On Arcade Fire's latest album The Suburbs, the group seem to hit the nail completely on the head in terms of capturing the sounds of the working class neighborhood. This should be no surprise when observing their previous work where suburban and working class lifestyles make up the bulk of their lyrical content. Even the cover of the record perfectly surmises the look and feel of the atmosphere. When it seemed like the band's grasp of childhood nostalgia couldn't get more vivid, they do this....
This is an interactive video for their song "We Used To Wait". Combining footage and effects created by Chris Milk alongsideGoogle Earth footage activated by typing in your own childhood address, the result is a powerfully moving trip into your past, complete with a virtual postcard to your past self. Assuming you use Google Chrome, and that your neighborhood is well documented on Google Maps, the end result will be phenomenal. Here is the link again.
Sorry for the impromptu vacation I took from the blog...busy week.
Last Monday I interviewed the synth pop duo Chromeo for Big Shot Magazine. The three of us met on a very rain day, at the Atlas Cafe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While keyboardist Patrick Gemayel (aka P-Thug) seemed a bit annoyed at my tardiness (I was ten minutes late due to the awful, traffic inducing weather), as soon as singer/guitarist David Macklovitch (aka Dave 1) showed up, all was calm and relaxed, resulting in a very comfortable and animated interview. Dave did most of the talking, but P provided some very interesting insight on the instrument setup, as well as the songwriting process. We talked about their shows, the cons and pros of being a duo, their dislike of Ital Disco, and most importantly, their new album Business Casual, due out September 14. The feature I am currently writing on the interview is expected to be the cover story of Big Shot's next issue, due out sometime in October. Until then, here are a few highlights to whet your appetite.
ME: Can you tell me about the "Don't Turn The Lights On" video? First off, who directed it?
DAVE: Keith Scofield. We picked the director first which is kind of unusual because most people usually do the treatment first. But I knew I wanted to work with him from the jump. We went back and forth with ideas for a while, and he had the idea of making the video something of a literal interpretation of the song, which is the lights go on and off etc, and then we kinda added - when the lights come back on, things can shift around, and he added the idea of the eyes being cut out. We knew it would be a lot weirder.
ME: Dave, you once taught at Columbia. This might be an aobvious question you get a lot, but did you teach any of the Vampire Weekend guys?
DAVE: No, but I knew Ezra [Koenig] from the first year I actually enrolled at Columbia. It's an interesting story with him, He was at the first ever Chromeo show we did here in NY back in 2002 or 03. It was our 2nd show EVER. We barely had 5 songs. We opened for The Streets at Bowery Ballroom...He was at the show to go see The Streets, and he discovered us and came up to me at school the next week, that’s how far back it goes.
ME: If there was a movie that you feel your music would fit well into, what would it be?
Holy Shit! After years of making multimedia symphonic projects, tours, Christmas songs, guesting on other people's albums, and a lot of disheartening statements, Sufjan Stevens finally has a new...well, it's an EP, not an album, but it's something! (I've just read on Pitchfork that it's 60 minutes long. I don't care if it is under 10 tracks, that's an album).
All Delighted People has been released today, featuring eight new songs by everyone's favorite Christian. Stream and download it here via Stereogum.
Call them what you will - secret songs, bonus tracks, needless annoyances - hidden tracks have become a fabric of the CD age. Their origin is debatable based on what you constitute as a hidden track, however, no matter which way you look at it, we can blame The Beatles back in the vinyl era, setting the framework from over long final tracks on CDs that make them impossible to include on MP3 based playlists.
In both Beatles cases, the amount of silence featured was at least reasonable. Many consider the song "Her Majesty", to be the first hidden track. Buried at the end of Abbey Road, it plays 14 seconds after "The End" finishes. In addition to the long (for 1969 at least) break, the song is not listed on the back cover. Its presence was a mixing error that was ultimately left unfixed for the sake of experimentation. Thus, the secret song was born.
The only other earlier case was featured at the end of the fab four's psychedelic song cycle, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band where the listener can hear a high pitched whistle followed by a loop a inane chatter from the four Beatles at the very end of "A Day In The Life". On the initial pressing of the album, the loop was placed on the run out groove, locking it in an endless repeat (Sonic Youth used a similar technique with the noise at the end of EVOL's closer, "Expressway To Yr Skull"). This track is not considered a "secret song" by some because there is no song structure, but as several artists have proven since, a secret song doesn't have to be anything remotely resembling a tune (ex: the typing at the end of Pearl Jam's Binaural; the siren and foreign chatter at the end of Sonic Youth's Experimental Jet Set. Trash & No Star; the conclusion of most Beck albums from the 90's).
While hidden tracks are more times than not, a complete let down, there are a few that are worth the wait. Here are some of them:
Train In Vain" - The Clash
Follows immmediatley after "Revolution Rock" on London Calling (1979) but is unlisted on sleeve.
Secret song purely by accident, "Train In Vain" was a last minute addition to The Clash's third album - recorded after the record jackets had already been printed.
"Endless Nameless" - Nirvana
Starts at approximatley 13:50 on the last track on Nevermind (1991).
Noteworthy secret song among collectors, the song was intended for the initital pressing of the album but was accidentaly left off the master. This was corrected on the followup pressing. For reasons unkown, the song was left off all editions of the album after 1994.
"The Second Album" - Stone Temple Pilots
Featured at 4:55 of the last track on Purple (1994).
A joke track, the song is a hokey Johnny Mathis spoof thanking the listner for buying the record.
(could not be found on youtube).
"Diamond Bollocks" - Beck
Starts at 5:18 on the last track on Mutations (1998).
While all of Beck's previous hidden tracks seemed dead set on irking the listener with loud, incessant, and most of all, jarring noise, Mutations actually sends you off with a song - a fucking great one.
"Running The World" - Jarvis Cocker
found a whopping 30 minutes after "Quantum Theory" ends on Jarvis (2006)
Most likely due to the MP3 era, not to mention the novelty running thin, secret songs have been on the downslope in the 00's. Jarvis Cocker is keeping it alive though, ridiculously plopping his solo debut's best song at the uncoveted secret spot (not to mention with a gap that may be the longest I've ever been witness to, aside from possibly the one on Heathen Chemistry by Oasis).
Back in 2004, John Frusciante was quite the busy bee. He released seven titles in the span of twelve months, all featuring variations of his craft. While the Warner Bros. released Shadows Collide With People was more pop oriented, the other six were released through indie label Record Collection, all of which showcased a lo-fi production style.
Ataxia was a one off group consisting of Frusciante, frequent collaborator Josh Klinghoffer, and Fugazi's Joe Lally. The trio quickly formed, recording ten songs, played two gigs, and just as quickly disbanded. Their debut album, Automatic Writing, was the second installment in Frusciante's Record Collection series (the remaining songs were released in 2007 as AW II). The songs are all free form post-rock style jams, slowly burning into climaxes that then work their way back into a calm. Check out the trippy "The Sides" from the first record to get the idea.
Australia's Sally Seltmann seems to be Arts & Craft's best kept secret. Having released two EPs, and three albums (all but her most recent under the moniker New Buffalo), she has garnered much praise among the indie world but continues to keep a low profile in the music press. Her songs are dreamy and lilting with a tendency towards bouncy tin pan alley inspired melodies (evident on Feist's hit single, "1234", which Seltmann cowrote).
The song "Emotional Champ", from her second New Buffalo album Somewhere, Anywhere (2007),is a shimmering march that manages to pack all the uplifting power of a Sigur Rós song in just a fraction of the time. Her backing vocals drum along like a children's choir while her lead whisks the listener away to somewhere bright and lovely. The instrumentation is sparse yet plentiful in power. Those who felt jipped out of the drempop they were expecting from Feist's The Reminder, might want to dig deeper into Seltmann's catalogue for more gems like this one.
I am very pleased that The Suburbs by Arcade Fire has hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Because I work at a record store that gets in their new releases early, I picked it up last Monday. I'm sure all readers of this blog have heard it by now, so you don't need to hear from me how great it is. If you're still skeptical of it's length, grand concept, or of just Arcade Fire in general, here's a deeper cut from the record to get a better assessment.
Although my favorite song on the album is the single and title track, "The Suburbs", here is the lovely Régine Chassagne sung "Sprawl II (Mountains Over Mountains)", the penultimate track the finds the band exploring the whimsy side of childhood into adulthood. Musically, it's arguably the most synthy the band has gotten, but it still retains their anthemic qualities while eskewing their folkier side. Enjoy.
Today, the latest issue of Big Shot magazine has hit newsstands. This issue is a very special one, as it features two pieces written by ME! That's right. My first two published articles are now unleashed.
The first is a small interview feature with British Dubstep DJ, Surgeon (pg. 13). The second is an extensive interview I conducted with Kele Okereke from Bloc Party, on his debut solo album, The Boxer (pgs. 30-35). This feature is also the cover of the magazine. Narly stuff.
Here's a link to a blurb on the main article. Read them both in Big Shot.
Last night I saw The Dead Weather perform at Prospect Park Bandshell. Rather than droll on about how great the set was, I will bestow on you a clip of them tearing Bob Dylan's "New Pony" a new asshole at said show.
As evidenced by their cover of "Pink Moon", Sebadoh are Nick Drake fans. Aside from the obvious influence on Lou Barlow's songwriting style (a ballad like "Kath" comes directly from Drake's canon), there are other instances of the late songwriter creeping up in their work. Check out the similarities in the progressions in the prechoruses of "Parasite" by Nick Drake (from Pink Moon) and "Violet Execution" (from Sebadoh III). It's very indirect, but it's there.
On Arcade Fire's latest album The Suburbs, the group seem to hit the nail completely on the head in terms of capturing the sounds of the working class neighborhood. This should be no surprise when observing their previous work where suburban and working class lifestyles make up the bulk of their lyrical content. Even the cover of the record perfectly surmises the look and feel of the atmosphere. When it seemed like the band's grasp of childhood nostalgia couldn't get more vivid, they do this....
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