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(03/23/11 9:47pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>New York synth-lovers Small Black caught the indie world’s attention in 2010 with the self-titled debut EP and first full-length album “New Chain,” an effort that earned a spot on WEEKEND’s 20 Best Albums of 2010 list. Wednesday, the band will bring its dreamy, electro-pop game to The Bishop’s stage. Lead singer and keyboardist Josh Kolenik recently talked to WEEKEND about the importance of cover art, being on a Bloomington-based label and breaking into pools. WEEKEND How and when did you guys sign to Jagjaguwar? JOSH KOLENIK We signed last January, I think, and they just approached us in the fall after we self-released the original EP. Then we just kinda worked it out to do a re-release of it in the spring and followed up with “New Chain” in the fall. WEEKEND What do you remember most about Bloomington? KOLENIK We actually played at The Bishop over the summer with Beach Fossils. So that was our first time there and we got the Jagjaguwar-Secretly Canadian tour of the land. (laughs) It was fun. I think we broke into a pool in the middle of the night. It was chaotic. WEEKEND Would you say that your hushed style of music translates especially well in a smaller setting? Or do you also get good crowd responses in larger or outdoor venues as well?KOLENIK Yeah, you know, it’s a learning process and we’re in the first year of taking this stuff on the road and how you approach different venues. You know we really like the tight, small space like The Bishop because it kinda promotes a party atmosphere and it’s more about the vibe in the room than having perfect sound or that sort of performance. Whereas when you’re playing a big, open space or a bigger club, you’re trying to connect with the people in the back of the room as well as in the front so it really relies more I think on a better sound quality and a sort of performance that’s a bigger, higher-fidelity sound and just bigger and wider in scope. So we try to approach those shows differently as far as where our levels are at and our general energy level and mindset. But as far as a preference between the two, I don’t think we have one yet. Just whatever’s appropriate for the evening or for the town or for the space, you know?WEEKEND Where are you right now, and what are you doing to prepare for the tour?KOLENIK I’m just in Brooklyn right now and I’m going to get a coffee. You know, we just finished up rehearsal yesterday. Just arranged a couple other things from “New Chain” that we hadn’t had time to get together for the last tour. We’re just headed down to South by Southwest and gonna deal with that madness and have fun there. Hopefully we have a couple new songs arranged for this tour that we’ll be treating people to who have come out and seen us previously.WEEKEND What are the songs?KOLENIK We hadn’t been playing the song “Panthers,” and we’ve been doing a cover of a song by Best Coast called “Sun Was High.” We aren’t really playing any new material — yet.WEEKEND One surface observation of Small Black would be that you guys don’t really use guitars or have a guitar player. Can you tell me a little bit about your songwriting process and how that’s different with no guitar? Do you ever write songs on guitar?KOLENIK Yeah, it’s funny, I was thinking about this today. We kinda all were guitar players in this band. We just got bored with it and decided that we were more interested in working with the computer and sampling and keyboards and the freedom of songwriting on Pro Tools. I think a lot of those first skeletons of Small Black songs for the EP were guitar stuff that eventually just all got eradicated. Like the song “Kings of Animals,” that was a bonus track. That was the first song we had done and that was a guitar song. It was more that we got interested in just putting that kind of dingy drumbeat behind it and that’s why that song stuck around. I don’t know, we banned it from “New Chain” — we just said no guitars, period. We didn’t even bring one to the writing and recording sessions, so all the songs are written off loops and keyboard lines and different samples and things that we found. But I think for the next record, guitar is off the “banned list.” We might ban just chords, no guitar chords allowed. (laughs) It’s fun to make rules, you know? For anyone that’s sat in front of a computer trying to make music, it’s just like infinite space in front of your ears and your eyes. Because otherwise, it would make me a little crazy. But yeah, I don’t know, I started picking up the guitar again. I think maybe I’m interested in that songwriting that way. You know, I didn’t like it for a while because with a guitar, your hands just kinda do things because it’s easy. You go to certain chords because, I don’t know, it’s just comfortable. I know my hand likes to go from E-minor to A-minor so I just do that, whereas I think with a keyboard, it’s just so differently laid out. And I feel like a lot of times you write from bass parts first so I don’t know, it just forces you into a different decision. I’m maybe interested in being limited by the guitar again though.WEEKEND All your cover art shares a vibrant, almost kaleidoscopic quality that seems to fit your style of music perfectly. What kind of oversight does the band have in composing pieces of cover art? KOLENIK We’re very anal about it and we don’t just ask somebody for an idea and then do it. The cover that we’d done with our friend Morgan Blair was amazing and we like to work on everything with her. She’s just so enthusiastic and a talented person. We saw her art at a gallery and just contacted her immediately because we thought it was a perfect fit for the band, and she’s become a great friend. So we’ve kinda worked hand-in-hand with her and come up with designs. She brings us stuff, and then we go back and forth. She understands the color palette and the general geometrics we’re looking for. WEEKEND What are your future recording plans as of right now? KOLENIK The second we got home from tour, we were dying to start working on new stuff, so we’ve got a ton of new songs in development, but you know, they take a lot of time. Once we’re done with this tour, we’re gonna go back down to Delaware for a little bit and just focus and try to get some more of the ideas into perfect, finished-song status. We’ll probably spend most of the rest of the year just working on these songs and hopefully have the next record out in some sort of timely fashion, but we’re trying to take as much time as we need and not rush it in any way.
(03/22/11 1:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>New York synth-lovers Small Black caught the indie world’s attention in 2010 with a self-titled debut EP and first full-length album “New Chain,” an effort that earned a spot on WEEKEND’s 20 Best Albums of 2010 list. Wednesday, the band will bring its dreamy, electro-pop game to The Bishop’s stage. Lead singer and keyboardist Josh Kolenik recently talked to WEEKEND about the importance of cover art, being on a Bloomington-based label and breaking into pools. WEEKEND How and when did you guys sign to Jagjaguwar? JOSH KOLENIK We signed last January, I think, and they just approached us in the fall after we self-released the original EP. Then we just kinda worked it out to do a re-release of it in the spring and followed up with “New Chain” in the fall. WEEKEND What do you remember most about Bloomington? KOLENIK We actually played at The Bishop over the summer with Beach Fossils. So that was our first time there and we got the Jagjaguwar-Secretly Canadian tour of the land. (laughs) It was fun. I think we broke into a pool in the middle of the night. It was chaotic. WEEKEND Would you say that your hushed style of music translates especially well in a smaller setting? Or do you also get good crowd responses in larger or outdoor venues as well?KOLENIK Yeah, you know, it’s a learning process and we’re in the first year of taking this stuff on the road and how you approach different venues. You know we really like the tight, small space like The Bishop because it kinda promotes a party atmosphere and it’s more about the vibe in the room than having perfect sound or that sort of performance. Whereas when you’re playing a big, open space or a bigger club, you’re trying to connect with the people in the back of the room as well as in the front so it really relies more I think on a better sound quality and a sort of performance that’s a bigger, higher-fidelity sound and just bigger and wider in scope. So we try to approach those shows differently as far as where our levels are at and our general energy level and mindset. But as far as a preference between the two, I don’t think we have one yet. Just whatever’s appropriate for the evening or for the town or for the space, you know?WEEKEND Where are you right now, and what are you doing to prepare for the tour?KOLENIK I’m just in Brooklyn right now and I’m going to get a coffee. You know, we just finished up rehearsal yesterday. Just arranged a couple other things from "New Chain" that we hadn’t had time to get together for the last tour. We’re just headed down to South by Southwest and gonna deal with that madness and have fun there. Hopefully we have a couple new songs arranged for this tour that we’ll be treating people to who have come out and seen us previously.WEEKEND What are the songs?KOLENIK We hadn’t been playing the song “Panthers,” and we’ve been doing a cover of a song by Best Coast called “Sun Was High.” We aren’t really playing any new material — yet.WEEKEND One surface observation of Small Black would be that you guys don’t really use guitars or have a guitar player. Can you tell me a little bit about your songwriting process and how that’s different with no guitar? Do you ever write songs on guitar?KOLENIK Yeah, it’s funny, I was thinking about this today. We kinda all were guitar players in this band. We just got bored with it and decided that we were more interested in working with the computer and sampling and keyboards and the freedom of songwriting on Pro Tools. I think a lot of those first skeletons of Small Black songs for the EP were guitar stuff that eventually just all got eradicated. Like the song “Kings of Animals,” that was a bonus track. That was the first song we had done and that was a guitar song. It was more that we got interested in just putting that kind of dingy drumbeat behind it and that’s why that song stuck around. I don’t know, we banned it from "New Chain" — we just said no guitars, period. We didn’t even bring one to the writing and recording sessions, so all the songs are written off loops and keyboard lines and different samples and things that we found. But I think for the next record, guitar is off the “banned list.” We might ban just chords, no guitar chords allowed. (laughs) It’s fun to make rules, you know? For anyone that’s sat in front of a computer trying to make music, it’s just like infinite space in front of your ears and your eyes. Because otherwise, it would make me a little crazy. But yeah, I don’t know, I started picking up the guitar again. I think maybe I’m interested in that songwriting that way. You know, I didn’t like it for a while because with a guitar, your hands just kinda do things because it’s easy. You go to certain chords because, I don’t know, it’s just comfortable. I know my hand likes to go from E-minor to A-minor so I just do that, whereas I think with a keyboard, it’s just so differently laid out. And I feel like a lot of times you write from bass parts first so I don’t know, it just forces you into a different decision. I’m maybe interested in being limited by the guitar again though.WEEKEND All your cover art shares a vibrant, almost kaleidoscopic quality that seems to fit your style of music perfectly. What kind of oversight does the band have in composing pieces of cover art? KOLENIK We’re very anal about it and we don’t just ask somebody for an idea and then do it. The cover that we’d done with our friend Morgan Blair was amazing and we like to work on everything with her. She’s just so enthusiastic and a talented person. We saw her art at a gallery and just contacted her immediately because we thought it was a perfect fit for the band, and she’s become a great friend. So we’ve kinda worked hand-in-hand with her and come up with designs. She brings us stuff, and then we go back and forth. She understands the color palette and the general geometrics we’re looking for. WEEKEND What are your future recording plans as of right now? KOLENIK The second we got home from tour, we were dying to start working on new stuff, so we’ve got a ton of new songs in development, but you know, they take a lot of time. Once we’re done with this tour, we’re gonna go back down to Delaware for a little bit and just focus and try to get some more of the ideas into perfect, finished-song status. We’ll probably spend most of the rest of the year just working on these songs and hopefully have the next record out in some sort of timely fashion, but we’re trying to take as much time as we need and not rush it in any way.
(03/09/11 11:16pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>What is it called when inefficient planning leads to an unnecessary waste of societal benefits? That depends who you ask. In economics, those forfeited benefits are known as “deadweight loss.” An unorthodox example not included in economics textbooks is “dead air” or silence on a radio station’s airwaves when it fails to produce any sound. Coincidence? Hardly. In any case, there is an irreversible loss. Some type of opportunity “dies,” and we never get it back. The Federal Communications Commission has been known to punish stations for producing too much dead air by dishing out multi-thousand dollar fines liberally. The goal, of course, is to send the message that DJs are obligated to use up all their allotted airtime because every second wasted is one that instead could have gone to someone who actually had something to say. But dead air exists well beyond the grand sum of those quiet moments between R. Kelly and a Dr. Scholl’s commercial. Historically, much of it has resulted from laws prohibiting certain stations from broadcasting on certain airwaves, which then end up totally unused. As they tend to do, America’s major cities take the wasteful cake here. Low-power FM stations (under 100 watts) have long been prohibited from taking up airwaves in our top-50 radio markets (essentially a rearranged list of our 50 biggest cities). Many commercial station broadcasters, territorial as we humans are, feel threatened by low-power FM in their city. The result has been the silent death of opportunity known as dead air — and lots of it. After failed legislations in 2005, 2007 and 2009, the government has finally decided that protecting the business of commercial stations isn’t exactly a priority. In December, President Obama signed the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, which at last opens the door for low-power FM stations to broadcast in these urban areas. It’s safe to say the FCC scored points with me on this one. Low-power FM stations like Bloomington’s WIUX are nonprofit, which means, unlike commercial stations, they play the music that they happen to feel like playing. They have no incentive not to. Needless to say, this is great news for avid music listeners who enjoy brand-new sounds from brand-new artists. But even better, there will now be stations focusing on their own city’s local music scene — something that commercial stations practically never did. If you’ve had the chance to hear FM radio in more than one big city, you’ve noticed that the playlists might as well be identical. New York stations play as much Red Hot Chili Peppers as those in Los Angeles do Jay-Z. Now, not only will an entire league of worthy artists finally achieve the level of fame they have long deserved, entire cities will finally hear their own voices. For musicians trying to gain exposure, FM radio remains one of the most effective mediums. It certainly was less obsolete in decades past, but one of the main reasons it ever lost popularity is because nobody wants to sit through the same overplayed singles just to hear one song anymore — especially not with online radio services like Pandora and Last FM at our fingertips. A return to variety might be all it needed all along. Above all, the Local Community Radio Act is rewarding the broadcasters who are in closest touch with their cities while benefiting artists and listeners. May dead air finally rest in peace.
(03/03/11 2:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Malachai’s second album opens up with an ominous two-minute orchestral overture — exactly the kind that would accompany the opening credits to a thriller movie — before a sudden drum solo leads into the jumpy first tune, “Anne.” It’s the sound of “The Dark Knight” suddenly shape-shifting into “Rush Hour,” and instantly, the band falls back on its favorite trick for the first time of many: alternating harshly between incompatible aesthetics. “Return to the Ugly Side” finds the band coming further out of left field while trying to compose a more cohesive product. For instance, almost all of the songs flow together without silence despite the wild jumps that occur between them musically. At various moments on “Return,” one can easily detect psych-rock influences from each of the past five decades, but the band’s unabashed cycling between jazzy slow jams (“How You Write”), gloomy minor-key trip-outs (“Rainbows”) and freak-folk campfire chants (“Hybernation”) quickly turns aimless. All of the impulses come off too deliberately. Organic mood swings are one thing, but the band only succeeds at them for so long before they are just indulging in rough sound clashes. Malachai isn’t afraid to show off its impressive toolbox; its biggest fear is of being classified. It’s not quite rock ’n’ roll, not quite experimental. There is a light tape hiss throughout the album, yet the fantastic production details on many tracks are undeniable, making them not quite lo-fi. “Return” offers plenty to explore, but little reason to.
(02/24/11 2:21am)
Why they should, might, and won't win
(02/24/11 12:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you’re like me, you’ve been tracking (and possibly drooling a small amount over) the major music festival lineups that are currently being unveiled one by one, leading up to the warm spring weather that denotes festival season once again. Perhaps you too have started fantasizing about that winning lottery ticket that will put you on the plane to Sasquatch or Coachella. But whether you’re lucky enough to actually be going to one of these festivals, or if you’re curious what you’ll be missing, here are some sets that the blessed attendees likely won’t forget soon. Daft Punk — Coachella April 16 Anyone familiar with the house music gurus of Daft Punk knows, frustratingly, that their shows are few and far between. Their last U.S. festival date was Aug. 3, 2007, at Chicago’s Lollapalooza. Since then, they’ve done only a small handful of shows and have successfully kept fans completely in the dark about their future touring and recording plans. In other words, every chance you get to see them could definitely be your last. The Strokes — South by Southwest March 17 The Strokes will be one of the buzz bands in Austin next month where it is scheduled to play its SXSW set at Auditorium Shores on the scenic Lady Bird Lake. Not only that, it’s choosing to do it free of charge — “no badges, no lines, no nothin,’” according to its management. In anticipation of “Angles,” their first album in five years that will see its U.S. release only five days after the show, the New York City rockers will be stocked full of brand new songs — some bang for the buck you won’t even have to pay. The Strokes will also be playing sets at Coachella, Jazz & Heritage and Bonnaroo, albeit for the standard festival prices.Death From Above 1979 — Coachella March 17, Sasquatch May 27 Broken up since 2006, the dance-punk duo of Sebastian Grainger and Jesse Keeler (of MSTRKRFT fame) recently made plans for an unprecedented reunion tour. In fact, it wasn’t until their names appeared on Coachella’s lineup in late January that anybody had a clue they were getting back together at all. Along with Sasquatch co-players Guided by Voices, DFA ’79 is by all means the undead act to catch this festival season. Arcade Fire — Coachella April 16, Jazz & Heritage May 6, Bonnaroo June 9-12 The no-brainer of the list. Coming off of their surprising Grammys cleanup, the Canadian giants will take an international victory lap that includes stops at two of this country’s biggest festivals, Coachella and Bonnaroo, for headlining sets. Its live show is widely considered one of the most energetic among rock bands today, and that certainly shouldn’t be hindered by the mildly baffling fact that it could actually be the biggest band in the world right now. Lil Wayne — The Bamboozle May 1, Bonnaroo June 9-12Out of jail and right back on tour! After his stop in Bloomington, Wayne will head outdoors to appease the sweaty masses at New Jersey’s The Bamboozle and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo. It would be valid to say that music festivals and being released from prison are the two most effective ways to feel like a free man.
(02/10/11 12:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Elton John worshipers, rejoice — it’s that time of year again. After last year’s Grammys, I wrote a column subtitled “Why the Grammys fell flat.” At the time, my disappointment had more to do with the ceremony’s poor organization, category ambiguity and general obliviousness to the state of music today than excessive snubbing. Not to say the Grammys don’t snub — rather, they snub too many artists to count, and therefore too many to waste time arguing about. So once again, I won’t be getting too worked up when Katy Perry steals Album of the Year thunder from every other artist who recorded two or more consecutive notes of music in 2010. This is simply the name of the awards show game. If publicity had nothing to do with it, each nomination would probably seem even more arbitrary. There will never be room for underground art in an awards show — that’s the point. The Grammys just happen to suffer from this the worst. I’m certainly not saying that underground music is inherently better than, say, underground film. But there is a very good chance that the best album you heard from last year got snubbed for a nomination. It’s not as likely that your favorite movie was snubbed. After all, if your favorite wasn’t “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “Inception” or any of the other seven nominees for the Best Picture Oscar, you really get out to the theaters. Or you were just a big fan of “MacGruber.” Considering this, one might argue that the Grammys are in worse need of a 10-nominee category than the Oscars. (This is only their second year since doubling the nominees for the coveted Best Picture award from five.) But I wouldn’t. For the Oscars, tacking on an extra five movies means that deserving contenders like “The Kids Are All Right,” “127 Hours” and “Winter’s Bone” will be thrown into the mix. It means they have five less movies to worry about snubbing, and it means less backlash from critics for snubbing them. But for the Grammys, nominating another five albums wouldn’t exactly fix this problem. Neither would another 50. This is an award that goes out to winners of 109 categories including “Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album” — and who am I to say Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band didn’t make the greatest record ever with “Zydeco Junkie”? If you’re like me and have no idea whether Perry or Arcade Fire has the better shot at winning Album of the Year, then you can understand how throwing in a John Legend or a Black Keys wouldn’t suddenly make it a better fight. More likely, it would just mean five more albums that are not the one you or I think was the year’s best. Simply put, the Oscars are easier to sell to us viewers than the Grammys because the expensive tends to intersect with the critically acclaimed far more naturally and more often in film than in music. That’s not necessarily good or bad; that’s just how it’s always been. Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder said it best in 1996 after winning Best Hard Rock Performance: “I don’t know what this means. I don’t think it means anything.” That was true then, and it’s even truer 15 years later. But in its defense, I don’t think that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is trying to fool you otherwise — though it would be if it increased the number of nominees. They would rather we tune in for what the Oscars can’t offer: some delightfully nonsensical collaborations and grandiose performances. That’s what the Grammys are all about, after all — performing.
(01/27/11 3:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For some reason, film producers are just now beginning to feel good about the idea of enlisting big names to star in posthumous musician biopics. It started with the news late last year that Sacha Baron Cohen will be playing Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic of the Queen singer. Then came the recent confirmation that Jada Pinkett Smith and Suge Knight will be cast in one about their deceased friend Tupac Shakur. And just this week, rumors started swirling about a possible Jeff Buckley biopic that Robert Pattinson is allegedly dying to star in. Personally, I want to see more, so I’ve provided five more golden ideas for potential subjects and the stars who should play them. Please feel free to produce one yourself; I just want to see these actually get made. Gram Parsons played by Paul Dano Gram Parsons paved major ground for rock and country in the ’60s and early ’70s. He also had a catastrophic childhood, went to Harvard and did so many drugs leading up to his fatal overdose at 26 that his final days were spent wandering the California deserts in search of UFOs. The story of how his buddies successfully stole his body from an airport to fulfill a pact was the subject of “Grand Theft Parsons” in 2003, but Parsons’ life is the most important part of his story. The similarly complexioned Paul Dano, known for roles in “Little Miss Sunshine” and “There Will Be Blood,” would be an especially convincing lead. Jam-Master Jay played by Rob Brown Jam-Master Jay became a key player in rap’s emergence into the mainstream in the 1980s as the massively popular DJ for his group Run-D.M.C. but was murdered unexpectedly in 2002. Rob Brown knows how to honor a late great on the big screen, which he did in 2008’s “The Express” as Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman Trophy winner. If the Tupac flick disappoints like the 2009 Biggie Smalls biopic “Notorious” did, maybe this one can become the first classic rap biopic of its kind. Nico played by Uma Thurman German Warhol Superstar Nico starred in her fair share of movies before her death, but most know her as a musician. One of her biggest feats was collaborating with The Velvet Underground on their monumental 1967 debut, “The Velvet Underground & Nico,” but that’s not to belittle her massive success in acting and modeling. Uma Thurman bears an uncanny resemblance to her fellow blonde, although I have no clue if she can sing. Jerry Garcia played by Jorge Garcia Jerry Garcia’s estate has actually been approached for the rights to make the jolly Grateful Dead captain’s biopic before but has yet to give clearance to any proposed project. However, they should change their mind when they hear the beefy co-star of “LOST” would represent him. Duane Allman played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt He doesn’t have red hair and can’t grow a great beard, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in a nasty bicycle crash last summer, so he will at least know what he’s doing when reenacting the similar motorcycle accident that killed the elder Allman brother when he was just 24. For his short time on Earth, Duane lived a lot of life and cemented his position in classic rock lore even before passing, so this idea could make for a thrilling look into the fast times of a rock ’n’ roll icon similar to 1991’s “The Doors.”
(01/27/11 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Robert Pollard does not wait around for inspiration. There’s a reason he’s written 32 studio albums worth of music since 1987, first as front man for his recently reassembled Guided by Voices and later as a solo artist. For the same reason, so many of his songs last under two minutes. Constant creation with minimal revision has its inherent consequences, but when Pollard’s on, he can drunkenly rifle through 20 solid hooks inside 40 minutes and attack each one so hard they feel complete without a single bridge or solo. Chalk “Space City Kicks” up as one of Pollard’s most impressive post-GBV albums to date. Like his best efforts, it thrives on his undying enthusiasm for classic rock riffs and nods to his main influence, The Who. “I Wanna Be Your Man in the Moon” naturally emerges as an instant choice pick: a simple Roger Daltrey-esque melody animated by Pollard’s youthful vigor that he rarely has trouble channeling. Conversely, “Woman to Fly” attests to his power as a stripped-down singer-songwriter. Above a single electric guitar and gentle sonic haze, Pollard lets his voice soar, belting and holding the word “fly” as if singing over a full band playing full force. “Space City Kicks” is more a collection of impulses than half-realized songs, which is good because Pollard is best when he’s impulsive.
(01/20/11 3:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tapes ‘N Tapes fans tend to prefer their rock raw and dirty, a sound not unlike that of The Walkmen or Wolf Parade, and one that the band impressively honed in on with its first two albums. Unfortunately for these fans, the band’s third album “Outside” falls into an idle and formula-bound comfort zone of lighthearted and squeaky-clean, though notably lifeless, indie rock numbers that are fun and catchy for a few listens before turning stale fast. Lead singer Josh Grier demonstrates a clear mastery of the vocal cord tricks essential to his confident and aggressive delivery, but he uses them far too often to shout in your face about nothing in particular. In fact, for a few select moments — like the final minute of the vapid, summery tune “SWM” — you may actually believe that you are hearing an O.A.R. record. Standout track “Hidee Ho” offers shades of the drive found in their back catalogue, though its engaging crescendo feels somewhat underdeveloped once Grier falls back on the vintage indie rock banality of shouting “Hey!” 18 times in a row. “The Loon,” the band’s self-produced and self-released 2005 debut, was the type of record that could single-handedly elevate a face in the crowd, which is exactly what Tapes ‘N Tapes was not too long ago. “Outside” is the type of record a band that has built itself from the ground up releases when it has no desire to build any further.
(01/13/11 12:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There is no better time than the New Year to discuss “new.” For my first column of 2011, I want to examine the new direction of rock ’n’ roll — possibly the most open-ended genre in popular music and the one I find most interesting to trace. Do you define rock ’n’ roll as the sound of guitars, drums and bass in energetic sync? Or, do you define it as the product of all the artists who ever barged forth and conquered it? The artists who were not just great at the universally accepted basics of rock ’n’ roll’s sound and structure, but who themselves became rock ’n’ roll? The ones who not only possessed a love, consciousness and natural talent for it, but also broke true ground with their voices? If Elvis wrote the boundaries, the Beatles expanded them. Then came the Grateful Dead. Today, there are a number of title contenders, but a strong argument could be made for Radiohead dating back a dozen years. Their transformation from key players in the Nirvana-dominated alternative movement of the 1990s to successful innovators of electronica-saturated rock cannot be denied as a massive boundary expansion for rock ’n’ roll. There are many traceable degrees of separation in between these dynasties, yet no surface similarities between the styles of, say, the King and Jerry Garcia. Whereas some genres have little potential for successful mobility, rock ’n’ roll never stays in one place. So which way is it headed today? And where will it be tomorrow? According to the charts, bands like the Black Keys, Arcade Fire and Kings of Leon are America’s current rock ’n’ roll sweethearts. I have mad love for many of them, but I don’t necessarily foresee their legacies marking critical turning points for the genre. They also are not the only ones trying to pick up where Radiohead will eventually leave off. Animal Collective, a band that many would classify as experimental, neo-psychedelia or even pop before calling them rock ’n’ roll, is trying its hardest to do the same. Their ridiculously expansive catalogue — throughout which they have toyed with every sound known to rock from acoustic guitars to samplers — gathered, refined and enthusiastically amplified all their past accomplishments in 2009 with their most recent album, “Merriweather Post Pavilion.” Like a pound of sushi, it overwhelms you with flavor and is initially tough to digest, but after a few tries, you might just want to consume it all day. Why can’t Animal Collective be rock ’n’ roll? In their recent releases, one can hear small bits of great rock pioneers before them — from Radiohead to the Beach Boys. I think they work well on a playlist with Band of Horses and so does my iTunes Genius feature — and iTunes Genius is a total genius. Their music offers everything that rock has ever given us and then some. I could cite many of their songs from the past 10 years, but the first two from “Merriweather Post Pavilion” are all the evidence I need to prove that they are becoming rock ’n’ roll. It’s all there: overflowing energy, drums being hit as hard as possible without breaking, bright piano chords harmonizing perfectly with in-your-face synthesizers, and lyrics like “feeling envy for the kid who’ll dance despite anything” that could echo loudly 50 years from now. Like the Pink Floyds, Velvet Undergrounds and David Bowies before them, their sound is challenging, impossible to pinpoint, and might not receive its due credit for years to come. At the same time, it’s a sound unlike anything ever heard before. Call them anything you want, but I call Animal Collective next in line for the throne — the very same one Elvis once sat on. They may not look like royalty material, but the family tree is pointing directly to them. And that’s lineage anyone can trace.
(12/08/10 11:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Where should I even begin recapping this year in music, the year that brought us so many great new things to hear, brought the Beatles catalog to iTunes and brought one too many chart records to the cast of “Glee”? Let’s examine. This was a year of reunions. Multiple great American rock bands of the past four decades chose this particular year to mark their comebacks, most famously 1970s new wavers The Cars and 1990s grunge superstars Soundgarden. On a less mainstream level, two of Matador Records’ proudest alumni, Pavement and Guided by Voices, also packed up their guitars and toured for the first time since disbanding at about the turn of the century. Following them back onto the road was their protege, The Strokes, who, four years after the band’s previous performance, did not wait long enough to really qualify as ever broken up in the first place. Still, the band returned to major festival headline slots in loud fashion. This was a year of trilogies. Over the summer, Canadian indie giants Arcade Fire (“The Suburbs”) and dance-punk partiers LCD Soundsystem (“This Is Happening”) nailed hat tricks with their long-awaited third studio albums, two major musical landmarks of the year by all accounts. Breaking an even longer holdout of five years was Damon Albarn’s constantly fluctuating project Gorillaz, which accomplished the three-peat this year with “Plastic Beach,” a record that played nonstop to the strengths of its overflowing number of collaborators. (See the very next paragraph.) Angelic harpist/pianist Joanna Newsom (“Have One On Me”) and southern rockers Band of Horses (“Infinite Arms”) have released three straight greats as of this year, too. This was a year of collaborations. Kanye West, first and foremost, did a fantastic job playing matchmaker extraordinaire this year, making all sorts of weird dreams come true by facilitating hook-ups on his tracks such as Justin Bieber/Raekwon and Bon Iver/Rick Ross, just to name a couple. But we witnessed plenty of other delightful yet completely unprecedented hook-ups, including The Roots/Monsters of Folk, Freddie Gibbs/Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, Kid Cudi/Annie Clark of St. Vincent, and Gorillaz, whose members win collaborative points solely for allowing both Snoop Dogg and Lou Reed to appear on the same album. And speaking of Kanye West, 2010 was most certainly his year. Yeezy kicked off the decade in Honolulu, getting ready to call his entire phone book to get in on the next surefire, instant classic he would create there. By the back half of this year, he had given away all his best tracks to the whole world for free and found himself tweeting stabs at “Today Show” host Matt Lauer while reconciling with George W. Bush. Now he’s sitting on top of one of the most critically acclaimed rap albums ever made and still creates the headlines on a seemingly daily basis. This was a chill year. With the debuts or breakout efforts of beach-infatuated, synth and/or jangly guitar-specializing groups like Best Coast, Wavves, The Drums, Beach House, Dum Dum Girls, Small Black and Surfer Blood, a certain aesthetic — varyingly referred to as surf pop, dream pop and chillwave — has emerged as indie music’s new direction for 2011. This was a year of hair-whipping and bad romance, the year when Cee-Lo Green was saying “Fuck You” all over the radio, when Conan O’Brien and Steve Martin provided two of Bonnaroo’s most talked-about sets and when M.I.A. told The New York Times Magazine to “give war a chance.” Not a bad start, 2010s. Not bad at all.
(12/08/10 11:35pm)
The show must go on
(12/08/10 11:30pm)
LCD Soundsystem tops WEEKEND's list of the best albums of the year.
(12/02/10 12:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Broken Dreams Club” is the second release from San Fran surf-rock revivalists Girls and a follow-up to the highly lauded 2009 debut, “Album.” As far as song writing goes, there is no obvious difference between the two; these six Americana-tinged songs of heartache, substances and heartache on substances would not be out of place at all on “Album.” And if you weren’t a fan of that one, then the first five songs here probably have little chance of winning you over. But this extended play is more than just an afterthought to the superior debut; it represents a transition into a far more cleaned-up sound for the band. Compared to all of the fuzzed-out guitar parts on “Album,” the production here is crystal-clear, and much of “Broken Dreams Club” benefits tremendously from the extra effort. “Carolina,” the 8-minute closer, is both the best example of this and one of singer-songwriter Christopher Owens’ most impressive accomplishments to date. It opens in 2009 fashion with four minutes of distorted guitar ambience accompanying Owens’ ambling baritone vocals, all in preparation for an exciting final 65 seconds of the EP that loudly exposes the contrast between old Girls and new. If you’re willing to give them a chance, this is really the only song you need to hear.
(11/17/10 10:31pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the opening seconds of his sophomore studio album, Kid Cudi promises us “some generation-next shit.” Ever since he became a household name with last year’s “Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” Cudder fans have been eager to see him take this next step. With “Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager,” he does just that, though it isn’t so much a step forward as one slightly off to the side. Cudi still identifies himself as darker than your average rapper, and his penchant for mumbling over lethargic beats with outer-space-like atmospheres prospers on standout tracks “These Worries” and “Mojo So Dope.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for a very compelling hour of hip-hop here, and the best tracks fall short of the quality met by those from his debut. In part one, Cudi vented about the woes of being misunderstood — mainly his nightmares, loneliness and “Pursuit of Happiness.” His new problems are no serious departure; they include his bumpy rise to fame, more loneliness and how his earnings from Vitamin Water advertisements and a role on HBO’s “How to Make it in America” worsened his cocaine habit. Thankfully, this album has more to offer than Cudi’s monotonous delivery and choice of subject matter. The record’s delightfulness is within his wide, persistent spanning of production styles. He flows over a looped vocal sample from Annie Clark of St. Vincent on “Maniac” and croons over a full orchestra on “All Along.” He even does somewhat of a decent Joe Jonas on the guitar-charged single “Erase Me,” a shoe-in for heavy Saturday night play at bars everywhere for at least a couple years. And as expected, weed still holds a special place in Cudi’s heart, as does humor. One track called “Marijuana” deliberately stretches out its final seconds so that it ends at exactly 4:20. Another track is called “Ashin’ Kusher.” As far as misunderstood, space-case mumblers go, Cudi is still boss. Finding the top of the rap hierarchy, however, requires much more these days.
(11/03/10 11:43pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>His Animal Collective co-leader, Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, took a do-everything-imaginable-yourself approach to his cutting-edge solo efforts, but Dave “Avey Tare” Portner’s first solo album sounds more, well, solo. Relying chiefly on drum machines, Portner is less expansive with instrumentation on “Down There” than on his work with Collective. Do not think, however, that this record does not accomplish exactly what Portner wants it to. Every track on this album makes it instantly clear to those familiar with Animal Collective’s trailblazing catalogue that Portner’s intentions here lean far more toward extremely personal catharsis than innovation. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the penultimate track, “Heather in the Hospital,” a strained, vocally distorted lament about his sister’s cancer diagnosis. Other tracks feature dark, murky soundscapes that evoke some really gloomy imagery resembling that ghostly crocodile on the cover.But “Lucky 1,” similar to the ecstatic “Brother Sport” off Animal Collective’s 2009 release “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” is an optimistic finale: the sound of a happy ending, or at least a hopeful one, to Portner’s torment. With his fullest bellow, he tells us to “Fly off from harder days/Today feel like the lucky one.” These are sad times for Portner, but he will move on.
(10/13/10 10:36pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>October is a spooky month. Part of it is preparing for Halloween, but all the dying plants probably have something to do with it, too. Around this time every year, it can seem like there are more eerie vibes and doom in the air. Inspired by some notably bizarre news stories, I present six signs of the apocalypse that have emerged in the music world this month. 1. Jesus < John Lennon < “Glee”?John Lennon would have been 70 on Oct. 9. If he were alive today, he would have celebrated his birthday the same week the cast of “Glee” broke a record for the most Billboard Hot 100 chart appearances by a non-solo act, a record previously held by the Beatles. Lennon once said his band was “more popular than Jesus,” so apparently our No. 1 most popular icons have been receiving progressively less worship for some 2,000 years. In Jesus’ defense, he is disqualified from the “non-solo act” category. 2. His beautiful dark twist on hip-hop is no fantasy. The latest Kanye West rumor is that Justin Vernon, the introverted brains behind Bon Iver and Volcano Choir, will appear on a total of nine tracks on his upcoming album, which he tweeted will be called “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Remember when “Homecoming,” the only track Kanye collaborated on with Coldplay, was a big deal three years ago? Vernon, an artist who plays music nine times softer than Coldplay, will be on nine times as many Kanye tracks as the band. How times have changed. Even stranger, West and Vernon are both auto-tune enthusiasts with talent. I sincerely hope this album will drop pre-apocalyptically. 3. “Think I give a monkey’s uncle about a Grammy?”On Oct. 10, a rehabilitated Eminem went on TV and told Anderson Cooper that he forbids profanity in his house. Combine that with Eminem living long enough to see himself become the most boring segment on “60 Minutes” and Hell just gets frostier. Then again, whenever artists hit 37 and quit drugs, they start talking about things such as parenthood in interviews. 4. There is a ballet based on The Shins’ “Oh, Inverted World.”It debuted Oct. 1. Apparently Green Day’s “American Idiot” on Broadway did not completely squash everyone’s faith in rock expressed through performance dance after all. 5. All of Georgia’s gonna love you, Band of Horses.Shortly before reuniting with Goodie Mob, the busy Cee-Lo Green uncorked a genius, danceable cover of southern rock group Band of Horses’ genius smooth jam “No One’s Gonna Love You” this past summer. The band returned the favor with a drumline-anchored cover of Green’s spirited home state tribute, “Georgia,” which they recorded with the University of Georgia’s marching band and made available to download. Plenty of indie rock heavyweights have contributed to mainstream hip-hop and R&B lately, (see sign No. 2,) but until “Georgia,” I had yet to hear a truly successful attempt at the opposite and never expected to. And yet, it became my best 99-cent purchase in recent memory. This is far from a cheap stab at irony; in fact, Horses frontman Ben Bridwell claims the band did its cover in homage to his Georgia Bulldogs football team, the friendly state of Georgia and his new pal Cee-Lo. Band of Horses also once let Kid Cudi sample “Funeral.” I blindly and vainly predict they will tackle Cudi’s “Cleveland Is The Reason” next.6. I decided to lay off of Weezer.But I will say that new music video with those “Jackass” guys is way extreme.
(09/23/10 12:15am)
WEEKEND suggests fifteen great underground artists
(09/22/10 11:55pm)
WEEKEND runs down fifteen unappreciated gems