Many of you know DJ Murphy, so I’m posting a link to a YouTube video of his band’s first single. I’m also posting it because it’s good. It will be on sale at iTunes starting Oct. 13th.
Also, check out TV on the Radio’s new album - Dear Science. It’s floating towards the top of this year’s top-albums list.
If you haven’t visited www.ted.com, now is the time. The site offers tons of “inspired talks by the world’s greatest thinkers and doers.”
Here’s their quick self-summary:
“TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week.”
This one, is far from the most interesting, but there’s an incredibly amazing octopus at the end that I think everyone needs to see.
least skip to the end where an octopus will blow you away.
I stumbled upon this really cool post over at Google on Radiohead’s new video for their new CD. They show the video, how they made it using data and so on. This might be old but thought you guys might be interested, was a pretty cool mini page at google about it.
No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.
While it’s not top-to-bottom superb, Sigur Rós’ new album, Með suð à eyrum við spilum endalaust, has plenty to offer. There are six songs that could have descended from the heavens: FljótavÃk; Suð à eyrum; ; Ãra bátur; Góðan daginn; Festival; Við spilum endalaust. Where they would have wailed on the guitars on previous albums, they chose to go for a poppy sound here, e.g. Við spilum endalaust (great), Innà mér syngur vitleysingur (good), and Gobbledigook (not good, but the popular download choice on iTunes). Another impressive piece to the Sigur Rós puzzle.
Fleet Foxes are here to save us from a so-far-dismal year in music. Their recipe: 3 cups of Band of Horses, 1 cup of Ryan Adams, 1 cup of Wilco, 1 cup of Animal Collective, 1 cup of Led Zepplin, 1 cup of the Eagles, 1/2 a cup of Beach Boys, and 2 tablespoons of Magically-Fresh pixy powder. Or if you don’t like to conjure up bands in your kitchen, you can just buy their Sun Giant EP and their self-titled debut LP, both 2008 releases. My only complaint is that they should have combined all of their songs on the two discs into a single album (it would still be under an hour). Still though, Fleet Foxes will be challenging Bon Iver for this year’s prestigious Daniel’s-Album-of-the-Year Award.
Start With:
Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal; Ragged Wood; Your Protector; Blue Ridge Mountains
Sun Giant EP: Drops in the River; Mykonos; Innocent Son
I just found an great debut album today. On For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver offers a unique neo-soul-indie-folk flavor that often sounds like TV on the Radio playing an unplugged set at 3 am. You will certainly love it if you like Band of Horses, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Phosphorescent, Iron and Wine, Wolf Parade, or Sunset Rubdown.
I opened my iTunes Top 25 Most Played list for (I think) the first time since I bought this new MacBook (last November). I was shocked to find that all 25 of the tracks were by the same band: Beirut. I tried to export the list easily, to either plain text or XML (for your benefit), but neither sufficed. I reproduce my Top 5 Most Played below:
1. Forks and Knives (La Fete) — 71 plays
2. St. Apollonia
3. The Penalty
4. Guyamas Sonora
5. Prenzlauerberg — 47 plays
BTW, my 25th song had 30 plays. Shocking, I guess, that all 25 would be by the same band. Shocking, that is, to those who’ve never heard them, or those who don’t stay up very late tippling and programming. I wonder if others have ever seen their entire Top 25 Most Played lists dominated by a single band.
Do you listen to the superconnected supergroup composed of almost every great indie rock artist in Toronto? While they are a hit-or-miss band, their hits will rock you to the core (yes, this is the same core that you should be working out). Need proof? Start with track 8 (Frightening Lives) on Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew’s Spirit If… then catch track 4 (Safety Bricks) and track 13 (Bodhi Sappy Weekend) before crusing over to track 2 (Ibi Dreams of Pavement) and track 11 (Superconnected) of their self-titled album. Still need more? Finish strong with track 11 (Lover’s Spit) and track 5 (Looks Just Like The Sun) off of their debut album, You Forgot It In People. Isn’t music great? (p.s. Thanks Pablo for pointing out Kevin Drew’s Spirit If…)
I didn’t listen to nearly as much new music as DMarsh in 2007. But I still felt like I hardly had time to really digest what I consumed (and some albums, I’ve just not yet listened to: e.g. Battles, Elliot Smith, some dude named Matthew Dear).
Nothing blew me away in 2007. I don’t expect that anything from this year will fundamentally influence my tastes as much as 1997’s OK Computer and Blur or 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But so much from this year was consistently solid. To continue an annual tradition, here’s my favorite albums from 2007 (for the heck of it, in rank-numerical order):
1. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible. If we could come up with an objective equation to rate music, Neon Bible would be the best album of 2007. In fact, it’s biggest drawback in critics’ circles, I think, must be that the album is so accessible. You, your sister, your dad, and your questionably lame co-worker could all agree that on Neon Bible. Which is not to say that the music is just artless, vapid pop. It’s expansive and thoughtful. The beginning of “Intervention†has a grandness and ambitiousness that I think most indie rock bands today eschew—which is what I think separates Arcade Fire from most of their contemperaries. Arcade Fire aim to write U2-like anthems; not just catchy or clever pop songs.
Like DMarsh, to me, 2007 was an incredible year in music, probably the best since 1997 and markedly more impressive than sorry 2006. During 2006, I worried that I was out of touch with the music scene. For a long time in 2006, nothing new really interested me, and I found myself reverting to my familiar mainstays: Belle and Sebastian, 2005-era Ryan Adams, the Clash, etc. But after 2007, I feel comfortable that it wasn’t me being out of touch, it was the music in 2006 that, well, was substandard. Anyone of my favorite albums from 2007 would have been on the top of my list in 2006.
I’ll get to my favorite albums in a separate post, but 2007 was a substantial year, so I also want to talk about a couple of larger points first. Two themes dominated my mood and reaction to music in 2007.
This year was good to me. I found more good music from this year than perhaps the ten previous years combined. This is probably partly because technology is making it so easy to find and get new music. But I’ll give the artists some credit too.
Because what music I like depends so much on my mood at that moment, I’ve decided to just clump the albums into tiers.
Top Rung:
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha: Like several of you, I am a fan of his 2005 release Andrew Bird and The Mysterious Production of Eggs, but I like Armchair Apocrypha five times as much. It’s a little less quirky, just as philosophical, and there’s more whistling. If you don’t know Bird, he’s a singer/songwriter/violinist/whistler/philosopher with a distinctive, ever-changing, and hard-to-describe style. A cohesive album with single material too, but the best of the best is far from radio friendly. Easiest criticism: too adult contemporary. Start with: Fiery Crash; Dark Matter; Armchairs.
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible: The best band in the world finally has enough material to play a full set without cover material. Easiest criticism: not as good as Funeral. Start with: Keep the Car Running; Antichrist Television Blues; and the simple but beautiful Neon Bible.
Beirut – The Flying Club Cup: an unmistakable “new world indie pop†sound and an unmistakable masterpiece. DeVotchka (Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack) is about the only band I can compare them to, and even that falls short by a few furlongs. Easiest criticism: too weird and over the top. Start with: Cherbourg; Nantes.
Blonde Redhead – 23: a haunting and lush electronic indie rock album that sounds like a gift from the future. Easiest criticism: inconsistent and lyrics that are almost impossible to decipher. Start with: 23; The Dress; My Impure Hair.
Cloud Cult – The Meaning of 8: Their best album yet sounds like what most indie rock bands are trying to sound like. This description from AMG fits many of the songs – “features a Montreal indie-rock chamber pop formula that focuses on the build — a guitar part slowly propels from finger-picking into a militant strumming over orchestral swells until the bottom drops out and then returns with a grandiose tom-fueled chorus.†Easiest criticisms: whinny voice, too many tracks, and dorky lyrics. Start with: Chemicals Collide; Dance for the Dead.
The Maccabees – debut album from a young British Rock band with new-wave, post-punk, and indie influences rocks like only the British know how. Easiest criticism: too loud and lacking the bad-ass factor. Start with: About Your Dress; Good Old Bill.
The National – Boxer: this is what The Arcade Fire would sound like if you took away half of their instruments, mellowed them down a little bit, and dropped Butler’s vocals an octave. Boxer is an example of a whole that is greater than its parts. A steady pulse of intense drumbeats holds it all together nicely. Easiest criticism: while the sound is pleasant and unique, the songs are easy to play and could be covered by eighth graders. Start with: Fake Empire; Squalor Victoria; Brainy.
Phosphorescent – Bonnie Prince Billy? No. Damien Jurado? No. Iron and Wine? No. Band of Horses? No. Phosporescent? Yes. Pull this one out when you’re about ready to fall asleep but don’t have another reason to go to be bed. Easiest criticism: depressing, weird, and short. Start with: Wolves; At Death, a Proclamation; My Dove, My Lamb.
Radiohead – In Rainbows: As good as any Radiohead album. So sonically unique and complex. Easiest criticism: Thom Yorke is a whinny non-sensical scar on this planet. Start with: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi; All I Need; Nude; 15 Step.
concerning xiu xiu’s “Support Our Troops Oh!“
Rarely can one quote a whole song’s lyrics in a blog entry. But Xiu Xiu’s “Support Our Troops Oh!” is so vacuous that its “message” about the Iraq war can be seen in full below:
Did you know you were going to shoot
off the top of a four year old girl’s head
And look across her car-seat down into her skull
And see into her throat and did you know
that her dad would say to you,
Please sir, can I take her body home?
Oh wait, you totally did know… that that would happen
Cause you’re a jock who was too stupid and too greedy
And too unmotivated to do anything else but still be
The biggest and still do what other people tell you to do
You did it to still be a winnerYou shot your grenade launcher into peoples’ windows and
Into the doors of peoples’ houses
But you wanted to shoot it into someone just to watch them blow up
Why should I care if you get killed?
Is this sickening to you? I hope so. And I like Xiu Xiu. Obviously they have a right to oversimplify complex geopolitical situations and psychological motives as much as they’d like, but does it have to be this bad? Don’t get me wrong — I like the track. Much like I like the work of Leni Riefenstahl, but reject everything it stands for or suggests. Indeed, as someone who does appreciate the art of Xiu Xiu, I feel I have to repudiate the glaring stupidity of “Support Our Troops Oh”.
I hope these lyrics are obviously stupid. One particular line stands out, though: “cause you’re a jock who was too stupid and too greedy…” Was Jamie Stewart serious here? Did he really believe that it was greedy jocks who were enlisting in our military? Isn’t the standard line quite the opposite?– that it is the underprivileged, largely minorities, who are forced or compelled into service?
One could — but shouldn’t — make a broader point here, about leftist actors and musicians simplifying issues and helping lead to a stultified public debate. I say shouldn’t because this is just one song. One really stupid song.
Listen here to Xiu Xiu (w/ Devendra Banhart) seeming to make a parody of their own song.
Even though Radiohead is my favorite band ever, I wasn’t expecting too much from In Rainbows, their seventh album and first in four years. Stupid me.
The long-awaited studio version of Nude is great enough to satisfy even the song’s biggest fans, e.g. Mohsen,
and it’s an average song on this digitally acquired masterpiece.
It reminds me more of Thom Yorke’s solo album, Eraser, than of any single Radiohead album. It’s more accessible than Eraser and there’s a greater variety of instruments and sounds, but on the surface it sounds more like Eraser’s layers upon layers of electronic beats than the long ailing guitar screams of The Bends and such. However, all of their albums come to mind during In Raindbows’ 42 minutes, and they have definitely evolved to stay ahead of the curve - they continue to be pioneers carving out a musical space that many others are surely to follow.
So pull out your best pair of headphones, not just because In Rainbows features plenty of sounds that most speakers won’t want to make, but also because this album deserves your undivided attention.
May I never doubt Radiohead again.
1) It’s being released on October 10, and no one knew about it until today;
2) It’s being released online only, in MP3 downloadable from their website (it’ll eventually be released as a CD– in early 2008);
3) And you get to choose how much you want to pay for it! You name your own price!
I think Pitchfork put it nicely: “Only a band in Radiohead’s position could pull a trick like this. Well played, gentlemen.” Indeed, well played. Let’s just hope it’s good.
As some of you know, I like music. As only Joel knows, I like The Go-Betweens. No, they are not the next hot indie band; they released their best music in the 80s - just in time to inspire U2’s work on Joshua Tree. I only have two of the Australian’s many albums, but they are so good that I feel like they must be their bests. I’d liken them to Badly Drawn Boy, old U2, Rusted Root, and The Shins. Start with the album 16 Lovers Lane (tracks: “Dive for your Memory;” “You Can’t Say No Forever;” “The Devil’s Eye;” “Clouds;” You Won’t Find It Again;” “Apples in Bed.”) Then move on to Oceans Apart, their 2005 release. Now the bad news - lead dude died last year.
It could have been the Coldplay song “Yellow” that upset the patron of a Wallingford neighborhood bar. Or perhaps it was the karaoke singer who belted it out….
As soon as the man on stage started singing about the stars in his best Chris Martin impersonation, the woman reportedly said: “Oh, no, not that song. I can’t stand that song!”
Witnesses said her distaste for Coldplay quickly took a violent turn, and she leaped at the would-be crooner, shouting expletives and telling him that his singing “sucked,” while expressing the same opinion of the song, according to a Seattle police report.
She pushed the man and punched him, all in an effort to stop his singing.
Anyone want to join me for some good music at Red Rocks?
Monolith Festival
September 14th-15th
Friday/Saturday
The Flaming Lips
Cake
The Decemberists
Spoon
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Cloud Cult
Art Brut
and 60 other bands
42.50 (one day), 80 (two day)
Two days later at Redrocks:
The Arcade Fire (with LCD Soundsystem) for $45
I think I said this once on here, but I have to say it again - Parting of the Sensory on Modest Mouse’s new album (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank) is perhaps their best song ever (or maybe I’ve just had too much coffee this morning).
Has anyone else noticed that 2007 might be the greatest year in the history of music? Here are the bands releasing albums that I’m already excited about:
spoon - ? (?)
radiohead - ? (August 6th)
wilco - Sky Blue Sky (May 15th)
clap your hands and say yeah - Some Loud Thunder (already out, has leaked)
the shins - Wincing the Night Away (already out, has leaked)
black rebel motorcycle club - Baby 81 (May 1st)
arcade fire - Neon Bible (March 6th, has leaked)
Read the rest of this entry »
