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April 10, 2007
Quarterly Report: First Quarter of 2007 Podcast
Well, I have no real excuse for the week's delay in bringing you the first of 2007's CD-R length quarterly podcasts, except to say that there was a ton of material to sift through this time around. Blockbuster follow ups and surprise career high points were practically falling from the trees. It's not often that you could field a completely respectable top 5 for the year just from the first few months of recorded work.
So take a bow, Q1 '07, we'll not see your likes again...
Album of the Quarter : Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are You the Destroyer?
Runners up: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver, Deerhunter - Cryptograms
the Merry Swankster Podcast - First Quarter, 2007
Tracklisting :
01: Deerhunter - "Heatherwood" (from Cryptograms)
For Sonic Youth fans who aren't interested in graceful aging, you could hardly do better. A promising start for the year.
02: Black Lips - "Not a Problem" (from Los Valientes del Mundo Neuvo)
I'm not sure that Atlantans the Black Lips will ever write enough good songs for them to be known as anything other than "the band that peed in its own mouth." Here, they convince you that they might be up to it, momentarily equaling the Nuggets groups that they obviously worship.
03: Handsome Furs - "the Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" (Liars cover, live in Ottawa)
Although I kind of think this track was actually recorded at a concert from the end of last year, this was the quarter in which the internet delivered it to our clutches, and that's good enough for me. We know now that the loose cascading backing track and free style lyrical rambling from this Liars cover are actually the building blocks of Plague Park's "Dead + Rural." I guess that means that a full blown studio take of Boeckner belting out "I Can Always Beeeeee Found" is out of the question. Shame.
04: the Besnard Lakes - "Devastation" (from ...Are the Dark Horse)
This track reaches for huge, religious reverence. I'm not quite sure if it's the Rapture or the Ragnarok that we're dealing with, however.
05: Menomena- "Air Aid" (from Friend and Foe)
What good is a computer program that generates songs if it won't cough up a mean, ball swinging, Zeppelin stomper now and again? I guess it's a little politer than that, despite the black magic vibe. These are be-sweatered Oregonians and not mackerel wielding degenerates after all.
06: Marnie Stern - "Every Single Line Means Something" (from In Advance of the Broken Arm)
By sheer riff power, Marnie Stern made the New York Times realize, "Hey, girls can play guitar!" That's true, you know.
07: Apache Beat - "Tropics" (from the Tropics 12")
Okay, this one is a slight cheat. I had penciled in this rhythm monster back when Apache Beat were still in the loving glow of our Neon Lights. Now, it turns out the single release on Summer Lovers Unlimited is pushed back until May. It's still too personally associated with the Winter of '07 for me to slate it anywhere else. Consider this some dramatic foreshadowing.
08: Times New Viking - "Love Your Daughters" (from the Paisley Reich)
I know this sounds like a bunch of trashy old noise to some, but I really can't relate. To me, it's this proud tune that struggled to find its way home from war overseas, battling shipwrecks and sea monsters, stumbling to the door tattered and torn. But underneath the wind damage and scabby knees, it's still the brave strong melody we admired so long ago.
09: Deerhoof - "Matchbook Seeks Maniac" (from Friend Opportunity)
It's unfair to say that Deerhoof have been too art damaged to connect on an emotional level before this, as they've had their moments, but this is definitely their best ever slow dance.
10: Panda Bear - "Comfy in Nautica" (from Person Pitch)
It's easy for kids who listen to and read about music constantly to get smug in our conventional wisdom. I was so sure of the obvious link to Brian Wilson's vocal harmonies that I decided Person PItch would be great, innocuous car ride soundtrack material on a recent parental visit. Dad reaction 1: "Is this CD skipping?" Dad reaction 2: "This sounds like some kind of religious chanting. This is brutal." So I guess we shouldn't understate how Noah Lennox takes familiar influences and makes them sound bizarre. It's also nice to know that music I consider pretty accessible can still freak out my parents.
11: A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "5:15 Train" (from Scribble Mural Comic Journal)
Our pals from Philly make good, keeping the submerged singing intact, but stretching their structure even further into oddsville, with unique and thrilling results.
12: Gui Boratto- "Beautiful Life" (from Chromophobia )
Brazilian techno torch song par excellence. A spring in your step, a breeze on your back.
13: LCD Soundsystem- "Someone Great" (from the Sound of Silver)
Specific about the small things and vague about the big ones. James Murphy, top crank, manages heartbreak, which I'm not sure anyone saw coming. Some of the most sublime synth tones since New Order doesn't hurt.
14: Sophie Ellis-Bextor- "Catch You" (single)
The lyrics here are fluffy bordering on surreal. How exactly are you going to be in my coffee spoon, Sophie? But that's beside the point, which is that this song is superficial with a capital super.
15: Patrick Wolf - "the Magic Position" (from the Magic Position)
While precocious was the descriptor of choice for Mr. Wolf's early material, I leaned towards full of shit. He's much better now.
16: Of Montreal - "She's a Rejecter" (from Hissing Fauna, are You the Destroyer?)
The song hasn't gotten old, even though it feels like it leaked about five years ago. But the little touches ("robo-cop" instead of plain cop) now delight as much as the screaming crack up (Ican'tIcan'tIcan'tI-CAN'T!) that was the initial draw. The one thing that still confuses me is its timeline in Hissing Fauna's narrative, falling after he's regained his lady love and his self confidence. So who was the rejecter? Guess I'll have to listen again, for like the rest of my life...
17: Arcade Fire - "Ocean of Noise" (from Neon Bible)
I know the swells to catharsis are what leads to Craigslist sex trade, but the "stuck inside on a stormy night" restraint here is probably my favorite moment of Neon Bible.
18: Beirut - "Elephant Gun" (from Lon Gisland EP)
I didn't really set out to end with its gentlest track, but it was kind of a ragged, charging few months, and nowhere else seemed to fit. It's a lovely song, though.
Fin. Let us ease into our beloved Spring.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at April 10, 2007 07:20 AM
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Comments
Bravo.
Posted by: Kelli Doulgas at April 10, 2007 05:29 PM
Agreed, well done, Jeff. The sequencing/mixing shows deft experience and sense. But isn't that LCD bit from that Nike jazz? I've definitely heard the part in the mix, and I'm yet to listen to the new album.
Posted by: Randall Monty at April 10, 2007 09:49 PM
Yeah, that instrumental was recycled, and given lyrics, because it was too good to waste, I guess. You should really get that disc, by the way...
Posted by: Jeff K at April 10, 2007 10:02 PM
Black Lips are probably the best band in the world right now. All that other shit is boring
Posted by: Rendel Katley at April 11, 2007 10:36 AM
How would I subscribe to your podcast?
I think the whole thing about a podcast is that it's an expression to describe subscribability not just an mp3 - otherwise it's just an mp3 mix I guess.
Posted by: Mike at April 11, 2007 03:59 PM
Mike - We are working on it. Stay tuned. We are admirers of your blog btw.
-MS
Posted by: Merry Swankster at April 11, 2007 04:58 PM
Rendel, I don't even know where to begin, but if you want to stick your head in the ground and pretend nothing has happened since 1965, be my guest. Your defintition of 'best' is highly suspect though.
Mike, I mean I guess mp3 mix might be more technically accurate, but I always thought the 'cast part of the equation was taken from broadcast. Like if you listen to this, it's our weird approximation of what we would put out there if given some bandwith. Maybe we should come up with another word? Suggestions?
Posted by: Jeff K at April 11, 2007 05:40 PM
