I have no real reason for the Canadian artists du jour. Maybe it's a Canadian holiday today? Maybe I just like Canadians.
Buy some: Plants And Animals, Hello, Blue Roses, The Cansecos
As I go through my life there are moments where I pause and think, I should reflect and write on this. Inevitably I am too busy to stop at that second and too easily distracted to remember later. So now that I sit here on a Saturday morning with the luxury of a bit of time at my disposal, sunshine on my toes and a cup of coffee at the ready... I have nothing. To that point though, maybe a few minutes of empty thoughts is a good thing compared to the constant Go Go Go I live in lately.
Things I could tell you, the reader:
Buy some: Kelley Stoltz, Liam Finn, The Shortwave Set, Mystery Jets, The Phoenix Foundation
Tuesday - Scissors For Lefty, The Von Bondies
Wednesday - Shearwater, Phosphorescent, Joseph Arthur, Division Day, Wedding Present / The Cansecos, Wild Light, Slaraffenland, Peter Moren, Pattern Is Movement, Tacks The Boy Disaster
Thursday - Helio Sequence, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry, Saul Williams / Jens Lekman, Le Loup, nelo, Evangelicals, Liam Finn, Carbon/Silicon
Friday - The Effects, Jens Lekman / Lymbec System, The Ruby Suns, Lies In Disguise, Black Ghosts, Rogue Wave, Laura Marling, PPT, The Apes, The Cribs, SIA, White Rabbits, Headlights, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Nada Surf
Saturday - Bart Davenport, Liam Finn, Republic Tigers / Cobra Krames, Calhoun, Audrey Sessions, Jim Noir, Interparty System, Carbon/Silicon, Liam & Me, Sean Hayes, The Radishes, Brazos, The Lemurs, Best Fwends
Total - 51
I could explain where I've been or what I've been up to, but who really cares? It's a sunshiney powerpop Saturday, the likes of which Chicago hasn't seen in about 6 months1. We're all much better off throwing on a smile and some guitar pop than focusing on the who, what, when, where and (most specifically) why of my life.
1 Well if there was a sunshiney Saturday in the past six months, I wasn't here. I was off in those places, doing those things that I am not about to explain.
Buy some: The Box Social, Dressy Bessy, The Apples In Stereo, The Wombats
I was saving a large file the other day at work and took a moment to stare at the floor in agony. It was then that I noticed my feet, or rather my shoes. When exactly, did I become a girl that voluntarily wore heels to work? When did I make that switch from Pumas to 3" heels on a (near) daily basis?
How is it that as people we are constantly in a state of change? I know what you're thinking... they're just shoes. But to that I say they are they're indicative of so much more. I feel more like an adult now, than I ever have in my life. My level of responsibility now sometimes leaves me scratching my head. Things come on so gradually but we are so adaptable as animals humans that sometimes we don't even notice. Or maybe I just didn't notice.
Buy some: Bettie Serveert, The Field Mice, The Concretes, Peter Bjorn and John
Why is it that sometimes I wake up with a song in my head? Was I dreaming of this band before my alarm clock went off? Did I hear the song on NPR in those moments between sleep and wakefulness? I like to think those songs are a bit prophetic when they've "magically" popped into my head during sleep. If that's the case though I'm not entirely sure what "Hurricane Jane" says about my day to come...
Buy some: Black Kids
At the fresh start of a new year, I feel like I should be sharing something new and exciting with you. I haven't been able to find that new and exciting at the moment though. After randoming through several hours of music you'd think something would have popped up and grabbed my attention. No. I am not so lucky at the moment. I suppose we all go through the musical doldrums now and then but it seems I've been waiting for the wind to take my sails forward for awhile now. In the meantime it never hurts to revisit a musical old friend...
Kevin Tihista, Oh Kevin Tihista. One of Chicago's criminally under-rated musical talents, I wish he'd come out of hiding every once in awhile. These two songs come from his 2002 record Judo.
Buy some: Kevin Tihista's Red Terror
Due to a combination of my ridiculous schedule and my complete lack of interest... there will be no "THE BEST OF 2007 IN MUSIC" this year1. I don't think2. For reasons that don't need to be identified, I've been surfing the "music blogs" of late and have decided that year end lists are completely and utterly pointless. As much as I love a good list, so much crap is delivered as expertise simply based upon puking up few numbers and big words into two line reviews. No thanks. I will continue to enjoy the music of 2007 immensely, but if you care to know what turned me on... you'll have to ask.
I do realize this goes against the "point" of being a "blogger" but really, I'm sick of making air quotes when I talk and I've never much liked "rules"3.
1 I reserve the right to change my mind any second and post one anyway.
2 I then also reserve the right to change my mind again and delete it after it's been posted, essentially erasing said list from existence.
3 Grrr... air quotes be damned!
Buy some: The Bird and The Bee
"Liz, you bring joy to my life." - Brian
Apparently I'm back to my normal, happy-go-lucky self.1
1 At least he seemed to have a straight face when he said it.
Buy some: The Minders, The Thrills
The only decent answer I can come up with at the moment is mopey Englishness.
Buy some: The Clientele, (West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band), Birdie, Trembling Blue Stars, Tracey Thorn, The Kinks
When I was a kid I would get indignant when a band would "sell out". Funny how times have changed isn't it? While music is still an art to me, being an adult has led me realize that it needs to be a sustainable art or else no one will make music anymore. Now recognize the change of phrase from "sell out" to "crossover". In the age where very few people buy records, commercial licensing is one of the few mediums available for artists.
Once upon a time I would have been annoyed to hear a 12-year-old song from The Verve in the middle of a major network television show whose theme song is nicked from Massive Attack. Once upon a time. Nowadays though, it's become a shrug and a smile every time I hear Jim Noir as the latest selling tool for Target, The Magic Numbers highlighting some sappy love scene on broadcast telly, The Perishers hawking their record during prime time or Allen Clapp being played in a Coke spot. I don't have a great perspective on this because I don't really pay much attention to pop culture, but when did the television in both commercial and sitcom/dramadies embrace indie music?
I'm sure a lot of people would like to credit Alexandra Patsavas (who coincidentally went to high school with my brother) as a major influence. I can't deny that but the atmosphere has to have changed a lot over the past 20 years for her company to put independent artists on such a fast track.
I don't really know what put me off on this tangent... just that listening to my upstairs neighbor blare "My Moon, My Man" on repeat all morning really pushed it in my head that Leslie has officially crossed over (that Nano commercial didn't hurt).
Buy some: Feist
When did spam turn into the modern day random association game? It's gone from being penile adverting annoyance to just annoyance. What's the point of this exactly? If the spammers of the world can turn on random, so can I. You get to guess at the artists today...
Buy some: The Pigeon Detectives The Phoenix Foundation, Cinerama, Batman Original TV Soundtrack, Metrovavan
Photo from The Shaky Hands
Listen to this...
Do you hear that fantastic bass line? Do you? It's one of my favorites ever...
That bass line... is all Duck Dunn. Normally, this kind of stealing borrowing bothers the bejeezus out of me1. For some reason, when I heard this song from this as-yet-pretty-small band from Portland, Oregon I was not irritated... I smiled with pride. Pride? Is that the right word. Perhaps admiration is better. I admired that they found such thrill in Duck's bass line... and made use of it. Especially when I read their bio and the credit accurately given2.
Don't worry, The Shaky Hands have their own tricks up their sleeves too, not everything is borrowed from the beauty of Stax3.
1 See Jens Lekman.
2 Who knows, maybe I would be less irritated with Jens Lekman had he credited the Left Banke.
Buy some: The Shaky Hands
Q. What would happen if J Spaceman and Ira Kaplan could be thrown back in time a few decades and join, say, The Doors?
A. San Francisco's Wooden Shjips
Buy some: Wooden Shjips
Buy some: Super Furry Animals
Last week I downloaded the C97 mix from Sweeping The Nation. On top of thrilling me with some of my favorite "old" songs1, it put me in "a mood". Now "a mood" could go either way really so quite fortuitous that this one went all shiny happy positive.
Once upon a time I think I used to be a bigger indie music snob than I am now. Judging by the C97 comp, that year was apparently 1997. As an over-reaction to the world pretending to care about "Britpop" for approximately one news cycle I retreated into the blossoming Internet in search of some of the most random and obscure indiepop that the British Isles had to offer. I was shelling out ridiculous amounts of money (basically every dime I made at the job) for singles on labels that would exist for 6 months before folding2 for bands that even friends in England had never heard of.3. Anyway, as I was saying... 1997 was not such a bad year for music, if you searched beyond the bad Blur and Oasis releases.
1 "Mum's Gone To Iceland!" ... what ever happened to Bennet? I don't want to even guess how much $$$ I spent importing that Linoleum record into America.
2 Hello EmiDisc!
3 It was also around this time that I began the ridiculous search for every My Life Story release. To this day this remains one of the only bands I am a completest about. While I have sold off most of the collection of odd singles and such something has always stopped me from selling the My Life Story collection... well something other than no one else ever wanting it.
Buy some: The Divine Comedy, Mono, My Life Story, Sarah Cracknell, Space, Belle & Sebastian
The Beta Band is defunct. The Aliens are now the Beta Band ('cept without that lead singer dude). Perhaps John Cusack should make a new movie to namedrop The Aliens in. The End. (Oh yeah, 'cept not the end. They are playing Schubas tomorrow. I'd go 'cept I'm going to see The Clientele and PB&J.) Now, The End.
Buy some: The Aliens
Sorry to state the obvious, but here goes... I hear a lot of new music. While I am constantly on a search for the new sugar spun sweetness that will captivate my attention, it isn't often that on first spin of a new record I am completely sold. Sure, I might hear a good song and replay it a few times until I pick up it's eccentricities and clever turns. By that point I might give the rest of the record a go... might.
I was thrown a record a few weeks ago that completely broke this pattern. A record that upon first chord change, completed that missing piece in my current musical puzzle. After just the first few tracks I was convinced that the record was perfect, so perfect that I immediately began to sing it's praises and play it for other people.
I ran a small experiment... I threw it on first thing in the morning at the office1. By the second song I had not one but TWO people say to me "Wow, what are we listening to?"2. I played the songs for one of my best friends, he began spouting exclamations marks.
Sassy *and* clever... it wasn't much of a surprise to look up Ms. Payne and discover the man behind the sound was none other than Mark-Trying-To-Be-The-Music-Man-Of-2007-Ronson. With a tinge of trip hop, a lot of soul and apparently channeling Dusty Springfield, Candie Payne's I Wish I Could Have Loved You More has stolen the show on my autumn. Here, FINALLY, I found the summer anthem I've been wanting for months... the sound of coming home.
1 Little known fact... I work in a room with many creatives and act as DJ throughout the day.
2 For the record, there was only one other person in the room. Immediately captivating 2/3 of a room that wasn't paying attention is not bad.
Buy some: Candie Payne
My brain doesn't want to choose it's own musical mood today so I'm stuck on random. Let's make a Monday morning mix...
Buy some: Brakes, Luna, Trembling Blue Stars, French Horn Rebellion, Françoise Hardy, Teenage Fanclub, Metrovavan, Junior Senior, The Brunettes
What happens when you follow "the rules" of writing a hit song? Well Rhodri Marsden is attempting to find out. I'll let him explain...
The Schema challenge is to record, distribute and promote a single from my bedroom in a 30-day time frame. The resulting yacht-rock spectacular is called Those Rules You Made, and is released under the name The Schema on 20th August, via iTunes and a load of other online stores. This is the story... The Schema
So he recorded the song in his bedroom, put it out for the world to hear as a digital single, sent it off to various press interests to get some reviews, elicited some friends to create a music video last Saturday and has now posted the video on YouTube. The video went live on Tuesday, it is now Thursday morning. In less than two days it has now been viewed over 24,000 times. Eek!
As someone with an outside interest in the music industry and a respect for the DIY ideal, I'm very curious how far he can take this in 30 days.
Buy some: The Schema
It's been more than a week since my Yo La Tengo kick started, and it seems nowhere near ending. Normally when I become "stuck in a sound" it's a much broader thing like being a soul addict for a week straight, it's so rarely just "a" band. I shouldn't complain. There are worse bands I could be listening to for a week on end and certainly Yo La Tengo have a wide breadth of material for me to re-explore1...
"And the song said "Let's be happy"
I was happy
It never made me happy before
And the song said "Don't be lonely"
It makes me lonely
I hear it and I'm lonely more and more
1 Not to mention that "Yo La Tengo" is just fun to say. "YO LA TENGO! YO LA TENGO!"
Buy some: Yo La Tengo
If you want to see an unexpectedly great live show from a band you've probably never heard of... you'll make it out to Funky Buddha in Chicago tonight to get a glimpse at Metronomy. I witnessed their fantastic live set at SxSW this year and pogo-ed away with "Like a British Kraftwerk gone Punk". Not to be missed.
Buy some: Metronomy
Ahhh the weekend long music festival. While I expected to wander here and there in our lovely summer sunshine discovering new music, it was the old sounds that rediscovered me. I could offer up my whole recap of Lollapalooza's takeover of my home this weekend OR... i could tell you how happy it made me just to see Yo La Tengo again. Let's take the easy way out and go with Yo La Tengo.
There is something so ridiculously endearing about watching a band with no gimmick, no great big stupid hair or 8" tall silver glitter platforms. There is something so charming about three normal looking people who create music so far from ordinary playing at a massive festival that is entirely spectacle. I wouldn't say Yo La Tengo were the only musicians out to wow the crowd with their music alone1, but there weren't many more treating it as an art and not a "show"2.
Le sigh. Listening to "Painful" era Yo La Tengo makes me wish I owned a car, so I could drive aimlessly through the Chicago suburbs feeling 16 all over again.
1 Thank you Patti Smith.
2 There is absolutely nothing wrong with "the show" if that's what you're after but by Sunday afternoon I was tired of so much spectacle with very little substance.
Buy some: Yo La Tengo
Photo by Star Shaped Design
Well it's not quite Battery Park and it's not quite free, but there's a big show going on in the park today. I wish the Baskervilles were playing. I'll hafta make do with Polyphonic Spree, Silversun Pickups, Daft Punk, et al.
Buy some: Baskervilles
Photo by: Xavier Watkins
This is a bit of a scam. I am not French. I do not really celebrate Bastille Day. I am all for storming things like castles and oppressive governments but that's also all talk really. So in honor of the Bastille Day (I do not celebrate on a yearly basis) I'd like to talk about Bertrand Burgalat.
I listen to a lot of music. Probably more than the average ipod wearer on the street. Hang on a second here, as I am not intending to be show-offy, I do have a point I am rambling towards. While I listen to and love a large number of artists, very few of them inspire me the way that Bertrand Burgalat does. Rather than write my own impossibly incomplete bio on the man... check out his wiki and this bio from RFI Musique. Both of these are still out of date but at least you can begin to understand why "The Genius of Bertrand Burgalat" is more than just an album name.
I've mentioned Bertrand in passing before but have never actually stopped to consider the huge number of artists that Bertrand has worked with... Air, Depeche Mode, Mick Harvey, Nick Cave, Pulp, Eggstone, Ladytron, April March, Momus, Louis Philippe1, Pizzicato Five, The High Llamas, Laibach, Einstürzende Neubauten, Cinnamon, Saint Etienne2 and everyone who has appeared on Tricatel over the years. Yet all of the namedropping in the world doesn't begin to explain WHY he's been so in demand as a producer, bassist, arranger, etc... but these can...
As Heather mentioned yesterday he's also just collaborated with Robert Wyatt on a new song called "This Summer Night" that can be heard over on the Tricatel website.
1 Where do you suppose Louis learned to create those beautiful string arrangements?
2 I've misplaced my copy of "La Poupee Qui Fait Non". Sadness. If anyone cares to send me an mp3 I'd love it.
Buy some: Bertrand!
"Bob Dylan at the height of his fame
Got asked the same question again and again
In a forest of microphones
'Tell us, Bob, who really, who really is Mr Jones?" - Momus
I suppose the better question for the day... who is Momus? The classical answer: Momus is the Greek god of mockery and censure. The far more modern answer: Nick Currie, The Ultraconformist.
I've been listening to Momus' music for over a decade I suppose. Even now, listening to material I could recite backwards and forwards, his literary twisting can bring a wry smile to my face. I've always admired Momus for his ability to keep afloat as an artist first and foremost and a musician second. He's never come close to existing in the mainstream music world (even though he spent almost 10 years on Creation Records) and yet he has always done an amazing job of creating a sustainable life that allows him the creative freedom to continue writing and recording in whatever part of the world he chooses to live in that year.
Buy some: Momus
"The smell of an artist"? We smell? Like what? Playdoh? Blank sheets of paper? Rare Mimosa? Who cares, I am quite smitten with Finnish indiepoppers Cats On Fire.
Buy some: Cats On Fire
"Lately, I have been enjoying other people's misery." - Rachael
Buy some: Graham Coxon
While you're ready to get your drink on today in Union Park for the Pitchfork Music Festival... be sure to get there early enough to check out Voxtrot. You ain't seen indiepop jumpin about until you've seen Ramesh jumpin about. There's a reason I've seen them in Austin, Brooklyn & Chicago... find out for yourself.
Buy some: Voxtrot
I've always known I wasn't exactly like most other girls by living in my own musical geekdom but when I took a peek at the hot Threadless T of the day it was demonstrated all too clearly. Why is it that the boys seem to have a monopoly on musical nerdiness? Where are my female-co-conspirators ready to show off their record collections and argue about whether Suede was better with or without Bernard Butler1? Some day I want to be able to look at something as ridiculous as the T-shirt above and see it sold out in boys AND girls sizes.
1 There's no real argument here, it's obvious that with Bernie was a million times better but I'm struggling for a decent example this morning.
Photo of Ron stolen from MySpace
I have only a second of time so real quick...
You're coming. Details about this FREE show up at Metro.
Buy some: SoftLightes
Tomorrow marks the official start of summer and I have a major problem... no summer anthem yet. Every summer since I can remember summers there has always been one sum-it-all-up fabulous song. That song sets the tone of the summer festivities and often serves as a memory cue to transport me back to that point in time.
For instance...
2006 -Gotye - LearnALilGivinAnLovin
This was that song I had everybody singing along to by the end of the summer. It was thrown into every rooftop DJ set I spun (handy that it works in both an indiepop and soul set). It was constantly on my ipod. The *only* thing stopping this song from complete summer domination was the lack of a live performance... this is why the backup was 'Smiley Faces" by Gnarls Barkley12005 -
The Magic Numbers - Love Me Like You
Let's follow the time line... March 2004, my first Magic Numbers show in London at Water Rats, coincidentally the night the band signed to Heavenly Records. March 2005, my third and fourth Magic Numbers shows at SxSW. Summer of 2005... the first real release2 with "Forever Lost". By the time they threw the debut record out into the world in June of 05, The Magic Numbers (and I) were on a roll. This record carried Ben and I through the summer oh-so-easily and culminated in that perfect show at Schubas where a few too many whiskeys were had with Sean and crew. The Magic Numbers were the soundtrack to every moment of summer sunshine in 2005.2004 -
Mint Royale - Don't Falter
I know this song didn't come out in 2004, but that doesn't matter in the slightest. This was the year that no matter where I went, "Don't Falter" (and the lovely Ms. Lauren Laverne) came following along. Hanging out at Panic with Kerry and friends, well what do you know, "Don't Falter". Hanging out in with the Brooklyn kids... "Don't Falter". This one wasn't intentional, and is odd considering it became my anthem four years after it's release3 but "Don't Falter" will always be the summer of 20044. It also has perhaps the best possible chorus for a summer anthem... "Please... stay with me... Never miss a chance to kiss me. Babe... I love ya... when you're with me it's always summahhhh."
I could keep going back in time but I'm guessing you get the idea. So that brings me to 2007 and the problem... I don't even have any serious contenders. There's an Apples In Stereo song that could work as a backup anthem but what kind of summer is it going to be when the anthem i'm stuck with is "a backup"? Phht.
What do I need out of the ultimate summer anthem?
That's it. Those are my only requirements. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a summer anthem this year but for some reason I'm struggling. I am taking ANY AND ALL suggestions in the comments. Please, tell me what you think I should be listening to this summer.
1 Well and"Smiley Faces" is the perfect song to spin out of "LearnALilGivinAnLovin"
2 I'm not counting the "Hymn For Her" 7" as it was limited to 500 and had almost no distribution outside of London, (well 499 not including my copy).
3 Lauren singing on that Divine Comedy song "Come Home Billy Bird" also did bring her back to the forefront again.
3 AKA "The Summer of Fun"
Buy some: Gotye, The Magic Numbers, Mint Royale
Once upon a time I used to buy all the odd one-off singles released on a little record label from Detroit. Let's call this label... The Large Office1. Through this label I discovered many a new band, not all good but most. A few, in particular, stand out for the leaps and bounds they've made since they began on this little record label.
Let's focus on number two2... Memphis. I didn't know who was behind this record when I bought it but after one listen to...
I was lost in a hazy dreamworld I could have wandered around for days staring at the reflection in the cobwebs. It was as if someone had taken Torquil Campbell from Stars, hopped him up (or down rather) on tranquilizers and let him meander through a recording studio with his best friend. Well, what do you know, they did!
Torq and his long-time musical collaborator Chris Dumont have been recording under the moniker of Memphis for years now. One single and two full length records worth of years. The lush world they create of jazzy noodling has always seemed like a perfect place to escape to...
Memphis is a band, not a side project. Memphis is a resurrection of a dream thought dead long ago. A dream where you're alone having left everything behind, and it's just you and a friend, high on your bicycles, staring into a sun that keeps trying to break through the clouds.Over the years I've kept up on the band's progress whenever Stars or Metric3 make it to Chicago. Well finally, Memphis will be playing outside of Canada. If you are in New York, you should be getting yourself down to Union Hall in Park Slope TONIGHT and plopping down your cash for what is sure to be an incredible experience4. If you're like me and living in Chicago though, no worries... at long last5 they will be playing Schubas in two weeks (with Apostle of Hustle). If you're somewhere else in the world... check the Memphis tour calendar. I hope they'll be finding their way to your town soon.
1 That's not it's name but after it's proprietor interrupted me mid-convo last week I'm not telling you the label's name.
2 Number one being Canadian popsters Stars.
3 I once heard James refer to me as "Memphis girl". I stopped asking about if they were ever going to tour after that.
4 I don't have any sort of inside information but smart money says stick around after the set as Torq has been known to play his hand at DJ when in Brooklyn.
5 Alright I've only been waiting five years or so, it could be worse.
Buy some: Memphis
Yeah we know, we've been gone awhile. It wasn't our fault, really. OK well not all of it anyway. There were a few technical difficulties and then we just got to enjoying the time away, the holiday weekend, staring out of airplane windows, the complete evaporation of our daily stress. But no more! Oh no, now we're back and life starts anew, and apparently it starts in the third person.
Enough of that. Perhaps we've been reading too many Gothamist interviews. On to the music! Oh the music. It's been a headphone full week, we should all be singing a new tune.... ack damn third person go away!
While we've I've been hiding away we I decided to make you a little mix... something to celebrate the passing of spring, the joy of summer and the general peachy outlook on life I've been left with lately. Some new, some old (or rare to be more precise) but ALL summer pop... because summer means hand claps2. Duh.
1 This Apples song comes from my all-time favorite compilation. Buy it through Amazon below cos like all of the other (R.I.P.) Emperor Norton releases it isn't available digital-like.
2 If I wanted to argue with myself, I'm sure I could successfully compile backup material to support the argument that every season is the season of hand claps. Let's stick with summer for now though.
Buy some: Yukari Fresh, The Incredible Moses Leroy, The Jessica Fletchers, Apples In Stereo (on Pop Romantique), Rumble Strips, Lucky Soul, Headlights
My home town is no longer the "hit" of the music scene1, in fact it's been awhile since we have been. All the same, Chicago is still a respectable place to hail from within the music scene, if only because most people know Chicago music through the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Ok Go, etc.
While I've always appreciated anyone who can put my hometown on the map, I've always loved a different kind of Chicago band, those who turn up the keyboards and not the volume. Strangely these bands tend to form during their college years at one of our many area universities, sign a record deal to a small American or international indie label and then disappear into the void...
Holiday did just that in the early to mid 90s. Forming at Yale (yes I know Connecticut is nowhere near Chicago) but moving to Chicago after graduation they signed to (then) Chicago label March Records and began to pump out the controlled wimp pop from within the Chicago city limits. There were two (or is it three LittleElpees?) records with March and then a release on Spanish label elefant before the band split in 1997. Their record "Ready, Steady, Go" remains one of my desert island discs to this day.
Alsace Lorraine formed at the University of Chicago, released one record and a few more songs on California label Darla and then disappeared2 from my radar. Wow did I love that record though.
Vitesse took a similar route to non-stardom, also forming at University of Chicago3 and releasing a few records through Hidden Agenda and at least one through Spanish label Acuarela. They never played a live show that I know of (I can't be sure of this but I did try to keep my eye out) but did become a jumping off point for Josh Klein4.
1 It's actually hard to say where this is right now. It seems the music press has finally gotten over Montreal and the Canadiens. At the same time Brooklyn bands aren't drawing the same hype they used to just because they're from Williamsburg. Someone care to enlighten me as to where the next it spot is? Silverlake?
2 Of course now that I type this I see that Darla has a new release in the works for Alsace Lorraine. It actually comes out this week!
3 "Also formed" due to the fact that Alsace Lorraine and Vitesse share a common element (aka songwriter), Hewson Chen.
4 Most music fans have read the words of Josh Klein, one half of Vitesse. He's now a nationally known music critic having written for The Onion, In These Times, Salon, Time Out and whatever other publications I've just never noticed his name in.
5 Holy crap! I can't believe a copy of "Ready, Steady, Go" sells for $68 on Gemm.
Buy some: Holiday5, Alsace Lorraine, Vitesse
Every once in awhile, shouldn't something be easy? I'm sure this isn't news to you but the daily struggle gets a bit tiring. The only positive seems to be that it always seems to end with me listening to old soul on the record player.
Buy some: Garnet Mimms, The Olympics, Willie Tee, Joyce Jones
I woke up this morning to the sound of ba ba baaaas in my head. These ba ba baaaas actually:
This song is so earnestly poppy and catchy it's near embarrassing. My friend Greg introduced me to Lucky Soul some months ago but I must admit it's taken awhile to catch on with me. There's some seriously great songs on their full length "The Great Unwanted" but there's also one song that makes me cringe 1. Every time I try to type song today it turns into snog. This seems fitting for Lucky Soul.
1 I won't tell you which one.
Buy some: Lucky Soul
Photo by Kane Skennar
I think I have a new goal for the year1...
I want The SoftLightes to be the biggest band in the world.
OK, maybe shooting for the world is a bit ambitious. Just North America? Should I set a somewhat realistic goal? I want the band to stop being criminally neglected. I want people to know who the hell Ron Fountenberry is. I want the masses to sing along to "The Microwave Song" like they do to "Such Great Heights" by the Postal Service.
Because right now, I don't get it. This is one of the most genius, creative, commercial friendly, incredibly talented, FANTASTIC bands out there at the moment. Why does NO ONE know who they are?
So how am I going to make The SoftLightes the biggest band in the world? Firstly, They've made it easy on me by already being massively talented and writing such catchy songs. Secondly, I'm going to ask you, YES YOU READING THIS, to listen to the SoftLightes. You've got time in your busy, busy schedule2 to download this song right here and give it a listen.
Now, I'm going to ask you to spend three minutes listening to absolutely nothing (consider this the cracker during the wine tasting where you must cleanse your palette). Please, after the three minutes is up... replay the song again, LOUDER this time.
Do you pick up the sarcasm?
Did you notice the delectable keyboards just barely there behind the chorus?
Did you hear the double tracked harmonic vocal?
Did you feel the tug at your heart as the high hat crashed the song out?
Now GO BUY THE RECORD. iTunes or Amazon.
Alright, say perhaps you're not quite ready to shell out $9.993. Why don't you go take a peek at the wonderful video for Heart Made of Sound (as directed by Kris Moye) or perhaps the video for The Robots In My Room Were Playing Arena Rock. If you aren't sold after that, then I'm not going to sell you4. But just think... in six months to a year when the world has finally caught up, you will at least be able to say you heard about them ages ago5 and give whomever is just now mentioning them your best indie-rock-snob-smirk.
1 Although, I alone cannot achieve it, I can at least try.
2 Don't be one of those schmucks who walked right past greatness because you were too concerned with being two minutes late to work.
3 I have no idea why you might hesitate but for the sake of argument let's pretend you are taking that indecisive pause.
4 I was never very good at sales, but at least I've tried.
5 I don't know who buys logic like this but hell it's worth a shot.
Buy some: The Softlightes
Quite often I'll love an artist without knowing exactly why. Something in my subconscious has fallen in love at first listen with the familiar and comfortable... like that favorite old sweater I love to wrap around my arms on a chilly fall day1. The problem comes when I identify a sample as the source of the love. Let's use Jens Lekman2 as an example3:
I LOVED this song "Black Cab" when I first heard it, loved it like a newborn puppy whose tiny squinty eyes were melting my very guts. And then one day on random...
I've been a fan of the Left Banke for years. I have no idea why i wasn't immediately smacked upside the head with the obvious sample the second I heard "Black Cab". I guess I wasn't expecting something so blatant so the sample instead warped into that familiar love feeling. When I brought this up on a mailing list of similar musical geeks such as myself, someone else brought up another Jens example:
This was horrible! This was bad! He can't really do this can he? He can't really float samples of the Left Banke through all of his music and get away with it, can he? Wait a minute... what am I so upset about? I can't have a problem with sample-heavy musicians? Hell, I am a huge fan of Saint Etienne aren't I?
What have I proved? Absolutely nothing other than when Jens Lekman samples from The Left Banke it irritates me, yet every Saint Etienne song has bits and pieces of other artists scattered throughout. Why does it irk me when Jens does this and not when Bob Stanley does? Perhaps because when Bob (and Pete Wiggs too eh) never shed their fan status when they became musicians, instead they've put it proudly on display since day one. Case in point... anyone who samples Rush at the beginning of a song (Conchita Martinez) wants to be called out on it. They have been as obvious in their musical adoration as humanly possible... they've named whole records after the Beach Boys; songs after Tammy St John lyrics; covered bands like The Fall, The Springfields, The Field Mice, Neil Young, Gary Numan, etc; collaborated with countless other musicians; curated their own compilation CDs; run their own record label (twice!); and on and on.
So wait a minute... why is it OK for Saint Etienne to sample the hell out of Paul's Boutique and get indie cred for it, yet when Jens Lekman samples The Left Banke I get noticeably irritated? I can't answer that.
1 Nothing makes me fall in love with music like the ability to label it a "fall" instead of a "winter" or "spring". Summer songs are strangely on a completely different scale and not subject to the seasonal prejudices.
2 I really do like Jens Lekman. I do appear to be picking on him here but I think in general he is a great songwriter and an even better live performer.
3 Also, I have no real reason for picking on Jens today. His Left Banke samples were discovered some years ago yet today when "Black Cab" came up on random again it reopened the wound.
Buy some: Jens Lekman, Saint Etienne
That's Sweden in the distance from Denmark, but you can pretend it's Scotland right?
I was giving a listen to the new Pelle Carlberg album (formerly of Swedish rock giants1 Edson) and had to double check that I'd selected the right artist more than once. On several points during this record, Pelle has quite obviously written songs for Belle & Sebastian. Tell me these songs don't sound like every one's favorite Scots...
I mean, geesh.. from the lyric twisting to the titles and hand claps. I like Pelle, always have, but HOLY BELLE & SEBASTIAN, Batman. So on that note, bonus B&S and Edson material today...
1 hehehehe
2My memories of this song are becoming ridiculous over the years. At the end of SxSW 2006, Little Elpees took over the mic at Karaoke Underground at the old Red Scoot and announced to a room full of punk kids, "This is punk rock where we come from." He then lead us in the worst karaoke version of this song, EVER. I'm still surprised that we didn't have beer bottles thrown at us.
3 Oh yes, a wimpy indiepop cover of the Darkness classic.
Buy some: Pelle Carlberg, Edson, Belle & Sebastian
Photo by: The Wong Way
I took a little online quiz the other day... called Mod or Fraud and it led to some pondering...
I've always been a fan of music inspired by lounge, exotica and mid-century mod so over the past fifteen years or so I've come to love a few artists that have their own take on it. Some go all out on the full band jazz angle, others translating it into modern electronica and a few just molding their inspiration into hints of kitsch...
What happens if you blend all of these together? You get awfully close to the LA band The Bird & The Bee. I really do like their new album but every time I see someone writing about them it's as if they're the only indie band in recent memory to infuse their sound with a love of mod culture. I was further confused by seeing their live show at SxSW. I thought when I heard the record that Inara George would be a shy little stage mumbler but she totally captivating everyone in attendance. By the time they were done she had the entire crowd eating out of her hand. This leaves me a bit torn. The Bird and the Bee aren't the most original band in the world, but they are making some damn catchy music so perhaps I should just stop judging.
Buy some: The Bird And The Bee, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, Papas Fritas, Combustible Edison, Arling & Cameron, The Aluminum Group
Nothing moves a musical artist to the top of my list faster than their music's transporting quality. If I close my eyes to listen and feel myself in another place entirely, I'm sold. So goes my new favorite Norwegian1, Dylan Mondegreen. He stands tall with the likes of Bart Davenport and Kevin Tihista as a complete singer-songwriter who can easily handle the gentle peace of an acoustic guitar or the lush arrangements of a full orchestra.
I sat in my favorite club chair this afternoon with a sketchbook in hand and my iPod on the ready. As I set to work dreaming up ideas for a new product for work, I started to give a listen to some of Dylan's demos. Before long my eyes were closed and I felt myself no longer in my living room but on the streets of Trondheim at an outside table at a little coffee shop. I could feel the wool blanket around my shoulders and on my lap while I sipped at a cup of creamy hot cocoa. I opened my eyes and moved the pencil along my sketchpad.
1 It didn't occur to me until now, but April 1 this year has turned into an unintentional celebrate Norway day as I'm due to see Thomas Dybdahl and Sondre Lerche in a few hours at Double Door. All I'm missing is some Kings of Convenience, The Margarets, Royksopp and Annie.
Buy some: Dylan Mondegreen (when his record is released later this year, in the meantime you can listen to a few more tracks)
Photo by Stacy Sandstrom
I'm smitten with the new Sondre Lerche record, 'Phantom Punch'. It's not because he's an adorable Norwegian who makes pop music... at least not on this record. It's because everytime I listen to this to this record, I want to hear Eggstone. I am not claiming Sondre is ripping off my favorite Swedes, but he's borrowed a bit of their enthusiasm and crunch on this new record. Remove a few bits of brass and replace them with punchy guitars and we're getting awfully close...
PS. Sondre's on tour in the US right now. Eggstone will never be on tour in the US again so go see Sondre eh?
Buy some: Sondre Lerche, Eggstone
During the past month I've been attempting to re-arrange my living room, get rid of some old furniture, pickup some new pieces and generally simplify my living situation. I keep running into one problem though, the CDs.
I don't have as many CDs as I once did, and in fact I stopped buying CDs a year ago in favor of vinyl or digital only. But I still have rack after rack of CDs stacked in the corner of my living room. No matter how many times I have culled the collection with various sales on E-Bay it always ends up unmanageable again.
At one point in my life I spent more money on music than I did on housing, car payments, basically anything else. I was the kind of music addict who had to buy the European import on the day the UPS shipment came in from London rather than waiting two weeks for a US release. Was. Now I have a ridiculous collection of rare Britpop that gathers dust. I know i shouldn't hesitate to sell some of this other than it doesn't have nearly the financial value as it does emotional value. Who is going to want limited edition Gene or Echobelly releases? There is some of it I will never part with like my Saint Etienne collection or the 'el/Cherry Red releases but over the years I've ended up with so many one-hit wonders it's ridiculous. All it succeeds at now is rising a giggle out of a knowing Britpop conspirator when I DJ a party. Let's face it, there aren't that many people in the world who would even bat an eyelash anymore at mememe1 or These Animal Men.
As much as I can knock down the 18-year-old music listener I was, I can't get rid of the CDs. They are my music addict past, and a large part of the music snob I am today. For every CD of throw-away-SELECT-or-MelodyMaker-hyped band I own is someone way ahead of their time2...
I think in order to finish the living room I'm going to need to find more closet space and hide these CD skeletons away, at least until some of this stuff reaches the 15 or 20 year mark and I can ponder parting with it again.
1 MeMeMe is actually one of my favorite one "hit" wonders as it was a band organized by Damien Hirst and comprised of Alex James (Blur), Stephen Duffy (The Lilac Time), Justin Welch (Elastica) and some other guy who I don't remember where he came from. They released one single on Food Records (Blur's label of the day) called "Hanging Around" and never put out anything else again. Yes, it was as pretentious as the band name suggests. File near Menswe@r.
2 Many of whom, or rather most of whom, are still relatively unknown. Tiny Monroe never made a dent in the music scene, Salad fared only nominally better. I think Kenickie is still celebrated by about 100 people in the world (90 of whom live in Sunderland, the other 10 being devoted to Lauren Laverne's radio show). Out of the four examples I've provided the only band to do "alright" was The Boo Radleys.
Buy some: Salad, Kenickie, Boo Radleys, Tiny Monroe
I fall asleep and all I hear in my head is "Whoaa, Whoaaaa" and the pounding keyboard rhythms of The Rosebuds. I wake up and all I hear is "Whooaaa, Whoooaaaaaaa"... and the sly guitar strums of The Rosebuds. All I hear is Rosebuds.
Buy some: The Rosebuds
Photo by Salem Elizabeth
I've got nothing to say. My bag is packed, my list made (and remade again), my camera stowed, my ipod charged. Bring on SxSW. I suppose I could provide a few songs by a few off-the-radar artists I will be seeing over the next few days...