Best song by, about Les Savy Fav:
Les Savy Fav - Kiss Kiss Is Getting Old; Jetplane Landing - Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?
I wonder how many times I can use the words Les, Savy and Fav in this post? I've never really been all that into the Tim Harrington-fronted band, but this year's 'Let's Stay Friends' was a little more accessible than their older stuff. And since I'm obviously a huge square, I really dug it a lot. It's not too abrasive, there are some tunes and melodies, but it still makes a whole wall of noise and is pretty bonkers. Since I'm a sucker for male/female vocals, my favourite song on the record is 'Kiss Kiss Is Getting Old'.
Meanwhile Londonderry's most righteous band of hot-rockin' bastards Jetplane Landing came back this year with an album called 'Backlash Cop', which shouted out Dizzy Gillespie, Sam Cooke and Les Savy Fav. The song in question asks a valid question, and quite possibly has the lyric "I love U2 more than I probably should". Andrew Ferris has never sounded more angry, the band has never sounded more tight (I managed to catch them a few times back in the day, because they're mates with Seafood) and I really wish a few more of you here in the States liked JPL. Check 'em.
[download Les Savy Fav - Kiss Kiss Is Getting Old]
[download Jetplane Landing - Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?]
[Les Savy Fav - myspace / official site]
[Jetplane Landing - myspace / official site]
The beard is still rocking
I ain't no abacus but you can count on me
London album of the year 2: Jamie T - Panic Prevention
From the opposite, southern end of the city, the debut album from the real J.T. begins with him shouting "Fucking croissant!"and it goes only uphill from there. 'Panic Prevention' is a big silo full of energy, joy, ideas, hooks, put-downs and choruses. I'd like it a lot more if there weren't about three songs which I ALWAYS skip, but let's forget those. There are few songs I've played this year more times than 'Salvador', 'Calm Down Dearest' and 'Back in the Game'. Few! My housemate and I spent many a happy hour skanking through the house to 'If You Got the Money'. 'Pacemaker' shouts out the 12 Bar Club (Denmark Street, son!). Jamie's not-quite-singing, not-quite-rapping is endearing, the tales are personal and occasionally very dark (that'll be singalong 'Sheila') but always ace. Hopefully he'll make more of an impact in the States next year, but the boy can toast a job well done, because even with the misfires, 'Panic Prevention' is pretty fucking great.
[download Jamie T - Operation]
[Jamie T myspace / official site]
[buy 'Panic Prevention' US / UK]
We make sure we are noticed
London album of the year 1: Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
I'm kind of like Roy Zielger in the way that I will always give a chance to any band from my home city. Often, they turn out to be balls (not naming any names, Towers) but there have been plenty of success stories to justify my irritatingly stubborn attitude. Two great records out of the capital L this year. The first one disappointed a lot of people because it didn't go hit-hit-hit-hit-hit like their previous album did, but not unlike 'You Could Have It So Much Better', it's well worth coming back to. The first five songs are stonkers, then it lapses a bit, though 'I Still Remember' is a solid single and the last track 'SXRT' is great, check out the live version below, with a choir. Back to the first half, though...
The xylophones on 'Waiting for the 7.18', 'Hunting for Witches' and its 'Daily Mail' bashing, the COLOSSAL bit in 'The Prayer' when the bass kicks in and it sounds like a spaceship is landing on your head, 'Uniform's' transition from gentle to mental to gentle again... all good, good stuff. And that opener... it's good and all, but I really wish they'd made it sound more like the vastly superior demo version. 'Flux' is a bit gash, though, isn't it?
[download Bloc Party - Song for Clay (Demo)]
[download Bloc Party - SXRT (Live, with the Exmoor Singers)]
[Bloc Party myspace / official site]
[buy 'A Weekend in the City' US / UK]
Success! Hoorah!
Most disproportionately elaborate song title: The New Pornographers - All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth
The song is like two minutes long! The title takes three minutes to say! Still, it's a solid song from a pretty stellar album, which boasts some good tracklisting vocabulary - any band would get my respect for using 'Myriad' and 'Mutiny' in titles. There's a little too much going on on 'Challengers', I think that having four different lead vocalists over ten tracks makes it a little disjointed, and there are fewer knockout songs than on their previous records. But 'Go Places' is very pretty, 'All the Old Showstoppers' builds to a mountain of joy, and 'Unguided' was Carl's longest song ever. I wish their U.S. tour had come further south than Atlanta (they're not the only ones), but I still love 'em.
[download The New Pornographers - All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth]
[The New Pornographers myspace also with a Christmas song! - official site]
[buy 'Challengers' UK / US]
Superb in every word
Most misleadingly fantastic album opener: The Go! Team - Grip Like a Vice
I'd never been too hot on the Go! Team. Thought the first record was alright, but didn't go nuts about it the way many did. But then I heard 'Grip Like a Vice' sometime in the spring and thought "Holy Shitballs! This song is amazing, and I was clearly wrong about this band all along". I'm never wrong! 'Grip' does what it promises - old rickety piano into fiesty rap with punch-the-air attitude and bags of sass. The rest of 'Proof of Youth' kind of passed me by, though, in a blur of kind-of-blandness. Even Chuck D showing up can't really help me get into it. It all blends into one not-very-good boring track, to my ears. But 'Grip Like a Vice' is the Megaladon of tunes.
[download The Go! Team - Grip Like a Vice]
[The Go! Team myspace / official site]
[Buy 'Proof of Youth' US / UK]
All that I do turns to be wrong
Best cover of a classic Christmas Number One - Maps: Stay Another Day
This one is sort of cheating, since it just went up today, but since I mentioned the Christmas Number One phenomena recently, I think it's relevant. Northampton's Maps, whose debut album came out this year and was pretty good, has covered 'Stay Another Day', East 17's 1994 honoree. If you've never heard of East 17, you're missing out, read the Wiki. Maps' cover takes out the sleigh bells and the annoying "stay now!"s of the original, but had a lot more feedback. And you, sir, can download it for free from nme.com. About the song, Maps says:
“This song is my special Xmas gift to you, inspired by taking 12 Es and running myself over in my own car. Only an enormous puffer jacket prevented me from certain death.”[download Maps - Stay Another Day]
[Maps official site / myspace]
Bonus: Here's the East 17 video, in all its mid-90s glory. The best part is 40s into it:
Try to keep your trousers on
Least Effective Sophomore Slump - Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
I don't know the exact statistic, but I'm pretty sure that, in Britain, every person bought eight copies of the band's debut last year. That put a lot of pressure on t'Arctics to not screw up this time around. Bringing in producer James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco probably helped, as did jettisoning choruses, rocking harder than they ever did before, playing it slow and not sounding crap ('505' for the win) and generally making an album that didn't lose its appeal after the 15th listen. 'Do Me a Favour' is genuinely emotional, 'Balaclava' is a whole lot of fun, and 'Old Yellow Bricks' and 'Teddy Picker' are killer for bedroom air guitar. Also, great music video for 'Brianstorm' and great live performance of 'Fluorescent Adolescent'. Shame about that latter song title, though, eh?
[download Arctic Monkeys - 505 (live at Glastonbury)]
[Arctic Monkeys - official site / myspace]
[Buy 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' US / UK]
At night when I have nothing else to do
Best singer whose name sounds like slang for diabetes - Candie Payne
Worst joke of the year - the one above
Sorry, that was truly horrendous.
Anyway, Candie Payne's debut album 'I Wish I Could've Loved You More' came out in May and was a great summer record. With Mark Ronson involved behind the scenes, the record recalls classy vocalists of the past, like Dusty Springfield and frankly any time someone evokes Dusty, I'm bound to be hooked. The slower songs are ideal for smoky jazz rooms ('In the Morning' is sexier than Kathleen Turner!), and 'One More Chance' and the title track give the album some nice up tempo balance. You can stream the whole record through her site, and why wouldn't you do that?
[download Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More]
[Candie Payne myspace - also with a Christmas song!]
[Buy 'I Wish...' UK / US]
I'm not good enough for Saturdays
Most charming album title sentiment: Softlightes: 'Say No! To Being Cool, Say Yes! To Being Happy'
I don't know a whole lot about Californian band Softlightes other than that they're Californian. Oh, and they're on Modular Records, home of the Avalanches. Their record this year, with the unwieldy but actually-kinda-cool title, was pretty. Low-key, restrained, but stellar. Sometimes it's a little precious ('If the World had Cookies') but enjoyable all the way through. There's a pretty untitled duet ('Untitled Duet #3'), an all-out summer stormer ('Heart Made of Sound'), one about John Lennon's death ('Leanor and Me') and a song called 'The Robots in my Bedroom were Playing Arena-Rock'. It reminds me a bit of the Postal Service, but with more instrumentation, less computers, and less irritating lyrics. This little album may have passed many people by, but it's well worth looking out for, it'll leave you feeling happy.
[download Softlightes -The Microwave Song]
[Softlightes myspace - hear their Christmas song!]
[buy 'Say No!... US / UK]
The internet is full of mean and evil people
Best Supergroup - The Black Arts
...With all apologies to Velvet Revolver.
Have you heard The Black Arts Christmas single, 'Christmas Number One'? It's pretty ridiculous. There's a lyric about the Devil's dandruff. The concept of Christmas Number One isn't too big a deal here in the States, but in the U.K. some people really care about it. It's usually some terrible, TV talent show single, but this year members of Black Box Recorder and Art Brut got together to write this song. I'm not going to post the song itself - watch the video here (complete with star wipes!) - but here's the b-side, featuring a great Eddie Argos rant and some nice harmonies. Luke Haines is a genius, Eddie Argos is a genius, Sarah Nixey has a sexy voice, what's not to love?
[download The Black Arts - Glam Casual]
A tenner in my pocket and fridge full of beer
It's time for my end-of-year posts, I think. I'm not making a list, because I really have trouble ranking music. So, as I did last year, I'm going to come up with arbitrary awards and accolades to give songs/records that I was especially fond of this year. You'll pick it up as we go along.
Most improved - Malcolm Middleton
Malky's first two albums were dour, dark, depressing and other "D" adjectives. He's got a really soft voice, and over the skeletal songs on those albums, he was very, very sad. In the spring, he put out 'A Brighter Beat', and it's fanfuckingtastic. What happened? More instruments, more pulse, more variation, more happiness... well, maybe not that last one, although 'Fuck It, I Love You' was kind of pretty. Elsewhere, there's some rockin' moments (I've posted 'Death Love Depression Love Death' before), a great candidate for Christmas Number One ('We're All Going to Die') and in 'Superhero Songwriters' a straight-up opus. Oh, and don't forget the XFM session I posted in the summer. As an angel said at the end of his first album, his songs are alright.
[download Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat]
[Malcolm Middleton - official site / myspace]
[buy 'A Brighter Beat' US / UK]
Hey Jarrod, you look like Wolverine
My exams finished yesterday! Brilliant! How did they go? Let's move on... (Although my last sentence in the last essay of the last exam was "For shame!")
So to celebrate yesterday I had a couple of beers with the lads, and then watched the New Zealand indie 'Eagle Vs. Shark', which played at, and won at, this year's Sundance. The trailer pretty much tells what you to expect, and it's hard to watch it and not think about Napoleon Dynamite, what with the characters almost entirely being quirky archetypes. One of the guys from Flight of the Conchords is the main guy and plays the awkward, deadpan Jarrod, who's alienated from his family and is on a mission to avenge being bullied in high school. He's the eagle. Lily is the shark, and she's got a crush on Jarrod. Why? Who knows.
There are plenty of laughs in the first half, mostly at the crazy things that these kooks get up to - like throwing shoes at a guy in a helmet - but there isn't a whole lot of depth to it. The second act, when you learn about Jarrod's family background is a little more profound, but even so I struggled to really care. There is a climactic showdown with the bully at the end, and unfortunately, I could predict what would happen an hour before it did happen. Ultimately, there wasn't too much heart in the film, and without that, you end up just laughing at the characters, and not feeling for them. There's nothing wrong, of course, with shallow films just playing it for the laughs but when there is emotional heaviness brought in - as there is in the second act here - it has to resonate, and there wasn't too much of that with 'Eagle vs. Shark'.
But the Roses did play over the end credits. Nice one.
[download The Stone Roses - This is the One]
Birdsong calling my name
Next week, I'll start doing some end of year malarkey, because I'm sure that you're all just itching to know what my 33rd most favourite record of the year was. In the meantime, though, some good news! There's a brand new track from Get Cape Wear Cape Fly available right now for free. Sam's debut album, 'The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager' was a sleeper hit, and something I've played the proverbial shit out of over the last year. His song 'Once More With Feeling', in particular, makes me swoon every single time.
The new song, 'Waiting for the Monster to Drown' is from his upcoming second album, due in March and co-produced by Nitin Sawhney(!) and sho'nuff you can hear some nice electronic drum loops in there and it sounds like some canned violins too. It's all very plesant, except right at the end he starts screaming, which I could've done without. But as a taster, it's still oh-so-delicious. Second album? Call me Eager.
[download Get Cape Wear Cape Fly - Waiting for the Monster to Drown]
What's the use in making the bed?
Black Kids
Gainesville Common Grounds
November 27, 2007
It's nice that Black Kids are getting so much exposure. They're from Jacksonville, about two hours away from here, and so it means that my housemate and other friends know the guys from the band. It also means that at the end of their set, people were shouting "DUUUVAAAL!" at them, which you have to be from Florida to understand. After giving the world Limp Bizkit, it's nice to have something a little more credible to call our local band.
The downside of the massive hype machine already behind them is that they only have, like, ten songs, and so it's too soon to speak of them as the next saviours of music. Other people can debate the hype all they want. It's weird, though, that the band has played more shows in New York than in Florida (outside of Jacksonville), and next week have like six London dates lined up. Remember, they have ten songs.
But ignoring all that, we went to check 'em on Tuesday and they were pretty solid. Not spectacular, but really good. The band knows how to get people dancing, recalling in parts The Cure (Reggie has a Smith-like voice) and the Killers, with their twin synth onslaught. Also, if UK readers remember the band Younger Younger 28s, there's a touch of them in there too. I never, ever thought I'd bring up YY28s on this website. Just the two girls, one bloke approach on vocals, that's about it.
They opened really well and finished really well, with a bit of a lull in the middle. What are these guys? 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'? (I've been meaning to make that joke ever since the show a few nights ago).
People only know four of their songs, and they threw out the best known, 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You' very early, but others like 'Hurricane Jane' and the last one they played show that they've got some good ideas under that Afro. If you see them, expect nothing more than a good dance and you'll be golden. Also, throw shapes!
[download the 'Wizard of Ahhs' EP from their official site]
Thanks to Sarah for the pic - see her full set on Flickr.
More like "Dr. No Thanks"
I've got exams coming up very soon, so I'll either post a lot more in here, or even less than I already have been. In lieu of real content, here are some links that you should click, open, and subsequently read.
- The Kid begins his quest to review every Bond film. [Scharpling and Wurster]
- Bradley's Almanac offers two really great (new) live sets - The National(s) in a pub, and even better, Spiritualized in a museum. [Bradley's Almanac]
- Oh, so that's why we lost to Croatia. [BBC News]
- Last.fm is trying to make Lucky Soul the Christmas number one. Good luck with that. [Last.fm]
- Crispin Glover gets some props. Not mentioned: His eyeball collection. [Guardian Unlimited]
Bye!
Wouldn't have it any other way
Less Than Jake/Pepper
Gainesville Flavet Field
November 12, 2007
Not long ago, my housemate and I were talking about the band Bloodhound Gang, and about how their brand of juvenile, aimed-at-high-schoolers-and-frat-guys music is inoffensive enough, but are they really going to still play the same songs when they're in their 40s? When dudes are a lot older than their audience, and are singing about sex and drugs and booze, it gets a little embarrassing. Enter the evocatively-named Pepper, a band from Hawaii, who know their audience very well, and accordingly play a really dull brand of lightweight ska-rock which all sounds the same, and only talk about how they love getting drunk/high and getting girls to take their tops off and such. Also, they had a song called 'Dirty Hot Sex' (sample lyric: "get down on your knees, and don't forget the balls"). Maybe it's because, at 24, I was older than most of the people in the audience (it was a free show at a college campus), but I just didn't like it at all. Nicest thing to say about Pepper? One dude looked like the main trapper (on the right) from 'Cannibal: The Musical'.
Less Than Jake are pretty juvenile, too - they get people to make out on stage, talk about drinking an awful lot - but at least they know how to have fun. Again, I only vaguely know a couple of their songs and went along because it was free and close to my house and some friends were going, but I had a good time. I didn't quite get the skanking right - my elbows weren't quite hitting my knees - but it was fun regardless. They mentioned a few times that they are from Gainesville, and how they haven't played on the UF campus in twelve years. They went down very well, but like Tom Petty or Chris Leak, they could shit in a trombone and people in Gainesville would go nuts. They threw out lots of t-shirts and other merch from the stage, which is cool I suppose, and they finished, of course, with a massive singalong to their most a propos jam. A nice way to not study on a Monday night, don't know if I'd have gone if it had required any effort on my part, but certainly check them out if you're at a festival and there are no conflicts with bands you'd rather see.
[download Less Than Jake - Gainesville Rock City]
4play: The Sporting Life
Slow Down Ronnie - Mark E. babbles about snooker champ Ronnie O'Sullivan in a manner that is comprehensible only to Mark E.
Jamie Thomas - Camden's favourite son sings about a skateboarder. Good tune for a quick spaz out.
Tony Adams - One legend's tribute to another legend.
Mr. Carbohydrate - "Have you heard of Matthew Maynard? He's my favourite cricketer. I'd rather watch him play, than pick up my guitar".
Bonus: Post Match Analysis - A nice companion piece to 'Tony Adams'. Alas, there are no songs I can think of about Dixon, Winterburn or Bould.
[download Von Sudenfed - Slow Down Ronnie]
[download Graham Coxon - Jamie Thomas]
[download Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Tony Adams]
[download Manic Street Preachers - Mr. Carbohydrate]
[download Blak Twang - Post Match Analysis]
Saturday stuffs
Here are things on the Internet that I think are good.
- The last three episodes of Music Weekly have featured Ray Davies, King Creosote and Steve Mason - that's a pretty solid track record. The latest one, with Steve using the phrase "like Beelzebub in hotpants" is available here.
- Speaking of Steve Mason, you can download the single from his new project Black Affair for free from their website. It's electro-pop goodness.
- Neko Case is offering a new song on her site - it's a demo from the 'Fox Confessor Brings the Flood' days, but it sounds very robust and more developed than yer average demo. It's ace, of course.
- [download Neko Case - Behind the House (demo)]
- "I can't believe I'm skipping Gossip Girl for this shit." SAH liveblogs the Country Music Awards.
- Carrie from Sleater Kinney has a blog and it's great and you should read it. Lest you've forgotten:
- [download Sleater-Kinney - Entertain]
- Finally, I know I've not been posting much lately, but I've some good news: I've discovered what I'm going to do after I get my law degree:
The roar of far-off black jets
I can't explain it.
I really like the band Thursday. Have done for years.
I don't like any of the bands that they're often lumped in with, nor do I like much else that sounds like them. I don't know what makes them so special, but I've dug two of their albums - 'Full Collapse' and 'War All the Time' - a whole lot. The latest one, 'A City by the Light Divided' I could take or leave, but I still care enough to have bought their new rarities set 'Kill the House Lights' [buy].
As with most compilations, it's a little hit-or-miss. There's a handful of new songs - lead track 'Ladies and Gentlemen - My Brother, The Failure' (listen at myspace) is probably the most interesting, because it features backing from Tim Kasher out of Cursive. There are some demos, a couple of interludes which I could do without, and a version of 'How Long is the Night' with an extended intro, which again is a little redundant. I bought it over iTunes, so I don't get the DVD with live performances and documentary, so I feel dumb about that. This band are terrific live.
Here's the original, album version of 'How Long is the Night', listen to it!
[download Thursday - How Long is the Night]
Could we lose the brother's suicide?
‘The TV Set’ is a very, very dark comedy that isn’t intended for a broad audience at all and therefore came out on a small independent label and wasn’t really seen by many people. Fittingly, it’s about a television program, a very, very dark comedy that isn’t intended for a broad audience at all BUT gets picked up by a major network and then gets watered down to reach the broadest possible audience. There are big(ish) names in the film – David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver and Ioan Gruffudd – so it was a surprise that this film flew completely under the radar. It’s pretty good, no big laughs but a steady flow of chuckles. It’s interesting to see how the network television system works in all its ugliness. There are plenty of parts where, like Duchovny, you want to punch the suits in their stupid collective face. The thing is – who really cares? This film, with its many digs at the system, is aimed at such a narrow audience, that the focus group scene that’s played for laughs seems very appropriate. I enjoyed ‘The TV Set’, definitely, but one of the running punchlines is sleazy reality television shows, like ‘Slut Wars’, the network’s flagship show. Gruffudd’s character is kind of redundant, he begins as an exec who’s going to stand up for the writer’s vision, and then he bottles it. There is an imbalance between the serious, quite astute humour and obvious (dare I say… broad?) jokes. There’s an impassioned speech from Duchovny about the need for original and not lowest-common-denominator programming, and then he yells at his agent for not having seen ‘Taxi Driver’. I never saw director Jake Kasdan’s previous film ‘Orange County’, but I enjoyed his debut ‘Zero Effect’, and his profile’s about to get a lot bigger because he’s part of Team Apatow and this winter’s ‘Walk Hard’ is his too. Check out ‘The TV Set’, but don’t expect to get too much out of it.
Incidentally, series two of ‘Extras’ makes many of the same points in funnier ways.
This is it, this is it, this is it
I'm not the first person to write about Glasvegas, but I may well be the most handsome. I've been listening to their song 'It's My Own Cheatin' Heart That Makes Me Cry' a lot of times, and I'm still not sure how to put it into words. So I'll let Alan McGee do it for me. Do you think he likes exaggeration?:
"It's a DIY epic of pop regret, the sound of Scottish Morrissey singing Del Shannon's songs with Phil Spector arrangements and Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz meeting Noel Gallagher's anthem addiction. An utterly unique proposition and totally soulful." [from 'Viva Glasvegas']
Their are more downloads from the jukebox at their site, and they're all great, and I recommend them highly.
[download Glasvegas - It's My Own Cheatin' Heart That Makes Me Cry (Home Tapes)]
The pain of someone you love
Today's winner of the "Fantastic Music Videos that Samir arbitrarily remembered while walking to the bank this morning" is... 'Stop Your Crying' by Spiritualized (2001).
In context... It was the first new material they'd put out after 'Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space' was named NME's album of the year, and so there was more attention on the band than ever before. I remember hearing the song on XFM for the first time and shrugging a little. It's okay, but the lyrics never really struck me. Nice use of an orchestra and a gospel choir, though... And the cover art was pretty ghoulish. Luckily for me, the album 'Let It Come Down' is astonishing and has far better songs.
But then I saw the video.
Wow. It's one of those moments when cinematography and lighting, which really aren't considerations for music videos, play a huge part. Beginning with just a spotlight on Jason, to opening up and showing the whole orchestra and London Community Gospel Choir, through some gorgeous deep red lights casting huge shadows across the floor, to the huge floodlights... all the thought that went into this piece is majestic. Performance videos are usually the most boring, but this one gives me goosebumps every single time. The still images thrown in really capture moods perfectly - there's one of a beer bottle and a pair of shoes, one of a musician sitting down exhausted and slumped over his cello, one of the choir raising their fists in triumph... I'll leave it for you to watch the video without me saying anymore, but this: if you don't get goosebumps at the 2:54 mark in the video, then you, sir, are probably already dead.
[If the embedded video doesn't show up, click here]
Reading isn't just for squares
Two articles in this month's Observer Music Monthly are worth your attention.
Firstly, there's an excerpt from Slash's soon-to-be-released autobiography. I've never been much of a GNR fan, much less a Velvet Revolver fan, but I absolutely loved reading 'The Dirt', the Motley Crue chronicle, and I'm sure I'll get a giddy thrill out of this one too. In this paragraph, he's talking about either weird hallucinations, members of Hanson, or Jim Henson creations:
They always looked like the creature in Predator to me, but a fraction the size and translucent blue-gray; they were wiry and muscular with the same pointed heads and rubbery-looking dreadlocks. They'd always been a welcome, carefree distraction, but this hallucination was sinister. I could see them gathering in the doorway; there was an army of them, holding tiny machine guns and weapons that looked like harpoons.
Read the whole excerpt here.
There's also a great feature on Sigur Ros, where they get drunk and dance to Village People. It's interesting to see a usually quiet band get hammered and talk about politics and Duran Duran, especially after this emerged over the weekend. Read the feature one here.
Merry Little Fancy Things
Caribou/Born Ruffians
Gainesville Common Grounds
October 13, 2007
There are three of them, they all look about fifteen years old, and from what little we caught of them the other night, Canadian trio Born Ruffians are pretty damn good. Before their last song, someone shouted a request, and the drummer said "We were going to play a different song, but it blows our mind that people know our songs in Florida, so we'd be stupid not to play what you asked for" and I thought that was very sweet. They play songs chock full of energy, with hand-claps and whoo-whoos and were six layers of fun. I even bought the CD! They played a song called 'This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life', which was especially ace. Listen to a whole live set of theirs here and look out for an album early next year.
Dan Snaith, better known as Caribou, has some trippy visuals, and more importantly, two drumkits! Opening with 'Sandy' from his much-loved new record 'Andorra' [buy it], the band suffered from awful sound problems for the whole show. All of them at different times tried to get different levels adjusted, and the result was that vocals were very low and drums (two sets, remember) were really high in the mix. It was still all very enjoyable though - a little harder than on record. Lots of dancing, a couple of Manitoba tracks ('Crayon'!) and a brief encore. I'm not good with his song titles, so I can't give much more of a tracklisting, unfortunately. 'Melody Day' had the most recognition from the audience, of course, and saw more dancing. All in all, a good set but definitely hampered by poor levels.
Playing games in the rain
There's a great article over at the Guardian today about the reformations of several Britpop-era "also-ran" bands, like Dodgy, Kula Shaker and Shed Seven. None of them were ever particularly fashionable, but without them, there may be no Kaiser Chiefs or the View. But they're playing in front of bigger crowds now than ever before. Jim from Gimme Back My Head remains the only Northern Uproar fan in Britain, though.
Best sentence: "One single review said I stank of piss," sighs Witter, still as slender as before (and not noticeably odorous).
Also, look out for the Echobelly diss towards the end.
[download Dodgy - Staying Out for the Summer]
Tailor-made to suit men's needs
I've never seen The Cribs live, but if I ever get the chance, I should probably take a crash helmet along with me. Reports abounded last week of various onstage hijinks, with a passed out singer in the moshpit, and a hospitalised bass player (blood poisoning apparently... yikes). Add to that talk of fights with security guards, and you have a recipe for a mess-sipy. Ahem.
The band have a new single coming out soon, and here's a live version of it. 'Don't You Want to be Relevant' (which isn't on their unwieldily titled new record) will be released with 'Our Bovine Public' sometime in the near future. The song, in its live form at least doesn't really sound all that good, but see what you think. Two more live tracks from the same gig are streaming at 6Music.
[download The Cribs - Don't You Want to be Relevant? (live)]
That's pretty transformative right there
I'm sitting in my Art Law class and we're listening to 2 Live Crew.
Things are good.
Put olive oil on my face
The Forkcast today links to a new song from west London's Estelle, whose long-overdue second record is due out early in '08. The album, 'Shine', will have a lot of big American names helping out, like Wyclef and Kanye and Swizz and John Legend. Not bad at all! She moved to NYC and recorded it there - her blog has some fun stories about life there. Her accounts are touristy and easily impressed, but in a totally endearing kind of way. The new song, 'Wait a Minute', was produced by Will.I.Am and is better than his new song, so that's a plus.
[listen to Estelle - Wait A Minute] (myspace stream)
And lest we forget, here are two of her older songs. Her breakout single, '1980', which has a huge string motif and a Mel and Kim shout-out, and her duet with Blak Twang. I saw them do this live in a park, either 2001 or '02, at an anti-racism event which De La Soul headlined. Good times.
[download Estelle-1980]
[download Blak Twang ft. Estelle - Trixsta]
You don't have a backhand
In the overcrowded realm of the table-tennis themed gross-out comedy, Balls of Fury is probably still the worst. I laughed a few times, thanks to pre-movie drinking, but rest assured I still feel dirty from the laughing. The plot doesn't really need repeating - some mumbo about a fatty, the world's worst FBI agent, gay sex slaves, and Christopher Walken - the dude from 'Envy', lest we forget - in one of his weirdest roles yet. If you like people getting hit in the crotch, a suppository joke, Asian people being hilarious because they're Asian, a blind man falling over, a running stereotype about East German athletes/supporters, Cassandra's dad from Wayne's World 2 (Jeff?), and no sense, then check it out. The main guy is the dollar-store Jack Black, and there's a love story subplot which doesn't fit at all. Also, jackets which explode, and the old plot-arc I talked about before. The biggest laugh, though, was for our drummer-in-Def-Leppard impression when they played 'Rock of Ages' towards the end. 'Balls of Fury' is a harmless film but it's dumb as a brick and probably less ultimately satisfying. Even a brief appearance from 'Rambocky' star Patton Oswalt can't save it.
For a song download, go back here to that Operator Please song that I posted earlier in the summer which is entirely fitting today.
From poisoned cloud to poisoned dwarf
OK, so you've probably heard about the biggest news in the world ever ever, and though I'm excited and it may - hopefully - legitimately shake up the industry in terms of distribution, etc, I just have one gripe.
Still no Big Boots? Come on!
[download Radiohead - Big Boots (live)]
