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June 30, 2006
Quarterly Report, 2nd Quarter of 2006 - Podcast
Once again MS.com seeks to mine tracks from the best albums, and rescue tracks from questionable ones, in service of creating an unstoppable time capsule of a season's worth of music. Spring time had its hits and its misses, but there was good to be had, friends. Let's take a second, as rainclouds and crippling humidity ruin our lives to remember the beautiful days we once loved and the soundtrack filling our ear buds as we loved them.
We're taking a few days off to enjoy the extended weekend, celebrate our break up from England, and blow some shit up for Uncle Sam. To make your heart grow fonder in our brief absense, a neatly CD-R length megamix. Not only for you, but for America.
Album of the Quarter : Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I am Dreaming
Runners up: Danielson - Ships, Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
Merry Swankster, Q2 2006 Podcast [62.7 MB]
Tracklisting :
01: Camera Obscura- "I Need All the Friends I Can Get" (from Let's Get Out of This Country album)
Scots lasses take the super fey lead off track position from countrymen Belle and Sebastian in this go-round. I've now fulfilled my obligation (under rock journo ordinance #257864) to mention B & S within the first sentence of any Cam Obscura write-up. Stomps, handclaps, hipster chastising are highlights.
02: Fiery Furnaces - "Benton Harbor Blues (again)" (from Bitter Tea album)
Folks who claim the Friedbergers don't have it in them to write straightforward stunners just aren't listening. Beautiful melancholy over a slowed down Motown bounce, graciously provided in an extra, non wacky mix.
03: Holy Shit - "Written All Over Your Face" (from Stranded At Two Harbors album)
The most effective song Ariel Pink's yet been involved in, and non-coincidentally one of the most straightforward. He concentrates on trash can rhythm and lets pal Matt Fishbeck handle the dreamy vocal. Smooth, like driving down the coast on a slightly breezy day.
04: Sonic Youth - "Do You Believe in Rapture" (from Rather Ripped album)
Praised for an album of conventionally efficient rockers, I still get off on the one that creeps. Extra points for the Velvet Underground tease on the bridge that refuses to fully take over.
05: First Nation - "Female Trance" (from First Nation album)
Sometimes I'll say something reminds me of the Raincoats, and I'll mean that it's surprisingly cohesive for somehting so ragged. This time I mean it actually sound like the Raincoats did on record, specifically Odyshape when they lost their punk edge and went for less obvious rythym. Strong femininity that doesn't fall back on the dueling cliches of something to prove snarl or brazen sexpottery.
06: Asobi Seksu - "Strawberries" (from Citrus album)
Shoegaze touchmarks sure, but this one moves around too much to bore with an endless drone as genre purists might demand.
07: Juana Molina - "Rio Seco" (from Son album)
Lovely Spanish language folk livened up by Buddha Box electronic wallpaper.
08: Beirut - "Postcards From Italy" (from Gulag Orkestar album)
Ubiquitous for a reason, this sounds more convicted and world weary than any 19 year old has a right to be.
09: Sunset Rubdown - "Us Ones in Between" (from Shut Up I am Dreaming album)
The finest lyrical moment on the strongest album for lyrics we've yet seen in '06. The band's live majesty gave me new appreciation for the "wedding ring" coda.
10: Islands - "Rough Gem" (from Return to Sea album)
The best (only?) piece of evidence that disbanding the Unicorns and embracing Paul Simon's solo career was the way to go.
11: Voxtrot - "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters And Wives" (from Mothers, Sisters, Daughters And Wives album)
The token entry for blog propped up indie pop of questionable originality. They beat the seemingly unending flow of like bands by finding a more distinctive, muscular sound and moving away from their previous forays into Smiths karaoke.
12: the Raconteurs - "Steady as She Goes" (from Broken Boy Soldiers EP)
I've got nothing against Jack White (except maybe the moustache), but for an impassioned case I defer to superfan, M. Swankster himself: "Banding individual talents together does not a super-group mortar make, nor are synergies assumed or assured. The unionized strengths of Broken Boy Soldiers can surely be debated, but Brendan Benson’s clichéd lyrical sweetness integrated with the plump Greenhornes rhythm and garage crunch of Jack White reach a new success and keep the pessimistic cynics at bay."
13: Coin Op - "Hey Uri!" (single)
I'm probably breaking my own podcast bi-laws on this one, but it's due at least in part to the lack of info available on the group outside of a cryptic MySpace page. But if lack of a proper release keeps a poppier Mark E. Smith/ McLusky hybrid with bile directed at the title's fraudulent spoonbender off of the podcast on a techicality, then maybe the rules are meant to be broken. (Tip to Matt Fluxblog)
14: the Long Blondes - "Fulwood Babylon" (b-side, Weekend Without Makeup single)
The Blondes first Rough Trade single is nice enough in a new wave by the numbers sort of a way, but the b-side gives us the compositional twists and turns that seperate a great LB's track from a merely good one.
15: El Perro Del Mar - "God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)" (from El Perro Del Mar (Woodwork) album)
I'm cool with the glut of old style girl group records being put out these days as long as they don't feel like insightless pastiche. This is too pretty and well crafted (in the Swedish style) to be written off as only a jump in the way back machine.
16: Danielson - "Did I Step on Your Trumpet?" (from Ships album)
The best rock song I'd heard as of April maintains its crown (of thorns) at the halfway mark.
17: White Flight - "Pastora Divine" (from White Flight album)
Animal Collective style, screaming organic pop, streamlined and reigned in (which is what I'm rooting for AC to do 60% of the time anyway). Before you claim copycat, let me point out that the second half of their debut record seeks to reconcile the Brooklyn aesthetic with laid back West Coast Snoop Dogg rap. Shockingly, they sort of pull it off.
18: Franz Ferdinand & Jane Birkin - "A Song For Sorry Angel" (from Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited compilation)
I'm as surprised to find Franz on here as you are, but hey Serge Gainsbourg did write it. I'm not sure what his presumably very understanding lady love Jane Birkin looks like these days, but her breathy coo hasn't aged a day.
19: Gnarls Barkley - "Gone Daddy Gone" (from St. Elsewhere album)
Gnarls devotees would probably have picked a different track, but it's near impossible to argue that anything other than this electrified Violent Femmes cover would have nestled as easily into the mix. Plus I don't like R & B, so there's that.
20: Annie - "the Crush (Richard X mix)" (b-side, the Crush single)
As much as I wanted to like the grunge rock crunch of the single mix, the vapid lyrics and Deb Harry delivery work better as a hedonistic summer prelude.
Sweatbath, straight ahead.
Tags: Camera Obscura, Fiery Furnaces, Holy Shit, Sonic Youth, First Nation, Asobi Seksu, Juana Molina, Beirut, Sunset Rubdown, Isalnds, Voxtrot, the Raconteurs, Coin Op, the Long Blondes, El Perro del Mar, Danielson, White Flight, Franz Ferdinand, Gnarls Barkley, Annie,Music Podcasts
Posted by Jeff Klingman at June 30, 2006 03:46 AM
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Comments
We love America! And perfect CD-R length mixes!
Posted by: Sebastian at June 30, 2006 01:08 PM
Awesome Mix
Posted by: Max at June 30, 2006 03:00 PM
