January 2006 Archives

Big news babies! The Raconteurs have arrived. This modern day Traveling Wilburys featuring Jack White, Brendan Benson and two of the three Greenhornes (who aren't important enough to be named. Suck on it rhythm section) have dropped a bomb. That is, the first single from their upcoming May release Broken Boy Soldiers.

The first single Steady, As She Goes was released in the UK yesterday. But for those of us unlucky enough to live in the United States, we won't be able to get our hands on it until March 7. March 7?! That's like 35 days from now! What's up with that, huh? No love for 'Merica?! That's wrong. No love for the Midwest?! Now that's just unpatriotic.

But, I have an Internet connection, and seeing as you are reading this, then you do too. And were in luck. The bands so-old-and-uninspiring-it's-totally-cool-web-site is streaming the single. But I hate streaming audio. If I can't take it with me it isn't worth it. I'm still mad that they have no love for the Midwest. Show some love: you're all from here! Bastards.

Web Site: Here

Stuff to Take With You: From the Raconteurs' new single Steady, As She Goes "Steady, As She Goes" and "Store Bought Bones"

Ok, I have love for Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler (who's last name happens to be the same as the street I live on. Keeler St., bitches! What? What?). I'm just mad. Why these bands always gots to be favorin' those fish'n'chip eatin' mofos across the pizond?! Don't they knows we likes the rock and rolls?

A couple things about today: I got in a fight with a broom - the broom won. I wish I was still a kid so I could play with a chemistry set and not feel weird. And Honey Brown will ease all pains. Well, not really. I'll still have a black eye tomorrow and I'll still wish I could play with my chemistry set.

It wasn't anything special, my chemistry set. One day I quietly snuck down to the basement, slipped on my safety googles, mixed equal parts of all of the chemicals into one test tube, took cover behind the work bench and waited for the earth-shaking explosion. Nothing happened. The chemistry set was all about "education" and "learning about chemical properties." I just wanted something to blow up. In the end I got out the baking soda and vinegar, put it in an soda bottle and then got bored when it didn't blow up after half an hour. So I went out into the back yard and blew stuff up with some firecrackers. And like so many GI Joes and that poor, poor Chewbacca, my dreams of being a scientist went up in smoke.

I have the feeling that the guys in We Are Scientists had the same feelings once, but instead of picking a fight with household cleaning implementations, they started a band, wrote some awesomely catchy rock and roll tunes and then tell all the groupies to call them Doctor, or Professor or something. Their album With Love and Squalor will be on my top ten list come year end. Everything on this record just jumps out at me at smacks me right in the face . . . much like that broom did.

Buy It: Online Here

Web Site: Here

Stuff to Sample: From We Are Scientists' With Love and Squalor "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" and "The Great Escape"

Oh god! Sometimes I really wish I was still a DJ. I swear. I just don't have the time or the motivation. Oh, and I don't like the people so that's three strikes right there but I found this song(s) that would have totally gotten a bunch of drunk club chicks to come up to the DJ booth and shout/slur into my ear "OMG! What was that last song?!?!? It was, like, totally killer. I know I've heard it before. OMG!" Right about then I would have completely slopped the next song transition, gave the drunk chick a dirty look (which they never saw or ignored) and replied, "It was Huber Hoofen. They're from Europe. First time being played here." Of course that was completely untrue and wrong but it's funny when the chick comes back up later and asks to here that Tuber Sockin song again.

Sometimes I find things on this great Internets that just blow my mind.

Case in point. Fall Out Boy. They play some sort of emo or dance rock or pop punk or something. It's on the MTV sometimes. Somebody at the label thought it would be a good idea to have FOB's song "Dance Dance" remixed into a (drum roll please) dance tune. House, to be more specific. I really wasn't all that surprised but mildly shocked when I saw that RJD2 had been tapped to do one of the mixes.

Now, I'm just confused. I didn't think FOB was cool but does association with RJD2 result in defacto cool? D2 had to make a conscious decision to associate with FOB. I'm sure money exchanged hands, but . . but . . . but . . . does he think they are cool? Does the double standard work in this situation? Was I wrong in thinking RJD2 could do no wrong?

:: BANG :: (that's the sound of my head exploding).

Stuff to Sample: From Fall Out Boy's album From Under the Cork Tree "Dance Dance" and RJD2's reinterpretation of "Dance Dance"

Confession: Ok, I have a copy of Fall Out Boy's From Under the Cork Tree. It's not horrible and I'm allowed to say this because it's Thursday. And I'm not required to be cool on Thursdays.

OK, I give up. If you have a band, and you feel the need to rip off Joy Division, then by all means, please do so. Consequently, this also results in a record deal. I'm not going to even be indignant anymore. I'm just going to accept that it's a sign of the times and a by-product of what I will lamely call "The Pursuit of Cool." Let's deconstruct.

The Pursuit of Cool begins very humbly. Usually those involved are branching off of another "cool" movement, going their own way to create a new and different product. These pioneers normally do not achieve a high level of success and the project is typically short lived. A good example of this would be Joy Division. Joy Division broke off from the late 1970s London punk scene to craft a much darker, somber music. Joy Division was short-lived and while they did find some success, it was not until after the suicide of singer Ian Curtis that the band's popularity began to really grow.

Through the 1980s, Joy Division remained "cool," inspiring other "cool" bands to branch off from the somber rock and post-punk movement and create new music and form new movements, most notable of these are the Cure and the Goth Movement.

The cool kids that listened to these "cool" old bands then grew up to start bands of their own to showcase their talents and influences, using the "cool" bands from their past as both inspiration but also as a "cool" springboard to quickly push their band into the consciousness of other "cool" people who liked those "cool" old bands. I will refer to this mimickery, intentional or otherwise, as "cool dropping." Cool dropping, like name-dropping is an effective way to make other people think you are more knowledgeable or cool simply by knowing the proper band names (AKA, what I do here every other day).

This, however, is where the Pursuit of Cool falters. Instead of branching off of the current movement and creating a new sound, these new "cool" bands are simply rehashing musical history and "cool dropping" as a short cut to fame, money and "coolness" as opposed to doing the proper thing by recording music no one will understand for another ten years, not making any money and then committing suicide (which, by the way, is now another form of "cool dropping," thanks Cobain).

So that's it. In case you are wondering, here's the current list of bands unwilling to risk the Quest of Cool:

Interpol, Elefant, She Wants Revenge and the Editors. For the record, this is simply an interpretation. I like Interpol and am currently really enjoying the Editor's The Back Room. But I don't care for the rest of it. And that is also an important part of cool . . . having a completely outrageous double standard.

Website: Editors, Interpol and Suckfest 1 and Suckfest 2

Stuff to Sample: From the Editor's The Back Room "Blood" from Interpol's Antics "Narc" from Joy Division's Substance "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Update: Just found out that the Editors are signed to Sony BMG. How sad.

This isn’t easy. Not, that you should care, I’m just saying. I have to search out the best new music floating in an electronic abyss. I have to research the band a little bit so it sounds like I know what I’m talking about. I have to write something “clever” or “thought-provoking.” I have to find or make corresponding artwork to accompany the post. I have to make the post and all that technical stuff. And I have to do this a couple times a week.

I don’t really have to do this. But as an adult, I have certain responsibilities and I might as well have a responsibility or two that I enjoy, at least a little bit.

Ahhhh. That makes me miss college. No real responsibilities, just go to class (sometimes), show up to obligatory crappy college job (whenever) and set aside large chunks of time (most days) to get blasted by noon (Sundays to Tuesdays and Thursdays to Saturdays) and play Tekken 3 for 12 hours at a time.

Of course, we would have been listening to music through this Tekken marathon and most of the time it was just one or two albums set to repeat (the MP3 craze hadn’t hit yet so no extended playlists). It had to have a good beat, some melody and fade into the background when we felt the need to talk smack about the opposition’s complete lack of punch/kick power combos. I think if Matisyuha had been around at the time, we would have listened to his albums repeatedly while playing Tekken.

Matisyuha specializes in Hasidic Reggae, I’m know there is some sort of religious message in his lyrics (I heard him say “Moses” and “let my people go” a couple times), however, I really can’t understand him. But it’s not like his religious affiliation is a big mystery (or a big deal), just look at him. Beard? Check. Hat? Check. Ability to sing reggae? Check?

Had Matisyahu released albums in the 1990s my college pals and I would have listened to his album for three days straight while playing video games. By day four, we would have subconsciously memorized the entire album and would start singing Hasidic reggae while at the commissary picking up the fried chicken sandwiches that fueled our regular Tekken binges. Probably.

Matisyuha (whose name I can’t pronounce properly) has two albums out Shake Off the Dust . . . Arise and Live at Stubb's and will be releasing his third, Youth, on March 7.

I had seen several commercials for Matisyuha’s Live at Stubb's album on Adult Swim (I may be responsible, but I still like cartoons). The commercial aired quite a bit and I began to wonder what record label would be throwing that much money at a Hasidic reggae singer/rapper. Turns out its Sony, and you all know how I feel about Sony. That’s sad really, because I’m too afraid to buy an album put out by Sony lest it take over my computer and there by my life as well.

Looks like I’ll just have to download it or something (I know, I know . . . how responsible).

Website: Here

Stuff to Sample: From Matisyuha's album Shake off the Dust . . . Arise "Chop Em Down" and "Exaltation"

The time grows near. The time when Gnarls Barkley will walk amongst us, lay his hands upon the meek and rhythmless and we shall feel the funk flowing freely from our former selves converging to fashion the foundation of the new age of love and soul.

Soon, brothers and sisters! The collaboration between Danger Mouse and Cee Lo, that started several years ago, is just short of fruition. The buzz of anticipation in cyber space is clearly palpable. Now after years of waiting and rampant speculation, the yet untitled album has sprung a leak as two new tracks hit the net today. The new tunes bring the total of leaked tracks to three. The spectacular groove “Crazy” appeared in the blog-o-sphere last fall and was quickly added to several “Best Songs of 2005” lists. The newest, untitled tracks do not exactly stack up to “Crazy” but the direction of the album is clear: greatness.

Website: Here

Stuff to Sample: Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”

Stuff to Ponder: How ‘bout that totally wicked alliteration in the first paragraph? Go ahead; try and top those seven righteous Fs.

I thought by now I’d be on some sort of a role. I’m not really sure what I was thinking when I thought that, but I’m sort of disappointed in myself. All this time has passed and what do I have to show for it? Nothing, really.

What exactly am I talking about? I don’t know. I’m just trying to convey that vague sense of loss when you realize a lot of time has passed and you really haven’t accomplished anything. Not that I set goals in the first place.

But I admire people who do set goals and get things done. It is for those reasons that I admire RJD2 - that and he makes wax cry and needles shudder like the god of vinyl he is.

After the release of the critically acclaimed Since We Last Spoke, RJD2 did the tour thing and then faded back into the hip hop/electronic landscape - like a frog into a pond. But RJD2 was never content to sit on his lily pad. He’s been busy contributing to the soundtracks for two video games, NBA 2K6 and Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure as well as dropping a couple beats last fall for Cage’s Hell’s Winter.

And soon RJD2 will re-emerge as the maestro behind Aceyalone’s Magnificent City. RJD2 had previously contributed a couple tracks to Acey’s last effort, Love and Hate, but now it’s all D2 all the time and Acey is much better off for it. After the album drops on February 7, the duo will hit road for a couple shows. For my Chicago peeps, D2 and Acey will role through the Second City on February 24. Don’t let me down.

Web Site: RJD2 and Aceyalone

Pre Order: Here

Stuff to Sample: Aceyalone with RJD2 from Magnificent City “Fire” and Cage with RJD2 from Hell’s Winter “Shoot Frank”

Seriously, this is important, probably. The Islands are two thirds of what used to be the Unicorns. I'm not sure which two-thirds and I don't care enough to find out. Hell, I'm not sure two thirds is the right amount of thirds to begin with. Whatever. That's just the way it is.

The Islands dropped a couple tracks on the blog-o-sphere last spring and then got sprung when the entire album leaked last fall. And then Nick Diamonds of the Islands or Unicorns or Whatever went all angry thread posting on his fans in the Secret Unicorns Forum. I'm going leave it at that.

The new Islands album Return to the Sea is as indie as it gets, borrowing from almost every know genre and giving the finger to most conventional chord progressions. The album should be out sometime this month, but the one website I checked didn't have any info on it and I don't care enough to do the follow up.

Ok, don't be mad. I'll quit messing around. First there was the Unicorns, a trio out of Canada composed of Nick Diamonds, J'amie Tambeur and Alden Penner. Then the Unicorns split after some internal wrangling. Diamonds and Tambeur reappeared later as the Islands, their new indie rock outfit, as well as Th' Corn Ganng, their new indie rock/hip hop side project that included LA rappers Subtitle, Busdriver and Vick Booz. The Islands' new album Return to the Sea should be out sometime soon while no word on an official Th' Corn Gangg release. Th' Corn Gang and the Islands both contributed to Beck's new release Guerolito.

And I seriously can't find a release date for the album.

How convoluted was all of that?

Stuff to Sample: From the Islands' Return to the Sea "Where there's a Will there's a Whalebone" and from Beck's Guerolito "Emergency Exit (Th' Corn Gangg Remix)"

I have the Monday morning blues and it’s only Sunday night. The impending sense of doom is overpowering my will to go to bed and here I am writing a post that I will look back at in wonder . . . if the world hasn't ended before I wake up. Maybe it’s the endless rain that seems to have been falling over Northwest Ohio for the last week or maybe it’s all the dsytopian themed entertainment I’ve immersed myself in lately.

First there was some Ghost in the Shell (got the DVD for Christmas), then a bit of “Battlestar Galactica” (the new season started last Friday), I’ve been reading The Handmaid’s Tale (an excellent book, even if it was written by a Canadian) and then to top it all off, I caught Blade Runner on TV this afternoon.

The soundtrack to Blade Runner is fantastic, composed by the estimable Greek film score composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, who did the proper thing by dropping the last name in favor of a Cher-esque approach. All of this, however, is irrelevant, until, while sitting here wondering how to explain the sense of impending doom that grips me from time to time, I decided to listen to some new music. Maybe that would help, I thought. Maybe I could put this behind me.

The new music waiting for me was by a group of Liverpudlians called the Open. They create a sort of spaced out indie prog rock with significant English Pop and 1980s undertones. There is a bit of synth and a bit of rock, but when the first song on the album registers at seven minutes even, you know these guys aren’t looking to make radio friendly tunes. Their new album Statues will be out February 6 but probably not in the United States so keep an eye out for the import.

What really got to me though, was the strange resemblance between the Open and the eerie and haunting Blade Runner soundtrack. I guess it’s destiny after all. What is the ghost in my computer trying to tell me?

As an interesting side note, Edward James Olmos who portrayed Detective Gaff in Blade Runner also stars in “Battlestar Galactica” as Commander William Adama. I don’t watch much TV but I’ll give this show the eLarceny stamp of approval. It may have a bunch of rocket ships and robots who want to destroy the entire human race but the subject matter of the show is much more relevant to what is happening in our society today then anything else on TV. Political wrangling, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, the role of the military and much more – an allegory, if you will. Set your Tivos and give it a chance. There is a reason Time magazine voted it best show of 2005.

Websites: the Open and “Battlestar Galactica”

Stuff to Sample: From the Open’s album Statues “Forever” and “We Can Never Say Goodbye” and from the soundtrack of Blade Runner “Blade Runner Blues”

Maybe the world won’t end . . .

I’m not a religious person. I gave it up along time ago. I think it’s important that everyone has a choice but in my eyes, religion is either an excuse to hate on other people or used to deny our mortality. Personally, I prefer to ignore my mortality with out coughing up 10 percent to the church.

But sometimes everybody needs some spirituality to help us reconnect to the world and those around us, even though they may worship the wrong god. Episcopalians, I’m looking at you.

When I need a Spirit Infusion, as I call it, I usually go for a long walk through the country or try to commune with the squirrels in my backyard. When that fails or if I’m too lazy to chase down a bushy-tailed rodent I always to turn music. And nothing says spiritual like some folksy gospel.

The funny thing here is, I don’t like folk or gospel; but I’m smitten with Jenny Lewis’ (of Rilo Kiley) newest solo project. Did I mention she’s hot? Lewis teamed up with the Watson Twins, two alluring, strummin' & singin' beauties from Kentucky to put out Rabbit Fur Coat. The new album is a mix of old country acoustic love, a healthy dash of gospel, just a smidgen of pop deliciousness and a scintillating touch of rock to bring together a fantastic mix that could almost send me running back to the church to beg forgiveness for my blasphemous ways and insatiable love of the rock and roll.

Ahh well, who am I kidding. Sinning is fun. You're gonna die sooner or later. Live life. Live life, like you're gonna die. Because you're gonna. And speaking of dying - No Frequency Radio is sponsoring a Death Pool. Death Pools are fun to play, easy to join and feed into America's morid obcession with Celebrity. All you have to do is pick 10 famous people who you think might kick the bucket and at the end of the year we tally up the points and award the winner with cash money. Listen to yesterday's show for more info and then head over to the NFR Forum and tell us your picks.

Website: On MySpace and the Watson Twins

Pre-Order: Online Here

Stuff to Sample: From Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins' new album Rabbit Fur Coat "Rise Up With Fists" and "Melt Your Heart" and from William Shatner's Has Been "You'll Have Time"

When I grow up, I want to work for a record company as an A&R agent. It has to be retardedly easy. All I have to do is wait for some other A&R person to break a new band and then go find a band that sounds almost exactly like the popular band, sign the cheap knock-off and then sit back and let the big bucks just roll in.

Into my mouth. Mmmmm. Mmm.

Curious? Listen.

Update: The song featured above is not by Franzinterbloc but “Red Flags and Long Nights” by She Wants Revenge. SWR does a great job of ripping off Interpol (and Interpol, subsequently, does a great job of ripping off Joy Division)