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Rock Art Rock
The Decemberists
September 19, 2009
Terminal 5, New York, NY
By Amanda Hatfield "The Decemberists played a special one night 'lottery show,' where the songs played were picked at random by a master of ceremonies, played by John Wesley Harding..."
Ra Ra Riot
April 4, 2009
Webster Hall, New York City, NY
By Amanda Hatfield "This show was, at the time, the biggest one Ra Ra Riot had sold out as headliners, and it was clear to me after watching it that the band is destined for even bigger and better things..."
Florence and the Machine
October 28, 2009
Bowery Ballroom, New York City, NY
By Amanda Hatfield "Florence Welsh and her backing band delighted and mesmerized a sold-out crowd at Bowery in her first official NY headlining show..."
Dirty Projectors
July 19, 2009
Williamsburg Waterfront (Brooklyn, NY)
By Amanda Hatfield "I was skeptical about how well Dirty Projectors' gorgeous, complex vocal harmonies would carry over outdoors, standing under hot sunshine..."
See more in the Rock Art Rock gallery.
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Live Show Review: Dawes and Langhorne Slim at the Independent, San Francisco
Dawes and Langhorne Slim
November 6th at the Independent, San Francisco
I actually first heard Dawes when Crawdaddy! editor Michael Harkin hit the road with them via Daytrotter’s Barnstormer a month or so back and did this great piece on the experience. I was taken by their beautifully crafted songs and Taylor Goldsmith’s voice, rich and full of soul, but also capable of unleashing this antiquated, all-American bellow. Dawes was initially, surprisingly, a post-punk band who called themselves Simon Dawes, but their new record, North Hills, channels the Laurel Canyon sound of the ‘70s—think Neil Young, the Band, and the Byrds… this is totally listenable stuff. Dawes has a big sound that is totally commercially viable, so I can easily see them filling a larger space like the Fillmore in no time at all. On Friday night at the Independent in support of New York City troubadour Langhorne Slim, the California bred quartet played tracks directly from their album (but for one slow, somnambulant song they identified as, simply, a “new one they had never played before”).
“Don’t Bring Me Down”
You’ve heard the song and may’ve even used the expression the title was based upon, but despite the many recordings of different songs with the same title, there are just three that are fit to undergo examination of the origin of “Don’t Bring Me Down”, a stand-up song that has endured confusion, the passage of time, and a multitude of complaints and criticisms no matter who sings them. Consider them exhibits A, B, and C.
The basic definition of the bring down might seem obvious and unnecessary to outline, but since over-explaining is a bit of a specialty of mine, I’m going to do it anyway. If it’s too much of a bring down for you, you can skip this part. But the general idea is that a negative person or event come to destroy an otherwise perfectly good situation—an instant depressor and a real bad vibe—is a bring down. Born from ’50s jazz and hipster lingo (look, I’m no William Safire, but it’s my best guess), whether it’s a party, an idea, a person’s lifetime hopes and dreams, or even their delusions—to be told, ‘That’s not gonna fly, Jim,” is a definite bring down. Ruining someone’s high or coming down from one? A bring down. Get off my cloud, and don’t be a downer, a bummer, or a drag—these are all other ways of saying, “Don’t Bring Me Down.” As jazz lingo had a way of finding its way into R&B and rock ‘n’ roll, and into the vocabs of the people who listen to the stuff, the bring down found its way into hundreds of songs, some more memorable than others. Dig?
Spoon Announces Upcoming Album, and Other News
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Austin, TX’s very own Spoon (nearly three years to be exact, since their last record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was released). But they just announced a forthcoming new album due out in January, which, if staying on par with their previous output, is sure to be full of wry, awesome rock ‘n’ roll and will be a favorite of both critics and fans. (Pitchfork)
For your Friday afternoon entertainment, check out this piece on buskers in various cities across the country pandering to their, yep, advertisers. (Idolator)
After playing 37 CMJ shows, one of the more hyped about bands of the fall, xx (signed to Matador) has (temporarily? permanently?) lost their guitarist and been forced to cancel their upcoming string of European dates. (Stereogum)
Wired has just posted an article, in wiki format, about how to explain DRM to your dad (or, er, your mom) with a big list of examples. (Wired)
Since the Christmas onslaught begins after this weekend anyway, here’s a little rundown on whose upcoming holiday album is better. Dylan? Or Sting? (TIRBD)
Justin Timberlake has just co-opened a new, eco-friendly golf course in his hometown of Memphis. (Undercover)
Jack Logan: Bulk
Jack Logan
Bulk
(Medium Cool / Twin/Tone, 1994)
Bulk is one of those golden records of lore, the kind that languish in relative obscurity despite the fact that once someone happens upon it they fall instantly for its endearing surplus of cheerless mystery and loner laments. Yep, this record is one huge downer, but if being down is your thing, Bulk is almost unsurpassed in its pursuit of all things bleak. Upon its release, the record was met with a lot of critical acclaim but it didn’t get much further than that. Currently out of print, let’s consider this Ex Post Facto my plea for re-releasing the record so it can be celebrated by all once more.
Bulk is a two-CD project by Jack Logan who, in 1993, sent Peter Jesperson (responsible for the early career of the Replacements) a prolific 600 home-recorded songs that he’d documented since 1979 with a rotating cast of musician friends he hung around with in a town just outside of Athens, Georgia after he was done with his day job as an auto mechanic. Jesperson quickly signed Logan to his label, and thereafter, they whittled down 600 songs to the 42 that appear on Bulk—a masterful lo-fi excursion through droning Southern gothic ballads and blotter-enhanced meditations. The narratives of the small town drifters and losers found on this record permeate the atmosphere like the stench of whiskey, stale smoke, and decaying patrons of a dive bar adorned with a jukebox playing an array of proto-punk, listless country-blues, and ’60s-inspired white-boy rockers. Logan treats his down-and-out cast with the humility of a fiction writer like Raymond Carver, and we, in turn, feel all the empathy in the world for these crusty characters.
Gordon Gano & the Ryans
Gordon Gano & the Ryans
Under the Sun
(Yep Roc, 2009)
In case you were holding your breath and waiting for a Violent Femmes reunion, it’s now official: “Violent Femmes are over.” Gordon Gano says so himself in the press kit for Under the Sun, his collaboration with former Bogmen the Ryan Brothers. One can imagine him feeling a combination of relief and sadness. With no possible Violent Femmes albums in the offing, perhaps folks (and critics) will start dealing with him as a solo artist. Perhaps. The Velvet Underground still haunts Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople still colors people’s perceptions of Ian Hunter, and McCartney’s post-Beatle offerings will always be compared to his earlier work, so Gano has a way to go before people will start evaluating his new songs on their own merits.
Gano’s first solo album, 2002’s Hitting the Ground, featured Frank Black, They Might Be Giants, PJ Harvey, John Cale, Lou Reed, and others singing Gano songs that ranged between brilliant, embarrassing, and mundane. Under the Sun is more cohesive, mostly avoiding the quirks and vocal twitches that were part of the Violent Femmes’ sound. Which is good. Gano sounds like an adult here. When he sings a heartbreaking song, there’s no ironic distance between his vocals and the feeling he’s describing. The results are mixed, but that was true (here comes a comparison) with every Violent Femmes album, except their debut. But the past is hard to put to rest and the album’s most energetic tracks—“Way That I Creep” and “Red”—are Violent Femmes knock-offs. “Way That I Creep” tips its hat to the Trashmen with its driving garage/surf-meets-psychobilly beat. Breakneck guitar, bass, drum, and piano rhythms are mixed into a delirious AM radio mush, with Gano’s staccato vocals acting like another rhythm instrument. The lyrics are unintelligible, something about “stickin’ and a lickin’,” but it’s a perfect two minutes of insane rock ‘n’ roll.
Apples in Stereo
Apples in Stereo
#1 Hits Explosion
(Yep Roc, 2009)
Some have already questioned the need for this product, whose title simultaneously mocks its own superfluity and celebrates the kooky K-Tel nostalgia these Elephant 6 torchbearers have always lovingly and unaffectedly made their own. And it’s true: Burn your own disc from iTunes, and this time make sure to bring “7 Stars”, “Sunndal Song”, “Stream Running Over”, “Look Away”, “Baroque”, and “She’s Telling Lies.” But what #1 Hits Explosion signifies is nice: A well-respected band of three-star reputation lobbying to be taken seriously as contenders at the end of a decade marked by heavy-hitting titles like Funeral and Hell Hath No Fury. Robert Schneider was happy to languish, churning out mathematically air-tight pop at home in between getting his weird friends off the couch to make Holocaust-era epics, seeming somewhat like a sideman in his own collective. His tunes got fluffier, bubbling up for Cartoon Network spots now and again, with innocence so unfeigned that even the cast of American Idol was permitted to take his most wide-eyed tune, “Energy”, for a joyride. And earlier this year, the cheerful, bald frontman didn’t have to jump far from his adult persona to become Robert Bobbert, his wackier children’s music project.
Although aging as gracefully as a Beatles-besotted psych-daddy can in latter-day pop or indie, Schneider is rightfully entertaining the desire to rise up with gloves on. Yep Roc isn’t the sort of label that goes around dropping cash-vacuum best-ofs; Apples in Stereo isn’t the sort of band that demands their fans pay double. What he seems to want as the ultimate prize is pop-songwriter fetishization. A greatest hits, a best-of with his name on it, a “best” period, something Apples in Stereo fans probably don’t waste many Twitter characters on before dropping another tab of acid to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
Young Fresh Fellows
Young Fresh Fellows
I Think This Is
(Yep Roc, 2009)
Young Fresh Fellows have been called the godfathers of the Seattle scene, usually by fanatical fans or clueless critics, but they have about as much in common with blockbuster Seattle acts like Alice in Chains and Modest Mouse as they do with fellow Fog City stars Sir Mix-A-Lot and Jimi Hendrix. They were making indie rock before the term was coined, and their first album, Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest, came out a few years before the birth of the Sub Pop label and the first stirrings of grunge. They’re certainly a pop treasure, but they’ve gone their own unique way over the years, inspired more by tenacity and innate musical influence.
The Fellows started playing in 1982 with longtime leader and songwriter Scott McCaughey on bass and vocals, Chuck Carroll on guitar, and Tad Hutchison on drums. Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest, recorded with producer Conrad Uno, became an early college radio hit, in 1984, at a time when college radio still had non-commercial street cred. It was an oddly packaged album, with cover art that looked like an AAA poster and spoken-word interludes between songs praising the Northwest taken from a tourist promotion album.
Summer Cats
Summer Cats
Songs for Tuesdays
(Slumberland, 2009)
I’m not sure what Tuesdays are like in Melbourne, where Summer Cats call home, but in America, that second day of the work week—when the last weekend is already a distant memory and the next one feels like an impossible wish—goes something like this:
Humanity: [Groan] Why me?
Todd Snider
Todd Snider
The Excitement Plan
(Yep Roc, 2009)
Although he’s a first-class singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Todd Snider has found it hard to get mainstream cred, despite guest shots on high-profile TV shows like Jay Leno’s Tonight Show and David Letterman’s Late Show. He’s nominally a country artist, but his music jumps around from mainstream country to bluegrass, blues, rock, and folk.
Snider grew up on folk and singer-songwriter stuff, and lived all over the United States in his youth, picking up a fondness for country music, or at least the conventions of country songwriting. His problem with the industry, which is also what makes him a unique talent, is that he has a razor-sharp sense of humor and writes lyrics that cut to the bone with their finely wrought observations of human nature and social interactions. He gets tagged as a “funny songwriter,” the kiss of death in an industry that’s deadly serious about the business side of the business, despite all of its legendary excesses and absurdities. Like John Prine, who signed Snider to his Oh Boy label, he laughs with us, not at us. He’s a humorist, not a joker, something many people have a hard time differentiating.
Impending Dread from the Copyright Act of 1976, and Other News
by: Angela Zimmerman
Carrie Brownstein hosted a virtual roundtable discussion about record labels with reps from Matador, Saddle Creek, Merge, Kill Rock Stars, and Jagjaguwar. Interesting insight, from the people who know. (NPR)
Paul McCartney sure does write a damn good song, and the Library of Congress agrees, naming the former Beatle the third recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder are the other honorees. (NY Times)
Ready for the holidays? Well, no… are you ever? But here’s some news about Bob Dylan’s upcoming Christmas album, which will include some standard holiday favorites. (Sterogum)
An acute case of sciatica has forced Dan Deacon to cancel a string of shows. Deacon, known for his interactive live set, is suffering from back problems as a result of the condition. Bummer. (Pitchfork)
Read more news after the jump.
read more
by: Angela Zimmerman
published: November 16, 2009 in column: What Goes On
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