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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 October 13, 2006 11:35 AM
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