Headphones On

Buy some: Saint Etienne

Posted by Liz at 4:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I have not been very inspired by music lately. I do not mean that I'm not listening, oh I am, but while everything seems "ok" nothing has really gotten me going the way it used to. I'm not sure if this is a change in the structure of my brain or simply a lack of inspiring new artists.
Even now, as I look at the lists of who is playing CMJ this weekend I'm not feeling particularly excited. I'm more excited to feel New York in the fall and see friends than discover a new sound. Oh yeah... I'm headed to CMJ. Maybe something can shake me out of my musical rut. (fingers crossed)

Buy some: Pernice Brothers, My Life Story, The Dears, Hercules

Posted by Liz at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I don't often promo new music or events... but Equalizer is a bit different. Sponsored by KEXP and 312tunes they have a monthly showcase at one of my favorite bar's featuring my favorite "dance panther"...

If you're on the west side Thursday night, come on out and join us at Darkroom (2210 W Chicago Ave).

Posted by Liz at 9:28 AM | Permalink

A few weeks ago I received the most thoughtful and well conceived present. See, I have needed a new record player since the day I got a record player many years ago. I have always loved my Califone for it's warm scratchy sound and kitsch. The fact that it actually has scrawled in Sharpie on it the name of the Louisiana High School it was ganked from only tugged more at my heartstrings.
As much as I adore my Califone, it's got issues... mainly most of the records I have would be disgraced to be played through such a crap mono speaker. It's needle has a) seen better days and b) is expensive to replace. I never felt truly safe to play some of the rare vinyl I have through such a clunky and unpredictable device. My original pressing of Dusty In Memphis, stayed locked up in it's sleeve... along with my limited edition "Hymn For Her" from The Magic Numbers. I mean really, I would have to be crazy to play a 7" worth nearly $200 on a 1950's "vintage"¹ Califone.
So today, weeks after having received this truly fantastic gift of crystal sound, I went through my collection of 45s. I've been spinning the full length records for awhile now but my collection of 45s is where the real meat lies². As I flip, flip, flipped through the sides and through the stacks it felt a bit like rediscovering old friends. That might be the best part of the present.

¹ It is with absolute earnesty that I say in this instance "vintage" refers to crap.
² Listening to the original Volt pressing of Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" actually brought a tear to my eye.

Buy some: The Magic Numbers

Posted by Liz at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 4:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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:

1. After years of blissfully ignoring the existence of one Mr. Kelley Stoltz, a Mr. Bart Davenport made a comment way back in March that finally convinced me to listen. I shall take this moment to state... what an idiot I've been. "Your Reverie" is now on repeat.
   
2. Speaking of March, I have actually neglected to give any thoughts on the SxSW experience this year. Ups and Downs (as always) but the constant up uP UP UP was one Mr. Liam Finn. I assure you Crowded-House-loving-naysayers... Liam stands on his own two feet musically and will not always live in his father's shadow. I shall now dub him a live phenom of loop petals and near orgasmic energy. He very quickly became one of those artists whose record took on a new life after the live show.
   
3. I've begun to think Harvey... um Bill has somehow tapped into my musical energy lately. He's called nearly every new sound I'm into to a T (tea? tee?). Kelley Stoltz... hell yes, the Shortwave Set's new record is phenomenal, and the Mystery Jets have surprised me with their sudden pop sensibility. Now if only I'd have convinced him to see Liam Finn w me so he could be equally thrilled with the Kiwis.
   
4. As for Kiwis... For the past 3 months or so the Phoenix Foundation has been in near constant rotation. When I can't decide on a sound or a mood (which strangely keeps happening oh so often lately)... The Phoenix Foundation is always there for me. "Bright Grey" seems to pop into my head all of it's own accord.

Buy some: Kelley Stoltz, Liam Finn, The Shortwave Set, Mystery Jets, The Phoenix Foundation

Posted by Liz at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 2:25 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 9:04 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 5:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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

Posted by Liz at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 5:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"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

Posted by Liz at 12:35 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 9:56 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 7:46 AM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Buy some: Super Furry Animals

Posted by Liz at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 1:27 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 6:59 AM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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

Posted by Liz at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 9:16 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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!

Posted by Liz at 6:42 AM | Permalink

"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

Posted by Liz at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"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

Posted by Liz at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Lately, I have been enjoying other people's misery." - Rachael

Buy some: Graham Coxon

Posted by Liz at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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.

Buy some: Baxendale, Kenickie, Sleeper

Posted by Liz at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo of Ron stolen from MySpace

I have only a second of time so real quick...

Buy some: SoftLightes

Posted by Liz at 9:01 AM | Permalink

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 Barkley¹

2005 - 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?

1. A spark or serious jolt of energy. In "Love Me Like You" it hits exactly at the one minute mark as Romeo, Michelle and Angela simultaneously break into the first chorus. But they aren't done yet and that adds to the appeal. At 2:41 they break the song down to the middle eight and slowly build-build-build-build it back up until it hits the absolute crescendo about 3:20 as Michelle starts into "Don't Fail Me Now"s by the four minute mark... it can't get any higher and you can feel them gasping for breathe. Perfect.
   
2. Uplifting or somehow empowering lyrics. I know, it shouldn't matter what they're singing if the beat is right but I can't get over the lyrics-do-matter hurdle. See "Don't Falter"
   
3. A huge stupid chorus. Seriously huge and stupid. This should go without explanation.

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

Posted by Liz at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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.

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

Posted by Liz at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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

Posted by Liz at 8:10 AM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 8:18 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 11:25 AM | Permalink

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?

• A quick search of Flickr brings up 51 photos, only half of which might actually be The SoftLightes and those photos were all taken by the same three people.
• Hype Machine brings up a good 30 blog posts, not bad, but in a fickle-music-blog-world not nearly good enough to be a tiny blip on the radar.
• They have less than 3000 fans on MySpace and only 39000 views.
• Their SxSW showcase a month ago had about 12 people at it... but after you remove me, Little Elpees, Celia Hershman, the guy who filmed it and the band's entourage... that leaves about three people. Yay for you three people!

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

Posted by Liz at 9:53 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

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

Posted by Liz at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 6:41 AM | Permalink

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)

Posted by Liz at 6:24 PM | Permalink

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

Posted by Liz at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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

Posted by Liz at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

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

Posted by Liz at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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...

¹ Did you see how I tricked you there? Incredible Moses Leroy is no more because they've become The Softlightes but don't worry cos The Softlightes are about to rock your socks off.
²Alright Junior Senior aren't exactly unknown but it's been quite a few years since they came to the US and made even the tiniest of blips on our radar.

Buy some: Bart Davenport, Incredible Moses Leroy¹, Junior Senior

Posted by Liz at 11:10 PM | Permalink

I have taken up (what I dub) "The Tolerance Plan" and managed to scam a few co-workers into a drink or three post-work tonight. What is the tolerance plan? Well every time I get ready for Austin or a trip to the UK... I take up drinking. The problem is that I didn't inherit enough of my father's hard-drinking Irish side and instead gained my mother's slight alcohol intolerance. Because of this I don't drink all that much. Unlike my mother I don't get a headache after a few sips of wine, instead I get it after a drink or two. Again unlike my mother, I don't dislike alcohol because of this. Instead I try my damnedest to raise my tolerance prior to trips like Austin where I know that a ridiculous bounty of alcohol will be basically all that I ingest for a week. Hence... "The Tolerance Plan". If I've planned ahead, it starts off with a drink every night, a glass of wine or a cider if you please. This quickly goes up to two drinks a night prior to my departure. It's never enough to "get drunk" but enough that after awhile my system starts to get use to the alcohol it doesn't often get. For some reason one of my co-workers finds this simply ridiculous but believe me... by 5 pm next Friday I'll be glad that I'm slightly buzzed right now.

Buy some: The Divine Comedy, Memphis, Dntel.The Magic Numbers

Posted by Liz at 9:21 PM | Permalink

Just seven days until SxSW, my absolute favorite time of year. I have spent the past few weeks dilligently listening and planning, planning and listening. I've made quite a hefty list of some of my favorite bands who will be gracing us with a set or two but have come across several new bands that have peeked my interest. A few of the notables I've come across over the past few weeks...

Posted by Liz at 8:21 AM | Permalink

There's a band I'm kinda afraid to talk about on here. I always feel like I talk about them too much and instead of convincing anyone that they're the-most-brilliant-three-guys-to-ever-harmonize, I demonstrate that liz-can't-stop-going-on-and-on-about-that-one-band. I don't like being that person at the show wearing the band's t-shirt so I try not to overtalk the band in question¹. Today I realized that in my desire NOT to overhype, I haven't talked about them this year, or their new record at all. Tsk Tsk Liz.

Are you ready for this? Are you sure? THERE'S A NEW FIELD MUSIC RECORD, and it's COMPLETELY BRILLIANT OF COURSE. I am done screaming... momentarily. Now if you happened to read that silliness on Little Elpees about the new Field Music record sounding like Yes, ignore him. He gave you the one song that could have compared and I swear a part of him did it just to prod me. Phht to you Jack.

Instead, I will give you two glowing examples of Field Music's dynamic musical beauty... and then I'll go back to quietly playing with my headphones and ignoring the world around me. "A House Is Not A Home" is a classic English pop gem of swirling piano plonks, mild-mannered guitars (except where necessary) and swarming strings. As for "A Gap Has Appeared"... let's just say that after three months of listening this has become my favorite for so many reasons that I am strangely unable to vocalize.

Before I go back into my cocoon it's worth noting that Field Music will be on tour in the US starting next week so do go see them if they come round to your part of the world. Not only will they not disappoint live but this could be your last chance for awhile as the band is planning a break after this tour to focus on other projects².

¹ OK this is a bit embarrassing. I searched my own website for "field music" and came up with *far* more entries than I recall writing. This will be the last one for awhile. I promise this time.
² I'm talking to YOU Midwest and east coast peoples. Tour dates are up on their Myspace page.

Buy some: Field Music

Posted by Liz at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Legs" by ZZ Top... they played f#ckin' "LEGS" on stage at the Metro. I'm not sure which was worse, trying not to laugh or the serious expression on the face of the kid in front of me who seemed to have no idea why I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously though, The Changes put on one hell of a show Saturday night. They seem to have grown into their sound and brought their live show up to a whole new level.

So in honor of the local boys made good... I'm bringin' you a few rarities today. I never got the full story on the first song "Always The Same" so it could be "The Changes" or it could be just Darren. Either way it's one of my personal favorites. The second song is an early version of "Such a Scene". It's a great illustration of how far the guys have come over the past few years when compared to the album version.

Buy some: The Changes

Posted by Liz at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oh my word. Oh my word! The press release in my email is so amazing all I can do is cut and paste. I can't even comprehend this at the moment....

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 26, 2007

STAX 50th REVUE HOSTED BY ISAAC HAYES AT FAMED ANTONES, THE HIGHLIGHT OF SXSW 2007 MARCH 15 IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

Booker T & the MGs, William Bell, Eddie Floyd and surprise guests will join together for 90-minute SXSW set hosted by Isaac Hayes to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Stax Records

AUSTIN, Texas - The 50th anniversary of Stax Records along with the label's re-activation-in-full will be celebrated at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference with a live reunion of some of Stax's biggest stars. Booker T & the MGs (featuring Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn), William Bell, Eddie Floyd and surprise guests will unite for a 90-minute set scheduled to take place Thursday, March 15, 7:30pm -9:007:30 - 9 p.m., at Austin's legendary Anton'es nightclub, 213 W. 5th St. in Austin. Admission will be open to all SXSW badge and wristband holders.

The show will also celebrate the March 13 release of Stax 50, a deluxe edition 50-song, 2-CD box set titled Stax 50: A 50th Anniversary Celebration. The most comprehensive Stax hits collection ever - featuring for the first time all major Stax hit singles - Stax 50 will formally inaugurate Concord Music's re-launch of the legendary soul label. The set is packaged in a hardcover box with lenticular cover art of the famous snapping finger logo. The collection features Stax stalwarts, Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Sam & Dave , The Dramatics, Little Milton, The Mar-Keys, Mel & Tim, Jean Knight, and The Emotions.

Concord Music Group recently announced a year of activity that will include deluxe reissues of classic albums and rarities, a live Stax summit in Memphis in June, and a PBS documentary set to this summer.

[deletia... ]

Posted by Liz at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't watch much live television... so therefore I watch very few commercials. When an event comes along like the Oscars that I actually DO watch in realtime, it's always a bit shocking to discover how much advertising is co-opting from my music world...

Aberfeldy's "Summer's Gone" in a Diet Coke spot?
"Love Spreads" by The Stone Roses" in a Cadillac spot?
"The Way I Feel Inside" by The Zombies in a JC Pennys commercial?

I'm sure this is just the tip of the adword iceberg but it's still a bit shocking to me to hear three songs i love all during one commercial break. I must admit... the 16-year-old Stone Roses fan in me is a little upset about it. The adult in me has apparently lost all sense of "selling out" and is more concerned with WHY in the world someone at GM's ad agency thinks The Stone Roses would possibly attract the target audience of their Cadillac brand.

Buy some: The Stone Roses, The Zombies

Posted by Liz at 10:19 PM | Permalink

I wish I could spent every weekend driving down PCH from Pacifica to Monterey. For all its faults (and fault lines), California has quite the appeal. With The Thrills blasting on the car stereo, we had a gorgeous view from every twist and turn.

Buy some: The Thrills

Posted by Liz at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Photo by Franco Folini.

It was only two weeks ago that I declared I'd be staying in Chicago for the boring month of February. Apparently two weeks is all I can last in the negative wind chills and gray skies. I thought I could last until the annual March trip to Austin but I quickly realized this week that I was going a bit crazy. I need to find some peace in the sunshine and great friends awaiting me elsewhere so I'm taking a few days off to relax on the west coast. I need smiles and a fresh viewpoint so back in a few days...

Buy some: Luna

Posted by Liz at 7:20 AM | Permalink

Click the photo for more, non-blurry photos

Oh Midlake. I still don't quite have my wits about me when it comes to last night's Midlake gig at Schubas. Of course they were better in my favorite-club-on-earth compared to that street/field/gap-in-the-trees they played at Lollapalooza. I feel like they are one of those bands that you must see from no more than ten feet away in order to be completely enraptured by their live show, BUT from the very back of the room I still found them very moving. I thought "Head Home" and "Bandits" were the standouts along with the new song "Children from the Ground" (??). It couldn't have been a better show with two exceptions... 1) a better vantage point and 2) more people in the crowd should have been able to pick up the joke they made about the Shrub and their Texas roots.

Buy some: Midlake

Posted by Liz at 8:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Buy some: The Radio Dept.

Posted by Liz at 8:45 AM | Permalink

It's Pazz and Jop Time! I've got to say that out of all the musical year-end wrap ups... this mid-February "Best of the Best" from music journos across the country is my personal favorite. So speaking of personal favorites... how did my year end album choices hold up to the critics?

Midlake The Trials of Van Occupanther - 46
The Kooks Inside In, Inside Out - 204
Field Music Write Your Own History - Did Not Chart
The Format Dog Problems - 328
Phoenix It's Never Been Like That - 64
Jose Gonzalez Veneer - 373¹
The Changes Today Is Tonight - Did Not Chart
Lily Allen Alright Still - 37²
El Perro Del Marr El Perro Del Marr - 218
The Pipettes We Are The Pipettes - 92
The Research Breaking Up - Did Not Chart³

The results of the Pazz and Jop normally aren't shocking and this year is no different. Check out their top albums and top singles. Or, if yer nerdy like me, you can always see how some of your favorite music critics voted... like Ross, Greg Kot, Amy Schroeder, Jack Rabid, etc⁴.

On the subject of liking what you like no matter what the critics say...

¹(2005 release on Hidden Agenda not the Mute re-release in 2006)
² This is the import release, US release was last week.
³ "Lonely Hearts Still Beat The Same" charted on the singles poll at 384 while "The Way You Used To Smile" charted at 797 on the singles chart.
⁴ Strangely, a lot of the critics I normally look to didn't participate this year? No Sasha Frere-Jones, Josh Klein, Chuck Klosterman, etc?

Buy Some: Pelle Carlberg, Edson

Posted by Liz at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Wind Chill values could hit -35 over the next twenty four hours." - Jason DeRose on NPR

He's lying right? Tell me he's lying. I guess I am going to spend the next 24 listening to songs about sunshine and warmth.

Buy some: Belle & Sebastian, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Dallas, Voxtrot

Posted by Liz at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's been an odd month. I have no theme for what I've listened to this month, no rhyme or reason for what's been appealing to me. Other than the continually running "Soul" or "Non-Soul" there is no musical categorization of my thoughts lately. I'm just going with the flow and waiting for February so I can begin the countdown to SxSW.

So there's a lot of new here, there's a new-to-me or two. I think all of this has seen a release, if not it's coming up anyday (see The Eames Era). To note, I'm hopelessly addicted to The Shortwave Set at the moment, so my apologies for giving up two songs, but at least it's one old and one new.

Buy some: The Bees (aka A Band of Bees in the US), Softlightes, The Shortwave Set, Field Music, Dean & Britta, Loney, Dear, Lupe Fiasco, The Eames Era

Posted by Liz at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I drove over 300 miles at 73 MpH... with the sunset fading into the rear view mirror and the darkness of dead cornfields and soybeans enveloping my rental car. It would have been completely tiring were it not for the O'Jays, Garnet Mimms, Honey Cone, Dusty and the like. I stopped only once to refill the car with gas and myself with coffee.

Despite the calming two days out of town, it's always a pleasure to see the signs of civilization approaching on the horizon. At mile 230, the stars ahead turned into a line up of jets making their approach into O'Hare. At mile 285, the city skyline finally lit up the windshield. At mile 307, I'm finally home and beginning to unpack my suitcase for the second weekend in a row. Bring on 2007.

Buy some: Willie Tee, The Flirtations, Honey Cone

Posted by Liz at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

A year ago or so I made a proclamation (like I tend to do). I declared that I would no longer buy music on CD... only digital or vinyl. While in reality this is still a fantastic idea since I don't need more CDs cluttering up my shelves, I've discovered today what I've lost in the process.

I was sitting with my headphones on pondering some packaging sketches when a song came up on random that forced me to stand up and swear at the no one around me. Exhibit A:

Maybe you understand why I stood up and began shooting expletives (other than yes, it's a fantastic soulful reggae song from the late 60s). If you don't understand, I present Exhibit B.

I pride myself on some of the minute tidbits of musical flotsam and jetsam that my mind remembers (especially since I generally have a hard time of that memory thing). I had no idea "Here Comes That Feeling" was a cover, nor that I had a copy of the original. Why didn't I know? Because when I downloaded the record from iTunes it contains no liner notes. When I can't get the record on vinyl, I end up with digital downloads that don't contain the information I used to mercilessly scrutinize when I'd open a new CD¹. I miss liner notes. There's a lot of needless swearing without them.

¹ It doesn't help that All Music has this song credited as being composed by Sarah Assbring on their site either.
² I think I much prefer the original btw.

Buy some: The Gaylets on Trojan Mod Reggae Box, El Perro Del Mar

Posted by Liz at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Research @ The Parish II/Emo's - SxSW
Never have three young English kids with mish-mashed gear so impressed me. Their two live shows sold me on their record, Breaking Up, making my Top 10 this year. Absolute brilliance.

Field Music @ Empty Bottle - Chicago
Even though there were possibly 20 people at the Bottle that night (well we did have thunderstorms and tornados going on during this late Sunday show) the boys pulled through and put all of themselves out there. This is where my love affair with Field Music started.

Magic Numbers/The Elected @ Double Door - Chicago
I've made no secret of my devote following the Magic Numbers from tiny unknown band to the huge international success they are now. This show beyond all others showed me how well a simple pop song (or 12) can elevate even the nicest people to the category of rock stars.

Continue reading "Top Gigs of 2006 (In photos where available)" »

Posted by Liz at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's not a secret that much of my year has been spent swimming in the music of Memphis, Detroit, Philly and the like from about 1965-1975. In the process of this I've been taking in a few "modern" classical soul-ists or those with a soul base to their pop music (think Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings for the first and Gnarls Barkley for the second).

Most modern soul I easily dismiss. "Soul" music anymore seems to mean croony R&B from high warblers... not deep warblers with a bit of funk as I prefer. I my search for a modern day Garnet Mimms¹ (a young fresh voice in his time) I came across several mentions of Amy Winehouse. I'm still not entirely sure what I make of her.

Vocally, I think she has serious potential. If she'd been a young singer in the 60s though she would have been surrounded by better musicians... and this bothers me more than a little bit. In the 60s, she could have ended up at Stax being backed up by the musical punch of the Memphis Horns which could have challenged her voice. I want to hear some pop to strings and funk in the guitar. I dunno, it's not bad anyway. Maybe I'm too harsh.

Buy some: Amy Winehouse | Garnet Mimms

¹Garnet Mimms? Oh yes, Garnet Mimms! Listen here to his track "As Long As I Have You"... oh and turn up the volume on your headphones before you press play or else that piercing guitar might not hit your heart. Volume UP kids!

Posted by Liz at 9:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Which is worse...

A) the new Tom Waits album or
B) my upstairs neighbor listening to the new Tom Waits album at an unbearably loud volume

He must be trying to depress himself into the start of a new work week. That rough growl is reverberating through my ceiling. Make it stop... MAKE IT STOP.

Posted by Liz at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not gonna say a lot about either of these songs I'm dropping on you, the reader, today. But give a listen.

1. Loney, Dear - Saturday Waits

2. The Beatles - Because (from the new Cirque Du Soleil "Beatles Love")

Ok I lied... gonna talk about 'em a lil bit. I can't just throw out that updated Beatles track and not say anything. Imagine what would have happened to the Beatles if instead of Brian Wilson going crazy in California, he'd moved to London and joined the Beatles. There you have "Because"... which proves once and for all that Field Music are the modern day Beatles, NOT Oasis¹.

Loney, Dear. Oh loney, dear. I've only had their songs in my head for the past week. I stand at the back of a venue and listen to the Pernice Brothers and hear Loney, Dear. I stand 4 feet from Martin Carr and I still hear Loney, Dear in my head. I would say he's haunting me but it's not that... it's lingering in my brain. Not a bad thing at all.

¹ This tag given to Oasis has always haunted me... mainly because anyone who assumes this acts as if the Beatles career and musical path never developed and changed. Sure, Oasis are all about "I am the walrus" but they never touch on the range and musical growth of the Beatles during their short career.

Posted by Liz at 9:18 AM | Permalink

I'm back on, still on, whatever, that ridiculous schedule that locks my mind in work or encompassed in sound. So who have I seen over the past few weeks?

The Changes/Tally Hall

I've seen some fantastic Changes shows over the past few years and while their new record will most definitely make my list of top records of the year, this show definitely will not. On a good note, I was pleasantly surprised to recognize Matt Kerstein (formerly of Scotland Yard Gospel Choir) in the first opener "Brighton, MA". Nice form as always from the gruff throat of "Boston". I did enjoy some of the "rock" reworkings of former twee-as-all-get-out SYGC songs.
Tally Hall... well what to say. I'm sure someone enjoyed the irony of the 10 minute rendition of "Freebird" that lead them onto the stage but I couldn't stand it. I watched my friend walk out the door thinking that The Changes would make up for now having to do this gig alone. But here's where the weirdness started... Tally Hall turned a complete 180 and pleasantly surprised me. Their genre-bending antics were completely fresh on-stage and I found myself really enjoying their set.
I don't want to say anything negative about The Changes, I really don't. I love their music. I *love* their record. I have the utmost respect for the member who has become my friend over the past few years but I can't call a spade a heart when it's a f*cking spade. I have never seen the band so in shambles on stage. Background vocals were too high and I could hear the off-key harmonies louder than the main vocals. They couldn't keep in sync. They just seemed like a mess. I don't understand... a few months ago I saw them play a street festival that surely has far worse sound than the Double Door but they blew my mind that night anyway. I left after about five or six songs. Sorry boys... I'll see you again but it just wasn't happening that Friday night.

Mew

Stuck late at the office again so I walked into the venue as the set change was happening... thankfully I wasn't forced to stand through the boredom of "One Thousand Pictures" again. Mew, on the other hand, are always a complete joy and I count my lucky stars they made it to Chicago twice in a month. I could ramble about flying to the guitar rhythm but I'm pretty sure if you're reading this you already understand how much I love Mew. This show seemed to feature a few more Scandinavian fans calling for older material which is always nice. To the obviously Danish boy I heard calling out for "Beautiful Balloon"... thank you, just the idea of them departing from their carved-in-stone set list and playing something only about 5 people in the venue would enjoy made me smile.

Pet Shop Boys

It's an incredibly long story why I've never seen the Pet Shop Boys, but I've spent fifteen years in wait. I don't often (errr... ever) see gigs that are more visual productions than just aural pleasures. It was worth it... all fifteen years of waiting. The lads aren't as young as they once were but they are still effervescent showmen (alright, well Neil). I found myself pondering my musical education while dancing along to "Suburbia" and the like. Quite a few of my favorite musicians owe a lot to the Pet Shop Boys and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them... so much that "Always On My Mind" brought a tear to my eye. I haven't seen a show that brought out this much unexpected emotion from me since the very first US tour for the Clientele. Even now I find it hard to talk about this show but I want to thank D from the bottom of my heart for making that night happen.

Alright, well my schedule isn't slowing anytime soon (well perhaps December, I hope) so in the meantime I'll be pondering emotional branding from the back of a few more smoke-filled venues. Next up in gig notes... Scritti Politti, Voxtrot, Pernice Brothers, Martin Carr, El Perro Del Mar and Tahiti 80. I'm off to Meet Mr. Marsden...

Buy some: Tally Hall, The Changes, Mew, Pet Shop Boys

Posted by Liz at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In my work-all-day, travel-all-the-rest-of-the-time world of late I've not been waxing poetic about some of the fantastic shows I've snuck into my schedule...

I've waited what seems like a lifetime to see Mew play live so there was no trapping me in the office a week ago when they opened up for Kasabian at the Metro. Not even the hurricane force winds and flooded streets of Chicago kept us away. And thank goodness.

I've always wondered if a band like Mew, who so obviously holes up in the studio for ages creating masterpieces like And The Glass Handed Kites, could reproduce their sound live. As I peered over the edge of the stage staring at a *perfect* set list featuring new and old tunes and wasn't quite sure they could pull it off. When they walked out on stage (accompanied by a few friends on bass/guitar/keyboards) I knew the Metro was in for a treat.

This might be one of the occasions that words fail me but I'll try. When Jonas Bjerre began to sing my insides began to melt, my ears perked up, my body was suddenly overcome in goosebumps and my brain went on hiatus. By the time the band got into "Am I Wry? No" the Metro was just awash in layers of sound. The overwhelming spectral odyssey that you hear on record was actually heightened during their live show. The eight (err... maybe nine?) songs in their set were aural perfection so perfectly melding the brains of everyone within earshot. As the norm with fantastic sets I can't get enough of, it was over too quickly but they closed with "Comforting Sounds" clearly captivating and stunning everyone around us. I didn't stay for Kasabian... after a performance like that I didn't think my ears or my heart I could take the let down. At least I'll be able to see Mew again in a few weeks when they kickoff their US headlining tour.

Oh Lily... what are you doing? I've not made a secret of my love for Lily Allen's debut record so when I discovered she'd be in San Francisco the same time as I was, her show at Popscene became priority number one. Oh how I could have better spent that Thursday night. I hate to say that, but it's too true for me to ignore.

For some unknown reason, there were no advance tickets sold to this show. This let to us standing outside for an hour and a half of chilly San Francisco wind to get in the door. The only good thing about this was that we could hear Lily and her band's hour and fifteen minute sound check. Once we finally got in the door (and were treated to $7 thimbles that were supposed to be drinks), we spent another hour and a half waiting around the tiny, oversold club to what I can only describe as an absolutely tedious DJ set by Mark Ronson. Tedious, un-ironic and completely boring. Fine fine... as long as Lily's good right? That's why I was there anyway.

Five songs. I repeat, FIVE songs! She already sings three minutes pop songs but when you only get a set of 5 of them... (that's including the "encore" folks) NO ONE is going to be satisfied. The band spent 3 times as long sound checking as they actually did playing. Sure, the horns were bopping, her voice was soaring and the crowd was way into it but FIVE SONGS? I was annoyed enough that I am *not* headed down to the Double Door tonight to see her again. (sigh) I love the record, loved her songs but come on now. I would still suggest anyone buy her record but perhaps until she has more material or slightly less snot in her nose, I'm not recommending her live sets. Go see Mew instead.

My apologies for the grainy sidekick photo of Mew but my camera's traveling without me right now. As for Lily, even tho we were 5th in line we were so far away by the time the set started there was no way I was going to get a shot of her... so that one's stolen from her MySpace.

Buy some: Lily Allen, Mew

Posted by Liz at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I find such great joy in the hunt. Vinyl box after vinyl box... from Oldies A-F to Soul Clearance, I found some absolute gems during this week's hunt at Amoeba in SF and Amoeba in Berkeley.

A few things I found...

• A Little Elpee sure to bring back memories for Little Elpees
  
• Rare Decca 7" from Manchester 60's Soul band St. Louis Union ($1!!)
  
• The now rare 7" of my favorite Velocity Girl song
  
• Three 7" of some of my favorite Supremes/Diana Ross songs
  
• The very first Pernice Brothers release
  
• "Be My Baby"
  
• My favorite band from Finland
  
• Sharon Jones with Los Walkysons and wondering "How Do I Let A Good Man Down?"
  
• And a few oddball releases from Elefant and Stax

But the real gem so far is Andy Smith's Northern Soul on double vinyl. Part of me wants to fly home this second, curl up with my record player and just let it go... but I'll get there soon. In the meantime, I might not be done hunting the Bay so I'd best get out there.

Posted by Liz at 2:52 PM | Permalink

How many bands do you suppose are out there that made one perfect song and then disappeared into oblivion? So I've been pondering anyway as I listen to the sounds of Icerink.

I would suppose, this is the only song Elizabeth City State ever released. It was always rumored that they couldn't hold onto a singer long enough to finish a single, so this song on the We Are Icerink compilation is the extent of their discography. Shame.

The Icerink label was choc full of bands like that though... from those who had their name swiped by a German techno outfit to the un-classifiable oddity that is...

Not every band who released material on Bob Stanley & Pete Wigg's Icerink label was doomed to complete obscurity, after all Shampoo became the pancake-make-up-glamgirl idols of eastern Asia for a year or three and Spring released a few records and became rather well known in the twee scene. I suppose there's always World of Twist whose dance hall stormer, New Electric Pop and Soul, was included as a bonus on the "We Are Icerink" comp².

At this point I'm just rambling on as the memories flood over me... but that's always the good bit of pulling out an old compilation isn't it? It's like an old friend has come back to remind you of who you are and how you got here.

¹It wasn't until 1996 when Lawrence Hayward released Novelty Rock under his then musical incarnation Denim that anyone really knew who Supermarket really was. A friend and I always speculated it was Bob & Pete sans a singer.
² RIP Tony

Buy some: Good luck with buying anything on Icerink... it's all down to eBay or Gemm since most of this material is going on 15 years plus.

Posted by Liz at 6:54 PM | Permalink

• The gentle curve on the spout of a well-formed teapot
• The art of looking sideways
• French curves
• Lavender
• The perfect bag
• Against The Sun
• The impact of a well-intentioned person

Posted by Liz at 5:18 PM | Permalink

I don't want to get TOO out of the habit of writing but time is my enema enemy lately. So instead of a complete absence I've chosen three songs at random on my laptop...

Well aside from Ride or The Boo Radleys or The Jesus and Mary Chain or Saint Etienne, one of my favorite Creation bands ever. Every Biff Bang Pow! song reminds me of pleasant smiles from long lost mix tapes of the early 90's.

Oooh lookit this... a rather rare Magic Numbers b-side. Shortly after this song came out I got quite the lecture in a pub from Sean Gannon about how it's called "Keep it in THE Pocket" and not "Keep it in YOUR pocket"... I'm obviously not doing a good job of keeping anything in my pocket by posting this...

Aha! A new band. This was taken from their forthcoming record Drop It Til It Pops that's due out on Moshi Moshi in a few weeks. To give you a fair chance at hearing what the record sounds like I should post a different track as this was also included on their ridiculously long single "Somtetimesitsbetternottostickbitsofeachotherintoeachotherforeachother". But alas... that's what happens on random.

Buy some: Hot Club De Paris, The Magic Numbers, Biff Bang Pow!

Posted by Liz at 7:57 AM | Permalink

I have been ridiculously busy the past few weeks... working more hours than I care to admit in mixed company. With zero time to take care of "things"... writing anything beyond emails requesting photography licenses or meetings doesn't happen. So here I sit on the el headed back to that grindstone... and I find my first opportunity to clear my mind by thumbing the tiny keys on my sidekick.

So what have I actually got to say for myself? I think I have the nasty habit of conclusion jumping (not to mention the ability to disconnect paragraphs like nobody's business). Case in point... Razorlight. I heard this name a few years ago usually mentioned in conjection with bands like The Libertines or similar I-could-care-less-heavy-geeeetar-lad-rock. Therefore I jumped to the, I now realize incorrect, assumption that Razorlight was yawn-inducing-over-hyped-crap. Well I'm not retracting the over-hype... but the crap label was probably incorrectly applied. I was sent a copy of their new self titled record and was so shocked by what I heard... Squeeze-inspired pianos, Zombies-like harmonized chori¹, and none of the horrible I expected. I shouldn't be judging bands based upon hype and their band name but books *are* judged by the covers.

¹ I prefer "chori" to "choruses"... the latter
seeming to make me grind my teeth when said aloud.

Buy some: Razorlight

Posted by Liz at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It seems these days I take my writing cues from Little Elpees. He's right ya know... there's a certain, ridiculous, glee that comes out of the mind of a music nerd at the mere idea of a side project. The musical pest in me probably goaded more than one Blur or Elastica fan in the mid-late 90s with "What do you mean you don't know mememe?". Ridiculous, but true.

With that confession out of my system, I'm going to present you, dear reader, with two of my favorite (and related) side projects. Lets go back six or seven years... I'm in the habit of buying every release on a few record labels. As such, I discover Canada's Stars with their first release on Le Grand Magistery, A lot of little lies for the sake of one big truth. Catchy pop melodies, female backing vox (at the time) and a charismatic front man who could be spied now and then as a dork in episodes of Sex in the City or a corpse on Law and Order. Stars were a wee band back then with a small but devout following. So I don't think too many people were paying attention when Torq released a side project on LGM called Memphis. I noticed... and I loved it. If I remember right it was the first time I'd heard dueling vocals from Torq and Amy Millan. At the time Amy was singing mostly backup vocals on Stars material while creating those fantastic guitar riffs.

So Stars grew up, the band got bigger and Chris Dumont and Torq later released a full length of Memphis material. I think in the meantime I sort of became known as "that girl who asks for Memphis in Chicago" because I'd constantly check on it's progress whenever Stars or Metric¹ came to town².

Here is where I show the elapsing of time... "We span time as a couple. We're spanning time, we're in love. Look like you like me. We're in love, we're spanning time.³"

This brings us to today. Memphis has a new record coming out (their 3rd now) and Amy Millan has finished that solo record she's been working on for the past few years. Now instead of dueling vocals, Torq and Amy create dueling songs...

¹ James... err Jimmy... of Metric also works with Torq and Chris having remixed some of the material and lending his horn.
² Which was quite often in those days... there were so many Stars shows at Schubas and so many Metric gigs at the NewNew/Empty Bottle/Double Door/etc.
³ Name that quote...

Buy some: Stars, Memphis, Amy Millan, Metric

Posted by Liz at 7:59 AM | Permalink

Often it's the little things that are basically unexplainable that force a smile on my face. I was sitting at work this afternoon kerning the word "Multi-Grain" to within a millimeter of it's life when I heard something in my headphones that brought back a pleasant memories. A co-worker walking past must have been looking at me during that instant I smiled for no apparent reason. He stopped, he looked at me, he looked at my monitor (with the word "Multi-Grain" taking up 80% of my 21" monitor). He shrugged and walked on. The smile trigger was in my headphones...

It's March, I'm in Austin standing a few feet back from yet another stage during SxSW. It's mid-afternoon of lord knows what day, the sun and sound are out in full force. For about twenty minutes I've been watching a band I am extremely familiar with sing, stomp, strum and generally beat the crap out of their set. They're playing with as much enthusiasm and gusto and they have for years, if not more. I'm looking up at the guitarist... sweat dripping from his brow... and contemplating that one magnificent pool game at Double Door where I kicked his a$$ in a style I had never done before (and probably never will again). That instant he stops staring at his strings, the crowd, his beer, whatever... and looks directly at me. I wink. He must not have noticed yet that my friends and I were there. He let out a little laugh and gave me the hugest grin I've ever seen on his face. It's rather amazing that just the memory of an unexpected smile can bring a grin to my face nine months after happening. The trigger...

Buy some: Metric

Posted by Liz at 3:16 PM | Permalink

Sixteen tiny Ted Leos would like it to stop raining right now.

Posted by Liz at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last weekend I took a road trip... there's nothing like a good open road, fantastic records and great people to make a long weekend feel enlightening. Along the way I stopped at the memorial for Mother Jones, as nothing feels more fitting for a Labor Day weekend than stopping at the grave of one of the catalysts of the American labor movement. I suppose it's another reminder that one person can actually make a difference to the world at large. I would like to think I am that passionate about something to truly be a force. I would like to think. But here I am home again, listening to some of those records I picked up last weekend. Which leads this meandering to my passion... sound.

I've waxed poetic before about the joy of putting a needle down on a really good record and watching where it leads you. Sometimes I have a hard time finding those sounds that get me going. The ghosts around me in the city get me down sometimes and whether it's through my headphones or my stereo... I need those daily reminders of my joy.

I rely a lot on some friends of mine to turn me onto new sounds. Quite often tho, stubborn Liz doesn't listen. For years Little Elpees has been attempting to turn me onto a band he once had on his label... Ooberman. I'm not sure what it was about Ooberman that never actually got me to *hear* what they were playing. The name perhaps that sounded too much like a bad DJ? Regardless every so often I'd hear an Ooberman song on a mix or compilation and think "yeah, that's alright"... and then never explore them further.

Then yesterday... when Little Elpee's posted his ode to Ooberman something clicked. There's never been any real reason I didn't love this band. Their sound is round and soaring... lush and delicate. It's GORGEOUS. So here I am making up for lost time and about to head off to the record store in search of stuff I should have bought ages ago.

In honor of my new found love of "my new favorite old band" I'm posting some of their new material¹ from their new record Carried Away and one old favorite...

¹ Thanks, as always, to Skippy.

Buy some: Ooberman

Posted by Liz at 1:23 PM | Permalink

Three months ago today, two friends and I made a plan that 2006 would be "The Summer of Fun". We met up at a bar for the kickoff, ran into (what seemed like) a million friends and ended up having a pretty great little party until the street side patio closed. It seemed like a pretty auspicious start to "The Summer of Fun." Emphasis on seemed like.

Little did we know it would be the highlight for the three of us. We made so many plans we couldn't keep. We figured we'd be hanging out for a nonstop erotic cabaret¹. None of this happened and I've barely seen either of them since the summer began. The majority of the past few months held heartache, ridiculous working hours and way too much tedium for any of the three of us to endure.

It wasn't all bad... I did manage to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world in LA and Brooklyn, DJ a couple of fantastic parties, see some amazing live music, enjoy the benefits of the Chicago's beautiful summer², spent some time with my wonderful Maltese former-roommate, etc. But all-in-all... this summer was NOT all it was cracked up to be³.

Tonight, marking 3 months since the start of "The Summer of Fun Suck" we were due to meet up at the bar where we kicked things off and send off this horrible summer in style. How fitting is it then to end this "Suck" by instead working a solid 12-hour day on only 4 hours of sleep? I had planned to kick this summer's a$$ all the way back to May but no such luck. So that's it. There's no more story, except for one thing...

Every summer a song ends up becoming my summer anthem. I latch onto these things like a security blanket. There were many strong contenders among this year's crop of hits from bands like The Pipettes, The Feeling, Phoenix, Gnarls Barkley, The Kooks, etc but ONE song stands alone as my summer anthem for 2006⁴...

With it's soul-inspired beats, it's intricately laid down samples and general good-time-fun-having-kinda-vibe, "Learnalillovinandgivin" wins in a landslide. Now, if only we could start summer over again so I could listen to the lyrics a bit better the first time round.

¹ My apologies to Marc Almond and Soft Cell for the nick.
² For a few minutes at a time anyway.
³ What does this actually mean anyway? "not all it was cracked up to be?"
⁴ Even if it doesn't represent the summer I've actually had but more the one in my head.

Buy some: Gotye

Posted by Liz at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

What makes people go see a quiet, reserved English band and stand 4' from the lead singer talking loudly and paying no attention? In a large(ish) venue with two floors and hundreds of feet of floor space would you choose to carry on a conversation about the guy who just dumped you within hearing distance of the very polite and quiet lead singer? I don't care if you want to stand there and ponder your existence or wondering whether you left the oven on. If that's how you want to spend your $15 go for it... but do it f#cking quietly when someone has flown halfway around the world and everyone else in the venue is aching to hear them play.

Everything about The Clientele live is intricate and intimate... from the vocals to the tiny maracas and Alasdair's finger picking. So thank heavens for Jeremy who had no problem telling the not one, not two but THREE groups of people talking loudly behind us to move or leave. That's just something I will never get away with no matter how many times I turn around to give them the eye.

Posted by Liz at 1:32 AM | Permalink

When I was four my parents handed me a violin (such a tiny, adorable lil instrument). I studied under a philharmonic violin virtuoso. I wasn’t so shabby, playing “Infant Paganini"?¹ and learning advanced fingerings by age six.

There was a kink in my parents plan to make me a premier violinist when at age 7, my family moved to Chicagoland². Other 7-year-olds around me didn’t play violins. I was stuck as an 8-year-old as second chair³ in the Jr. High orchestra. The big kids were intimidating and shortly thereafter I begged my parents to let me stop playing the violin. I regret this decision now but at the time it was the only way not to become a lil’ smartypants who was constantly picked on by kids 4-5 years older⁴.

My love affair with strings and orchestral pop started at that tender age. I now look on with envy at people who can create (and play) beautiful string arrangements. This leads me to the new Charlotte Gainsbourg record, 5:55. I'm not gonna namedrop, I'm not going to give you my hyperbole'd take on the record, I'll let the strings on this song speak for themselves...

I recently purchased a violin again. It’s a odd feeling to pick it up because i can barely tune the thing properly yet strangely my fingers know exactly where the fingerings still are. My hand doesn't clutch at the bow, it holds it gracefully. Who knows, maybe one day I'll play the violin with ease again. Doubtful though.

¹ aka “Fantasia"? by Mollenhauer
² Forever removing my generic midwest accent and changing my life forever
³ First chair was the only other grade school kid stuck in the Jr. High orchestra... a kid who was snotty and thought he was so much better than everyone else. Granted he was better than the older kids in the orchestra with us but he only barely inched me out for first chair. This kid eventually went to Harvard Law though so I think he wins.
⁴ See Harvard Law kid in 3.

Buy some: Charlotte

Posted by Liz at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night, post-yachting, I was sittin’ around a bar shooting the sh!t with my coworkers. The question came up at the table to name “the best concert you’ve ever seen"?. I quietly sat there, listening to the stories (all good, mind). I didn’t utter a word. Eventually one of them turned to me and said “Alright, we all know that you are the most musicly-inclined person in the office, out with it¹". I tried to beg off the question “oh this is too hard for me", “do you know how many live shows I see a year?", “don’t ask me to do this." They waited out my excuses and issued a “tell us already".

“September 17, 1994, Blur and Pulp at the Vic."

There was some silence. One coworker uttered “Hey! I know both bands!?". I heard more than one giggle at my initial refusal and then very specific response, and then a... “Why?"

How do I explain this? I don’t know why. It’s a feeling. It’s an experience. All these things become more jumbled in my mind as the years go on but the feelings never die. The joy my heart felt standing mid-crowd (or dancing on the cushy couches) doesn’t end even when the story becomes a bit more fuzzy. The search for that feeling becomes a lot of the reason I continue the elusive hunt for the perfect gig.

Really I could have named a dozen more shows at least... The Magic Numbers @ Water Rats-London March 2004, The Clientele @ Schubas 2001, Teenage Fanclub/Yo LaTengo @ Metro 1993, Echobelly @ The Opera House-Toronto 1996, The Dears/Aerial @ Double Door 2004, Field Music - 4 times in one week (Chicago & Austin) 2006, Joe Pernice (solo) @ Schubas 2002, Oasis @ Orbit Room-Grand Rapids 1995, Saint Etienne @ Double Door 1998, Blur/Papas Fritas @ Supper Club-NYC 1997, Goldfrapp @ Schubas 2000, The WOMAD Festival - World Music Theater 1994, The Research @ SxSW2006, Momus/Kahimi Karie @ Empty Bottle 1999, Suede @ Metro Feb. 05, The Magic Numbers again @ SxSW 2005, Trembling Blue Stars/Aberdeen @ Schubas 2003(?) and Saint Etienne/The Concretes/The Magic Numbers @ Shepherd's Bush Empire - London 2004.

But none of those came out of my mouth did they? September 17, 1994. Blur and Pulp at the Vic. Why?

Continue reading "September 17, 1994" »

Posted by Liz at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I was driving through the city with a friend of mine on Sunday morning when I popped into the stereo a random mix CD I found her in car. A mutual friend had made her a mix "For Sunday Afternoons" and she loved it so she kept it in the car for the times she was stuck in traffic.

I'm skipping songs, as I do, to see what our friend had included on the mix. When I get to the midway point and realize... wait a minute here... the usual suspects that I introduce people to are on this disc (ala the Tahiti 80's of the world). Well I certainly don't take credit for every Tahiti 80 fan out there but I realize a lot of these songs are things that I had contributed to the mutual friend. For all I know she fell in love with the New Pornographers on her own. Until 3/4 of the way through the disc...

I know this song came from me, no question¹ but how and where it came from isn't what amuses me so much. It amazes me to see in action the spread of ideas, loves, and for me in particular... music. I quite often have no idea where my musical loves go when I throw them out into the world. More than once I've gotten bands booked into venues by hooking up the right band with the right friend and I believe sometime soon I'll hear I actually hooked up a band with a record deal². What I love most is the idea that if I can turn one person onto something new, they will in turn spread that sound onto someone else.

¹. I it bought in Tokyo on that same compilation I name checked last week in regard to Spearmint. For a long time I was in the habit of making bi-monthly mix discs and mailing them out to my friends. I know that particular Norman Bates song ended up on one of those discs.
² No comment on this statement for now.

Buy some: Airpop 2, Norman Bates

Posted by Liz at 7:47 AM | Permalink

I hate to be all pre-teen about posting song lyrics... but apparently I have my pre-teen days:

The Clientele - E.M.P.T.Y.

When I'm riding home at night now, I get in so tired
Til the sars and bows that spell E.M.P.T.Y.
We're driving west, half past five
My skin is cut, my hands are knives
I could be, anyone alive
But I just can't fit and it's just too late to quit

When the night it comes to me, I wonder, if the days I've lived through count
With a world strung like a rosary, through faces moving in the crowd
What is the color and the number, when happiness begins?
When the night waits in the laurels, hesitating...

I found a clarity I've never known
Fag-end weeks before I left for school in
The darkness in the pylons and the smoke and creosote
Cancelling the faces that we knew

Did they forget the light inside your eyes?
Those simple words, those lovers sighs
The hand is dealt, the cards are played
But I just can't fit and it's too late to quit

I saw them and I knew them all, inside a sheet of flames
I saw them and I knew them all, inside a sheet of flames

When I'm riding home at night now, I get in so tired
Til the sars and bowls that spell E.M.P.T.Y.
E.M.P.T.Y.

Some of that I made up because Alasdair's mumblings can be confusing but the gist of the song makes up my life right now. I could tell you I'm posting this because The Clientele are embarked on a new US tour this weekend before they head down to Nashville to record their next record. That wouldn't be the whole truth though, I've loved E.M.P.T.Y. since I first heard it. Last fall in the midst of house closings and chaos, I started a painting called "What is the color and the number, where happiness begins?". I haven't finished it. It sits in my living room anyway so whenever someone comes into my home and compliments me on it I just say "It's Not Done." Truth is, I don't know how to finish it. I don't know the answer.

Buy some: The Clientele

Posted by Liz at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the most part¹, I don't like ballad bands. What's a ballad band²? The Coldplays and David Grays of the world who make a tremendous living singing ballads about their constant heartbreak and oh-so-miserable-life over a simple, slow guitar melody (normally accentuated in the prime of their broken hearted-ness by a well-timed string section).

The thing about ballad bands... they really couldn't bore me anymore. Listening to The Frays of the world leaves me feeling tired in it's paint-by-numbers approach. I would much rather someone flip the formula on it's head to make a listener actually think about the sound. The first example that comes to my mind is the Beach Boys... they made music that from the surface sounded like a happy-go-lucky carnival ride. If you listened closely though, Brian Wilson comes out as one of the most depressed songwriters of the 60's. Masked under the pop harmonies was a man's heart breaking... becoming far more compelling than the typical woe-is-me-guitarbreak. So that's my beef with ballad bands, as a genre it's all so obvious it's almost³ not worth the chord changes.

Now here comes the part where I ridicule my own statement by exclaiming the benefits of a ballad band... The Perishers. What's up with this? What kind of a hypocrite am I? Not one at all as there is key to being a ballad band that I can actually stand: Depart from the formula.

The Perishers utilize all the gimmick's that normal turn me off including the "swelling pianos and delicate melodies⁴". Since I can't figure out what it is that seperates them from the rest of the crop, it's time for a list:

• Beautiful lyrics... The Perishers first language is Swedish, yet the music is in English. While this does lead to a slightly more simple lyric structure, it works so well because they aren't sounding contrived.
  
• Vocals. Why is it that most ballad bands have whiney singers? No thin throated warblers here...
  
• For every woe-is-me (ie. Trouble Sleeping), comes a song of optimistic meloncholy (ie. "Nothing Like You and I").
  
• They work with one of my musical heroes, Per Sunding at Tambourine.
  
• Because I do.

For all my bitching and moaning, it really just comes down to the fact that the Perishers strike on something I can relate to while Coldplay et al leaves me feeling empty. So, on that note....

¹ Silly literary device used to show you that I am going to make a gigantic statement and then spent the next 3 paragraphs debunking said statement.
² I use "band" here lightly and mostly for the alliteration. I make no distinction inside the "ballad band" genre between a slow-ass weepy solo artist or standard rock four-piece.
³ Key to my argument are retractable words like "almost" and "not quite"
⁴ The Perisher's Official Biography (Watch out kids... I'm actually using a footnote correctly for once!)

Buy some: The Perishers