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Girl-Guy Duos: Then vs. Now
Although this decade still has a couple of years left to go, the 2000s might go down as the era of girl-guy duo groups. You could say this officially began in 1999 with the arrival of Jack and Meg White’s self-titled debut. But it was the White Stripes’ third album, White Blood Cells, which was released in 2001 and blew up throughout 2002, that gained the new girl-guy dynamic a strong foothold.
Within a year, three other couples had come out with their debuts. London-based duo the Kills had released their first record, Keep on Your Mean Side, for Rough Trade and drew comparisons to the White Stripes. Danish duo the Raveonettes were also on the scene by then, releasing their first full-length, Whip It On. Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips came out with L’Avventura as a side project to their proper band, Luna. Besides these debuts, Mates of State’s first album on the Polyvinyl label, Our Constant Concern, was out in 2002, and so was Low’s album Trust.
When we think back through the history of rock music, the girl-guy duo has come and gone. In the ’90s, there were very few, though Low was active that decade. We could call Belle & Sebastian a girl-guy group, but definitely not a duo. In the ’80s, the big one was the Eurythmics. In the ’70s, there were two who were huge—these seemed to thrive in the “soft rock” realm. Think of the Carpenters or Captain & Tennille (who had two number one hits).
Not Fade Away
Back in October, every Bruce Springsteen or Arcade Fire fan saw the YouTube clip from October 14th at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. It was pretty exciting to see Win Butler and Régine Chassagne join Springsteen and the E Street Band for an eerie onstage version of “State Trooper” off of Nebraska, and a lively version of their own “Keep the Car Running”, as part of the encore. The torch was being passed from the old guard to the new, yet again.
It was also exciting for Springsteen fans because it was the first time he had played “State Trooper” since the Born in the U.S.A. tour. But it wasn’t at all surprising the kids were up there to do it with him. A couple of tracks off the most recent Arcade Fire album, Neon Bible, sound a lot like Springsteen in his early ’80s heyday. “Keep the Car Running” has that same emotional ebb and flow (with pounding drums guiding it) as “Dancing in the Dark”, while “(Antichrist Television Blues)” features a driving, rhythmic guitar-picking style, very much like “State Trooper.” These songs from both artists share very pure, almost frantic expressions of emotion. “(Antichrist)” sounds like amped-up rockabilly, not unlike more than a few Springsteen tracks off Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. You can place it alongside cuts like “Working on the Highway”, “Johnny 99”, “State Trooper” (though played with a more subdued rockabilly sensibility), or “Open All Night”, and it sounds very similar.
Six Degrees of Jim O’Rourke
The first time I’d ever heard of Jim O’Rourke, it was the summer of 2002. A friend told me to check out his album, Insignificance, which had come out the previous year. I listened to it religiously and got hooked on the quality of the music, soaring feedback guitars, and skillful, gently-plucked beauties. And then there’s a bevy of sarcastic lyrics to behold: “Those things could kill you, but so could your face” stands out as the winner. There was the grating end to the final track, “Life Goes Off”, with the building repetition that reaches a crescendo just before cutting out, closing the album. It struck me as a musical form of O’Rourke’s sarcasm, and, to me, it was pretty cool that he could convey his personality so well without words. Then I discovered that if I played the CD on repeat, that build of noise at the end of the last song worked as a fantastic kick-off back into the start of the album. I realized that he’d made his record to be listened to in that circular way. Brilliant. I was really into this dude, and I told my friend.
Later that summer, the same friend recommended I pick up the new Wilco album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, saying it was one of the best albums of the year. I trusted her taste in music and was looking for something new. After all, she hadn’t led me astray with O’Rourke. The new Wilco was all right—I listened to it a bunch that summer. But I kept going back to O’Rourke and his sarcastic, misanthropic message record. And then, finally, one day while perusing the liner notes of the Wilco CD, after having read countless reviews by people listing it as top record of the year, I saw the O’Rourke name plastered all over it. He played on the record. He helped engineer it, and mixed the whole thing.
Supergroups: The Dirty Mac vs. The Good, the Bad and the Queen
Is there any more exciting concept in rock ‘n’ roll than the supergroup? Put together four or five rock stars at the top of their game and just see what happens. It seems like England invented the idea in the ’60s with groups like Cream and Blind Faith. Eric Clapton just happened to be in both of these 
groups. But none had the star power of his greatest supergroup, the Dirty Mac, who only played two songs at one high-profile gig—the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus in 1968. The group consisted of John Lennon, Clapton, Keith Richards on bass and Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience on drums. Yoko Ono and violinist Ivry Gitlis also stepped on the stage with the Mac to give an avant-garde edge to their blues jam, “Whole Lotta Yoko.”
Here in 2007, England has once again come through and produced a formidable supergroup calling themselves the Good, the Bad and the Queen. They are: Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz on vocals, keys and songwriting; Simon Tong of the Verve on guitar; the Clash’s bassist Paul Simonon; and Tony Allen of Africa 70 (and co-founder of the Nigerian-based Afrobeat sound) on drums. They’ve produced one of the best releases of the year with their self-titled debut, which contains tracks condemning the general state of the world—war, ignorance, imperialism. All of it was put together by super producer Danger Mouse (Gorillaz, The Grey Album).
Here are the Dirty Mac and the Good, the Bad and the Queen member by member, in a supergroup breakdown.
The Past (the Beach Boys) and Pending (the Shins)
A number of publications announced the Shins as the second coming of the Beach Boys, particularly after the Shins’ second release, Chutes Too Narrow (2003), and the sophisticated arrangement and production that went into the biggest and brightest track on that album, “Saint Simon.” James Mercer’s voice harmonized with itself and lilted into the ether unlike anything on their previous release, Oh, Inverted World.
On the Shins’ latest album, Wincing the Night Away, Mercer and crew take the musical elaboration a step further, enlisting Anita Robinson for backing vocals and harmonies on tracks like “Phantom Limb” and “Turn on Me.” But other than the vocals, is there really any fair reason to compare the Shins to the Beach Boys in their heyday?
The Music
Thurston Moore and Ian MacKaye on Indie Culture
by: Joe Sullivan
Not in the publishing world. And not in the music world, either. That’s basically what I learned from watching Ian MacKaye and Thurston Moore banter with the audience and each other at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival.
You might be asking yourself, how did Ian MacKaye and Thurston Moore wind up at this huge literary event? They are, after all, rock stars. Well, Moore’s authored some books and MacKaye’s been the subject of some books, but the reason is this: The festival’s fiction programmer was Johnny Temple, former bass player for Girls Against Boys and founder of Brooklyn’s Akashic Books, promoter of urban fiction. He’s known MacKaye for 20 years or so, and he invited these guys. Why? To talk about the parallels between independent publishing and independent music.
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by: Joe Sullivan
published: October 29, 2008
in column: Over a Beer
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