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Has this ever happened to you?
There’s this band you really, really like but they break up after only releasing a couple albums or EP’s and so you sort of lose track of them. But then years later you discover that some members of that band started a new one and have put out some amazing work and that you had NO CLUE! You rush out and buy it all and feel equally thankful that there’s all this great new material to listen to but also disappointed that you were spending time sitting around listening to the old band and lamenting the fact that they broke up when there was all this new stuff sitting around.
OK, this is a very specific feeling, but it’s exactly how I’ve felt after learning about the band “Medications” recently. See, I loved a group called Faraquet, a math rock outfit from the late 90’s that was on Dischord. The band played from 1997 to 2001 but only released a handful of recordings (an LP on Dischord and a few EP’s on a smaller label) that I thought were amazing.
Well, it’s been nearly a decade and until about three weeks ago I had no idea that two of the three members of Faraquet started a band called Medications that have played, recorded and toured for several years now. I was stunned. Since then, I’ve picked up all their recordings and I’m blown away. Imagine if the band Rush played complex indie rock with shifty time signatures and you get a bit of a sense of what Medications is like. If you haven’t listened to them before, feel free to hop on the late blooming bandwagon like I did.
The 2009 Lollapalooza Festival’s lineup, though partially leaked weeks ago, was announced earlier this week. Every year this causes a lot of predictable complaining and hand wringing on the Internet about how so-and-so headliners are old and how bloated and corporate Perry Ferrell’s festival is. Some of these complaints are valid - but it’s hard to argue that there won’t be some great acts at the festival,scheduled for August 7-9 at Chicago’s Grant Park.
The 100-plus acts will be led by headliners Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Jane’s Addiction, Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon. Solid, but not as good for my money as Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Kayne West and Nine Inch Nails and Wilco in ‘08.
And yes, the heydey for most of those bands is the 90’s, but most of them do make sense for headliners. Let’s face it, the disappearance of music on MTV, the decline of rock radio and the fragmentation ofthe music market because of the internet means today’s big rock acts don’t have the mainstream success as their 80’s and 90’s predecessors. The big mystery here is Kings of Leon, because the “second tier” of Lollapalooza includes artists like Lou Reed, Ben Harper, Ben Folds, Snoop Dogg, TV on the Radio, Neko Case, Andrew Bird and Rise Against.
The rest of the lineup is filled with mostly current (or last year’s) indie rock darlings: Vampire Weekend, the Decemberists, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector Nine), Animal Collective, Band of Horses, Of Montreal, Arctic Monkeys, Coheed and Cambria, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Kaiser Chiefs, Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, Santigold, etc.
As someone who bought a three day pass last year, I’d say go if you have the $200 bucks lying around and you have plenty of endurance. Three days under the hot Chicago summer sun, even with good tunes around,can be a feat for the best of us.
For a British synth pop band that’s been around for nearly three decades, it’s interesting that suddenly people Just Can’t Get Enough (Sorry, couldn’t help myself) of Depeche Mode.
Earlier this month, the Mode was announced as a headliner for Lollapalooza ‘09, a move that delighted many of the fans of the trio’s moody and atmospheric electronica. It puzzled others considering the Chicago-based outdoor festival tends to get alt-rockers or hip-hop heavies like Kayne West to headline.
Today, David Gahan and crew released their 12th album “Symptoms of the Universe,” to generally favorable reviews with some critics calling it reminiscent of their old stuff yet managing to sound contemporary.
Now just this afternoon, the L.A. Times is reporting that the band will cause part of Hollywood to shut down on Thursday evening for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Depeche Mode is expected to perform at the infamous Hollywood Boulevard and Vine intersection at 8 p.m. - where apparently a new W hotel complex is being constructed.
As a long time fan, I’m excited for the band’s sudden resurgence. Here’s the top three songs I’d like to see them play live:
1. “Personal Jesus” - Yes, “Enjoy the Silence” is the biggest single off 1990’s Violater, but for my money “Personal Jesus” would be way more fun to experience live. It’s one of the band’s few songs that uses guitar and it’s arguably the Mode’s most dancable song. And I still get chills when I hear David Gahan’s demanding we “Reach out and touch faith.”
2. “Strangelove” - OK, OK, mostly because I’m amused with the idea to seeing thousands of people sing along to a song that’s blatently about a love for kinky sex.
3. “I Feel You” - Songs of Faith and Devotion is a wildly underrated album in Depeche Mode’s canon, and “I Feel You” is a mostly forgotten single that deserves better. It’s one of the band’s more “rock” type songs and they play more non-electronic instruments here than usual.
Confession: I had heard the Silversun Pickups’ 2006 hit “Lazy Eye” at least a dozen times before I realized that the main vocalist was of the male gender. I suppose I wasn’t alone in assuming the breathy vocals for this band that sounded vaguely like a throwback from the early 90’s alt-rock era was from a Kim Deal-lookalike. But still, I was slightly embarrassed to find out that frontman was named Brian.
The Pickups, however, have nothing to be embarrassed about with their new sophomore album “Swoon.” It’s a solid effort that won’t necessarily dispel all Smashing Pumpkins comparisons, but goes deeper beyond heavily distorted guitar fueled singalongs to something that’s infinitely more rewarding that most modern rock these days.
This Silverlake band, which had its second turn at the Coachella Festival main stage this weekend, has been most closely compared to the Pumpkins because of the swirling guitar sounds and Brian Aubert’s vaguely emo-kidish vocals and lyrics. But Swoon’s deep grooves evokes more of the wall-of-sound style of “My Bloody Valentine” - especially on a song like “Sort Of” which settles into a Shoegaze-like droning riff pattern.
The problem here though is that while listening to the album straight through, nothing here arrests you. There’s no song on Swoon that isn’t at least darkly pleasant (”Panic Room” being the highlight)- but the dynamics aren’t, well, dynamic enough - and there’s no single here quite as good as “Lazy Eye.”
Still, Silversun Pickups are on the right track and here’s hoping that the third time is the charm.
Bring me your tired, your poor punk rockers, your huddled Chuck Taylor wearing masses and send them to the Warped Tour. Tickets went on sale yesterday.
In my mind I kind of associate the Warped Tour with Hot Topic, a relic of the mall-punk 90’s but here it is still going in 2009 - its 15th year anniversary. Not that it hasn’t had it’s moments – I went once in the late 90’s in Kansas City and enjoyed seeing NOFX, Bad Religion, Propaghandi, the Deftones and others despite the high ticket prices, the sweltering heat, and all of the testosterone-fueled idiots who wanted to mosh (kicking up a ridiculous amount of dust in the process) no matter who was playing.
Warped Tour
Still, I find it a bit surreal that the same bands – Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, Flogging Molly, etc. are still anchoring a lineup featuring lots of no names (The Devil Wears Prada is now a book, movie and punk band?). Hopefully we don’t see these guys in five years when they could become the punk rock equivalent of a Journey – Survivor – REO Speedwagon state fair tour.
Still, the big concert tours have slowly given way to big destination two or three day festivals (Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Sasquatch, etc.) so this might be the only way you get to see a few decent bands outdoors.
you guys all know how ridiculously addicted to mixtapes i am - trading them, listening to them, but especially making them. there is something oddly relaxing about it, complete freedom constrained in tight categories. i just love categorizing things, i guess…sue me. anyway, here’s one i thought i’d put out there, just because. and don’t jump to any conclusions - the theme was assigned to me.
1. Nirvana - Lithium
2. Mansun - Serotonin
3. Josephine - Respirodol
4. Garbage - Medication
5. John Vanderslice - Amitriptyline
6. Ben Kweller - Tylenol
7. Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
8. Pretty Girls Make Graves - All Medicated Geniuses
9. Manic Street Preachers - Methadone Pretty
10. The Fall - Mr Pharmacist
11. Blur - Ultranol
12. Snow Patrol - Days Without Paracetamol
13. The White Stripes - Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
14. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
ps the title is a quote by salvador dali, if you care.
may i interrupt your regularly scheduled programming at this time to call you a square if you aren’t playing the new great lake swimmers album on repeat these days? i feel like it’s my civic duty to inform you that lost channels will restore your faith in folk-pop. or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
lost channels has that enviable perfect flow that’s rare on an album, no need to skip anything. the songs are simple and jangly and soft, the strings sneak in at the right times, the harmonies are tight and smooth, the slide guitar is slide-y like slide guitar should be. lead vocalist tony dekker’s voice is lightweight and makes the supple melodies sound almost blue-grassy, in the best way possible. the lyrics have a little more weight, almost like free-form poetry, but this is by no means a slow and serious album - the songs “pulling on a line” and “still” (my favorite song, if you care) may be the catchiest tunes gls have ever recorded. and “she comes to me in dreams” practically rocks out, at least in the context of this country-tinged ethereal band’s prior 3 albums.
i would call lost channels a great release in the americana genre, and you would know what i mean, except great lake swimmers are canadian and this album was recorded in the thousand islands area of ontario, located vaguely between toronto and montreal. is canadiana a genre yet? well anyway, not only is this area historic and picturesque, it is also where my father’s family comes from, so it would be wrong of me not to like music inspired by it, right?
anyway, catch a listen for free at their last.fm page and then get the whole album so you can listen to it on repeat like all the cool people are doing. and then maybe go see one of their spring tour dates.
