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April 30, 2008
Texas: May Concert Listings
May in Texas starts off with the big names: MS-adored M.I.A. plays Austin and Dallas, Kanye & Co. in Big D and H-Town. Don't want to drive four hours to see your favorite act twice in a row? The Raconteurs and Wilco each play two shows in two days at Stubb's in Austin.
There's a drop-off after all that, but let's face it, almost everything would be a drop-off after that kind of start. No home Spurs game on Cinco De Mayo, but Juanes fills the void. (Shouldn't there be more shows, state-wide that day?) Candlebox takes a break from playing the grand opening of a furniture showroom near you to play Beaumont. Some other solid shows all over the state (MS picks in bold), but nothing too noteworthy. Right? Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah...
HOLY JESUS CHRIST ON ROLLER SKATES RADIOHEAD IS COMING TO TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Austin
01 M.I.A. w/ Holy Fuck at La Zona Rosa
02 Atmosphere, Abstract Rude DJ Rare Groove at Emo's
02 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at Stubb’s BBQ
02 Tapes ‘n Tapes w/ White Denim at Antone’s
02 John Waite at the Cactus Cafe
02 X w/ Detroit Cobras at La Zona Rosa
03 Atmosphere, Abstract Rude DJ Rare Groove at Emo's
03 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at Stubb’s BBQ
05 The Breeders w/ Colour Revolt at Emo’s
07 Stars of the Lid w/ Christopher Willits at the Ritz Theater
09 Brett Dennon, Mason Jennings & Missy Higgins at La Zona Rosa
10 Supersuckers at Parrish
10 The Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees, Dead Black Hearts at Antones
11 Pennywise, Strung Out, Authority Zero at Emo's
11 Wilco at Stubb’s
12 Wilco at Stubb’s
15 She Wants Revenge, Be Your Own Pet, The Virgins, Switches at Stubb's
15 ZZ Top at the Backyard
16 Islands at Granada Theater
16 Liars at Red 7
16 Mindless Self Indulgence w/ the Birthday Massacre & Combichrist at La Zona Rosa
16 Old 97’s at Waterloo Records
17 Japanther, The Pharmacy, Vivian Girls, MVSCLZ at Red 7
19 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Duke Spirit at Antones
28 Subtle at Mohawk
30 Big Head Todd & the Monsters at Stubb's
30 The Black Angels & Possessed by Paul James at Emo's
30 Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Peel at Emo's
Beaumont
03 ZZ Top at Ford Park
07 Candlebox at Ford Park
Corpus Christi
02 Alan Jackson at American Bank Center
Dallas
01 Bonde do Role at the Palladium Loft
01 Kanye West w/ Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco at Superpages.com Center
01 The Raconteurs w/ Birds of Avalon at the House of Blues
02 M.I.A. at Palladium Ballroom
02 Roger Waters at Superpages.com Center
04 Meat Beat Manifesto at Granada Theater
04 T-Pain at House of Blues
05 Mike Ness at House of Blues
06 The Breeders at the House of Blues
08 Stars of the Lid at Granada Theater
09 Louden Wainwright III at Sons of Hermann Hall
09 Pennywise at Granada Theater
11 Menudo at House of Blues
18 Radiohead w/ Liars at the Superpages.com Center
20 The Beach Boys w/ DSO at Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center
22 Eisley w/ the Myriad at House of Blues
24 Sin Bandera at Palladium
25 The Kills at House of Blues
29 Big Head Todd and the Monsters at House of Blues
29 Black Angels at Granada Theater
30 Steve Miller Band & Joe Cocker at Superpages.com Center
31 Dresden Dolls at Palladium
31 Old 97’s House of Blues
Denton
03 Tapes ‘n Tapes w/ White Denim at Haily’s
El Paso
06 Carrie Underwood at Don Haskins Center
21 Liars at Club 101
Fort Worth
15 Kris Kristopherson at Bass Performance Hall
19 Liars at Lola’s
24 Tanya Tucker at Billy Bob’s Texas
31 Cross Canadian Ragweed at Billy Bob’s Texas
Frisco
03 Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Leann Rimes at Pizza Hut Park
Grand Prairie
03 Widespread Panic at Nokia Theatre
14 Alicia Keys w/ Jordin Sparks at Nokia Theatre
Houston
01 Gov’t Mule at Meridian
02 Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rihanna at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
02 Widespread Panic at Sam Houston Race Park
06 Mike Ness at Meridian
07 The Breeders at the Meridian
07 The Whigs, What Made Milwaukee Famous, The Dead Trees, Dead Black Hearts at Warehouse Live
10 Pennywise, Strung Out, Authority Zero at Warehouse Live
10 REO Speedwagon at Sam Houston Race Park
12 Ace Frehley at Meridian
13 Mindless Self Indulgence w/ the Birthday Massacre & Combichrist at Meridian
15 Ass Jack & Hank Williams III at Meridian
16 Backyard Tire Fire, Rev. Horton Heat & Nashville Pussy at Meridian
17 Pat Benatar at Sam Houston Race Park
17 Radiohead w/ Liars at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
17 She Want Revenge w/ the Virgins at Meridian
18 Alicia Keys w/ Jorkin Sparks at Toyota Center
29 The Gourds at Discovery Green
30 Dresdon Dolls at Warehouse Live
30 Old 97’s w/ Hayes Carll at Meridian
31 Big Head Todd and the Monsters at Meridian
31 Kansas at Sam Houston Race Park
Laredo
01 Alan Jackson at Laredo Entertainment Center
Lubbock
07 Carrie Underwood at United Sprint Arena
San Antonio
05 Juanes at AT&T Center
12 Bowfire at Majestic Theater
19 Pink Martini at Majestic Theater
Selma
21 Iron Maiden at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Woodlands (Spring)
04 Roger Waters at Woodlands Pavilion
20 The Police at Woodlands Pavilion
31 Steve Miller Band & Joe Cocker at Woodlands Pavilion
Posted by Randall Monty at 05:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Retrohump: Debunking Can Theories With More Can
Can - "Mother Sky"
(live on West German television, 1970)
Last week's bit of glorious Can footage presented a compelling alternate reality in which clean cut young Japanese street busker Damo Suzuki was eventually corrupted by the evil long-haired German jazzniks that became his band mates. This clip, culled from the same reliably avant West German television network but broadcast two years earlier, shoots it all to hell. I guess Damo had just gotten a new shirt and a haircut for"Vitamin C" day, because "Mother Sky" features the monastic hermit/homeless vet look that we all know and love. He looks like the ghost in a J-horror flick. If you see black water mysteriously oozing from a bass amp, do not investigate!
As with most vintage clips of un-telegenic krautrock from the vaults, the clip is mainly enjoyable for the befuddled reaction of the teenagers gathered in its audience. It looks like they were given free tickets to Das Dancepalast!, and entered fresh-faced and excited, only to have all the joy of life beaten from them by the cruel warlords on stage. Nodding off and sitting on the ground chain-smoking can be noted in the advanced ennui cases. The best of all is the girl who sits beside the speaker lighting some sort of antique opium pipe. Only she, getting casually blitzed on national television, has the necessary detached nihilism to really belong in the bleak rhythm's midst.
Below is the full fifteen minute version of the song's studio version, which I admire greatly in parts, but have perhaps never listened to in its entirety. For the chic opium smokers among you...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kanye West photo ban flaunted!
From the non-news News department: Denver Post's Reverb blog breached Kanye's draconian photo rules.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 05:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 29, 2008
Monolith Festival announces initial lineup
[Photo cred]
My hat is tipped in the direction of the Monolith organizers. So far it looks great!
Monolith Festival > Denver Mile High Music Festival
Blogging from vacationland so check the press release after the jump for full details. Initial lineup below.
Saturday, September 13
Devotchka
Silversun Pickups
Neko Case
Vampire Weekend
Mickey Avalon
Del tha Funky Homosapien
Cut Copy
The Fratellis
Superdrag
The Kills
Holy Fuck
White Denim
The Night Marchers
A Place to Bury Strangers
The Photo Atlas
The Hood Internet
John Vanderslice
Darker My Love
Cameron McGill & What Army
Blitzen Trapper
The Presets
Pop Levi
Pwrfl Power
The Morning Benders
Boyhollow
Sunday, September 14
Justice
TV on the Radio
Band of Horses
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
CSS
The Avett Brothers
Tokyo Police Club
Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
Akron/Family
The Bronx
Tilly and the Wall
The Heavy
The Cribs
The Ting Tings
Airborne Toxic Event
Bright Channel
Chester French
Grampall Jookabox
The Rosewood Thieves
Hearts of Palm
The Giraffes
The Elms
MONOLITH FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY ESURANCE,
HELD ON SEPTEMBER 13-14
AT RED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE,
ANNOUNCES LINEUP
JUSTICE AND DEVOTCHKA,
ARE JOINED BY SILVERSUN PICKUPS, BAND OF HORSES,
TV ON THE RADIO, SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS,
VAMPIRE WEEKEND, THE AVETT BROTHERS, NEKO CASE,
DEL THA FUNKY HOMOSAPIEN, CUT COPY, MICKEY AVALON,
CSS AND MANY MORE
TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY, MAY 2nd at 10am MST
AT MONOLITHFESTIVAL.COM AND TICKETMASTER.
MONOLITH FESTIVAL presented by Esurance returns to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Saturday September 13 and Sunday September 14. The festival, which debuted in 2007 as the first multi-day, multi-stage festival ever held at Colorado's beloved outdoor venue, was instantly adopted as an indie fan favorite and a staple of the summer festival season.
Each year, MONOLITH hand picks an impressive lineup of indie favorites and blog darlings, which for 2008 includes Denver's own Devotchka and French electro-buzz-band Justice as headliners. MONOLITH co-producer Josh Baker explains, "It's a true testament to Colorado's burgeoning music scene that one of this year's national breakout acts is also a hometown favorite." Joining the 2008 headliners is a deep and diverse roster including Silversun Pickups, Band of Horses, TV on the Radio, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Vampire Weekend, Avett Brothers, Neko Case, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Mickey Avalon, CSS, Cut Copy, The Kills, Tokyo Police Club and many, many more. A complete list of currently confirmed acts is included below, with additional artists still to be announced. Visit www.monolithfestival.com for ongoing updates.
MONOLITH fills a niche in Colorado's already vibrant indie music scene, and even within a seemingly saturated U.S. festival market. With five stages and premium facility amenities, MONOLITH builds on the natural splendor of Red Rocks and has quickly become a requisite for festival goers and indie hipsters. As Billboard Magazine reviewed, "The outrageously beautiful Red Rocks has been screaming out for an underground/indie-style music festival for many years...Thanks to the tireless work of an elite group of Colorado scenesters, the dream is now a reality."
Tickets on sale beginning Friday , May 2, 2008 at 10am MST at www.monolithfestival.com and Ticketmaster.
Ticketing Levels:
2-Day Ticket: $110 On Sale Friday, May 2 at 10 am MST
Single Day Tickets: $59.50 On Sale Friday, May 2 at 10 am MST
*2-Day and Single Day Tickets will be on sale at all Ticketmaster Outlets
For those looking to enhance their MONOLITH experience, MONOLITH will offer upgraded VIP packages, including premium festival amenities such as reserved soundboard seating, VIP parking, kick-off and after-party access, and more. Visit www.monolithfestival.com for details.
VIP Gold Pass: $225 - On Sale Friday, Mat 2 at 10 am MST
*VIP Gold Passes are only available through monolithfestival.com
Posted by Merry Swankster at 10:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Coachella: Roger Waters' Pig is either for or against Obama
The message of Pink Floyd's dirigible pig, one of greed, corruption, and other not beautiful things, would spoil any name written on it considering the symbolic nature of such a tainted canvas. On the other hand, big, bold army stencil lettering spelling O-B-A-M-A, with strategic underbelly placement for clear viewing seems like an act of campaigning with exact target specificity considering 50,000 (?) people could see it. Don't ever say Mr. Roger Waters has issues with communicating or he'll go The Wall on your ass.
Begs the question, was it a pro or anti Obama statement? Finally, if it was pro, how is this supposed to be helpful?
I'm just now hearing the pig floated away. Hmmm.
Pig, floating away (via)
Posted by Merry Swankster at 06:57 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Coachella: Sifting through the goods
[Pssst]
Checking in from the late hours from a dark and sleepy California night. There was no live music to see today. Just the task of gathering ourselves and heading back into the real world. Which is maybe why the weekend is catching up to me as hard as it is, forcing a slow down.
Here are some really quick highlights to add some protein to the sprinkling of notes sent from Coachella via our Twitter outpost.
Friday:
The National was amazing. The Raconteurs not only sound more put together as a band than ever before, they are looking and sounding terrifyingly great together. Datarock came out of nowhere (for me anyway) and beat you into acceptance. Their rousing numbers were super sized dosages of pep. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings gave by far the most energetic performance by any artist and one of the best overall of the weekend. I'll say it again, this woman is the female James Brown. Spank Rock didn't show due to "being sick" and his replacements sounded like sissy white rappers. That's because there were a couple of white female rappers substituting. Not sure everyone who missed the announcement realized this in the tent. Now you know. Black Lips were pretty good, but it's hard to get past the caricatures on stage.
Saturday
To me Bonde do Role were more noisy kids screwing around with records and microphones than brilliant innovators of emerging mashed up styles. St. Vincent was cute and awkward in her stage banter. Stephan Malkmus looked like grandpa beekeeper, was vocally proud fronting the Jicks, and the noodling music was extraordinarily loud. Hot Chip brought the house down. Not three notes were played before the dance tent turned into insta-rave. The desert should cease rattling from the sensational performance of "Over & Over" any day now. Islands got started late, seemed to have a problem setting something up, dealing with it in a "temporary, but not quite pleased with solution" type of way only to have whatever it was arise as an issue during the set. It was weird and ate into their momentum, but no plagues of locust to report. I literally sprinted around the fields to see some Kraftwerk before sneaking in to a over capacity dance tent for M.I.A. Disappointing, but not terribly. M.I.A. fell into the pitfalls of every bad hip hop show I've ever been to. Too much MCing, too much crowd baiting, not enough actual performances to back up the build up. Somehow managed to catch a whiff of Animal Collective, but it was just too short to have an opinion. Portishead sounded crisp, clean and pretty great. I'll defer to my Portishead obsessed friends for direct quotes, forthcoming. Prince played forever and left no doubt in anyone's mind on his abilities and talents as a performer.
Sunday
It seemed like we had nothing going on for a good part of this day. The Field didn't show for their scheduled midday set due to allegedly being denied access into the country by the US government. Looking back though, we saw Duffy, Gogol Bordello, My Morning Jacket, a babbling Sean Penn saying nothing noteworthy (though I'll report on it later anyway), Sons & Daughters, Roger Waters, and Justice.
-- -- --
Coming soon...details, tons and tons of photos, and furthering of mostly everything mentioned above.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 28, 2008
Video: Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes"
I don't know where I've been while she's been steadily amassing buzz, but this song is totally great even if the vid is a tad overwrought.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ripping Vinyl, part 2
After many years of musical obsession completely removed from a record player, my pile of vinyl now grows incrementally, aided by the quality LP sellers of New York City. Baubles from the treasure chest will be posted here whenever it seems appropriate...
It's a bit obvious to remark that without a record player one can't investigate vinyl-only record labels. The racks of Other Music's east wall had intrigued me for quite a while, though, and no single release more than the strikingly packaged compilation pictured above, a 2006 effort from tireless excavators of my beloved Euro synth sounds from the early 80s, Minimal Wave. Complicating the format fetishism is the fact that all of the LPs songs come from mainly forgotten cassette releases. Funny now to think of blocky little cassettes as a thrilling glimpse into the future when viewed from 1983. While the entire record (and the label's entire back catalog, really) is worth some in-depth investigation, for my abridged purposes I have to go with the unstoppable pop song.
"The Game" by Belgian band Linear Movement is much much catchier than you'd think given its intense obscurity and the barriers thrown up in front of its discovery. It's billed in the Lost Tapes liner notes as being taken from an "unreleased album." The band would only produce a single proper release in its meager two-year existence, and its difficult to imagine this being topped. Band mastermind Peter Bonne had recently left the equally obscure, and majorly obtuse, synths-trumental band Autumn to cozy up with a "rhythm box" and some appealing female vocals courtesy of a lady named Lieve van Steerteghem. The sound is akin to the Human League keeping the experimental flavor of their underrated "Dignity of Human Labour" instrumentals intact as they morphed into new-wave floor fillers (and had also negotiated their contracts to mandate that all vocals should be recorded in a cave of some sort). There are plenty of legitimate reasons beyond, you know, the lack of an actual release, that this song wasn't a smash on the pop charts. There are far fewer obstacles to it becoming a hit at your next house party,
Previously: the Raincoats, live @ the BBC
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.28 - 5.04
[Raconteurs]
Raconteurs were awesome at Coachella. See this show.
Monday, April 28
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
The Raconteurs @ Fillmore Auditorium
Tuesday, April 29
Gza @ Bluebird Theater
John Croghan @ Larimer Lounge
Les Claypool's Electric Apricot @ Boulder Theater
Midnight Juggernauts @ Hi-Dive
Rooney @ Fox Theatre
Wednesday, April 30
Chamcha @ Larimer Lounge
Drowning Pool @ Gothic Theatre
Gza @ Fox Theatre
Indian Jewelry @ Hi-Dive
Sick Puppies @ Bluebird Theater
Thursday, May 1
Dark Meat @ Hi-Dive
David Greco @ Walnut Room
Joe Jackson/Paddy Casey @ Boulder Theater (e-Town)
Oblio Duo @ Larimer Lounge
People Under The Stairs @ Fox Theatre
Spring Creek @ Bluebird Theater
Trever Keith @ Marquis Theater
Friday, May 2
Elbow @ Bluebird Theater
Hearts Of Palm (fka Nathan & Stephen) @ Hi-Dive
Kosmos @ Walnut Room
Meese @ Fox Theatre
The Nadas @ Gothic Theatre
The Night Marchers @ Larimer Lounge
NOFX @ Fillmore Auditorium
People Under The Stairs @ Marquis Theater
Stuart Davis @ Soiled Dove
Saturday, May 3
Cat-A-Tac @ Bluebird Theater
Cut Copy @ Larimer Lounge
Destroyer @ Walnut Room
John Brown's Body @ Fox Theatre
P-Nuckle @ Gothic Theatre
Sirhan Sirhan @ Hi-Dive
Sunday, May 4
The Amended @ Larimer Lounge
The B-52's @ Gothic Theatre
Buh Blam @ Hi-Dive
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 26, 2008
Video: Annie - "I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me"
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Video: Atlas Sound - "Recent Bedroom" (and a recent bedroom recording)
I'm not sure if this is an official clip or not, but if strictly fan created, its at least got Bradford Cox's blessing...
Atlas Sound - "Recent Bedroom"
In other notable recent activity from the continually productive Deerhunter blog, there's this sorrowful cover of Rodgers and Hart's 1930s standard, "Blue Moon." Bradford recorded it in tribute to his Dad, which is so sweet that the continual creepiness his haunted covers convey is almost entirely mitigated this time.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Coachella: Judiciously Phrased
Mssr. Swankster has his hands full at Coachella right now, but you can follow his happenings in brief by occasionally checking our Twitter site here.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 25, 2008
Islands, Live @ Bluebird Theater, Denver 04.21.08
Commonalities between the Vampire Weekend Bluebird show earlier this month and last Monday's Islands sojourn through the Colfax theater begin and end with a tiny handful of amateur music fans annoying the crap out of me and others in the front pit area.
I fully understand the limited use for readers to hear (what amounts to pure whining) about fellow compatriots not knowing how to behave properly at live music settings. But this time it transcended into behavior inappropriate for any public setting. If you count yourself as such a person, that is, one who lacks the basics of human interaction in crowds, or strive to someday have the strength to leave the house and successfully tackle the gauntlet of humanity gathering, I present a primer to enjoying yourself, not having strangers immediately hate you, and basic points on personal space.
Rule #1: Don't start a mosh pit with 3 of your friends. Four dudes banging into each other and bouncing off innocent bystanders around them does not a mosh pit make. It is pure testosterone fueled homoeroticism disguised through violent aggression. Also, sauce fueled aggro, or other substances legal or otherwise is not a valid excuse for douchebaggery.
Rule #2: Don't become fight-ready psycho when others around you tell you to quit slamming into them.
Rule #3: Don't be an asshole.
That last one should really be the only true edict, effectively replacing the rest. The new golden rule if you will. Don't be an asshole, ok? Friends again? Great! I feel much better.
Once again I got rant-y and pontificated in a preface that has little to do with the music. My hand was forced this time however. Islands' whiteface sporting leader, singer and guitarist, Nick Thorburn agreed too! And he wasn't the one getting pushed around. After the unstoppable force of the current single, the excellent pop wave of "Creeper" he called for calm. It wasn't but twenty minutes into the show.
"Be gentle" he said, clearly disgusted. "Not everyone signed up for that."
Moshing at Islands. You can't make this stuff up. The whole while I wondered about the state of mind of these louts. Did they simply get loaded beforehand and decide to catch a random show and expect it to be Rage Against the Machine? Perhaps circa 1996? I reckon they were lured by the rough and tumble sounding name of the band. Right.
The situation was horribly distracting. The sheer weirdness of their antics caused me to again consider whether Islands' karma in Denver needs a prompt tune up. The band must have the blood of a dead hooker on their hands or something. Something in this town is setting off the sinister forces of evil to taunt them. Those annoying dudes did end up getting the boot about six songs later. Six songs too late I say. Fittingly it was during "J'aime Vous Voire Quitter". The not so veiled named track from the upcoming Arm's Way that takes the name of former Island (and ex-Unicorn) J'aime Tambeur. Tambeur left the band the same night of their first show in Denver. Karma at work all around. I'll see if this aura of bad vibes surrounding the band is limited to Mile High city locales or is a more permanent, buzzkilling black cloud when I scope them out at Coachella this weekend.
Although the evening's preoccupation with ensuring my face would be free of flying elbows battled for a significant part of my attention, I still managed to tune into the show enough for a proper dispatch.
With seven new songs from the the new album, Islands' set heavily favored new material. Performances varied greatly in execution however. Second song "The Arm" followed opener "Flesh", an early unreleased Islands tune. A long extended intro wandered at times and I'm not 100% certian if there wasn't actually a separate instrumental track squeezed into what otherwise felt like the lead-in. The chosen bubbly ziz zag route ceased before turning into pure blistering bliss before the recognizable parts of the song began to finally leak through the speakers. Sounded great.
On the other hand one of my favorites from the new album, the sinful confessional of "I Feel Evil Creeping In", fell flat. Thorburn's singing failed to reach the nuanced playfulness of the record's chorus, sounding thin and barely audible. The lack of energy from the rest of the band wasn't exactly inspired either. I'm willing to give them a pass considering the tour just started and most of the new songs are barely fleshed out. Grain of salt for now.
The entire evening felt hit or miss. Felt like the necessary tonic for full launch into locked in mode was missing. That is, until the second song of the encore when Islands played their best song and finally, truly connected. (We swooned, no pun intended, over "Swans" during our early, still crawling days when the qualifier of "ex-Unicorns" was necessary in all mentions of their new reincarnation.)
"Swans" rocked really hard. To the point that 99% of the bad vibes and iffy moments of the night could be wiped out. It was that kind of performance. Like with everything in life impressions leave indelible marks. Thankfully for the Bluebird crowd, the band left with their best before exiting.
SETLIST:
Flesh
The Arm
Creeper
Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone (minus the rap)
Pieces of You
Volcanoes
I Feel Evil Creeping In
We Swim
J'aime Vous Voire Quitter
Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby
Abominable Snow
Encore:
Red Football (Sinead O'Connor cover)
Swans
-- -- --
Posted by Merry Swankster at 03:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Indie Pop: Short and Bittersweet
the Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Kurt Cobain's Cardigan"
"I'll take 'Things that would make me indescribably sad if I saw them in a Hard Rock Cafe in Tucson' for a thousand Alex." The fey New York City sounds of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart's latest single don't seem to have much of a concrete connection to the famous fuzzy in Courtney Love's footlocker. If we want to try extra hard to make a connection though, the occasionally strident beat and subtly noise-speckled guitar does bear a bit of resemblance to Cobain's Scottish favorites, the Vaselines. The vocals aren't as giddy or as odd as that, but Kip and Peggy (indie pop vocalists should always be referred to in the familiar don't you know?) have an adorably defeated quality to them. It's as if they've prematurely cracked the secrets of Kurt's Leonard Cohen afterworld, and are already sighing eternally. Perpetually, at the very least.
the Capstan Shafts - "(I Dream About You Because) You Have Such Low Standards"
If posts were to be drafted every time lo-fi workhorse Dean Wells hatched some new material, we'd have a new weekly feature. The extremely prolific Vermont home-recorder's 8th release since 2007 (you read that right) is a 12-track EP cryptically called Miles Per Famine. The EP designation is excusable given the writer's extreme brevity. There's only a minute and eight seconds of diminished expectations here. Even Wells' daydreams are contingent on a girl with poor self esteem it seems. But as always, the charm in his broken hearted sing-alongs come from his melodic interpretation of sharp words that carry more lascivious intent they they initially appear to. "If I take your hand, and then some..." he yells, as the camera pans to the roaring fire.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 24, 2008
Coachella 2008: On our way
Has it really already been a year since the last pilgrimage to the desert? I feel like Coachella snuck up on me this year. For the first time since I've been going (this will be year four), the '08 edition has yet to sell out, even since the news of Prince joining the lineup. If I were to care about such things I'd no doubt have a witty joke prepared about Jack Johnson or the state of the music industry, but I don't and the Jack Johnson bashing is beyond tired.
For the most part I agree with critics pointing to the weak headliners, but as I've said many times headliners at these types of festivals should never be the main reason to attend. Especially when the lower and middle tier level acts are so great. Does it suck that M.I.A. and Animal Collective are playing at the same time? Of course. Sucks even more when the two artists overlap with Kraftwerk. A clear example of being spoiled by choice. Still, nothing more than it being an amazing problem to have. With that said, I present the Merry Swankster's plans for the weekend. We'll see how things actually turn out.
On with it...after the jump.
Friday: Are Islands truly cursed, or is that just a Denver phenomenon? (Ed Note: Islands Denver review coming very soon!) Santogold vs M.I.A., who wins?
Les Savy Fav > Black Kids > Dan Deacon (Deacon's brand of triumphant spectacle is suited perfectly for Coachella) > Jens Lekman > The Breeders > Vampire Weekend (Every year there seems to be a reserved set for hugely buzzed about bands in the late afternoon at the Outdoor theatre. VW gets the nod this year. We'll see how they handle what should be their biggest gig to date.) > National > Raconteurs or Santogold > Aphex Twin (Break time here? No intentions of catching the Verve, so maybe...) > Datarock (
Saturday: By far the most solid individual lineup of the weekend is on the Main stage.
Teenagers (Is a European artist mimicking the (television defined) teenage experience in America satire or are they mocking us?) > Man Man > Devotchka (Denver represent!) > Bonde Do Role > Stephan Malkmus & the Jicks > St. Vincent > Hot Chip > Death Cab for Cutie > Islands (Mostly to see if the black cloud hovering above them in Denver dissipates.) > Kraftwerk > (Original krautrockers may only get 30 minutes of my time because...) > M.I.A. or Animal Collective are playing at the same time (Tough. Game time decision here.) > Portishead > Prince (Saturday night will officially be awesome.)
Sunday: Weakest day of the weekend, but one that may bring a few surprises once this Sean Penn business is figured out.
Sean Penn (Curiosity - killed the cat, will draw me to the Gobi tent. Ed Vedder is that you?) > I'm From Barcelona or Holy Fuck > Duffy (Is the UK sensation worth all the fuss?) > The Field > Stars > Gogol Bordello > Sean Penn (Fool me twice..?) > My Morning Jacket > Sons & Daughters > Roger Waters (High School psychedelia revisited *or* Black Mountain -- 00's psychedelia?) > Justice (Unopposed Frenchmen close out the weekend. Finally providing an easy decision on who to see.)
Useful Coachella links:
//Tickets - buy
//Set times
//Event map
//Scheduler - "Coachooser"
//Indio, CA - Weather
//Need a ride?
//Coachella from your couch - (Live webcast) - AT&T Blue room
Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 23, 2008
Retrohump: Hey You! You're Losing...You're Losing...
This is one of the very first songs I sought out once it became clear just how great a clearinghouse for classic footage YouTube would soon become, though I'd forgotten to keep checking until a whim delivered this to me yesterday. I remember first hearing this song in my college days and being knocked out by the modernity of it. Those drums sounded like they could have come from a Bjork record, and this was from 1972! I still can't quite fathom Can sitting around their practice space, listening to White Light/White Heat and Stockhausen, somehow winding up here. For all their alien appeal and undeniable rhythmic prowess though, there are very few moments when the band really connects with me on more than a head-nodding, intellectually appreciative level. This is, of course, first among them...
Can - "Vitamin C"
(live 1972)
While the clip makes clear what sort of a frantic and inspired drummer Jaki Leibezeit could be when his inner jazz man didn't take over, most of its transfixing power comes from Damo Suzuki. The urban legend paints Damo as a crazed nomad, discovered by the German members of the band literally singing on a street corner. The clips I'd previously seen supported the myth of the long-haired, frequently shirtless feral child. Here though, Damo is a well-kempt and striking figure (wispy mustache aside). The song as performed in this live snippet has its edges rounded by a groove that's more organic than the dystopian album version. But Suzuki keeps it uncomfortable, by giving his nonsensical warnings a convicted sense of dire consequence. While later videos I investigated seem to degrade into free-from wonkery, whatever peculiar magic Damo possessed had not been dulled by by the scourge of fleeing vitamins as of 1972.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2008
The New Wolf Parade Album: A Track-by-Track Preview
Sometimes we hear albums before most, and occasionally when they are still pretty top secret. It's horribly unfair, we know. But in an attempt to at least soothe your curiosity, we are not averse to laying out these tantalizing near-future albums in extensive detail. You may remember our guide to the still(!) unreleased new Portishead record. Now, in regard to the successor to the site's favorite record of 2005, we turn to part-time music critic and occasional krautrocker John Motley. Take it away John...
As great as Wolf Parade's 2005 debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, was, it showed a band democratically divided between two distinct personalities. Throughout the entire record, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner politely flip-flopped between melodramatic prog tendencies and homespun Springsteen worship, respectively. In the three years since, the band has been seemingly drawn and quartered by myriad side projects. Most notably, Krug issued two albums and an EP as Sunset Rubdown; moonlit in Frog Eyes; and indulged a studio one-off as Swan Lake with Dan "Destroyer" Bejar and Frog Eyes' Carey Mercer. Boeckner, on the other hand, unveiled every trapper's delight: his own Handsome Furs, a drum machine-fueled duo with his wife Alexei Perry.
Recording this still-untitled second album (both Pardon My Blues and Kissing the Beehive were red herrings, apparently) must have been somewhat arduous. According to the band, early candidates for album number two were shelved for sounding like Apologies holdovers. To trigger fresh strategies, they began recording improvisational sessions to see if something spontaneous could be extracted and developed into a more structured composition. But how well did such a disjointed band reconnect? And did it manage to evolve creatively, rather than simply lapse into formula? Based on some rather compulsive listening, the answer is: not so easily. While the new album does reveal Wolf Parade to repeatedly play against its instincts and expand its sound, half the album sounds like Apologies-era paint-by-numbers. Yes, that's a slight, but remember: Wolf Parade still slay the competition.
Here's the breakdown:
1. "Soldier's Grin"
As an opening shot, this one's a little timid. The Boeckner-penned song is a tidy segue from Apologies' farewell, "This Heart's on Fire": steadily driving rhythms, Krug's bubbling budget synth tones, and Boeckner's keening, earnest vocals. But around the two-minute mark, the song slows to a looser, more ambling tempo for some necessary breathing room and a satisfyingly plodding climax.
The rollicking ragtime noir piano riffing immediately announces that this is a Krug composition. While the jerky vamping conjures Apologies opener "You Are a Runner," "Call It a Ritual" gradually fills out with passages of teeth-clenching guitar scrawls. As Krug sings "while you turn your flower petals so slow," the song continually blossoms into something lovelier than Krug's scrawny sketch suggested at the beginning.
3. "Language City" (mp3 is live bootleg)
Back to Boeckner — and the first sign of the Wolf Parade we've missed so much. Here the band bang out a serviceable verse, but knock it out of the park on the restrained choruses, in which Boeckner sings, "All this work in, just to tear it down" over several complementary keyboard melodies. The song's coda drags more than it explodes, though, as Boeckner cribs lyrics from the last time he recorded an outgoing message: "We are not at home! We are not at home! We are not at hoooooooome!"
4. "Bang Your Drum"
With its creepy harpsichord, descending melody, and archaic lyrical tropes, "Bang Your Drum" sounds like a cameo by Sunset Rubdown to me. Here, Krug wonders over some character of ill repute: "Do they beat that drum to get you back home or do they beat it to keep you away?" He also shows how his friendship with Dan Bejar has paid off in musical collateral, ending the song with a beloved Bejar device: the song-within-a-song. Like the conclusions of "A Testament to Youth in Verse" (from the New Pornographers' Electric Version) or "Leopard of Honor" (from Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams), Krug leads a chorus of la-la-la's, ostensibly belted out by the "you" in this song.
5. "California Dreamer"
Here's where things start to get good. Yes, there's the unmistakably clichéd title, but Krug uses the Summer of Love connotations to craft something far more sinister. While the song retains the Mamas and the Papas' conceit of displacement and love lost (Krug laments a lover's departure for the Golden State, which strands him in Canada to make snow angels solo), it scrambles the rest of the signal. (Key lyric: "I thought I might have heard you on the radio/But the radio waves were like snow.") In spite of Krug's sunny, Supertramp keyboards, Wolf Parade detour through Los Angeles' ghettos with a bludgeoning caveman riff and honking sax passage that evokes the Stooges' Fun House.
6. "The Grey Estates"
Another predictably direct Boeckner tune spoils the first sign of legitimate experimentation. Upbeat, instantly catchy, "The Grey Estates" is the album's lone shot at a single. Sadly, that means this is the most defanged, declawed pup of the litter. As Boeckner sings about "rolling past the grey estates" on his way to "a new world" it's an apt metaphor for enduring the drab scenery — especially since the album's most exciting songs lurk just around the corner.
7. "Fine Young Cannibals" (mp3 is live bootleg)
Finally, Boeckner breaks out of Bruce idolatry on this sprawling workout. Stitched together like a dance track, "Fine Young Cannibals" never really deviates from a single groove, but aggressively adds and subtracts elements for an engaging listen. Against a relatively static (albeit funky) backdrop, Boeckner focuses on his vocal chops and wrings ample emotional gravitas out of his precise phrasing.
8. "An Animal in Your Care"
Like "Call It a Ritual" and "Bang Your Drum," Krug indulges more moody, echoing production values on "An Animal in Your Care." On their own, these production decisions are sound, but, compared to the frill-less treatment of Boeckner's tracks, sabotage the album's bid for coherence. Still, this is one of the album's standouts. Beginning hushed and skeletal, "An Animal in Your Care" grows full and feral by its end. Krug lets a repeated descending piano line dangle like a false ending, but the entire bands converges for a cathartic finale.
9. "Kissing the Beehive"
Named after Jonathan Carroll's novel of the same name, "Kissing the Beehive" is fittingly long. Spanning nearly 10 minutes, the song is notably co-written by Boeckner and Krug, who share vocal duties on this multi-part epic. After a brief lull as Krug sings the disappointed kiss-off of the title ("As if you didn't know that it would sting/Kissing the beehive…"), its fiery middle section builds until it burns itself out. After a brief interlude of silence, the band reloads for an epilogue of sorts: two more minutes of dance-floor detonation. Krug's bouncing synths lock gears with Arlen Thompson's mechanical drumming, while Boeckner and Dante DeCaro's guitar debris skitters and squeals toward a tidy master-fade that's more like a curtain call.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:00 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Coachella Schedule Released!! - Sean Penn?
"Coachella schedule includes Sean Penn" - Wtf?
The westward bound Merry Swankster brain trust is currently analyzing the festival schedule so graciously released by the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
So far we're confused on what exactly Sean Penn will be doing with his two (!!) alloted time slots on Sunday, pissed about the Raconteurs/Santogold and Kraftwerk/Animal Collective/M.I.A. conflicts on Friday and Saturday, respectively. On the other hand we're stoked about our personalized raunchy headliners on Friday night. Starting with the reliably up for it Spank Rock in the Gobi tent immediately followed by the Black Lips dirtying things up next door in the Mohave tent. All the while ignoring Jack Johnson's mellowness on the main stage. "Shake It 'Til My Dick Turns Racist" vs "Bubble Toes"? C'mon now!
Spank Rock - "Shake It 'Til My Dick Turns Racist" - Live @ North Six, Brooklyn
Jack Johnson - "Bubble Toes" - Live @ Greek, (SF or LA)
UPDATE 5:36PM ET:
Rumors are floating that Sean Penn is actually code for Eddie Vedder or maybe even Pearl Jam. I guess we'll know soon enough for sure, but my money is against a full band Pearl Jam show considering the time slots are so short. The second Sean Penn scheduling block precedes My Morning Jacket's set and MMJ has performed live with Eddie Vedder in the past. Hmmm. The plot thickens? Or is there even a plot?
Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:06 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Who Watches the Marketing Teasers?
This is a geek dog whistle, see if you can hear it...
That's not even real footage from anything, and I'm already like Michael J. Fox in his dad's hardware store. Wait, what's that? Oh, music...right. Umm, here...
the Long Blondes - "Nostalgia"
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 21, 2008
Numerology: Sizing Up 46
Just when I am about to conclude that 46 has no special significance to the average person I must reverse myself completely. Forty-six matters to everybody, and not in some obscure way: Humans have 46 chromosomes. And while this fact might not come across as the type to pay the same kind of musical dividends as other numerical certainties, e.g., “24 hours a day,” that sure didn’t stop Tool from confronting the chromosome angle, tossing in Jungian imagery, and whipping these elements into a robust prog-metal froth called “Forty Six & Two,” which describes mankind’s ascendancy to a higher level of existence via an additional two chromosomes (hence the title). I don’t know about you, but too much Jungian imagery in a pop song, whether it’s by the Police or Peter Gabriel or Tori Amos, is not something I welcome. Pop music is something I turn to for less heady joys; if I’m in the mood for Jung, I’ll just curl up under a Navajo blanket with a flashlight and my dog-eared copy of Man and His Symbols. Still, Tool’s song is undeniably well played and ambitiously conceived; the band understands the power of a strong hook but they’re unwilling to let one or two carry a song. I guess they’re just too busy contemplating the next level of existence to write a song that doesn’t sprawl all over the space/time continuum.
So that leaves a jam band, ‘60s R&B outfit, a popular indie group, an obscure ‘80s Barcelona pop combo, and a religious collective…
The term “jam band” didn’t really exist when the Grateful Dead were around. The Dead were the entire scene; there was no one else. When Garcia finally gave out, jam bands began to proliferate like softly glowing roses, blooming in time-lapse, all over America, and Phish soon became the Dead of the jam band scene. Phish did a lot of the same things the Dead did, but the paradigm had clearly shifted. For one thing, Phish were too young, spry, and together to ever be the sprawling mess that the Dead could be concert. It takes years of monumental excess to manage the trick of achieving genius-level improvisation along with shocking displays of sloppy playing and off-key singing, all within the same song, as the Dead did regularly. The Phish guys were not talented singers either, but they could remember the words and hit the high notes most of the time. While “46 Days” is squarely in the Dead tradition of rootsy syncopation and traditional American imagery (“Leigh Fordam sold me out/46 days and the coal ran out”) mixed with touches of mysticism and stoner ambiguity, it doesn’t approach the Dead’s mythic Americana because Phish sorely lacked what the Dead had in Robert Hunter (and the Band had in Robbie Robertson): a poet.
The Trees Community, an early ‘70s band/religious community, put several psalms to music, including the mostly instrumental “Psalm 46.” It’s compelling, but not as audacious as “Psalm 42,” the mind-blowing12-minute opener from The Christ Tree, the recently re-released collection now being hailed as a major work and a progenitor of the so-called freak folk scene.
Goes Cube - "Goes Cube Song 46"
“Goes Cube Song 46” is another seething slab of post-metal by a Brooklyn band so uncompromising that their songs have no titles, just numbers. All of them are head bangers that avoid self-parody. Punishing indeed.
The All Music Guide says Rilo Kelly’s “Love and War 11/11/46” could pass for “Stereophonics covering Lone Justice,” but deep in my heart I believe that no band should ever cover Lone Justice, nor even be able to pass for doing so. Lone Justice had a few good songs and the world should just leave “Sweet Sweet Baby Mine” and “Ways to Be Wicked” alone. Besides, no offense to the perfectly fine Rilo Kelly, or, for that matter, the Barcelona pop band Brighton 64, creators of “La Calle 46,” but it’s getting hard to ignore two 46 songs that just tower above the rest.
“54-46 Was My Number” by Toots & the Maytals surely belongs in the pantheon of great reggae songs; it could win 54 or 46 with its hands tied behind its back. I hate to tip my hand, but I’m holding off conferring hero’s status upon Mr. Hibbert & Co. until we reach the 54 peg, for purely tactical reasons. I wouldn’t want those of you keeping score at home to think I had somehow missed this numerically rich classic.
While “39-21-46” by the Showmen lacks the ideal configuration for the no. 46 slot, (the list would certainly scan better if “46” came first) we need to be thankful for either a printing mix-up or some record company chicanery that enables the original 45-rpm of this single to be here in the first place. The record—our winner for no. 46—is really called “39-21-40 Shape”—and it’s clear to the naked ear that the singer never sings “46” at all. General Norman Johnson, who wrote and sung it, believes the title was deliberately changed by execs at Minit Records, as a ploy to “arouse curiosity.” Makes sense to me. It would be hard to imagine someone really mishearing “40 shape” for “forty-six,” and it was a common practice among labels to change the names of songs, and even performers, at their own discretion. Johnson’s own group had been called the Humdingers until Minit changed the name to the more upscale Showmen. And on a more practical level, even to those who like ‘em big, most would agree that 46-inch hips stray from the feminine ideal. The hips that the song celebrates are still plenty ample, just not 46-inch ample:
“You with your 39-21-40 shape/you got me going ape-ity-ape over you.”
And, o how the kids went ape-ity ape for that “mislabeled” single. It became a huge hit on the jukeboxes of Myrtle Beach, SC, which in the early ‘60s was the hotbed of the Carolina Beach Music scene, where the hip white kids went to do The Shag and listen to forbidden “race” music. The Showmen, led by General Norman Johnson, were the kings of the scene. Eventually the Showmen became the Chairmen of the Board, and had hits with “Give Me Just a Little More Time” and other classic singles. Johnson also had major success writing songs for other bands in the ‘60s and ‘70s, working with the legendary Detroit team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, and earning himself a Grammy for writing “Patches” by Clarence Carter. Much later, he sang a beach-music style duet with Joey Ramone on “Rockaway Beach,” and it’s about as un-Ramones-y as you can get.
General Johnson & Joey Ramone - "Rockaway Beach"
“39-21-46” falls squarely into a tradition of songs, like Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Eyesight to the Blind,” that depict women’s sexuality as having healing powers. The Who covered “Eyesight” on Tommy, and in the Ken Russell film version, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton perform it as a pair of Les Paul-playing clergymen in a church that worships Marilyn Monroe.
In “39-21-46” the voluptuous heroine has the power to make a crippled man walk, a blind man see, and the quietest man in the world talk. Johnson imparts this in his distinctive moan, with every fiber of his being. The interplay between the lead vocal and the doo-wop style accompaniment makes for an irresistible tribute to the divinity of women, one that calls to mind a quotation from the Book of Talking Heads. (Trees Community might not approve, but I’m sure General Johnson would):
The world moves on a woman’s hips/the world moves and it swivels and bopsThe world moves on a woman’s hips/the world moves and it bounces and hops/
A world of light/She’s gonna open our eyes up
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 creep everybody out.
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, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45
Posted by David Klein at 02:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 4.21 - 4.27
[Islands - TONIGHT! Our interview with Islands' Nick Thorburn here]
[Kraftwerk]
Monday, April 21
DJ Scooter @ Larimer Lounge
The Dodos @ Hi-Dive
Islands @ Bluebird Theater
Minus The Bear @ Boulder Theater
Saul Williams @ Fox Theatre
Tuesday, April 22
Apocalyptica @ Gothic Theatre
Awol One @ Larimer Lounge
Kimya Dawson @ Bluebird Theater
Ligion @ Soiled Dove
The Phenomenauts @ Marquis Theater
Rogue Wave @ Fox Theatre
Siberian @ Hi-Dive
The Waifs @ Boulder Theater
Wednesday, April 23
Danny Vegas/Missing Dufrenes @ Larimer Lounge
Dirty Heads @ Marquis Theater
Junior Brown @ Soiled Dove
Kraftwerk @ Fillmore Auditorium
Mike Doughty's Band @ Fox Theatre
Neva Dinova/Ladyhawk @ Hi-Dive
Shelby Lynne @ Bluebird Theater
Stars/Basia Bulat @ Boulder Theater
Thursday, April 24
9/10s Of The Law @ Bluebird Theater
Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet @ Boulder Theater (e-Town)
Black Diamond Heavies @ Hi-Dive
Boombox @ Fox Theatre
Gavin Degraw/Jason Mraz/Graham Colton/Landon Pigg @ Soiled Dove
Mac Lethal @ Marquis Theater
Vonnegut @ Walnut Room
Widowers @ Larimer Lounge
Friday, April 25
Blood On The Wall @ Hi-Dive
The Flobots @ Fox Theatre
The Gibson Brothers @ Walnut Room
Jucifer @ Larimer Lounge
Kill Syndicate @ Gothic Theatre
Levi Weaver @ Hi-Dive
Soul School @ Soiled Dove
The Wood Brothers @ Bluebird Theater
Saturday, April 26
A Cursive Memory @ Marquis Theater
The Build Up @ Larimer Lounge
Colin Meloy @ Fox Theatre
Karrin Allyson @ Soiled Dove
The Messengers @ Hi-Dive
Onesidezero @ Gothic Theatre
The Sword @ Bluebird Theater
Sunday, April 27
Big Time Entertainment Show @ Hi-Dive
The Classic Crime @ Marquis Theater
Cunninlynguists @ Fox Theatre
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Summer Begins to Beckon...
In a few short months, it will be Summer and that means the second annual After the Jump Fest! Bigger, better with even more acts and surprise guests, this year the festival takes place along side the city wide music event, Make Music New York (which itself is a part of the worldwide music phenomenon that takes place in 300 cities in 108 countries) on the first day of Summer, June 21st.
After the Jump Fest is the effort of 20 New York City music bloggers whose goal is to help new artists gain exposure while raising money for struggling school music programs. This year, After the Jump is teaming up with The Music Hall of Williamsburg and Galapagos Art Space for a festival stretching from noon until last call. In the next few months, After the Jump blogs will be making more announcements about the festival including new artists and pre-parties. Stay tuned and in the mean time, check out AftertheJumpFest.com for information on our past events and mark your calendars! It's going to be a doozy.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 20, 2008
Video: High Places - "New Grace" live @ the Market Hotel
Pitchfork.tv, which I think we can all agree has turned out to be pretty rad, has done us the great service of posting an entire set by MS's Brooklyn favorites, High Places. It's the very set that was the featured silver lining in my controversial rain cloud of a review of the night in question as it turns out.
Enjoy here, and then further enjoy safely turning away without your shirt reeking of Camel Lights.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 08:11 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Book Review: Cult of the Amateur
For almost the entirety of his debut book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, author Andrew Keen comes across like a mom forbidding her children from watching MTV: old fashioned and bitter. But instead of attacking one of the more popular channels from the advent of cable television, Keen bemoans the advancement of the most popular trend of communication in the twenty-first century: the Web 2.0 phenomenon. By the time he claims to be “neither antitechnology nor antiprogress” (184), Keen* has already established himself as a jealous and elitist curmudgeon and a completely contradictory and misleading rhetor. Perhaps it’s fitting that the photo of Keen on his own Wikipedia entry makes him out to be a dead ringer for Walter Peck.
Radiohead - "2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)"
The author aims most of his ire at that axis of internet evil, Wikipedia, YouTube and MySpace, but does take time to target the internet’s other influences as well. He freely criticizes that, “…sites like Craigslist that offer free classifieds, undermining paid ad placements” (8), as if the E section of the newspaper has some sort of divine ownership of print advertisement. The crux of Keen’s argument lies in the idea that there are experts in each field, whether it be politics, art, literature or the critique of these or any similar areas, such as music. Furthermore, the commutative, collective opinions of genres are faulty and lead us into the temptation of narcissism, not to the truth. For the purposes of this assignment (and this website), however, let’s focus on what Keen has to say about music, a topic that he devotes two of the book’s eight chapters to in sections affectionately titled “The Day the Music Died [sides A and B].”
Intermittently spattered throughout the book, there are hints that this internet free-for-all is hindering actual artistic creativity, “The new Internet is about self-made music, not Bob Dylan or the Brandenburg Concertos” (14). This, at first, seems like a viable argument, most of the no-talent hacks filling the series of tubes are far removed from the greatest music has to offer. Reasonable, of course, until one wonders what exactly he means by “self-made.” Is he suggesting that Dylan is some corporately-created musical product? That N*SYNC is the zenith of musicianship? Come to think of it, aren’t most of history’s greater artists “self-made”? Never furthering on these points, he later adds that, “Finding and nurturing talent in a sea of amateurs may be the real challenge in today’s Web 2.0 world” (30). This is factually correct, but Keen is stressing the wrong result. Ask most purveyors of online music criticism and they will tell you that this “finding and nurturing” is one of the better aspects of the current movement. This is not the last time that the author implies the conceptual existence of this fictional artist, the one operating exclusively by “…the sweat of their creative brow and the disciplined use of their talent…”, the one that is only trying to make the best art possible and because of people like Brianna LaHara is now poor, starving and on the verge of quitting for a much less rewarding cubicle job. (Go here for one reason as to where all the money once spent on CDs has gone.)
Keen argues that we should defer to “expert” opinions, a term he seems to define as individuals educated and/or trained specifically within a certain field. While this assertion seems logical at its onset, it is at best elitist and at worst propagandist. Education and training do not an expert make. If they did, we’d have a lot more experts! I’ll admit name-dropping the hilarious A. O. Scott helps his cause; trumpeting Rolling Stone (particularly anything from 1977-present) does not.
The idea that we should follow expert opinions is less a pitch for further education than it is a complaint about amateurism and, in the author’s opinion, sloth. Recycling the same argument used against, at different times, marijuana and masturbation, Keen argues that too much role-playing game, er, playing, will cause people “…[to cease] to be productive members of society” (162).
While this error is theoretical, assertions such as, “Web 2.0 economy is not creating jobs to replace those it destroys” (130), is flat-out wrong. I’ll submit that the current technological shift costs jobs, and not just white-collar or no-collar ones, either – the lower middle class working the phones and docks of shipping companies stand to lose from this move to internet commerce. Artists, executives, shipping companies, and stores all lose work and money to downloading. However, new industries are propping up in their places. Before the last part of the twentieth century there was never a need for internet security companies and parental control software. These things need to be created and consistently improved. What more, computers do break down – perhaps a future industry lies in technological repair services.
Keen goes so far as to liken the now-unemployed Tower Records employee to the main characters of the Nick Hornsby novel (also a film and, appropriately, a musical) High Fidelity. He remembers the Tower people as friendly, cutting-edge trend setters, “cultural tastemaker[s]”; I remember them as disinterested and uneducated. This analogy is funny not just because it involves a pre- Shallow Hal Jack Black, but because the employees of Championship Vinyl on more than one occasion make points to shit on mall-located record stores such as, I don’t know, Tower Records!
The author then attempts to tie the death of megastore Tower to the death of independent record labels. If Keen is to be believed, without enterprises like his beloved Tower, labels that brought little known classical, jazz, opera and world music to the rest of the world would go belly-up. Oddly, he includes hip-hop on this list, as if some enormous, faceless company was the sole provider of underground rap music. Isn’t the opposite actually true?
But who is the real culprit of Tower’s demise? YOU and YOUR crazy downloading, of course! “As a specialty retailer, [Tower] hadn’t been able to compete against digital piracy or the low prices of Internet retailers like Amazon and iTunes” (100). Bemoaning the loss of Tower in favor of cheaper, more convenient alternatives is George Amberson-esque. For that matter, Target stores, and their $10 for new CDs, is probably just as much to blame for Tower’s fall than any online service, legal or not.
This leads to my most/least favorite argument against file sharing, the notion that illegally downloading music is akin to stealing foodstuffs from a restaurant. Is illegally downloading music stealing? Yes, and anyone that says otherwise is ignoring fact. (Although I acknowledge that there are an infinite number of gradients contained within that claim.) However, stealing the new Andre 3000 song is not the same thing as taking some kernels from the man selling elote; the former is easily duplicated, while the latter is a one-use-only product.
Perhaps Keen is auditioning for a job at FOX News, because he reduces himself to playing the “you’re either with us or you’re against us” card in defense of his claims: “…by depriving artists and writers of the royalties due them, they aren’t just hurting those from whom they steal – in the end, they are hurting us all” (145). As is usually the case with these sorts of baited statements, how exactly they are “hurting us all” is never clearly defined.
The fear mongering doesn’t stop there, as Keen somehow blames Web 2.0 for individual companies like Google and Yahoo! selling and giving away individuals’ search history, citing specifically the case of Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for releasing information deemed undesirable by his nation’s government. While the intellectual result of this trick is minor, the rhetorical damage is irreversible: Keen is claiming that your MySpace page is responsible for this man’s unjust imprisonment.
In spite of its elitism, fear mongering and straight-up wrongness, Cult isn’t a terrible book. Unfortunately, one must drudge through almost two-hundred pages of Keen’s tired complaining before the author offers some viable solutions. His favorites include Citizendium, Politico and eMusic (an assertion this website will not disagree with). He even answers one of his own hypothetical questions, suggesting that the music industry would benefit from reducing the prices of CDs in order to compete with the contrastive cost of downloading.
In that spirit, this review is frontloaded with set up before getting to the substance. Keen provides insight into his thesis pretty early on in stating that, “What the Web 2.0 revolution is really delivering is superficial observations of the world around us rather than deep analysis, shrill opinion rather than considered judgment” (16). Had he substituted, “this book” at the beginning of that statement, he’d have done my job for me.
Keen, Andrew. The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture. Doubleday. New York, NY: 2007. [buy]
*Pay no attention to Keen’s history as a failed web entrepreneur. Audiocafe.com’s (lack of) success has absolutely no bearing on the author’s current perspective.
Posted by Randall Monty at 01:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack