- Aqualaygualry in arcade fire - black wave/bad vibrations Today i watching overlay from here. this is wondeful film. Who are watching this?
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I’m reviewing these VHS tapes full of old alternative videos from 1994. See last week’s here.
Being 10 at the time, some of these bands I’d heard of, some I’ve since heard of, and a few are new to me. Where there is a youtube video I link it so you can share in some nostalgia and ridicule with me. Here we go: Read more »
I decided to take a small break from the whole switching jobs and moving across the country thing that’s currently occupying my life and write something brief about this album, which I’ve been playing a lot recently. It’s good box-packing music, I’ll tell you that.
Pixelh8, a.k.a. Matthew Applegate of Hidden Fortress, is a chiptune musician, and The Boy With The Digital Heart is, according to the liner notes, “pure chiptune music.” As such, for anyone who might not know the terminology, essentially the entire (instrumental) record was created using video game consoles and old (pre-’95) computers.
Is it gimmicky? Sure, although the gimmick isn’t a unique one. But is it good? Yes it’s good. The repetitive, cyclical riffs are catchy (”Chocolate Milk” gets stuck in my head all the time), the use of the often at least somewhat recognizable sounds is clever (”Your Parents House,” punctuated just like that, is probably the best example), and in general, it stands up well on simply musical terms, not just as a trick album. There are occasional down moments — “Meet Me In The Arcade” doesn’t do much for me — but overall, it’s a surprisingly strong record. Also, my wife doesn’t like it, which is usually a good recommendation (see: Ifihadahifi).
This is Pixelh8’s second full-length, and I’ll be curious to see if he can keep the sound fresh as his career goes on. But for now, this one’s worth hearing.
Label: Hidden Youth
Release date: Dec. 12, 2007
Rating: 8/10
Months and months ago, my friend Jamie burned my roommate Scott and me some random Wrens release that she claimed was called Overnight Success, and she had no idea where it came from. Of course, this means there was no track listing, so i put off listening to it. I am complete crap when it comes to remembering song titles, but ironically, if a CD has no track listing, i don’t want to listen to it, load it into my iTunes, or deal with it at all, even if it’s by one of my favorite bands (of which The Wrens surely are one). I’m a doof like that.
A few weeks ago fellow slack-ass SSC contributor Josh and i finally threw it into the computer and the first track we heard was a version of “Pretty OK” off the Abbott 1135 EP. Sweet! I love that song and haven’t owned it until now.
Anyway, finally tonight i decided to sit down and figure out what the hell the story was with this release. Naturally, going to the Wrens’ website and message board was the smart thing to do, so i finally made my way over there and figured this shit out.
Overnight Success was a cassette-only release that came out in, like, 1996? 1997? Apparently after Secaucus, which was 1996, and before Abbott 1135, which was 1997, as it contains early versions of most of what became that EP. There’s also a crazy early version of “Faster Gun” from The Meadowlands called “Blind” that’s super-raw.
Track Listing:
1. Big City Move On (This became “Pretty OK”)
2. It’s Alright
3. Fire, Fire
4. I Guess We’re Done
5. From the Rack
6. Player
7. Blind (the future “Faster Gun”)
8. Take Me or Leave Me
9. Shakers
10. Don’t Be Shy
Because i love you, here’s “Blind:”
Can you believe it’s already been almost 5 years since The Meadowlands came out? It was seven years between that and Secaucus, and that was because of their legendary record label issues.* Being completely used to the Wrens taking forever between records, it didn’t even occur to me that i should be looking for new music, but according to an interview that was posted to their message board, we should see something new this year. We’ll see.
*for those joining late, here’s the Wrens’ web page’s short version of that story: “Halfway into first tour supporting Secaucus, the wrens are told that if they do not sign their new fairly-high-dollar recording contract, all promotion for Secaucus will be stopped. The wrens, frowning on strong-arm tactics, do not re-sign and as promised, all promotion (including support for a pending tour of Europe with Brainiac) is pulled. The head of the record company, infuriated, commences layoffs of involved record company personnel and vows that “the next band to walk through that door will be made famous - at any cost”. The next band through the door is Creed. Grass Records becomes Wind Up Records. Creed becomes famous at any cost.”
Hey, everyone, what’s shakin’? I know it’s been a while since i rapped at ya, but damn, my schedule’s been hell of nuts lately, i tells you what. Anyway, i’m interrupting my dumb-ass radio silence to let any fine Chicagoans reading this know of some hot rock action coming their way this Friday, March 28th, at the venerable Beat Kitchen.
One of my favorite bands going today, the creepy, jarring, skronktastic, and all-out awsome pAper chAse, will be taking the stage for an all-ages extravaganza starting at 8:30 after the doors ope
n at 8. Oh, and who’s that opening the show? A delightful Chicago outfit called Reds and Blue and everyone’s favorite feedback-drenched Brew City troublemakers IfIHadAHiFi! Hurrah!
$10 in advance, $12 at the door, suckers. Be there by 8:30, because the HiFi’s playing first and will be slamming through select cuts from their upcoming long-player, Fame By Proxy, out September 16th of this year on the recently-relocated-to-Chicago Latest Flame Records, as well as some older favorites. And well, shit, the pAper chAse are just one of the best live bands going today, so you really have no reason to not go see them.
Aren’t you annoyed by how i keep referring to my band in the third person? Who the hell am i trying to fool, anyway?
Anyway, sorry that my first post in weeks is blatant shilling as opposed to the grumpy old man-ramblings that you often want to fellate me for. I’ll get back to that soon, i promise. It’s been a rough winter.
Sometimes you wear something on a night out that is a little unusual for you, uncharacteristically flamboyant (or conservative). About halfway through the eve you become self-conscious about it, but it’s too late - you’re stuck with it, and removing it compounds the embarrassment.
Fast-forward to the day when the guys in Panic; At the Disco are sitting down to coffee, and one of them says what’s been in the backs of everyone’s mind: punctuating their name is not edgy, but is, in fact, fucking retarded. Everyone hangs their heads and admits that they only wish they’d brought it in 2005. Back-pedaling in indie rock, hah!
Pop and indie music basically has to be ironic to avoid the dreaeded ‘pretentious’ label, but the address where irony and pretensions meet is the corner of ‘Panic ‘ and ‘at the Disco’. Guitarist Ryan Ross said they didn’t want to, “Make a Sgt. Pepper’s thing,” but they went to Abbey Road Studios anyway, as if harmonies aren’t something that can be captured with a microphone and GarageBand. To listen to the band say it, the overdone sound isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but cutting out the excessive ‘do - you’ rhymes, wall-of-sound circle-jerking and Beatle-esque everything would leave an ineffectual nothing of an album. Over-production and quirkiness is the best thing that Panic* at the Disco has going for it on Odd.
Honestly, Odd. is not an excruciating listen, but the mediocrity herein that is about to be celebrated is only a little less than annoying than eyeliner on men. The album is full of pre-psychedelic pop riffs and tricks, and it makes a half-baked attempt at continuity by oft repeating the chorus from ‘Nine in the Afternoon’ apropos to nothing, like telling a joke twice to make sure everyone in the room gets it. A lot of people will be impressed at first by the few good ideas that were distorted, re-arranged and dressed up ad nauseam, but the fancy duds will get old after they’re worn out a time or two.
Word, Matt.
A couple years ago at “the bins” I got my dirty little hands on a stack of Rock Video Monthly: Alternative Releases vhs tapes from 1994. They were put out by Warner Music and I assume were meant for college tv stations and the like. I’ve occasionally put them on mute during parties and watched one or two on those nights when you’re really scraping for stoner entertainment, but I’ve never sat down and really paid attention to each one of them.
So, over the next few…however long it takes me, I’ll be sitting down and watching each video of each tape chronologically, offering my thoughts. If there’s a video on youtube, I’ll link to it so you can share the experience. This oughta be good. March ‘94 after the jump. Read more »
Hey Joie!
Can you believe that it was already a week ago that we saw The Magnetic Fields at the Old Town School? Hot damn, that was a good show! We should have started writing that night, but the Hansa Clipper devilishly served us every time we called out for another round…
Some highlights: 1) a set list of which dreams are made, 2) in the only venue apropos to TMF in Chicago (they will only play the Old Town School for a reason), and 3) Claudia… lovely, witty and gregarious and foil to Merritt’s playful indifference.
… to hell with the pieces of the whole, it was all about Merritt’s wry songwriting (already well-documented) and the band’s ability to sensitively and hilariously breathe life into songs that make the broken-hearted laugh at themselves, and young lovers say, “If it has to go wrong, I hope it goes wrong like THIS…”.
[Forward pass to Joie]
Regardless of their pleasing-to-everyone quality and the fact that I disliked it as first, old-school Panic! had me bobbing my head after 3 or 4 listens. So, in listening to this album, I expected to be pleasantly surprised by a song or two. After stomaching as much as I could, my sentiments are: Why the fuck do people bother? Why must the music industry be plagued by so-so, vomit-inducing, drabble, hand-job pop bullshit? Money talks, that’s why, and it’s frighteningly apparent on this drink-coaster of an album.
Don’t worry, folks. There’s no need to Panic! Just relax and exit quietly. I don’t even think they’ll notice. Back in the ! days, these guys actually had some kick to them. On Pretty. Odd., along with the famed exclamation point, everything Panic had going for them dissolved. It seems to me that they stopped panicking and started accepting their imminent demise. This stuff isn’t catchy pop like Yellowcard or Kelly Clarkson (I’m not saying that’s good), it’s pop in the predictable, rice-cake-bland, “blah, blah, blah, we’re famous musicians and we’re going through the motions” pop (I’m not saying that’s good either).
Scary brain-freeze fact of the day: this album was recored in Abbey Road Studios. Pull all of your flags to half mast.
Pretty. Odd. What a name. Other possible names could have been: Shitty. Period., Dumber. Because. Of., Money. Wasted., Blandly. Spectacular., Mindless. Non-Entertainment., We. Sold. Out…Even. More., Sadly. Predictable., No. Worth.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the “meh” feel of this album is going to matter in overall record sales and Billboard charts. People will still buy it and Panic’s concerts will still sell out. It’s a shame. I think something in me just died.
Album: Pretty. Odd.
Release Date: March 25th, 2008
It’s been since ‘97 since Portishead put out new stuff. They succeeded in watering our plants when they put out the recording of Roseland NYC Live in ‘98, but then all was quiet on the Western Front. Now. Finally. New stuff from Portishead, recorded and ready for the eager ears of the trip-hop band’s many fans. Where’s the weed?; let’s go. Kick ass, right? Kind of.
The first couple of songs light my fire with their classic elements. “Hunter” does the trick of old-school Portishead with Beth Gibbons’s haunting droning and that trapped-in-a-vast-dark-open-room sound; that slow melody with little hints of percussion that I love so much. However, with the exception of 3 or 4 other songs, this album is a swing and a miss in Portishead standards.
Most of the songs start off on the right track, but last way too damn long without anything changing. Songs like “Deep Water,” “The Rip,” and “We Carry On” are okay, but they don’t fit in with the rest of the repertoire the ‘head has given us in the past…virtually at all, especially “Deep Water.” They sound like they should be on attempts by other projects of Gibbons, Barrow, and Utley, not a Portishead album.
The worst part of all is that there is almost a complete absence of disk scratching. That was half the fun on Dummy and Portishead. Some samples are present, but sound distant and are few and far between.
The saving grace of this album is “Plastic.” It reeks of old-school stuff, so much so that it could be thrown into the mix of the two previous albums without a notice. Plus, the “boomerang” sound in the fray just kicks ass. All in all: One thumb up, one thumb down. It’s Portishead alright, but not as much as the one we all know and love.
Album: Third
Release Date: April 28th.
Here in Chicago, Mother Nature is being a cocktease by putting on her short skirt and low-cut shirt to give you a taste of the goods, but then turning into an ice-cold bitch when you stare a little too long.
This last week we had a few good days of weather and now it’s back to bitter cold for who knows how long? Still, that didn’t stop me from pumping up the warm weather jams at work to keep me in a good mood while the sunshine made its brief appearance. While everyone has their own style they like to listen to when the weather gets hot, I just picked out some good ones that always make me smile from tons of different styles throughout the years.
So here are some good T-shirt weather jams to rock to put a hitch in your step while walking down the street or to bob your head to while chillin on the porch.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
Steve Miller Band - The Joker
Phantom Planet - Hey Now Girl
Weezer - Surfwax America
The Clash - Rock The Casbah
Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Jeff - Summertime
Arrested Development - People Everyday
LL Cool J - Around The Way Girl
Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop
Mariah Carey - Fantasy
Booker T & The MGs - Green Onions (aka The Sandlot song)
Ray Charles – What’d I Say
Mr. Big - To Be With You
Lionel Richie - All Night Long
Muscles - Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon & Lime
Ratatat – 17 Years
Chromeo – Woman Friend
Annie – Chewing Gum
Len – Steal My Sunshine
What are some of your summer songs?
