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October 31, 2006
Happy Birthday to us!
Today marks one year since MerrySwankster.com was launched as a regular everyday (well almost) website. We are celebrating by not really telling anyone. We didn't plan anything special, sorta like our non-virtual birthdays.
The Sprites - "I Started a Blog Nobody Read"
Thanks for reading and making us feel special when we check the traffic reports. It totally gives us a boner.
-Merry Swankster
Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:45 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
October 30, 2006
Scenes from Halloween
Halloween isn't officially until tomorrow but the grown-up version of trick or treating, i.e. getting tanked in a silly costume, hit its prime over the weekend. A few sights and sounds...
the Vaselines - "the Day I Was a Horse"
I, horse.
//the Vaselines - the Way of the Vaselines: a Complete History - buy
Modest Mouse - "Trailer Trash"
J. Drake, aka Cassettes Won't Listen (gold tooth not pictured).
//Modest Mouse - the Lonesome Crowded West - buy
Black Flag - "TV Party"
New wave zombie humps TV.
//Black Flag - Damaged - buy
Múm - "Asleep on a Train"
As sweet a scene as the L train is likely to produce.
//Múm - Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is OK - buy
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 27, 2006
Silversun Pickups & Viva Voce - Live @ Hi-Dive, Denver, CO, 10.24.06
The cliché of cute girls playing bass or keys has reached critical mass, though this is not meant to shine negative light by bringing up females in rock bands. If women represent roughly fifty percent of the general population and make up only one-fourth of bands that include them at all, then rock and roll suffrage* has quite a ways to go before declaring success. Why there would be such a cause worth celebrating is beyond me, but I digress.
The tall, skinny girl perched on a relatively giant bass guitar or the disinterested keyboard player hung over the ivory with long hair covering her face is often the view we see these women. Some have built quite a following mentioning it, especially when said ladies are of the attractive variety. Unfortunately, unlike descriptions of face-melting solos by the lead guitarists have no mention of his effect on ladies swooning in the front row – musical talents of rock girls take a back seat to their pretty faces and long legs – the product of music writers being mostly male I suppose.
With both bands from Tuesday’s Hi-Dive show mixing up the gender demographics, my words could easily have subscribed to the minimal expectations given to blog reviews when girls are involved. Thing is, both girls kicked ass! In vastly different ways, but kicked ass they did.
Silversun Pickups
[Photo cred]
I’ve heard a lot about this band in my daily perusal through the music section of the internets, and without a real reason I ignored it all. Maybe subconsciously my brain shut off the receptacle designated for California bands. Too bad for me. The middle act sandwiched between the Kingdom and Viva Voce, Silversun Pickups still drew most of the crowd at the Denver tour stop – not quite like CYHSY outshining the National – but peeps filed out en masse before headliner Viva Voce. The early to bed folks did themselves a favor because the gender inverted White Stripe stand ins headlining the night may have put them to sleep following a wickedly tight performance by the Silversun Pickups.
I won’t say they did anything incredibly original, because they didn’t. I can’t say they blew my pants off with unique, challenging arrangements because that never happened either. This was a band on stage that beamed with confidence while doing their job proudly, and determined on showing the crowd the choice outcome of all their rehearsals. Other bands take note: practice pays off, no matter what Allen Iverson may have said.
On center stage Brian Aubert led the group with hushed, poppy vocals and guitar licks which both impressively flipped on a dime from soft and crisp to heart racing thrashpunk without missing a beat. Aubert was flanked on the right by the intensely focused Joe Lester on keyboards looking like a renegade deserter of Fidel’s army with a Comandante shirt and cap. Bassist Nikki Monninger on stage left grabbed my attention like no other bassist in recent memory. She crawled all over the fretboard showing remarkable dexterity that was most evident on “Well Thought Out Twinkles.” She intently squared in on Aubert’s cues and the steady pulsating beats of Christopher Guaniao. Monninger didn’t just act the part of bassist, she owned it.
[MP3] Silversun Pickups - "Well Thought Out Twinkles"
Driving rock with the sleeves rolled up because it’s about to get messy. Makes a Swankster happy.
[MP3] Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
The contrasts of quiet and loud verses walk a tightrope of crescendos and serve as ideal illustration for what this band does best.
Viva Voce
[Photo cred]
I really like the “We Do Not Fuck Around” single that made its way around the blogs this year. Not only is the title great, but the Pink Floydish tone and choral vibe of the song tricks you into thinking a large band is behind the production. Yet the Portland band count only two people as members. The husband and wife team of Kevin and Anita Robinson form the antithesis of the fake husband and wife team of Jack and Meg. First off, the girl in this group holds a guitar and her musical skills are far from rudimentary. She held more than her own in terms of chops on the axe and brought a graceful, steady confidence to the stage. The only resemblance between her obvious parallel is button nose cuteness, which I hate to even bring up after my introduction on sexist music reviews. Oh well, I never claimed infallibility.
So how does a band of two perform the big sounds of the record in a live setting? Quick answer, they don’t. This made me sad as I fully expected a Polyphonic Spree sized group interpreting the songs off Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. I suppose reading up on the evening talent could have prepared me for the lack of wall of sound expectations I had going into the Hi-Dive. Perhaps they could have not closed the show with “We Do Not Fuck Around” and those feelings would not have dissipated. Fortunately they did and I went home happy with the added bonus of my girlfriend working her Southern charm to score free CDs from both bands. Thank you easily hustled merch stand friends!
[MP3] Viva Voce - "We Do Not Fuck Around"
*This is a great name for an all-girl band. Someone get on it.
--
I didn't have my camera for this show, but KGB.FM has some good photos of Silversun Pickups.
Remaining Tourdates after the jump.
//Silversun Pickups - site
//Silversun Pickups - Myspace
--
//Viva Voce - site
//Viva Voce - Myspace
Silversun Pickups and Viva Voce:
10.27.06 - The Crocodile / Seattle, WA
10.28.06 - The Doug Fir / Portland, OR
Silversun Pickups:
11.02.06 - Puma Store - Union Square / New York, NY
11.02.06 - Piano's / New York, NY - Dangerbird CMJ Showcase
11.04.06 - The Annex / New York, NY - Brooklyn Vegan CMJ Showcase
11.04.06 - North Six / Brooklyn, NY - NY2LON CMJ Party
11.16.06 - Orange County Museum of Art / Newport Beach, CA
*Silversun Pickups opening for Wolfmother:
11.21.06 - Electric Factory / Philadelphia, PA*
11.22.06 - Hammerstein Ballroom / New York, NY*
11.24.06 - Majestic Theatre / Detroit, MI*
11.25.06 - Riviera Theater / Chicago, IL*
11.26.06 - Mississippi Nights / St. Louis, MO*
11.28.06 - Meridian / Houston, TX*
11.29.06 - Gypsy Ballroom / Dallas, TX*
12.02.06 - Roseland Theater / Portland, OR*
12.03.06 - Moore Theatre / Seattle, WA*
12.04.06 - Commodore Ballroom / Vancouver, BC*
12.06.06 - The Fillmore / San Francisco, CA*
12.07.06 - The Joint / Las Vegas, NV*
Tags: Silversun Pickups, Viva Voce, Hi-Dive
Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:20 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 25, 2006
Retrohump Day - Pulp
Out of the bright blue sky, suddenly everything's coming up Pulp. Idolator recently launched a campaign to liberate the name Mis-Shapes from the obnoxious hipster meat market back to its song title source. The Onion named 1997's This is Hardcore to its Hall of Fame in light of its expanded re-issue. The BBC just released an ace compilation of the group's John Peel sessions. The Long Blondes achieved a fuller sound through the production efforts of Pulp bass-man Steve Mackey, and his group is an undeniable touchpoint for their spectacular debut album. Even Jarvis himself is getting alot of buzz for his soon to be released solo album, uh, Jarvis.
It's a Pulp predicted future folks, so back to the source we go...
Pulp - "Common People"
(Glastonbury Festival, 1995)
Filling in for a Stone Roses no-show, Pulp stepped up to the plate and killed Glastonbury '95, cementing their place as Britpop superstars in the UK (after only like 13 years of trying). They were a good distance darker and more clever than the bulk of their contemporaries, and their peak material has aged remarkably well. Once you know this song it's pretty impossible not to sing along, and the power of such a huge crowd echoing every line is amazing. The intercut clips are a little too frequent, but it's a good glimpse into how drunk and dirty the Limey crowds can get. I don't think you see too many bare breasts and simulated rogerings at the Pitchfork fest.
Pulp - "Disco 2000"
The videos from Different Class all have a similar, super stylish, Day Glo fop aesthetic, and are all at least moderately enjoyable. This clip, with its inner monologue subtitles and smart cropping, is probably the best executed. In the days leading up to the year 2000 this already popular track was raised to unbearable ubiquity in England, sort of like a Brit version of Prince's "1999". Now, as millenial future gazing is delightfully retro, the waters are safe again.
Pulp - "I Spy"
(Later with Jools Holland, November 1995)
Long portions of this song are basically a dramatic reading, which is a hard thing to pull off mid-song in a compelling manner. Better than usual TV production helps it feel vibrant, but it's Jarvis' show as always. Tons of indie bands mope around, unsure of their feelings, and pining away for the girl down the street. Pulp writes a sadistic epic about getting revenge on a rival by nailing his wife. Pulp wins.
Pulp - "Help the Aged"
I remember being slightly underwhelmed by this, the first single to follow the towering Different Class. I eventually warmed to it's humanitarian premise that you should sleep with old people becasue they can teach you tricks and you're going to die some day anyway. The video's assisted stair climber to the stars is amusing as well.
Pulp - "This is Hardcore"
The heady days of 1997 saw most British bands worth their salt chasing the tail of "Paranoid Android". Pulp's six minute opus came the closest in single song quality. Certainly the dirtiest. The video is wildly underrated and is probably one of the most gorgeous clips ever. EVER.
Bonus MP3's:
Pulp - "Please Don't Worry" (John Peel Session July 1981)
Pulp's first John Peel Show appearance happened after a super gawky 18 year old Cocker slipped the legendary broadcaster a demo tape at a DJ gig. The resulting, previously unreleased, session from way back in 1981 (!) has a post punk tinge to it, but is still catchy despite the lack of the more celebrated working class lounge lizard persona that would elevate Jarvis to fame. This also happened to be the Sheffield lads first time in a proper studio. The band's second Peel session would not happen for another 12 years.
Pulp - "Pencil Skirt" (John Peel Session September 1994)
A more synth driven take on yet another Different Class classic. Man, that album sounded amazing to disgruntled teenage ears.
Pulp - "Can I Have My Balls Back, Please?" (This is Hardcore session outtake)
That's just a good title.
Previously: Jarvis Cocker Celebrates Ten Years of Fighting for Justice by Being a Prick
Tags: Pulp, Jarvis Cocker, Long Blondes, John Peel, Britpop
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:47 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 24, 2006
Myspace music player blows
Im calling out bullshit on the conventional wisdom behind music driving the growth of Myspace. The Myspace music player sucks big time. Fix that shit. I feel sorry for everyone that I resorted to venting about something that is a futile cause to complain about. I'm embarrassed now, here is a Beck tune.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Lady Art Rock for No Real Reason...
...except that I like it. I also like you, blog reading public. I will now bring my likes together, like so.
Love is All - "Kiss Kiss Kiss" (Yoko Ono cover)
Love is All's kick ass Nine Times That Same Song album is clearly one of the finest that 2006 has coughed up. Its early year release date, and the fact that Pitchfork somehow bent time and space to put it on their 2005 Best of, might conspire to leave it out of the forthcoming end of the year list orgy. Like an Oscar screener reminder for forgetful academy members, the album is being relaunched with a mini-disc of four bonus tracks. One of them is the unstoppably good Kim Foley cover, "Motorboat". Here is another.
It's a cover of Yoko's 1980 song, from her and her late husband's Double Fantasy record. Lennon fans at the time mainly took this screech pop number as further fuel for their hate of the dreaded Beatles slayer, although its structure is more conventional than some of her most art damaged material. To their credit, Love is All keep the skronk mainly intact. The first :45 seconds is pure speed freak free jazz hoo-hah, before Josephine Olausson enters stage right. Her echoed Swede bray is alien enough to do Yoko justice, but probably a bit more cuddly to discerning ears. Not the melody bomb that Love is All sometimes develop in their own work, but it gets over on their signature smash down the door energy.
Y Pants - "Favourite Sweater"
Also from 1980, but like actually 1980 and not a recent re-interpretation, is "Favourite Sweater" by Y Pants. In the downtown New York art scene of the time, distinctions like artist, perfomance artist, and musician were very loose and interchangeable. The women of Y Pants were all coming from the visual arts tradition, and as a result played mainly gallery shows with their all miniature toy instrument onslaught. Avant guitar guru Glenn Branca was rangled in to produce the EP from which this was taken, and he barely keeps the thing together. Very simple musically, the Pants are smart enough to play to their strengths by always returning to the plodding mini-piano refrain. That an affecting song can spring forth from such limited materials is a magic trick of sorts. It's that spirit of making music somehow, anyhow, that is still the most endearing aspect of listening to these lost songs today.
Tags: Love is All, Yoko Ono, Y Pants, Glenn Branca, Art Rock, Ladies, Lady Art Rock
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Brandon Flowers vs. Green Day
Brandon Flowers is offended by Green Day's "American Idiot." Says the Killers' Sam's Town [portrays America] as a "more positive place."
"You have Green Day and 'American Idiot'. Where do they film their DVD? In England. a bunch of kids screaming 'I don't want to be an American idiot' I saw it as a very negative thing towards Americans. It really lit a fire in me." (NME)
I enjoy the Killers, and it was fun watching them rise, but dude is spreading douchebaggery so fast and so furiously that I'm increasingly at ease with my contempt towards them.
Better Together?
With a little help from their net-bots on the Hot Fuss page, Amazon comes through with the best punchline to this post.
Tags: Brandon Flowers, Green Day, Amazon
Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wilco - Live @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC, 10.19.06
[It is my pleasure to introduce an old friend who hosted the original MS picks on his now defunct blog, back when I was a slightly less "merry" Swankster. A new part-time contributor to MS.com, the inimitable Ryan Chiachiere. Nice to see things come full circle. The esteemed Mr. Chiachiere is a beltway insider normally focused on furthering the allegedly vast, left wing conspiracy. You can catch Ryan finger picking bluegrass in the back of his pick-up truck with his trusty dog Virgil while mulling over a 2016 presidential run. -MS]
Wilco – 9.30 Club; Washington DC
A great thing was happening on Thursday night at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC while another thing—a contemptible thing—was happening at Shea Stadium in Flushing, NY. Optimist that I am, I’m going to stick to the good stuff.
Wilco’s set at the 9.30 club in Washington DC unfolded like a two and a half hour version of some of Wilco’s best songs—a slow, emotive, sophisticated and completely competent beginning that opened up into full-fledged transcendental power house rock.
Examples of this phenomenon in their songwriting are omnipresent. Look at "Poor Places," "Misunderstood," "I am Trying to Break Your Heart," and "Handshake Drugs," among many others. The band has an ability to start a song as a tender ballad and patiently allow it to erupt into beautiful rock chaos. It’s a characteristic that’s much more discernable in their live performances, where each night they’re inclined to push their studio pieces further and further beyond previously established limits. The lows don’t get lower, but the highs are limitless.
The show at 9.30 had this same feeling. Initially, choosing "Radio Cures" for the opener seemed almost anticlimactic. The first two or three minutes are a long, slow and melancholy way to say ‘hello’ to an audience—especially one that was so exhilarated as they waited for the band to take the stage. It lasted so long that I forgot about the payoff until it was upon us, in the form of a powerful and perfectly written chorus: “Distance has no way of making love understandable”—that reminded me why it’s such a perfect pick. It was a thesis, of sorts, that set up the metaphor explaining how the entire evening would play out: patiently, artfully and with ever increasing furor.
The band then trickled into “I am Trying to Break Your Heart,” which also started slowly and unfolded into a noise-filled psychedelic rock explosion. Psychedelic? Actually, yes. Wilco managed to produce a sound, feel and atmosphere—including an impressive light show—that was as psychedelic as what you’d expect from many of the bands that are more likely to claim the mantle of that genre of music. It was particularly notable in “I am Trying to Break Your Heart,” but was just as pronounced in “Poor Places,” which they also played early in the first set, and which included a soundscape and lightshow intense enough to induce a seizure in the feint of heart.
Psychedelic is not the only unlikely genre that Wilco managed to artfully capture. The band seemed to feel as comfortable in the easygoing folk of “Airline to Heaven” and “Forget the Flowers” as they did thrashing out the final, pounding notes of the southern-rock inspired “Kingpin.” During the folkier songs, front man Jeff Tweedy strummed virtually unaccompanied while the band happily bobbed their head and shook around various percussion instruments onstage.
During these flashes of folk mentality, the light show gave way to a more mellow bath of orange-yellow light on the stage—a much more organic look that was reminiscent of something out of The Last Waltz, the iconic Martin Scorsese film documenting the final performance of The Band. Indeed, given their ability to perform across genres while still maintaining a distinct and cohesive sound, drawing a comparison with The Band is not unwarranted. And to look at them onstage, sporting 21st century hipster attire—from the ripped form-fitting jeans to the plaid shirts with oversized collars—they would have been just as comfortable on stage in 1978—the year The Last Waltz was released—as they did last Thursday.
A rocking rendition of “I’m The Man Who Loves You” preceded the set closer, “Via Chicago,” yet another example of a beautiful ballad that erupted into an explosive concoction of sizzling guitars, thumping floor-toms and a wash of cymbals. The song made it strikingly clear that the band’s ability to do this thing that they do is largely reliant on the interesting, creative, and technically masterful talents of Glenn Kotche, Wilco’s standout drummer, who seemed to sock away all that energy he didn’t use during the quieter moments and then just burst when he was called upon to carry the band into high gear.
The first set of encores included a bevy of rockers, including “War on War,” the danceable upbeat ditty from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, “The Late Greats,” a fun three-chord homage to a band that was too good for the radio, and the monster southern rocker “Kingpin,” which appears on the album Being There as more of a twangy country number, but which in their live performances turns into a slide guitar driven, heavy riffing animal. During this tune, the band broke it down while Tweedy did a little chattering with the crowd. He told us he was glad to be in Washington, because our city “has all the best shit in the world.” He went on to explain what all that “shit” is, including gorgeous architecture and prolific history, and then lamented the fact that all those beautiful building are filled with “terrible people.” He concluded that we’ve got both “all the best shit and all the worst shit in the world.” The crowd was jubilant, and the closing licks were so searing that, when the band walked off stage after it, I didn’t expect them to return.
As it turns out, they did return, to the crowds immeasurably glee, for yet another set of encores. They started off with a Randy Newman cover called “Political Science,” a song Tweedy claimed they “have to do in Washington,” which, tongue planted firmly in cheek, advocates the United States launching nuclear strikes on every country in the world except Australia. They followed that up with the spirited “Heavy Metal Drummer,” one of their more pop-oriented tunes backed by a flurry of electronic drumming, that most audience members considered three minutes of heaven. They closed the set with “Misunderstood,” a recollection of adolescence that, characteristically, started softly and worked it’s way into a frenzy. It wasn’t so much a punctuation mark on the set as it was a reiteration of the theme.
If the arc of their songwriting is reflected in the larger arc of their live performances, then I hope that is, in turn, reflected in the still larger arc of their career—one that steadily builds to an ever more impressive climax. There might be an aspect of Tweedy’s songwriting that’s predictable. And in other hands, that might be frustrating. But the precision of his lyrics, the passion in his voice—one of the best in rock and roll—and his prolific creation of fantastic melodies—almost superhuman by today’s standards—simply make him a standout among his peers. Those qualities alone would have given Tweedy a great career as a folkie doing a solo act. But he’s backed by a band that helps him to flesh out his ideas into something that goes well beyond an acoustic bard—into the realms of rockstardom. -Ryan Chiachiere
Download the show here.
See more pics here.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2006
Billy Corgan + Eminem = Gerard Way?
College students, present this to your philosophy professor:
If Billy Corgan spawned a love child with Eminem would a pussy emo king from Jersey be the fruit of their labor?
Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance.
Previously:
Eddie Argos & Adam Morrison
Jesse Hughes from EODM = Thomas Jane?
Tags: Billy Corgan, Eminem, Gerard Way
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:35 AM | Comments (30) | TrackBack
October 21, 2006
Danielson video
Danielson - "Did I Step On Your Trumpet"
Previously:
Danielson - Live @ Northsix, Brooklyn - 5.13.2006
Danielson Starship
Tags: Danielson, Did I Step On Your trumpet
Posted by Merry Swankster at 04:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 20, 2006
Fraggle Rock - The Movie
Fraggle Rock is coming to the big screen.
"The 1980s cult hit TV show is being developed by Ahmet Zappa -- younger son of Frank Zappa -- into a full-length live-action musical fantasy starring the classic characters." (CNN)
New twist:
""The Fraggles didn't really get into the human world on the series, so we plan to make the movie more about the intersection between the Fraggles and the humans," Lisa Henson said."
Sounds like Gobo's Uncle Matt takes a big role with the Silly Creatures (how he referred to humans).
*The "Dance your cares away/Worry's for another day/Let the music play" lyrics are comforting after the heartbreaker from last night. The miracle 9th inning walk off never happened, but how about that amazing catch?! Until next year...
//Fraggle Rock - 1st Season DVD - buy
//Fraggle Rock - 2nd Season DVD - buy
Tags: Fraggle Rock, Mets, Endy Chavez
Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Reflecting on the Moment
After a week of intensive sifting through "old" tracks for the recent podcast, it's time for some shiny new trinkets. I mean what were we thinking? Nobody listens to months old records anymore, anyway. It's all about the here and now. Thanks to the "found my Christmas presents weeks ago" mentality of the in the know set, the here and now to several months from now might be more accurate.
Some songs to dissect...
the Long Blondes - "A Knife for the Girls"
We were waiting so long for concrete news on the debut from our UK crush, that when the November 7th date dropped from the sky it seemed unreal. I had made peace with the assumption that the surfacing demos would have to tide us over until at least early '07. The slow drip of fully produced tracks began in earnest about a week and a half ago, and has intensified significantly this week, which also saw a hype stoking Pitchfork track review. I stewed in my jealous juices briefly, but now Someone to Drive You Home has found its way to me and all is right in the world.
The first thing you notice about the album is the big production, done by ex-Pulp bassist Steve Mackey. Every song on the record, including the previously released singles, have been rerecorded, money-ed up, and crammed full of atmosphere. Even "Weekend Without Makeup", only months old, is altered with impressive results. I predict a Wolf Parade-esque bitch session from long time fans claiming that those early tracks have lost some charm in buffing their rough edges, but I don't think anyone can argue that the fully realized versions of the afforementioned leaked demos aren't a step up. The best of that batch, "A Knife for the Girls" is perhaps the most dramatically improved. A slow motion reading of the first verse allows Kate Jackson to sing beautifully without her standard ironic sneer, and when the killer snaking guitar line finally comes in, she cradles it with a drawn out "Ooooooh" (insulation from the galloping drumbeat). Her performance is more nuanced than it's ever been in this gorgeous album closer, switching from airy ghost coos to multi tracked (Siouxsie & the) Banshee wails. The more sharply defined guitar spikes are a worthy complement, ever shifting for maximum slow burn mystery. A thrilling song, from a not at all disappointing album, that you will be hearing a ton about in the days to come. Get REALLY excited. I mean it.
Voxtrot - "Trouble"
I think this is where Voxtrot and I part ways. Their songwriting sophistication is admittedly growing more confident as the releases roll out, but the lyrical content is striking me as increasingly empty. Here, over warm piano keys that progress from their early period Belle and Sebastian aping by moving on to steal from the Life Pursuit (growth!), the tiny Austin boys deal with the story of a "junkie" musician who's throwing it all away. It's far too genteel in its pop delivery to convince the listener that it has any personal knowledge of self destruction and instead comes across like an out of touch after school special. Copious strings and mini-tempo shifts are engaing enough to ingnore the words for a while, but they're full of platitudes that don't really make sense when examined. Example: "It's the fruit of life but you throw it away like candy" That's a little hackneyed to begin with, but who throws away candy?
Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"
Now here's how you write a drug song. One of the many standout tracks on the already acclaimed, but several months off, Hissing Fauna, are You the Destroyer? album, "Heimdalsgate..." sounds appropriately twitchy and conflicted about it's subject matter. With an A.D.D. back and forth backdrop mood swinging from piano rolls to Sonic the Hedgehog video game synth-scapes, Kevin Barnes eloquently despairs about drug effects. "Chemicals don't strangle my pen/ Chemicals don't make me sick again/ I'm always so dubious of your intent/ Like I can't afford to replace what you've spent", he pleads. But like any good narc-head he sounds ready to rationalize another go round, exuburantly yelling "Come on chemicals!" in the chorus. It's a more engaging portrayal that doesn't stoop to preaching, and makes you want to shake some ass if you're buzzed or not. Would probably be high in the year end lists if it were actually set for release this year. Hopefully, a full year from now it won't have been forgotten. Seems doubtful based on the high quality, but things are crazy these days.
Also, when did Of Montreal start being this good? Can somebody give me a timeline? I remember listening to his lo fi 4 track recordings at the turn of the century, but then jumping into his studio material and being horrified by the cutesy high concept Hell I found. All the bird calls and slide whistles and sickly sweet musical theater touches on the Gay Parade scarred me so badly that I've basically refused to give Kevin another chance up to this point. He got awesome, apparently, so when should I have tuned back in?
Fujiya & Miyagi - "Ankle Injuries"
The profoundly not Asian Fujiya & Miyagi are almost too eclectic for me on their Transparent Things LP, released stateside in January. I like it when they tackle genres I have an affinity for and tune out when our interests diverge. This krautrock workout is cleanly in the pleasure zone. Over a Neu! groove, the boys whisper light word soup, strangely going on about "Pixelated scraps of jazz max in your head....lights". The words may be confusing, but unease is soothed with a counterpoint of feather light Moon Safari synths. So relaxed that even the repeated "Fujiya...Miyagi" that pops up occasionally sounds more like a patient introduction for a hard of hearing Gran than boastful self cheerleading. The end result is like drifting off sweetly in the back seat, watching the highway lines blur.
Subtle - "the Mercury Craze"
Been a while since I've been so intrigued by a hip-hop single, but I guess I haven't been looking very hard. My ignorance of the current scene leads me to make the most obvious comparison to Gnarls Barkley, although this is alot weirder and less overtly soulful. The rock-rap hybrid feels fully organic, with the sing song rhymes jog along with the pace of the rhythm and background vocals long enough to allow for some nice harmony. Bursts of hyper kinetic word spitting prove that they could leave everyone in the dust if they so desired. Restraint keeps them from making it strictly a skills workout, and little touches and diversions are everywhere. The momentarily chanted "B-L-Oh-Oh-D" is my favorite among them. Is this kind of keep you guessing song structure and varied instrumentation standard in underground hip-hop these days? Again, I'm ignorant and looking for guidance.
Jarvis Cocker - "Black Magic"
We've come full circle from the neo-Pulp leanings of the Long Blondes to the paleo Pulp-ness of main man Jarvis Cocker's forthcoming album. Here in a brass balls display, our pal Cocker lifts the "Crimson and Clover" backing track for his own end, and not in a vague way like YYY's "Our Time" did. It's exactly recreated down to the echoed "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-uh" backing vocal sighs. Jarvis doesn't take it as easy as the hippies on the classic, urgently singing his case and bending the familiar elements to his will. The man has such a well established persona at this point that even an appropriation this blatant can't help but sound like his own work. I blinked on the pastoral Pulp swan song We Love Life, but am getting surprisingly amped up for Jarvis. Nice to have the old crank back.
Alright, enough for now. Happy?
Tags: Long Blondes, Voxtrot, Of Montreal, Fujiya & Miyagi, Subtle, Jarvis Cocker
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
October 19, 2006
Pitchfork the contrarian
We love you, we love you not, we love you, we love you not, we love you...
"Sound Team, Birdmonster, now these guys-- bloggers, raise your standards!"
Hee hee.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:10 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Further Adventures in Suspect Video: A Sunny Day in Glasgow
So, I've been sitting on some video of A Sunny Day in Glasgow's recent show at Piano's in Manhattan for a little over a week. When I first uploaded it, we had just run an interview w/ group leader Ben Daniels, and it just seemed like overkill. But at this point, it's up on You Tube, and there's a link on the band's MySpace, so what the hell?
Now, every time I put up video taken from our otherwise fully capable digital snapshot camera, I have to brace everyone for terrible sound quality. Unless an external mic is splurged on or some serious MacGuyver shit is figured out, this will probably be the case until eternity. Jamming some ear plug in the mic hole is not a legitimate solution. Also, it sounds unnecessarily dirty.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "A Mundane Phone Call to Jack Parsons"
The short set featured four of the five tracks from the previously fawned over Sunniest Day Ever EP. Although this performance sounds crunchy as what, it is nice to get a sense of where sonic elements are coming from as the recorded mix can be disorienting. In the room, obviously, it fared much better.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "Drowning is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive Under Water"
A new track, presumably from the upcoming '07 full length. It's got a funny name, but is much more straightforward in its tuneful delivery than some of the band's earlier work. For this one, we tried further muffling the dreaded mic hole, and as a result everything was really muffled. Surprisingly.
It's Scylla or Charybdis, I tell ya.
You can get a much better sense of the group's live performance when they next play New York as part of the CMJ music festival. The Philly kids are scheduled to take the Sin-e stage at 8:45 on Friday November 3rd. It'll sound quite nice, I swear.
Tags: A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Piano's, King Kong Ding Dong
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 18, 2006
Retrohump Day- CBGBs
CBGBs officially closed down this week. You know this, and you also know the place was a stinky, dirty, and crusty hole in the wall. Considering it's Manhattan location the filthy place fit right in with the neighborhood dregs. Now the gentrifying tentacles of luxury development will reshape and redefine one of the last frontiers of grittiness remaining in downtown Manhattan while the piss covered walls of CBGBs gets relocated to Disneyland Las Vegas for what will surely exacerbate the sales of CBGBs t-shirts by youths worldwide.
The relocation shouldn't be something to dwell on though as surely Venetians, Parisians and New Yorkers do not fret the existence of their parallel replicas, albeit shiny, sparkling and sinfully salacious ones. So neither should CBGBs fans. After all think of the hot punk rock blackjack dealers that are sure to follow the new CBGBs...
I explored YouTube hoping to find rare Talking Heads, Blondie or Television clips, but found lots of Ramones and bad hardcore bands that your little brother may be in with his buds from Long Island. Did find an early Police vid from 1978 that is worth checking out. I guess back in the 70s digital cameras weren't allowed into the venue...hah!
"Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop" - 1977
The band most closely associated with CBGBs. They were ugly, dirty, and didn't give a shit - much like the walls that sheltered them from the Bowery outside. Or was it the other way around..?
Dead Boys - "Sonic Reducer" - 1977
Young, Loud, and Snotty indeed. The riff that launched a thousand mosh pits. The words that pissed off every parent ever. Ever.
The Libertines - "I Get Along" - 2003
Footage a mere three years old would normally disqualify an entry for our Wednesday feature, but the fact that the LIbertines are in worse shape than the club where they performed in 2003 speaks volumes and negates any self-imposed rules for Retrohump. Lets just say that if I had to choose between Pete Doherty and the CBGBs bathroom, I'd take the bathroom everytime.
See Also: Retrohump Day - Punk Rock in relative terms
Tags:CBGB, Ramones, The Police, Dead Boys, Libertines, Retrohump
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:15 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Retrohump: Placeholder
In lieu of an actual Retrohump, which I'm told in forthcoming, here is the SNL skit on CGBGs. I'm also told that the R'Hump will tackle the same topic. I really, really like this sketch.
Posted by Keith O'Brien at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 17, 2006
K-Fed gets served
Stereogum doesn't have a monopoly on all matters concerning Britney, or in this case her punching bag of a husband.
Kevin Federline on WWE Monday Night Raw
You can see him get body slammed here. USMC serving our nation proudly.
Tags:Kevin Federline, WWE, Publicity stunts that make you go whaat?
Posted by Merry Swankster at 05:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Mets are not afraid of you and will beat your ass!
[Franklin Stucco in Franklin Square, NY is overtaken by the orange and blue. Click for large image.]
Octoberitis strikes the Merry Swankster
Is there anything better than playoff baseball when your team is in the thick of it? My beloved Mets face the Cardinals tonight in a pivotal game 5 placing the winner one game away from a Fall Classic date with the Tigers.
Last week I mentioned the slower stream of posts was the result of extra attention being placed on finishing the 3Q Podcast. While technically true, I should mention that trips to LA for game 3 of the NLDS and an escape to Shea for the first two games of the NLCS also played a large role in sucking my attention from the rawkness. You can never take this stuff for granted, so for better or worse my lifetime loyalty to the Metropolitans is taking center stage. Everything else falling by the wayside. The dog is starving, the laundry is piling up and I'm pretty sure I'll be fired from my job if the Mets advance to the World Series.
I don't want to taint this this medium for partisan purposes, as I have no intention of alienating our strong St. Louis base (Merry Swankster carried Missouri in the 2002 election -ed). So I'll bring it all back to MS relevance using Yo La Tengo, whose band name invokes the ancient 1962 Met team and their language barriers:
[Yo La Tengo's] name comes from a baseball anecdote. During the 1962 season, Richie Ashburn, the center fielder of the New York Mets, was collliding again and again with Venezuelan shortstop Elio Chacón. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into Chacón, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!" which is "I've got it" in Spanish. (via Wikipedia)
See also: The Young Manhattanite blog has a rundown of Mets theme songs.
Tags:Mets, NLCS, Yo La Tengo
Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 13, 2006
Quarterly Report, 3rd Quarter of 2006 Podcast
MS fanatics have been circling their rooms in frenzy, distraught that our latest podcast has been held up for a couple weeks. For that I apologize. I will not, however, apologize for quality! Or sucker punches. Kid should've been paying attention.
As anticipated, in all its CD-R length magnificence, is a not-so random sampling of the music that shaped the now departed summer. As always, the best albums are represented, the best tracks of sketchy records are liberated, and this time we've taken more pains to represent the changing music delivery landscape with more singles, remixes, and digital exclusives. There's even a touch of R & B, of all things. It's all over the place, really. But that's how we like it, here. You're welcome to join us by the fire...
Album of the Quarter : TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Runners up: Yo La Tengo - I am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass, the Ballet - Mattachine!
Merry Swankster, Q3 2006 Podcast (69.1 MB)
Tracklisting :
01: the Rapture - "Pieces of the People We Love" (from Pieces of the People We Love album)
The 00's "most likely to get swallowed up by hype and backlash" come back with a surprisingly strong DFA-less album. Their lyrics are still beyond vapid, but the foot tap meter on this Gary Glitter-ball is deep into the red.
02: Oneida - "History's Great Navigators " (from Happy New Year album)
Sweaty and manic rock from Brooklyn. Trucker's speed + piano = bloody fingers.
03: Peter Bjorn & John - "Young Folks" (from Writer's Block album)
Sweet and whistle-y pop from Sweden. The big beat lifts the touchy feely man-lady romance lyrics onto the dancefloor, where they shake instinctively without breaking eye contact. Feel good hit of the summer?
04: Thieves Like Us - "Drugs in My Body" (from Drugs in My Body 12")
This globe-hopping mystery band splits the difference between NYC and Stockholm and delivers this pale, thin disco ode to getting where you're going before the shit kicks in.
05: the Ballet - "Personal" (from Mattachine! album)
At turns lustful and naive, it's pretty much the best song about internet man cruising that I've ever sung along to compulsively.
06: Yo La Tengo - "Beanbag Chair" (from I am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Beat Your Ass album)
If it were twenty years in the future, this joyous horn blower would make for one hell of a Wes Anderson retro soundtrack selection. During the scene when the brilliant Hungarian psychotherapist and his twin brother the pirate compete for the affections of the lovely but sad rocket technician, but they all take a break from the rivalry to ride on the world's most whimsical ferris wheel, maybe?
07: Okkervil River - "the President's Dead" (from Overboard & Down Australian Tour EP)
A moving behavioral study of big historical events more than any kind of political statement, and much less likely to feel prematurely dated as a result.
08: Colourmusic - "Put in a Little Gas" (from Red EP)
From fun loops of big-beat choruses to a scary twee-pop monster voice. This sarcastic tale of pricey petrol becomes a frighteningly catchy number of bigness and over the top instrumentation. Perhaps they remind you of that other band from Oklahoma City. For Okie bands starting off in the shadow of that other band, "the show" can be an immense burden. Colourmusic is up to the challenge with bombastic aplomb. -Merry Swankster
09: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Diamond Sea" (from iTunes exclusive session)
I suspect alot of folks completely deserted YYY's after Show Your Bones was kind of a let down, but this soft and pretty condensation of Sonic Youth's 20 minute opus suggests that the kids still have it in them to be pretty and surprising, if not brutal and awesome.
10: Jarvis Cocker - "Cunts are Still Running the World" (digital single )
Classic class warfare from the ex-Pulp man, arriving at the only logical conclusion to be made from the current state of events.
11: Jeffrey & Jack Lewis - "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" (from City and Eastern Songs album)
Man can't sing, and the Williamsburg in jokes might lose some outlanders, but songs as smart as this descent into hipster hell are hard to shrug off as just a joke. Although it is much funnier and more neurotic than 'Bonnie' Prince Billy, at the very least.
12: Grizzly Bear - "the Knife" (from Yellow House album)
The hushed church feel of Yellow House only really connects for me here when it picks up the pace ever so slightly and blossoms into Beach Boys harmonics.
13: Asobi Seksu - "Strawberries" (Cassettes Won't Listen remix) (single)
Jason Drake's beat (re)making slosh with chums Asobi Seksu for a chunktakulous remix of Citrus stand out. Keeping Yuki's soft falsetto and messing with the rest, Drake's big beat touches and clean bigness add dance floor shrink wrap to what was already a devastatingly catchy pop song. - MS
14: Junior Boys - "In the Morning" (from So This is Goodbye Album album)
When poeple heap praise on Timberlake (which happens all the God damn time these days) they usually describe it to sound like this track actually does. Next level elctronic burbles, with a beat for the dancefloor, punctuated by percussive sex breathing. Then you listen to JT and it blows, whereas this is pretty guiltless in its quality.
15: Beyonce - "Ring the Alarm" (from B'Day album)
In the weeks and months leading up to this 'cast, this girl pop spot was penciled in for the Pipettes. Beyonce would eat those girls for lunch. Uber materialistic lovesick punk R & B is a genre now apparently...
16: TV on the Radio - "Wolf Like Me " (from Return to Cookie Mountain album)
Buzzsaw guitars and expelled noise propel this lusty werewolf tale with the rush of a high speed chase through the city. Heavily seasoned with lycanthropic metaphors, the era of wolves continues to reap excitement. High scoring in exit polling for song of year. - MS
17: Ladyhawk - "War" (from Mushroom Sessions)
The track from recordings dubbed the Mushroom Sessions makes for a delightful Wolf Parade knockoff. The comparison is not meant to be disparaging because for a Ladyhawk song this isn't a very representative track. Ladyhawk pulls off a great song without making their trademark guitars the main attraction. -MS
18: Xiu Xiu - "Hello From Eau Claire" (from the Air Force album)
The proper vocal debut of Jamie Stewart sidekick Caralee, is typically gender confused and atypically sweet sounding.
19: Frog Eyes - "Caravan Breakers" (from the Daytrotter Sessions)
Left for last, because I know Carey's a divider, and wanted to make it easy for timid folks to jump ship. Also saved for last becasue it's the best. A staggering, bleeding hulk of a song. I implore you to stick it out at least until the rumination on whether to prey on or for the weak and the old, even if the intital flailing yelps aren't to your liking. In the very tip top percentage of song released this year (next year on record, but it exists now via Daytrotter and I refuse to play pretend). Also, it slips a little Krug in the backdoor, and it wouldn't be an '06 podcast without him.
So that's it. We put our 'cast compiler hat back on the shelf until 2006 is breathing its last. We got a new one with some ear flaps, so it'll all be very exciting.
Tags: the Rapture, Oneida, Peter Bjorn & John, Thieves Like Us, the Ballet, Yo La Tengo, Okkervil River, Colourmusic, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jarvis Cocker, Jeffrey Lewis, Grizzly Bear, Asobi Seksu, Cassettes Won't Listen, Junior Boys, Beyonce, TV on the Radio, Ladyhawk, Xiu Xiu, Frog Eyes,Music Podcasts
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sportscenter for indie nerds
Actual quote from this AM's Sportscenter:
What James Mercer is to the Shins, Carlos Beltran to the Mets.
Merry Swankster, somewhere in New York currently, just swooned.
Posted by Keith O'Brien at 07:32 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 12, 2006
MS Pick - Oakley Hall
Jagjaguwar is a hip place in the our eyes and we will continue trumpeting their efforts as long as they stay the course of signing great bands. I sang the label praises last week when I teased about yet another band from the label* finding a comfy home on my stereo. I introduce my new pet band now. Oakley Hall.
Oakley Hall sound like a band that met in 1973 on a hippie commune in the deep South and packed up their bags for a hike north on the Appalachian trail to pick up both styles and members before settling their walkabout in Brooklyn, NY.
Daytrotter explains it better:
"Oakley Hall, a six-piece with a backwoods mentality and a bluegrassy clutch on male-female harmonies—lacquered with psychedelia and campfire smoke, smothered in barbeque sauce and smelling like the freshness of the outdoors, calls one of the biggest urban centrals in the world home."
Lead man Patrick Sullivan anchors the band with a sweetness in his vocals that its understandable why he is in Oakley Hall and not Oneida - another NYC band in which he was a founding member. The evidence of twang masks a New England upbringing that should be as controversial to rednecks as NorCal Creedance and UK Stones were; as in not at all. Both those bands rose to prominence as song purveyors from the Bayou swamps and Mississippi blues, respectively, wrapping themselves in the Dixie flag from way on the outside.
Far from the lone force of Oakley Hall, he is joined by guitarist and vocalist Rachel Cox who looks like a cuter Chloe Sevigny, supermodelesque (F) Claudia Mogel on fiddle and vocals, supermodelesque (M) Jesse Barnes on bass and vocals, MCA lookalike Greg Anderson on skins, and an intense Fred Wallace on lap steel and electric guitars. For the record Sullivan is a dead ringer for my college buddy Boris. I can only assume that Sullivan is as infatuated with dogs and fantasy sports as much as he is.
*Technically on Brah Records which is curated and managed by the band Oneida and produced and overseen by Jagjaguwar. Splitting hairs, but we are thorough.
"Four part harmonies meet my bestest friend the distorted guitar."
"A pleasure."
They then made sweet, sweet love into the long hours of the night and nine months later "Lazy Susan" was born.
Oakley Hall tourdates after the jump.
//Oakley Hall - site
//Oakley Hall - MySpace
//Oakley Hall - Gypsum Strings - buy
//Oakley Hall - Second Guessing - buy
Tags:Oakley Hall, Jagjaguwar, Brah Records, Oneida
10/12/06 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland w/ Long Winters
10/13/06 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10/14/06 Pioneer Town, CA - Pappy and Harriets
10/16/06 Tempe, AZ - Modified
10/17/06 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
10/20/06 Austin, TX - Emo's
10/21/06 Denton, TX - Hailey's
10/22/06 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live w/ Okkervil River
10/24/06 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10/25/06 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
10/26/06 Raleigh, NC - Kings
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 11, 2006
Retrohump Day - Eurovision(s of Terror!)
Last week's adorable footage of young France Gall winning hearts and votes in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest got me thinking. What other great clips could be culled from the 50 year old contest's archives? After extensive searching, I give the conclusive answer...None.
For those of you in the dark, the Eurovision Song Contest is like the pop song Olympics of the European Union. Member states all submit a yearly entry, whose merits are judged by the teeming masses of all those countries. From Russia to Luxembourg, national votes get equal weight no matter the individual population. You cannot vote for your own song. To appeal to such a wide swath of humanity, winning entries have to stick pretty close to the middle of the road, but vast cultural gaps do sometimes let hilarity ensue.
A primer...
ABBA - "Waterloo", 1976
30 years later, this is probably the gold standard in Eurovision, both for launching the career of a successful artist and producing a listenable song. I'm not going to claim that ABBA don't have any good songs, because they do know their way around a sophisticated pop hook, but this is not a particularly good one. I mean, it's inoffensive enough I guess, and I enjoy the silly orchestra leader dressed as Napolean, but whomever keeps flipping the disembodied saxophone switch needs to be stopped. It brings an already cheesy song up to levels of severe lactose intolerance. Plus, Benny looks at least mildly retarded and his star burst guitar is ridiculous. There are also several crimes against trousers on display. All of this is obvious, and picking on seventies production and fashion is so easy to do that I'd usually avoid it, but this is like the absolute pinnacle of Eurovision! The best one EVER!
This clip is amusing in that it does give you a sense of why the competition remains really entertaining in spite of the generally poor quality of the entries. The terrible television production, terminally goofy profiles, and sports caster-esque play by play are all top notch.
the Herreys - "Diggi Loo Diggi Ley", 1984
This is a more standard entry, also representing Sweden, from these never weres called the Herreys. In watching ALOT of old ESC footage, you notice some trends emerging. The mark of popular entries usually featured non threatening young Up With People types in matching pants with different colored shirts, singing really inoffensive songs centered around nonsense lyrics and punctuated with dance moves that could have been put together in an afternoon. This is the winning (!) entry from 1984 but it could have been anywhere from 1st to 7th place in the years 1972 to 1987 with virtually no difference (you might not even notice a language change, honestly). But be thankfully for this mode, as the 90's quickly devolved into Celine Dion (a ECS alumni) impersonations. I will not subject you to that.
Dschinghis Khan - "Dschinghis Khan", 1979
Where the ECS really picks up watch-ability steam is in the certainty that some entries will be absolutely bizarre. Isreali ska. Turkish hip-hop. Cartoonish cowboy techno from Belgium (I remember that one from the sole complete broadcast I watched in Sydney, but the name escapes me). Here we have Germans performing a Village People style number dressed as (and one can only guess singing about) the Mongol Hordes. Yeah.
Lordi - "Hard Rock Hallelujah", 2006
Skipping way ahead we have last year's champ, Finnish Gwar-rockers Lordi. I picked their after coronation victory lap performance, because nationalistic monsters in hats are funny. This is spectacularly terrible and it would have been a complete travesty if it hadn't won. Hopefully like ABBA and Celine before it, it will inspire legions of imitators in years to come. And some American cable station will air the thing in all its highly suspect glory.
Tags: France Gall, Eurovision Song Contest, ABBA, the Herreys, Dschinghis Khan, Lordi, Monsters in Hats, Celine Dion
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 10, 2006
We're still here | Podcast coming
Hi kids. We haven't dropped out from our corner of the Internet. Its just that our small studio on the blogosphere is busy working on the 3rd quarter podcast which we hope to post this week. So far it looks and sounds pretty great so ready those blank CDs for a continuous mix of the best music from the last 3 months. We have been quite busy here at MS.com. Between juggling new duties and following the Mets in the playoffs, our collective slice of blogging time has been impeded on. Trust me though, the podcast is wicked, and lots of stuff that is currently bottlenecked will be coming out sooner rather than later. With that I bid you good day!
-Merry Swankster staff
Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 06, 2006
When Album Covers Attack!
The increasing sales of digital music may have an unintended consequence - the end of album art. I know that at least two-thirds of Merry Swankster partners fondly adhere to the official CD release for both artifact and as a physical representation of one’s music collection. The value, accessibility, and portability of music digitization has been a wonderful thing, but there is something to be said about flipping through a CD (or album) collection and reminiscing with memories tied to particular records that cannot be duplicated with the quick scrolling of an iPod.
The Apple people understand the emptiness that naysayers of digital music have towards the medium and are clearly striving for that visceral feeling that comes only with rich visuals that album art provides. The latest iTunes version (7.0) has a nifty feature that allows browsing by album cover which actually gives more of a jukebox feel than a scan through a CD tower, but its close and better than bland text on a screen. (That is of course until the iPod brain implant version gets released.)
Why am I saying all this? Because I support the “full package” of a CD release. Artists take time in planning the cover art, lyrics layout and thank yous to their family and producer. Also, because without them we would never enjoy this video which is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Tell me that different episodes of your life did not flash through your mind upon seeing the classic covers used in the video and I’ll call you a liar, or you’ll call me a big music geek. (From: Motionographer via: Stereogum)
Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Interview with Ben Daniels of A Sunny Day in Glasgow
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "the Best Summer Ever"
We've been big fans of the odd and appealing music made by Ben Daniels and his sisters for a while now. Their self released the Sunniest Day Ever EP has been wearing out the new fangled hi-fi in MS towers since we got our hands on a copy at the beginning of the year. In advance of this Sunday's live appearance at Piano's in Manhattan, I caught up with the A Sunny Day in Glasgow mastermind as he nursed a brutal cold, pounded cough syrup, and had nothing better to do. It went like this...
Jeff K: Considering the dense layering that goes into your songs, do you have a concrete idea going in of what sort of noise to melody ratio you'd like to achieve?
Ben Daniels: Not really. Midway through recording the full length record I got this pedal called the "Fuzz Factory" which is totally amazing and that made me want to put noise on everything. Noise usually comes later once I get going on a song. I should probably switch this up though and see what happens
JK: Do you ever have the impulse to bury a melody because it's too straightforward?
BD: Maybe. This is the first time I've ever tried to write melodies, so I'm pretty insecure about them. Burying though is probably more to obscure the words. I've never really written lyrics before either. Also, I just like having the vocals there as another instrument. But I don't think I bury them all that much.
JK: What emphasis should the listener place on the lyrics in your songs, considering they're often obscured?
BD: Well, I mean, all the lyrics are meaningful. There's one song on the full length that has a really repetitive, nonsensical lyrical part that is maybe not so important, but the other parts going on around are meaningful. I don't know, the songs are all about something I guess, but the aesthetic experience of listening to the whole thing is far more important I'd say.
JK: Is making music something you've always shared with your sisters? Or was it more a matter of convenience and proximity that they became involved in ASDIG?
BD: No, we've never played music together. I remember when I first starting playing guitar our grandmother used to always say we should play music and sing together and I always thought she was crazy. I never even really considered it until I got in this argument with a friend a year ago or so. We were arguing about who had good voices among people we knew and I said that my sisters had better voices than probably anyone I knew. That put the idea into my head. And then I guess it was convenience, but I mean, they have terrific voices, so it's alot more than convenience.
JK: How difficult was it for you to translate your sound to live performance?
BD: This has been really hard. I think we have a long way to go with our live show. We have a drummer for the next couple of shows, so that will help. I love recording with drum machines and samples and stuff, but unless you have really great equipment I think it's hard to make that work live. I have shitty amps and 3rd rate equipment. I don't really know what I'm doing with most of it anyway. If anyone reading this wants to do live beats for us and can make it sound awesome, send us an email.
Tags: A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Piano's, King Kong Ding Dong
JK: Is a full time touring band even your end goal, or is making music in the studio (bedroom) where you get your fulfillment from it?
BD: I guess there are people who enjoy 9-5 jobs, but they make me just want to give up on everything and everyone. I'd love to tour and make a living from music, but it's hard. Especially with a band of people who all have different ideas, goals, etc... I don't know, I hope we can get out on some kind of tour to somewhere once the full length is out. But yeah, even without touring, I really enjoy just recording music.
Most of all I think I just like everything that surrounds "bands" or pop music in general. It's so exciting to get to release stuff you've made. Even if it's just to your dumb friends or whatever on a CDR or cassette or something. Even if it's terrible. I can't really say what I want to here, but did you ever see that Half Japanese movie, I think it's called "The Band That Would Be King".