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January 31, 2008
Texas: February Shows
We've got a lot more Lone Star listing for this, the shortest month of the year. (You'll notice the MS pick of the month embolden.) We've also included a few appropriate MP3's to whet your musical appetite, so enjoy the warming weather, and prepare yourself for the SXSW onslaught coming next month.
Austin
01 Flogging Molly at Stubb’s
02 Angels & Airwaves w/ Meg & Dia at Stubb’s
02 Super Furry Animals w/ Holy Fuck at Emo’s Outside
03 Band of Horses w/ Cass McCombs at La Zona Rosa
04 the Go-Go’s at Antones
04 Willie Nelson at the Travis County Expo Center
05 The Bravery w/ the Switches at Emo’s Outside
10 Blood on the Wall, Black Mountain and Dead Meadow at Emo’s
10 Dead Meadows at Emo’s, Jr.
13 Molotov at La Zona Rosa
15 Grant Hart (Husker Du), Grand Champeen, Service Industry at the Mohawk
15 Bear Colony, Look Mexico at Emo's
16 Liars and No Age at the Mohawk
16 Rodrigo y Gabriela at La Zona Rosa
21 North Mississippi All Stars at Waterloo Records
22 Cobra Starship, Metro Station, We the Kings, The Cab at Emo’s Outside
23 The Black Lips at Emo’s Outside
23 Dean & Britta (Luna), Keran Ann at the Cactus Cafe
23 G. Love and Special Sauce, Tristan Prettyman at Stubb's
23 Hal Ketchum w/ 10 Mile Crossing at La Zona Rosa
23 Spectrum at Club de Ville
29 NOFX, No Use for a Name, Flatliners at Stubb's
Dallas
01 Fiery Furnaces, Super Furry Animals, Holy Fuck at Granada Theater
02 Band of Horses w/ Cass McCombs at Palladium Ballroom
05-06 Willie Nelson at the Meyerson Symphony Center
10 Blood on the Wall, Black Mountain and Dead Meadow at Granada Theater
19 Balmorhea at Good Records
22 Spectrum at Melodica Festival
24 The Black Lips at the Loft
29 Outformation at the Granada Theater
Denton
17 Liars and No Age at Haily’s
Houston
03 Fiery Furnaces at the Proletariat
13 Dead Meadows at the Mink
RGV
09 Patricia Vonne at Cine El Rey, McAllen
13 Stereokitsch at Cine El Rey w/ the Apple in the Tree, Meshach Jackson at Cine El Rey
15 RBD at the Dodge Arena, Hidalgo
23 Emery w/ Mayday Parade, As Cities Burn, Pierce the Veil, Cry of the Affucted at Cine El Rey, McAllen
25 Aiden Conviction w/ The Birthday Massacre, Schoolyard Heroes, Farewell to Freeway at Cine El Rey, McAllen
28 Alan Jackson at the Dodge Arena, Hidalgo
Posted by Randall Monty at 08:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Video: Shocking Pinks "Emily"
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2008
Retrohump Night: Credit in the Straight World
Young Marble Giants - "Credit in the Straight World"
(Live @ the Hurrah Club, New York City 1980)
Young Marble Giants - "Credit in the Straight World"
The 1980 performance immortalized on Young Marble Giants' Live at the Hurrah VHS tape is all over You Tube, and deserves a Retro with a more expansive view then I'm prepared to give at the moment. But I will focus on this sublime footage of my favorite song of theirs, "Credit in the Straight World." Aesthetically, this video fits the mysterious, minimal Welsh band perfectly, practically mimicking the under-lit cover of their cult classic Colossal Youth. From under shadow, the band glows with warm pink light. Alison Statton stands motionless, a visual parallel to her strangely detached singing. She lost a leg, she lost an eye, and neither seemed to faze her much. Guitarist Stuart Moxham paces around, channeling the nervousness of the strums that lend drama to her deadpan. It's still a beguiling mixture that no one has ever really gotten a hold of since. Including...
Hole - "Credit in the Straight World"
(Koln, Germany 1995)
Hole - "Credit in the Straight World"
This is worse in almost every way, but I find it oddly compelling anyway. Courtney was always a hot mess, and muscling this track up with grunge riffs is a bit like casting a snowflake in iron, but she still rocks pretty hard. The million dollar question is who do you think it was that stumbled across this then out of print record first; Court or Saint Kurt? Wait, you still have forty seconds left on the timer. Don't you want to think it over?
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 09:25 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
The Love Affair Continues...
I'm tempted to apologize for the continuing stream of Hellenic hype but hey, this is a music blog, and any so-called "music lover" who doesn't become enraptured to the point of gratuitous repeat from time to time should be the object of intense skepticism. And after wading into the now circulating full length Hercules & Love Affair LP, I'm afraid an inoculation for disco fever will not be forthcoming.
Hercules & Love Affair - "Raise Me Up"
First, to temper expectations, I have to stipulate that this song is not the equal for the previously posted "Blind." I say that not in disappointment but as mathematical fact. That is the sort of single artists spend a whole career trying to live up to, let alone equal in a single disc. But the collaboration between producer Andrew Butler and the very strange man known as Antony provides a handful of highlights throughout the rest of the record. If the stellar non-Antony strut, "Hercules' Theme" already has a lock on its silver medal, Hercules & Love Affair's penultimate track "Raise Me Up," probably gets the bronze.
I'm not quite sure why I haven't been able to get behind Antony and the Johnsons records. I made a snarky Aaron Neville comparison last week, but that's probably more dismissive than strictly necessary. I guess I could never wrap my head around the intense vulnerability in Antony's songs as delivered in such an operatic manner. There was just a fundamental disconnect between the virtuoso performance and the lyrical unease that left me cold.
Set to Butler's beats, his quavering pipes have a much different contextual meaning. In H & LA tracks, Antony plays the part of fantasy diva--personally meek, but empowered by the democracy of the dance club. "Raise me up/ to dance on the hollow of your hand," he begs his godly beat merchant. That prayer is met with an impeccably vintage disco throb, that's punctuated by sneaky key twinkles and sublimely buttery horn blasts. And perhaps simple tempo can't be discounted as the key factor. Without a glacial pace to toy with, Antony doesn't have time for tortured ululation. Reduced by necessity to slight Bryan Ferry bleating, the strength of his vocal gift is all the more easily enjoyed.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Michael Cera + Demetri Martin = Ezra Koenig?
[Actor Michael Cera, Comedian Demetri Martin]
This may be too high a dosage of nerdy celebrity hipsters for one post...careful.
[Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig]
Previously:
Eddie Argos & Adam Morrison
Jesse Hughes from EODM = Thomas Jane?
Billy Corgan + Eminem = Gerard Way?
Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:07 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 29, 2008
Denver music festival for your parents
Dicks's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City
What started as talks of a Denver version of Austin City Limits and Coachella is now an event headlined by Tom Petty. Steve Winwood and 48 other unnamed bands will also play.
After a major setback in location, the Mile High Music and Arts Festival will go on in July, but at the complex of soccer fields that surround Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City instead of City Park.Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will be one of the festival's headliners, and Steve Winwood — on tour this summer with Petty — will also play the two-day event, which could draw up to 50,000 people per day on July 19-20.
In late December, Denver Zoo president Craig Piper told promoter AEG Live and city officials that he could not support the festival in City Park because of possible impact on the animals. At that point, AEG Live turned to Dick's Sporting Goods Park, sources told The Denver Post on Monday. The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the new plan or acts at this time.
The park's owner is longtime AEG Live collaborator Stan Kroenke, owner of the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Rapids and the Pepsi Center. He built Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Rapids.
AEG Live will announce in the next month that the festival will take place in the fields surrounding the Commerce City stadium — taking over the 24 full-size, fully lit grassy fields to the south and east of the facility. The promoter is not planning to use the stadium. AEG Live will likely go forward with its original plan of two free-standing main stages and three smaller stages, allowing for 50 acts to perform over two days and nights.
The first major concert held in the stadium, Kenny Chesney in mid-2007, had mixed marks. The sold-out show was a crowd-pleaser, but many fans asked for refunds because of poor acoustics.
[AEG Live chief Chuck] Morris, who came up with the idea for the festival, would not confirm the news, but he did say: "If in fact the festival will be at the soccer complex next to the stadium, that's great because it's an amazingly beautiful area with lots of grass — not unlike Coachella and its polo fields. It's very pretty over there, as it faces the city and the mountains.(via)
Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 28, 2008
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 1.28 - 2.03
Liars
Monday, January 28
Fight Like Hell @ Marquis Theater
Thunder Malloy @ Larimer Lounge
Tuesday, January 29
Grouch & Eligh @ Fox Theatre
The Silver Cord @ Larimer Lounge
Wyclef Jean @ Gothic Theatre
Wednesday, January 30
Calm. @ Larimer Lounge
U-Melt @ Fox Theatre
Thursday, January 31
BLVD @ Fox Theatre
Gallows @ Marquis Theater
The Pseudo Dates @ Larimer Lounge
The Swindlers @ Hi-Dive
Friday, February 1
Blood On The Wall @ Larimer Lounge
Editors @ Ogden Theater
Hot Buttered Rum @ Fox Theatre
The Liars @ Marquis Theater
Talib Kweli @ Gothic Theatre
Widowers @ Hi-Dive
Saturday, February 2
D. Biddle @ Hi-Dive
Git Some @ Larimer Lounge
Hot Buttered Rum @ Fox Theatre
Keller Williams @ Fillmore Auditorium
P-Nuckle @ Gothic Theatre
Poison In The Well @ Marquis Theater
Sunday, February 3
Ten And Tracer @ Larimer Lounge
Tim Finn @ Boulder Theater (E-Town)
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 27, 2008
Video: Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
Here is an easy one...guess what band I'm really digging so far this year?
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 26, 2008
Nice hack
We've slightly updated our functionality (hooray for progress) by imbedding the Yahoo media player (BETA!). When you maneuver the right tubes to access MerrySwankster.com, a Yahoo logo should pop up in the bottom-left corner of your browser. You will be able to use it shuffle through every song on the homepage. Enjoy
Posted by Keith O'Brien at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Slow Your Roll
This is an odd, but true statement. Lil Wayne's prodigious output is degrading his status because he's putting too much effort in his songs. For realz.
The five-track The Leak EP, which features songs from sessions for the forthcoming Tha Carter III, is too serious and boring. That saddens me. It's a bit callous to be nitpicky about a man's craft when he's staring down three felony charges.
It is confirmed: Lil Wayne is best when he's the hardcore version of Kool Keith - that is, to say, scatological, nonsensical, irreverent. When he's talking about stuntin like his daddy (who is 100% not his daddy), I feel like there's something missing, something ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
But when he's all "Great... Scott... Scott Storch, can I borrow your yacht?", like on "We Taking' Over (Remix)", I'm listening. So that brings us to "Love Me or Hate Me," the overwrought track from The Leak. He begins with a tried (paraphrase) "Never fall like Niagra, keep coming up like Viagra). Yawn. While I will admit, Lil Wayne wields those pop culture references better than most, I could as easily see Kayne West or Jay-Z or, well, anyone saying the same thing.
But, then, the brilliance. With no set-up; explanation; or, to my mind, attached metaphor: "I am agriculture."
So, if he can't beat the felony wrap, I hope he slows down his roll and finds the crazy we enjoy so much. Good luck, Weezy. Strop trying so hard to be the best MC, please.
Lil Wayne - We Taking Over (Remix)
Lil Wayne - Love Me or Hate Me
Posted by Keith O'Brien at 10:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 25, 2008
Old sports arenas never die; they just get demolished and sold for scrap metal.
Eager developers recently unveiled a model for a new entertainment complex in South Philadelphia. Casually missing from this grand model was an 18,000 seat indoor arena known as The Spectrum, in its place stood a hotel.
Though I fully admit that winding through nostalgia was much better back in the day, I felt that something had to be said for the building that hung musical placards like “Grateful Dead- 53 Spectrum Sell-Outs” in the rafters like they were sports championship banners (I know I know… they needed something to fill all the empty space).
The Spectrum is the very building that once felt the reverberations of a Dr. J dunk, once housed the Broad Street Bullies as The O.K. Corral housed Wyatt Earp, and once held its breath when Mr. T pounded the title away from Rocky. True these sports memories are great, but one of them is not even real which is why The Spectrum rightly met its true calling as a concert venue. After all, the building’s first event ever was for a concert, the Quaker City Jazz Festival, in 1967.
My favorite and most popular of Spectrum rock lore occurred when the building helped pen Roger Water’s magnum opus “Comfortably Numb.” As Rolling Stone once reported, Water’s inspiration for the song occurred at The Spectrum when he was shot up with tranquilizers to treat his hepatitis by a resourceful Philly doc during the 1977 Animals tour. Waters couldn’t finish the show and when recalling the event said it was “the longest two hours of my life…trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm.”
If this is in fact the last days of The Spectrum we’ll miss you. I thank you for the memories and the children conceived in your bathrooms during the Twisted Sister tour of 1984 thank you for the gift of life.
Posted by Yonah Korngold at 05:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Video: Hercules & Love Affair "Blind"
This song is sort of slapping my head around right now, as tasteful disco threatens to claim a second year of dominance. I'm usually sternly anti-Antony, despite the common hipster decree that he is some sort of sensitive vocal genius, but I think his warbling fits in here quite nicely. For once he doesn't remind me of Aaron Neville. The full-length DFA debut from H & LA is definitely one of my most anticipated LP's of the quarter.
The video fits our Suddenly Sparta pop-cultural blip as well...
Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind"
Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind"
Previously: Four for Friday Evening
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 03:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Should music downloads cost less than CDs?
Everyone's canned answer to that question should be a simple - yes. It doesn't make a lot of sense to pay the same price for digital versions of records when a CD costs the same. I'd rather get the hard copy of the music on CD, along with the artwork, liner notes, and whatever other goodies are included for the money if the costs are comparative. After all, it's not all that much work to rip CDs.
Downloading is mega convenient in that it's practically instant, and for singles it can't be beat, but the lack of the rest of the package washes away the urge for immediate gratification when it comes to digital albums. The Compact Disc is a remarkably good value and convenient in comparison to downloads when considering the latter allows only a one time opportunity to download the music. For digital music player fans, the plastic CD is useless in terms of need for listening, until it becomes an invaluable backup source in case of hard drive or digital music player failure. Anyone whose ever lost the contents of a hard drive can testify to the painful realization of losing the equivalent of their digital life. Losing an entire library of music is one of my most tragic nightmare. And yes you can always backup, but how many of you actually do? Right.
iTunes policy states you don't get second chances to download purchased songs after that initial download. However my CD collection has no such built in mechanisms stating how often I can rip the songs onto my hard drive, or anyone else's for that matter. The RIAA may think differently, but at least they aren't literally inside my music forcing the issue.
Before iTunes started moving away from copy-protected files, I used to be spit that last part about the embedded DRM protection with a bit more venom when explaining my decision to shy away from the download marketplace. However, increasingly DRM-free times have afforded an oppurtonity to realize that not even the lure of higher bit rates and removal of DRM is enough to change the manner in how I choose to receive my music. DRM concerns, while completely valid in these uncertain technological times, are not the real reason why most people do not download music and neither a legitimate barrier to why we are not seeing a true spike in the adoption of legal avenues for downloading music.
It's the cost, stupid!
Talk of the many ills of the music industry has become about as passé as pointing out the President's infinite foibles - acknowledged by everyone as expected and incredibly redundant. But really now, why on earth is the consumer expected to unflinchingly pay the same sum for a product that is clearly an inferior version of the traditional, hard copy? Accepted rules defining why a pay-per-view movie saved to your DVR is not the same as owning the DVD seem to not fit the music paradigm. Why is that? Clearly someone decided these things are different. I'd like to see the fleecing stop. I also want to know why Cat Power's new album is so damn boring, but that's neither here nor there. Is iTunes and its competition complicit in the 21st Century's Great Digital Swindle? Especially sad considering the fall guys in all this are technologically savvy, current digital music customers. Count them as part of the most considerate and loyal of the dwindling population who still buys music. And they're getting hosed.
Author Seth Godin explains why the market for downloadable movie rentals might go the (failing) music route:
"The movie studios are starting to get excited about renting movies digitally (via Apple and others). The pricing seems to be modeled on Blockbuster (+). Figure $3 a rental, another buck or so for HD. That seems 'fair', because it's in the same range as we're used to.
...and completely blow it:
"Blockbuster buys DVDs for $15 or $20 (probably a lot less in volume, but I have no clue what the real number is). The studios have to pay for duplication and warehousing and marketing and they take a risk with every pressing that they'll have to shred the leftovers.Blockbuster then rents them out 30 or 40 or more times each, meaning each rental costs Blockbuster fifty cents. Not to mention rent, surly clerks, cost of capital, advertising, etc. Or, in the case of Netflix, stamps.
In the case of online rentals, all of these intermediate costs immediately disappear. Gone.
So, why try to mimic the current model when it comes to pricing if the costs are mostly gone?
Some holes there. Servers, computers, bandwidth, co-location of network equipment, staff and salaries do add significant costs. However it's his focus on the efficient scalability of downloading that is indeed valid. Before all you music anarchists bring a light to your petrol-tipped torches and head out into the night, be sure to know Mr. Godin is not proposing the economically impossible, though perennial favorite, free.
"No, I don't think Free is always the answer, but I do think the studios are about to make a mistake of RIAA proportions. I'd charge fifty cents for an online rental. It would immediately hammer the rental stores (which is fine with Hollywood) and DVD replicators (also fine with Hollywood) but would instantly teach people a new habit....At fifty cents a rental, all desire for piracy goes out the window, replaced by convenience, ease of use and a clear conscience. More important, entire new services show up, habits are built and the studios end up with a direct relationship with consumers who want to hear from them. If they don't get greedy at the start.
Until the cost of digital versions of music is more in line with its actual value, specifically in relation to more robust formats like CDs or DVDs, I can't see how the business model is viable in the long term. It will not be acceptable to have a small percentage getting overpriced and the vast majority dealing on the black market of file trading and illegal downloading. The record industry's real problem is with its own innate greed - an inherently necessary evil for any capitalistic endeavor worth sustaining, but also a cause of great self-inflicted harm when not managed properly.
Read: How much for digital? [Seth Godin's blog]
Posted by Merry Swankster at 09:53 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
January 24, 2008
I Talked to Liars About Britpop! There's Proof...
So, as people who know me know, last year I got the very exciting chance to shoot the shit with one of my favorite bands of the decade, Liars. Mighty, mighty Liars. Prefix went through a wicked redesign around the time when it would have gone up, so it was pushed back until the slightly belated present. The clip above was a favorite part of the interview for me, when we were just sort of talking records. Apparently being devilish art-punks doesn't preclude an appreciation of Oasis (back-handed though it may be). A couple more snippets...
On Playing Abrasively for Huge Stadium Audiences:
On Influencing a New Crop of Bands:
To ignore my off camera stammering, and read the interview in full, go here.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Numerology: Stepping Up 39
The Thirty-Nine Steps is an organization of spies, collecting information on behalf of the foreign office of...
[Before the author of this column was able to complete the sentence above, the nefarious organization that controls human events thwarted his efforts. I have uncovered his notes, and done my best to transcribe them accurately. It doesn’t really matter who I am. Just consider me an emissary of some kind.]
I was searching for inspiration in Herman Melton’s Thirty-Nine Lashes—Well Laid On: Crime and Punishment in Southside Virginia 1750-1950, but found it completely devoid of references to songs with 39 in their titles. Next, no doubt more sensibly, I consulted my well-thumbed Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers, which stated in no uncertain terms that 39 is a mathematically uninteresting number. But these portents came to naught, I’m happy to report, for musically speaking, 39 is surprisingly fertile, with an undisputable winning song that has all sorts of numerical juju floating overhead, and a handful of interesting contenders and also-rans to boot. The climb through the 30s has not been without its perils, but at 39 I feel I have reached base camp.
Getting old makes strange bedfellows. Both the Cure and Jerry Lee Lewis sang songs about characters at the age of 39 who are desperately trying to keep the candle burning. Leave it to the Cure to come through with a dark, pained opus, cranking up the guitars and vocal angst against a massive sonic backdrop, to fine effect. If not for our winner, the Cure might have given us a Bummer Trifecta—a run of three dark and depressing winners in a row. As for the Killer, I may risk sounding a note of stodgy traditionalism, but I dig Jerry Lee when he is pounding away on the piano much more than when he’s tickling the ivories and crooning in laid-back country style, as he is on this one. Similarly laid-back is the brief “Raid on Bush Creek in ’39,” from the debut record by unsung trad rockers known as Goose Creek Symphony, which doesn’t hint at why this prolific Kentucky outfit earned comparisons to the Band.
If twee pop is your thing, check out “X39” by the Bristol-based outfit known as the Casswells: it’s the sound of people in elbow-patched cardigans, threadbare T’s and diaphanous pajama bottoms, strumming guitars. If you’re making a party tape on the theme of 39, think twice about following the Casswells with Sacramento’s Killing the Dream, whose “39th and Glisan” will dampen the mood just as sure as shootin’. But if you’re more the type whose parties generally end up with hordes of shirtless nomads beating their chests around a stack of burning tires, Karma to Burn’s “Thirty-Nine” might be just the thing.
Not long ago I went on at length about 36 being the number at which songwriters officially address women’s measurements. Indeed, titles like “36-24-36” abound; but I have now learned that some folks envision a slightly different golden mean, like Jimmy Jones, a smooth soul R&B singer whose biggest hit, “Handyman,” was turned into porridge by the honey-voiced James Taylor in 1977. “39-21-40 Shape” wasn’t a hit for Jones, but it serves as conclusive sonic evidence of a man who knows what he likes.
The always confounding Aesop Rock comes back to haunt me with another massive armload of beats, samples, and syllables. The atmosphere of “39 Thieves” is menacing and the beat is dark and slippery, and I have no idea what it’s about. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have to know what a song is about to enjoy it, but somehow when the thing I don’t get is a rap, I feel like I’m missing the whole point.
I have lived my entire life without any knowledge of the existence of Spock’s Beard, whose sixth album, Snow, is a neo-Christian parable about an albino psychic with a messianic following. [Cue Chris Farley’s interview w/ the Beard: “’Member that time you did that, um, album, about that albino psychic…with the…uh, messianic following, and um, but the guy dies but he achieves peace through his connection with God? Y’member that? That was awesome.”] “The 39th Street Blues (I’m Sick)” is more pop-metal than prog, like King’s X grafted onto Lamb Lies Down on Broadway-era Genesis, yet its coda sounds eerily “V-2 Schneider”-ly.
Spock's Beard - "The 39th Street Blues (I'm Sick)"
Ever since believing an interview in Circus magazine in which Freddie Mercury of Queen proclaimed that the band had chosen the name Queen “for its regal connotations,” I have always been taken in by them. They had oh so many tricks up their sleeve. Perhaps only Led Zeppelin rivals Queen in the sheer scope of aural territory covered. Although by the end of their career, Queen seemed to be letting the inherent bombast and theatricality of the enterprise take over, the first half dozen records are crammed with a great deal of inventive and utterly distinctive music. Although the debut album will always remain closest to my heart, thanks to a well-worn vinyl copy bequeathed to me my older brother, I do recognize that A Night at the Opera is Queen’s landmark album, boasting “Bohemian Rhapsody” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Death on Two Legs” and the ultimate 39 song in the universe by a long shot, “’39.”
Hearing “‘39” still feels like the breath of fresh air that it was in the era of Boston, Kiss, and Zep, cutting through the muddle with the sweet sound of acoustic guitar, vocal harmonies straight out of Oz, and eloquent, timeless sounding lyrics. Certainly the world “grandchildren” has never been more eloquently uttered in the context of a rock song before or since.
Questions abound: Why is it called “’39”? When you tick off the sequence of songs on Queen’s first five albums in order, you’ll find that “’39” shakes out to be the 39th song of the band’s recording career. That’s a first, I think. And it’s notable for being sung not by Freddie Mercury but by its composer, Brian May, now a certified rocket scientist and—this can’t be completely random—ranked No. 39 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. But what’s it all about? May says he was tapping into a sci-fi motif—the man who comes back from space travel having aged a year, to find a hundred years have passed—and relating it to his own sense of estrangement from his own home after returning as rock royalty. Somehow the result sounds has such a pure rustic sound it feels as if it could have been written in the sixteenth century. May delivers a memorable vocal in a plangent, earnest voice—backed by a chorus of flanged-out Mercury (as well as drummer Roger Taylor, who occasionally chimes in with an uncanny impersonation of a theremin.) Although Mercury gets proper credit for his singular vocals, May has a much better voice than a guitarist of his caliber needs to have, and its quiet strength helps seal the deal on this classic song. The Pacific Ocean performed a sweet cover of “’39” on So Beautiful and Cheap and Warm (2002), but it’s hard to top the ethereal beauty of the original.
Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. It's starting to get a bit tricky.
Previously: No. 1, 2-4, 5-7, 7 (counterpoint), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38
Posted by David Klein at 01:00 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 23, 2008
Video: Frog Eyes "Idle Songs"
Previously: On "Bushels"...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Retrohump: Liberal Fascism
I usually try to keep my politics out of my music blogging, but sometimes the Venn Diagram crossover is too vast to escape. As a primary season junkie, and a continually disagreeing but surprisingly continual National Review Online reader, I can't help but have come across tons of mentions of pudgy provocateur Jonah Goldberg's new book Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. At least half the country noticed as well, currently thrusting Mssr. Goldberg into the # 8 position on the Amazon charts and sneaking him into the top ten of the New York Times Bestseller List, as well as the guest chair of Mr. John Stewart. His big idea is that although the knee-jerk reaction of hippies and sarcastic teens alike is to throw out the term "fascist" at any right wing politician or lecturing Dad who wants to restrict their liberties, man, actual totalitarianism grew from leftist roots and continues to live on in the policies of the Democratic Party. Now, merit discussions of his argument would be rather tiresome and completely out of place on this fine pop-cultural establishment, so I'll pick my nit with the press release claim that this all constitutes "a startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics."
As anyone with a deep record collection can tell you, it was very well a startling new perspective...when Jello Biafra posited it...in 1979.
Dead Kennedys - "California Über Alles"
(live in San Fransisco, 1979)
I was reminded at a "slightly" inebriated party this weekend what a kick-ass song "California Über Alles" is. Probably the only hardcore punk song I can claim an unabashed love for, because it's sharp and funny as Hell. Structurally it's interesting too, with the breakneck pogo speed slowing down to goose-stepping tempo as Jello delivers his hilarious vision of a Liberal Dystopia whose "suede, denim secret police" have come for "your uncool niece." "Mellow out or you will pay!"
The video above reminds me why I greatly prefer the 90's slacker jams to the 80's sweaty hardcore. There's just something unseemly about trying that hard. And oh, how I wish there were some sleeves involved! But we gotta call a classic a classic, so the mp3 is below.
Dead Kennedys - "California Über Alles"
P.S. Lest DK neophytes think that they were some kind of conservative punk anomaly along the lines of our beloved Jonathan Richman, here's a subsequent version that substitutes a different California governor for the original's Jerry Brown. "We've got a bigger problem now..."
P.P.S. This shows that JG had actually met and toured campuses with Jello Biafra in 2002. Perhaps the music on the bus sparked a certain book proposal? Hmmm...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 21, 2008
Coachella lineup: Roger Waters, Portishead, no MBV
Hey! The Coachella lineup was announced! Coachella organizers went to Mexico City for the press conference announcing the initial lineup.
"The press conference Monday was staged in Mexico as an acknowledgment of the country’s strong fan, artist and press support for Coachella, which was staged for the first time in 1999. This year Austin and Porter TV will be among the Mexican acts playing the festival." (via)
As expected (with the exclusion of Tom Tancredo), everyone is hung up on the headliners. The anticipated percentage of complainers is already screaming and moaning and threatening nobody with threats of skipping the desert fest. Head over to the "Official Whine Bitch and Sob Thread" on the Coachella message boards if you're a sympathizer of the latter.
Here are a few quick thoughts after perusing the initial lineup.
-Bunch of artist repeats from last year, this is not a complaint (Spank Rock, Justice, Hot Chip).
-Hot Chip and Krafterk both playing Saturday...in the tent?
-Roger Waters performing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety will recreate many hazy high school memories. Fact.
-Do people care about the Verve?
-Jack Johnson's crowd will rival all the competing stages during his time slot. Only snobby hipsters will be surprised.
-Friday: The Breeders, Raconteurs, The National, Animal Collective, Battles, Diplo, Jens Lekman, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Black Lips
-Saturday: Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab, Rilo Kiley, M.I.A., Hot Chip, Stephen Malkmus, Mark Ronson, Islands, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, St. Vincent, Akron/Family, Grand Ole Party,
-Sunday: Roger Waters, My Morning Jacket, Gogol Bordello, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, The Field, Les Savy Fav, The Cool Kids, Holy Fuck, Black Mountain, I'm From Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra
Full lineup (with misspellings grandfathered over in honor of our Mexican neighbors), after the jump:
ViernesJack Johnson, The Verve, Raconteurs, Breeders, Fatboy Slim, Tegan and Sara, Madness, Swell Season, The National, Animal Collective, Slightly Stupid, Mum, Pendulum, Sharon Jones, Stars, Battles, Aesop Roc, Midnight Juggernauts, Does it Offend you yeah?, Minus the Bear, Spank Rock, Dan le sac vs Scrubious Pib, Diplo, Adam Freeland, Santo Gold, Jens Tokman, John Butter Trio, Vampire Weekend, Dan Deacon, Architecture in Helsinki, Sandra Collins, Busy P, Cut Copy, Black Lips, Datarock, Proffesor Murder, Reverend and the Makers, The Bees, Porter, Rogue Wave, Modeselektor, American Gang, Lucky I AM
Sabado
Portishead, Kraftwerk, Death Cab For Cutie, Cafe Tacvba, Sasha and Digweed, Rilo Kiley, Dwight Yoakam, M.I.A., Hot CHip, Cold War Kids, Stephen Malkmus, Devotchka, Floggin Molly, Mark Ronson, Turbonegro, Scars On Brodway, Islands, Enter Shikari, Calvin Harris, Boyz Noise, Junke Xl, Cinematic Orchestra, Jamie T, The Teenagers, VHS or Beta, Garbon/Silicon, Erol Alkan, Yo Majesty, Little Brother, Bonde Do Role, St. Vincent, Akron Family, MGMT, Institubes DJS, Surkin, Orgasmic, James Zbiola, SebastiAn, Kavinsky, Dready, The Birds and the Bees, Grand Ole party, New Young Pony Club, 120 Days, Yoav, Electrick Touch, UFFIE
Domingo
Roger Waters, Love and Rockets, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Chromeo, The Streets, Metric, Danny Tenaglia, Simian Mobile Disco, Booka Shade, Murs, Dimitri From Paris, Autolux, The Field, Lintop Kwesi Johnson, Les Savy Fab, The cool Kids, Sons and Daghters, Sia, Holy Fuck, Black Kuls, Black Mountain, The Animals, Kid Sister feat. A TRak, Mon Man, Duffy, Im From Barcelona, Manchester Orchestra, Deadmau5, The Horrors, Austin TV, Shoout out Lods, Plastiscenes, Brett Dennen
(via)
Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 1.21 - 1.27
Queensrÿche fan
Monday, January 21
Split Lip Rayfield @ Fox Theatre
Tuesday, January 22
Johnny Knows Karate @ Larimer Lounge
Lenny Kravitz @ Paramount Theatre
Melee @ Marquis Theater
V.A.S.T. @ Fox Theatre
Wednesday, January 23
The Art Of The Break @ Larimer Lounge
Ruiner @ Marquis Theater
Queensrÿche @ Fillmore Auditorium
Steep Canyon Rangers @ Boulder Theater
Vast @ Bluebird Theater
Thursday, January 24
Black Pegasus @ Fox Theatre
The Expendables @ Bluebird Theater
The Occasional Heat @ Larimer Lounge
The Railbenders @ Fillmore Auditorium
Friday, January 25
Big Easy Blowout @ Boulder Theater
Drag The River @ 3 Kings Tavern
Fell @ Larimer Lounge
Lazyface @ Soiled Dove
Rose Hill Drive @ Bluebird Theater
Son Of Man @ Gothic Theatre
STS9 @ Fillmore Auditorium
Saturday, January 26
5280 @ Gothic Theatre
Gasoline Lollipops @ Hi-Dive
John Croghan @ Larimer Lounge
Rahzel @ Fox Theatre
Rexway @ Soiled Dove
STS9 @ Fillmore Auditorium
STS9 After Party @ Gothic Theatre
The Subdudes @ Ogden Theater
Sunday, January 27
The Mars Volta @ Fox Theatre
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Video: Björk "Declare Independence"
I haven't liked her past two records much at all, but I'm really a little stunned to belatedly learn that there was a new Michel Gondry directed video, and it completely escaped my notice. Good God man, who have I become....
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 04:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 20, 2008
R.I.P. John Stewart, Kingston Trio
the Kingston Trio - "Charlie and the MTA"
the Monkeys - "Daydream Believer" (music and lyrics by John Stewart)
John Stewart, September 5, 1939 - January 19, 2008, was pronounced dead in a San Diego hospital on Saturday. The KGTV story can be found here.
Posted by Randall Monty at 09:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 19, 2008
Video: Pterodactyl, live in Brooklyn
Pterodactyl - "Esses"
(Live @ Don Pedro's, Brooklyn, 07-12-07)
This clip from Joly Punkcast has been up since the summer, so I'm not exactly breaking news here, but it only has around 250 views since then, so maybe I sort of am. I'd recently had an epiphany that this is a swell little noise-pop song indeed, so the impulse is explained, anyway.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 18, 2008
Football: the musical
Can't get any tougher than those San Diego Chargers.
(Note: the song is from the 70s)
Posted by Keith O'Brien at 04:29 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Works in Progress: the Monochrome Set
We've mentioned the Monochrome Set before; partially, wordlessly, or tangentially to other points. But we've never gone into any real depth on the unsung post-punk pop combo and there's no time like the present. It also gives me a chance to dust off the ol' Works in Progress feature, diffusing its specious neglect suit against us in the bargain.
The Monochrome Set rose from the ashes of a collegiate group called the B-Sides, that also included the future Adam Ant (called Stuart Godard with eyes unlined). Singer Bid and guitarist Lester Square also fled for more fanciful monikers, having been born Ganesh Seshadri and Thomas Hardy, respectively. Drummer John Haney bravely stood pat, and a revolving door bassist policy makes it hard to parse the nomenclature there. Like alot of post-punk bands littering London at the time, the Monochrome Set fancied themselves some sort of smart guys, though their mocking tone and playfully funny compositions let any residual pretension go down smooth.
One of their signature tunes is the self-mythologizing "the Monochrome Set," later gaining the clever "(I Presume)" allusion when included on their first, and I'd claim best, album Strange Boutique. It's always a risky proposition to name a single after yourself. If it falls flat, the embarrassment is more potent because it's harder to generate distance from it. There will be no doubt in the minds of your detractors that you are intrinsically bad, because they listened to your bloody theme song! Rest assured, dear readers that the MS approved "MS" is more "Tallulah Gosh" than "In a Big Country" quality-wise.
the Monochrome Set - "the Monochrome Set" (7" single)
the Monochrome Set - "the Monochrome Set (I Presume)"
The 1979 Rough Trade single version of this song puts its lurching, hopping rhythm first. It possesses a loose, slightly wild feel at odds with the hyper-cultivated boasts of its lyrics. The jangly guitar, always the hallmark of an indie-pop song, is muted, sounding like an echo bleeding in from another room of the recording studio. Bid's showy language is silly in a very British way, its insulting essence tempered by foppish rhymes ("I'm adorable, you're deplorable," "I entertain your tiny brain, so spuriously" etc.). The gang shouts add some enthusiasm, an odd Russian radio signals amps up the lovable inscrutability. The song's rough edges are winning enough that I wouldn't feel a production void if I'd never heard a different version, but since I have...
As heard on Strange Boutique, "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)" is even more beat dominated, exponentially so. A jungle beat (and, for kicks, jungle sound effects) dominates the song's first half. The guitar line is more clearly recorded, gracefully snaking through the din. Two and a half minutes in, when Bid finally fights through enough foliage to get to his microphone, his dapper dandy persona is much more composed than ol' H.M. Stanley's was when he stumbled from the brush. The sloppy gang shouting has been reduced to laser-precise bursts, that oddly choose "the" as a key point for emphasis. The wit is perhaps enhanced by sounding like the work of actually accomplished performers and not amateurish punks having a laugh. Elitism demands at least an illusion of being among the upper crust, you see. It's a pretty perfect snob anthem in this perfected form.
Works in Progress is where we look at the evolution of songs by comparing and contrasting their various stages of being. It pops up now and again when you least expect it.
Previous Works in Progress Columns:
- Radiohead/ Television Personalities
- the Glove
- Xiu Xiu
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- Arcade Fire
- the Velvet Underground/ Lou Reed
- Revl9n
- Unicorns/ Handsome Furs
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Video: Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (MTV Spanking New Session)
Bright and cheerful are the some of the easier ways to describe Vampire Weekend, playful too. Like on this naughty and nice tale of a presumably well off young woman; whose personal eras get defined by name-checking upmarket brands before, what appears to be, the hormonal up tick of puberty hitting full on. Or, at the very least, some general horniness. It appears someone within the narrative of the New England iconography spiked the punch with Paul Simon's Graceland. Reggaeton!
Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
The Afro-rhythms of the hand drums are much more pronounced on the studio version, but kudos to Chris Tomson for being able to recreate an honorable representation on a single drum for the above video.
Vampire Weekend's self titled album comes out at the end of the month on XL Recordings.
//Vampire Weekend - s/t - Preorder
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 17, 2008
Video: Thurston Moore, live @ the Knitting Factory
As the scant early readers of our shaky fawn-legged Twitter stream already know, Thurston Moore put in a formidably rocking acoustic set at the recent Prefix-sponsored Ecstatic Peace showcase. Now, video evidence...
Thurston Moore Groop - "The Shape is in a Trance"
(Knitting Factory, New York City, 01.08.2008)
I mean, there are no shrieks of white noise apocalypse, but I guess it was silly to think that Mr. Moore would be completely sedate, even without electricity. Note Sonic Youth stalwart Steve Shelley on the drum kit. I was standing behind Lee Renaldo in the balcony. He looks like the aging, evil portrait in the perpetually boyish Thurston's attic.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2008
Retrohump: Dead End Street
Although Wes Anderson soundtracks suggest that the best time for a mid-period Kinks song is when your quirky good time turns unexpectedly melancholy, my devotion to that era of the band doesn't need a specific cue. Right now, I've been particularly enamored with 1969's Arthur and more recently 1966's Face to Face. Below is the shoddy video for a swell track they slapped on to my re-issue of that album. It's been covered by former Portland sad sack Elliott Smith, but it has nowhere near the oldies radio ubiquity that their earlier, cruder songs enjoy. Love it now, so you'll know how to feel when it's used as a stand-in for emotion in a future art house dramedy.
the Kinks - "Dead End Street"
The Kinks were always the most class-conscious of the British Invasion titans, and the song has a righteous fury about being stuck under the socio-economic gun. The above video has got some serious tone issues, though. Shots of real life British dead-enders mix in with grimly comic footage of the boys as demented paul bearers moving from one run-down apartment to the next, collecting the poor departed. That'd be a little heavy handed no matter how it was played, but nothing is helped by the influx of silly wigs and 'staches that have historically proved far too tempting for British comedians from John Cleese through Andy Mellman. The near immediate slip into terminal silliness sort of torpedoes the video's chance to show the kind of empathy present in the song itself, but it is fairly amusing. If you want to get worked up about being broke and angry yourself, try the track below unaccompanied.
P.S. John Edwards has got nothing to lose at this point. New theme song, perhaps?
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2008
Not exactly Coachella East
We learned two things today. 1) Don't ever reference Perez Hilton rumors. And: 2) apparently there is a need for another festival in the US.
"Sources say Coachella producers AEG Live/Goldenvoice will stage a summer festival with major headliners at Liberty State Park, just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. The event will not carry the Coachella brand."(via)
Billboard also mentions the Coachella lineup should be released very soon.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 14, 2008
Teenagers, In Love and Something Else
the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "A Teenager in Love"
As being an actual teenager in love is akin to an emotional base jump with a tattered parachute, most songs about adolescent romance are goofily self-deceptive. We remember it as golden and lamentable, when it's more often forgettable and fleeting. This New Wave pop hit by New York newcomers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart projects the sort of wistful nostalgia perpetuated by pretty much every media representation of high school ever. But I guess there's a reason that CW network is still in business, and John Hughes has beach houses made of solid gold. The boring reality, filled with awkward groping and petty cruelty, isn't so much fun to watch or dance to. And this track is fun, danceable yet slightly quivering with melancholy that isn't overblown enough to trigger an automatic eye-roll. It's a lie, but a pretty one.
the Teenagers - "Sunset Beach"
The sordid Parisian pop group known as the Teenagers deal in teen fantasies as well; ones emanating from a place slightly lower than their (un-pure) hearts. The songs on their finally imminent debut, Reality Check, often sound like the feverish imaginings of fourteen year old boys warped by forbidden exposure to Penthouse Forum and Cinemax After Dark. The girls in their narratives are easily seduced, and casually degraded. It's hard not to feel a little bit queasy about a song that features a chorus refrain of "this fucking bitch deserves to die." But whether it lets them off the misogyny hook or not, there can be no doubt that all of this is meant to be tempered with a heaping dose of irony. The more Germanic than French accented narration is full of chuckle worthy digressions like the romantic sparks generated by an iPod playlist devoid of Jeff Buckley, and how one night's bliss is worth significantly less than a Fender Jazzmaster. The juvenile playboy protagonist comes across much more foolish than the object of his initial lust and eventual scorn. And musically, when separated from troublesome notions of lyrical intent and gender issues, its brooding baseline, shoegaze guitar and sweet (sounding at least) chorus are really quite addictive.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 1.14 - 1.20
Monday, January 14
Across Five Aprils @ Marquis Theater
Disaffected @ Larimer Lounge
Tuesday, January 15
Jonah Werner @ Fox Theatre
Sea Wolf @ Larimer Lounge
Wednesday, January 16
The Bravery @ Fox Theatre
Great American Taxi @ Boulder Theater
Ingrid Michaelson @ Bluebird Theater
Pena @ Larimer Lounge
Thursday, January 17
The Bravery @ Bluebird Theater
Chuck Prophet @ Walnut Room
The Disco Biscuits @ Boulder Theater
I'm A Boy @ Lion's Lair
Mansfield Ghost @ Larimer Lounge
Munimula @ Hi-Dive
Red @ Marquis Theater
Shanti Groove @ Fox Theatre
Friday, January 18
Aloft In The Sundry @ Marquis Theater
The Disco Biscuits @ Fillmore Auditorium
Faultline @ Lion's Lair
Get Three Coffins Ready @ Bluebird Theater
New Monsoon @ Fox Theatre
OneRepublic @ Gothic Theatre
Pink Hawks @ Hi-Dive
The Swayback @ Larimer Lounge
Whiskey Trip @ Walnut Room
Xavier Rudd @ Boulder Theater
Saturday, January 19
A Band Named Sue @ Walnut Room
Achille Lauro @ Larimer Lounge
Jason Aldean @ Ogden Theater
New Mastersounds @ Fox Theatre
Reno Divorce @ Marquis Theater
Rob Drabkin @ Soiled Dove
The Swanks @ Lion's Lair
Xavier Rudd @ Gothic Theatre
Sunday, January 20
eMC @ Fox Theatre
Lupe Fiasco @ Gothic Theatre
Shawn Mullins @ Boulder Theater (e-town)
Wisely @ Hi-Dive
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 11, 2008
Four for Friday Evening
Not to be confused with 4:4 Friday evening...
the Magnetic Fields - "Zombie Boy"
The Magnetic Fields' impending album, Distortion has got its talking point right there in its title. While alot of the record is less skewed than you've been lead to believe, "Zombie Boy" is a right nasty piece of business. "Two roosters I slew/ and with all of my might/ I prayed hard for you/ In Haiti at night," starts the stellar macabre lyric sheet. Stephin Merritt is not one to let feedback take precedence over wit, after all. But if the cracked fuzz was announced and the sharp words expected, the real surprise is the ragged electric guitar solo Steve lets loose at around 2:20. Who knew he had those chops in his pocket? In the context of the horror movie piano and limping drumbeat, it's a thrilling and gory little burst.
This 1976 live Kinks cover from Brian Eno's prog pop supergroup 801 seems fraught with internal tension. The players are so accomplished that you can almost hear them dying to break out of the troglodyte riff that the young Davies brothers had to get by with. It's too basic to allow for erupting wankery, which is a net plus in my book. And all that unreasonable teenage lust is just drained bloodless by Eno's aloof singing. This version is cerebral and itchy, as opposed to the original's unkempt sexual id. It sounds like a bunch of scientists programming robots to be horny, failing to anticipate the horrifying results.
Valet is the current project of experimental Portland musician, Honey Owens. Honey's been a collaborator to the free wheeling noise troupe Jackie-O-Motherfucker, and has now joined the touring band for Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox's solo recording project, Atlas Sound. "Kehaar" is listed as a likely inclusion to a 2008 Valet album called Naked Acid (which is much sexier than regular acid). It's a slow, meandering piece, but one filled with gorgeous echo and surprisingly pretty double tracked vocals. I have a hard time accepting that the song is actually about the gruff seagull in Richard Adams' bunny epic Watership Down. Owen's drawn out delivery makes it tough to discern detail, but references to letting the wind carry you can be heard in support of that conclusion. A seagull just isn't regal enough for the swirling textures here though, let alone one with a comic relief Eastern European accent. I don't know what animal/nationality combo it conjures in my mind-eye...something graceful, deliberate, and mean. Maybe a North African mako shark--content from a recent buffet, but with violence never far from its focused mind.
Hercules & Love Affair - "Hercules Theme"
Man, 11 days into the New Year and already my resolution to get my recent disco addiction under control is struck dead. This time it comes from the seemingly infallible DFA label, as opposed to my normal dealer, Italians Do it Better (whose only '08 single I've heard sees them slinking into tastefully minimalist house). Brookyln DJ Andrew Butler tells the tale of his own non-de-plume, utilizing about ten different elements that start out slightly annoying and then become addictive through nagging force. The muted horn loops, the vintage cold water string shocks, those pushy diva vocals, and even the building sex groans are all eventually gold. If this jam was playing wherever the Hercules of Greek mythology went, he'd have no time to fight monsters due to the endless parade of concubines falling at his feet.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 06:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
R.I.P. Dave Day, Monks Guitarist
the Monks - "Monk Chant"
(German TV, 1966)
the Monks - "Oh, How to Do Now"
(German TV, 1966)
"I hate you baby, with a passion. But call me!" Classic.
Dave Day, born Dave Havlicek, died on Sunday morning. R.I.P.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:25 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 10, 2008
Numerology: Special 38s
Lou Reed maligned the number 37 in “Femme Fatale,” but some interesting 37 songs popped up once I started looking. While the field for 38 is similarly scant, once again, some odd nuggets have appeared in my pan. (Somebody helpfully suggested .38 Special to me, and in all honesty, I can still get into “Hold on Loosely” much more than is wise to admit here, but this is about songs, people, otherwise Matchbox 20 and Level 42, etc., would be eligible to win something based on their numerical names alone, and that I could not abide.)
I can definitely abide Divididos, an Argentine rock institution that kicked off its 1991 major-label debut, Acariciando Lo Aspero (“caressing the rough”), with “El 38,” a spirited mix of garage band chords and tuneful shouted vocals. But would they abide me? The ironically named Bristol, England outfit known as the Pop Group (formed in 1978) revered chaos, cacophony, and confrontation; the instrumental single “3:38” sounds like someone playing a dub record and a funk record simultaneously through an underwater tape deck while someone farts in the water. Which is not to say it’s bad. I regret that “4,738 Regrets” by Tr