My friend in New York has been bugging me about Battles for at least a year, and now the experimental band is out with a new record, Gloss Drop, and the track “Ice Cream” is making the rounds.
Honestly, this is the kind of song that can really grind on me if I’m not in the right mood for it. But if I am, it’s got this odd mix of funky and noisy and slightly goofy. I just needed to put up something that wasn’t mellow and introspective, which is what I’ve been flirting with these days. And I don’t want to make this look like some emo LiveJournal knockoff. No thanks.
Here I was just about to moan and groan about how Fleet Foxes was just one more band I was doomed to miss at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. I just ASSUMED this was the case, as almost every other current indie darling will be doin’ it in the desert. But when you assume, of course, you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”
Meanwhile, this nu folk sensation from Seattle is playing the Fox Theater in Oakland, which is almost as disheartening as Coachella. Not that I’m one of these uber-provincial San Francisco city folk who won’t venture across the bridge to the East Bay. But I’ve heard some pretty underwhelming reviews of the sound at the Fox, which doesn’t exactly make my big toe jump up in my boot, as Little Richard would say.
Anywho, “Helplessness Blues” is not only a really pretty track (and honestly, that can be enough), but the lyrics are really speaking to me at the moment. Which might just mean I have to get out of the house more often. But it’s been so freakin’ cold!
An interesting collabo, and an even more interesting project. Titled Here Lies Love, Byrne and the Artist Also Known As Norman Cook’s new work is a concept record based on the life of Imelda Marcos (!).
Dunno if Imelda deserves the Evita treatment (some pinoys might blanch at the thought, to say the least), but here’s Mr. Byrne on his website:
The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person—what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if—as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music—one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!
Luckily for us, DB chose more compelling cohorts for this concept than KC and the Sunshine Band. Although … is Giorgio Morodor still alive? Google says yes!
Royksopp have released an instrumental version of “Vision One” from their last record, ‘Junior.’ You can get it here.
They’re hoping someone will make a mashup out of it, and I am, too. I love this song, and I’m a big fan of instrumental versions, but Anneli Drecker’s moving vocal is sorely missed, and a distraction would be really useful.
Here’s SF’s Thao Nguyen & crew to try to remind all of us socked in by inclement weather north and south that in an alternate reality we’re all having a ball at the beach.
Massive Attack managed to put out one record in the last decade, so maybe they’re getting a jump start on the ’10s with this new one, which features another roster of interesting guests, like Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval.
Some are saying the usual Massive Attack elements are on display, but fans who have been paying attention will note the return of Daddy G to the lineup, and not just on paper. Particularly on this track, “Paradise Circus,” you can really tell he’s back on board. This is much less histrionic and bombastic than most of the stuff Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge have been putting out during Daddy G’s haitus.
I’m man enough to admit that this one had my wrigglin’ me bum a bit. Which is a good thing, ‘cos I tend not to like January very much. Holiday hangover, bleak weather, blah blah blah.
My man Paris been pimping the new Animal Collective EP, “Fall Be Kind,” and since he’s a resident engineer at Interscope Records, I figgered I’d pay attention.
The Flaming Lips have teamed up with singer Wayne Coyne’s nephew’s band, Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, for a take on Pink Floyd’s classic “The Dark Side of the Moon,” which is available exclusively on iTunes.
Now, there are millions of Floyd fans all over the world, and in this country I’d say there MIGHT be a few hundred who have absorbed them on as many levels as yours truly. Just sayin’. So I can’t resist making a few notes here.
While there appears to be a more official video of “Breathe,” I REALLY don’t like the version Lips & Co. grind out. I tried to attach “Time/Breathe (Reprise)” along with a really weird but cool sync with “The Wizard of Oz,” but the guy disabled the embedding code (who knew you could even DO that?). I like that one, and can even tolerate the “Breathe” reprise in this context.
Yes, Henry Rollins and Peaches seem like stunt casting, and in Rollins’ case it doesn’t always work. On the other hand, hearing him recite the lines about violence in “Us and Them” works pretty well.
I WAS a little worried when I saw Peaches’ name on this project. But halfway through the amazing version of “The Great Gig in the Sky,” I realized she was gonna play it straight and earnestly go for Clare Torry’s iconic vocals. I was genuinely moved, and found myself rooting for her as she went for it, and in her own understated way, kinda nailed it. You go, girl.
As you can tell by the previous two bullets, Rick Wright’s contributions are recreated with the most reverence. “Breathe” and “Money” are butchered, IMO (“Money” I’m sure is meant to be purposely anticlimactic, but still … ).
I must confess a bit of bias in that I found myself comparing Lips & Co.’s “TDSOTM” more to Easy Dub All Stars’ “The Dub Side of the Moon,” an absolutely inspired cover of the classic inna rubbadub stylee. Because of the natural differences in style, it was easier for EDAS to embrace elements of the songs that Lips & Co. needed to avoid because of their inherent psychedelic rock sound (“Money”). And while dub has always pioneered in this department, I was a bit surprised that Lips & Co. didn’t work the echo harder (particularly on personal favorite “Any Colour You Like,” where EDAS worked it appropriately hard), given their use of it in their own work. There are points where I wonder if the groups were aware of EDAS’ version.
