Deerhoof: Please Pour Acid in my One Remaining Eardrum

A little after new years a friend and I were sitting around and discussing musical stuff at a get together. The conversation was focusing around the more interesting albums of the year, and I mentioned how I'd just gotten Deerhoof's latest and hadn't really listened to much of it yet. I remember saying something about the vocals being extremely irritating.
My friend replied with something flippant like,
"Whatever, Bjork lover" and me saying something like
"you like Deerhoof, but not Stereolab. Hmm"
Or something. I was drunk, and It's only passingly important.

Anyway this friend, who is kind enough to read this crap and occasionally reply to it, wrote me about my last post on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and how nerve grating the vocals are. I agree completely. Of course, frequent exposures to nails on chalkboards have dulled the senses a bit so perhaps that explains the lack of hatred on my part.

BUT, Deerhoof definitely takes the fucking cake here.

I know I commented on avant garde albums and how I find them scary and interesting. But really, this is too much. Having sat through Reveille and Runners Four I feel I can honestly say that Satan fucking a Chihuahua in the ass with a red hot jackhammer would probably sound better to me. I just sat through No one fed me so I stayed off reveille and I want to punch my roommate in the face. And I honestly like my roommate.
I've tried to understand what it is about this band that makes everyone keep telling me their good, but I find it utterly incomprehensible why anyone would subject themselves to this kind of torture. Maybe if I light me nipples on fire.
Even if the vocals aren't getting in the way, the music itself is so badly written that a retarded elephant could come up with more structure than almost any one of the songs on either album I have. And I only listened to two! Who is buying this shit?

Now that I've vented my spleen I'll take an objective step back. Experiments in song structure are good. Even necessary. Sonic Youth. A perfect example of a band breaking boundaries in music but only meeting with few and far between successes. I've never met anyone who has ever been able to produce a sonic youth album from their collection, but everyone SWEARS their awesome. Why? Because their fucking with the formula. Deerhoofs kind of the same. I think. Is it art? Yeah technically. Is it different? Yes and no. Usually this type of proto pop/blues has got some sort of angry snarling vocals over it instead of tweety bird noises smeared over the top. Is it good?

Only in the sense that a kick in the nuts is good to remind you why we try to avoid that sort of thing at all costs.

Aural landscapes are something that I love in music. Anything labeled "atmospheric" is probably something I'll like. I should like Deerhoof. I don't. Sorry fans. Your really deluding yourselves on this one. Only one man I know would dig this shit. And his name is Ben Adams. 25 minute Japanese Death Metal solos warped his mind to the point he MIGHT like Deerhoof. What's the rest of you people's excuse?

Final analysis: Deerhoof fools you into thinking there is something challenging here, until you get past the initial shock and realize that there is only hipster analog music with lots of useless connections, inane song structure lacking any complexity and some of the most irritating vocal frequencies ever recorded by man or woman. I huge amount of effort went into making this dogshit. It's a waste of your time and mine, and I'm not wasting anymore time on the subject.

Fuck Deerhoof.

If you want links to MP3's plug stick you head in the tub and throw a dryer in with you. It's the same thing.

Clap your Hands Say Yeah

Is it me, or are weird concept albums coming back into fashion the last two years. Things like Arcade Fire, Mars Volta, Modest Mouse, Decemberists. There is all this very bizarre music starting to make headway that quite frankly kind of scares me. If the cycle follows its usual course, four years from now wee going to be listening to some modern version of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer cranking out a 17 minute extended jam session featuring repetitious keyboard solos.

Anyway, reading various magazine and websites, clap Your Hands Say Yeah has shown up on several "best of" lists despite only having been out for, Like three months. Having now listened to it I can honestly say that I have heard this coming from a few cars and radios in my area, I just didn't recognize it, or ask what it was. So the buzz is apparently pretty strong.

Lots and Lots and LOTS of David Byrne Comparisons in the press for lead singer, Alec Ounsworth. Is this fair?
Ehh. Only in so far as its a weird vocal style. I can't really say anybody else that he sounds like so a high pitched David Byrne will suffice. Or maybe Yoko Ono. Actually the last time someone's vocal style really made me comment on it as being "different" was back when I found the Violent Femmes.

I like the fact that this band has no US label right now, but has still managed to sell 20,000 copies of their self-titled album in three months time. Take that music reps. Your ass is sunk. People are still buying music, just not from you! Eat a dick.

My own personal impression of the album are good. But I do admit that this is not exactly a relaxing album to listen to. It would be if the instrumentation was the only thing your were hearing. It's tasteful yet ear catching indie stuff. Nothing ground breaking but still good. Ounsworth's voice isn't totally annoying but still I gotta admit he's no crooner. I've heard cats fucking that sounds prettier. The one exception is on the track Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood, where the vocals fit well with eh music to ALMOST give you a spacey feeling until Alec starts chanting "They are child stars" ad naseum like a retarded Parrot. Funny though.

Anyway they were recently on Conan O'Brien so here you go. It's a tiny video though.

and here's some more mp3's for your listening enjoyment.

Lost and Found
Details of the War
Home On Ice

Song:Ohia Farewell Transmission

It is always a distinct pleasure that rarely occurs in my life, when a friend brings to attention a new song or artist that you enjoy. But the best is when someone brings to your attention music that affects you in a profound way, making you re-examine what it is that you consider to be music in the first place.

Last night qualifies.

songs:Ohia is really one man. Jason Molina. Growing up in Lorain, Ohio, this kid was playing for half a decade in Heavy Metal bands in the area as a bass player. Somewhere along the line he shifted his focus and began writing his own material that can very comfortably be described as Alt-Country. He's put out five albums and several EPs since 1996.
Now anyone who takes a look at the release date of Magnolia Electric Co. will notice that I'm behind on this album release by a whopping three years. So oops there. My only defense is that the alt country genre has always been one that I take with a grain of salt and don't have any real understanding of past the obvious choices like early wilco or Whiskeytown. In fact anybody who could make educated recommendations to me for this please do.
My recently moved-in roommate was kind enough to hook me up with this album, and I haven't had a chance to fully process it yet, but It's not really necessary. The first track on the album alone is worth the price of admission. Farewell Transmission has got one of the most haunting guitar hooks backed by Molina's distinctly unproduced vocals that just let the emotion speak for itself. Neil Young comes to mind, as well as Bob Dylan with a hint of Leonard Cohen. For whatever reason, this makes me think of the desert at dusk. As I have no other information on Molina aside from the brief piece I found I'll just let the song, and a few choice fan quotes pulled from the net speak for itself.

I should point out that I'm a big fan of nocturnal, atmospheric music with a distinctly rural-American tinge, and that pretty well describes this album.

Let's Get Drunk and Brood,

This is some of the most well crafted, fluently beautiful music I've ever heard.

I cannot stop listening to it. Over and over again. I never tire from it.

It's a classic--like OK COMPUTER or AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA. Not that it sounds remotely like either of those albums;
it's just a similarly unified, similarly dense musical statement.

It's far from an overstatement to say that Molina is one of the most talented, emotionally resonant songwriters of his
generation, as the collection of songs assembled here clearly demonstrates.

For those who likey, check out the Songs: Ohia website

Farewell Transmission

Pandora and internet radio

I used to daydream sometimes of having a massive underground bunker that had every single recording ever on a massive changer that would be able to scan my brain and know exactly what kind of music I wanted to hear at any given moment and play an appropriate song based of either style or lyrics. Later I modded my dream boombox to be more personal soundtracky and adjust for irony and juxtaposition.

Sadly my dream machine is not yet reality. But oddly enough, tech for music listeners is moving in the general direction.

Internet radio has been the better way to listen to music for quite some time now. As standard FM stations are increasingly hampered by the effort of Clear Channel to force them to crush the human soul, more and more people are saying "fuck the Radio" and going pure Ipod or satellite radio. Both offer the better part of the musical experience, by provide a wide variety of channels garnered to more specific tastes, say 80 electronic or 60 dance hall or some other non mainstream genre.

XM gives 100 + channels for a small subscription fee plus the initial cost of the equipment, but is also good anywhere in the USA. Sirius is the less large of the satellite radio providers.

Internet radio is by no means perfect, but by allowing a ton of would be DJs to put together several hours of their own mix and post it on the radio a very organic mix can be achieved that, in my own opinion, creates a much more visceral experience in listening that becomes more about the music itself and not foisting top 40 merchandise and endless commercials on us.
Do a google search and you'll find tons of internet broadcasters out there. Some of the bigger ones are Rhapsody and Yahoo My own preferences are for Live365's blend. Tends to be a little more eclectic.

But the most interesting one to date is the new style by the The Music Genome Project.

A friend of mine told me about an online radio service that would basically allow me to plug a musician or band as a reference point to what kind of music I would enjoy listening to and create my own personalized radio station. The Theory behind this rather odd Idea called Pandora is that musical tastes have certain recognizable patterns that when cross referenced will allow someone to be led to new music that they otherwise might never have come across. The radio stream service is called Pandora

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Over the past 5 years, we've carefully listened to the songs of over 10,000 different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.

We hope you enjoy the journey.

Fair enough.

As each song plays you are allowed the option to "vote" on the song. A thumbs up for this is kind of shit I want to hear more of" or a thumbs down for "This is the worst music ever. Never play this song again." Even cooler is the "why am I hearing this song" button which gives you a brief description as to why Pandora's box thinks you might like it. All in all pretty cool.

So the real question is "how good is Pandora at getting what I like?" the answer is not too shabby. When you first start it up, whatever band you plug in will be the template for what other bands are selected. While this is fine, you'll find that like anything it will get a little boring. Thankfully you can keep adding more bands which increases the scope of what it will play for you. When I plugged in only two bands I noticed that mix what slightly repetitive. So variation in you themes helps quite a bit in keeping it fresh.

As an experiment I also plugged in a band that in my opinion defies easy definitions. The Doves. Because the Doves are so all across the board as far as styles go, I thought it would be a good test. Frankly Pandora did fail here. What came back simply sounded nothing like them. When I queued Pandora to tell me why it was playing certain bands and musicians which were so not like the doves as to be laughable, the answers came back that Pandora had selected Mars Volta for my listening enjoyment for "electric rock instrumentation, mild rhythmic syncopation, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, a vocal centric aesthetic and major key tonality."

Ok. But I don't think there is anyone on the planet that would agree that the logical jump from the Doves to Mars Volta makes sense. SO it's not a perfect system. But hey, what a mix!

try it yourself and see what you think. I'd love to hear what you think and whether it turned you on to anything new that you now love.

The Decemberists

"I'm a poor, drunken orphan with nowhere to go but the grave," wailed a waifish and non-plussed Mr. Chris Funk as he lay supine by the railroad tracks. The crate of records he had been cradling in his nubile appendages now lay in pieces on the ashen ground, his complete collected recordings of sixties psychedelic luminary Rick "Paisley Dave" Rigmore scattered hit her and yon like so many dead leaves beneath a diseased elm. Noting his neglect to accredit this phrase to its rightful owner, chief engineer Jenny Conlee, her accordion neatly strapped to her back, stepped lightly from the caboose and corrected his negligence with the aplomb only an immigrant Hungarian could muster: "Dylan Thomas, sir! Please move along!" But it was too late: an indelible bond had been soldered in that moment of recognition. A few hours later, in a Turkish bath, they revealed their stories to one another between sips of a strange, tangerine liqueur. Not far from that spot, however, two young military dignitaries (Rachel Blumberg, Nate Query), appropriately lathered, overheard our two heroes' stories. Was it chance, then, that lead the four unsuspecting bathers to seek to return their soiled undergarments at the same kiosk where worked the poor, bespectacled Colin Meloy? One can surmise all one wants, but the truth should be known that, after adopting the moniker The Decemberists, these five wan vagabonds began playing their peculiarly styled pop music in various concert-halls and brothels all across the globe."

Umm, ... Sure. You may have noticed in the above text taken from The Decemberists web site on the Origins of the band that This is yet another album that Chris Walla from Death Cab For Cutie has had a production hand in. If you got that far. The relatively recent success of the Decemberists definitely coincides with the w upswing of indie music on the mainstream with the before mention DCFC and The Arcade Fire and the Shins, and Modest Mouse to name a few. Which I am all for. Indie music is great. It provides a fresh perspective on modern music by stripping away a lot of the flashy production values that sometimes can become sickening when listening to many mainstream acts and gets us back to the core of why we like music in the first place. I love Indie Music!

In small doses.
These same qualities in Indie can also cause it to quickly become repetitive and irritating.

Because it has been generally regulated to back alley coffee shops and bars in various metropolitan areas over the past decade, Indie music hasn't really had a chance to expand under the mainstream money machine which can really add depth to group that would otherwise spoil under the limited scope of home recordings and practice halls in dives and parent's garages. The last time indie was making an impression on modern media was the early and mid nineties with bands like pavement, R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Pixies, and hard as it is to believe now, Radiohead. Stop and think about that for a moment. Think on how much impact those bands had on the industry and the culture of the time as we know it. That is the power of the indie scene to generate underground swells that shape and design our culture. Indie has been renewing itself and is now starting to reveal what's been bubbling for the last 10 years.

And the Decemberists is one such band.

Colin Meloy leads the Decemberists, a five-piece outfit whose pop sound has listeners comparing the band with the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel and Belle & Sebastian. Frontman Meloy previously devoted some time to an alternative country group before breaking off to pursue his craft as a singer/songwriter in the city of Portland, a period that eventually led to the Decemberists' formation. He also holds a degree in creative writing. In addition to her duties on the accordion, Conlee also plays piano. Funk is the band's newest member. Before Hush Records released the Decemberists' first album in 2002, the group put out an EP of five tracks. Their full-length debut, Castaways and Cutouts was re-released that same year on the Kill Rock Stars label, and the band began to accumulate a serious fan base. 2003 saw the release of Her Majesty, another fine collection of theatrical indie pop with british folk sensibilities that further cemented their growing reputation as a band to watch. The following year they released the five-part epic EP the Tain, based on the 8th century Irish poem of the same name, followed by their third full-length Picaresque in march of 2005.

there is enough free music floating around the internet to get a good sampling of their style:

The Soldiering Life mp3
Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect mp3
The Engine Driver mp3

And Lastly a Wes Anderson Inspired video for
Sixteen Military Wives

Nada Surf: Always Love

Nada Surf has been chugging along since 1992. Most people will be familiar with the name, but have no idea what song they've heard by them. They kind of get that glassy look in their eyes as they rack their brains for some clue as to where they have heard Nada Surf. If you phrase it properly you can even make them feel guilty about it too.

Until a few days ago I was the same way. Knew the name, couldn't name a song by them if my life depended on it.

If you've heard them most likely you've heard Popular which was their breakout hit in 1996 off the "High/Low" album. Check out the blatant Weezer ripoff. Sounds like the Sweater Song kinda huh? With a dash of Suicidal Tendencies talk over effect from "Institutionalized"

Therein lies the problem. They were too derivative. Lost in the flood of "alternative" music that was the mainstream at the time, why would anyone give a shit?

The song reached #11 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and propelled the album to #63 on the Billboard 200.

Nada Surf didn't release an album again till 1998 with "The Proximity Effect." Elektra records hated it and said there wasn't a single in the mix. The album was released in Europe and was generally approved of by critics. Sales were pretty solid, but Elektra, being pissed about the single thing refused to release the album in the US. So Nada Surf scraped the scratch together, bought the album back and released it themselves under the new label DeMarv Records. Another album followed two years later, and again, critical love from the press and fans but nothing from the US.

Their latest album was released in September and it is worth noting that "the weight is a Gift" was produced by Chris Walla of the band Death Cab for Cutie, if only because DCFC is regarded as indie darling at the moment.

The biggest thing I've noticed is that the edgy Alt thing has mellowed significantly. Nada Surf has found their groove. And while it's nothing mind blowing it is at least enjoyable. The Lyrics are inoffensive and bland to the point that you completely tune them out and listen the Wall of Sound instead, which is rich and soothing. Matthew Caws voice completely blends in and takes on that feeling of another backing instrument instead of the focal point. Plus no more Weezer ripoffs. Which at this point might be a bad thing since Weezer has screwed the pooch the last three albums. A ripoff band would make bank on all the disillusioned fans who burned the Green Album.

So here's the first single off the new album,Always Love. Catchy in a Pete Yorn kind of way.

Here is the official website which is pretty boring. If you are at all interested check out this fan site which seems to have just about everything ever in print of T.V. about them.

Supergrass: St. Petersburg

Supergrass is an indie rock and Britpop band from Oxford, UK. Currently the band consists of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes, Danny Goffey, and Mick Quinn. Like many other British bands of the '90s, Supergrass' musical roots lie in the infectiously catchy punk-pop of the Buzzcocks and the Jam, as well as the post-punk pop of Madness, the traditional Mod Rock of the Kinks and Small Faces and the glam-rock of T. Rex.

Supergrass has never gotten much love stateside. For whatever reason their crazy mash up combination of hard guitar riffs mixed with melodies, three part harmonies, great lyrics, and a decided lack of "cool" mentality just didn't take. My theory is because Weezer was doing an American equivalent over here mixing Kiss and Beach Boys, versus Supergrass doing Rolling Stones, Buzzcocks, and Elton John on the other side of the Atlantic.

I saw them in concert during the Life on Other Planets tour in L.A. Great show, I was thoroughly drunk by the end, my ears were splitting and one of my friends was scheming on how to get backstage and steal the backdrop at the time. We never succeeded. But we did buy nifty little posters. In any case I'm a big fan. They never seem to disappoint.

A little while ago they released a "Best Of" collection featuring, well the best of their work from the debut album I Should Coco up to Life on Other Planets. A good place to start if you've never heard them. their styles can vary heavily from album to album, so This will give you a nice sampler platter.

More recently Supergrass released Road to Rouen and its definitely a change of pace for Supergrass. If you start at the beginning of their career and listen to them, the music sounds like exactly what they were at the time, Dorky Hyperactive teenagers. Now ten years and four albums later their music has matured accordingly. This is primarily a lot more down-tempo than anything I've heard from them as a who;e before, though hints of it have been showing up on the last two albums. Right now you can here the who;e album on Supergrass' Official Site So if you've never bothered or just are curious now is a good time to check them out as it wont cost you a dime.


Off the new album here's the video for St. Petersburg

And also Low C

P.S.

A little known fact: The term supergrass is used in Northern Ireland to refer to arrested paramilitaries who divulged the identities of their compatriots to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in exchange for immunity from prosecution, essentially, an informer. In many cases, the supergrasses were granted immunity from prosecution, as well as substantial sums of money. Many convictions based on supergrass testimony were later overturned, and the supergrass system was discontinued in 1985.

The Redwalls: Thank You

Wow! Every rock band that comes along owes at least a little sumthin sumthin to the Beatles. That's a given. But the Redwalls, man ... They owe EVERYTHING! It's been a while since such a direct correlation could be drawn between the beatles and another band since, since, I don't know .... a Beatles cover band I guess.

Logan Baren does a great Lennon impression. The music is very Rubber soul. I really dig the 60's throwback vibe. Particularly of note are the numerous harmonies in the music. That in of itself is quite rare in music as most bands are lucky to have ONE member that can sing a lick, and the their doubly lucky to have figured out to put that one in front of the mic. But to have three of them who can harmonize together.... Me Likey.

The Redwalls are currently touring with Hot Hot Heat around North America right now.

Here is the official site for the Redwalls.

Please enjoy the video for ">Thank You

The Pixies Sell Out

Ever heard of them?

Here's a cut from the New Live DVD released recently.


Where is my mind?

P.S. Kim is the shit.

Babyshambles: Killamangiro

So Kate Moss, former girlfriend of Peter Doherty, former lead singer for the Libertines, and current front man for Babyshambles, recently blamed Pete for selling the phone video of her snorting yay for cash to buy drugs.

Considering Peters past brushes with the law, including breaking into a former bandmates house to jack shit to sell for Heroine, this sounds credible. But Kate's indignant tone amuses me. After all she's a supermodel partying with Rockstars. I don't think anyone found this too much of a surprise. It's not like her profession isn't riddled with this type of shit anyway.

Now Babyshambles. I completely stayed away from the Libertines when they were still together for fear of too much media exposure. Nothing can kill an OK or even great band for me like too much of it. British and American magazine were cranking out reviews of these guys like freaking candy. Not to mention all the shenanigans at the live shows, robberies, fights and model fucking.

So I stumbled upon this video having no preconceived notions about this band and whether to get my music snob nose up before listening. Surprise! I like it. It's arty, simple, catchy, slightly rough, low on production tricks. Seems to meet the criteria. So I do a little web surfing and ...

What?! Peter Doherty is the front man for this band?! What the Fuck?! I've been tricked.

So grudgingly I listened to Babyshambles. I have no complaints. So mustering my righteous rock anger I went back and dug up libertine CD copies someone gave me in the hopes of turning me to the Cult of Personality that was (is) the Libertines. People still talk about these guys like they're Gods.

....Fine. I'll admit it. They're good. Happy?

Here is the official site for Babyshambles. Not much here.

And for comparison official site for The Libertines.


Update: Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok. Hold on. somone wrote me and told me some more shit that makes Peter Doherty the most entertaining Vocalist out right now for dipshit stuff. On "Down in Albion" The guy performing the track called Pentonville is some mutherfucker he met in JAIL! WTF?! You meet someone in the slammer and then ask him to guest on your next album? Maybe he sold the spot for H. HEE Hee HEE HEE!!! To Top it off Kate Moss does backing vocals on "Belle Et La Bête" BwAAAAAAAAAHAAAAhAhAHhaahhA!! *sniff*

Just thought I'd share that.

Plan B: No Good

Stop motion. Old Technique in videos. But when Coldplay put out the video for Trouble, the formula for music videos was written for ... well until the next "cool" cheap way to make a video comes along. We've all seen the carbon copies that have been floating around. All edited together using flash and lots of paper dolls.

Stop motion used to be what flash motion is today. Nobody uses it anymore, mainly because its time consuming to set up each frame. The most memorable one is Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer, which consistently shows up in top"x" videos of all time on every station except BET, and I think it gets honorable mention for having black women singing in the final verse.

Anyway the point is this. Plan B, is nobody I've heard of. Further more he's no one I care about. He's a rapper who is white, and therefore is destined to be endlessly compared to eminem. Sorry but its true. And yes he does sound kinda like him. His styles not bad, but his word choice is forgettable. The production is solid, and the beat is enjoyable. Overall I'll give it a 7.

The video is stop motion. It's pretty good stop motion as well. Just watch it and think about how long it must take to arrange all those items moving around for every frame here. What is it, 8 per second? Then think of how you plan that out so your mouth is forming the correct sound for each word to correspond with the song and the video. Complicated? Definitely. Worth it? I think so.

Gold Star!

Click on the top to see it.

Diamond Nights: Arena Rock Revivalism Taken Seriously?

So what do you need to know?

1) Diamond nights is a 70's revivalist arena rock type band. Think Darkness only without the spandex jump suits and falsettos.

2) It doesn't come off as campy.

3) Influences: Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, T-Rex, The Cars. You'll hear them all in here. If you like that, you love this. If not you'll hate it.

4) Retro bands usually fall flat on their faces after one album. It's a short career, mainly becuase you've got no where to go to. Write something original, your fans will hate it, and non fans wont listen since they hate you for not writing something original in the first place. Do more of the same, and your fans won't buy it anyway because more than likely the next big nostalgia band knock off has debuted and stolen the spotlight away. (Cough Cough. Darkness!!. Cough!)

Diamond Nights: Popsicle will probably be that. A fun listen but by no means anything lasting. but in the mean time enjoy it for what it is. Cue extended mastabatory guitar solo.

The Girls Attractive

The Rakes: 22 Grand Job

Now, when you listen to this, I want you to think of the opening theme to Kids in the Hall. Is it just me, or does the guitar riff remind you of that.
So, what about The Rakes? I can find no reliable accounting of when these guys came into being as a group. But they've been doing the euro tour thing pretty heavily for the last year. 22 grand job has been getting a lot of praise. It's obnoxiously catchy, super short, and singing about poor people in the city. A sure fire trifecta guaranteed to have this thing bouncing around inside your head like 22 slug, and doing just as much damage in the process. I just spent the last 12 hours humming this freaking thing to myself. The goddamn guitar riff is a BAR SCALE! IT'S BASIC SHIT!!!

And yet there it is. Stuck in my head, and in my ever tapping toe.

The rest of The Rakes is fairly standard Blur ripoff. And by Blur ripoff, I mean Blur before they decided to go all "world Music is Cool' on us with that last album. What the hell was that? No, The Rakes are more Parklife-y than anything else. Which is ok. What made Blur great was the avant-garde exclusivity that seemed to be associated with them. We'll see if The Rakes can pull off the same. What they do have going for them, is that as a whole, the album tells a quite famiiar story, of struggling to reconcile your social life with your working life. Realizing somewhere along the line that trying to get ahead in life, and trying to get down to the pub to have a pint with mates ona wednesday night at 11 am.m when you know you have to get up at 6 am the next day, doesn't seem to work. We've been there each and every one of us. The agnst.

Pint. Sleep. Pint. Sleep. Tough one.

The irony of course, is that 22 Grand Job is aimed at the working class, which is traditionally Oasis' bit. They must be going for that nitch market in the great unwashed horde.
without further adieu, I present The Rake's, 22 Grand Job

Oh, and I must admit, the Rake's official site is fairly detailed, and worth a look.

Dakah. A good idea gone bad?

So the general idea behind Dakah is that Hip Hop, at it's core is very similar to Ochestral arrangements and symphonies. So, the Orchestra’s founder and conductor, Geoff “Double G” Gallegos, is a classically trained saxophonist who studied at tBerkeleylee College of Music. Gallegos began composing hip hop music for orchestra while working with the Colorado Symphony. In addition to his work with DaKah, he is an active studio composer, arranger, and conductor in Los Angeles. In 2002, the orchestra and Gallegos received a Durfee Foundation Artist Award that led to the release of DaKah’s first studio album, Unfinished Symphony. The orchestra recently released the live album, San Francisco Debut, and performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.
Dakah gets to be 62 members deep when at full strength. They've recently reached the point where they can sell out venues that can handle that many musicians, AKA the Hollywood Bowl, but it amuses me to think about that many people trying to pack into small clubs around L.A. The patrons must have had to stand on the bars, and in bathroomromm stalls just to make room for all the instruments.

In order to create depth and meaning out of so many diverse and seemingly incongruent elements, one must have an overarching vision, which entails working on all quadrants and all levels. One must understand where each of these elements fits in to the big picture, both technically and aesthetically. Plus one must be able to navigate the daunting logistics of organizing so many people on little or no budget, finding the right venue in which to play, and forming a web of harmonious interpersonal relationships, not only within the orchestra, but also within the community at large. And I'm not sure that this gets accomplished.

Love the concept for the Dakah. Can't say I love the music though. Not being a very avid hip hop fan myself, I could be missing scriticaltcal point here, that makes the handful of people recommendednded Dakah to me, love them. But I feel like aside from the sheer massiveness of the group, there's nothing particularly fresh here. Yes hip hop does sound like classical music. All you have to do is listen to the strings sampled in 50% of all hip hop tracks. Well no shTheythey DO seem to have something in common when mixed over a 4/4 beat. How about that!

But I can imagine the live show would be impressiThe the dynamic of any music can be radically altered by the setting you witness it in. Songs that would normally suck coming through a stereo, sound inspired when seen live, and backed by the artists enthusiasm for their work. And I think that might be the case here. After all, why would a ton of classically trained symphomusiciansinas volunteer this much time and effort for relatively little or no pay, unless they were having a blast?
Pa lotalot of big names in Hip Hop have guest starred with them. The Roots, Breakestra, Black Eyed Peas, Macy Gray, Nikka Costa, etc. publiclyaapplaudluad Dakah as something new and exciting.

I just can't hear it.

Decide for yourself.
A Live show in the House of Blues

Broken Social Scene

As winter sets in to Southern California, and rains starts becoming more of an everyday phenomena, I find myself looking for mellower music that compliments the changing season. Summer and Spring are about loud brash tunes that make you want to go out there and smash your antlers into the neck of that other fucking dear who is sniffing around your girlfriends ass.
Or maybe that's just me.
Broken Social Scene has been referred to as "Supergroup" because of the fact that the roster can go fluxuate anywhere from 5 to 17 members at a time. The reason for this is that BSS likes to create a symphonic melody to back the indie pop style that lays at the core of their music. BSS comes out of Canada, as was formed in 1999 by various members of other failed little indie bands that shall not be mentioned here. Canada spits this type of music out on a fairly regular basis (Dears, Divine Comedy, tragically hip, Halifax's Sloan, etc) but that's OK, since the U.S. could use a slight bit more of it. Death Cab For Cutie will soon be done to death I'm sure, and calling yourself Postal Service will only squeeze one more album out at most.
This is Tea time music. Kick back and enjoy the string section. There are layers here to be appreciated. The overall production is quality, but when you have a band that can combine this many elements together and not turn it into audio mush, than you've got something worth checking out

Here is the Website

cause = Time is making some sort of statement about religious fanaticism here but its fairly ambiguous beyond "BAD." No shit.

Dandy Warhols

I'm not sure what happened here.

Recall, If you will the release of the Dandy Warhols most awesome of albums, Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia, In the summer of 2000. I can clearly remember being at a party in the hills, looking out over the spread of traffic and hearing a very ear catching and distrinct song that I later came to know as "Godless." I remember thinking:

"Wow, I haven't heard a horn section this cool since ........."

And then I promptly vomited.

Throughout the next half hour of marathon chucking I was constantly hearing the rest of this album playing on random. One might think I would hate it, as you would probably associate it with bad times. Not so. I fucking LOVED it. This album still stands in my mind as one of the most well crafted bits of rock n roll I have ever had the pleasue to come across.

For the next three years I took that freaking CD on the he road with me from California to Florida blasting it to anyone who would bother to give me a second to listen to how I was from "LA" and that this was the next big thing. Some bought it, some didn't . But when I was done, everyone knew that I was a Dandy Warhols fan to the end.

Or so I thought.

Fuck! Which is why it makes me so sad to listen to the last two follow ups.
Somewhere, somehow, the Dandy Warhols fell off.

Maybe, it was the hype. Maybe with a swarm of media from the US Europe buying up their singles for commercials, the became jaded. Maybe when they stopped sniffing coke off each others assholes (or so rumor says), they lost touch with the hedonistic fire that inspired "get Off," maybe they just got older and wiser. Maybe I did.

All I know is that Welcome to the Monkey House was a MAJOR disappointment, aside from "Last High." A thoroughly bland album. Leaning more towards some sort of Euro 80's synth thingie, versus the raw snooty guitar riffs that sold me in yesteryear.

The Dandy's new album was just recently released, and I'm trying REAL hard to like it. I'm not having any luck so far. I want to like them still. I really do. But I'm just not feeling it. Odditorium or Warlords of Mars is not what I'd hoped, to say the least. But time will tell. I guess it's hard to compare that first adrenaline rush of discovering something new and exciting that seems to promise the world, with something that by now is familiar and perhaps getting redundant. We've both gotten older the Dandys and I.
Perhaps it's time to find a new love....

But before I do, I'd like to pawn this Rock Ho off on some new John. The Dandy's wouldn't want it any other way I'm sure.
If you haven't listened to them before, may I recommend the single that made me a fan? Godless still stands as one of the best singles I've ever heard and the video is no less precious. If you've ever spent any time slumming around L.A,'s various "hipster" spots you'll immediately recognize this as a perfect example of the type of heroine chic bullshit that tends to get pandered around as "Cool" spots. Don't forget kids, It's awesome to be bored. Might I point out the ULTRA-Hip Gay Hula Hooper doing the sexy dance.

Here is the official Dandy Warhols Website. Now in 3-D!

Maximo Park: Graffiti

Maxïmo Park are an indie rock band, signed to Warp Records, who formed in Newcastle, North East England in April 2003. They consist of Paul 'Scooby' Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass guitar), Lukas Wooller (keyboards) and Tom English (drums). Drawing comparisons to Pulp and Franz Ferdinand, Maxïmo Park were, along with cohorts The Futureheads, North-East England's response to the post-punk revival of the 2000s. Drummer Tom English is also in the band Field Music. In July 2005 their debut album, A Certain Trigger, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. They also contributed a song to the War Child compilation Help: A Day in the Life.
Listening to Maximo Park seems to give that sense of trying to bust out of the confines of familiar surroundings. There is a lot of energy under these tracks. It reminds me of that point iin your life where you absolutely must get away from school, parents, girlfriend/boyfriend for fear of being smothered. There are a lot of influences in here, most of them brittish. Jam, Wire, Stone roses, Stranglers, kinks, etc. But it feels playful and for the most part is not redundant.
Maximo Park hails from Newcastle Upon Tyne, where ever the hell that is. Usually when you get brittish frontmen, their otherwise unintelligable accent seems to all but disappear once they start crooning away. Not so here. Singer Paul Smith's UK pronunciation of words, feels somehow authentic. He is who is, and fuck trying to pronounce words grammatically correct.
On the down side, Maximo park feels obligated like so many other bands in the same style, to wear those fucking suit combinations. The look is old.

Here is the video for tMaximo Park's first single, Graffiti.

The Maximo Park Website

Massive Attack: Butterfly Caught

Massive Attack is one THE most influential groups to emerge out of England in the 90's. A part of the Trifecta of Trip Hop music, accompanied by Tricky, and Massive Attack (all of which were kind of inter breeding anyway, so where does the division n start? I don't know) they have morphed from Electronica act into more of a digital composer group. Which is good, since just about any act that comes out of Electronic music, no matter what the genre, tends to get very old, very quick.

First off, ask your self: Do you isten to house music? How about Dub? No? Me either. Absolutely hate both. BUT! Technically these are the flavors in Massive Attack. But way more low key. None of that head throbbing rave style beat mixture that can drive anyone not tripping on E to an instant migraine. Most of us are more than likely been exposed to Massive Attack through the single Teardrop which seems to end up in commercials for everything and most recently as a opening theme for "House" on Fox. Yeesh.

Recently Massive Attack did the soundtrack to "Unleashed." which sounded great. RZA, of the late Wu-Tang Clan also contributed but who gives a shit?

Their Catalogue is big, to say the least.Only four original albums, but what seems like dozens of remixes for various artists. If you've got a P2P search engine, typre in Massive attack and look at how many of them there are. Funnily enough most of them suck. It's really their own work that resonates well. But they gotta pay the bills somehow. So if you've never listened to any of it, start with Mezzanine or 100th Window as these are the best of their more current work. If you like go back to Blue Lines if you like what you hear. Blue Lines is the reason they are popular, but if you haven't heard it your going to think it sounds dated.

Here is a haunting piece called Butterfly Caught .

Check out the official Website

Ok Go: A Million Ways To Be Cruel

I heard doubt these guys a while ago on NPR radio out here. I only caught a small bit of the segment but I was intrigued by the fact that Ok Go's video for A Million Ways had been downloaded over a million time on the net in a sixth month period, or something ridiculous like that.
The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that one of the band members sisters had choreographed the whole thing. When you watch this it's quite obvious really. But whats cool is that these guys from the band pull off a fairly complex three minute dance and make it look good. On top of which, it's a great song. Got a sort of disco dance floor groove thing going for it.

On the bad side it's also not representative of the rest of the catalogue. Other songs by Ok Go sound derivative of a Weezer/Emo thing, which is not my cup of tea. But if it's YOUR cup of tea then go to the official website.

And surprise, surprise, Ok Go also maintains their very own Blog right amongst us.

Arctic Monkeys:Fake Tales of San Francisco

Unfortunately I'm going to have to resort to making comparisons here. The Strokes. Yes, they sound like the Strokes. Only Louder, faster, and more with more chops. So if you are like me and hate the Strokes because for three years it's all anybody wanted to yap about, but knew that you'd probably like them if your friends weren't force fucking your ear with "Is This It" then give these guys a listen.
I am further impressed by the fact that not a one of these kids are over 20. (as of this posting) Mo Fo's are great. Particularly Fake Tales of San Francisco, a scathing stab at scenesters talking shit. While San Francisco is a bit far for these boys. I only live 8 hours away and still here people ranting about that town and how "Fucking a-MAZE-ing" it is. As lead singer Alex so eloquently puts it

"It doesn't matter where you a’re from or if your are in a band or not; there'’s always knob-heads."

Word.

Here is a live performance for I'll Bet You Look Good On Dance Floorloor