- teecomb in Pitchfork Leaks Some of the 2008 Lineup Animal Collective rocks so hard. It’s has great melodies and most people who hate on it have only heard one era of them that didn’t...
- Mark in SonicBids & CMJ 2007: Anatomy of a Scam? …Meh. Sonicbids is a total scam. Our band was stupid enough to fall into it to. It didn’t take us long to figure out that they keep...
- Matt K in Just a small complaint… Agreed whole-heartedly. Nice observation.
ABC News recently posted its guide to this summer’s “hottest, must-see concerts.” It’s pretty dead-on. Make sure to save up your money to see Hootie and the Blowfish (”hear some great music and feel good doing it!”), the Jonas Brothers (”the ultimate family concert experience”) and the Warped Tour (combining “rockin’ music with extreme sports to create a high-octane summer-must” [is that the new scent of Axe Body Spray?]).For what it’s worth, ABC does include Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. And Bon Jovi.
Pitchfork is reporting that Be Your Own pet, not an emo/pop-punk band, will be playing on this year’s Warped Tour. OMG SRSLY WTF LOL BTW and all that fun stuff. The most shocking item from this little article, however, is this quote: “We get pretty psyched at the thought of unsuspecting Gym Class Heroes fans being turned on to one of the raddest live bands around.”
Here’s the thing: is anyone even going to see Be Your Own Pet that wouldn’t before? In my formative years, I went to Warped 
Tour, and I never discovered any new bands. Sometimes, I’d get dragged to see something by someone who already liked the band, but that could happen at any concert. And if there wasn’t a band I’d want to see, I’d go around to the booths looking for girls, not do something cool like check out new bands (although I may not be typical).
But what about respect for the Gym Class Heroes fans? They might not want to hear noise. I think Pitchfork is just trying to spread the indie gospel a little too much, and Be Your Own Pet probably won’t change Warped Tour at all.
Wolf Parade seems to me like the perfect music to listen to while reading the Letters of Andrew Jackson. So I’m going to do a track-by-track review of Wolf Parade’s At Mount Zoomer while learning more about our 7th president. Multitasking is fun!
Soldier’s Grin: Hey, perfect! Andrew Jackson was a general! This song starts good, but in all, its kinda boring and about 2 minutes too long though. It’s all the rage in indie to pretend to be Bruce Springsteen, I guess.
Call it a Ritual: This song is about 2 minutes too long also. By the way, the song is 2 minutes and 47 seconds long. I dig the harmonies though. Neither of the first two songs sound any different from anything on Apologies to the Queen Mary.
Language City: Andrew Jackson spelled leisure “liesure.” Apparently, General Jackson didn’t know about the exceptions to I before E except C. Meanwhile, this song is pretty awesome. It’s pretty fast, and reminds me of Arcade Fire in its best moments (like “Power Out”). It has some tempo changes, and is catchy as all hell. Despite being longer than its predecessors, this song does not need to be any shorter.
Bang Your Drum: Here, Wolf Parade has hit its groove. This song isn’t as good as “Language City,” but is still pretty good. It starts slow, builds up, then slows down again. It definitely has its moments.
California Dreamer: I think this is what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would sound like without Karen O. There’s a really prominent keyboard section in what I think is the chorus, and the keyboard makes it awesome. But without the keyboard, the song seems to be missing something, like Wolf Parade just banged it out at the last minute. It’s also, dare I say it, proggy? When they’re rocking out, this song is amazing. Unfortunately, the whole song isn’t like that. I guess I should mention that the song clocks in at 6:03.
The Grey Estates: Definitely one of the poppier songs on the album. Definitely not a bad thing. Really catchy, but still enough weirdness that I know my girlfriend would hate it (right now, she really likes that Miley Cyrus song).
Fine Young Cannibals: She drives me crazy (ooo ooo)! Like no one else! Oh wait, this song has nothing to do with band from the 80’s. Except the keyboard section, which really could have come out of the 80’s. The song is really slow and drawn out, and even has a saxophone. I’m sure some people will love this song, but I’m not one of them.
An Animal In Your Care: Now that’s a falsetto. It’s impossible to ignore the David Bowie impression going on. If Wolf Parade were a pop-punk band, this would be panned as emo. Regardless, the melodies are pretty good, and the song really builds up into something great. And the lyrics aren’t bad by any means, just kinda emo. Not one of the best songs on the album, but after a slow start, it really came through. Much like reading about the 1824 election! Oh Henry Clay, you lovable scamp.
Kissing the Beehive: If you haven’t noticed, I don’t like songs that are too long. And this is 10:47. Anyway, the vocals are actually a duet for the most part here, which works really well. They try to make the song epic though, and that doesn’t work. When there’s vocals, this is the best song on the album, but I just can’t get into the instrumental parts. I tried, but every time, I just want them to be over. The song does stop momentarily, but then starts back up again, and another instrumental part. This song is definitely proggy, but not in a good way.
Overall, I like this a lot. The good songs are great (including “Kissing The Beehive, which is easy to stop listening to before its too late), and the bad ones aren’t that bad - and there are more good ones than bad ones. Sometimes, Wolf Parade gets too caught up in trying to be proggier-than-thou, but when they don’t, it’s a great rock record. No corrupt bargain here.
Label: Sub Pop
Release date: June 17
Rating: 7/10
After years of arduous study, researchers have found that Fall Out Boy has not been the primary cause of global warming. The scientists’ conclusions were published after Fall Out Boy canceled their trip to Antarctica, falling short in their quest to be the first band to play on all seven continents. The band came under criticism after the Wilkins Ice Shelf, a big piece of ice where Fall Out Boy was supposed to land, collapsed 15 years earlier than expected. Fall Out Boy douchebag Pete Wentz immediately denied responsibility, saying, “Someone sent (the story) to me and they’re like ‘Oh now you guys are going and this ice shelf fell that wasn’t supposed to fall for another 15 years.” And I’m like, ‘We didn’t even land there so that wasn’t even our fault.” I’m like, wow, that totally sucks. Wentz continued, “Basically it’s more evidence of global warming,” exonerating Fall Out Boy from the charges of killing us all - through global warming anyway.
No penguins could be reached for comment, but a spokesman for one did not deny the penguin’s utter joy after being spared the Fall Out Boy experience. And the trip did have at least one real benefit. Wentz learned that there are seven continents, two more than he was aware of.
Really, there are two Man Mans. There’s live Man Man, which is holy-shit-what-just-happened-let’s-do-that-again-fuck-yeah! awesome. Live Man Man, fronted by Honus Honus, wears tennis clothes and war paint. Live Man Man is fucking crazy. And then there’s studio Man Man. Studio Man Man is led by Ryan Kattner, Air Force brat, and presumably wears normal clothes. In the past, studio Man Man hasn’t been anywhere close to live Man Man’s fuck-yeah! awesomeness.
Enter Rabbit Habits, Man Man’s upcoming third album. The experience of listening to Rabbit Habits isn’t as good as seeing Man Man live, but it’s as close as they’ve gotten so far. The album is infinitely more accessible than their previous efforts, drawing more from a song like “Van Helsing Boombox” than “Engrish Bwudd.” Whereas lots of older Man Man songs seem to try to pack as many instruments and sounds in as possible, the songs on Rabbit Habits seem more contained. That is not to say that this is a standard pop album. Quite the contrary. On “Easy Eats or Dirty Doctor Galapagos,” Man Man channels the antics of Gogol Bordello, but “Hurly / Burly” sounds a little like Primus, a little like a radio-friendly rock song, and a lot like a kazoo. In “Hurly / Burly,” Kattner/Honus sings “This ain’t a love song,” but closer “Whalebones” is certainly a love song, banjo and all. Amazingly, it doesn’t feel out of place.
The standout track is “Top Drawer,” which has been all over the place for a while now. It’s crazy but catchy, with pretty memorable lyrics. If “Engrish Bwudd” is the staple of Man Man’s career up to Rabbit Habits, “Top Drawer” might replace it, and some fans may not like that. Fortunately, those fans have “Harpoon Fever (Queequeg’s Playhouse),” a pure throwback, along with “Hurly / Burly.” On the other end of the spectrum, “El Azteca,” a spazzy electronic track, is just awkward, and the title track needs to be faster.
Rabbit Habits is very good, but not quite great. There are great tracks though. The most stunning accomplishment, however, is the cohesion of the album. With the exception of “El Azteca,” none of the songs really feel out of place, and by the time the last two epic tracks are over, you get the sense that good or bad, Man Man tried to accomplish something. Good or bad, they succeeded. And best of all, there are even more songs to hear from live Man Man.
Rating: 7/10
Release date: April 8, 2008.
Label: Anti-
Ginormous is now an official word in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. Firefox is telling me that it’s misspelled, but Firefox is wrong. Anyway, ginormous is a good word to describe Pattern is Movement. Now a duo, the members of the band are closer to pre-Subway Jared Fogle than post (although, in fairness to the band, they’re not as big as pre-Subway Jared either). But thankfully, their new CD All Together requires a totally different word. All Together is proudly minimalist, with Andrew Thiboldeaux’s almost operatic vocals soaring over drums and keys that can be described as math rock, for wont of a better 
classification. Repetition is key to All Together, in both the lyrics and melodies. What differentiates Pattern is Movement from other math-rock bands, however, is that there are elements of just plain old rock and roll that find their way into the songs, and make the songs more accessible. On All Together, this is employed to especially good effect on “Jenny Ono” and “Bird,” songs that can best be described as memorable journeys that end before you want them too. There are a couple of songs that drag, but as a whole, the album is theatric, but still catchy. It’s tremendous.
Rating: 8/10
Release date: May 6, 2008
Label: Hometapes
