The WMV format's DRM has been cracked. Since various folks have expressed interest in cracking Napster's WMV protections in the past, it seems worth mentioning.
It's much too late, and most of you already know this. But I still have to emphatically recommend Mates of State's Bring It Back, which was released earlier this year. I picked it up while I was in Seattle this spring, along with a few other MoS albums, which I mistakenly listened to first. "Pretty good," I thought, but I was tired of keyboards by the time I got to BIB. Big mistake. Worried about burning out on the Karmella's Game CD but still craving synthesizers, I put the album on during a drive back from Charlottesville and have been enamored ever since. We've been through a few too many album-of-the-summer discussions, I think, to open up old wounds. But oh, what could have been.
Charles suggested that I listen to the I'm From Barcelona CD. "I think you'll like it," is what he said, which is what Charles says when he finds a CD that's slightly little too poppy for his own taste. And he's right, I do really like it. They're from one of those ex-Viking countries, and have way too many members, and make charming singalong-style music. It's pretty much right up my alley, and I'd recommend them. But not without reservations.
Generally speaking, I'm not very lyrics-focused. Mostly this is simply because I'm bad at picking them out. I value vocals for carrying the melody, for providing a percussive element, and — for what few snippets of meaning I can discern — for setting a mood. But it takes a lot of listens through an album before I start worrying about what the songs are actually about. I generally prefer for the lyrics to be clever, melancholy and/or impenetrable, but above all they have to be ignorable.
Sadly, IFB fails so spectacularly on the lyrical front that it demands your attention. I think it's mostly a matter of facility with English. Their American accents are flawless. But on the opening track they seem to have some difficulty distinguishing between gerunds and infinitives ("I could skip to wear clothes" probably ought to be "I could skip wearing clothes". I know, it sounds charming, but it kind of derails the song.). Other times they manage genuine sentences, but not good ones. Sample chorus: "I have built a treehouse / I have built a treehouse / No one else can see us / It's a you-and-me-house". Ugh. And let's not start talking about the track where the vocalist apes Dylan. It's admittedly not a lyrical miscue, but it's still deeply ill-advised.
Still, the instrumentation is great, and these guys are certainly capable of making wonderful music. In fact, the best track is the final one, which isn't in English. It does away with all the clumsiness and just makes something pretty. I'll have to see whether they've got any similarly unselfconscious releases.
I realize it's hot out, but tonight is probably the best Fort Reno lineup of the summer (and certainly the one with the most Unbuckled alumni): Georgie James, Hard Tomorrows, and The Fake Accents (who I'm not familiar with). Show starts at 7:15 and is free, as always. And it's within walking distance from the Tenleytown Metro. Who's in?
i'm swooping in, rescinding my earlier claim that phoenix was it, brushing off tommy's attempt to crown karmella's game (as lovely and brilliantly catchy as they are, and as well as they wear catholic schoolgirl outfits in concert), and saying that the album of the summer is definitively the pipettes "we are the pipettes." i know i talked about them briefly before, but after going through a bunch of their mp3s over at the hype machine, i am sure. they're it. they're giddy, infectious, happy, sassy, fabulously british, and sound like they're a girl-group right out of the 60s with an updated veneer of slick indie pop. true, their songs might be so upbeat and so catchy and so infectious that they may make some of you want to, um, blow your brains out, but not me! i love 'em. they're coming along to the beach with me this summer for sure.
I apologize for the inconvenience, but I'm going to have to insist that you all go give Karmella's Game a listen. Catherine and I saw them with Scott and Lori a couple of years ago — I think they were opening for Full Minute of Mercury at the Velvet Lounge. We were instantly charmed.
Squealing synths, endless energy and raucous harmonies — they're the greatest eighties band that never existed. I bought their EP, which was pretty good for listening and downright excellent for running, then occasionally checked in with their ridiculous/awesome/ridiculously awesome Flash website. But I didn't see any new recordings, and on the occasions when they came back to DC I was usually out of town. They're from Baltimore. It's a world away.
But hey, it appears that they've finally recorded a full-length (albeit one with only 9 songs). Looks like it's been out for about two months, but I just bought it a week or so ago. And it's pretty great. Maybe a little too relentlessly energetic to qualify as an album of the summer — but given what I now consider to be a deeply illegitimate Phoenix AoTS reign-by-default, I'm prepared to nominate it anyway.
Unfortunately, they haven't made any of the new LP available as mp3s. You can listen to two songs off of the EP here:
But you'll have to visit their Myspace page to hear stuff from their latest release ("Diversions", "A Lullabye"). And you really should: it's got better production, better songwriting, and hooks crammed into every available nook and cranny. If sugar-rush synth-pop isn't your thing, don't bother. If it is, enjoy.
i'm heading to the earl this sunday night to catch the clientele, with athens-based band snowden as the openers. i wrote about snowden for dcist at some point last year, and i recommend them. but i'm really excited about seeing clientele, though i have a sinking feeling they might put on a terrible live show. but their music is gorgeous - sleepy, lush, 60s-style pop - and dare i say that most overused indie musical adjective of all...SHIMMERY? yes, i think i will. because it is super apt. their music is beautiful and shimmery. i've been listening to the songs over at their merge page all morning. give 'em a listen.
after NPR's debacle of old-people programming yesterday, and wanting something upbeat, i turned off this radio this morning on the way to work and put on satellite rides by the old 97's. if you have never listened to them, i super duper recommend it. to be honest, i have never followed them after they released satellite rides except for purchasing the first of rhett miller's abominable solo albums. but satellite rides is such a gem. it races back between power pop and sweet, twangy alt-country rock.
they've got a couple of mp3s over at the band's site:
but the real star of the album, in my opinion, is "designs on you." unfortunately, the only audio i could find of the song was on youtube, where it is set...to a fan video of scenes of pam and jim from "the office." so, yeah. just play the video and click over to another tab so you don't have to watch this sad waste of fantasy tv editing effort.
unrelatedly, what is UP with those sorts of youtube tv relationship videos? in searches for certain clips of episodes of "veronica mars," i can't tell how many montages of veronica and logan set to terrible music that i came across. hundreds! and a disproportionate amount set to blink 182!
UPDATE: and to take this post even further off the original topic, the latest office webisode is up, and it's pretty great. i do love me some stanley.
Brighten The Corners is a bit more consistent, I think. And Stereogum is also totally, totally right in defending Malkmus's much-maligned eponymous debut — I really think it's the best of his solo efforts. I guess there are two camps of Pavement fans: those who liked the band for its scraggly pop, and those who prefer its ponderous low-fi noodling. I belong squarely in the first category, and so does that album.
Anyway, sorry for the lack of blogging recently (although Catherine's been picking up the slack admirably). We're moving into a new office, which has given me the opportunity to waste a lot of time playing with our new phone system and, uh, trying to make a company-themed skin for the softmodded xbox I'll be contributing to the new digs. Constructive uses of my time, as you can see.
did anybody else ever listen to pizzicato five back in the late 90s or whenever it was they were around? i haven't listened to them in years, i've lost track of their cds, but for some reason i woke up this morning thinking about them. they were a japanese group, but made some of the catchiest lounge-y music i've ever heard. plus they're just fun and campy. and i also realized their song "baby love child" was featured in one of my favorite scenes out of futurama - the montage where leela is growing up, presumably an orphan, but her parents are sneaking her presents and secretly tucking her into bed at night. aww.
anyway. this was a totally random post, but here are a few links to blogs where you can get a few pizzicato five mp3s to brighten your monday.
man. we are the number one google entry for wilco sucks - due to a comment. that seems spectacularly unfair - not to mention poor google readers who are looking for a blog with which to share their wilco hate! not here, buddies. sorry.
at least we're not as bad as this dude. i can understand feeling meh-y towards "a ghost is born," but not liking "yankee hotel foxtrot"? messed up.
much thanks to jon for pointing out this latest muse video, "knights of cydonia," to me in the comments on the gross retainer post. the video was actually so good that i had to elevate it from the comments to its own post. if you like tales of futuristic kung fu fighting cowboys and the ladies who love them, all set the to the overwrought queen-like stylings of a holographic british band (AND WHO DOESN'T) you will love this video.
additionally, cliptip has the latest new pr0n video for sing me spanish techno. cliptip says: "The video, which features a potential The Crying Game scenario cum Priscilla: Queen of the Desert twist is directed by Michael Palmieri. Lead singer Carl Newman is passed out in the Tiki bar throughout much of the narrative."
You probably won't be surprised to hear me say that the internet has made music better. Admittedly, I sort of think the internet has made everything better. But I think it's particularly true for music.
Filesharing has vastly expanded listeners' ability to sample music, allowing consumption decisions to be based more upon listening and less upon marketing than they were in the past. Major labels have been forced to adapt and produce a superior product — I like to use the example of Fallout Boy versus Good Charlotte. Same gimmick, vastly different levels of quality in terms of songwriting and musicianship (identical overproduction, sadly). I suspect that there's been a Long Tail effect, too, with top earners' share of revenue declining and more acts finding that they can make a living with regional touring and a decent website. And digital technology has made recording and marketing cheaper, letting us shift wealth away from the useless record company middlemen and into some combination of concert tickets, cheaper iTunes downloads, and/or our own pockets (thanks, filesharing).
I still think all of the above is true. But I let my optimism get away from me: I had also sort of started to believe that the recent increase in pop music's quality had led to a reduction in people being colossal dicks about it. Maybe it was just me and my friends getting older, but it seemed like I no longer had to hear as many complaints about bands selling out. When the Flaming Lips or Modest Mouse sold a song to sell a minivan, the reaction seemed to be "good for them!" rather than "Judas!"
It no longer takes as much effort to find and enjoy great music, so everyone was able to. Sure, tastes differed, but the lines between the mainstream "artists" and actual artists began to break down, and with it a lot of the antagonistic elitism surrounding the latter began to wane. I thought everyone was starting to get along.
this video of youtube folks doing the yeah yeah yeahs for "cheated hearts" might be just about the sweetest and most awesome thing i've seen all week. yay fans.
yesterday evening i joined my coworker m. and a couple of his friends for a night full of georgie james and camera obscura at the earl in east atlanta. i was excited because 1) i haven't yet had a chance to catch georgie james, the toast of the d.c. blogosphere, live yet and 2) it was my first opportunity to observe atlanta hipsters in their natural environment.
what's up with pulp, anyways? i had kind of assumed they'd just broken up since i haven't heard about them in so long, but their web site says they're "in a dormant state." they still remain the #1 band i want to see live in concert. i did kind of, when they played three songs to open for radiohead's secret 9:30 club show, which was, holy shit, eight years ago? and where i witnessed the unholy pitt-aniston alliance and freaked the fuck out. good times.
anyway, jarvis cocker somehow still remains the height of skeevy sexiness. just listen to "seductive barry" and say it ain't so.
let's play a game: which of these reviews of the eraser sucks up to thom yorke harder? i'm partial to "The Eraser's title track reminds our rulers that their lies won't work and will come back to haunt them. Our movement needs more musicians prepared to stick their necks out and take risks like this" or "The Eraser is an album full of 'moments' some of them are familiar, some of them are brand new and exciting but they are all undeniably Thom Yorke and that is what he will be remembered for; constantly striving to go slightly left of the middle." yes, we're all going forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always striving, striving, striving slightly left of the middle.
my coworker t. just gave me a copy of the album (kriston had sent it to me a while back but it..disappeared? seriously, my desktop is an abyss) so maybe i can see what i think of it myself soon.
i recently downloaded season two of the office and am finally getting to see all the lovely hysterics. i'm kind of on a vmars-like-dvd-type-roll; i go through multiple episodes in stretches of time. hell, i had meant to start running with scissors tomorrow, having finished everything is illuminated, but maybe (since i have the day off) i will just finish the whole darn season. i'm craaazy like that.
while watching the email surveillance episode, i had a flash of genius. fountains of wayne should totally guest-band on the office. it would be the best musical tv appearance ever. new jersey power pop gods, writers of anthems for the weary office set - it's like a match made in heaven. "hey julie"? "bright future in sales"? C'MON. make it happen, steve carell. i have no conceivable idea of what the setup would be, but i'm sure they could do a good job.
just fyi: pop candy has links to some nice mp3s from grant-lee phillips' latest album, which is a bunch of covers of great 80s tracks from the cure, R.E.M. and so forth.
"pull shapes" from the pipettes, via my brother. cute video and cute girl singers, too. everyone looks like they're on smiley acid and in the 60s, which is fun! some other fun songs at their myspace page. pretty much all of them are 60s-girl-group-inspired - not exactly orginal, but happy and fun and catchy, and what more do you want?
as for an official album of the summer, after having finally got the whole thing on my ipod, i'm going to have to go with charles on, SURPRISE, phoenix's "it's never been like that." it just does it for me.
woah, i had no idea guster had a new album coming out. i know it's not very cool to like them (though i don't know why), but i adore them, and uncle grambo's glowing review of their new lp has me excited. in addition to me about to put the new phoenix album, gnarls barkley and thom yorke (courtesy of the capps) on the ipod. it's looking to be a pretty good couple of weeks for music. time to start making a party mix!
Charles is right: the Post seems to be slowly buying up the DC music scene, no doubt for nefarious ends. Travis Morrison works for the post.com as a web developer (and consequently really ought to have permalinks in his excellent blog). Chuck Brown is doing commercials for them. Chris Richards is writing a weekly column for the Style section. And while you've probably heard that Henry Rollins is moving back to D.C., you may not know that he's doing so in order to take an office manager position in the Post classified department. In fact, I'm sure you didn't know that, since I just made it up. Still, I bet he could put a prompt and decisive end to office pen theft.
Charles is also right about this: the style section should have better music coverage. I haven't really kept up with their online chats since David Sedaris Segal (what is wrong with me?) left, but my memory of his regime is that he talked endlessly about Guided By Voices (because they let him come onstage and play a couple of times), and no other relevant bands, ever (relevant = bands I like, of course). And this was well after the world had internalized GBV's important life lessons and moved on to ignoring their ridiculously voluminous output. Perhaps the new critic(s) are better, but I haven't heard anyone saying that that's the case.
This Singles File column is a great start, however, and I wish I'd been paying attention when it started up. But now I will! And you should, too: I've gone ahead and created a scrubbed style section feed with Feed Rinse. So if you just want to get new Singles File entries in your RSS reader rather than the entire style section, subscribe to this URL.
It's already scored me a good summer album candidate — immediately after the beach, naturally: the Pink Spiders CD, which is catchy, poppy & good (although also fairly old, so you may already know and be sick of them).
Hearing it made me suddenly wonder what's become of Feable Weiner, a band that's funny, talented and exuberantly stupid, in addition to being responsible for the most fun I've ever had at the Grog & Tankard. I did the necessary five minutes of Google research, but the details remain a bit hazy (and I'm not prepared to sort through the messages left on their myspace page). They seem to currently be on tour with Cruiserweight and "local emocore band that sounds like My Chemical Romance"; they've got a newish single on iTunes and a definitely new one at their label's site ($5 for a song? no thanks, regardless of the extras); and they have a recording diary for the allegedly forthcoming 2FN HOT full length.
But they also seem to have left their old label for a smaller one, and the diary's last entry was in October '05, seemingly in the middle of the recording process (or at least before mixing & mastering). You'd think they'd want the current tour to be behind a new release, if possible. Here's hoping the album they've presumably got in the can comes out before the season's barbeque grills go back in.
cliptip's got a nice little phoenix video up that you should watch to get your friday started. the video itself is nothing too special, but i'm still obsessed wtih the band and the song is, as cliptip says "a perfect little pop song." they're just SO FRENCH.
It's on, people. Come see the excellent Deleted Scenes and Georgie James. And, as if that wasn't enough, there might — just might — be some temporary tattoos given away. I know!
I'll be there, although I'm afraid I won't be sticking around too long after Georgie James' set — there's morning news to be rounded up, chest colds to be fought and pre-beach packing to attend to. But although I won't be rock-and-rolling all night, it should still be a fun time. Hope to see you there.
Everyone says they're behind the curve on music (or at least running behind schedule on telling the rest of us what's good). Hah! You don't know from behind the curve. I just downloaded The National album last week — beat that! Anyway, I like it, although I'm not as enamored as others have been. Reminds me a lot of Emmett Swimming (remember those guys? I would be completely unsurprised if it turned out I knew one of their former members without realizing it). "Abel" and "Baby We'll Be Fine" are genuinely great tracks, but it hasn't really blown my mind as an album.
More 2005 releases that I'm just getting to now: the Animal Collective album seems pretty disappointing when compared to "Grass" as a single. Maybe I need to listen to it more.
Downloaded the Bell Orchestre album on the strength of their status as an Arcade Fire side project. First: no vocals. Do you like the sound of an orchestra tuning up? Do you wish you could listen to it for 53 minutes? Then this might be for you. There's one or two pretty tracks, but it's fairly repetitive. Not a huge number of ideas are on display. For AF-affiliated pop violin, you're better off with Final Fantasy.
Speaking of side projects, Sunset Rubdown is a part of Wolf Parade Enterprises. If you really, really like Wolf Parade (and I do), you might like this. If not, you probably won't.
On DCeiver's recommendation I'm listening to the new Rainer Maria, which also seems to have the National's "sounds like a particular unremarkable rock band from the late 90s, only somewhat better" thing going. K's Choice, in this case. Or perhaps Rilo Kiley (although I really like Rilo Kiley).
Really, the only genuinely great thing I've been listening to is the Figurines album, which has now taken over large parts of my frontal lobe. "All Night", "Silver Ponds" and "Other Plans" are particularly good. Who knew Danes could sound so Canadian? Anyway, you probably ought to download it.
ahh, one more post. i'm all into the radiohead youtube today. via greenplastic, here is a sweet 13-year-old video of radiohead's performance at the mtv beach house, performing "anyone can play guitar." check out ed's awesome pirate shirt. and thom's hair. the horror. still a pretty great song.
of course, now that i won't be here in chicago when radiohead is playing, it doesn't matter that i don't have tickets. doesn't look like they're coming close to atlanta, either. sigh.
getting set up to buy radiohead tickets (ie, opening 32 billion different tabs in firefox and preparing myself to refresh them constantly; hey, it worked before!) while so hungover that my eyes can barely focus is perhaps not the most fun thing i've done on a saturday morning. curse you, radiohead. the things i do!
UPDATE: well, that went as expected. the biggest piece of bullshit? ticketmaster telling me that i could only have one browser window open to request tickets. what. the. fuck. on the other hand, it's nice to know that radiohead is still the only band capable of making me so giddy/nervous at even the possibility of seeing them that i want to throw up.
goddammit, i knew it. the limited amount of waste tickets on sale for the US radiohead shows are already all gone. i guess i'll have to try my luck with ticketmaster like the rest of the rubes. even then, it's likely i won't be able to get a ticket, and then i have to weigh how much i actually want to see them. tickets are approximately $50 as it is; is $100 worth it to me? $200? i guess, it's sad to say, at this point, that's doubtful. it seems likely to me that there will be three distinct radiohead periods in my life: my youth and theirs as a band, where i saw them a dozen times for minimal amounts of money; their inevitable popularity and acclaim where tickets are still somewhat reasonable but always sell out too fast too buy and my income doesn't allow me buy scalped ones from evil folks so i won't see them live for years at a time; and their slow decline where they'll start doing stadium shows for hundreds of dollars (face value, mind you!) but i will be old and rich and eager to relive my rock glory days that i will pony up. it seems we are currently in the second period.
well, well. i was strolling along this morning towards the journalism building, coffee in hand, when one of many of the taped-to-the-ground fliers advertising various student activities caught my eye.
"STEPHEN MALKMUS" it read, in huge block letters. in smaller type it went on, kind of weirdly i thought, "acclaimed singer, songwriter, formerly of pavement."
hmm. i would go see malkmus again, i thought. i've seen him twice, once in charlottesville and once in milan, and he put on a pretty decent show both times.
then, in even smaller letters at the bottom, it read: "with new pornographers and my morning jacket."
$10. the best part? they're playing in northwestern's crappy ancient gym that can't hold more than 1,000 people on a good day. i'm so going saturday night, after an excursion with classmates to a brewers game in milwaukee. first minneapolis, now milwaukee. that's right. when will my midwestern adventures end?
The Figurines album: pretty good. UPDATE: Especially "Other Plans", which is the album's standout track. Between this and "Rough Gem" (mentioned below), I think we've got a solid start to a summer '06 mix CD.
The Islands CD, I'm sad to say, is not. I was pretty excited about it when I first got it. I've been slavishly devoted to the Unicorns from the moment I saw that their press photos were a set of shots of them being brutally murdered (as seen here). Plus, you know, the music is great. But then they broke up. Based on the also-excellent NAHPI one-off and some early tracks, it looked like Islands, the Nick Diamonds/J'aime Tambeur half of the Unicorns diaspora, would be the (horned) pony to bet on.
But their debut album — meh. "Rough Gem" is a great song (although once you realize it's a pun on Nick's name, it gets considerably more irritating), but it's the only undeniable highlight. "Swans", for instance, is one of the better songs, but it's too long and rips off an Arcade Fire melody (forgivable, since AF members play on the album). So yeah: disappointing. This Pitchfork review, which gave it an 8.something/10, is wrong in just about every possible respect. The album does not simultaneously "present a more linear approach in their arrangements" and "[enjoy] the freedoms of exploration and discovery", for example. Sure, it's more linear, but it feels boxed-in and boring compared to the rest of Diamonds' work. And "Volcanoes" isn't "ridiculous but fun" — it's about the motherfucking Yellowstone supervolcano, and when it blows, Mr. Pitchfork, you and your stupid haircut are going to be entombed in burning hot ash.
The album's okay, and I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility of a musical revelation on my part. But right now it simple doesn't appear to be a great an album, no matter how much I wish it was.
There was controversy today on the DCist core list, and later via IM with Catherine, as we debated whether to include a contributor's Christian Rock pick in the week's music agenda. Catherine thinks I/we am/are being unfairly biased in jumping all over an act because they're faith-based, when we might allow any number of sucky secular acts to pass by without the type of detailed vetting that this Christian band received. She might be right. My personal feeling is that CR is an inherently flawed genre whose participants should be considered guilty until proven innocent, and that a bands inclusion in the category naturally and justifiably provokes skepticism. A few of the genre's more obvious problems:
Despite its musicians' protestations, the genre's raison d'etre is clearly non-artistic — the tunes are meant for proselytizing or worship. Putting artistic quality second or third behind other aims leads to naturally worse music (in rock music, at least).
In most cases Christian Rock is lyrically confined to explorations of one kind of relationship: the one the artist (or song protagonist) has with god. Real rock and roll is about drugs and sex — that's twice the variety!
Based on some long-past Youth Group experiences, CR fans are among the most musically insular people I've ever met. Most haven't been exposed to much variety, so they don't demand much quality. The music serves a social function for all of them and a religious function for some of them, but that seems to be about it. It's not art that provokes emotions of its own — instead it just helps its listeners recollect emotions evoked by other works.
I feel that I've given CR at least somewhat of a chance — in the past, people have tried to push DC Talk and Newsboys on me, but were hindered by those acts' innate awfulness. But those are the cream of the Christian crop — Charles assures me that it gets much, much worse. Pedro the Lion is the closest I've come to a messiah-oriented rock act that I genuinely enjoy (although I do get the feeling that the Polyphonic Spree could accidentally begin falling into that category at any moment).
But I'll admit that I haven't checked in with the state of the art in devout pop in quite a while. I'm sure a lot has changed — I can only imagine the travesties that occurred when the CR world internalized emo, for instance. So if any CR adherents can suggest an act that approaches the depth of PtL, maybe I'll adjust my opinions. Until then, I'm remaining happily closed-minded.
I've mostly been listening to this CD and the Wolf Parade album this week, and although they don't sound much alike, it's occurred to me that both bands have a willingness to let a song reach its bridge/transformation/crescendo, then continue to explore that new state for another 60 or 90 seconds before wrapping things up — and to do it without descending into the jammy noodling that characterizes every Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction performance. I like that.
The Islands CD, I'm sad to say, is not. I was