Break Like The Wind

This Is Spinal Tap could quite possibly be the greatest satire of all time (at least in terms of film; I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you that it's better than A Modest Proposal or something). The movie's companion soundtrack featured all of the cuts heard by the fictional group Spinal Tap, recorded in the studio, and presented the way fans in the fictional realm of the movie would have heard them. An added bit of intrigue lay in that the songs were performed by the actors (and written by the film's stars and director - Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Rob Reiner). The result was surprisingly great. While intentional cheesey (and quite funny I might add), the band actually showed real chops and songwriting talent. From back to front, Spinal Tap was a solid album.

Eight years after the movie, the trio of comedians decided to reunite again as David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls, and cut a new record with the same goal of producing a funny, yet aesthetically enjoyable rock album. Break Like The Wind (1992) did not fare quite as well as its predecessor. For one, a part of what made the songs on the first album so enjoyable was the visual connection one could make listening to them. Yes, the songs were good on their own, but the thought of Derek Smalls being trapped inside the prop pod while the band rocked out to the "Rock & Roll Creation", was part of the fun. With the acception of the videos for "Bitch School", and "The Majesty Of Rock", the album has no visual aid, which hurts it considerably. Another big problem is the abundance of guest spots. Among the cameos are Dweezil Zappa, Jeff Beck, Slash, Joe Satriani, and Cher. The authenticity of these players make the album seem like it's trying to compete with what it's lampooning. Ultimately, the biggest problem is that most of the songs just don't hold up to the undeniable hooks of the 1st album. The album's 60's throwback, "Rainy Day Sun", (the Break Like The Wind equivalent to "Cups And Cakes") is a pretty decent piece of baroque pop. The aforementioned "Bitch School" and "The Majesty Of Rock", both manage to balance catchiness with funny lyrics, much like the majority of the original soundtrack. Other than that though, the album is pretty cold. "Diva Fever" and "Cash On Delivery" are over anxious, "Stinkin' Up The Great Outdoors" is funny enough but sort of misses the plot musically, and the rest of the songs just plod along. While not unworthy of a listen, in most cases, it might be more enjoyable to just watch the special features on your This Is Spinal Tap DVD rather than listening to Break Like The Wind.

Swell Maps

When one reahes a point where they have already familiarized themselves with all the key artists of a certain era, they either have to simply move on, or dig deeper. If you feel you have fully saturated the experimental side of the post punk genre, might I suggest Swell Maps. Brash and abrasive, Swell Maps were a daring, short lived band from Birmingham, England. Their debut single was released in 1977, and was championed by indie music figureheads such as John Peel. The band would go on to release two albums, A Trip To Marineville (1979), and Jane From Occupied Europe (1980). Heavily influential on bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth, Swell Maps have become one of the most overlooked landmark bands of the post punk movement. Definitely worth a listen.

Nirvana Unplugged

It's weird listening to Nirvana's Unplugged In New York album today, in that it's just become so legendary. I remember being a little kid and watching it premiere on MTV a couple weeks before Christmas back in 1993. Back then I was lukewarm on the Unplugged show. I definitely enjoyed it, but I still needed some time to mature and enjoy music outside of the strictly heavy alternative rock circle (things needed to be simpler then...I mean I was six). Still, Nirvana was my favorite band, and every time the performance reran (which was an insane amount of times), I always watched it.

Getting back to my original statement though...about it being weird. It's interesting because as the years have progressed, I've now seen plenty of live footage of the band in full electric mode, and they were a bit of a mess. Watching the recent official release of their Reading Festival performance, you can see even at their peak, Cobain struggles to remember the words, sing in key, and knock through the solos. Still, this all added to the charm of the show, and of to the absurdity of them becoming so huge so fast. They have a sound and attitude that belonged in small clubs, so to watch them perform in such large venues only highlighted the flaws more, because it was uncommon for a band like that to be playing in front of such a large audience. However, on Unplugged, they're in a small studio, and are the most polished they had ever sounded. It opened up a new door for them really. The possibilities of what could have come next were mind boggling and remains, for me at least, as one of the biggest teases in rock history.

She & Him - "In The Sun"

The new She & Him album, Volume Two, was released today. I have only listened to it once so far so I can't give you guys a detailed review yet, but I will say it is quite good. Their video for "In The Sun" is the best released by anyone this year so far. Watching it gives me the same jitters I used to get watching MTV as a kid - seeing and hearing a great song by a new artist. See for yourself.

Top 100 Songs of the 00's - bonus track

When I composed the list of the best 100 songs of the 00's, I knew I would overlook some things. This is a song that I definitely would have placed somewhere in the top 40 had I remembered. Since I forgot then, here it is now - The Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy".

RIP Alex Chilton (continued)

I was listening to the show "Anything Anything" on WRXP (101.9 in New York), and heard a great cover of the seminal Big Star track, "Thirteen", by Wilco. When the radio DJ announced it, I thought for sure it would be a noisy audience bootleg recording of the song. Instead, I heard a beautiful, studio treated recording of the song, performed by the (sort of) original Wilco lineup, with Max Johnston and Jay Bennett. Recorded during the Being There sessions, the track can be found on the "Outtasite (Outtamind)" single.

RIP Alex Chilton

Power pop legend Alex Chilton died of what is speculated as a heart attack at the age of 59 yesterday. Getting his start in the 60's group, The Box Tops, Chilton would go on to form the band Big Star - a band who although not wildly popular at the time, would go on to influence countless musicians that would later originate the alternative rock sound. Their albums #1 Record (1972), Radio City (1974), and Third/Sister Lovers (1978 - delayed release) have become power pop touchstones. After the dissolution of Big Star, Chilton produced Gravest Hits and Songs The Lord Taught Us by psychobilly outfit, The Cramps, before drifting into obscurity. After a detour into minimalist, post modern jazz, Chilton went on to reform Big Star (albeit a renewed lineup) in the 90's for several tours and one new album, In Space (2005). This past fall, the band released a box set titled Keep An Eye In The Sky, featuring 98 tracks, including 52 unreleased cuts. In honor of Chilton, I've included a few of my favorite Big Star tracks here, as well as The Replacements tribute to the songwriter.

Happy Birthday Billy Corgan

Say what you will of the man, he has contributed a hell of a lot of indispensable music to our society (at least last decade). Rather than being the billionth blog to post the video for "Today", or "1979", I figured I would share an under appreciated Pumpkins gem with you all in an effort to display the effortless quality of the man's songwriting (this song is one of the b-sides on the "Zero" single). One of my favorite songs of all time - "Pennies"

happy st. patrick's day!

Bonus Tracks

When I buy an album that has bonus tracks on it, I usually don't listen to them right away. For one, if they're alternate versions or demos of songs on a reissue, most of the time I'm hearing the album for the first time anyway, so I don't need to hear it again. Even if they're songs that don't repeat, like b-sides or outtakes, (this can sometimes be the case for certain "special editions" of new albums) I'll still save them for later, because I don't want my first listen to be diluted by presumably lesser material.
Often when I finally get around to listening to these bonus cuts, it's rare that I will find myself overwhelmed with the quality of the songs (otherwise they would have made the final cut of the album).

There are of course exceptions, most particularly the special edition of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' synth rocker, It's Blitz! (2009). While the album is a great example of the trio's musical evolution, the greatest progression is on the acoustic takes of four songs featured as bonus tracks. The songs "Soft Shock", "Skeletons", "Hysteric", and "Little Shadow", all get the stripped down treatment, complete with string quartet. With all due respect to the album versions of "Soft Shock" and "Hysteric", which are great, all four of these renditions outdo their counterparts by a substantial margin. Featured here is the somewhat flat album version of "Little Shadow", and the surprisingly punchier, more optimistic, acoustic version.

Magnetic Fields Show

Last night I finally saw The Magnetic Fields live at Town Hall. The opener was an Australian folkie whose name I can't remember, (if I find out later I'll correct the omission). The band took the stage at 9 and played a wonderfully sedate show. For those that don't know, The Magnetic Fields play very quiet shows to seated audiences. It's an interesting and intimate way to see a band you love, as it feels almost as if you're watching them at a small school auditorium (especially for me, because I had a floor seat). The band sat from left to right, as they usually do. Shirley Simms sat on the far left with an autoharp in her lap. To her right, Claudia Gonson on keyboard and egg shaker, John Woo on acoustic guitar, Sam Davol on cello, and the man himself, Stephin Merritt on the far right, who despite being versatile at many instruments on his records, restricted himself to the ukulele for the whole night.

The first song they played was "Kiss Me Like You Mean It" from their magnum opus, 69 Love Songs. From there, the set went all over their catalog and beyond, delving into songs from Merritt's other outlets such as The 6ths ("You You You You You You"; "In The Hall Of Mirrors"), The Gothic Archies ("Shipwrecked"), a song from his soundtrack for the musical Coraline, and a track from his "solo" album, Showtunes ("The Little Hebrew Girl"). Despite having a set list that didn't quite build momentum the way rock performers would usually situate their shows, the performance was excellent, showcasing gorgeous renditions of songs that quite often sounded vastly different than their studio counterparts. A highlight of the night was when they played fan favorite, "The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side", apparently a request from someone the night before. Sung by Dudley Klute on 69 Love Songs, Merritt sang the song himself, including the long withstanding high note held at the end. Unfortunately, when Merritt hit this note, the audience was so pleased that they began to applaud (myself included). Merritt suffers from Hyperacusis which causes sound in his left ear to feedback when sound reaches a certain height (one of the reasons for the stripped down stage show). Usually after each song, Merritt will cover his left ear to prevent uncomfortable noise caused by applause. When the audience began clapping during this note, Merritt shook his head in a way indicating for us to stop. He then quickly leaned his head on his shoulder to block the sound, which did nothing to alter his performance - a true showman, even if he does say he hates playing live. Other highlights were "The Nun's Litany", "The Flowers She Sent And The Flowers She Said She Sent", "Fear Of Trains", "I'm Sorry I Love You" and "100,000 Fireflies".

Oh yeah and Paul Rudd was there. We had a brief conversation about a Scrabble tournament he played in the other day. Really nice guy.

The Beginning Of Noise Rock

I just realized the other day while listening to a Time-Life compilation featuring the top hits of 1964, that I get a similar sensation listening to The Shangri-La's "The Leader Of The Pack", that I do listening to any given Sonic Youth noise freak out. As I was checking CD's in the Rock section of the record store, I found myself switching into auto-pilot where I sort of don't really notice what I'm doing, or listening to, fully. I found myself grooving to the dissonance of the tires screeching, a sound similar to that of Lee Rinaldo's tortured guitar work, when I suddenly remembered I was listening to 60's pop music - something I love, but a completely different part of my brain (or so I thought) than the part that enjoys noise rock. It wasn't that profound, as the idea of mixing girl group pop with guitar noise has been common place since Psychocandy (1985), but it's an interesting thought to think that perhaps the realm of noise pop begins with this girl group classic. Try listening to the coda of "Leader Of The Pack" followed by the middle section of "Silver Rocket" as the hook begins to fight its way back through the noise beginning at 2:23 to see what I mean. For a more direct example of girl group meeting feedback frenzy, see "Never Understand" by The Jesus And Mary Chain on the bottom.



The Jesus and Mary Chain - Never Understand

.:Çésar:.™® | MySpace Video

No Room For Music at the Oscars

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards was probably the most ass-backwards ceremony I've seen presented in terms of priorities. Several key elements that make the Oscars so exciting were played down considerably or jettisoned completely. The broadcast still ran long but that was because they cluttered up the show with pointless detours like the presentation of the best actor/actress awards, which featured about twenty minutes of ass kissing (as if these people needed to be told they're great - I mean they're already nominated!)

The reason why the Oscar ceremony is relevant to this blog, is because of the complete desertion of the performances from the best original song category. While all five nominees were not always something I was chomping at the bit to hear, it still gave the audience a fair chance to pick which song they believed to be the best. There were many years where I had my preconceptions as to what song should win based on the reputation of either the performer of the filmmaker, only to have my opinion change after I heard all five nominees perform. It was one of several irksome omissions in this year's ceremony that made it one of the dullest I have seen in years (despite having two great hosts in Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin). To commemorate the loss of the music segments, I have posted here a few of my favorite Oscar nominees for Best Song in a Motion Picture performed live at the Academy Awards (where I could find them.




I couldn't get the Oscars performance but this music video is great.

RIP Mark Linkous

I can't say I've listened to as much Sparklehorse as I had always intended. They were a band I knew I would get around to really delving into as I liked everything I had heard by them that was recommended to me. Now whenever I do, it will unfortunately carry the weight of the band's mastermind, Mark Linkous's death with it. A friend of mine had made a mix tape some time ago that had "Someday I Will Treat You Good" on it that I always enjoyed. An uplifting, optimistic song, the song was part of a compilation he had put together as a sort of pump up for a new beginning in his life. Perhaps Linkous shared this sentiment at one point, but the song is from their first record, and it would appear a lot has changed since then. The rest of his career I've admired from a far from what I would hear here and there. I wish I could say more on the subject but I'll just leave it at that. Here's the video.

Still waiting for that new Beastie Boys LP

Adam Yauch, as you may have heard had a cancerous lymph node removed from his parotid gland which delayed the release (originally slated for September 2009). Thankfully MCA is doing fine now - for whatever reason though, there is still no rescheduled release date posted for Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1. Apparently Pt. 2 has also been completed at this point which I think would be a great opportunity for a double album. Until then we'll have to twiddle our thumbs and replay Hello Nasty (or To The 5 Boroughs, if you can settle for less). Much to my surprise, a song from the album was released over the summer without me realizing. Featuring Nas, here's "Too Many Rappers".

Ugly Casanova

Ugly Casanova was a side project Isaac Brock used to front on and off in the late 90's into the early 00's. Whereas Eric Judy and Jeremiah Green tend to balance Brock's off the wall ideas in Modest Mouse, keeping them grounded in sharp alternative rock, Ugly Casanova was a place Brock could go buck wild. This was both good and bad. The band's only album, Sharpen Your Teeth, was a wacky backwoods cretin of an album. Fleshing out the band with collaborators like Holopaw's John Orth, Caifone's Paul Rutili, and The Black Heart Procession's Pall Jenkins, the album was an interesting mix of the pretty, and the pretty weird. While songs like "Cat Faces" (featuring a great dual vocal with Brock and Orth), and "Things I Don't Remember", soared with epic beauty, excessive experiments like "Diamonds On The Face Of Evil", and "Ice On The Sheets", were stuck in a holding pattern, using tribal repetition with no progression. From top to bottom though, Sharpen Your Teeth is a nice detour, and a closer look inside the minds of one of music's brightest and most interesting songwriters. Here is my favorite song off the record.

OutKast

At the turn of the century, it seemed OutKast would rule supreme over the 00's. Stankonia was riding high with killer tracks like "Ms. Jackson" and "B.O.B." and they would eventually score two number one singles with "Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move" three years later on their Grammy award winning double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Then what happened? They released an ill-fated film and a so-so accompanying album and more or less drifted apart. Of course it's tough to maintain a reign over the charts for a full decade, but unfortunately the title of "Kings of Half the 00's" doesn't quite flow off the tongue.

What's surprising though is that they had plenty of great music released before Stankonia although their later period seems to dominate the public's memory of the group. Personally, I found the top of their commercial success a bit too twee for me, particularly "Hey Ya!", a song that sounds like a dozen inside jokes that the world nervously giggled along with in hopes of not being exposed. When it comes to their debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994), there's no gimmick necessary. Check out first single, "Player's Ball", for a fresh and full sound with an arrogant confidence that would become the duo's trademark.


Outkast - Player's Ball
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The Zinnias

So I know Stephin Merritt seems to get a ridiculous amount of press on this site, but I don't know what to say, I just can't stop talking about the guy. For those that are interested in anything and everything involving The Magnetic Fields, I give you the precursor: The Zinnias. Back in the mid-80s, Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson formed a band while in high school. The result was an odd, noodley, noise pop group called The Zinnias. Warbled and unstable, each song is a quick and clumsy romp. Merritt's voice seems to be missing from these recordings (although, there is a low voice that comes in on "Screech" that sounds very much like the man himself). Instead a much higher pitched, while still relatively deadpan vocalist is in his place. His lyrics are far more abstract than the relationship based songs he would became famous for, and Gonson (who very well may be playing drums on these songs) is clearly audible vocal wise, the first glimmer of a lifelong collaboration. Probably the most enticing element here is the presence of two future Magnetic Fields tracks - "Kings" and "Farbege" (later remade as "Lovers From The Moon"), both of which would morph into dreamier versions of themselves on Distant Plastic Trees and The Wayward Bus respectively.

Here's the link from fellow blog, The Mythic Signifier. Thank you for finding this mate.