- 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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- Peggus-interruptus in The Temper Trap Lovin’ The Temper Trap!
Sure the warbling voice is frustrating, but are Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst irredeemable beyond the bleating vocals? Frankly, I couldn’t get past Oberst’s contrived sincerity in time to listen closely to the music or the words he was yodeling as Bright Eyes, so Conor Oberst’s solo album was my first real study of his work. I was ready for some hating, but then…
The first track played through and it’s really good. ‘Cape Canaveral’ wouldn’t stand up under academic poetic analysis for hanging on the same rhyme scheme for four stanzas, but it’s a mature and evocative love letter to thinkers that Oberst admires for being out of reach and also deep in the psyche. I’m absolutely hooked on this number. Bastard.
And just like the better moments of Bright Eyes cause me to say, “Maybe I’m missing something because [this one track] is kinda sweet,” the opening solo number suggested that the worst is over. But there is an entire album that follows…
In this era there is a different criteria by which we judge rock, and tracks 2-12 remind me what a bunch of pussies are the curs who have claimed the throne of rock ‘n roll. Conor Oberst, unlike the oft-compared Bob Dylan, is not of a lineage of men who fought with their battle axes the way to the top; who snarled their way to glory; who fucked to immortality. The new crew, of whom Oberst is a ringleader, can’t be bothered to put up their dukes, lest they spill some wine on their pants while posing as rockers. And unlike our forefathers and foremothers of Rock who demanded (and got) sex and drugs, these insouciants are begging to get laid. In that way, I guess rock ‘n roll is still about getting chicks, at least…
Back to Conor’s music…
Oberst hints at but fails to land the bulls-eye of Bon Iver’s facile moments of quiet underscore. So he takes a rocker’s stance, right? He doesn’t exactly do that either. Some advice to disregard: If you’re going to rock then rock, or just relax and quit the half-assery! He even sings it straight until track 6 ‘I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)’ when someone handed him a working jackhammer during the vocal takes. Vibratory urgency aside, it all feels stiff where ‘Canaveral’ is slick. From loud to soft to adult contemporary, the album (sans excellent track 1) goes from track to track w/o a single emotional groundswell or a ballzy moment that doesn’t fall as flat a that one racist joke you once told when the black guy from accounting came up silently behind you during the punch line.
Forget relaxing to Conor Oberst, but I’m more ready for bed than ready to rock. The fans will love this shit because most are men who also beg for sex, or women that fall for it. Despite (or because of) my bandmates’ attempts to get me to dig this guy, I fail to see the imperfections as the sycophants do, that is, as genius. To my credit, I might add.
Merge Records
August 5, 2008
Everyone w/ a laptop and a facebook account (which is everyone) is a DIY musician now, naturally replacing their Christian name with a handle apropos for a full band, right? What else is new? How do these souls get attention from the masses? (Tough question since they themselves are the masses, by and large). Sound quality is no longer an issue - being audible is enough for myspace and 128 kbps - and besides, any wannabe can, on a pittance, get decent enough equipment to make the days of 4-tracks as distant as piano rolls. And if solid storytelling were enough to capture the public’s attention then Michael Bay would be out of a job (and what a wonderful world that would be), so unfortunately, good sound and good material might not be enough in today’s world. Which could be a problem for Lost On Purpose.
Will Holland of (is, that is) Lost On Purpose has an album’s worth of iTunes downloads that falls under the name Not If But When, which, if you’re tired of self-aggrandizing one-man-bands, is worth a listen. It could even simplify your life and quell your troubled mind with instrumentation and wry observations that don’t waste time.
Take the track ‘guts’, for example - it lasts just over a minute but makes me laugh with the line, “I wish that you broke up with me so I could write 20 songs, but stop in the middle and get drunk.” NIBW has more than a few of those moments that you will unconsciously regurgitate as advice to a sad friend, or a punchline at a party that will make you think, Did I make that up? Wow, I’m cleverer than I thought…
Being wry and casual is nothing new, but works in a pinch. Pretensions, on the other hand, don’t win over many friends, and track 6 ‘ksu interlude’, in which a news ticker plays over a nice melody says very little except, “I can use a laptop real good.” Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Silent Night’ is a disquieting juxtaposition of lullaby and dirge, but here it’s just a throwaway. Still, the rest are sharp little vignettes full of fill-in-the-blanks imagery, mortality with a funny face, moments within a sprawling one-act (‘The 70’s’ is a particularly choice cut - I recommend it).
It’s not a bad thing to resist giving everything you have for a single project, and Not If But When is more a sample of the goods than the full delivery. The songs aren’t a Floydian journey to far-away psychic shores, but lines like, “You remind me why I left Ohio,” bring listener and singer close together. It helps too if you’ve ever been to Amherst, OH - you’ll understand where native son Holland gets this angle, but anyone can find a reason to want to leave their place of origin. NIBW has plenty of moments like this - sample some Will Holland when you’re done w/ GarageBand junkies that pummel w/ proof of how different they are.
It’s hard to resist writing a tome about this album, but the 11 tracks on Noah And The Whale’s Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down do a lot without Big Noise or circumlocution, so I’ll at least try to return the favor…
The swinging and crippling melodies of the titletrack and ‘Shape of My Heart’ belie the torment within… is someone conflicted internally with themselves and externally with the presence - or absence - of love? Tension is everywhere on this album, and both absence and fulfillment are equally represented, and beautifully at that. But whatever the lump sum of praises vs. rejections of God, spirit and love, the music nets a victory for joy. If our narrator is torn between an existential celebration of the Self and an undeniable attraction to the Almighty, the music says, “whatever it is, it’s going to be all right,” and it’s easy to believe. It’s a tribute to life (”life is fleeting, and I love you, and love surrounds you like an ether,”) and death (”let’s leave [the baby] to the wolves so they turn it to food; its flesh keeps it alive, oh and death helps life survive, and life can be kind in its own way”), love and hate, despair and hope.
But wait… there’s levity here too. All of this happens without heavy-handedness, and the melodies would be just as emotive if they were singing the recipe for vegan pancakes (just trying to imagine the blandest food conceivable). It’s sometimes difficult to believe Bob Marley when he sings, “Every little thing gonna be all right,” especially during the months of January through March. But NATW convincingly frame heartbreak and death - the death of a newborn at the hands of lycanthropes, nonetheless - to be a thing of benevolence and comfort. It’s like the Altman movie Prairie Home Companion… sucks that you have to die, but at least it’s Virginia Madsen that takes you to the Next World.
Unfortunately, the frustratingly catchy ‘Five Years Time’ is going to turn a lot of people, and out of context it should… no matter how much you end up hating (or loving) the song, you’ll accidentally whistle along and its cloying melody will be stuck in your cerebral cortex for good. It’s too bad they chose this song for the single - there are plenty of superior songs on the album (10 of them, to be exact) that are guaranteed not to piss you off nearly as much as this one. For the kids, I guess…
I’m going to go have a heart attack now, the good kind. Even though i just saw them in London in April, this news makes me giddy. I cannot even tell you how much I love this band, or how awesome their live show is, or how glad I am that they are back together and touring. And Hey Ma is a kickass album too.
Official press release:
We are pleased to announce that James will be embarking on a three week tour of North America this autumn to coincide with the US release of Hey Ma on the 16th of September. The tour will include concerts across the USA as well as Canada and their first ever visit to Mexico. More ticketing info will be released over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on www.wearejames.com for the details.
The tour will begin on September 15th in Boston, Massachusetts, the day before the US release of the album - their first in 7 years. In addition to their headline tour, the band will make a stop at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as special guests to Squeeze on the 19th.
The dates are as follows: Read more »
Remember last week when I blatantly promoted Camera’s show at the Empty Bottle? No? Well, screw you because the show rocked and, and if you’d heeded certain advice you’d be agreeing w/ me right now before scrambling to mark their next show on your calendar (that is, August 23 at the Bottom Lounge on Lake St.). Meanwhile, you can download their worthy EP Fire & Science, wait until the LP comes out next year, or just read on and see what Joe, David & Ryan think about things. 5 things, to be exact:
1. when historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
“Bzz nrt blnkt blnkt” That’s robot for satisfactory.
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
Roxy Music so I wouldn’t have to pay for a ticket to see them, and um, they are awesome.
3. what is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
I had a dream that I was asked to play guitar for the Verve and the guitar itself kept falling out of tune while I was on stage. How embarrassing!
4. what do your fans look like?
Attractive youngsters and our parents.
5. what bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?””
Door cost at a show: $10. We bring in: 100 people. We get paid: $60.
bonus question: does the band have a favorite drink of choice?
Joe likes Vitamin Water, David likes uncaffeinated tea, and Ryan drinks synthetic
Wikipedia is so carefully edited these days I can’t believe this one slipped past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Adams
So does the fact that this made me bust up laughing mean I’m a total geek?
I know it’s been a while; I’m very aware. Call it laziness, call it writer’s block, call it procrastination. I call it all of those. However, I’m back. Yay.
It was in my full intentions this past Thursday night to go to The Spot, see a friend of mine perform in a burlesque number, and get as many beers as possible for my open-bar-fee. Once I’d had…however many I’d had…and my friend performed, I was just killing time as a band started setting up. I wasn’t really expecting much, seeing as we were in a small upstairs bar with a small upstairs stage in the midst of a small upstairs drunk audience. However, the venue matters not in the case of genuine art, and I was reminded of such a fact as the band started playing. I, in my drunken yet excited state, listened to the first song for a while, then yanked out my planner, grabbed my notepad, and started jotting. I would soon find out that this band’s name was Blah Blah Blah and their music would be right up my alley.
Normally, especially while imbibing alcoholic beverages, I listen to unfamiliar music and nit-pick at it, finding any and every aspect about it I don’t find in my favor so that I won’t have to bother with it. Pessimistic? Yes. Not with Blah Blah Blah. Their carefree approach to their music turned on me and I couldn’t help but bob my head along with the sun-soaked guitar strings laying out a plethora of flitting sounds from the amplifier.
“It’s as if someone opened your soul and poured sunshine in it,” replied band manager JA Powell when I asked him how he would describe their sound. Read more »
Chicago! Camera plays tomorrow night, and don’t miss this band, I mean it. The songs on myspace all stand tall, but don’t exactly belie the ground that this trio can cover. Nevertheless, this high-octane amalgam of My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Stellastarr* and Jens Lekman (and a few others… I wonder if their long list of influences are necessarily artists that have saliently impacted them, or if some are on there for effect… nevertheless, their extensive appreciation for numerous styles shows in their own tunes) plays at the Empty Bottle tomorrow night at 9PM for a reasonable $7 cover - this is neither a show nor a band to be disregarded.
Seriously, listen to these tunes and tell me that you won’t think twice about attending the show. And for the record, I’m not on the band’s payroll and am not soliciting for them under contractual or even fraternal obligations… this band is plain good, and deserves all proper respect.
i have spent much of the last few months mildly obsessing, as i tend to do, over beaks to the moon, the new album by nyc 5 piece band the shivers. it’s an eclectic, lonely album, always surprising and impossible to categorize. that being said, i’d categorize it as…hmm…slightly jazzy yet sparse folk music with a deliciously twangy center. because dammit, i like categories.
but regardless which of the many ways one chooses to describe beaks, it’s a treasure. not many bands are doing anything quite like this, it’s wry and mournful at the same time and even gets almost reggae-esque with the peppier “mr officer.” my favourite track is “lonely road” though, slightly reminiscent of beck at his most depressed. they make all kinds of odd sounds and samples work in the songs too…lots of piano, birds, an ice cream truck (?), and without even being annoying or pretentious about it. it all just works melodiously without being too obvious, if you know what i mean.
anyway, i called upon them to answer superstarcastic’s (in)famous 5 questions, and Keith and Jo of the shivers were kind enough to humor me. they also have a myspace page, so you can lend an ear and thank me later for hooking you up.
1. when historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
Why am I a historian, not a musician?
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
Keith: I would probably have to say Oval. Because his music inspires me.
Jo: I would say Ovaltine.
3. what is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
Jo: i dreamt evan was a pizza.
4. what do your fans look like?
Keith: we appeal to the transgender vertically challenged community.
5. what bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”"
apathy.
bonus question: i’m not sending you the bonus question because it was used too much the first time around - make up your own.
why?
why not.
