One of the most fascinating things about Kristian Matsson is how he’s able to take very familiar folk sounds and turn them into something that seems fresh and exciting. His first two albums as The Tallest Man on Earth were built solely on his raspy vocal and either an acoustic guitar or a piano. The songs are also almost entirely home recorded outside of a traditional studio, giving them an additional ramshackle quality that speaks well to Bob Dylan’s earliest material. Matsson is from Sweden, but he uses and reveres classic American folk as his template. His last full length The Wild Hunt was very propulsive and catchy, with an emotional core that often made you feel like the man was playing as if his life depended on it. Just listening to him wail on “You’re Going Back” or “King of Spain” either sucked you in completely or left you out in the cold, as his abrasive yet heartfelt vocal isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. On his third long player There’s No Leaving Now, the gears have slightly changed (or evolved, if you will) for The Tallest Man on Earth. The music still retains that slightly gritty, home recorded quality, however Matsson plays around with multi-tracking a little, creating fuller arrangements with more instruments. “Revelation Blues” is where the extra bits are most evident – a lightly brushed snare drum along with small flourishes of piano and woodwinds compliment the main melody strung together by a carefully picked guitar. Other than that, only the occasional slide guitar on top of an acoustic is an indicator there’s more instrumentation than usual. The alt-country quiet of “Bright Lanterns” is probably where that’s implemented best. Outside of the guitar-driven tracks, the title track differentiates itself simply by being a piano-centered ballad in the same vein of “Kids on the Run” from the last record. Matsson does an excellent job wrenching the sadness out of the song. Such powerful displays of emotion were some of The Wild Hunt‘s strongest points. There’s No Leaving Now loses some of that primarily due to more languid and relaxed melodies where the vocals don’t require so many acrobatics. The album’s two most energized songs “1904” and “Wind and Walls” are also two of its best, even though their lyrics don’t entirely make sense. It’s the way he sings lines like, “But the lesson is vague and the lightning shows a deer with her mind on the moor/and now something with the sun is just different/since they shook the earth in 1904,” that somehow makes them seem far more coherent than they appear when written down. Still, not everything on the record is so convincing or vibrant, as songs like “Leading Me Now” and “Little Brother” breeze past pleasantly but forgettably too. Matsson can and has done better work than this, and three albums in it might be time to start asking if his particular troubadour brand of folk is wearing a bit thin. It’s nice to hear him spreading his wings just a little and fleshing out some of the tracks a bit more, but it means very little in the end if the songs aren’t worthy of that expansion. Ironically, There’s No Leaving Now often comes off like Matsson has gone away on vacation, perhaps to the beach depicted on the album cover. Wonderful as it can be to take some time for yourself and forget about your troubles, it’s no way to live. Sooner or later the world will come find you. Let’s hope for the next album that The Tallest Man on Earth pulls his head out of the clouds and reconnects with the emotions and excitement that made his earlier records so vital and fascinating.
Author: Faronheit Page 130 of 192
Say hello to the weekend, my friends, because it is upon us. Before you pack an overnight bag and head off on a quick trip out of state or whatever, give me two seconds to tell you that The Sadies are coming to Chicago TWICE next month. They have earned the reputation of being Canada’s best live band, which is saying something when Arcade Fire is one of your biggest competitors. In other words, you probably won’t want to miss them when they come through town. July 7th they’ve got a show at Schuba’s. Tickets are $14 and can be bought here. On July 9th, they’ll be playing a FREE show at Millennium Park with James Vincent McMorrow. Just show up at that one if you want as there’s no tickets involved. If you’re wondering what The Sadies sound like, I’ll definitely recommend the mp3 below for a taste. In this set I’ll also recommend songs from Deap Vally, James Apollo, Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, Ranch Ghost, Seatraffic, Sic Alps and Suit of Lights. In the Soundcloud section stream new stuff from Dispatch, Iron & Wine and Nguzunguzu. Have a great weekend!
Chew Lips – Do You Chew? (Lieke Remix)
Deap Vally – Gonna Make My Own Money
Dumbo Gets Mad – Marmelade Kids (Sun Glitters Remix)
Garrison Starr and Jason Karaban – Everything Is in Your Hands
Laetitia Sadier – There Is A Price to Pay for Freedom (And It Isn’t Security)
The Sadies and Andre Williams – I’ll Do Most Anything
Strip Steve ft. Puro Instinct – Astral Projection (KiNK Instrumental)
Suit of Lights – The Human Beings
Thee Swank Bastards – Getaway Car
SOUNDCLOUD
Iron & Wine – Trouble (Little Feat cover)
Usually I save this for Friday, but given my penchant for mixing things up a bit on occasion, let’s talk about it now. All of the site’s social media links are on the upper right corner of the page, but I’ve been working especially hard to generate some “Likes” over on the good ‘ol Facebook page. Twitter’s doing well, as is site traffic, but things have been progressing slowly at Facebook since I started the page a couple months back. So I’m going to keep mentioning it once a week until it’s doing well too. There’s extra, exclusive content over on Facebook too, including music videos I like and Spotify playlists I create. Just sayin’. I’m also just sayin’ today’s Pick Your Poison is solid. There are some pretty damn good tracks up for download from Emily Hane White, Fires, The Inner Banks, Mission of Burma, Mrs Magician, and North Atlantic Drift. Stream songs in the Soundcloud section from Lantern, Mika and Passion Pit, along with A-Trak’s remix of Justice.
Emily Jane White – Oh Katherine
Grace Jones – Williams Blood (Aeroplane Remix)
The Inner Banks – Box and Crown
Jon Sandler – Late Night Champ
Mission of Burma – Second Television
North Atlantic Drift – Waiting in the Afterglow
Rah Rah – I Could Tell You I’m Sorry
The Sometime Boys – Summer Solstice
Tiger! Tiger! – Cut Them Where They Bleed
White Light Parade – Want You to Know (Is Tropical Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Justice – New Lands (A-Trak Remix)
When talking about the self-titled debut album from POP ETC, it’s almost essential to forget what you know and think you know about The Morning Benders. The storyline plays out as follows: upon learning that their band name was being used as a homophobic slur in the UK, The Morning Benders made the executive decision to change their name to POP ETC. With the name change came a lineup tweak and a move from San Francisco to Brooklyn. It’s close to the musical equivalent of gender reassignment or witness protection, and such radical adjustments also provide the opportunity to reinvent yourself however you like. The old Morning Benders liked guitars and indie pop. They wrote a super catchy song like “Excuses” that found placement in a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercial and on “Best of” lists back in 2010. They corralled their musician friends from San Francisco like John Vanderslice and members of Girls into a small studio to play a song or two for fun.
By contrast, POP ETC like synths and commercial pop music. They use AutoTune liberally and even apply it to a cover of Bjork’s “Unravel”. They release mixtapes titled “New Influences Weekend Mix” and “1986 Weekend Mix” full of artists like Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Tears for Fears and Boys II Men. The moving parts might be the same, but this is an entirely new model and should be regarded as such. Those still in denial need only listen to the appropriately titled opening track “New Life” on POP ETC’s new album to best understand the group’s aim. Synths warble next to drum machines, and singer Chris Chu mourns the death of a relationship through R&B flavored sentiments and AutoTune. Somewhere, the 808s & Heartbreak version of Kanye West can relate. Top 40 and Urban radio stations should be licking their chops over the sparkling Drake-like bounce of “Back to Your Heart,” if only the lyrics weren’t so cringe-worthy. “She said, ‘Why do we bother?’/and I said, ‘I’m not your father,'” is just one moment in the song that might make you wince. First single “Keep It For Your Own” is perhaps the best four minutes of pure pop on the entire album, where light bits of acoustic guitar, bass and piano actually support the verses, the hook in the chorus is strong, and all the vocals/harmonies haven’t been modulated. It’s the only track on the record produced by Danger Mouse, and considering how well it works, they might want to have him do the entire thing next time.
So much of the rest of the album feels like a blatant attempt at mainstream pop it can be almost disturbing at times. “R.Y.B.” stands for rock your body, and not only did Justin Timberlake do a song about that very topic that was a whole lot better, but it’s easy to get the impression that ‘NSYNC would probably pass on it too. That and closing track “Yoyo” are both obnoxiously loud too, as if the synths have been turned up to 11 to distract you from how utterly mediocre they are. The faux R&B seductions of “Live It Up” and “I Wanna Be Your Man” have decent melodies and even some impressive harmonies in them, but stumble and fall from downright painful lyrics. “I ain’t never disrespect no woman/never called a girl a ho,” Chu AutoTunes on “Live It Up,” a song about sleeping with groupies while on tour. The chorus of “I Wanna Be Your Man” is the song title repeated over and over and over again ad nauseum, to the point where if you play this song for a girl you’re trying to woo she’ll likely say yes by the halfway point so the begging doesn’t have to go on any longer. You could say POP ETC are trying as hard as they can to develop a relationship with as many people as possible on this album, beating you over the head with a sonic lead pipe until you finally come around to the idea that they’re a good band.
They’d fare far better with a touch of moderation, as songs like “Halfway to Heaven” and “Everything Is Gone” display. Unfortunately such moments are too few and far between to make much of a difference. One thing that does make a difference is how and where you listen to the album. Like a blockbuster action film, sometimes you need a good popcorn record to mindlessly enjoy for awhile. If you’re out on a deck with a cold beverage and a good book or are at a party with your friends, a little POP ETC can be quite nice. Don’t be too surprised if the band starts to pick up some mainstream success from this album either. I mean it IS better than Ke$ha. That last sentence probably tells you all you need to know. In an ideal world, the transition from The Morning Benders to POP ETC would have gone a lot smoother. Chris Chu has proven he can write smart and addictive pop songs with guitars, and it stands to reason he could do the same without them. Let’s hope that next time the band returns they learn from this misstep and come up with some music that’s truly worthy of their new name.
Have you heard of The Deer Tracks? I mentioned them a couple weeks ago, but wanted to bring them up one more time quickly before tomorrow, when they’ll be playing a show at Schuba’s here in Chicago. In a nutshell, The Deer Tracks are a duo from Sweden who make electro-pop with sort of an insular edge. Their melodies shimmer and sparkle and often have a fun, danceable edge to them, but at the same time there’s an intimacy and preciousness to them as well. Maybe it’s their wider use of glockenspiel or their male-female vocal interplay that gives it that vibe. Anyways, they’re working on a trio of records known as The Archer Trilogy. Two of the three parts have been released, and the final piece will be out this fall. If you see them tomorrow night or on another one of their tour dates, they’ll be playing material from the entire trilogy. Buy tickets for the Schuba’s show here, and download the songs “W” and “Dark Passenger” to get a feel for their sound. I hope to see you at the show! Now let’s get to today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll offer up recommendations that you download tracks from Azealia Banks, Finn Riggins, Odd Hours, and Radio Moscow. In the Soundcloud section stream tracks from Attaque, Panoramic & True, Supreme Cuts and Van She.
Bart and Friends – There May Come A Time
Fiona Apple – Every Single Night (Its Overture Remix)
Love and Radiation – Faith Permits No Doubt
Saint Saviour – Midnight City (M83 cover)
Sam Densmore – Why’d You Let Me Down?
Total Warr – xxx HATE xxx (Is Tropical Remix)
Touch Tone – Home Away From Home (Starcadian Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Supreme Cuts – Ciroc Waterfalls
Yeti Lane – Warning Sensations (School Of Seven Bells Remix)
Tuesdays mean new music release days in America, and I’m pleased to try and inform you each week of what’s out there for you to buy. Here’s a long list of artists putting out new stuff this week, be it an EP or a full length album. If you notice one of your favorites in here and haven’t been keeping up with them, finding out they’ve got new material being release could be a nice surprise. Look for fresh stuff from the following artists: Anabot, Azealia Banks, Bobby Womack, The Bouncing Souls, The dB’s, Dent May, Emily Jane White, Future of the Left, Hot Chip, The Hundred in the Hands, The Inner Banks, Jaill, Joan of Arc, Jukebox the Ghost, Metric, Motion City Soundtrack, Nouela, Phoebe Jean, Piano Magic, POP ETC, Richard Hawley, The Tallest Man on Earth, These United States, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Variety Lights, Wintersleep and The Young. Phew, that’s a long list. It’s almost as long as today’s dose of Pick Your Poison. In this particular set, I’ll give a thumbs up to tracks from The Fire Tapes, The Ocean Floor, She’s So Rad, Warning Light and Wild Ones. Beastie Boy Mike D remixed Bosco Delrey pretty well, as did Mmoths with a Vacationer track. Other than that, stream good stuff from Atlas Genius, Levek and Plant Plants in the Soundcloud section.
Bosco Delrey – My My Race Car (Mike D Remix)
The Fire Tapes – Transistor, Monitor (ZIP)
Girl In A Coma – One Eyed Fool
Jack Dolgen – Baby I’m Afraid Tonight
Kimbra – Settle Down (tree & docko Remix)
Meyhem Lauren – Peruvian Desserts (ft. Action Bronson and Roc Marciano)
The Ocean Floor – The Last Four Years
She’s So Rad – Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart (Twin Peaks/Julee Cruise cover)
The Toothaches – Pretty and Loud
Vacationer – Trip (Mmoths Remix)
Warning Light – Whispering Priest
SOUNDCLOUD
“I have no idea who I am anymore,” Thom Yorke joked near the end of Radiohead’s set at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre on Sunday night. Plenty of people could say the same thing sincerely about Yorke and his bandmates once the show was over. For incessant Radiohead devotees and casual fans alike, the band’s trajectory since releasing The King of Limbs last year has been anything but normal. They’ve forsaken guitars and more traditional song arrangements for music that’s heavily influenced by the electronica subgenre IDM and kinetic polyrhythms. The response hasn’t exactly been enthusiastic so far, in large part because it’s quite a bit different from some of their most popular work on albums like In Rainbows and OK Computer. The closest cousin to The King of Limbs is Kid A, and even that was more of a subtle art statement than a fidgety dance record. Still, it was the new album with its twists and turns that transformed Radiohead’s live show from a display of superb rock craftsmanship into a morbid dance party. Consummate professionals that they are, the band is in no worse shape because of it.
Things didn’t exactly get off to a mindblowing start though. Opening with “Bloom,” the live rendering of it felt just a little sluggish and mixed with a little too much bass. With most of the crowd utterly distracted because the band was on stage and they needed documented pictures of it immediately, the so-so launch either went unnoticed or was shrugged off as soon as “There There” kicked in. It’s also worth noting that as with any new album, sometimes it takes a band a bit to figure out the right way to perform certain songs. Perhaps “Bloom” is one of those. But from that point onwards, things only got better. “There There” benefited from the dual drummer attack Radiohead is using to supplement their newest material. Portishead’s Clive Deamer does a wonderful job working in tandem with Phil Selway, and in certain situations even Jonny Greenwood or Ed O’Brien would pick up some sticks and add extra fuel to the percussion fire. That was perhaps most noticeable on “Morning Mr. Magpie,” one of a couple tracks from The King of Limbs that managed to exceed the recorded version.
The middle of the main set attempted to calm things down a bit starting with piano ballad “Codex,” but when you’ve got a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands that can get a little tricky. As Yorke’s falsetto moaned into the night and the keys were tapped with measured grace, some overzealous fans felt it necessary to cover the quiet with quite a few “Wooo”‘s and “Yeah”‘s. It stripped away some of the power that moment could (and was intended to) have had, which was unfortunate. Also just a touch unfortunate was the live treatment given to “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy.” Fantastic as it is that Radiohead chose to perform one of their best b-sides because it was a good sonic match with everything else that night, it was the only other song besides “Bloom” that didn’t hit the way it was supposed to. There’s an underlying dread about a political menace woven through the song, as Yorke himself explained when introducing it, but the band dragged while playing it and sucked some of the raw emotional power out as a result. The recorded version on the “Pyramid Song” single gets it all the way right.
The second half of the main set was about as perfect as anybody could ever ask for. The song selection was a fantastic mix of old and new, a pair of huge hits, and a massive dose of energy that sent the crowd into a frenzy. There was the sing-along to “Karma Police,” Yorke sending his voice soaring on “Reckoner,” the dance party on stage and off for “Lotus Flower,” the fuzz and buzz combo of “Myxomatosis” and “Feral,” with a closing capper of “Idioteque.” No doubt those last several tracks fulfilled the vision Radiohead had to shift their direction towards a much more physical live show. If they can find a way to harness that magic for the entire night and not just a majority of it, who knows what that would do to a crowd. Bodies might explode from sheer ecstasy.
In the last week or two, word quickly spread around the internet that Radiohead had a brand new song called “Full Stop” that they were playing around with during soundchecks on tour. A couple people managed to get some shoddy recordings of the band messing around with it, but it had never been performed during a show before. That is, until this show. With bright tye-dyed rainbows of color splashed across every video screen surrounding the band, the excitement in the air was palpable and every hair on my body was standing straight up. Holding true to the more electronica-based material from The King of Limbs, the song starts fast with a hazy keyboard base. Tension and speed quickly build atop one another until the dam fully breaks about three minutes in. Yorke’s voice yo-yos between normal and falsetto near the end so many times he sounds like a skipping record. Call it euphoria from hearing it live for the first time, but I think “Full Stop” is destined to be a hit. “It’ll get better with age,” Yorke said after they’d finished playing it. If it’s this good now, who knows what it’ll sound like five years from now. It’s tough to even fathom.
The first encore wrapped up with a ripped up rendition of “Bodysnatchers,” which was the most rock and roll the band got all night. Then Yorke stepped back behind the piano and teased a little of R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” before blending it seamlessly into “Everything In It’s Right Place.” That’s sort of typical Radiohead fare, and they’ve been doing those sorts of things for years now. Relatively new to their encore plot is the stark and stripped down version of “Give Up the Ghost,” which Yorke and Jonny Greenwood played to start the second encore while everyone else remained backstage. Thankfully this time the crowd was much more sedate and respectful relative to the emotion and quiet of the song, and it represented one of the more powerful moments of the evening. “Identikit” is another new song they played that hasn’t yet appeared in studio recorded form, and like “Full Stop” it’s a percussive dance juggernaut worthy of getting excited about. After ignoring almost their entire pre-Kid A catalogue all night, Radiohead finally said goodnight with the show-ending classic “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” “Immerse your soul in love,” Yorke sang as the last lines of the song. With their stellar execution, jaw-dropping stage set-up, quite a bit of dancing and upbeat demeanor, the band gave out plenty of soul-immersing love to the Chicago crowd on Sunday night. I’d like to think we returned that love in full.
Watch Radiohead perform “Full Stop” for the first time
Set List
Bloom
There There
15 Step
Kid A
Staircase
Morning Mr. Magpie
The Gloaming
Codex
The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
Karma Police
Reckoner
Lotus Flower
Myxomatosis
Feral
Little By Little
Idioteque
ENCORE 1
Separator
Full Stop (FIRST TIME PERFORMED)
Bodysnatchers
The One I Love–>Everything In It’s Right Place
ENCORE 2
Give Up the Ghost
Identikit
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Happy Monday to you. I hope your weekend was a memorable one, filled with fun and time with friends or family. I’m going to keep this intro short today, mostly because I’m hard at work on a review of the Radiohead show that happened last night and I don’t want to take up too much time from that (ed: it’s finished now, read it here. In one quick sentence? The show was amazeballs. More on that later. For now, please enjoy this set of mp3s and music streams. A quick Class of 2012 note for you. You can grab an mp3 of a new Frank Ocean song below. He’ll have a record out this fall that you and I will need to pay attention to. Also part of my Class of 2012, Charli XCX has a new single out this week, which you can stream in the Soundcloud section below. Other downloads I’ll recommend today come from Archers, The Drowning Men, Pony Trash (which has members of The Chambermaids and Polica in it), Restorations and Zucchini Drive. There’s a new CocoRosie song up for streaming in the Soundcloud section too. It features the great Antony Hegarty, so I hope you’ll check it out.
Dead Rat Orchestra – The Geshin and The Guga
The Drowning Men – Lost In A Lullaby
Matthew E. White – One of These Days
Vancans – Like A Kid (Born Upstate)
SOUNDCLOUD
CocoRosie ft. Antony Hegarty – Tearz For Animals
Dog Is Dead – Glockenspiel Song
Liars are undoubtedly a talented band. They’re also impressively weird, to the point where even some of their most hardcore fans have probably felt a little alienated at times. In effect, they are the onion of bands: multi-layered, not for everybody, and sometimes they’ll draw tears from your eyes. If you’re listening to “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack”, those tears might be the result of sheer beauty, whereas “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” could easily bring forth tears of terror. So yeah, it’s not easy to pigeonhole Liars, and they seem to like it that way. Not knowing what to expect from them on each new album is an exciting proposition, even if it doesn’t always work out. For the most part they’ve been smart with career twists and turns, jumping from a concept record about witches (They Were Wrong, So We Drowned) to one that places a huge emphasis on percussion (Drum’s Not Dead) and then attempting to grind out something more straightforwad with heavy post-punk leanings (Sisterworld). On their new album WIXIW, the band once again explores new territory, this time peeling away most of the guitars and focusing on programmed beats and electronica elements. Many are calling it a “Kid A-like shift”, in reference to Radiohead’s steep change in sonic direction after the immense success of OK Computer. Liars frontman Angus Andrew even sounds a little like Thom Yorke on a couple tracks, perhaps most notably on “Ill Valley Prodigies” and “His and Mine Sensations”. Apt as those comparisons might be, the last thing you want to do is try and imitate a record that many believe was the finest thing released in the last dozen or so years. The band hasn’t said that was their intention, so maybe the similarities are wholly accidental. Really the whole “abandon instruments and go electronica” thing has become a plague among artists in recent years, with most citing the apparent limits that guitar and drum combinations have versus the wider realm of programmed sounds. That’s the main reason why Liars did it too, as they’ve said in recent interviews. Hell, that’s probably Radiohead’s excuse as well, only they did it before it was cool. Parts of WIXIW feel like a cop-out because of it though. It’s as if the band has lost confidence in their own ability to generate something original, so they’re creating new music based on sounds and influences they know are cool at the moment. That doesn’t mean the record is terrible or devoid of original ideas though. Opening track “The Exact Colour of Doubt” features calming waves of synths and handclap percussion that is downright beautiful. Single “No. 1 Against the Rush” glides, pulses and tinkers in a very Brian Eno-like fashion, even evolving the final minute of the song into a touch of instrumental madness. Those moments when Liars can condense some of their best elements from earlier records into the more electro-based structures are what work best. The rhythmically complex and bassline-driven madness of “Brats” is the band’s classic rave-up with a synth-etic twist, and “A Ring On Every Finger” puts a Depeche Mode spin on some of their favorite tribal rhythms. Most of these songs are interesting at least in concept, and the closer attention you lend them the more carefully composed they seem. That your perception of this record can change over time definitely makes it worth repeat examinations, even if those changes cause you to like it less. When you’re Liars, that comes with the territory. WIXIW may not be the shining moment for this band, and their own bout of self-doubt spawning its creation isn’t helping, but nobody else could have made this album. Sometimes that’s enough.
Radiohead made their “Chicago” stop on the King of Limbs tour tonight, and I was there to witness all the action. I’ll have a full report for you in a day or two, but in the meantime, here’s the full set list for your pleasure. It includes the first-ever live performance of new song “Full Stop”. To say that every hair on my body was standing on end and shivers went down my spine during that song is putting it lightly. When a reasonable quality video of it hits YouTube, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Set List
Bloom
There There
15 Step
Kid A
Staircase
Morning Mr. Magpie
The Gloaming
Codex
The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
Karma Police
Reckoner
Lotus Flower
Myxomatosis
Feral
Little By Little
Idioteque
ENCORE 1
Separator
Full Stop (FIRST TIME PERFORMED)
Bodysnatchers
The One I Love–>Everything In It’s Right Place
ENCORE 2
Give Up the Ghost
Identikit
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Short and sweet on the Friday beat is what I aim for, so instead of chatting about weekend plans, let’s get to business. First it’s my weekly reminder that Faronheit has a Facebook page. Go there, click “Like”, and get links to every single post on this site, plus a few exclusives like music videos that strike my fancy and Spotify playlists of my own creation. Secondly, Pick Your Poison is good today, as it is most days. You don’t want to miss downloading songs from Beast Make Bomb, Little Daylight’s remix of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Giraffage, The Mynabirds, Richard Hawley and Swiss American Federation (featuring Cary Brothers). In the Soundcloud section there’s a new Whigs track you might get excited about streaming. Have a great weekend!
Autosave – The (Shit-Faced) Memoir
The Canvas Waiting – This City
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Man On Fire (Little Daylight Remix)
Jonti – Nightshift in Blue (Dro Carey Remix)
Plant Plants – Embrace the Real
Richard Hawley – Leave Your Body Behind You
The Smittens – Burning Streets of Rome
Swiss American Federation – Oxygen (ft. Cary Brothers)
SOUNDCLOUD
Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips might be in a little bit of trouble. Okay, it’s more like a slightly heated argument than anything serious (for the time being). You may recall that on their Record Store Day exclusive album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends that there was a track featuring the lovely and powerful Erykah Badu. If you’ve also been paying close attention to music sites the last couple weeks a music video for that song may have caught your eye. A very NSFW music video that features Erykah’s sister Nayrok sans clothing and bathing in a variety of liquids and such. Well surprise, surprise, I guess that video wasn’t officially “done”, or as the band says it was, “unedited and unapproved”. Oddly enough, it looked quite edited. The “unapproved” part makes more sense though. The video has been scrubbed off the internet for the time being, with the hopes of posting an “edited and approved” version next week. In the meantime, Erykah is none too pleased with how this whole thing went down. She took to Twitter with a long missive about how angry she is about that video. She seems to feel that the video was “tasteless, meaningless and shock motivated” and disrespected her as an artist. That was point one of many as to why she disapproves of that video. Hopefully they’re able to come to some sort of agreement on a final product, but in the meantime, Wayne tweeted a pretty snarky reply that included a photo of his lips covered in glitter with the comments of “I kissed it!!!!” and “Nice ass!!!!” in reference to Erykah’s sister Nayrok having her body covered in it for the video. So there’s your amusing tidbit for the day. More on that if it develops. In the meantime, here’s today’s Pick Your Poison, complete with “edited and approved” mp3s from Baby Monster, Brown Shoe (covering Springsteen), Burning Hotels, Manor, The Spring Standards and TEEN. In the Soundcloud section there’s some good streaming stuff from Family Band, Four Tet and Class of 2012 artist Blonds.
Acid House Kings – I Just Called to Say Jag Älskar Dig (SAW Remix by Nixon)
Birds and Batteries – Let the Door Swing
Brown Shoe – I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Burning Hotels – Always
Burning Hotels – Always (Shuttle Remix)
Fat Tony & Tom Cruz – Bad Habits (ft. Bun B and Nick Diamonds)
Hills Like Elephants – Invisible Ink
Michael the Blind – Who Is She?
The Spring Standards – Watch the Moon Disappear
White Widow – Serial Love Affair
SOUNDCLOUD
Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders – Cold Feet
“America! Truck Yeah!” That’s the slogan an NYU graduate film student Heather Fink wanted to use as part of a Chevy advertising campaign. Because one doesn’t simply suggest a slogan without some hard evidence to back up how effective it could be, she put together a couple of “spec” commercials to fully sell it. Savvy filmmaker that she is, she recruited Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington along with comedian Bobby Tisdale to star in those commercials. Naturally, they’re pretty funny. You can watch one of the commercials here and the other one here. I’d love it if Chevy adopted these, however they chose to pass on the idea. Maybe Ford will be interested? Anyways, that was just a fun little slice I thought you might enjoy on this Wednesday. As for today’s Pick Your Poison, I’ll recommend tracks from The 65’s, Bogan Via, Calexico, The Dust Engineers, Ian McGlynn and Will Magid. Be sure to check out a full mixtape from How to Dress Well too. In the Soundcloud section don’t miss streaming a song from Museum of Bellas Artes.
Afrobeta – Do You Party? (UMF Remix)
Alphanaut – Back to the Stars (Acoustic)
Bass Science – Ghost in the Wires
The Dust Engineers – Snot Nosed Dweeb
Guantanamo Baywatch – Sad Over You
Guy Capecelatro III – Joe the Sailor
How to Dress Well – Live Yourself (Mixtape)
Ian McGlynn – Falling Towards Heaven
A Thousand Fuegos – No Up No Down
Zambri – My Could Have True (Plastic HealtH Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Japandroids are a band with an expiration date. The Vancouver duo crafted their last album Post-Nothing with the thought they’d be breaking up soon thereafter, having not found success in the relatively unsupportive music scene of their hometown. That record was in essence a mission statement from two guys that had nothing left to lose and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. Well, it seems that glory found them, because their song “Young Hearts Spark Fire” did as its title described and ignited the passions of rock fans across the globe. The entire album actually did wonders for the band, and two years of touring with large crowds suddenly made returning to a much more normal, non-music life a far less appealing option. As much as they dislike recording, it remains an essential part of any artist’s shelf life to keep generating new material. So with the exact same collection of people, instruments and rules they had on their last album, Japandroids set out to see if lightning could strike twice. Celebration Rock is the result. While the artwork, 8 song track list and running time might well have been photocopied from Post-Nothing, the songs themselves represent a very important progression for the band. First and foremost, the very internal and personal nature of the songs has been excised to focus on bigger emotions and an outward projection. The tortured thoughts of two guys on the verge of imploding their band have been replaced by songs about other people, possibly you, that want to live and party and lust and take revenge – sometimes all at the same time. The music plays along with that vibe too; there’s a distinct hunger and energy present in Brian King’s guitar riffs and Dave Prowse’s drumming that’s designed for bigger and better things. Whereas before they were making music for themselves, now they’re making it for their fans. Opening track “The Nights of Wine and Roses” sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the record, saying we’re all drinking and smoking and spending time with friends while waiting for the big and important moments in our lives to finally arrive. The lesson learned in the end is that those big and important moments are the ones where you’re waiting. The supercharged kick in the teeth that starts the album holds up in all its headbanging, devil horns and mosh pit glory through “Fire’s Highway”, “Evil’s Sway” and an effervescent cover of Gun Club’s “For the Love of Ivy”. They truly epitomize what the album’s title is all about. At the halfway point however, a shift takes place that changes the dynamic of the record. Rather than racing for the finish line in blistering fashion, they temper the energy only slightly and go for more of an emotional and nostalgic approach. “Adrenaline Nightshift” evokes some of the best moments The Replacements ever had sonically while tapping into abstract imagery like “a blitzkrieg love and a Roman candle kiss” and espousing that “there’s no high like this.” A similar mentality is tackled in “Younger Us”, reflecting back on youthful indiscretions with a bunch of “remember when”‘s and “thinking that this feeling was never gonna end.” But those two tracks really wind up as stepping stones for “The House That Heaven Built”, a crossroads at which the band’s intense instrumentals and recent lyrical prowess collide at their peaks. As the song chugs along with sheer purpose, King sings like he’s just achieved a newfound clarity and confidence in his life and wants to pass such wisdom onto us. “If they try to slow you down/tell ’em all to go to hell,” he professes like a man that has broken through all of his boundaries and is utterly ecstatic at the possibilities that lie before him. If that doesn’t suck you in, the hook most assuredly will. Celebration Rock ends on a ballad, or at least something that turns the speed and noise down from 11 to maybe a 9.5. “Continuous Thunder” is about the electricity between two people and the question of whether they can salvage their tenuous relationship. It might not be the happiest song on the record, but it does strive to keep the same sense of boldness and conviction as everything else. As the guitars finally drift off gently into that good night, the album’s final seconds are the same as its first: the sound of fireworks. We use those pyrotechnics only in the most joyous and exclamatory circumstances, such as weddings or after a home run in baseball. On Celebration Rock, Japandroids knock one out of the park.
Remember yesterday when I said I wasn’t feeling well? After a night that was ultimately spent praying to the porcelain god, I strongly suspect I had food poisoning. Feeling better today (so far), though I have been careful about what I’m eating. That cleared up, the normal Tuesday business is that I tell you all about the new full lengths and EPs being released this week, in case you’re looking to pick something up. This week you’ll find new stuff from Alejandro Escovedo, Amanda Mair, The Beach Boys, Crocodiles, Dntel, The Hives, Japandroids, Kelly Hogan, Langhorne Slim, Liars, Melvins, The Mynabirds, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Pujol, Rhett Miller, The Rocket Summer, Scott Lucas and the Married Men, Teen Daze and The Temper Trap. Definitely some interesting stuff on there. Also some interesting stuff in today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll advise you to download tracks from Dalton, Dub Pistols, Echo Lake, Emily Jane White and Marissa Nadler cpveromg Townes Van Zandt, Flosstradamus & DJ Sliink, and Silver Medallion covering Robyn. Lest I forget, The Deer Tracks are a pretty awesome electronica duo from Sweden, and they’ll be playing a show at Schuba’s on Thursday, June 14th. It’s set to be a great show, and they’ll be performing songs off their Archer trilogy. Hell yes you should go if you’re in the area. Buy tickets here.
Damon Moon and the Whispering Drifters – The Fool
The Deer Tracks – W
The Deer Tracks – Dark Passenger
Dub Pistols – Alive (Radio Edit)
Fine Steps – Tomorrow For All of Today
Flosstradamus & DJ Sliink – Test Me
Maren Parusel – Tightrope Walker
Men Without Hats – Head Above Water
Silver Medallion – Dancing On My Own (Robyn cover)
Sinden – Keep It 1000 (L-Vis 1990’s Construction Mix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Miriam Bryant- Finders Keepers
Project 46 – Atarax (Original Mix)
