March 2006 Archives

Love is a funny thing. Like the moon, it waxes and wanes, pushing on you, moving you in any direction it sees fit. And then one day you fall beyond love’s pull, out of its orbit, free of its grasp. You float through the ether, directionless until you come into contact with another heavenly body and you swing back into orbit, back into love. I was in love once, but like an asteroid in an irregular orbit, I fell from the course.

I’m sorry Jenny. We could have had so much together. But, I came off as bit of a stalker and stalking is hard to do when under a restraining order so I will just shift my attention to another alt-country crooner.

Neko Case, I love you.

Case’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood dropped a little while ago and since then it has been slowly pushing Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat out of my heart. Case’s album is a much darker, much smoother and much more detailed affair then Lewis’. And where Lewis voice glides over a bluegrass stomp, Case’s voice soars over noir country songs, spinning intricate tales and painting meticulous pictures.

But, the similarities between these two are astounding. Both Lewis and Case play in power—pop indie rock bands, Rilo Kiley and New Pornographers, respectively. Both are finding a great deal of success as solo artists. Both have been able to re-interpret America’s oldest and most enduring music into modern day pop gems. And finally, both are ravishingly beautiful redheads. I don’t want to have to chose but Case’s music is much more mature and her brooding, melancholy tone speaks to my dark side. So Neko is the winner.

:: sigh :: Love hurts. Ménage-à -trois? Maybe? No? Yeah, didn't think so.

Order: Online Here

Website: Here

If you could build a time-traveling space ship, what would it look like? If you said a blue, 1950s British police call box, keep reading. If you didn't, you might want to skip this post entirely, it's going to get super-nerdy in here pretty quick.

I inherited my love of sci-fi from my father. I remember watching Blade Runner with my dad and pestering him every time a cyborg got gunned down as to, "why they had red blood if they were machines?" And there were many a night spent watching Star Trek TNG (that's The Next Generation, for the non-nerd still reading this). But the memory that left the most indelible yet elusive mark (I was still very young at the time) was being allowed to stay up and watch an old British sci-fi show called Doctor Who (I'm pretty sure it was the Fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker who had the role from 1974-81). I could never remember much about the show, just flashes of imagery here and there, but it has stayed with me.

That being said, you gotta believe I was a happy little nerd when I found out that the Sci-Fi Channel was going to be broadcasting the newest installment of the Doctor Who series. It seems that the whole of the United Kingdom are nerds as well and every five years or so they make another Doctor Who. Set your TiVo. The new Doctor Who airs Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel at 9:00 p.m. EST. The show is well written and rather funny, but then again, I have a hard time not laughing at people with English accents.

Stuff to Sample: Orbital's (hell yes, they're British)  take on the Doctor Who theme from the album Altogether "Doctor?"

Listening to the faithful readers complain in the comment section over the past couple days got me thinking. I went looking for this “rock ‘n’ roll” they spoke of. The rock with lots of guitar that epitomized drugs that would kill you but not keep you dead. I wondered if they were speaking of Sunset Blvd. rock. Hair metal? The schlock that dominated brainless America for the better part of the late 80s and early 90s.  But were they? Were you referring to hair metal? I don’t think they were. Brandish the name Slayer and the true metal heads come out of the woodwork. But I was not part of the hair metal movement nor could I find a foothold with the true hardcore kids.

My roots are in the dark, heavy, electronic infused rock somewhere off to the side of hair metal and hardcore. On one side was Metallica and Megadeth, on the other was KMFDM. Some where in between came the bulk of what I really enjoyed, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, White Zombie, etc. So either as an (un)happy coindience or as fate, I was surprised  to find out that Rob Zombie just released Educated Horses, his first album of new material in nearly five years.

I’ve got to tell you, my copies of White Zombie’s La Sexorcisto - Devil Music Vol. 1, Astro Creep 2000 and Super Sexy Swinging Sounds got their fair share of play time back in the day. I did buy Rob’s  first solo album, Hillbilly Deluxe, but after that I was listening to too much Radiohead (AKA whiney indie rock that makes you die and stay dead) to really care about subsequent Zombie releases. And then there was Rob's foray as a film director of - prepare yourself for this shocker – horror films. I was busy watching too many whiney indie films to go see either House of 1,000 Corpses or The Devil’ Rejects.

But just thinking about it has gotten me wanting to stroll down memory lane. Do you remember how hot White Zombie’s bass player was? Here’s a fun drinking game: get a White Zombie album, play it and take a shot every time Rob says “Yeah” or “Baby.” Take a double shot if he says “Yeah Baby.” Rob Zombie’s brother Spider started Powerman 3000. They sucked.

Anyway, Educated Horses was much better then I would have expected. It is really organic, very straightforward and full of suprises. The song “Death of it All” is mostly acoustic(?!?!). And missing from the whole of the album is that signature and constant hum of Zombie’s electro thrash and those sound clips from old horror films.

Beyond that, not much has changed. Rob does his thing, YEAH! And the nucleus of his original sound, YEAH!, is still intact.

And with this rock, if you do die, you’ll probably just wake back up with an insatiable hankering for brains. Sweet, sweet brains.

Cool Zombie Web Site: Here

Order: Online Here

Stuff to Sample: From White Zombie’s Nightcrawlers the KMFDM remix of “Black Sunshine” and from Rob Zombie’s new album Educated Horses “Ride”

Here’s a fun game. Find a new indie rock band, gather your friends, put the new indie band’s album on the gramaphone, turn it up to 11 and then try to shout the influences of said indie band over the din at your friends. First one to hoarse wins.

So let’s try it. Download the first song below. It’s by a band called Tapes ‘n Tapes from their new album The Loon.

Ready? Go! PIXIES! Uuhhh..uhh..... TALKING HEADS! Uhhh…hmmm… VIOLENT FEMMES?! Uhmm....... uhhhhh..... PAVEMENT!

Ok, that’s enough. I SAID, THAT’S . . . enough. Fun game, huh?

Well, that would be Tapes ‘n Tapes in a nutshell if you think you can fit a band into such a tight space – literally or figuratively. They are this month’s hippest Internets buzz band. Which is kind of strange when you learn that they are from Minnesota. But I guess with a state population of 5 million, at least three people have to be able to write some verycatchy, fairly danceable, albeit slightly off kilter rock and roll that could set the Internets on fire.

Website: Here

Buy: Online Here

Stuff to Sample: From Tapes ‘n Tapes' new album The Loon “Cowbell” “Insistor” and “Omaha”

Note: Earlier in the post I said Tapes n' Tapes was made up of three guys. Well, if you read that and then looked at the photo and wondered where I learned to count, I must congratulate you for paying attention. You are very astute. T n' T started as three guys and a drum machine (a portable CD player) but things just didn't work out with the drum machine so they got a real live drum machine.

There was a bit of an eLarceny Family gathering last weekend in Chi-Town, more specifically in one of the hip, north side boroughs that C$ calls home. We blew through, enjoyed the St. Patrick’s Day festivities, rode the EL, saw some of the sites and marveled at the large number of hipsters in Bucktown and their complaints about the newly installed neighborhood Urban Outfitters. A good time was had and now I’m back in Suburbia - counting the minutes until the weekend like I do every Monday. Only 8,000 or so to go.

I wish I’d had a bit more time to explore the city and some of its thriving music scenes. The Second City can rock with the best and has a category of house music named after it. But Chi-Town has also been spitting out great MCs for some time now. Most recently there was Twista and you should all know Kanye West but let me introduce you to Chicago’s latest protégé – Lupe Fiasco.

You may know Lupe from the Internets hype that seems to follow him around or the couple of bars he spits in Kanye's "Touch the Sky" off of Late Registration. Lupe has bounced from several labels, never able to get an album out, but now it seems the time has come. With a little help from his mentor Jayz, a lengthy list of guests and his love of comic books, sneakers and skateboarding, this will not be the typical rap album. And while he isn't Q-Tip or Common, Lupe has a lyricism that surpasses almost everyone in the game today tempered with a wealth of knowledge, from pop culture to literature, and the street cred to make it work in any situation.

Lupe's debut album Food & Liquor is set for release on June 27 and if his mixtapes are any indication, the album could rank among hip-hop's best, giving Chi-Town another reason to shine.

Website: Here

Stuff to Sample: From Lupe Fiasco’s mixtape Revenge Begins “Lupe the Killa” and “Mean and Vicious”

After my bout with debilitating paranoia earlier in the week, I’ve decided that those two Ryan Adams fans got what they deserved. If you have poor taste in music, you should be sent to jail.

As for the rest of you, I’m kind of disappointed with all this talk about taking a break or laying low. Where’s the fighting spirit? Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.

And while we’re on the subject of talking, I need to inform you about the Gossip. The Gossip are a dirty blues and garage rock trio out of Olympia, Washington via Arkansas. I’m not going to go into it. Back story is so boring, plus it makes me look like a total know-it-all music snob. And I’m not. I don’t know it all – yet.

The Gossip is just guitar and drums (plus a designated singer) ala the White Stripes but where the Stripes embrace their garage rock and blues heritage, the Gossip claim to be more punk then anything else. I don’t really get it.

I had first heard about the Gossip on KEXP’s podcast and I still think the Gossip’s live performance makes their album, Standing in the Way of Control, sound kind of weak. Maybe is just the live, raw energy that I liked. Either way, check it out.

Websites: The Gossip, KEXP, KEXP iTunes Podcast Link

Buy: Online Here

Stuff to Sample: From the Gossip’s Standing in the Way of Control “Standing in the Way of Control”

Bonus: The KEXP podcast has some great interviews and performances from Ted Leo, the Magic Numbers, the Go Team, Tom Vek, Mike Doughty and more. And it’s free.

Up until now I had done a pretty good job of ignoring the political and cultural tailspin brought on by the powers that be. Yeah, I’m losing civil liberties left and right, sure . . . I’m not really free . . . yes, the President is a monkey bent on forcing a theocracy onto the unbelievers. That’s all fine. Just fine.

I own land in Suburbia, which means I’m pretty far from free and my civil liberties are already crippled. I’ve accepted that. And ignoring Bible thumping nuts just comes with the territory. But the constricting grip of the government has become a bit more noticeable in my little corner of the Internets. Last week, the FBI indicted two Ryan Adams fans who posted songs from Adams’ Jacksonville City Nights on the internet before it was released. The charges stem from the Family Entertainment And Copyright Act of 2005 which prohibits videotaping movies in a move theater and more specifically, making available material intended for commercial release on a computer network before it’s release date (Check out section 103).

These two fans now face a possible sentence of 11 years in prison. 11 years. Which, I guess, is appropriate for liking Ryan Adams in the first place.

All jokes aside, I’m not going to be indignant about this, or rant and rave - that would be silly and a waste of time. But this bothers me very deeply (as shallow as that is). It also sets a very dangerous precedent for MP3 blogs that had been, up until this point, a legal grey area and free from the RIAA's witch hunt.

I’m not sure how to proceed. So I’m turning to you, faithful readers. What should be done? How will this play out?

As soon as this blog blows up - and it will - I'm going to cash in, make tons of cash, lose creative control, have a breakdown and relocate to South Africa to reconnect with myself. When I've collected my thoughts I will come back and start blogging in the trenches again. Just me and my keyboard. Keepin' it real.

But before I run off to another continent I'm going use some of my mad loot to throw a gigantic block party. I'll get all the greatest indie rock bands (both living and dead - time to reanimate!) and throw the biggest block party New York has ever seen!  And I'll film it and make people pay $8.50 to watch it in the movie theaters.

Oh wait, somebody already did that? It was Dave Chappelle? Damn it! He's always two steps ahead of me.

I wasn't all that interested in seeing Dave Chappelle's Block Party. While I'm a big fan of Dave Chappelle, I'm also a big fan of seeing him for free on my TV. But then it came to my attention that Michel Gondry had directed and Gondry plus Chappelle has to equal gold, right? Solid gold.

Oh yeah, music. Let's just say Chappelle has great taste in music. Time to name drop. Dead Prez, Black Star, Jill Scott, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, The Roots and Erykah Badu. The Roots, Scott, Badu track "You Got Me" is a fantastic 9-minute-plus psychedelic freak-out beyond anything that I could have ever imagined being on a "hip hop" record. Gold. Solid Gold.

Order: Online Here

It has been a slow around eLarceny. No posts and only one comment over at C101. What’s up? Everybody hung over? I would have at least expected some fiery retribution from Dr. Bone after the Academy picked Crash for Best Screen Play and Best Picture (aren’t those the same thing? What’s the deal?).

But slow or not, life goes on. Unless you are one of my friends who’s life I happened to ruin over the weekend. It wasn’t all that intentional, but our new found infatuation with Bill Cosby will result in failed hook ups, misunderstandings ending in bodily harm and side-long stares from the total strangers.

All I wanted to do was share the wonders of the Internets with a couple of good pals. What started out as harmless imitation and fun has now become a nervous tick.

Want to know why? Watch the House of Cosbys episodes One and Two (Three and Four are sadly disappointing) and then . . . try not . . . to talk . . like the Cos, you see. Head over to Waxy.org to view the videos and read about Bill Cosby's ridiculous campaign to keep the rest of the world from laughing at him, not with him.

Now that is entertainment.

TV on the Radio will return soon with an album tentatively titled Return to Cookie Mountain. C is for cookie and that’s good enough for me.

Who are TV on the Radio, you may ask? For shame, you know who they are. They are the Indiest of Indie bands, the darlings of New York’s art-house rock scene - all driving beats, shouted lyrics and half-hummed melodies.

Their last album, Desparate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, met with some critical acclaim but very little mainstream success. And why not? It wasn’t what many would call "accessible." The lyrics probably meant something and the amount of engaging hooks were negligible, which won’t sell you a bunch of records ‘round here. Cuz, if it ain’t stupid and catchy, ‘Merica ain’t having it. That, however, won't discourage record execs from believing that there is intelligence out in the Heartland, since Interscope just signed TV on the Radio to their first major label contract.

But what does fame and fortune matter when you can have the whole of Hipster Nation suckling at the font of your creative consciousness? Yes, what does it matter?

Attention please. After a much anticipated wait that caused emotions to waver between fever-pitch excitement, apathy, contentment, restless doubt and back to excitement once again, eLarceny is proud to formally announce the arrival of The Bone Machine.

Dr. Bone will pontificate, or so we’ve heard, on matters in regard to TV, literature and music. But his true speciality lies within the realm of cinema and it is here where he will lay down the true knowledge on the films we should all see or avoid or wonder why is it Hollywood likes to give stupid people a lot of money for not coming up with anything close to original. Seriously, they are remaking The Shaggy Dog. WTF?!

To the rest of the eLarceny Family, please welcome our newest member the only way you know how, with crude witticisms, poorly thought out “Your Momma” jokes and of course, unprovoked degradation.

Welcome to the family Bone. Lights. Camera. Action.