The Riff: July 2007 Archives

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July 31, 2007

Tuesday is Music News-Day

San Francisco singer/harpist/folk heroine Joanna Newsom to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall November 9th (NME)

62-year-old Debbie Harry reveals her secret to eternal youth is, er, sheep embryos (Us Magazine)

Kanye West asks Swedish alt-popsters Peter Bjorn & John to be his backing band (Pitchfork)

Faith Hill decries fan crotch-grabbing of husband Tim McGraw (Yahoo! Music)

Ozzfest at Red Rocks erupts into cheap-seats-vs-reserved-seats class warfare (MyFox Colorado)

Hard-Fi's Cover Art Is No Cover Art

British band Hard-Fi have garnered some negative publicity after the cover art for their upcoming sophomore release, Once Upon a Time in the West, was revealed: a yellow field with the words "NO COVER ART" in large type. The band gave a statement about "breaking the rules" or whatever to the NME, but in fact, cover art that's anti-cover art has been around for a while.

First of all, the cover that seems to have directly inspired Hard-Fi's art prank: San Francisco punk band Flipper's 1982 release, Album – Generic Flipper. It's the same Generic Yellow, and features a similar font; somehow, though, I imagine Hard-Fi's new album won't be quite as ground breaking.

Flipper's generic cover concept was said to have influenced Public Image Limited's multiple covers for their 1986 release, alternately titled Album, Cassette, or Compact Disc, depending on the format. I even own 12" Single, featuring an extended mix of "Rise." Flipper returned the favor by later releasing a live album called Public Flipper Limited.

Of course, the blank concept art-cover basically began with The Beatles; the 1968 release was designed by Richard Hamilton, who had put together a Duchamp exhibit at the Tate the year before.

Wikipedia says The Damned was the first band to explicitly invert the concept with their Black Album in 1980, although there's actually quite a bit going on here. More literally black covers can be found on later releases by Prince and Metallica; for a list of albums featuring basically blank cover art, check out this list here.

Can we trace this trend back to Kazimir Malevich's 1915 Suprematist masterwork, "Black Square?" The painting was placed in the position on the wall traditionally reserved for a religious icon, usurping the image of Christ; are blank album covers similar denials of their creators? Not that rock stars consider themselves Christ-like or anything.

Simpsons Movie Takes on Environment... Well, Kind Of.

This weekend I was lucky enough to catch the aptly titled The Simpsons Movie at my local independent theater. With all the hype—7-11s transformed into Kwik-E-Marts complete with Squishees and Buzz Cola, annoying ads during other Fox shows—I was ready to be wowed. But what wowed me, I didn't expect—the movie took on the thorny issue of environmentalism ... well, sort of, if you count Homer fighting power-crazy environmentalists with motorcycles and dog sleds.

In the film, Lisa crusades door-to-door for the salvation of Springfield's lake and, predictably, gets many of them slammed in her face; Homer's her undoing, dumping a silo of "pig crap" into the lake that turns it into a seething, green, boiling pool of acidic sludge; and there's an interesting twist, wherein, the EPA actually cares about the environment. Humorously, the EPA puts a huge, glass dome over the city to keep the lake's toxins from spreading (they care more about the trees than the people of Springfield).

The Simpsons of course fight back and attempt to free Springfield from its doom in the dome and the EPA v Homer battle is surely amusing, but unfortunately, after 87 minutes of comedy, the sentiment that people should not drop "pig crap" into lakes is pretty much forgotten. Not that I was really expecting (okay, I kind of was) great pearls of wisdom from The Simpsons but I had hoped for more examples of criminal environmental degradation, especially since the mastermind behind everything Simpsons is from my home state of Oregon, a state with a long history of fighting the timber and fishing industries to preserve its unique natural beauty.

July 30, 2007

Top Ten Stuff 'n' Things - 7/30/07 - International Flavor

This week, the Top Ten celebrates music from around the world, mostly even outside of, like, California! Also, I manage to restrict myself to only one track that could qualify as French techno (More about Daft Punk's live show later). So come take a round-the-world trip on Riff Airlines, no carbon offset credits necessary.

10. Manu Chao - "Rainin in Paradize" (from La Radiolina, out 9/4 on Virgin)
A perfect track to kick off an internationally-themed top ten, the uptempo beat of "Paradize" contrasts with its darker lyrical themes. Polyglot Chao here gives voice to various "calamities" and "atrocities" from Baghdad to Zaire, with repetitive lyrics that take on the aura of a kind of chant, or a prayer.

9. Mumiy Troll - "Ru.Da" (from Amba on Real) (mp3 via their site)
Vladivostok combo Mumiy Troll (Мумий Тролль) are saddled with greatness: ten years ago, they made Morskaya, a near-masterpiece of an album that perfectly captured the excitement of post-Communist Russia. While their latest effort isn't quite as inspired, single "Ru.Da" leaps from Pixies-reminiscent verses to an epic chorus.

8. Various Artists - Optimo - Pitchfork Mix 01
(download here)
This set from the Glasgow DJs redefines "eclectic," effortlessly mixing from Brazil to Germany to Norway to, er, Sonic Youth. While the duo are known for favoring "psych-rock," the hour-long set is, at its core, utterly groovy, in the best possible sense.

7. Mexican Institute of Sound - "El Microfono" (from Piñata on Nacional) (listen on his MySpace page)
MIS is basically a one-man band (Mexico City's Camilo Lara); he brings together hip-hop and electronic sounds as well as more traditional Mexican influences on his new album. "Microfono" has a quirky, loping sample and mellow feel, over which Lara delivers a laid-back freestyle rap.

6. Various Artists - Typsy Gypsy Mixes
(mp3s via 'T Nieuwe Werck, more info at Boing Boing)
Belgian DJ Typsy Gypsy (of the Balkan Hot Step Soundsystem) has put together two mixes featuring a fusion of Klezmer and Balkan sounds with electronic beats (which, the blog brags, all come in over 150bpm). Hopa!

5. Culture - Two Sevens Clash (reissue on Shanachie) (iTunes link)
The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones celebrates the re-release of this 1977 album, apocalyptic in theme but wildly eclectic in sound. The title track, with its delicate electric piano and major chords, is anything but dour, and on "Get Ready to Ride the Lion to Zion," buzzy effects (plus an actual lion roar) give the track an almost cartoonish joy.

4. Chromeo - "Fancy Footwork" (from Fancy Footwork on Vice) (listen on their MySpace here)
Canada counts as international, right? This duo trades in the kind of 80s-referencing electro-funk that easily slips into parody; but like Les Rhythms Digitales before them, solid songwriting and an unflinching adoration of the decade's stylistic idiosyncrasies saves them from novelty status.

3. Victor Menegaux - "Feel Good Roboto" (Styx vs. Gorillaz) (mp3 via the Bootie Blog)
Okay, America gets one entry this week. Why Styx's inescapable 80s cheesy-prog-rock mega-hit hasn't already been in 1000 mashups, I'll never know. Seattleite Menegaux seamlessly marries it to Gorillaz' also-inescapable genre-crossing hit; their lilting vocal is strangely appropriate to the bombastic backing track.

2. Various Artists - Made in Israel (Mad Decent 16) (iTunes link or get it at Mad Decent here)
This installment in eclectic DJ and producer Diplo's podcast series features improbably fantastic Hebrew baile funk and Israeli booty bass. Turns out it was compiled by Sabbo and the Israeli Soulico crew, check them out here.

1. Rage Against the Machine - "Killing In the Name" (Mr. Oizo remix) (mp3 via Say Anything Syndrome here)
I first heard this in Digitalism's BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix a few weeks ago and immediately tried to track it down, thinking it would be a nice secret weapon. Then Sebastian played it in his DJ set opening for Daft Punk in front of a sold-out Greek Theater, and now everybody knows about it. Damn. Anyway, French producer Mr. Oizo's remix shifts between the original and a hilariously computerized electro "cover" version; it's guaranteed to murder any dance floor.

Taking the Rage a Bit Far?

I'm sure that all of the "aggressive, shirtless, white males" that saw Rage Against the Machine perform at the Rock the Bells hip hop concert in New York this weekend were stoked to see the Grammy-winning political metal-rap band back together after a seven-year hiatus.

But were they expecting lead singer Zack de la Rocha to say that members of the Bush Administration should be hung and tried and shot for war crimes? Yikes!

I mean, I'm all for mixing politics with music, but really? After seven years off, you'd think the band would have prepared a better statement.

This is the same band that, 10 years ago, took on social justice issues by making an album cover from a picture of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk protesting the murder of fellow monks by self-immolation in Saigon in 1963. This is also the same band that has spoken out against the death penalty in front of the United Nations, donated concert earnings to social justice organizations, and performed benefit shows for American political prisoners like Leonard Peltier.

I'm not sure what the band was hoping to accomplish, but de la Rocha's comment got author Ann Coulter and rocker Ted Nugent to agree that there's a limit to freedom of speech rights.

Monday Fun Links

UK producer Mark Ronson is the first to officially remix Bob Dylan; check out a clip on his MySpace page.

Led Zeppelin will finally allow their music to be (legally) downloaded. Your move, Radiohead.

The Guardian gives us a brief history of Shoegaze, in which Creation Records founder Alan McGee calls My Bloody Valentine a "joke".

A fascinating look at Michel Gondry's slightly, erm, obsessive process creating the mind-blowing video for the Chemical Brothers 2002 single "Star Guitar." Watch 'til the end to see the prototype video made with oranges and shoes and stuff.

New Order Back-and-Forth Continues

The, ahem, bizarre love triangle (sorry) that British synth-pop band New Order has become got even more bizarre over the weekend, as (former?) bassist Peter Hook threatened to sue the remaining members if they continue under the New Order name, reports NME.com.

Hook had previously announced that the band (a three-piece after Gillian Gilbert left in 2005) had split up for good; this prompted remaining members Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner to issue a statement saying that, in fact, they had every intention of continuing under the New Order name, with or without Hooky.

Hook then posted an angry rant on his MySpace blog, saying, "This group has SPLIT UP! you are no more new order than i am! you may have two thirds but dont assume you have the rights to do anything NEW ordery cos you dont ive still got a third!" He then adds, somewhat cryptically, "But am open to negotiation."

Can people please learn to spell? I know it's just a blog, but still.

July 27, 2007

First Listen: M.I.A. - Kala

Track # / Title	Sounds Like	Lyrical Excerpt	Rating /10
1. Bamboo Banga		"M.I.A. comin' back with power power"	8
2. Bird Flu		"What's the point of knocking me down?"	6.5
3. Boyz		"How many no money boys are crazy?"	10
4. Jimmy		"Take me on a genocide tour"	7.5
5. Hussel		"I hate money cause it makes me numb"	8
6. Mango Pickle Down River		"I like fish and mango pickle"	7
7. 20 Dollar		"20 dollars ain't s*** to you"	10
8. World Town		"Hands up, guns out"	7.5
9. The Trun		"I'm trying to do my best"	6
10. XR2		"Where were you in '92?"	9
11. Paper Planes		"All I wanna do is (bang bang) and take your money"	6.5
12. Come Around		"The beat goes on…"	7

M.I.A.'s Kala is out 8/21 on Interscope.

Video Artist Jeremy Blake Presumed Dead

The LA Times is reporting a body found in the ocean off of New Jersey is presumed to be that of video artist Jeremy Blake. Blake had left his wallet and a suicide note behind in his East Village apartment where his girlfriend had also committed suicide just a month ago, and was reportedly seen walking into the ocean off New York's Rockaway Beach on July 17th.

Blake, who was until recently based in Los Angeles, created hypnotic, abstract video pieces often consisting of slowly-changing washes of bright colors. He was best known for his work on Beck's "Sea Change" video, as well as interlude sequences in the 2002 Adam Sandler-starring film "Punch-Drunk Love." He was 35 years old.

Above: Detail from Winchester (2002)

Beck – "Round the Bend"

"Punch-Drunk Love" trailer

Friday Music News Wrapup

The Stooges are to perform their seminal 1970 album Fun House in its entirety for the first time in the US at a show in Las Vegas. (NME)

Kurt Cobain documentary "About a Son" to get a US release in October. (Yahoo! Music)

Rihanna's "Umbrella" tops the UK charts for a 10th week, becoming the longest-running UK #1 single in a decade. (BBC)

Former bassist Mark Ibold hints at Pavement reunion. (Idolator)

Group of sculptors conduct "Hello Experiment" to see if they, too, can sculpt Lionel Ritchie's head without the benefit of sight. (Rolling Stone)

July 26, 2007

Galifianakis Explains "Alternate" Kanye Video

This week Kanye West posted on his website an "alternate" video for his new song "Can't Tell Me Nothin'," featuring comedian Zach Galifianakis (right) and musician Will Oldham as a pair of rural yokels, carousing on tractors and accurately lip-synching to Kanye's lyrics.

Watch it here.

The world responded with a collective "WTF?!"

Today Galifinakis talked to MTV News about what inspired the clip, saying basically that he and Oldham were "drunk in my basement:"

"Kanye's trainer, Harley Pasternak, is a friend of mine, and he showed Kanye some of my videos. Then Kanye came to a stand-up show of mine and asked me afterwards if I would produce and perform a video for him," Galifianakis told MTV News. "I was flying to my farm in North Carolina the next morning [and] I told him that if I could shoot it there, then I would do it. There was no audition. I did whatever I wanted. He told me to just do what I thought would work. … [The song has] lots of words that are quite fast. Plus, my horrible dancing throws off the rhythm inside my head."

Question: Zach Galifianakis has a farm, with tractors just ready to go? Does that make him a comedian who farms, or a farmer who tells jokes?

July 25, 2007

Harry Potter Brings Out the Crazy (Not a Spoiler!)

I can’t pretend to judge.

Last night, I sat on my bed, eyes red with the sleepless wonder of every word that got me closer to the long-awaited Harry Potter conclusion. I laughed out loud. I sobbed. I gasped. I took the occasional "emotion-break" from reading in order to collect myself.

Then it came: sweet closure. When I finished, I didn’t know what was better — knowing what the ending was, or knowing that I didn’t have to blast my iPod or cover my ears on sidewalks and public transportation to drown out potential spoilers.

Whether it’s to amuse you, or to convince myself that I’m not that bad…why don’t we take a look at some of the more notable HP fanatics?

Kathy Cook, 48. Third-grade teacher, famous for her HP bedroom. Waterloo, IA.

" target="new">Miana Breed, 14. Wake Forest, NC. “My relationship with Harry started so long ago, when I was 8.”

Kristin Devoe, 39. Delmar, NY. Harry blogger would do anything to avoid a spoiler: "It might sound silly to those who haven't put in the time, but this is the biggest event in the history of books!"

Lucy Bushell, 30. Hambelton, UK. Saw the last HP movie 111 times.

—Anna Weggel

Juego Frio: Coldplay Announces New Album to Have "Hispanic" Theme

Coldplay have revealed that their new album, currently being recorded by the band in Barcelona, has a "Hispanic theme"… "The sights, sounds and flavours of Latin America and Spain have definitely been infused on this album. The band visited Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico earlier this year," the band explained on their blog. "Chris [Martin] then came up with the idea of recording in Spain. The music and lyrics have begun to reflect the strengthening Hispanic theme." (NME.com, 7/25/07)

"Who better than Coldplay," they continued, "with our spicy echoes of U2, Radiohead, and Travis, to explore these exotic flavours... like, you know, tomatoes." Singing about flavors has always been a focus of the English band, they say, describing early hit "Yellow" as being "inspired by a paticularly savory paella."

Rumored song titles on the new album include "Fix You (A Tasty Enchilada)," and "A Rush Of Blood To the Head After Eating This Spicy Hot Pepper." The album will come in multiple formats including a deluxe edition served with a side of guacamole and sour cream.

Industry experts question whether Coldplay's mostly white, middle-aged, mashed-potato-loving fan base is ready for such a stylistic sorpresa, but the band insists "the popularity of restaurants like Taco Bell, Chevy's and Outback Steakhouse proves the record-buying public already enjoys watered-down versions of south-of-the-border favorites."

"Si, si," echoed Martin, from under a yard-wide sombrero, "es muy… uh, how to express it… picante!"

July 24, 2007

CDs Out Today and a Word from Critics

UNKLE – War Stories (Surrender All)
Billboard: 4/5; "Soulful"
NME: 5/10; "Solid"
Blender: 4/10: "Turgid"

Prince – Planet Earth (Sony)
Entertainment Weekly: B+; "Thrilling"
Slant: 3/5; "Anesthetized"
Pitchfork: 4.8/10; "Diminishing"

Tegan & Sara – The Con (Vapor/Sanctuary)
AV Club: A-; "Ecstatic"
Entertainment Weekly: B+; "Catchy"
Chicago Tribune: 4/5; "Epic"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Is Is EP (Dressup/Fiction)
Pitchfork: 8.2/10; "Affecting"
Contactmusic.com: 8/10; "Genius"

July 23, 2007

Top Ten Stuff 'n' Things: 7/23/07

Oh, life. It's bigger. It's bigger than you! And you are not me! Too true, Michael Stipe; you know, your hometown of Athens, GA, having produced both the warbly melancholy of your very own REM and the cheeky beehives of your buddies The B-52s, seems to embody the yin and yang of this week's Top Ten: the tragedy, the comedy. Sure, life is awful and you really just wonder what the point of it all is, but also, dude, check out this video of the Muppets with a disco song!!! So, hurry up and bring your jukebox money:

10. Plastic Little – "Dopeness" (video; song from the forthcoming She's Mature)
Okay. I debated about posting this here—Mother Jones is a serious magazine, and this is a serious web site, and this video from the Philadelphia rap crew is pretty much Not Safe For Work, with its, um, kind of freakish opening-scene take on childbirth, and the song's slangy references to, er, genitalia, and "makin' babies," and the shaking of baby-makers. But before you fire me, Mother Jones, please hear me out: it's all done in such a spirit of surreal and silly fun, it's hard to be offended, and if it was a French short film and not a rap video you'd be putting it in a museum. Maybe. But, anyway, that one fake-childbirth moment might be hard to explain to your boss if they catch you watching it, so beware.

9. Blonde Redhead – "The Dress" (video; song from 23 on 4ad)
We've already established that 23 is one of the, well, at least top 23 albums of the year; apparently video director Mike Mills agrees, since he's in the middle of creating clips for five tracks off the album. Four are featured on the 4ad website, and they're all simple ideas, executed with a kind of zen focus: a text-only outline, a series of poses, an emerging rainbow, and this: a series of people doing something that's almost unbearable to watch. (Yes, it's safe for work.) (Watch a higher-quality quicktime stream here.)

8. Flight of the Conchords – "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" (from "Flight of the Conchords" on HBO)
Yes, okay, silly parody songs full of non-sequiters are kind of SNL Digital Short territory, and Beck has already done the geeky-white-boy's-ironic-Prince thing pretty well. But still, this entry into the genre from the new HBO series has its own charms, not least of which is the line, "Let's get in a cab / I'll buy you a kebab."

7. This video of Philipino prisoners re-enacting the video to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
Um, help?

6. Against Me! – "White People for Peace" (from New Wave on Sire)
While the video's colorful East-vs-West war-as-football metaphor isn't exactly ground-breaking, the track itself is oddly moving: a protest song about the futility of protest songs. The Florida punk-ish combo squeezes the line "Protest songs in response to military aggression" into the chorus, a line whose banality, in its repetition, takes on a kind of despair.

5. Funk That Sh*t – "Believe in Glory Box" (Cher vs. Portishead, mp3 on his website here)
Portishead's "Glory Box," from their 1994 album Dummy, is a masterpiece of spare, jazzy trip-hop; Cher's 1992 smash hit "Believe" is a strangely mechanical slice of pop-by-committee. Together: they're a monster! Sometimes a mashup is so wrong it's right, and this is so wrong it's like Frankenstein, but it's right like Frankenstein dancing with Gene Wilder.

4. Bat for Lashes – "What's a Girl to Do" (from Fur and Gold on Echo)
Hey, here's something the Mercury Award nominations are good for: they opened my ears to Bat for Lashes, the mysterious Kate Bush-y singer/songwriter otherwise known as Natasha Khan. In this track, she borrows the "Be My Baby" beat, but then goes to a much creepier place; the video echoes the weirdness with, um, woodland creatures doing stunt bicycling?

3. Caribou – "Melody Day" (from Andorra out 8/19 on Merge)
Toronto multi-instrumentalist (and, er, mathematician) Daniel Snaith has been making electronic-infused psychedelia for a few years under the Caribou moniker, after being forced to give up the name "Manitoba," long story. This track could almost be right out of the 60s, with its breathy vocals and echo-y flute trills. Plus, his website claims this video was filmed not far from where Tarkovsky shot "The Sacrifice!"

2. Escort – "All Through the Night" vs. Muppets Footage
You know what? I think this video proves my suspicion that Muppets actually walk a fine line between cute and terrifying. Am I wrong? Those talking fuzzballs and the dancing inverted "U" creatures kind of give me nightmares. Anyway, more editing up of silly old footage to go with incongruous songs please!

1. Lil' Wayne – "I Feel Like Dying"
(stream at The Fader here)
Sometimes a hip-hop song is built around a sample so toweringly brilliant, all the rapper has to do is just keep up. Thankfully we're dealing with New Orleans native Lil' Wayne, who's so hot right now you have to hold his mixtapes with oven mitts. Damn. Here the sample is apparently from a South African band called "Henry Ate," and lyrically, this is as devastating a portrayal of addiction as there has ever been in music, right up there with "The Needle and the Damage Done." Too bad he just got arrested.

Buju Banton Signs Gay Rights Group's Pledge

My recent posts on reggae have neglected to mention the current controversy over Jamaican stars and anti-gay lyrics. In an attempt to curb the flow of homophobic and often violent lyrics in reggae music, the UK-based OutRage! group organized the "Reggae Compassionate Act," a pledge for artists to sign in which they agree to "respect and uphold the rights of all individuals to live without violence due to their religion, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or gender." Today the group announced that Buju Banton (right) had signed the agreement. Banton was considered a focus for OutRage! due to his notorious 1992 hit "Boom Boom Bye," which called for "batty boys" (Jamaican slang for gay men) to be murdered in a variety of gruesome ways. The UK Guardian quoted a Jamaican gay rights leader as saying he hoped the singer's actions were "genuine."

His skepticism is understandable. In June it was reported that dancehall artists Beenie Man, Capleton and Sizzla had all signed the agreement, but on Sunday the Jamaica Observer published an interview with Beenie Man in which he denied signing the pledge. He did, however, offer the caveat of renouncing murderous violence against gays, quoted thusly: "We don't need to kill dem. We just need fi tell the people dem the right ting because I not supporting a gay lifestyle because it's not wholesome to me." The Observer reported it was unable to contact Capleton and Sizzla for confirmation of their signing the agreement.

Jamaica has been the scene of multiple incidents of violence against men perceived to be gay recently, including a mob attack on three men in Montego Bay in April, and a near-riot in Kingston in February in which three men were chased into a pharmacy by a crowd of nearly 2,000. The World Policy Institute issued a report (pdf) in 2003 stating that "Jamaica is by far the most dangerous place for sexual minorities, with frequent and often fatal attacks against gay men fostered by a popular culture that idolises reggae and dancehall singers whose lyrics call for burning and killing gay men."

July 20, 2007

Guerilla Art

Banksy.

Friday Music News Wrapup

James Hetfield of Metallica says the whole airport-security beard fiasco never happened. The blogosphere responds: "Oops." (Rolling Stone)

UK singer MIA has received her US entry visa on the eve of a New York performance. She had been forced to cancel US appearances after being denied entry; many suspected her outspoken lyrics were to blame, but she says no. (NME)

Where's your head at, indeed: Basement Jaxx are teaming up with Yoko Ono for their new album. (Yahoo! Music)

New Order will continue without Peter Hook. Bassist Hook announced the band was splitting up last month, but fellow members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris released a statement this week saying, basically, "er, guess that means you're not coming to practice." (NME)

Annie Lennox has recruited basically every single female singer in the universe for an AIDS charity single: Fergie? Check. Maddy? Check. Dido? Check. Bonnie, Celine, Melissa, Gladys? Check, check, check, check. (Billboard)

Get to Know an Emmy Nominee

Emmy nominees were announced on Thursday, and in addition to the usual "Sopranos" worship, someone I know is actually listed on the official Emmys website! Granted, the category is "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking," but still, that counts, right? She's Lois Vossen, series producer for ITVS's Independent Lens, which got the nod for "A Lion in the House." I e-mailed her to see if it really was an honor just being nominated.

So did someone call and wake you up with the news? That's what happens with all the big stars. And you have to go "It was such a surprise!!"

Yes, the filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar called my office at 7AM local time to tell me we were nominated. I was at the gym doing my Thursday morning spin class so they left a very funny message.

Being a TV star, how do you stay so down-to-earth?

I am not a TV star. I am a farm girl from Minnesota who loves independent filmmakers. I love bringing their work to public television.

What's your show called again?

Ah, Independent Lens. You know...seeing life through your own “independent” “lens.” Nick Frazier from the BBC hates the title of our series (“It’s so expected”) but we tease him that since his series is called “Storyville," in America that means it's about a young Superman.

Right. Anyway, oh my God, what are you going to wear?!!

At first I thought we were part of the September 16 Emmy ceremony (there are actually three different ceremonies. Two in L.A. a week apart and one in NYC a week later). And I wasn’t going to be able to attend because I’m getting married on September 15th. But it turns out we’re on the September 8th Emmy ceremony so I can attend. I’m going to wear something.

---

She's so coy. Showtimes for "Independent Lens" vary on PBS stations, because, you know, God forbid they actually make it easy. Check your local listings or their website for schedules.

Review/Infographic: Sonic Youth, Berkeley, 7/19/07

New York combo Sonic Youth are a third of the way through their Daydream Nation tour, where they're performing the legendary 1988 album in its entirety. For simplicity's sake, here's an infographic describing my experience at the show. Enjoy.

July 19, 2007

Interview: Jack Carneal, Founder of Yaala Yaala

Eight years ago, 31-year-old teacher Jack Carneal moved with his wife and young son to Bougouni, Mali. While his wife was busy researching rural education, Jack became immersed in the region's home-grown musical culture, buying up hand-copied cassettes and recording live street performances. Upon returning to the states, his handing out of Mali mix-tapes for friends grew into Yaala Yaala Records, an imprint of Chicago's Drag City dedicated to bringing Malian music to more listeners. We exchanged e-mails this week.

What was daily life like in your village in Mali?

It was based on domestic rituals: hanging out with neighbors, going to the market, taking naps, preparing meals. Our son was only 2 when we were there so much of our lives—the joys and stresses—revolved around our being relatively new parents, and in such a dynamic environment, to boot. On the main it was fantastic but we lived in a cinderblock house with a tin roof, and when daytime temps got up to 115 we often longed to be elsewhere.

How difficult was the process of tracking down musicians, getting their permission to record them, and, well, getting a good take?

The 'getting a good take' part was so simple as to be nonexistent. They played, I recorded. The musicians, in many cases, would've been performing regardless of whether or not I was there, and in the other cases I'd met the musicians and hung out with them a little bit before recording them.

I was, coincidentally, obsessing over Malian duo Amadou & Mariam's Dimanche a Bamako when I happened upon the Yaala Yaala releases, but then I saw on your label's site that they're dismissed as music for "export", and not really part of the local musical culture. I had thought I recognized some similar musical motifs, but am I just a naïve westerner thinking French fries make me an expert on French cuisine?

I love Amadou and Miriam, actually, but yes, they were never once mentioned out in Bougouni. There is a scale that a lot of Malian and West African music is based on and a similar long descending melody line in some tunes as well, ergo the audible similarity.

Has it been frustrating negotiating the restrictions and legalities of putting out actual releases, and dealing with the catch-22 of accusations of profiteering from the music of poor Africans?

Not too much, really. All agreements on BY were personal, between the musicians and I. I can be a bit prickly about these accusations, though. I've got a full-time job as a teacher and am not running this label in order that I may retire to Mustique. I do this because I love Malian music and recognized that the coolest Malian music was not being represented in the ultra-commercially oriented world music market. I have no intention of profiting. I'll be happy to make my costs back. In any case all profits that might be accrued are going into the Yaala Yaala Rural Musician's Collective, a fund I've started that will be disbursed when there's something to disburse.

Do you think people who have expressed concerns about the financial side of Yaala Yaala are merely curious about how things were arranged, or is something more nefarious going on, like a potentially racist conception of the musicians as "primitive" and thus easily exploitable?

The latter seems possible if not likely. I took great issue with Clive Barker's absolutely pretentious criticism of our guerilla take on releasing music in The Wire and thought it was patronizing as heck, even as he accused me of the same thing! I lived there, after all, among Bougounians and only Bougounians (there was no expat community out there, with gin parties at the ambassador's, etc) and suddenly he's the great white savior tearing down the greedy American for exploiting the poor, helpless Malians. Yes, I think there's a tinge of post-colonial guilt there from the old Limey.

On Bougouni Yaalali, I'm not sure if it's the background noise or the lack of song titles, but there's a kind of dreamlike quality, like floating from one musical scene to another, down a dusty street. Sometimes I'm not even sure what instrument is being played—is that a steel drum on Track 4?—but the feeling of being there is remarkable. Was this a goal, not only to show the world these talented musicians, but to give us a sense of place?

It's a balaphon, a West African xylophone, mic'ed and pumped through a horn speaker! Nothing was planned beforehand. However, I am pleased that people are responding to it as an auditory documentary of a very particular place: rural southeastern Mali, a region where a lot of the music we listen to today has its deepest roots.

You're saying you see a direct line from Malian music to, uh, Fall Out Boy?

In a freaky way, YES! We're working on our next round of releases, some of which we hope will be Malian hunter's music. According to ethnomusicologist Eric Charry, this could be one of the oldest forms of ritual music in existence. And lo and behold, most of it is 4/4 with very rock-like tempos and inflections. It's incredibly great music, and though I'm not claiming Fall Out Boy has listened to Yoro Sidibe, I believe that this very well could be as much a forbear of southern blues traditions as anything. Which of course became rock and roll, baybee!

Yaala Yaala Records' home page is here; read a longer interview with Carneal in the Washington City Paper here.

MP3s from the Drag City site: Pekos/Yoro Diallo excerpt; Bougouni Yaalali excerpt; Doudala Dembele excerpt.

Update: Weirdly enough, at the exact time I was working on posting this interview, Idolator put up a piece that (in addition to misspelling the label's name) continued the accusations of "chauvinistic bootlegging" towards Carneal and Yaala Yaala, while giving a glowing review to the Pekos/Yoro Diallo release. I've asked Carneal if he'd like to make a response, which I'll post here if he does so.

Update #2: Carneal got in touch to reiterate that "any and all profits from Yaala Yaala will go to our Rural Musician's Collective fund where it will be held and disbursed annually. ...I align myself firmly with the Sublime Frequencies guys: if we weren't putting out this music no one would hear it. That's reason enough to do it. If money is made it will go to the right people."

Clean Up That Mosh Pit When You're Done

Ever seen an arena after a big show? It's an apocalyptic nightmare of trash, grime, beer bottles, cigarette butts, random articles of clothing, and sweat; not to mention the huge chunk of energy that was used to power stage lights, amps, sound boards and speakers.

Well, the green-friendly folks at Reverb, a nonprofit founded by an environmentalist and a musician, want to reduce the "environmental footprint" of big touring shows this summer—not just by recycling and reducing plastic waste at shows, but by using biodiesel tour buses and generators, eco-friendly merchandise, and biodegradable catering products. They're also setting up Eco-Villages at shows to educate folks about carbon offsets and green technologies.

Who is Reverb tagging along with this summer? Pretty boy John Mayer, The Fray, the Beastie Boys, and Brandi Carlile, who by the way is donating $.50 from every ticket back to Reverb.

So, I guess it's not cool to show up to the rock show with your pals in a gas-guzzling Ford pickup and throw beer cans all over the parking lot anymore...

July 18, 2007

Mika Not the First to be Coy About His Sexuality

UK pop sensation Mika recently topped the charts in the UK with "Grace Kelly," a bouncy slice of "Queen lite" that some found grating. Despite the, well, glammy nature of his music (and a song about a gay love affair on his CD), Mika has famously refrained from revealing his own sexuality, recently appearing on the cover of Out magazine beside the headline: "Gay/Post-Gay/Not Gay?"

But, of course, Mika's not the first guy to play the "sexuality is a private matter" card, and it's interesting to note that many of the musicians we now take for granted as torch-bearing homophiles were just hinting at it for years. Logo's After Elton site has a fascinating look at male rock and pop stars who have "straddled the closet," as they put it. It's actually kind of depressing: does every gay artist have to blather endlessly about not wanting to be "pigeonholed" as a "gay artist?" Even Jake Shears of gayer-than-a-thousand-Liberace-candelabras combo Scissor Sisters has the eye-rolling quote of "I'm not a gay man first and foremost." Jeez, lighten up! Do ya wanna make out, or not?! It's heartening to see up-and-coming musicians like (super-cute) Dan Sells of The Feeling who's utterly blasé about it, saying he marched in his first pride parade at age 4. Check out the article here.

And yes, just to be clear, your writer is absolutely a gay man first and foremost. Before being a geek, and a fan of snack foods, even. ...Okay maybe not before snacks.

White Stripes Mock Canadians With One-Note Show

Well, the Canadians seemed pretty happy about it, actually. The White Stripes had been performing at odd venues all over Canada in a quest to play in every province and territory in our great northern neighbor; yesterday, realizing that they were one province (Newfoundland) away from achieving this goal, and that "playing a show" would really only require them to play a single note, they did exactly that. Here's video from the one-note show, yesterday in St. John's, Newfoundland:

Yes, the audience is chanting "One more note!" But don't worry about the poor Newfoundlandians: the Stripes did a full two-hour gig for 'em later that night. Check Stereogum for some awesome pictures of the roadies tuning up the gear before the one-note performance, go here for upcoming US dates.

Utada Hikaru Scores Biggest Digital Hit Ever

Variety is reporting Japanese superstar Utada Hikaru has achieved the record of largest-selling digital single ever, with "Flavor of Life" moving over seven million units. Label EMI made the claim despite the fact that there's no real official body who counts these things, so it can't be verified; however, the next-highest-sellers (O-zone's nightmarish "Dragostea Din Tei," with four million units, and in the US, Daniel Powter's almost-as-horrific "Bad Day," with two million) are so far behind, I guess nobody's questioning it.

"Flavor" was available in a format to anyone's, er, taste: mobile phone ringtones, mobile downloads, home computer downloads, ring videos, and "ringback" tones (the new thing where you hear it instead of a ring when you call somebody). Perfect for Japan where people basically live out of their cell phones.

Who is Utada Hikaru, you may be asking? It's understandable: despite her massive Japanese success, an attempt to market her in the US as "Utada" failed miserably, and much of her best material still isn't available domestically. You can listen to excerpts of both versions (the regular and "ballad" style) of "Flavor" on her official website here, but you can't buy it. Unfortunately you also can't buy the single that, in my opinion, is her best so far: the charming Madonna-reminiscent "Traveling," which I'm admittedly partial to since it was utterly omnipresent during a brief trip to Tokyo six years ago. So, check out the awesome (if slightly overwhelming) video and an mp3 below.

Utada Hikaru – "Traveling" (from Deep River, 2002, on Toshiba/EMI)

July 17, 2007

It's Got a Good Beat, and You Can Think To It

The Reagan era may have jump-started an entire era of politically-charged punk music, but dissent lies among the ranks of globalized musicians in 2007 as well. And the music of the Bush era is as fun as it is political.

Wunmi, a singer who used to perform with Soul II Soul and Roy Ayers, takes the basic elements of Afrobeat (jazz, funk, 70s African percussion, lots of repeated musical phrases), and adds distinct verses, choruses, and hooks to make it sound like a pop song. On her song "Talk Talk Talk," She tells politicians to stop flapping their jaws—"Too much talking. Too much yap yap talking"—and to start solving problems.

Brooklyn's Antibalas, a self-described "giant versatile orchestra," plays Latin-influenced Afrobeat music inspired by Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti and Latin jazz band leader Eddy Palmieri. Their 2007 album Security powers through political songs like "War Hero" and "Filibuster X," but band members say that even their instrumentals are filled with enough cultural and political emotion to inspire awareness and change.

Ozomatli, a 10-piece Latin/funk/rock band from Los Angeles, describes its brand of musical activism as "oppositional politics." Their song "La Temperatura," off their 2007 album Don't Mess With the Dragon, was inspired by immigration marches last summer in downtown L.A. Last month, the group was credited as the first western artist to perform in Nepal in recent history and the group's shows were acknowledged by some as the first peaceful and non-political mass gathering ever organized in modern Kathmandu.

Take that, Reagan Youth!

New Music: John Vanderslice - Emerald City

I don't, like, drink beer with John Vanderslice, but he lives across the street from one of my friends in a fogged-in outer-SF neighborhood, and he's legendary around town for being a super nice guy, which he totally was the one time I talked to him. This of course should all be irrelevant to the actual music, but still, I get all excited when he has a new CD coming out, like, "Hooray! Go, you!" Vanderslice is a multi-instrumentalist and studio owner, so it's hard to characterize his sound: Beatles-y, Smoggy, Death Cabby? The title of his sixth (!) solo album, Emerald City, apparently refers to Baghdad's Green Zone, which reflects the darkness that creeps up around the edges of these deceptively sunny tunes. I guess his French girlfriend's visa is all tied up in Homeland Security red tape, so it's understandable where the heartache is coming from. But on songs like "White Dove," which asks, again and again, "what are you thinking of," the sense of longing is rendered with delicate grace; you get the feeling Vanderslice couldn't make an ugly song if you paid him to.

Emerald City is out Tuesday, July 24th on Barsuk Records.

(mp3 of "White Dove" from the Barsuk site, or listen at JV's MySpace)

I Smell a Hit

So, how can kids these days be convinced to shell out big bucks for CDs when free mp3s of the new Fergie megajam are just a click away? Here's an idea: add value through the magic of odor. CMJ reports that CDDVD Now! plans to introduce scent-infused scratch 'n' sniff CDs, which they're calling "Rub 'n' Smell Discs." Seriously. The Bay Area company alleges that scents "stimulate purchase activity," which I suppose is true when you smell cookies and then buy actual cookies. The scents are applied to the CD surface as a varnish, customers release the odor by lightly rubbing the surface. Stock scents offered include standards like Strawberry and Watermelon, pleasant surprises like Ocean Mist and Clean Cotton, and bafflers like Asphalt and Stinky Cheese. Custom scents are also available… please tell me the new Collie Buddz CD will smell like Cheetos and Ho-Hos.

Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys Up for Mercury Prize

The nominees for this year’s Mercury Prize, honoring the best album by a British or Irish artist, were announced today in London; the list has both surprises and shoe-ins. Retro-R&B; sensation Amy Winehouse and jumpy rockers Arctic Monkeys seemed guaranteed nods, and have been pegged as equal favorites to win, with booker William Hill giving them each 4-to-1 odds. (I love this whole British "odds on everything" thing. I'm 2-to-1 for going to grab coffee after this.) The Arctics won the prize last year for their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not; fellow nominee Dizzee Rascal has also won before, back in 2003. Other artists nominated include Klaxons, The View, and New Young Pony Club. A full list of nominated albums, William Hill odds, and "for fans of" descriptions after the jump.

2007 Mercury Music Prize Nominees

Artist - Album (Odds) (MySpace and YouTube links)
For Fans Of: two other bands and something else

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (4-to-1) (MySpace, "Brianstorm" on YouTube)
For fans of: The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, youthfulness

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (4-to-1) (MySpace, "Rehab" on YouTube)
For fans of: The Ronettes, The Supremes, eyeliner

Dizzee Rascal - Maths And English (8-to-1) (MySpace, "Fix Up Look Sharp" on YouTube)
For fans of: Busta Rhymes, Tricky, English as a foreign language

Jamie T - Panic Prevention (8-to-1) (MySpace, "Sheila" on YouTube)
For fans of: Billy Bragg, The Clash, boozing it up

Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future (8-to-1) (MySpace, "Golden Skans" on YouTube)
For fans of: Kaiser Chiefs, Liars, Doctor Who

The View - Hats Off To The Buskers (8-to-1) (MySpace, "Wasted Little DJs" on YouTube)
For fans of: The Fratellis, The Strokes, obscure Scottishisms

Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold (10-to-1) (MySpace, "Prescilla" on YouTube)
For fans of: Bjork, Tori Amos, autoharps

Fionn Regan - The End Of History (10-to-1) (MySpace, "Be Good or Be Gone" on YouTube)
For fans of: Nick Drake, acoustic Beck, adorable mop-haired Irish boys with guitars

The Young Knives - Voices Of Animals And Men (10-to-1) (MySpace, "Here Comes the Rumour Mill" on YouTube)
For fans of: Hot Hot Heat, The Cars, tweed suits

Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford - Basquiat Strings (12-to-1) (MySpace)
For fans of: Kronos Quartet, Jon Metcalf, National Public Radio

Maps - We Can Create (12-to-1) (MySpace, "It Will Find You" on YouTube)
For fans of: Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, sitting alone in your room

New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom (12-to-1) (MySpace, "Ice Cream" on YouTube)
For fans of: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blondie, asymmetrical haircuts

July 16, 2007

Top Ten Stuff 'n' Things - 7/16/07

I know I said I didn't like reggae. But, I lied. Mostly I just don't like people who like reggae, especially people in San Francisco who like reggae. Take a shower! But, ensconced in my relatively tidy house, with running water and clean air that doesn't reek sourly of weed (I swear! It doesn't!) sometimes that loping dancehall beat hits the spot. Thus, the presence of four, count 'em, four reggae or kinda-reggae tracks on this week's Top Ten, plus the usual techno and stuff. Welcome to Jamrock:

10. Tegan & Sara - "The Con" (from The Con, out 7/24 on Sire)
(iTunes link)
Not reggae, and not quite as instantly catchy as 2005's "Walking With a Ghost," the Canadian duo still bring infectious melodies to this slightly rockier single. Their lyrics are as obtuse as ever ("I'm capsized, staring on the edge of safe") but clearly impart the pain and confusion of a breakup.

9. Built to Spill - "They Got Away" (single on Warner Bros.)
(mp3s just taken down from Stereogum here, but they promise a stream soon, or, wow, buy it on iTunes)
Hey whoa, remember this band? Ten years ago (!) they made Perfect From Now On, a near-masterpiece of epic, heartbreaking 7- and 8-minute songs reminiscent of Neil Young. Now they've put out a, er, one-off reggae single, but somehow it works. Don't worry, it's still in a minor key, with lead singer Doug Marsch lamenting "they got the things that they came for," before the band launches into an echoey instrumental dub.

8. People Press Play - "These Days" (from the self-titled album on Morr) (mp3 via Boule a Facettes)
This icy track from the Copenhagen quartet could fit on your mix tape with Air and Swayzak, but they're unapolagetically synthy, with glitchy percussion and bubbling bass owing more to Aphex Twin, and a theremin-reminiscent solo at the end. Plus I think I have that same Ikea stool from their publicity photo. Flüggi or whatever.

7. Justice - "Genesis" (from † on Ed Banger / Vice)
(mp3 via Hate Something Beautiful)
The first track on the French duo's new album makes explicit the hard-rock connection with what sounds like a Sabbath sample. But then it heads straight for techno-land, with acid squelches rising up in pitch until you can just imagine the hands-in-the-air cheers of the basement crowd.

6. The Pack - "Robocop" (from the forthcoming Based Boys)
(Stream at The Fader blog here)
This Bay Area rap crew had trouble getting their last video, "Vans," on MTV, seeing as it's about a trademarked shoe product; can somebody tell the Pack that their latest song title is shared with a movie that ~~starred our freakin' Governator~~ er, features a robotic cop?! Thankfully it makes sense: as The Fader points out, you can totally do the robot all day to the song's Kraftwerky beats.

5. The Reggae Show (Thursdays 10pm-midnight on KXLU 88.9 FM, Los Angeles) (live stream here)
When you're driving around LA, and KCRW is getting you down with its tendency to drift off into jazzy noodling or that horrible "Waiting Game" song, why not dial your radio a few beeps down to 88.9, Loyola Marymount's broadcasting frequency. It's adventurous without being completely insane, although the Thursday night reggae show was pretty bonkers. It actually sounded like it was being broadcast straight from Jamaica, with stoned dubby tracks and the lowdown on LA's apparently vibrant reggae scene.

4. Wyclef feat. Akon & Lil' Wayne - "The Sweetest Girl" (from the forthcoming The Second Wind) (stream at Def Sounds here)
I'm a sucker for hip-hop that features a melancholy acoustic guitar (see Nelly's "Ride Wit Me"); this track adds a kind of dancehall groove to the nostalgic verses, then bursts into a surprisingly melodic reference to the Wu-Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M." in the chorus.

3. Film School - "Lectric" (from the forthcoming Hideout, out 9/11 on Beggars Banquet)
(mp3 via Spinner.com)
Swirling guitars and buried vocals inevitably bring comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, but this driving, uptempo track from the up-and-coming San Francisco/LA combo (now a five-piece with the addition of bassist/vocalist Lorelei Plotcyzk) has a raw intensity that recalls Love & Rockets.

2. Big Sonic Chill (weekdays 10pm-2am Pacific on KBZT 94.9 FM, San Diego) (listen live here)
Under the guise of a "chill-out" show, host Midori puts together one of the most progressive timeslots on commercial radio in the US. The night I tuned in, mellow faves like Air and Bjork shared the airwaves with Great Northern and Feist; it's a playlist unimaginable on most rawk-centric alternative stations.

1. Collie Buddz - "Come Around" (from the self-titled album on Sony) (iTunes link)
This is the backing track used by Lil' Wayne on Rap City (see previous post); the easy, rolling beat is perfectly suited to Buddz' weed-centric lyrics and bong-reminiscent sound effects. Buddz isn't from Jamaica--he was born in New Orleans and lived in Bermuda--but this sounds like authentic roots reggae to me, and imparts all the fun of smoking out, without the... um, you know... er... I forget what.

Karl Rove's Reefer Madness-Induced Memory Loss

Karl Rove's game sure has improved since he was a young Republican on the make in the early 1970s. The New York Times recently found a letter written by Rove in the Nixon archives in which the 22-year-old Capitol Hill aide outlines his ideas to recruit kids for a sexy-sounding group called "New Federalism Advocates." His big idea: midnight showings of John Wayne movies and Reefer Madness. Like many a former fan of the cult antidrug flick, Rove now pleads memory loss. "God, this is 1973!" he told the Times. "You work the math. I don’t remember it all.”

Rove also said he's not surprised his old letter was found, explaining, “When you send something to a White House person, it tends to be collected and remain.” Yeah, unless that White House person happens to be "Dude, Where's My Email?" Rove.

Live Earth Germany Loses Big Euros

I promise I’m not jumping on the Drudge-led Live Earth-bashing "there's no global warming" bandwagon, but this is the story: Billboard.biz reports the German edition of Live Earth on July 7th lost 1.3 million buckaroos. Ticket sales and merchandise added up to about $1.7 million, but costs added up to $2 million, not including the $1 million they paid to the Live Earth organization, for what exactly it’s not clear. Access to the Al Gore holographic projection data stream? Anyway, perhaps it was the lineup that kept ticket buyers away (only 29,000 of 45,000 were sold): the big names were Chris Cornell, Snoop Dogg, and DJ Sasha. Weird! Buried at the end of the Billboard story: news that the City of Hamburg is now stuck with the bill. Sorry, Hamburgers: that money we were going to spend on energy-efficient light bulbs, it’s, ah, being redirected.

Sick of “Umbrella” Yet? Don’t Be

Barbadian teen superstar Rihanna could be heading for the record books: her summer anthem “Umbrella” just extended its reign at the top of the UK charts to eight weeks. Will it go another week? The last single to spend nine weeks at #1 was, in fact, Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” (see previous post), which was famously “deleted” (i.e., removed from distribution and chart eligibility) in order to prevent Gnarls overload. So, is “Umbrella” in danger of, er, gouging everyone’s ears out? Not yet, says The Guardian’s Dorian Lynskey, who gives nine reasons why he’s still enjoying the “ella, ella, ay, ay, ay:”

1. It's such an improbable R&B; summer smash. Neither laidback and fuzzy nor upbeat and exuberant, it's more like a rock power ballad stripped down to drums, voice, and thundercloud synths. Plus - and more on this later - it's about rain, for crying out loud. Who writes a summer song about rain?

He goes on to cite the track’s detailed production, Rihanna’s voice (and good looks), and even maintains the much-maligned intro rap from Jay-Z is actually a positive, throwing the rest of the track’s brilliance into sharper relief, I guess. The track’s current seven-week reign in the US means we should also be inching towards “Umbrella” saturation soon, but one of Lynskey’s reasons to hold out is peculiarly British: the endless rain that has apparently been pouring down on the UK all summer makes the song seem oddly relevant. Interestingly enough, the rain has been so bad that an Ireland radio station that’s been playing my Snow Police mash-up got in touch with me to do a mash-up commission (in an apparent attempt to break the curse of the summer storms): a combo of “Umbrella” with any song about sun, or warmth, or drought, or dryness of any sort. I gave it a try with “Walkin’ on Sunshine,” but it didn’t really work. Sorry, waterlogged Irish kids…

Gnarls Barkley Talks New Album, Barely

Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) gave an interview to Billboard recently to discuss the upcoming sophomore effort from Gnarls Barkley, but didn’t say, or offer, very much. He apparently went back on a promise to play multiple songs from the new album, instead offering to play only one, from his personal iPod, and don’t look at it or ask any questions:

"I can play the song now or after the interview," he says. "I'm not going to talk about the song, so it doesn't matter when I play it. And I can't tell you the name of the song, either."

Urp. He also refuses to give a name or possible release date for the new album (the follow-up to last year’s surprise hit, the 1.3-million-selling St. Elsewhere). Idolator muses that perhaps he’s “cracking a little under the pressure,” but this kind of secrecy worked for “Crazy:” mp3s of the track began circulating in late 2005 without a title attached, an acapella of Cee-Lo’s vocal was never released or distributed (despite voracious demand from bootleggers eager to pull a Grey Album on Danger Mouse), and it took months for bloggers to track down the original sample. While “Crazy” was a once-in-a-lifetime slice of brilliance, perhaps Burton’s tactic of resisting the internet age’s mantra of “everything you wanted to know (and even things you didn’t want to know) all the time” is an astute strategy for hit-making. We'll see whenever the new album comes out.

July 13, 2007

Neato Viddys on the Intertubes

In this edition: Prog rockers! Cartoon ladies! Hot rappers! And, um, Courtney Love!

Battles - "Atlas" (from Mirrored on Warp)
In which the quartet perform their neo-post-electro-prog-punk track (that sounds something like Helmet being remixed live by Aphex Twin over a Gary Glitter beat) in what appears to be a glass box floating through space

Mark Ronson - "Oh My God" (from Version on Columbia)
In which a young man develops an interest in a sexy young... cartoon. She's not bad, she's just drawn that way

Lil' Wayne - Rap City Freestyle (performed live on BET's Rap City, 4/20/07)
In which the Miami-via-New Orleans rapper takes a breather from guesting on every single track in the whole world to prove why he's in demand, with an awe-inspiring off-the-cuff live performance over a syrupy reggae-inflected beat

Courtney Love - "Pacific Coast Highway" (live at Bush Hall, London, 7/9/07; from the forthcoming Nobody's Daughter on Universal)
In which the often-troubled singer, currently on a "low-key" tour to familiarize her band with new songs, gives a London audience a glimmer of what was so compelling about her music ten years ago

Deadline Looming for Webcasters... Or Not

As the Sunday (July 15) due date for internet broadcasters to pay new royalty rates approaches, it’s still not clear who will be left on the web on Monday. The new rates, as we’ve discussed here before, follow a Copyright Royalty Board ruling earlier this year specifying higher per-listener-per-song rates paid to artists and labels retroactive to January, 2006, potentially putting webcasters large and small out of business. There are some last-minute developments; first, on Wednesday a federal appeals court denied a petition from webcasters hoping to delay the rate increase. Then, late on Thursday night, two U.S. representatives introduced a bill that would at least postpone the Copyright Board ruling, although Billboard quotes sources as saying “it's unlikely this bill could or would be passed quickly.”

The unlikely coalition of companies like Yahoo, AOL, and Viacom (who say 47 percent their 2006 revenue would go to the new royalties) with independent webcasters like BAGeL Radio and noncommercial stations like KCRW makes parsing the situation a bit difficult; are big corporations just trying to get out of paying artists what their music is worth by raising the flag of “musical diversity?” On the other hand, KCRW’s own Celia Hirschmann reports (pdf link) that SoundExchange, the RIAA offshoot that advised the Copyright Board on the new rules, has engaged in some shady tactics of its own, like proposing a “compromise” proposal that required webcasters to abandon support for new rules in the meantime.

In any event, Billboard again quotes their super-secret sources as saying there is “no present intention” to enforce the new rules: the new rates are apparently a “right” the artists and labels will hold, but whether to exercise it or not will be up to them. Unless they do so, webcasters large and small will still be on your computers on Monday.

July 12, 2007

The Webpage at the End of the Internet

I recently discovered the life-changing invention that is Google Reader and its "Next" bookmark. (Google Reader is a feed reader that allows you to aggregate blogs and news feeds using Really Simple Syndication (RSS). (Including this blog, by the way). But the real revolution is the "Next" bookmark, which you slide onto your bookmarks toolbar and use to jump around the internet from blog to blog, reading every unread item on the blogs whose feeds you subscribe to. That means I can jump from reading the newest post on the Blue Marble to reading the newest MoJo Blog post with unprecedented ease.

There's only one problem, as far as I can see. If you run out of new items on the blogs you've subscribed to, you get to the end of the internet. Then what are you going to do? I guess when that happens, it's time to pick up your print copy of the magazine and start reading the old-fashioned way.

—Nick Baumann

July 10, 2007

Look At Madonna’s Eyes, Not At Her Guitar

Okay, one last Live Earth post. Two mini-scandals are emerging from Madonna’s appearance at the London show: First, as the Telegraph puts it, debate is “raging” on the internet about whether Madge was actually playing the guitar during “Ray of Light,” or, rather, whether her guitar was plugged in. A quick viewing of the video on YouTube seems to debunk that rumor—or else somebody’s backstage playing two chords really sloppily. Second, and possibly weirder, are reports that Madonna insisted interviewers maintain eye contact with her at all times, and that they “never look down to check notes – all questions must be memorized or the interview will be terminated.” Ulp! Don’t the high-and-mighty usually demand no eye contact? I’m so confused.

Blog Gives Away Free Radiohead Covers

…that don’t suck! Stereogum, the venerable Sufjan-loving (and, in the interest of full disclosure, me-tolerating) music blog, has put together a song-by-song covers album of Radiohead’s 1997 masterpiece OK Computer, and made all the tracks available for free. Even rival site Pitchfork seems to like the new versions, performed by artists like Doveman, Cold War Kids, and The Twilight Sad. Head over to the “OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer” page to grab the mp3s and see what the artists had to say about them. My recommendations? SF favorite John Vanderslice’s synthy update of “Karma Police” (mp3), and Marissa Nadler & Black Hole Symphony’s breathy take on “No Surprises" (mp3).

Wait, I Thought You Invited Oasis

In the wake of Labour’s triumph in the 1997 UK general election, few images seemed as symbolic of the shift in regimes as this photograph of Tony Blair with Oasis guitarist and vocalist Noel Gallagher at a music industry reception at 10 Downing Street. Oasis were at the peak of their popularity, and their narrative as a “real band” who hit the big time seemed to match up perfectly with Blair’s image as a new kind of politician. But, whoops: it turns out it was all an accident.

British music newspaper NME reports that the just-published diaries of Blair spokesman Alistair Campbell reveal Blair had “no idea” how Gallagher had been invited, and was worried he might “do something crazy,” in that way rock ‘n’ roll stars do. Desperate calls were made to Alan McGee, manager of Oasis’ label Creation Records, for assurances Gallagher would behave; McGee promised, but said it was a good thing they hadn’t invited lead singer Liam instead.

The Guardian has already reported how “Cool Britannia’s” union of Britpop and Labour was a marriage of convenience; this kind of seals that deal, although it does make Oasis seem a bit cooler in retrospect: Noel crashed Tony Blair’s party!

Hey, let’s watch some Oasis videos after the jump.

“(What’s the Story) Morning Glory”

“Champagne Supernova” (Live at Knebworth, 1996)

“Supersonic”

July 9, 2007

Top Ten Stuff 'n' Things - 7/09/07

I know what a disappointment I am to you. With a ridonkulous name like "Party Ben," you're all expecting the DJ version of Duffman, delivering 10-packs of stoopid-fresh jams with for your beer-hat headphones, but then my Top Tens turn out to be full of mopey, depressing space-rock. Sorry. Well, finally, this week, songs you could potentially refer to as "party tunes" actually dominate the Top Ten, with a ratio of, maybe, 7-to-3? ...Depending on what your definition of "party" is, come to think of it.

10. Mad Martigan - "That's All Grandpa" (Neil Young vs. Genesis) (mp3 from his site here)
Who says all mashups have to be a cheesy 80s track with a current rap hit over the top? (Urp, me, I guess). Anyway, the French producer admits this might be "for old people," but the oddly melancholy feeling the obscure Young track gives the Genesis vocal is entirely fresh.

9. Spoon - "Rhthm and Soul" (from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, out tomorrow on Merge) (stream the whole album here)
Go over to the Merge jukebox site there, and under the list of song titles, you'll see the sentence "This record is a Hit!" in goofy type. They're probably being silly, but with seemingly unprecedented blog hype, that may actually be right. Songs like "Soul" aren't immediately accessible in a pop-radio sense, but the brilliantly crafted piano-heavy rock on display here feels timeless.

8. DJ Fashen - "Dangerous Jane" (Yin Yang Twins vs. Jefferson Starship) (on his MySpace page)
While I'm skeptical of anyone who's part of the whole DJ-to-the-stars posse with DJ AM and Steve Aoki, Fashen actually seems to have some chops, and this mashup is awesome. The almost-forgotten classic from good old Jefferson Starship brings out the urgency in the Yin Yang Twins' warning, which itself lifts a line from Hall & Oates: "Watch out boy, she'll chew you up."

7. Air - "Mer du Japon" (Teenagers remix)
(from the Mer du Japon EP on Virgin)
"Japon" was a piano-laden highlight from the otherwise underwhelming Pocket Symphony; on this remix, Teenagers gives the track a driving beat reminiscent of Royksopp's "Remind Me" and allows the melody space to breathe.

6. T.I. feat. Wyclef Jean - "You Know What It Is" (from T.I. vs. T.I.P. on Atlantic)
Produced by Fugee Jean with a deceptively minimal beat that packs an aggressive, insistent punch (along with a couple sirens for good measure), Georgian rapper T.I. delivers his lines with a casual effortlessness, managing to cover what seems like a whole octave just in the title phrase.

5. Duke Dumont - "Lean & Bounce" (from a forthcoming EP on Turbo Recordings) (short mp3 sample here)
Simian Mobile Disco played this in their phenomenal live DJ set last month on BBC Radio 1, and I finally tracked down who made it: Duke Dumont, recent winner of Diesel Music's award for "Best Electronic Act." This track, dominated by a distored, metallic throb and a pitched-down sample loop that insists we "keep bouncin'," this is techno at its extreme, psychotic best.

4. Pharaohe Monch - "Desire" (from Desire on Universal) (mp3 from Nerd Litter here)
The Queens, NY native is good enough to ghost-write for the likes of Diddy, but on his second solo album, he seems free to let his instincts run wild like never before. This track, with its uplifting Motown sample and head-spinning puns ("Slave to labels / But I own my masters"), would be a massive radio hit in a just universe.

3. The Go! Team - "Grip Like a Vice" (from Proof of Youth, out 9/11 on Sub Pop) (listen on their MySpace here)
England's electro/hip-hop combo Go! Team makes music that sometimes seems ready to derail, like an awesome house party gone a bit out of control. "Vice" manages to keep things on track with an infectious, rolling four-chord backing beat reminisent of the Beastie Boys before they started making lounge music.

2. Rilo Kiley - "The Moneymaker" (from Under the Blacklight, out 8/21 on Warner) (video and mp3 from if:mv, or iTunes)
Fans of Jenny Lewis and crew's country-inflected rock might need a moment to adjust to this, a funky, bluesy jam with a vague similarity to David Bowie's "Fame." The video confirms the track's sleazy intent, with what appear to be porn stars lip-synching along to the chorus's "ahs" and "yeahs."

1. Various Artists - Bougouni Yaalali (on Yaala Yaala)
Recorded in Mali, this CD features no artist or track listings (partially due to the performers often refusing to give producer Jack Carneal their names); it therefore feels more like an audio snapshot, which somehow makes it all the more beguiling. While fans of Malian pop like Amadou & Mariam may recognize certain musical motifs, the songs here are often just a singer and a percussionist; along with the background noise of a party or just daily life, it's as close as you can get to a trip to Bamako without a plane ticket.

Sexually Explicit Lyrics OK with Tipper When Global Warming's Involved

Live Earth got so much coverage today that I swore I wasn't going to chime in. But there's one thing I couldn't let go unsaid.

Right by Al Gore's side during the event was his wife Tipper, clapping and cheering away for the performers, one of which was Madonna.

This is the same Tipper Gore who in 1985 founded the Parental Music Resource Center specifically to target musicians like Madonna for having explicit lyrics in their songs! Madonna's "Dress You Up" was on Tipper's "filthy fifteen" list of songs that she felt should be monitored and rated by the record industry. It's because of the work of Tipper and the PMRC that the record industry eventually started slapping "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" stickers on CDs. It appears that she has since removed herself so far from the censorship debate that she's even appeared onstage with the Grateful Dead to raise cash for Al.

So, what? Music censorship is only important if the globe's warming is not at stake?

I'm not the only one to remember the PMRC. Mark Hemingway, reporting on the event, points out that the Foo Fighters strummed their way through a cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki," a song about a girl masturbating in a hotel lobby with a magazine, that got Tipper all riled up in the first place.

Live Earth Highlights (and Lowlights)

While Drudge and Murdoch wore themselves out trying to discredit the event, Live Earth’s multi-nation concerts went off Saturday without much of a hitch. Here’s a quick wrap-up of some news, commentary, and videos:

- Metallica’s James Hetfield was apparently barred entry to Luton airport on his way to perform at the London event because of his “Taliban-like” beard. Idolator said it made Metallica seem “the edgiest they have in years.”

- The Telegraph pointed out the lack of major “campaigning” artists (U2, Radiohead, Coldplay, REM, etc.) or interesting reunions: “Live8 got Pink Floyd, Live Earth got Spinal Tap.”

- Microsoft said Live Earth drew over 10 million internet viewers, the most for a concert broadcast ever. Perhaps that explains its poor TV ratings?

- BBC2 aired the Wembley event without delay, meaning a whole variety of foul language was beamed directly into England’s unsuspecting households.

- The largest attendance was at Rio’s event on Copacabana beach, which, by the way, featured kid’s TV star Xuxa!

Videos after the jump.

- Notable performances included Madonna at Wembley, who brought out New York gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello to assist with a revamped (and mashed-up?) version of “La Isla Bonita”:

(Continue watching the segue into “Hung Up” here)

- Retro-rockers Wolfmother doing “Dimension” and “Woman” in Sydney:

- Nunatak, live from Antarctica, making your fingers cold just by watching them:

- Joss Stone in Johannesburg:

- Rihanna in Tokyo:

July 7, 2007

Live Earth Concert Kicks Off, Critics Weigh In

Live Earth, the 24-hour concert, part of a larger multi-year campaign to combat climate change, kicked off today on all seven continents across the globe. The event, organized by former U.S. Veep Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection, features nearly 150 artists, including U2, Snoop Dogg, and Madonna, who play to trigger a "global movement to solve the climate crisis."

But regardless of the star power, some are critical. Live Aid/Live 8 creator Bob Geldof says, "It's just an enormous pop concert or the umpteenth time that, say, Madonna or Coldplay get up on stage." Keith Farnish, a British environmentalist and the founder of the Earth Blog is "not sure events like this make a difference."

Some are more harsh. Matt Helder, the drummer of Arctic Monkeys, a British Indie rock band, thinks the execution is hypocritical. "We're using enough power for ten houses just for lighting," he notes. This type of skepticism is being echoed by many, but Treehugger, an environmental blog that touts bringing sustainability to the mainstream, reports that steps have been made to make the concert greener and proceeds do go to create a foundation to combat global warming, which will be led by the Alliance for Climate Protection.

The concert does have its supporters (it is estimated that 2 billion people will be reached). Vocalist Patrick Stump of the alt rock band Fallout Boy is hopeful. "If we spread out the influence as much as we can and if we hit some people with some really big ideas, there might be a kid there that will totally eradicate fossil fuel." And of course, Gore is a big, big fan. He says, "the task of saving the global environment is a task we should all approach with a sense of joy."

We want to know — what you think?

—Anna Weggel

July 6, 2007

First Listen: Interpol - Our Love To Admire

Total number of animals pictured in the cover booklet's photographs of nature dioramas: 21

Percentage of those which appear to be male Greater Kudu antelopes: 10%

Rank of Track 1, “Pioneer to the Falls,” a bottomlessly bleak track dominated by an epic and mournful guitar melody, on the List of Best Interpol Songs of All Time According to Me: #4 (behind "Untitled," "PDA," and "NYC" from Turn On the Bright Lights, 2002)

Number of days frontman Paul Banks claims he hasn’t slept on Track 8, “Rest My Chemistry,” in what is apparently a reference to a cocaine binge: 2

Amount of time into the 4 minute and 30 second Track 10, “Wrecking Ball,” a TV On the Radio-reminiscent lament, before the band are joined by what sounds like a full orchestra: 3:09

How heard-rendingly sad the Spanish-style guitars that accompany album closer “The Lighthouse” are on a scale where 1 equals Spongebob Squarepants and 100 equals the inevitable death of the universe in a entropy-driven whimper: 99

Average rating out of 100 for the album in reviews compiled so far by Metacritic: 90

Random sampling of adjectives used in the featured reviews: “ominous,” “doomy,” “funereal,” “reverberating,” “devastating,” “terrible,” “brooding,” “magnificent,” “cadaverous”

Number of offices and studios out of which one could hear Our Love to Admire playing after advance copies arrived at our radio station this afternoon: 4

Date on which the general public can purchase and enjoy this brutal, majestic album: Tuesday, July 10, 2007

MTV.com website where you can stream the entire album: right here

July 5, 2007

Neato Viddys on the Intertubes: The "Walk It Out" Game

Just ran across this, a hilarious combo of Unk's ubiquitous "Walk It Out" with video footage of dancer Gwen Verdon and crew doing some sassy Bob Fosse-style moves; while the pink bell bottoms are wildly incongruous, the hip-shaking is oddly fitting, and there are multiple points where their moves shift right on cue with the song, in what I guess is a hip-hop equivalent of playing "Dark Side of the Moon" with "The Wizard of Oz."

And lo and behold, it turns out there's a bunch of these! Witness the head-slapping ridiculousness of "Teletubbies Walk It Out:"

Or, while we're at it, "Barney's Walk It Out:"

"Happy Feet Walk It Out:"

It goes on and on. There's Napoleon Dynamite, Naruto, even a computer-animation mega-mashup. Do your own YouTube search for "Walk It Out" and you'll see. Except for Naruto, I guess the theme is "white people (or the cartoon equivalent) look silly dancing to hip-hop," but boy, some of this stuff is laugh-out-loud funny. I just hope nobody has any video of me shimmying around at some point...

First Listen: Editors' An End Has a Start

Who’s afraid of Coldplay? Well, Jon Pareles, most famously, rightly calling their third album, 2005’s X&Y;, “self-pitying” and “hokum.” In a post-“Fix You” world, it’s easy to forget that Coldplay used to be alright: A Rush of Blood to the Head is introspective and creative where X&Y; is maudlin and overwrought, and a quick listen to the former is a reminder that sensitive-guy music with dramatic, overarching melodies isn’t always annoying.

Birmingham, England’s Editors released The Back Room in ’05, displaying a sound reminiscent of Joy Division; they were subsequently lumped in with the myriad other combos exploring that post-punk style, so it’s not surprising they would now redirect themselves a little. This new direction is definitely sensitive-guy-land: lead single “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors” laments that sight as “the saddest thing I’ve ever seen” over the insistent beat from Coldplay’s “Clocks.” But lead singer Tom Smith’s straightforward baritone has none of the whimpering quality of Chris Martin, and combined with the soaring guitar work, the track achieves grandeur without trickery.

Elsewhere, on tracks like “Bones,” the band returns to the propulsive uptempo of The Back Room, an “I Will Follow”-reminiscent style the band nearly owns at this point. It’s all nicely done, if not earth-shattering, and despite the favorable comparisons to Coldplay, Start sometimes slips dangerously towards cliché: “Put Your Head Towards the Air” starts off sounding uncomfortably similar to Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman,” asking, “have we learned what we set out to learn?” But the track quickly redeems itself with a gigantic drum beat, and when Smith sings the strange line “there’s people climbing out of their cars,” it’s hard not to get a little shiver. Fans of U2 and Coldplay looking for a similar band that hasn’t lost the plot will find An End Has a Start a enjoyable, and at times awe-inspiring, listen.

An End Has a Start is out Tuesday, July 17th, on Fader Label. Three tracks are currently available on iTunes here.

Spike Lee To Make WWII Film

Controversial film director and actor Spike Lee announced that he plans to make a World War II film that will focus on the contribution of black American soldiers who fought and died to liberate Europe during WWII.

"If you think Hollywood and World War II, you think John Wayne—the great white male that saved the world. It's a myth," he told Reuters.

Shooting for the film, based on James McBride's novel Miracle at St. Anna, is expected to start by the beginning of 2008 and to cost $45 million. It will be shot in Tuscany, where American soldiers were trapped in the mountains behind enemy lines and were living with local villagers who had never laid eyes on a black person before.

Much of Lee's film career has focused on skewering controversial political and social issues, particularly those affecting the African American community. He was recently given the annual George Polk Award for his work on When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, a documentary about life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Lee also announced in 2006 his plans to direct a James Brown biopic, which would tell the story of the "Godfather of Soul," who died of congestive heart failure on Christmas morning last year in Atlanta at age 73.

Punk Planet Magazine Dead in the Water

The gutting of independent publishing and news media doesn't show signs of letting up.

Punk Planet in June announced that after 13 years and 80 issues, its final magazine issue was being sent out.

Staff blamed the internet, consumerism, bad distribution deals, and a stagnating independent music business for the demise of their publication.

The Chicago-based Punk Planet magazine and its online component punkplanet.com covers punk music, punk subculture, visual arts, and progressive issues such as media criticism, feminism, and labor issues through interviews, essays and album reviews.

Independents' Day Media, a small community-supported journalism project, has been publishing Punk Planet, as well as their own line of books and a skateboarding magazine called Bail.

The group will continue to publish fiction and nonfiction books on poster art, punk "rabble-rousers," inner-city organizing, and personal tragedy online and its website will continue to function as a social networking location for "independently minded folks."

Over here at Mother Jones, we're paying close attention to the struggles facing news media and indie publishing. For more info, see here, here, here, and here.

July 3, 2007

NY Times on French Techno: Formidable

Will Hermes had a pretty good rundown of the Paris electronic music scene in Sunday's Times, which at the very least makes me feel better for stuffing my Top Ten with Justice, DJ Mehdi and Uffie tunes over the last few months. Check it out for a condensed history of the whole "Justice vs. Simian" remix escapade, and an age comparison of Daft Punk's Thomas Bangaltier (32) with the members of Justice (27 and 24) that is sure to make you (36) feel very old. While it seems odd to accompany the article with a 14-month-old photograph of Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella performance, and DJ Medhi's awesome "Signatune" apparently got spell-checked to "Signature," it's still nice to see the Times pick up on the phenomenon. Selected relevant videos after the jump.

DJ Mehdi - "Signatune" (Thomas Bangaltier edit)

Justice vs. Simian - "We Are Your Friends"

Justice vs. Simian - "We Are Your Friends" (live at Coachella 2007)

July 2, 2007

Top Ten Stuff 'n' Things Special Edition: Best Songs of 2007 (So Far) (...Er, Duh)

With a little less than half the year remaining, it seemed like a good time to try and launch a preemptive strike in the Top Ten Wars; what I didn't realize was how hard making this list was going to be. It's been a great year for albums, but great radio singles, hot downloads, and three-minute masterpieces have been few and far between. It also seemed important, for some reason, to not have this list just be a "best track from all the good albums" list, which is hard not to do. So, here's what I've come up with: the ten best songs, just songs, so far this year. I'm sure I missed something, but post it in the comments, don't call me at home.

10. Li'l Mama - "Lip Gloss" (from the forthcoming album Voice of the Young People on Jive) (YouTube, MySpace, iTunes)
The teen rap sensation (born Niatia Kirkland in Brooklyn) may have aimed her talent at this most, uh, superficial of topics, but the defiant shouts of "what you know 'bout me?" prove she's no lightweight. The backing track, just a stomp and a handclap, is somehow just as infectious as her rhymes: "The boys really like it, the girls don’t speak / They rollin' they eyes, 'cuz they lip gloss cheap."

9. Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" (from Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? on Polyvinyl) (MySpace, iTunes)
This glammy, poppy Georgia band backs up their silliness with incredibly strong songwriting. "Curse," despite its unwieldy title, comes off like the Flaming Lips covering "Kids in America:" undeniably weird, but instantly accessible. Singer Kevin Barnes repeats "come on, chemicals" in the chorus, but apparently doesn't mean drugs, he means the natural chemicals in your brain, making the lyrics oddly fatalistic.

8. DJ Khaled - "We Takin' Over" (from We the Best on Koch/Terror Squad) (YouTube, MySpace, iTunes)
A song whose chorus ("we takin' over, one city at a time") also exists as its manifesto, considering it features every rapper of the moment, from chart-toppers Akon and T.I. to stoner Lil' Wayne. With a beat similar to Akon's "Smack That," Palestinian-American Khaled somehow makes a track that feels less frivolous (with its minor chord arpeggios sounding out like alarms) but just as much fun.

7. Amy Winehouse - "Rehab" (from Back to Black on Universal) (YouTube, MySpace, iTunes)
Okay, okay. Yes, this came out last year, the album was already certified platinum in the UK by the end of the 2006. However, it didn't get an official release in the US until March, plus the song is currently #9 on the Billboard Top 10, and besides, I didn't like it as much then as I do now. So, nyah. The song's retro novelty seems balanced by flawless musicianship and an utterly contemporary subject matter; if it keeps going like this, we have a contender for song of the summer, and potentially, tour of the fall.

6. The White Stripes - "Icky Thump" (from Icky Thump on Warner Bros.) (YouTube, MySpace, iTunes)
Like Led Zeppelin filtered through an AM radio and reconstituted south of the border, "Thump" has none of the irresistible hook-based propulsion of "Seven Nation Army," but doesn't suffer for it. Despite winding around vintage synth solos and tempo changes, it grabs you and won't let go. Add a "you tell 'em, Jack" political edge with lyrics about the hypocrisy of the current immigration "debate" (and a video that makes the connection explicit), and the dynamic duo have never been more relevant.

5. The Arcade Fire - "Intervention" (from Neon Bible on Merge)
(YouTube, iTunes)
Opening with the biggest, churchiest organ sound in the history of Canada, "Intervention" starts like a hymn, but then Win Butler and crew proceed to rip up the hymnal with bitter, angry lyrics: "Workin' for the church / while your family dies." Like all great Arcade Fire tracks, it's exhilerating and emotional; the political subtext seems to be a newfound focus for this most personal of bands.

4. M.I.A. - "Boyz" (from the forthcoming Kala on Interscope) (MySpace)
This just barely came out, so I'm going out on a limb by putting it this high, I guess, but how can you resist its Gary Glitter-via-Trinidad triple-time beat? Produced by current UK remix hero Switch, "Boyz" sounds like nothing either of them have done before, more organic than electro. The chorus (an oddly rearranged chant of "how many boys there?") gives way to lyrics that trip from the personal into the political, a line M.I.A. has always crossed effortlessly: "How many no money boyz are rowdy / How many start a war?"

3. Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake - "Give It To Me" (from Shock Value on Blackground/Interscope) (MySpace, iTunes)
Pitchfork already put it best, when the track leaked back in '06, calling it a "miracle of bankable avant-gardism." While Timbo's album didn't quite deliver on that promise, this single combines both the sultriness of "Promiscuous" with the winking swagger of "SexyBack:" "When you see us in the club / We'll be acting real nice." I sure hope so.

2. LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends" (from Sound of Silver on DFA)
(YouTube, iTunes)
While Silver has multiple brilliant moments (the defiant "North American Scum," the grief-stricken "Someone Great"), "Friends" seems to capture the point of the album better than any of them. New York's finest electro auteur James Murphy puts autobiographical lyrics over a two-chord riff reminiscent of New Order, or maybe Joy Division, and the result is gripping and cathartic, ending with a cry of "where are your friends tonight?" Well, I like to think the people on the TV are my friends.

1. Rihanna - "Umbrella" (from Good Girl Gone Bad on Island/Def Jam) (YouTube, really annoying MySpace page, iTunes)
"Umbrella" was reportedly shopped around to multiple labels by the songwriter before landing on Universal; knowing it had to squirm its way through the bowels of the music industry before finding its way to Rihanna doesn't lessen the song's majesty one bit. Like Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone," the track seems to exist above genre: it's R&B;, rock, dance. Most imporantly, it does what all great pop music does: grabs your heartstrings, just a little, and lifts you up. Rolling Stone is calling it the "dumbest vaginal metaphor since 'Sugar Walls'," but I don't believe them—sometimes an umbrella is just an umbrella.

July 1, 2007

Omaha Gets Up to Speed With Slowdown

With live music venues around the country struggling and even closing, it's rare to see a new club start up, and practically inconceivable for one to emerge as part of a brand new mixed-use development in a medium-sized Midwestern city. But that's just what happened in Omaha last month, when the folks behind Saddle Creek records launched Slowdown, a 500-capacity venue. The club is part of a snazzy new two-building complex developed by the label (home to Bright Eyes, Cursive and The Faint) that houses their headquarters, apartments and an art-house theater, and soon, a restaurant, coffee house, and (cough) an Urban Outfitters. (Yeah, I know, I shop there too.)

It was a broiling hot Nebraska afternoon when I stopped by last week, but it was nice and cool inside Slowdown. The space is sleek and modern, complete with black tile and polished concrete; moreover, since the building is new, everything is, well, clean -- those of us used to clubs coated with 40 years of grime might feel a bit odd. Booker Val Nelson proudly showed me around the backstage area, built to their specifications: a driveway for load-in is mere feet from the stage, for instance, and the dressing room (complete with washer and dryer) is nicer than my apartment.

Mostly, though, it's just going to be a great place to see a band, with state-of-the-art sound and a comfortable layout. Groups like Built to Spill, Jimmy Eat World and the Rentals are already booked. Saddle Creek manager Jason Kulbel downplayed the significance of the label branching out, saying Slowdown just filled a gap: "Typical larger cities, and even some the same size of Omaha, often have many nice venues to choose from." Sure, but they don't have minor indie rock celebrities filling in as bartenders, and a record label for a landlord. Nebraska music fans, I never thought I'd say this, but I envy you.

Some photos and a calendar of upcoming shows after the jump.

7/03 - Flowers Forever
7/05 - Goo w/ Har Mar Superstar
7/06 - David Vandervelde
7/18 - Built to Spill
7/20 - Tokyo Police Club
7/21 - Jimmy Eat World
7/25 - Handsome Furs
8/01 - Silversun Pickups w/ Sea Wolf

Pool table and doors to smoking area

The Slowdown stage

Bar area with retractable wall to stage area closed

Posters for some upcoming shows