Recent pop

[Vince Kargatis]

Placeholder for comments on recent popular music releases. (Including pop, rock, hip hop, popular electronica, etc.) "Recent" can mean in the last few years, if you like.

Here are some recent acquisitions I've enjoyed and would recommend to like-minded listeners. I don't really enjoy reviewing much, so won't say much (glad to answer questions tho), but I have included links to reviews to all, from canonically useful sources AMG and Pitchfork. I generally get my indie news and reviews from Pitchfork (http://pitchformedia.com/), and they always have an interesting and useful year-end list (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/2002/index.shtml).

Neko Case - Blacklisted (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A0mazeflk3gf8), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/c/case_neko/blacklisted.shtml)) Really sweet-sounding "alt-country" pop songs.

Enon - High Society (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A8fbsa93gq23u), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/e/enon/high-society.shtml)) Fun and eclectic.

Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Alqjv7ip3g7or), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/i/interpol/turn-on-the-bright-lights.shtml)) A very popular band these days (#1 in Pitchfork's year-end roundup), regularly referred to as today's Joy Division. Whatever - it's good, propulsive, convincing rock.

Ted Leo - The Tyranny of Distance (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ap0uvadskl8w4), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/l/leo_ted/tyranny-of-distance.shtml)) and Hearts of Oak (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A89txlfweacqw), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/l/leo_ted/hearts-of-oak.shtml)) Good Elvis Costello-like rockin' songwriting. The latter suffers a bit from his slightly painful falsetto, but I can deal. Several mp3s at the label's site (lookout records).

16 Horsepower - Folklore (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Angjveaw64x87), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/sixteen-horsepower/folklore.shtml)). I love this band. Seriously evocative, dark, dark southern gothic rock.

Sleater-Kinney - One Beat (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ag72zeflk2gf1), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/sleater-kinney/one-beat.shtml)) A typically strong record from these indie faves. Their writing styles and sounds are branching out some.

Spoon - Girls Can Tell (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Aqif8zfj2ehok), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/spoon/girls-can-tell.shtml)) and Kill the Moonlight (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ar7lvad6kq8w2), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/spoon/kill-the-moonlight.shtml)) Very approachable indie, good writing.

Amon Tobin - Out From Out Where (AMG (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Ap1967ue030jk), Pitchfork (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/t/tobin_amon/out-from-out-where.shtml)) One of my favorite drum'n'bass/electronica musicians - I heartily recommend any of his albums.


On my soon-to-buy list:
The new New Pornographers
Lamb - What Sound
Lou Reed - The Raven
The new Cat Power
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Some Electrelane (interested from those Wire sampler cuts)

[Brian Olewnick]

On the few occasions I've heard Amon Tobin (aside from Sleater Kinney, the only one from the above list I've heard at all), I've enjoyed the music pretty well. Almost actually bought a disc, but haven't yet. Oh, I've also heard and seen Cat Power. Loved her version of 'Satisfaction' but her live performance (I think Gary was there with me) was one of her "legendary" rambling, fumbling, stoned-out shows. Sorry, I wasn't buying.

Ooh, just noticed you also listed Electrelane. YES! Loved their first record and have been meaning to get the second.

[Troy D]

Sparklehorse.

Hard to categorize, although I'd say it's something like low-fi/alt-country/punk. That probably doesn't do it justice, though. Their latest disc is It's a Wonderful Life , which is excellent, although my favorite is Good Morning Spider from a few years ago. These are albums that I have listened to again and again without tiring of them--and I can't say that about too many records.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally posted by Troy D
Sparklehorse. It's a Wonderful Life

I really like this one. It's a fairly gauzy and melancholy sound, which, in the right mood, is a perfect listen. Will have to evnetually get GMS.

[achilles]

vince,
the new Cat Power is terrific.
by the way, she's the old girlfriend of my man Bill Callahan
(Smog)--she'd covered his songs on tweo records---so go find some other Smog songs to listen to. Listen to the cut on the High Fidelity soundtrack, for instance. If you like Sparklehorse (I do too), you have to check out Smog.

[Troy D]

I'll be sure to put Smog on my list, achilles. Anything in particular you'd recommend?

Vince--I think "gauzy" is the perfect term for Sparklehorse. There's plenty of gauziness on GMS--but it also rocks out a bit more than Wonderful Life. I think it's got a great mix of mellower, somber stuff and harder stuff.

[achilles]

For Smog, I like "Knock Knock" and "The Doctor Came at Dawn"
as places to begin.

3 indie record labels I think are consistently putting out the best new rock and pop music are: Thrill Jockey, Constellation, and Kranky.

[al j]

Death Cab for Cutie, my fave indie band of the past 6 or so years. Their latest, Songs You Can Play With Chords, is a collection of demos and b-sides. I could usually give a hrmph about that type of record, but so much love and care was put into the mastering and sequencing of the tunes.

Mush-wise, I've been digging Rufus Wainwright's POSES for the last couple of years. Love the brutal honesty and metaphorical air to his songwriting. Quite the arranger too.

Califone-

I was lucky enough to catch them last time I was in LA. I like their stuff along the same lines as the SEA AND CAKE. These bands do wonderful stuff without the aggression I normally look for in that area of music.

Deus-

Any word on this Belgian group following up The Ideal Crash?

[lazarus]

Joe Christmas.
I agree about Rufus Wainwright´s "Poses". He´s very talented! I´m really looking forward to hear some more from him.
Have you heard his first cd?

[saltwatersnow]

Belle & Sebastian is the only band that matters!!!!!!!!

[achilles]

Originally posted by saltwatersnow
Belle & Sebastian is the only band that matters!!!!!!!!

did you see High Fidelity? funny moment about them (Belle & Sebastion) in the movie.

[Vince Kargatis]

No one reading this thread should (have) miss(ed) High Fidelity! :)

[Troy D]

Originally posted by Vince Kargatis
No one reading this thread should (have) miss(ed) High Fidelity! :)

Well, I didn't miss it...but I don't remember liking it very much.

Great soundtrack, sure--and it was cool to see a movie about a guy so serious about music. I could relate to that. But other than that, I don't remember anything about it that really captured my attention. I found it kind of boring. I know lots of people loved it, though--maybe I'll give it another shot sometime.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Death Cab for Cutie, my fave indie band of the past 6 or so years.

I like these kinds of pointers. I grabbed a few tracks from their label's site, liked what I heard, thanks Joe. Given their sound, I presume you've at least dabbled in stuff from the Elephant Six collective? Seems likely you'd like some of that: Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah, etc.

I'll return the "favor", by pointing out two of my very favorite indie bands (both from DC, now both recently defunct :( ):

The Dismemberment Plan
Burning Airlines

Both have mp3s available from DeSoto Records' site, I think.

I also dearly love Modest Mouse.

[Vince Kargatis]

Maybe somebody can help me out:

A fairly popular indie rock musical device in the 90s onward is having the guitars strum a steady every-beat 'bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum' rhythm to propel the song. E.g. practically every Interpol song does it, or Unwound, or many random heavier rock tracks of that type.

When did this device start? I can't think of any 70s rock with it (though perhaps I'm being daft?), and my knowledge of 80s underground rock is scant, though I'm almost sure it was in the 80s. Was it an 80s industrial thing? Curious about its emergence.

It was probably inversely correlated with technical ability. :) But it still works well, imo.

[al j]

Vince, thanks for those recs, I'll check them out for sure. Of all you mentioned I'm only familiar with Dismemberment Plan, thankfully so.

Re: Death Cab, the wife and I might go check out Ben Gibbard's new project, The Postal Service. AMG calls it indie-rock-meets-electronica, featuring members from Rilo Kiley and Tattle Tale-r. Also Dntel (Jimmy Tamborello). Nice to know that Death Cab might have a new fan. I checked out those MP3's; did you d/l "Champagne from A Paper Cup" from Something About Aeroplanes? Outstanding tune.

[bbrooksux]

Originally posted by Vince Kargatis
I'll return the "favor", by pointing out two of my very favorite indie bands (both from DC, now both recently defunct :( ):

The Dismemberment Plan
Burning Airlines

Both have mp3s available from DeSoto Records' site, I think.

I also dearly love Modest Mouse.
Ah, Burning Airlines (of old Jawbox fame). Wonderful discs!! A KC band (now defunct) along those lines is Shiner. Last 2 discs were amazing. During their final show, another band opened for them called Houston that was out of this friggin world!! I think Houston is from Minneapolis (if that makes sense).

[bbrooksux]

Probably one of my favorite discs of late is the new Queens of the Stone Age. The flow of the disc just gets your blood burning (in the good way). And the accompanying DVD, if you were one of the lucky ducks to get one, is fantastic.

[S.Eden]

My latest purchase is Donnie's "The Colored Section". Some scattered thoughts about it after listening to the album straight through three times:


What exactly is so controversial about the racial content of this album's lyrics? Maybe I'm biased for having grown up with Public Enemy, but his content is about as controversial as finding a Snickers bar in a Milky Way wrapper
Donnie has some amazing vocal abilities(very indebted to Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder) and the album's production didn't do him alot of justice
Donnie's songcraft also owes alot to Wonder and Hathaway, maybe a little too much right now
The songs are ambitious, sprawling, and full of grooves. And while on some songs it all comes together beautifully(like "Heaven Sent", "Turn Around" and "Our New National Anthem"), the album as a whole seems to suffer from grooves stealing the lyrics and vocalese, as I can't recall one particularly catchy melody or hook, no track I really felt like I needed to listen to again to digest. He also didn't offer a lot in terms of his vocal arrangements, sticking tightly to an overt, synchronous gospel formation
Many of the songs are entirely too long; 9 of the 14 tracks run over 4 minutes, 8 of those 9 over 4 and a half, which is a daunting length for this kind of uptempo R&B. The problem is that the songs don't build up well and climax too early, and since the vocals were generally underplayed when the album was mixed, they depend on the groove to keep up the interest for an extra 30-60 seconds, which to these ears just didn't work


I'm certainly not on the bandwagon of legendary soul/R&B album status that many reviewers seem to be giving Donnie(certainly Raphael Saddiq's debut should've been at least this worthy of such praise). But this is definitely a promising debut from a young artist, who, given more time and guidance, could make some legendary music.

[al j]

Been looking into some of the recs in the first post. I picked up Neko Case, which I'm really enjoying. 16 Horsepower... much depth but it tends to stay on the bottom. The best of it sounds like early Sisters of Mercy meets Townes Van Zandt.

[mke]

I LOVE The Roots latest album, "Phrenology". Then again, I'm an unconditional fan. As usual, this album is quite different from their previous albums.

Common's latest, "Electric Circus", I'm less sold on, and have listened to less. Adventurous, maybe, but it doesn't really gel, for me.

[saltwatersnow]

common is a pepsi drinking dork

[Tanager]

Originally posted by Troy D
Great soundtrack, sure--and it was cool to see a movie about a guy so serious about music. I could relate to that. But other than that, I don't remember anything about it that really captured my attention. I found it kind of boring. I know lots of people loved it, though--maybe I'll give it another shot sometime.

Troy, I liked the movie (especially any of Jack Black's screen-stealing moments), but I loved the book. Might be worth giving a go for you.

[mke]

Originally posted by saltwatersnow
common is a pepsi drinking dork

Maybe (I've never seen that ad), and his current dress style is a bit odd, but "Like Water For Chocolate" and "Resurrection" are good.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally posted by Tanager
Troy, I liked the movie (especially any of Jack Black's screen-stealing moments), but I loved the book. Might be worth giving a go for you.

I liked both a lot, but may have enjoyed the movie slightly more, if only because the book's character was more irritatingly neurotic, which I found a bit tough to relate to.

[al j]

Originally posted by Vince Kargatis


I'll return the "favor", by pointing out two of my very favorite indie bands (both from DC, now both recently defunct :( ):

The Dismemberment Plan
Burning Airlines



Looks like Dismemberment Plan are touring, by info on their website. I'll be checking them out for sure in San Diego on June 4th.

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally posted by Joe Christmas
Looks like Dismemberment Plan are touring, by info on their website. I'll be checking them out for sure in San Diego on June 4th.

Cool. I was lucky and caught them in Baltimore while I was in DC in March. First and probably last time. They've "broken up", but are doing a last-hurrah tour. I hope you can manage to familiarize yourself with some of their tunes beforehand (always helps me enjoy concerts more). I promise you can't go wrong with Emergency & I (suitably enthusiastic review here (http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/d/dismemberment-plan/emergency-and-i.shtml)).
--
I was listening to epitonic's radio stream of their Indie Rock genre today, found one band I quite liked: Thingy (http://www.epitonic.com/artists/thingy.html). 3 mp3s there. epitonic rocks.

[al j]

Vince, I picked up Emergency & I a couple of days ago, thanks soooooooooo much. What a great record! I've been having a shitload of fun with it (turned up LOUD), my 6 year old boy quite likes it too. The singer has a wonderful, wonderful voice, very fitting to the band's sound. "What Do You Want Me to Say?" "A Life of Possibilities" "The Jitters" This band has a masterful way with melodies and, especially, hooks. Great fucking record. How are the albums prior to E & I?

[Vince Kargatis]

The earlier ones are most punkish and spastic.. E & I and Change are more mature records, but most of the elements are there before too. I'm glad I have all of them. I went mostly backwards myself: (E&I | Change [got at same time]) -> Is Terrified -> !

I'm quite bummed they're disbanding, but hope Travis Morrison does a solo effort soon enough. (Thinking the same thing about Jawbox/Burning Airlines' J Robbins too!)

[achilles]

there's Radiohead, Wilco, and (Smog) and then
some occasionally good records made by people like The Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Giant Sand, etc.

But really, there's only Radiohead, Wilco, and (Smog)......

[achilles]

al,
nice rview of The Postal Service show in NY
in today's (wed) NY Times--I'd provide a link but they make you register.

[john williams]

Godspeed You Black emperor. Canadian band who are pretty interesting to understate it. For those who like Radiohead etc you might like this too

Reviews

f#a#*
(cst003)

If you're after a soundtrack for your own personal apocalypse, you'd do better to chase down the debut CD from Montréal ten-piece godspeed you black emperor!, whose obliquely titled f#a# infinity ( is a stunning evocation of Kerouac's "end of the land sadness/end of the world gladness").

The album's sardonic fatalism is articulated at the outset by a world-weary Lee Marvin voice calling down the last days: "We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine and the machine is bleeding to death". The mood thus primed, the mostly instrumental godspeed... bury it even deeper with orchestral sweeps of melancholic violin and cello. With three guitar players sliding blues damaged sustain in and out of the mix, godspeed create some of the most emotionally charged music this side of The Dirty Three.

At times their orchestral parts evoke the beautiful, doomed youth sensibility of Music for Egon Schiele, by the string ensemble Rachel's. At others, their way of raising powerful, blasting forces out of the nothingness into which they just as quickly recede echoes parts of the first Cul de Sac album. Ultimately though, godspeed are out there somewhere, heading for some dark place that is theirs alone.

David Keenan
The Wire July 1998


lift your skinny fists
like antennas to heaven
(cst012)

Occupying the best seats for the disaster about to happen, Canadian catastrophists need only look across the St. Lawrence River to see whatís coming to them. "Give me crack and anal sex/Take the only tree thatís left/And stuff it up the hole in your culture", growled Leonard Cohen in a mordant postcard home, "Iíve seen the future, brother/Itís murder". All the signs say Montreal nonet Godspeed You Black Emperor! agree, but they remain defiantly mute before the apocalypse their music portends. Theyíre not always at a loss for words, as the blunt, bracing songs of their side projects reveal. But positioning themselves post-Song, Godspeed speaks instead through scattered voices ? snagged tapes, documentary splices, isolated monologues, airwave waste ? articulating the disaster through fragments ragpicked from Americaís fallout zones. A Harry Dean Stanton-like storyteller strides purposefully over the despoiled shore of their 1997 debut f#a# infinity, whose electric guitars and strings forlornly sing like barbed wire in the wind, vividly evoking the no manís land where the road runs out and ripped up railroad tracks turn to rust. On 1999ís Slow Riot For Zero Kanada EP (sic), they cast a drone rock dragnet over America, churning up a tape containing a disenfranchised citizenís bitter litany of broken social contracts. However, on their eagerly awaited second LP, the double Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas To Heaven, even this fractured narrative method is largely dispensed with. Here Godspeed disperse it through snippets of Coney Island nostalgia, a shopgirl peptalk (sic), an infirm preacher and an ill-tempered, indeterminate buzz drowning in poorly tuned radio static. The loss of definition is not an altogether positive development. The two CDs divide into four sweeping tracks of roughly an LP side each, called "Storm", "Static", "Sleep" and "Antennas To Heaven". They are further divided into between three and five movements, tagged with vaguely surreal or Beat-like captions to counterpoint their moodswings.

Levez Vos Skinny Fists starts well. "Storm" follows an irresistible Godspeed trajectory: first, dead calm; then a baleful, slow gathering of bass, guitars, bowed cello and violin gradually falls in with the martial drums and blats of synth (sic) brass, to feed a frenzied dervish rock rhythm rising from its core. After the ensemble stokes and intensifies it for six minutes, the storm abruptly abates, leaving a lone tumbleweed guitar and sobbing strings to take a toll of casualties, before the others rejoin them in the rolling thunder of a rock lament. The closing coda runs a supermarket salespitch (sic) into a vaguely apocalyptic rant, accompanied by ghosts of electricity and sparse piano.

In itself, the coda is an effective Neu!-like fragment of buzzing melancholy. The mood persists through the following track, "Static", only this time the melancholy feels less like a measured emotional response to the world than the sound of a group succumbing to its own world-weariness. A ëGod fearingí voice sample confirms the impression of Godspeed switching to automatic pilot. Largely untended, the droning atmospherics of the second disc drift into spirit sapping electronic resignation, enlivened by the odd string-driven rave.

On earlier releases, the traces of anger, sorrow or despair rippling through the found voices seeded roaring rock improvisations that empathetically rooted and resisted the calamities visited upon them. But the improvising on Levez falls within beat parameters too tightly determined to generate any really useful dissonance. With sampled words voided of their meaning and their radicalism reduced to rock gesture, any irony in Godspeed goading vous to levez vos skinny fists comme antennas to heaven is lost on moi.

Biba Kopf
The Wire October 2000


yanqui u.x.o.
(cst024)

The first sign of change on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's third album is how the exclamation mark holding up the end of the group's name has mysteriously slipped its moorings. Exactly why, it's hard to fathom. But the logic of inviting Shellac's Steve Albini to oversee the recording is indisputable. His punk-honed sensibilities leave him well equipped to take on this sprawling Montreal nine piece, which spread their potentially powerful orchestral forces far too thin over the two CDs of its predecessor, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. Under Albini's guidance, they channel those forces into the more substantial, positive and dynamic Yanqui UXO. The set's five cryptically titled compositions alternately bristle with rage and fear, even as they refuse to abandon hope in a world poised on the brink of careering down a wobbly track to Armageddon.

As ever, the group stubbornly resist articulating out loud the thought processes that formed the record. Yet this time they leave behind a crumb trail of clues indicating they're more eager to communicate its contents. It wouldn't be GY!BE, however, if they weren't wary about approaching their barely opened door. The front cover is filled with a single freeze-framed still of bombs tumbling from the silver belly of an invisible plane, their target unknown. Meanwhile the diagram on the back cover draws arrows connecting sundry military organisations, arms manufacturers and corporate record companies, all of them ultimately pointing to the album's title. The accompanying 'footnotes maybe' say Yanqui UXO "is unexploded ordnance is landmines is cluster bombs". And elsewhere they describe their mission as being akin to "stubborn tiny lights versus clustering darkness forever OK?". Somewhat unhelpfully, when GY!BE say it loud, their statements are moodily poetic more than they are fighting words. Too vague to determine the album's aims, they ultimately frustrate meaning: who knows what dark and terrible portent moves through this music? Sometimes you wonder if GY!BE still can see through the dense smokescreens of secrecy raised to protect them from the world's prying eyes. With no identifying dogtags dangling from Yanqui UXO, the listener must enter unarmed, preconceived notions left at the door. Finally, the apocalyptic vision of GY!BE music coheres in the process of assembling it.

The opening "09-15-00" is a slow building epic cemented by the brooding atmosphere it is steeped in, as Efrim Munuck's [sic] guitar, Mauro Pezzente's bass and Aidan Girt's thrashing percussion slam headlong into the escalating string section. The resulting sonic impact causes a chill of excitement to ripple down the spine, as its central theme is blown apart and then reconstructed, when the group launch a second sensory assault that is even more explosive than the first. When the dust eventually settles, only the strangled scream of a solitary violin has survived the tornado force that tore through the track, leaving a devastated landscape in its wake. There follows a brief moment of respite, which is abruptly cut short by Munuck's simple guitar riffing, as he starts up "rockets fall on Rocket Falls", with GY!BE's ever present string swarm soon falling behind.

In an interview last year, Munuck revealed how he was deeply moved by an Olivier Messiaen organ piece performed as part of a mass in Paris' Catholic cathedral. "It was the most insane thing I ever heard." he said. "The entire church resonated, there were notes surrounding us and it was magnificent." The guitarist has seemingly passed on this profoundly affecting experience to the rest of the group, who've reconstituted it as the roiling core of Yanqui UXO. As with that Messiaen work, GY!BE fervently perform this music as an act of devotion, which looks and plays in adoration to the heavens while keeping its eye firmly on terra firma. The first section of the concluding "Motherfucker=Redeemer" is where GY!BEís promised "stubborn tiny lights" finally break out in a dazzling celestial rock celebration of clanging guitars and sawing strings. It is their one combined ray of hope at the end of this particularly dark and almost impenetrable tunnel.

Edwin Pouncey
The Wire November 2002

http://www.cstrecords.com/html/godreviews.html

f#a#*
(cst003)
http://www.evo.org/4ad-faq/labels/kranky/godspeed-you-black-emperor-faoo.jpg

Lift You Skinny Fists...
http://www.uv.es/cultura/gifs/Privilegi/Godspeed.jpg

[Vince Kargatis]

Dismemberment Plan and Wilco news (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-04/24.shtml):

"[Dismemberment Plan] frontman Travis Morrison appears to have embarked on his solo career in earnest. On his official site he writes of being in John Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone studio in San Francisco 14 hours a day with Chris Walla and Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie."

Sounds good! Travis has 2 mp3s available from his website (http://ww.travismorrison.com/).

[Jason Bivins]

I'm never sure about where the boundaries are between "pop" and other kinds of "non-jazz" that I like (e.g. rap, metal). I dig the hell out of Radiohead and Wilco (don't know Smog yet - recs?). One pop album I've been spinning a lot lately is Piebald's "We Are the Only Friends We Have." Very fun and very good.

Metal and rap get more airplay in Biv Manor, but that's another story. Knut, y'all.

[Vince Kargatis]

Jason, I intended post #1 to make clear that 'pop' was short for 'popular music' as a musicological category, which most certainly includes metal and hip hop.

However, of course I have no objection to making separate threads for either.

[al j]

Adam, thanks for the tip! The wife and I are very excited about checking out the Postal Service here in the next couple of weeks.

[Jason Bivins]

Breadth is good, Vince. Thanks for the clarification.

So aside from the albums already mentioned, I've been digging on The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin." I'm very late to this band. Matt Griffin - drummer in Unstable Ensemble - was giving me so much shit about not knowing them that I broke down and got this one. It's really just a gorgeous record.

Also been listening to Cave In's "Antenna." It's not quite as flimsy as I initially thought - but while it's no match for its predecessor "Jupiter" (which Steve Smith described wonderfully as Tool on Zoloft), it's grown on me.

With hip-hop I've been into The Roots' "Phrenology," Mr. Lif's "I Phantom" (which just smokes), both Blackalicious records, and the J5 joint that came out in the fall.

With metal, I've been playing the shit out of Knut's "Challenger," which is completely vicious and awesome. It sounds like a thousand panes of glass being shattered at once, and the vocalist is savage. Great texture and tempo stuff too.

[Troy D]

Originally posted by Jason Bivins
So aside from the albums already mentioned, I've been digging on The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin." I'm very late to this band. Matt Griffin - drummer in Unstable Ensemble - was giving me so much shit about not knowing them that I broke down and got this one. It's really just a gorgeous record.


Couldn't agree more on this one, Jason. An amazing disc. I was late getting this one too, although I had heard earlier stuff from the FL. It hadn't prepared me for this, though--this album is really a whole 'nother level of creative vision. I just got their Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which is supposed to be nearly as good as SB, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Anyone here listen to Sigur Ros? I just got their "()" disc, and it's growing on me. I first heard one of their songs on a Wire Tapper, and liked it. Very hard to describe--very moody, as the songs are dirge-like in tempo, yet they're also quite beautiful in a way. The vocals are a bit strange--can't make out any of the lyrics. I read somewhere that they use a "made-up" language. Well, they're from Iceland, so we'll excuse that.

[john williams]

Originally posted by Troy D
Couldn't agree more on this one, Jason. An amazing disc. I was late getting this one too, although I had heard earlier stuff from the FL. It hadn't prepared me for this, though--this album is really a whole 'nother level of creative vision. I just got their Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which is supposed to be nearly as good as SB, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Anyone here listen to Sigur Ros? I just got their "()" disc, and it's growing on me. I first heard one of their songs on a Wire Tapper, and liked it. Very hard to describe--very moody, as the songs are dirge-like in tempo, yet they're also quite beautiful in a way. The vocals are a bit strange--can't make out any of the lyrics. I read somewhere that they use a "made-up" language. Well, they're from Iceland, so we'll excuse that.

Yes I have () and really like it. You may also like Agaetis Byrjun which is more baroque, but I think I prefer (). They have also recently recorded a sountrack album - Angels of the Universe which is also supposed to be impressive. from AMG-

****
The soundtrack for Iceland's much celebrated film Englar Alheimsins (Angels of the Universe) lives up to the lavish praise with an overcast and ethereal score composed by a startling duo of Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Sigur Rós. With a story revolving around a man losing his mind, this marvelously stark musical accompaniment was certainly essential to the experience. Hilmarsson seems perpetually in tune with the film's despair — "Nidurlæging," "Stigið Niður Til Heljar," "Máttleysi" — all written with such a complex mixture of opaque strings and acoustic guitars that one imagines the composer having a tragic breakdown of his own during the songwriting process. Sigur Rós has two pieces at the end of the soundtrack as well. While both were originally recorded for the band's Ný Battery EP, they work in equal measure here: "Bíum Bíum Bambaló" is a long, hypnotic interpretation of an ancient Irish-Icelandic lullaby (making it the first time the song has been transferred from oral tradition to record), whereas "Dánarfregnir Og Jarðafarir" (Death Announcement and Funerals) is a slightly more prog-rock take on a Jóni Múli Arnason composition (Iceland radio service used the original track to relate daily deaths and arrangements). As one can guess, Englar Alheimsins is far from an uplifting experience, yet its stirring, remarkable melancholia is something valuable for anybody in the mood for something strangely special.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=9:18:24|AM&sql=Aepouak4k0m3c

I ma also a big Flips fan and although Soft Bulletin is the acclaimed record I listen to Yoshimi more often.

[Troy D]

Thanks for the info, JBW. Sounds like a good film--I'll have to put it on the list. And given its description, Sigur Ros would seem perfectly appropriate for it.

They've also got a song in Vanilla Sky, by the way. Okay movie, better-than-decent soundtrack.

[achilles]

another yahoo for Sigur Ros. My wife and I saw them do a show two years ago in LA, and actually came away moved. It was among the best live shows of any kind of music we have ever been to. The singer really does have that voice, and really does hit those notes!

Beautiful music, though I like Aegatis, better than (), because like a critic on NPR, I got a little tired of hearing what sounds like "You sigh" in every song.....

[Vince Kargatis]

For JC: first paragraph of this Death Cab For Cutie review (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/d/death-cab-for-cutie/you-can-play-these-songs-with-chords.shtml) is funny. I ordered Something About Airplanes in my latest alldirect order, should be here soon.

How's that Broken Social Scene record? I liked the streams I heard. (Waiting for it to arrive conveniently at online retailers.)
--
I noted in the Rock Guitarist thread: Richard Thompson's new one due May 6.

[achilles]

Radiohead fans here, no?

I'm a huge fan and have been listening to an advance copy
of their new one, Hail to the Thief, due to drop around the second week in June.

Wonderful. No disappointments. Not a radical departure of any kind, more a continuation of what they've been doing over the last 3 releases. The vocals are higher in the mix than usual, and it works well. Still a lot of electronic instrumentation too, though a little lighter on the digital jam and slightly more percussive than previous.

[mke]

I like "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" a lot, and the tracks on "OK Computer" that sound most like the later albums. The more traditional rock stuff I'm not really interested in, which is why I haven't bought any of their earlier albums. Looking forward to the new one.

[Troy D]

Yeah, Radiohead is terrific. OK Computer is an amazing record, but all their stuff is really creative.

Interesting title for the new album, no? Any word on what it means, Achilles?

[achilles]

Originally posted by Troy D
Yeah, Radiohead is terrific. OK Computer is an amazing record, but all their stuff is really creative.

Interesting title for the new album, no? Any word on what it means, Achilles?

I got the advance copy but no paperwork with it, so I'm not sure what the title means.

I too think OK Computer is amazing. The new one hasn't grabbed as swiftly as that one, but like I said it's beautiful and the sound is less dense than the previous two.

[achilles]

some really terrific stuff i've been listening to, some of
it as old as a year:

San Agustin: The Expanding Sea

Stars of the Lid: Tired Sounds of

Frankie Sparo: Crummy Mystics

All of it I've loved so far.

I also listened to Morton Subotnick for the first time:
Silver Apples of the Moon and The Wild Bull--amazing
to me how music made before I was even born can sound so
fresh. It also makes me think a fair amount of electronic music
hasn't gotten very far in the 35 years or so since these Subotnick recordings.

[Jazzooo]

I've been hearing a few tracks from two groups that are really making me curious: Hella and The Ruins.

Hella--I just realized this would never be considered "pop" but anyway--is just a guitarist and a drummer. Imagine if The Sex Pistols had Mahavishnu chops, no vocals and no bass. Or vice versa. Impossibly tight and yet still frenetic. Reid should hear this.

The Ruins is a group from Japan--only heard one song, but it reminded of progressive rock gone right! i didn't hear the pompousity of some prog rock, but the tight and ballsy musicianship was obvious. A big full-sounding recording, with enough dissonence to keep me interested.

[john williams]

Originally posted by Troy D
Yeah, Radiohead is terrific. OK Computer is an amazing record, but all their stuff is really creative.

Interesting title for the new album, no? Any word on what it means, Achilles?

Its a slogan anti-bush protestors use.

http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/graphics/Hail_to_the_Thief_300.jpg

http://www.no-nukes.org/voices/archive4/inaug/thief.jpg

[john williams]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/images/0120-03a.jpg http://www.evanderputten.org/thief.gif