- jcizivpox in New Single: Patrick Wolf’s “Accident and Emergency” christian bale naked
- jcapqom in New Single: Patrick Wolf’s “Accident and Emergency” salma hayek nude
- yhevqo in New Single: Patrick Wolf’s “Accident and Emergency” photo of topless girls on sailboats
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.
Indie rock is not for the weak. While Chicago welcomed Pitchfork for a mere 3 days, this past weekend was a 4 day marathon of free, outdoors shows, just in time for a heat wave. Ted Leo, the Fiery Furnaces, and Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow all played on Thursday night, with Deerhoof the next day, and the Liars, Fuck Buttons, and Team Robespierre rocking out in the sweltering Sunday heat. But the crown jewel of the weekend was Saturday’s Siren Fest, the annual migration of hipsters from Wililamsburg and outside of the city to Coney Island.
There is an annual tradition of complaining about how this year’s lineup sucks, and goddamn the Village Voice for not exhuming the Beatles and letting us see them for free. Usually, this looks somewhat foolish by the end of the night, as most people who go have a good time, especially considering they get to eat from the original Nathan’s. This year was different, though. Headliners Broken Social Scene delivered the goods, even bringing up some random girl they had met an hour before to be a substitute Feist. They were outdone, however, by Brooklyn’s own Parts and Labor. Maybe because they sounded better because they played at 2, before anyone was drenched with sweat, but Parts and Labor played a spazzy, but accessible, raucous set that impressed everyone around me (”that was fucking ace!”) (”who are these guys?”). Unfortunately, they were followed by the Dodos, who were really, really boring.
The Parts and Labor/Dodos dichotomy exposed the key to throwing summer concerts. If it’s going to be during the day, it has to be loud, and people can’t just stand still the whole time (this was proven by the great Liars/Team Robespierre show the following day). If you’re going to be watching music, and it’s 95 degrees outside, you don’t want to just stand there, wondering if you’re about to melt. If the concert were indoors, or if it was a little cooler, the Dodos may have very well stolen the show. But given the heat, it was a lot more fun to grab a hot dog and beer and wait for Times New Viking.
It would appear as if Times New Viking would be the perfect remedy for the Dodos folkish stylings. While they weren’t bad, they fell victim to Siren’s notoriously bad sound system. They were just too loud for Siren, and it was hard to really stay into the show the whole time. But when the sound system accomodated them, they were pretty great. Harkening back to bands like the Dead Boys, they were punishing - but in a way that was a hell of a lot better than feeling like you were baking. And, best of all, afterwards, it was a good excuse to get more beer and switch to the second stage.
Over at the second stage, it was time for the New York debut of Jaguar Love. They weren’t ready to come out yet. They’re actually a trio of former members of the Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves, but they sounded more like a really bad Rage Against the Machne ripoff. After a few songs, I cut my losses, and headed to the beach. Seeing how this is far too long already, and you don’t need to hear more about Stephen Malkmus or Broken Social Scene, I’ll cut my losses here too. After all, pretty much anything beats roasting in the heat without good music to listen to. Maybe next year, they won’t book Siren the same weekend as Pitchfork.
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?
