Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Gold Soundz

Seems like everything you read about The Sound casts them as poor saps who should've had a following at least as devoted as those of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen. They coulda been a contendah! Well, the fame game is a crapshoot. A lot of mediocrities get on marquees and a lot of brilliance goes unnoticed. And the sun still comes up every day, and the whining gets stale. At the same time, this 'blague has a fair bit of sympathy for said whining, or at least offers a forum for remedy. So here's a double dose. I love the creepy synth squiggles and Can-esque drumming on this first one. And what a primal lyrical sentiment. As for attention getting, a gentle marketing hint — maybe a more distinct name could've helped. Googling 'The Sound' is just a dumb exercise.

And for those of you who can't stand Bono, but know that in an alternate universe, you could find yourselves feverishly jumping up and down to a voice that sounds remarkably similar, here ya go...

The Sound - Golden Soldiers

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Jogging my memory

You have to have a little affection for bands aping a scene that they're a continent away from. Portland's Joggers seemed to desperately want in on the NYC sound of the early 'aughts. I guess they knew they could never be the Walkmen, so they had the good sense to highlight their harmony chops (not actually in evidence on this track) and lose the attitude. It was a nice angle, but it didn't raise them above the pack of also-rans. Still, I put on their debut album the other day and was pleased that it brought fond memories of that time, in all its nasal-voiced charm.

The Joggers - Hot Autism

Monday, August 29, 2011

How you feel when you wake up and your city is intact

Yesterday morning felt like a burlesque of Christmas day. After an unsettled night, I woke up with a childish sense of anticipation. Not for presents, but for destruction. I didn't want it, but after hours of disaster porn on the news, I confess, I wanted...something big to show for it.

Happily and anti-climactically, so very little was in evidence. Wet streets, a few little branches and leaves on the ground, nothing falling from the sky. A few minutes to organize my perversely conflicted reaction, and I decided this was in fact a very good thing. And perfectly soundtracked by a fine piece of
C86 pop, satisfying the sweet tooth and pulling the knowing frown as well.

Close Lobsters - Sewer Pipe Dream

Friday, August 26, 2011

Let it shine through


Aww man, an earthquake and a hurricane in the same damn week here in the city?! What is nature trying to say? I hate to get religious about this, but I'm a little concerned about the state of my soul. My Soul Glo, that is! If indeed we're all shuttered in this weekend, let's rally around this nugget of inspirational music. And I don't think we need FEMA to remind us to stock up an emergency supply of the Glo.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Indonesian analog set

Here's a band I just thought about for the first time in a while — one of the more tasteful meldings of indie rock and non-Western sounds, though I guess I usually go for weirder efforts. This species of indie rock recalls the comfy propulsive drone of the American Analog Set. Which means that the hammer dulcimer doesn't really mesh with that DNA, but it least it doesn't clash. The effect is like traveling in the Far East and trying on local clothes that make you look neither convincingly local nor cluelessly foreign. Which is not really bad ground to occupy. (OK, maybe 'occupation' isn't the best word.)

Macha - Capital City

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Great shakes

OK, sure, earthquakes on the East Coast. Why not? Minimal damage = license to snark. Nevermind that the first few moments of fear are about as real a glimpse into our disaster instincts as you could hope to get. Unfortunately, I can imagine my last frantic hours played out inside a Sci-Fi channel disaster movie. As chance would have it, the song I had intended to post actually fits into this new context.

So here's the thing about monster rock. Usually, it's some big bloozy dinosaur-type thing that stomps onto the scene and destroys your mental skyline while emitting smoky roars that mask the fact that it's completely strung-out. But sometimes it's a creature in a shape you've never seen. Like this song, creeping in all insect-like, and then spending a couple solid minutes smashing you upside the head like an anthem from a nation of amped-up beasts. It's a sweet rumbling.

Parts & Labor - New Crimes

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

It will end again in bullets

I just love songs that carry you on a breeze and then make you realize it's violence pushing them along. Neko Case has never been particularly gunshy with her subjects, and this is a pretty nasty picture of humans in nature she's conjuring here. but the lyrical thoughtfulness is all gravy. She could sing spreadsheet content and it would sound soaring.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rising sun

You know you've had a solid rustic weekend recharge when a nugget of sunny Japanese new age fusion feels like the most natural thing to reach for. Me and the Catskills are becoming good buddies, and I'm liking that development. I hereby pronounce myself ready to deal with the forthcoming workweek aggravations. Check back with me in 15 minutes to see how that mental state is holding up.

Osamu Kitajima - Hear The Rain, See It Fall

Friday, August 19, 2011

Into leather

It's been a dizzying workweek, and I'm bouncing on my toes until I can get out of town. Which brings the mind quite easily to driving songs and/or pop gems. And you can usually count on the the Chills to deliver on both. It's their second appearance on these pages, and there are some days I want to listen to no one else. Perhaps the least kinky song to mention leather garments, this one is a heavenly pop hit by any other name.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Action sequence

From Hot Chip to Hot Cold. And this track is just hot hot. Makes me sit back in my chair, sigh, and complain that they just don't 'em like they used to. (The secret is the guitar, young synth-poppers.) Seconds later, I will put my headband on and dart out the door to do something vigorous. I feel like a my own personal training montage for this to soundtrack.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

I'm looking for a place where I can get lost

It's no news flash to note that Hot Chip's The Warning album is one of those Thriller/Hysteria/Purple Rain-style classics, where every track is nothing but net. Which is why I wouldn't normally try to extract one for my purposes here. So imagine my surprise as I sat relaxing with a nice glass of Elijah Craig in a Catksills living room after a long week and long drive and this track came to the forefront to put the soothe all over me. Weird lyrical violence notwithstanding, it's tender, somber butter. And the little keyboard solo follows the whiskey right down your throat.

Hot Chip - The Warning

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Making flutey faces

Aw man, talk about some sweet Fender Rhodes and flute antics. In an alternate universe, this one could've been the Sesame Street theme. In this reality, it should at least be ping-ponging between the ears of kids walking home from school. Do you even realize how hard it is keep my face from making the dumbest expressions as this plays?

Nil's Jazz Ensemble - Somos Nada

Monday, August 15, 2011

I'm all on tender hooks

Style never goes out of style, I've heard it said. You can shine with well-worn fabrics if you wear them well. Which I guess is why a band like this can give me those good shivers even though I've probably heard every note, timbre, and lyric somewhere before. A track that can make both dinner prep and a new subway walk feel cinematic is worth enjoying well beyond a nod to its sources.

Camera Obscura - French Navy

Friday, August 12, 2011

You just don't get it (do you?)

Something a little different today — a kaleidoscope of cliché, a symphony of banality. A friend hipped me to this carefully compiled collection of lazy screenwriting, distilled into one magic phrase that just staggers with its prevalence. In movies, that is. That's the thing. When was the last time in real life you heard someone say it? All of it, I mean. It's just not the same without the stupid rhetorical question at the end. You hear it enough times and it's absolutely hypnotic. And it's used in just about every dramatic situation, so vast is its emptiness. I kinda can't stop watching, and I'm still not sure I get why.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New environs

I had a nightmare recently. I was traversing some sinister alien version of New York through an endless, rain-soaked night. Then I found myself on an even more sinister structure that was a hybrid of a mile-high scaffold and the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Holding on for dear life, the thing transported me from a far-flung district to some version of midtown, where all the skyscrapers looked like serrated knives. I put myself low to the ground to combat the vertigo.

I guess it's some kind of anxiety dream that comes along when you're planning on upsetting your domestic habits. I also guess it deserves a song that suggests an alien world that doesn't offer a legend. But then the notes warm up, and that harmonica comes in, and you realize you may be in your new home.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Jaunty

Ever imagine life suddenly bursting into a montage sequence? Maybe it's after deciding to go to cooking school, and after a beat, we cut to a too-cute parade of hijinx with your culinary buddies, playing with the steaming pasta, almost cutting off fingers while julienning vegetables, and finally almost dropping the serving plates in front of the the instructor's grim eyes. It's a testament to B&S's pop chops that this is just one of the movies my mind flies off into, even in the face of their usual lyrical bum-outs.

Belle & Sebastian - Jonathan David

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

You the man(zanera)

Roxy Music swordsman Phil Manzanera gets props for not aping Bryan Ferry's nocturnal croon on his solo efforts. And also for fitting some sweet guitar moves into this equally sweet '70s groover. The bits right before and after the solo just melt me, though I'm just as drawn to the giddy ride cymbal gallop in the outro.

Not that that it's an anniversary post or anything, but it's worth noting that this gem comes courtesy of the same man who supplied Songblague's
inaugural track. Memories...if you can remember them.

Phil Manzanera/801 - Flight 19

Monday, August 8, 2011

Carnival barking in a one-man-band

The circus comes to town. The Lonesome Organist (AKA Jeremy Jacobsen) was one of the few guys in the '90s Thrill Jockey scene who seemed to have a sense of humor about music. And how could he not? I remember being knocked out by his one-man-bandmanship on stage. Playing drums, keys, and guitar at once while screaming into the mic, it was all a whirl of limbs, but with a Stevie Wonder-esque steady rocking motion, like a door moving back and forth on its hinge in fast-forward. This first track captures that feel. The second shows that he's not all madcap novelty and suggests that he may have, in fact, traveled through space to get here.

The Lonesome Organist - Catching Flies With My Teeth
The Lonesome Organist - 6 Volt

Friday, August 5, 2011

Planet of the apes (and androids)

Here's one from the '"Nostalgia for invented pasts" file. Or is it the "Andy Summers dancing in spandex while floating in space" file? I remember these guys had a pretty snazzy sci-fi glam stage schtick a few years back, and I was all over this tune. Still am, though I wonder if the outro vamp is a bit of a let-down from that creamy solo. And now I have disgusted myself.

Apes & Androids - Nights of the Week

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Holiday in Cambodia

Imperialism pays dividends in its way. I can only assume that the go-go garage bands captured on the excellent Cambodian Rocks comp got wind of these styles from the American presence in neighboring Vietnam. Hopefully, the primary sources were not being blasted from the same helicopters dropping napalm in their backyards, but I suspect that may have been the case. It's even sadder to consider the Khmer Rouge's monstrous response to this cultural import. All the more reason to appreciate the infectious rockout of tracks like this.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Flute flight

Another one from in-between genres. Or, the dorkiest spy music you've heard. Maybe it explains why my head seems a little in-between places lately. Thanks again to the much-praiseworthy Mutant Sounds for the heads-up on these cats. Yeah, you know I'm not quite right when I'm referring to musicians as "cats".

Earwacks - Earmonix

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Norway all the way

I know, when you think rockin' down the open road, you think...Norway. This excellently named band apparently started out as a proggy metal outfit and moved into more psych territory. This one sounds like none of those things, but does feel big enough to support free roaming and good times.

Motorpsycho - For Free

Monday, August 1, 2011

We will never let you go

I'd say any weekend that includes attending a Def Leppard concert and a 3 year old's birthday party speaks to a well-balanced life. The only thumbs down goes to the Greyhound bus company, which demonstrated the kind of resignation about its shabby incompetence that cancels out any potential sympathy. Also, I discovered that restless, annoying children on buses are much more annoying when they're speaking German. In the spirit of balance, here's a band of Germans with a well-developed sense of grace.

The Notwist - Gone Gone Gone