code and give you instantaneous "This Heart's On Fire" nutiness? We shall see, as it were, on the front end.

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

While not validating the Grammy's just yet...

Did anyone else notice that LCD Soundsystem's Daft Punk Is Playing At My House was nominated for a best dance song Grammy? Granted it won't win, but still. And the S/T also got a nom for Best Dance Album, along with Kraftwerk? Oh, how I would love the robots to give a press conference.

Best Alternative could be worse, too.

# Funeral
The Arcade Fire
[Merge Records]

# Guero
Beck
[Interscope Records]

# Plans
Death Cab For Cutie
[Atlantic Records]

# You Could Have It So Much Better
Franz Ferdinand
[Domino]

# Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
[Third Man/V2 Records]

Posted by Keith O'Brien at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack