In Between Days Covers

The Under Cover series featured on The AV Club has a new installment today. Featured are indie rock vets Superchunk, covering one of my favorite Cure songs, "In Between Days", from their landmark release, The Head On The Door (1985). The performance got me so pepped up that I figured I would include a couple other rad covers of the tune. One is by The Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer on her magical ukulele. The other is by Ben Folds, giving it is his usual piano/bass/drums treatment. All are great and offer something different.

Superchunk covers The Cure

Acquaintances On A Train

I ran into an old classmate of mine from high school on the train today. I felt bad, because he seemed to have more of a recollection me then I had of him, as when I mentioned that I work at a record store, he said, "that makes sense", meanwhile I couldn't even remember his name. It was nice though sitting and talking with him for ten minutes as I feel like I regained a friend I never actually had in the first place. It was also interesting because when we were recalling the last time we had seen each other, at a wake for a mutual friend, he mentioned that it was on this occasion that I got him into The Avalanches.

Odd subject matter for a service I know; I personally couldn't remember talking about the Australian samplers at all, but apparently I must have done my usual gush routine I do whenever anyone mentions Since I Left You. He said he is now a huge fan of that record because of whatever I had told him about it. It's not something to completely fall all over yourself over, but it's pleasant to know you helped spread good music to someone who otherwise would not have looked for it. Maybe I should have told him about this blog.

Modest Mouse at Williamsburg Waterfront

On Friday, I saw indie rock gods Modest Mouse...for about twenty minutes. I arrived at the newly opened WIlliamsburg Waterfront a little late, catching the tail end of opener Morning Transportation. Although it was grey and muggy all day, by the time the show started it was sunny and beautiful, and with a view off the New York skyline coasting the water, it seemed like we were in for a magical evening.

WRONG! As Isaac Brock and Co. took the stage, a wild breeze came with them as the sky resumed its earlier demeanor. At first the change was nice given the intense heat, but as opening number, "Satelite Skin" skittered over its false start (Brock's amp kicked out after a few strums), it became apparent that this might not be the only interruption this show would see. After a rousing rendition of "Bury Me With It", Brock commented on the incoming dark clouds, expressing hope that this would not affect the show. Right as the band were getting warmed up, playing a deep cut from Everywhere And His Nasty Parlor Tricks, "Here It Comes", the band was called off the stage for what was supposed to be twenty minutes. As it turned out, the show ended up being cancelled due to the inclement weather, despite it being a rain or shine ticket.

This is actually the second time I've missed on seeing them play due to rain. In 2008, when they were opening for R.E.M., their show at Jones Beach was cut short due to serious downpour. This was double dissapointing considering this was during the period when Johnny Marr was playing with them (although he's technically still considered a member of the group, he hasn't been touring with them recently due to his time being taken up playing with the far undeserving indie rock outfit, The Cribs). 

While the show was at first believed to be cancelled completely with no reschedule, according to Brooklyn Vegan, the show will go on September 14th at the same venue. Modest Mouse are known for their short tours and it seemed unlikely that they would come back to New York to redo the show, so it is quite a treat to hear they will be playing here again. Maybe I can finally see what their encore is like.

Summertime Records: The Boy With The Arab Strap

When it comes to late night summer records, The Boy With The Arab Strap fits the bill surprisingly well. While both Tigermilk and If You're Feeling Sinister seem to revel in the indoor comfort of Winter, with its soft textures and warm introverted sound, Arab Strap extends outward into the night sky. The orchestrations on "Dirty Dream Number Two" give off the excitement and energy of a fireworks show, while the title track has the fun and loose nature of a picnic with it's shuffled beat and handclaps. What really evokes the nightime nature of the songs though is in its serenity like on the Isobel Campbell sung "Is It Wicked Not To Care", a song that's tremolo guitar picking captures the twinkle of starlight reflecting on rippling water. Both songs sung by Stevie Jackson ("Chickfactor", "Seymour Stein") have a slow, drifting quality to them, while "A Summer Wasting" and "The Roller Coaster" gently review some of the guilty pleasures of the lazy, directionless, summetime lovers. While future releases would progressively drop the fokier influences of their first two albums, Arab Strap still maintains them while expanding into more electric territories and some experimentalism. If You're Feeling Sinister remains their finest work, but The Boy With The Arab Strap is the best record for sitting on the dunes at night with a bottle of wine. 

Robyn - "Dancing On My Own" Live on Letterman

The Late Show seems to host all my favorite musical guests. Performing my favorite song released this summer, here is Swedish pop singer Robyn with "Dancing On My Own".

Kitsuné

Sorry for the infrequency in posts. I've been working on an interview with the co-founder of Kitsuné, a French clothing/music label. They have a new compilation entitled Kitsuné x Ponystep, which is mixed by DJ Jerry Bouthier. It's a hot club mix with plenty of ear tantalizing artists. Here is a clip showing the making of the album art. When the interview gets printed I will post it here along with my other interview features with Kele Okereke and Surgeon.

M.I.A. - "Born Free" Live On Letterman

I am still out of breath from this one. Here is a performance that just took place on The Late Show with David Letterman, of M.I.A. performing the noisefest "Born Free" from her latest record /\/\/\Y/\, released today. Aside from the visual assault of Maya herself, there is a lot to enjoy in this clip. The stage is draped in darkness while a small gang of Maya clones mimic the singer's movements and vocals (each one is given their own microphone). A manic drummer with a glowing neon hat can be seen pounding away in the background but most exiting of all is the presence of Suicide keyboardist Martin Rev, producing the most freaked out discordance I have ever seen on national television (the song "Born Free" utilizes a sample from Suicide's "Ghost Rider"). In the aftermath, a clearly dazed audience politely applauds while Letterman stumbles on the stage dumbfounded. Between his laughter he jokes, "Happy Halloween", to which the audience lets out a huge howl. It needs to be seen to be believed. 

BONUS: You can hear someone yell, "What the fuck was that?!" at 4:16.

Car Crash

I've always been told that the song you're listening to when something traumatic happens will be forever burned in your brain along with the incident. I recall a friend of mine in high school saying he could never listen to "Paint It, Black" without getting an uneasy feeling as it was what he was playing when he wrecked his car. The sudden, unexpected impact would play in his head and strike at random moments during the dark jangles of Brian Jones's sitar.

It seems fitting, and almost convenient that I was listening to Suicide's first record when my car was struck by a sleeping driver's Toyota Saturday night. I was a few minutes into the disturbing monolith, "Frankie Teardrop", when the loud thud pushed me forward and cut through the humming keyboard dirge. I guess I was lucky in retrospect. Firstly, that I wasn't seriously hurt in the accident, but secondly that I was listening to a song that seems designed for trauma. Nothing could be worse than having a great pop song like say, "Just Like Heaven", or "Tenderness", forever scorched by the screeching tires. Because it was "Frankie Teardrop", the idea is already there to give the listener nightmares. Having the actual memory of the unpleasant sensation of being hit into by a vehicle seems almost like a bonus when you think about what the band was trying to evoke with it's unsettling drone and shaky vocals. The only thing that could have made it better is if it was during one of Alan Vega's horrifying screams.

Being in a car accident is terrible, and something I would not recommend for anyone. However, if it has to happen, Suicide would be a good soundtrack for it.

Best Coast - "Boyfriend"

I don't like to boss around my readers, so let me take this opportunity to ask politely that you listen to the track, "Boyfriend", by Best Coast. The song will be featured on her (Bethany Casentino's) first full length album, Crazy For You out July 27th. Continuing this year's trend of the lo-fi girls gone garage (Dum Dum Girls; Coasting), the song has a sweet summer sun burn to it mixed with a resigned sigh over unrequited love. It's a tact that's hardly new, but can still present itself in highly enjoyable ways - press play and see.

She & Him show

Last night I saw She & Him at Terminal 5 in NYC. I arrived a little bit late, missing the majority of comedian Eugene Mirman's standup act. Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward graced the stage at 9 pm sharp with their backing band already in place. Aside from Ward's prominent lead guitar, they were also backed by a second guiatrist (who stayed mostly acoustic), a bassist, drummer, and two young ladies adding keyboard, percussion and harmonizing vocals. Deschanel herself banged a tambourine on many of the songs, but also played a rather disobedient organ throughout the show. The keyboard had a few sounds on it, one of which was a Wurlitzer that apparently had gone completely out of tune in transit. Because of this, she had to use the organ function, which had a deep jazz sound, which led to a few false starts to songs that featured her on keys, as she struggled to find the right octave to play. She fared quite well though, playing gracefully along with the band on poppy girl group bouncers like "Don't Look Back", "Over It And Over It Again", and the excellent single "In The Sun", all from their latest record Volume Two. Volume One was well represented as well. The majority of that record was played over the course of the night (they opened with four songs from their first album - "Change Is Hard", "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today", "I Was Made For You", and "Black Hole" before going into thei latest single, the dreamy "Thieves").

While the stripped down middle section that featured just Ward on acoustic guitar accompanying Deschanel's vocal was a highlight, the most exciting parts of the show were when Ward took the mic himself - first on the band's powerful remake of the NRBQ classic, "Riding In My Car" where he shares a verse both on the record and in live performance, then again later on two songs from Ward's solo catologue. M.Ward's latest record, Hold Time, features a blissful cover of Buddy Holly's "Rave On", reorganizing it into a midtempo sway, to which the She & Him band nailed. Both that song and the Ward original, "One Magic Trick", were further enhanced by Zooey's June Carter belting, backing up Ward's rough growl.

Probably the biggest delight of the night was delivered in their closing number, a chilled out cover of the Screaming Jay Hawkins standby, "I Put A Spell On You". The lights dimmed as Ward played an icy guitar thump over Deschanel's mile long wails. While she was showboating a little, you couldn't help but crack a smile as she stomped the ground like a pouting child, drawing out each note in a long, pronounced yell. At the song's conclusion, Ward then looped a twangy guitar loop that sounded straight out of Kill Bill, which was then repeated infinitely as the audience exited.

On a blistering hot day as July 6, 2010 was, it was nice to hear a set of fun, laid back, good old fashioned pop tunes. Never delving too far into their country tendencies, She & Him, along with their backing band, kept it light and fun, with a great sound and tight inner dynamics. One criticism could be said about some of their tempos, which while in many cases were faster than the record, on a couple of occasions they started running a little too fast which sounded borderline frantic. Still, the band's energy kept the crowd's way up and gave us all a swell show.

James - Laid

Laid is an odd album. Not in that it exercises any breakthrough methods of production. The album was the first of several collaborations James made with producer Brian Eno, and the end result isn't much different from the work he had previously done with U2. Each track has his usual glowing style - a light use of reverb on just about every instrument, atmospheric backgrounds, nontraditional song structures, etc . He was definitely the ideal producer for the group, as their sound seemed to pick up where U2 ran away from in the early 90's. What makes the album odd though is how misleading its title track is. Everyone knows "Laid". A short and sweet anthem about gettin's some, the track tore up the pop charts in the latter part of 1993 (it peaked at #61 on the US Billboard 100, but reached #24 in the UK, as well as #3 on the Modern Rock charts). Given the blissful state of the track, one would think it would be the leading track (or at least rack two or three) on an album full of uplifting pop ditties. Not exactly.

Laid starts with the surprisingly somber "Out To Get You". A soul searching song about loneliness, it gets the album off somewhat awkwardly. "Sometimes (Lester Piggott)" is more of what one would expect given the title track. An uptempo propulsive track, "Sometimes" rides rather consistently on the refrain, "sometimes when I look in your eyes, I can see your soul". "Say Something" has a similar sentiment and feel to both "Sometimes", but the rest of the album is very restrained and has a somewhat wounded feel. "Laid" finally plops down at a bewildering track 11 on the album. By this point, the jolliness of the song can barely be appreciated considering the amount of seriousness the listener has had to deal with listening to songs like "P.S.", "Knuckle Too Far", and "Five-O". It's helped somewhat by its predecessor, "Low", which is jaunty enough to get the listener ready for some fourth quarter poppers, but the album then immediately returns back to its reflective state with the elegant ballad, "Lullabye" before ending with the rather ambiguously sneaky "Skindiving".

One thing that should be made clear here though is that Laid is a good album. It may not live up to what many college radio fans would expect it to be, but it is still quite worthy of being in Eno's production resume. The problem with the album, and the reason why most people have forgotten it, is that it doesn't quite go far enough. The album is clearly trying to be a statement of great emotion, but the end result isn't really anything that U2 hadn't already done with The Joshua Tree. Had the album been made in 1986, it would have been a revelation. Despite the fact that nearly all the songs are very good ("One Of The Three" doesn't quite cut it; apparently Eno didn't like himself and wasn't present during its recording), it just doesn't break down enough barriers to be memorable beyond it's catchy as hell single.

This Is Lame

Jeff Tweedy has made some of my all time favorite songs/albums of all time. However, since the monolithic and quite excellent A Ghost Is Born, Tweedy and whoever he decides to call Wilco have become increasingly disappointing with their output. One of the main problems I have with their material and demeanor is that they really began to show their age. Tweedy is someone who has always had a good sense of humor, but he desperately tries to make like he's cool despite the fact he's kind of a jerk. Also, with every year that passes, he just seems like a dorky uncle, living up to the dad-rock stigma his band has been getting for quite some time. In this clip, Tweedy is asked by an audience member to either play, "Ashes Of American Flags", or Beyoncé's "Single Ladies". It at first seems like he's going to be perform a nice folked out version of the pop banger. He quickly abandons this though, and then reads the lyrics to the audience blankly. He procedes to mock the song in his delivery, going through each line in a straightforward manner, as if to showcase the stupidity of the song (although I agree that the "to infinite and beyond lyric was a bad choice), when in actuality, Tweedy is the one who looks stupid...oh and old. This runthrough of the song only shows how he doesn't understand pop music at all, and is just like your average middle aged loser, unwilling to accept music that's youthful and fun. The fact that "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" is better than any song Tweedy has written since 2004 is not even the point, but it's a valid sidenote.
 

Grinderman 2

Grinderman is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds members' twisted garage side project (as if the group wasn't twisted enough in their own right). I am more than a little freaked out by the trailer for their upcoming sophomore release. Simply titled Grinderman 2, the album will feature the same cast of characters from the Bad Seeds (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos). Here is the creepy as hell trailer, as well as a refresher of how awesome they are, from their self titled debut.