Paint the Words in Pastel Blue

My Personal Top 40 of 2010

2010-12-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

This was not an easy list to compile. Now before the totally called for "duh" involuntarily escapes from your lips, I must add that I didn't necessarily pick my favorite song in every scenario here, I instead tried to pick the 40 songs this year that made the biggest impression upon me, and that best accomplished the goals that I felt they set out to accomplish. This was especially hard in the few cases where I loved a particular album so much that my judgement on which song was the best was completely clouded. I probably should have picked "Round and Round" from the Ariel Pink album, not "Bright Lit Blue Skies." Both songs were impeccable, and a brilliant showcase of the in which direction this brilliant artist seems to be headed. "Round and Round" might have been a better display of this, but "Bright Lit Blue Skies," was, I think, my favorite. So here I am;list completed, accompanying radio show done, and I'm still debating my choices! Feel free to debate my choices as well...

Right this way please.

Underworld - Always Loved a Film

Teengirl Fantasy - Cheaters

Best Coast - Boyfriend

Veronica Falls - Stephen

Belle and Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Bright Lit Blue Skies

The Splinters - Sea Salt Skin

Liechtenstein - Passion for Water

The Bamboos - Keep Me In Mind

This Many Boyfriends - I Don't Like You (Cos You Don't Like The Pastels)

Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday

El Guincho - Ghetto Facil

Corinne Bailey Rae - Paris Nights and New York Mornings

Garotas Suecas - Codinome Dinomite

Edwyn Collins - Losing Sleep

Discodeine - Synchronize (Ft. Jarvis Cocker)

Tracey Thorn - Why Does the Wind?

Autolux - High Chair

Gorillaz - Stylo

LCD Soundsystem - One Touch

The Liminanas - Je Ne Suis Pas Tres Drogue

Dean & Britta - It Don't Rain in Beverly Hills

Cinema Red and Blue - Melanie Down

Catwalk - (Please) Don't Break Me

Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now! - Hey! It's Jimmy Mack

Jo Stance - Hey Girl

Caribou - Leave House

Gold Bears - Jezzer

Magic Kids - Summer

Math & Physics Club - Jimmy Had A Polaroid

Standard Fare - Love Doesn't Just Stop

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks

Kings Go Forth - Get A Feeling

Jens Lekman - The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Drink Drank Drunk

The Clientele - Paul Verlaine

Girls Names - Falling

Seu Jorge & Almaz - Everybody Loves the Sunshine

The Ocean Tango - The Munich Train

Mav!s - Feeling Lucky

Sing a Holiday Hymn!

2010-11-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend has officially come and gone here in the states. We've survived Black Friday (crazy long physical shopping day), and today that I guess we're now calling "Cyber Monday" (shut-in/office drone day)!

Some gifts however, need not be purchased. Thanks to the internet and dedicated pop archivists out there, every now and again an absolute treat like the video below is stumbled upon. It feels particularly poignant since I decided to open the radio show I was asked to fill in on with "Holiday Hymn." It sounded better than I remembered, and so perfect for the extremely chilly and windy evening that we experienced here in Los Angeles. Add to that, the show was extra heavy on Edwyn Collins last night; I played something from his new solo record, AND the Orange Juice Box Set. Plus, it's just... the holidays, there's something kind of wonderful about that, especially with tunes like when tunes like this one out there.

Thoughts About Halloween, Jandek, and (You Guessed It) A Link to a Radio Show...

2010-11-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

On a scale of one to ten my level of "into-it!-ness" for Halloween is somewhere around a three. I don't despise the holiday, and I've had a pretty good costume or two in my day, but I've never been one for the vast minutae of Halloween that so many seem to hold so dear.

That said, one thing that I do love is a good theme to base a radio show around. The fact that the majority of my October 31st was spent either on the air, or preparing to be on the air is perhaps the most perfect way I've ever spent a Halloween. Looking back, I realize that I perhaps should have made at least one of the shows entirely Halloween themed, but there's always next year. One particularly noteworthy artist that my exploration for spooky tracks brought me back to was Jandek.

There's nothing all that particular in Jandek's work that you could use to tie back to Halloween, I loosely went with the fact that he has a record called Blue Corpse, but the overall atmosphere is what makes Jandek's music so chilling. Despite a few shows within the past few years, Jandek still remains largely a creature of seclusion and mystery. In fact, Spin Magazine ran an article about Jandek several years back and there was a sidebar citing the 5 least plausibe Jandek rumors. One of them was; "He's actually Thurston Moore." I like that. I like the idea of Jandek shrouded in as much mystery as can be, it makes the songs all the more discomforting. Cause these songs are so spare, so strange, and so sure haunt you for some time that to know anything about the person responsible for them would almost seem to take away most of the songs' overall appeal.

All that said, you must certainly be able to imagine imagine that after a year or so of not thinking about, or hearing those songs; they're all the more jarring. The song I played on this particular Halloween show, "Part II," has always been my favorite. I can't explain why, and I think that for the best. Jandek, and this song in particular, just make me nervous, and I like it.

You can listen to the show here.

KCRW Playlist from 10/17/2010

2010-10-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes record and season meld together with such perfect harmony that, the entire world around you seems to possess that harmony as well. The feeling of a world where everything is completely and utterly in place can only ever last for a moment, but there are certain things that almost make you sure that it will last forever. The Ocean Tango is the new collaboration from El Records legend Louis Phillipe, and the experimental Swedish indiepop/lounge/jazz set Testbild! Hearing their self titled record for the first time on Saturday turned out to be the precise thing to make my entire show fall into place.

I listened to the Ocean Tango all afternoon yesterday as well, wrapped in blankets, as the rain fell far away outside. Heavenly.

You can hear one of the songs by visiting the Ocean Tango's Bandcamp page. You'll probably want to go ahead and pick up your digital copy of the album while you're there.

You can hear a different Ocean Tango song by listening to my most recent radio show. Do that right here.

Here's the full playlist:

Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You

Jens Lekman - The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love

Cinema Red and Blue - Same Mistakes

Crystal Stilts - Shake The Shackles

Mermaids - Everybodys Acting Like An Animal

Belle and Sebastian - I Want the World to Stop

The Bahama Soul Club - Sugar Cane

Tha Boogie - Peter Parker

Mayer Hawthorne - Thin Moon

The New Holidays - Maybe So, Maybe No

Bryan Ferry - Shameless

Dinosaur L - Go Bang (Walter Gibbons unreleased mix)

Fusioon - Tocata Y Fug

Devo - Please Baby Please

Pixies - La Love You

El Guincho - Ghetto Facil

David Bowie - Golden Years (EJL remix)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Falling Over

The Intelligence - Estate Sales

Surf City - Kudos

Superchunk - Why Do You Have to Put a Date on Everything?

LA Font - Metal Box

The Beachnuts - Cycle Annie

Eternal Summers - A Salty Salute

Standard Fare - Philadelphia

Jad Fair & The Pastels - When We Touch

Foals - Total Life Forever

Tom Tom Club - As Above So Below

David Sylvian - Wonderful World

Clinic - I'm Aware

The Vaselines - Whitechapel

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Time of the Season

Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation

Deerhunter - Desire Lines

John Cale - Antarctica Starts Here

The Clientele - Paul Verlaine

The Ocean Tango - The Ocean Tango

John Vanderslice - Trance Manual

Caribou - Bowls

Wild Nothing

2010-09-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wandering through the cold evening air, slightly tipsy, and alone. I'm so rarely alone these days. I'm listening to the final draft of the Hungry Beat! mix CD, but I'll eventually be thinking much more about Wild Nothing's first record.

I'm on my way to see Wild Nothing play their first Los Angeles show, and before I turn my attention fully to thoughts of the show I would soon experience, I make a note of the sounds of the Revolving Paint Dream encased within my headphones. I look down at the device playing the song, and make another note of the fact that I'm essentially holding the song in my hand, and that it really sounds like the kind of song that should always be held in someone's hand.

Wild Nothing's record Gemini opens with a song called "Live in Dreams," it's exactly the kind of song that you wish you could hold in your hand forever, but like the feeling and time it so perfectly captures, you know it will slip away all too soon.

I mentioned that I was alone that night because I live with someone now. He was already at the Wild Nothing show by the time I started walking as he was playing bass for the opening band. It's an exciting, and endlessly comforting feeling to realize that I'm very likely living with the person that I'll live with for the rest of my life. Still, hearing a song like "Live in Dreams" reminds me of the time when I was wandering around strange cities on my own all of the time, excited, and oddly comforted by the fact that I would probably be alone forever.

"Live in Dreams," is not necessarily the best song on Gemini, but it is the perfect opening to a record such as this one. So rarely does an LP open to reveal so much of the beauty that's in store, yet at the same time leave so much to be discovered.

KCRW Playlist from 9/12!

2010-08-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Got to see Wild Nothing, last night, and that was great. I've been meaning to write a post about that band and their record Gemini which I believe is the best record released this year. You can expect to see that post here before the week is out.

For now, I'll leave you with the link to listen to my most recent radio show. You can do that, here.

Here's what I played:

NDF - Since We Last Met (Edit)

Bostich & Fussible - I Count the Ways

!!! - Steady As the Sidewalk Cracks

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Got a Thing on My Mind

Kings Go Forth - Now We're Gone

Sweater Girls - Summer Girls

Procedure Club - Rather

Wild Nothing - Live in Dreams

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Drink Drank Drunk

Jakki - Sun...Sun...Sun (Walter Gibbons original 12" edit)

Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing

Underworld - Grace

Hot Chip - Hand Me Down Your Love (Todd Edwards Microchip Remix)

Magic Kids - Skateland

Tommy Roe - Dizzy

The Brisk - El Juego Del Amor

Cats On Fire - Your Woman

This Many Boyfriends - I Should Be A Communist

Caribou - She's The One

El Guincho - Frutas Del Caney

Tullycraft - DIY Queen

Franklin Bruno - The Irony Engine

The Mountain Goats - The Alphonse Mambo

Wavves - Super Soaker

Allo Darlin'- Henry Rollins Don't Dance

The Bangles - Want You

Best Coast - Boyfriend

The Pastels - Crawl Babies

Deerhunter - Revival

The New Pornographers - Silver Jenny Dollar

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Fright Night

Comet Gain - I Close My Eyes And Think Of God

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde

Otis Redding - You Don't Miss Your Water

The XX - Heart Skipped a Beat

LCD Soundsystem - Somebody's Calling Me

The Books - Beautiful People

Dean & Britta - I Found It Not So

The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning [Single A-Side (Mono Version)]

Little Joy - Don't Watch Me Dancing

KCRW Playlist 7/18!

2010-07-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

What have you been listening to lately? I spend days scouring record stores, blogs, and/or the KCRW music library, and yet I always seem to draw at blank whenever I'm presented with that question. There is absolutely no reason for this at all, unless perhaps the concentration of too much information in one spot can form the appearance nothing being there at all. But there is so much that should be talked about. Both of the songs I've heard from Autolux's new record make me very very happy. I can't get enough of the new !!! single "Am/FM," and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's "Before Today" remains in heavy rotation it might even end up my favorite of the year. This week, I came across a band called Ribbons. They have a new E.P. called "Love is Mysterious," and the title track is hauntingly pretty. I plan to spend most of this week listening to their earlier full length Surprise Attacks.

Of course, the absolute best way to share what you've been listening to lately with someone is to play them some songs. You can listen to my most recent radio show here.

And here's what I played:

Daft Punk - High Life

LCD Soundsystem - One Touch

Bomb The Bass - Boy Girl

Franz Ferdinand - 40'

The Hepburns - Writer Friend

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Say No To Love

!!! - Am/FM

Ariel Pink With Added Pizazz - In The Heat Of The Night

Ana Tijoux - Obstaculo

Lindstrom & Christabelle - So Much Fun

The Beatle-Ettes - Only Seventeen

Best Coast - Boyfriend

Abe Vigoda - Throwing Shade

Bart & Friends - These Words Are Too Small

Dharma Burns - Too Many Days Gone

REM - Can't Get There From Here

The Pastels - Yoga

The Pepper Pots - Dream Guy

Ratatat - Sunblocks

Crayon Fields - Living So Well

Tame Impala - Alter Ego

Autolux - Supertoys

Seu Jorge - The Model

The Wrens - This Boy Is Exhausted

Unkle - Joy Factory (Feat. Autolux)

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Little Girl (Feat. Julian Casablancas) Clean Edit

This Many Boyfriends - Diaries

Tender Trap - Suddenly

Wild Nothing - Bored Games

Dean & Britta - It Don't Rain In Beverly Hills

Roxy Music - More Than This

The Clientele - House On Fire

The Beach Boys - Caroline No

Ribbons - Love Is Mysterious

Orgone - Doin Me Wrong

Mr. Clean & The Soul Inc. - What's Goin' On?

Mayer Hawthorne - I Need You

Miriam Makeba - Lindelani

The Ipanemas - Passa O Ponto

King Crimson - Epitaph (Alt. Instrumental)

Listening Too Long to One Song: This Many Boyfriends - "I Don't Like You (Cos You Don't Like The Pastels)"

2010-06-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

I have a radio show in the archives from this past weekend. I'm not going to post the playlist or the link to list cause I was losing my voice steadily during the course of the program. I figured I would spare you the experience of listening to me choke my way through each break. On the bright side, what the show lacked in vocal performance I feel it made up for in musical discoveries. My favorite such discovery was this gem from Leeds band This Many Boyfriends. Of course anyone who knows me would be right to assume that I'd naturally be inclined to like a song called, "I Don't like You (Cos You Don't Like the Pastels)," but the song itself is such silly good fun I'd love it regardless of the subject matter. Good joke songs are a tricky thing to pull off, and this one is a big winner in that category. Really simple melody, band checking lyrics, and a chorus that is sure to be shouted at indiepop dances for years to come are all present here. I might even be so bold as to say that it's the best musical taste factoring into a relationship song since "Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's Too Stupid to Know About." Oh if only there were a video...

You can pre-order your copy of the CDEP Getting a Life With here.

KCRW Playlist from 6/6!

2010-06-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

Time really does fly. As I type this brief post alerting you to the fact that my latest KCRW show is in the archive, I'm already thinking about what I want to play tonight when I fill in for Chuck P (midnite to three if you feel like tuning in.) The past few weeks have been a real blur. I wish I had some brilliant observation about a few of the songs that I pulled out for the show this past weekend, I certainly found some things that I was pretty excited about. However, extra work (in various forms), the planning of my new club night, and an overall erratic sleep schedule that is promising to be even more so this week ensures that when I am home I just don't want to think that much. With all of that said though, I would have so many enthusiastic words for almost every song on this show if only I could summon them, hopefully you'll feel the same. I will leave you with this lovely performance from Quadron on yesterday's Morning Becomes Eclectic. That's one that's definitely worth getting excited over...

Listen my most recent radio show here.

... And here is the playlist:

Souljazz Orchestra - Lotus Flower

Crystal Castles - Celestica (Thurston Moore Remix)

Quadron - Average Fruit

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Lost Saint

Wild Nothing - Chinatown

Underworld - Scribble

Fischerspooner - Emerge

Allen Kwela Octet - Question Mark

The Hepburns - Writer Friend

Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno - Dub Y Guaguanco

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - L'Estat

Yeah Yeah Noh - The Time Beings

The School - Shoulder

Jonathan Richman - Parties In The U.S.A

The Small Faces - Sha La La La La Lee

LCD Soundsystem - Home

Air Miami - World Cup Fever

BLK JKS - Zol!

Standard Fare - Vaya Vaya Mexico

Half Man Half Biscuit - The Referee's Alphabet

Eux Autres - World Cup Fever

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Love Burns

The Californian - Sea Of Love

Stereo Total - Illegal

Tracey Thorn - Why Does The Wind? (Michel Cleis Remix)

The Fall - Mexico Wax Solvent

David Bowie - Golden Years

Nada Surf - Bye Bye Beaute

Teenage Fanclub - The Fall

The Pastels - Yoga

The Bomb Pops - Won't Find It

The Ipanemas - Traz Um Presente Pra Mim

The Bamboos - Keep Me In Mind (Randomer Remix)

The Clientele - Harvest Time

Lois - Sugar Rush

Plastic Bertrand - "Sha La La La Lee"

2010-05-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

The next installment in my listening to/obsessing about/writing about the records I found in Scotland blog post series...

Plastic Bertrand's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" is a guaranteed dance floor filler every time it's played at Hungry Beat! The style of dancing that it usually inspires is at least as entertaining, and sometimes even more entertaining than the song itself.

"Sha La La La Lee" was one of the first records I found while shopping at Elvis Shakespeare in Edinburgh. I think that I already knew that "Sha La La La Lee," and "Ca Plane Pour Moi" were separate singles, but that didn't stop me from checking the other side of the record with nervous anticipation and excitement. Even though my first guess was right, I immediately recalled the couple of times that I'd heard "Sha La La La Lee" in the past and was immediately very very excited again.

There's absolutely nothing to analyze here. The song is every bit as stupid, and fun, and raucous as you could hope for a single from a Belgian punk outfit who essentially did the whole thing for a laugh. Raise the volume on your computer speakers as loud they will go, press play on the posted video, and jump around until you feel dizzy and giddy and all of the other things that great pop music should make you feel.

KCRW Playlist from 5/23

2010-05-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

By the time I fell into bed this past Sunday morning, I was feeling my exhaustion so severely it was all that I could do to see straight. In every moment leading up to that time, I was having a blast. I'd been pretty excited all week about starting this show on a particularly dance-y note with Fosca's It's All Going to End in Tears going right into a current over the top pop addiction of the moment Lindstrom & Christabelle (it really is so much fun). There is actually quite a bit of new music out there now to get kind of excited about. New York band Beach Fossils have been a big favorite of mine lately. Sure there are plenty of existing bands that they could be compared to, but what a satisfying sound they have fallen into, every song is like walking through a pretty, hazy dream.

French band The Liminanas came onto my radar a few weeks ago. after a good deal of review in that relatively brief time span, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that they've made the coolest damn single of the year in "Je Ne Suis Pas Tres Drogue." I challenge anyone to listen to that song all the way through and not feel any desire to get down.

And the overpowering need I felt for a last minute addition of Beat Happening to this program was taken care of in the form of "Look Around." Always a favorite of mine, and as right for this particular program as I had hoped.

It's also worth mentioning that our guests at Hungry Beat! this forthcoming Saturday (May 29th) are Cats on Fire. They are from Finland and put on a highly fun live show. Observe...

I fully expect to see all of you at La Cita on Saturday night...

You can listen to this radio show here.

And here's the playlist:

Fosca - It's All Going To End In Tears

Lindstrom & Christabelle - So Much Fun

Stereo Total - Baby Ouh!

The Liminanas - Je Ne Suis Pas Tres Drogue

Cats On Fire - Your Woman

Quadron - Pressure

Club 8 - Shape Up!

Beat Happening - Look Around

Lali Puna - Our Inventions

Codeine Velvet Club - Hollywood

Strawberry Switchblade - Since Yesterday

The School - Is He Really Coming Home?

Razorcuts - Big Pink Cake

Herr Jazz - Hey Merlin Thanks For The Free Coffee

Altafini - Eu Lutarei Pela Paz

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Bright Lit Blue Skies

The Fall - Cowboy George

LCD Soundsystem - Somebody's Calling Me

Poison Control Center - Pacific Sunrise

Orchestre Bella Bella - Sola

The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart

Serena Maneesh - D.I.W.S.W.T.T.D

Math & Physics Club - Jimmy Had A Polaroid

Tracey Thorn - Swimming

The Pastels - Worlds Of Possibilities

Flying Lotus - MMMHMMM Feat. Thundercat

UNKLE - Joy Factory (Feat. Autolux)

Black Tambourine - Drown

The Splinters - Sea Salt Skin

The Beatles - She's Leaving Home

Male Bonding - Worse To Come W/ Vivian Girls

Suzi Quatro - Brain Confusion (For All The Lonely People)

Dangermouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul W/ David Lynch

Toro Y Moi - Leave Everywhere

Beach Fossils - Daydream

Foxes In Fiction - Flashing Lights Have Ended Now

Nada Surf - Janine

Twin Sister - The Other Side Of Your Face

Four Tet - Love Cry

Listening Too Long to One Song: "Sea Salt Skin"

2010-05-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

There's a certain feeling that takes over when song and state of mind converge. Of course life is always a bit nicer with the right soundtrack, but this feeling takes that idea a step further.

Yesterday my soundtrack (or more accurately my entire atmosphere) was hours upon hours of the series Twin Peaks. It was the kind of lazy day that's almost embarrassing. No one was awake before two PM, no one was out of bed until at least an hour after that point, and almost no words were spoken save for the ones that determined which one of us would make the trip to the store for the much needed soda and coffee. Very little energy was expended beyond pressing play, fast forward, and pause on the remote. Therefore when today arrived, I was ready to rejoin society, and ready for a new soundtrack.

"Sea Salt Skin" was my personal highlight of The Splinters debut record Kick upon first listen. With each successive listen I've liked it more and more, but somehow listening to it in the state that I'm in today just heightened my adoration that much more. Though I woke this morning at a perfectly respectable time, and went back to work on everything that needs to be worked on this week, I could retain the best part of that lazy day feeling in the form of this lazy three minute pop song. The whole thing feels spontaneous as if the girls in the band actually did roll out of bed and churn out this lovely, lacksidasical track. It feels like a sound from the 90s that isn't being spotlighted nearly enough right now, but should be revisited way more. The sound of the guitars is simultaneously gritty and crisp, and the vocals are very very clean. The harmonies are very subtle, but essential, and layers of echo exist under the surface to give you more to discover every time. Descriptions like "deceptively simple" must exist because of songs like this one. Add to all of that the the lyrics actually do seem to be describing a lazy day, "So we didn't talk we just put records on," and "The sea salt skin never crossed my mind, and I never felt like I was wasting time..."

Nothing could be better for walking around on a cloudy, slightly chilly day watching pockets of sun trying to emerge and thinking of how nice it is to be able to ease your way back into productivity.

KCRW Playlist from 5/9 - Filling in for NIc Harcourt!

2010-05-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I had the privilege of sitting in for Nic Harcourt at KCRW. The guest host slots are always particularly fun to plan as you want to take the taste of the person whose show you are hosting into great consideration, but you also want to put your own spin on the thing. Filling in for Nic to my mind meant that the Beatles and Morrisey were a must, and from there I thought about Creation records, "Ooh wouldn't Biff Bang Pow be perfect?" I was happy to be able to work in some newer favorites like Male Bonding, the Liminanas, and the ultra cool Brazilian garage/psych band Garotas Suecas (quite possibly my favorite discovery of the year so far). Throw in some Sonic Youth (September 30th at the Hollwood Bowl with Pavement!!!), a little Muslims (or Soft Pack, or whatever) covering Spacemen 3, and I feel like I'm looking back on what has so far been the funnest radio show to put together during my time at KCRW.

You can take a listen for yourself, here...

... And here is the full Playlist:

Codeine Velvet Club - Hollywood

The School - Let It Slip

The What Four - I'm Gonna Destroy That Boy

Morrissey - Cosmic Dancer

T Rex - I Love To Boogie

Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks

The Dead Weather - Jawbreaker

The Muslims - Walking With Jesus

The New Pornographers - If You Can't See My Mirrors

Bamboos - Keep Me In Mind

Catwalk - One By Words

Band Of Horses - Evening Kitchen

The Beatles - If I Needed Someone

Biff Bang Pow - She's Got Diamonds In Her Hair

Sonic Youth - Malibu Gas Staion

Dum Dum Girls - Bhang Bhang I'm A Burnout

Iggy Pop - Search And Destroy

Ana Tijoux - 1977

Massive Attack - Teardrop

Angelique Kidjo - Move On Up

Little Francesco Greaves - Moving-Grooving

Garotas Suecas - Codinome Dinomite

The Liminanas - I'm Dead

Black Tambourine - Dream Baby, Dream

Nada Surf - Love Goes On

Male Bonding - Weird Feelings

The National - Anyone's Ghost

Mavis - Feeling Lucky (Feat. Edwyn Collins)

The Pastels w/ Tenniscoats - Vivid Youth

Turin Brakes - Outbursts

Gorillaz - To Binge

Avi Buffalo - Can't I Know

Kisses - Bermuda (Active Child Remix)

Monaco - What Do You Want From Me?

Best Coast - Far Away

Holly Miranda - Sweet Dreams

Jacques Dutronc - Les Cactus

Big Star - For You

Painted Hills - Nighttime

John Cale - Charlemagne

Tracey Thorn - Why Does The Wind

Caribou - Bowls

Listening Too Long to One Song: "Mike Alway's Diary"

2010-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Every now and then my deep fascination with the weird world of El Records finds it's way to the forefront of my mind. I find myself listening to the few that I have over, and over again, and I find myself thinking about just how very entertaining it must be to have a conversation with Mike Alway. Mike Alway ran Blanco y Negro, and Cherry Red. El Records was a subsidiary of Cherry Red that Mr. Alway conjured up from some pretty creative recesses in his mind. The more I learn about El Records, the more it seems to function as Cherry Red: Fantasy Division.

In a nifty turn of events, El Records was huge in Japan and was able to release music for perhaps longer than they might have been able to otherwise because of this fact. This video from Kahimi Karie is a great example of the influence that the whimsical, dreamworld-Eurolounge sound (that was just one of many in the El canon) had on the segment of the Japanese musician population that really took to this stuff.

Kahimi Karie even worked with resident Creation/Cherry Red/El genius Momus!

My apologies for the lack of video in this video...

Primal Scream - "Ivy, Ivy, Ivy"

2010-04-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

The next installment in my listening to/obsessing about/writing about the records I found in Scotland blog post series...

I'll admit it, I know far less about Primal Scream then I probably should. What I do know are trivial anecdotes, and personal feelings. Things like other bands Bobby Gillespie was in, and the fact that to me, "Gentle Tuesday" sounds like the aural equivalent of a deeply satisfying heavy sigh. I hold questionable opinions on the band's material. I prefer the title track A-side of their "Crystal Crescent" single to it's much revered B-side "Velocity Girl." I prefer Xtrmntr to Screamadelica. So when the "Ivy, Ivy, Ivy" 7" was held up to me at a record store in Edinburgh to be considered for purchase, I had to pause for awhile to wonder if I had actually heard the song, or if I just recognized the title. I was pretty sure that it was the latter, and when I arrived home and finally put the record on my turntable my suspicion was confirmed.

"Ivy, Ivy, Ivy" is a good song. It's fun, it's catchy beyond belief, and though many have probably analyzed this next statement to far greater effect than I ever could, it seems to serve as a nice bridge between the band's somewhat subtle pop past, and their considerably bigger rock future. Pop melody and lyrical theme, rock execution allt the way.

On the other hand, the B-side "You're Just Too Dark too Care" is a slow burning ember that never sparks a flame. Soft, pensive, remarkably pretty, and like "Gentle Tuesday," this one too gives me the feeling of an aural sigh. I once heard someone describe "sypathetic chords," chord progressions that were almost certain to receive a positive response from a listener. Any time I describe a song as an aural sigh, I can't help thinking that the song must contain some seriously sympathetic chords.

In a way this might be Primal Scream making the most of the best parts of certain sounds that they primarily operated within. Mostly these are just two very pleasant songs hear, and should guarantee a positive response every time.

KCRW 4/25

2010-04-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

This past week was kind of a haze of residual exhaustion from the week before, the slight frustration brought about by the second false start of what I believe to be a very promising new club night, and Tetris... hours upon hours of Tetris. However, the week did manage to end on a productive note; the new club is well on it's way to having a new home, I'm starting to think about the 7" that will be obsessed over in the next installment of my "Obsessing Over the Records I Purchased in Scotland" series, and perhaps the most productive thing I managed (and certainly the most fun) was this radio show:

You can hear it by clicking this link...

... And here's what I played:

LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean

Bad Dream Fancy Dress - Discotheque

Love Is All - Last Choice

Hot Chip - Take It In

Nada Surf - Love Goes On

Lindstom & Christabelle - Baby Can't Stop

Zoot Woman - Just A Friend Of Mine (Jump Jump Dance Dance Remix)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Falling Over

Caribou - Leave House

Le Tigre - Well, Well, Well

Gil Scott-Heron - Running

Club 8 - Western Hospitality

Ana Tijoux - 1977 - 1977

Mavis - Feeling Lucky (Feat Edwyn Collins)

Saint Etienne - Spring (Air France Remix)

Ozomatli - Love Comes Down (Anne Litt's remix)

Guru - Loungin - Jazzmatazz Vol. 1

The Bamboos - Turn It Up

Esther Williams - Last Night Changed It All

Garotas Suecas - Codinome Dinomite

Kisses - Bermuda

Ancient Crux - Wingwalker

Gorillaz - Some Kind Of Nature

Serena Maneesh - Reprobate!

Memory Tapes - Bicycle

Stars On 33 - I Feel Music In Your Heart (Lifelike and Kris Menace Remix)

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks (From John Peel's edition of Fabric Live. This was both a tribute to Peel, and to the fact that the Glasgow club Optimo was coming to an end that night. "Teenage Kicks" was the biggest highlight of my one trip to the club. R.I.P to both)

Cosmetics - Honey Honey

The Pastels - Sit On It Mother

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Round And Round

Minus The Bear - My Time

Mos Dub - History Town

The Wake - Here Comes Everbody

Flying Lotus - Do The Astral Plane

KCRW Playlist from 4/11

2010-04-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

For this show, I put the spotlight on a lot of bands that I would like to see if I make it out to Coachella at all (jury's still out). One thing is for sure though, if I'm not in the desert on Sunday night freaking out over the fact that well, you know, Pavement's there, AND Gorillaz. I will be front and center at the Echo jumping around giddily to Love is All. I've seen them three times now, each time I enjoy it more than the last. I might even go so far as to say that they are my favorite live band, and I would see them anytime I had the chance. If you are in Los Angeles on Sunday night, the Echo is the only place to be...

Listen to the show here.

And the playlist is as follows...

Dntel - This Is The Dream Of Evan & Chan

Black Tambourine - Lazy Heart

Love Is All - Early Warnings

Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata

Corinne Bailey Rae - Paris Nights/New York Mornings

P.I.L - This Is Not A Love Song

Caribou - Leave House

The Glass - Four Four Letter

The XX - Heart Skipped A Beat

Cornelius - Windy Hill

Girls - Headache

Quadron - Slippin'

New Order - Leave Me Alone

Galaxie 500 - Ceremony

The Lilys - Dreams Never End

The Soft Pack - Parasites

Dum Dum Girls - Blank Girl

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Without A Heart

Zia - Kofriam

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Antivan Eyes

The Method Actors - Dancing Underneath

The Whitest Boy Alive - Promise Less, Do More

Toro Y Moi - Minors

The Ruby Suns - Cranberry

Matt & Kim - Daylight

Mayer Hawthorne - Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'

Yacht - Psychic City (Classix Remix)

Sex Pistols - Sub-Mission

Gorillaz - Stylo

Gonjasufi - Candylane

Pavement - Shady Lane

Joyce - Feminina

Camera Obscura - Razzle Dazzle Rose

Les Garcons - Encore L'Amore (Leo Zero Edit)

She & Him - If You Can't Sleep

KCRW Playlist from 3/28

2010-03-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

There is an incredibly decent amount of new music to be excited about right now. Brazilian band, Garotas Suecas appeared on my radar last week courtesy of my ultra savvy friend Roger. It is with no hesitation that I award this week's find of the week to this super cool soul tinged psych band. The 7" who's A-side I played on my show this past weekend is available to order here, and there is apparently a full length due out later this year.

In addition to that discovery, another pleasant surprise last week was Fixing the Charts, the new record from Everybody Was in the French Resistance... Now! Fixing the Charts means what it implies, as with this project Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos, and Dylan Valdes from the Blood Arm offer counter perspectives to the messages put out there in twelve popular songs. Concept records like this one always have the potential to walk a fine line between clever and contrived, this one is decidedly on the side of the former.

Plus I played a lot of Slumberland bands to spotlight the then forthcoming Slumberland 20 year anniversary show (by far the best show I've been to this year so far), and I put forth my version of a tribute to the very sadly now late Alex Chilton.

You can check out the show here!

... And here's the playlist:

Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now! - Hey! It's Jimmy Mack

Quadron - Pressure

Saturday Looks Good To Me - Meet Me By The Water

The Velvet Satins - Nothing Can Compare To You

The Bamboos - Keep Me In Mind

Garotas Suecas - Codinome Dinomite

(BREAK)

Beulah - Emma Blowgun's Last Stand

The Who - Pictures Of Lily

She & Him - Over It Over Again

Holly Miranda - Sweet Dreams

The Pastels - Everybody Is A Star

(BREAK)

The Replacements - Alex Chilton

Big Star - Thank You Friends

Nada Surf - Blue Moon

Evan Dando - The Balad Of El Goodo

Teenage Fanclub - Tears Are Cool

(BREAK)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Sweet Feeling

Dum Dum Girls - Rest Of Our Lives

Knight School - Jackie The Hero

Sweater Girls - Fingers Crossed

(BREAK)

Boyracer - I've Got It And It's Not Worth Having

Henry's Dress - Winter '94

Go Sailor - Together Forever In Love

The How - Dreaming Of Lily

(BREAK)

The Wedding Present - I'm Not Always So Stupid

Ringo Deathstarr - Every Time

Caribou - Odessa (Nite Jewel Remix)

Tunnelmental Experimental Assembly - Orange

(BREAK)

Pants Yell! - Marble Staircase

Summer Cats - Lazy Susan

Neverever - Coconut Shampoo

Devon Williams - Sufferer

Brown Recluse - Contour And Context

(BREAK)

The New House - Pale Boy

The Superions - Totally Nude Island

Gorillaz - To Binge

Ray Davies - Days

New Pornographers - Jackie

(BREAK)

Toro Y Moi - You Hid

Donovan - Where Is She?

Love Is All - A Side of a Bed

Boards of Canada - Seven Forty Seven

The Sexual Objects: "Merrie England/Demonstration"

2010-03-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

The next installment in my listening to/obsessing about/writing about the records I found in Scotland blog post series...

I arrived at Monorail Records slightly nervous about the possibility that I might have to purchase my records from one of my favorite songwriters, and that the words that came out of my mouth could range from anything to a simple thank you when my transaction was complete, to incoherent babble. I was personally hoping for a brief, yet thorough conversation where I said intelligent things about music other than indiepop. In reality, Stephen Pastel was nowhere to be seen, and I realized that the most clever thing that I could do while there would be to buy all of the records that would have cost me a fortune in shipping if I ordered them as imports.

One such record was a 7" single from the Sexual Objects. "Merrie England" b/w "Demonstration" on the Aufgenladen Und Bereit record label. I'd ordered one record from that label before, a split single from the Kingfishers and Wake the President. I was very happy with that still think "You Can't Change That Boy" was one of the strongest songs to come out of 2007. You'll hear plenty about Wake the President around these parts soon though. For now, back to the Sexual Objects. When I purchased the single I had not yet gotten around to listening to the band. I knew that it was the current project of Davy Henderson, Fire Engines' front man. That, combined with my already favorable impression of the label (who I think probably even took their name from a Fire Engines comp) made this one of my most exciting new record purchases of the entire trip.

I started with the "Demonstration" side. It's an intriguing, slow burn of a song with a somewhat 90s indie rock feel. Well, it's that, but something more complex. I've listened to the song many times and can't quite pin point exactly why it's so compelling, but it really is so compelling. In any regard, I'm pretty much always a big fan of any song that can retain it's mystery over a decent number of repeat listens. This one is no exception.

The other side "Merrie England" proved to be possibly more intriguing, and even more enjoyable. It bounces back and forth from a more upbeat take on that same 90s indie rock sound to a fun sort of ramshackle garage thing, and the undercurrent that I hear throughout the song is the exact sort of post punk sound that I would hope for from a former Fire Engine.

If only all record purchase gambles proved this successful...

KCRW Playlist From 3/7

2010-03-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

I'm the best kind of exhausted today. Hungry Beat! was super packed, and super fun. We stayed probably too late at Part Time Punks last night to dance for Cure Night, that followed an unexpected (but welcome) fill-in shift at work. Throw in the Clientele show at Spaceland on Friday night (which was the best Clientele show I've ever seen), and of course the radio show on Saturday night/Sunday Morning and I find myself looking back on a pretty full weekend this morning.

The radio show was quite a fun one. Even though no more time had passed between my last show and this show than would have ordinarily given our rotation schedule, the fact that I had been on vacation made it feel like I had not been on the board for ages. In any regard, it felt great to be there.

I can't decide if my favorite discovery for the show this past week was Gold-Bears, or Warm Morning. I'm pretty inclined to give Gold-Bears the advantage since they are from my hometown (Atlanta), feature Stewart Boyracer on drums for the track that I played, and have themselves a giddily shambolic quality that's much like Boyracer, and Superchunk. I'm looking forward to the two singles they have promised for this year on Magic Marker, and Cloudberry. You can test Gold-Bears out for yourself over at Indiepages. On the other hand, Warm Morning sounds so gentle, and lovely, and well... warm. The song that I played "I'll be Fine" was one that I listened to several times this past week, I was struck by how subtle and sweet it sounds. It seems constructed entirely to produce good feelings in all who encounter this absolute gem of pure pop. I haven't quite figured out how to order their new record Too Far From the Stars yet, perhaps an email to the band is in order? They appear to have been around for awhile, I'll let Heaven is Above Your Head tell you more of their back story. While you're over there, you'll definitely want to grab that mp3 for "I'll be Fine." As for me I suppose I have to call a find of the week tie for Gold-Bears, and Warm Morning. Always a good thing.

I also might have to take a nap...

You can listen to my full radio show here.

Playlist is as follows:
Javelin - Moscow 1980

Garcons - Encore L'Amore (Leo Zero Edit)

Broken Bells - Mongrel Heart

Stereolab - Ping Pong

Warm Morning - I'll Be Fine

Pants Yell! - Tried To Be Good

Young Marble Giants - Wurlitzer Jukebox

Corinne Bailey Rae - Paris Nights/New York Mornings

Myron & E With The Soul Investigators - It's A Shame

Mavis - Feeling Lucky (Feat Edwyn Collins) (!)

Knight School - Prismatic Room

Crystal Stilts - Love Is A Wave

Beachniks - Coney Island

The Art Museums - Sculpture Garden

Gil Scott-Heron - Running

East Of Underground - Smiling Faces Sometimes

The Turtles - Can I Get To Know You Better

The Magnetic Fields - Always Already Gone

Northern Portrait - New Favorite Moment

Gold-Bears - Jezzer

Blair - Candy In The Kitchen

Miike Snow - Sylvia (Hook & Sling & Goodwill Remix)

The Radio Department - This Time Around

The Flatmates - You're Gonna Cry

She & Him - Thieves

Primal Scream - Ivy Ivy Ivy

Frightened Rabbit - Skip The Youth

Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill

Roxy Music - Virginia Plain

Nada Surf - Electrocution

Okkervil River & Roky Erickson - Goodbye Sweet Dreams

Ride - Leave Them All Behind

Serena-Maneesh - I Just Want To See Your Face

Toro Y Moi - Imprint After

Daedelus - Order Of The Golden Dawn

Sugar Minott - Never Too Young

The Pastels - Baby Honey

Pantha Du Prince - Bohemian Forest

Girls at Our Best! "Go For Gold"

2010-03-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

I've been pouring over the records that I brought home with me from Scotland still somewhat in shock due to all of the rather incredible finds I uncovered. I thought about noting them all in one post sort of laundry list style. Then I thought it would be more fun to listen to the records one at a time, and write a few words about why I was so excited about finding whatever record it is I happen to be writing about that day. It's mostly just a nice excuse for a few weeks of pre-determined channels for my geeky obsessiveness. I'll start with the 7"s then work my way onto the longer records as I go along.

First up, Girls at Our Best! There have been many times in my life when I've walked into a record shop, and dug through every 7" in the place muttering "please, please, please" under my breath hoping that I would turn up something from this band. I've looked on Ebay, and seen decent deals, but the timing was never quite right on any of those. So when I found this one, absent mindedly flipping through the G drawer at Elvis Shakespeare in Edinburgh, I almost yelped. I forgot that I was meant to be looking for it, and in a way that kind of made it more exciting. Sometimes you hear a band that seems to be a living embodiment of everything that you know to be fantastic and cool. There might be bands that mean more to you, and you know that there are definitely bands that are, in fact, more cool. Still sometimes you hear something and think "If all music sounded exactly like this, I'd probably be o.k. with that."

I'd heard of the band many times before I actually heard them, and I probably heard them many times before I knew what I was hearing. I'm pretty sure that "Getting Nowhere Fast" was the one that finally caught my attention enough to put it all together. That song had a cool female vocal part, a cool guitar lead, a cool bass line. Everything in the song was perfectly in place so that you knew it had plenty in common with other post-punk songs, and other rock songs, but there was just something a bit lighter about it that made it seem that much more fun. The 7" that I now own, for example, has an Old Western theme as it's basis for the A-side which is carried out in the context of something of a disco song. The b-side "I'm Beautiful Now" is probably one of the best showcases for singer Judy Evans' unique, high pitched singing voice. And it's impossibly catchy with a build up towards the end that has the potential to leave you out of breath. This is most likely because it's almost impossible to hear the song and not want to dance.

I had some pretty good record finds on my trip, but this one might very well be the biggest stand out.

Here's a rather interesting video that someone put together for "I'm Beautiful Now." I'd not heard of this show "Lazy Town" before coming across this video, it definitely seems to have gotten a strong response from people commenting. Still, it's a way to hear the song, so that's good...

Albums

2010-02-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been utterly transfixed by two new ones in two very different ways.

I'll be honest, the first time I ever heard the name Gil Scott-Heron it was being shouted at me in the LCD Soundsystem song "Losing My Edge." Even then, for reasons that I can't quite fathom (especially now after having finally heard Gil Scott-Heron) I didn't listen. However when he released his new record about a month ago entitled I'm New Here I knew that listening would be inevitable. The insert of the record tells you to set aside time to hear it, pour a drink, sit down, and give it your undivided attention. While reading that advice, I realized that I couldn't remember the last time that I've done that with a brand new record. Sure there have been times where a record that I was listening to pulled me away from other things and demanded my full undivided attention, but it has most certainly been awhile since that was the case going into the situation. This record absolutely deserves your full undivided attention. Mr. Scott-Heron has a rich back story to be sure, and it's treated beautifully here. The production is spot on, technical smarts, minimal jazz and blues piano and guitar all with a nicely underlying cinematic feel create the precise world that his mostly spoken, sometimes half sung reflections deserve. Is it possible to not be knocked flat by a line like "Not running for cover, because if I knew where cover was I would stay there, and never have to run for it?" Certainly not to my mind.

Conversely, twice now I've found myself home from a tiring day at work, and walking to the grocery store up the street while listening to the new Northern Portrait record Criminal Art Lovers. Both times it's shimmering, falsetto vocal tinged, glorious melodrama have made me forget the exhaustion and gain a sense that somehow, strangely, everything will be o.k. That's in spite of titles like, "The Operation Worked, but the Patient Died."

Here's an interesting montage of images that someone has put together of one of Gil Scott-Heron's most famous pieces:

This is the song that opens Criminal Art Lovers. I can't help but let it make me walk faster every time it begins:

KCRW Playlist from 2/14: All Valentine's Day, All the Time

2010-02-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

My bags are packed, and by this time tomorrow I will be on a plane bound for Philadelphia where I'll board another plane bound for Manchester where I'll finally board a plane bound for Glasgow. To say that I'm a little bit excited about this trip would be an understatement. I still haven't fully wrapped my head around the idea that I'm going, I probably won't fully until we are riding the bus through town on Wednesday afternoon to the home of our very gracious hostess. Needless to say, I hope to return to home home with a great deal more records than I left with, and a great deal more to write about here.

In the mean time, I have a new radio show in the archives at kcrw.com. You can listen to that show here if you are so inclined. Since it was very early in the morning on Valentine's Day when the show aired, I decided to take that theme and run with it. It's fun to have a chance to sort through your favorite love, crush, and heartbreak songs. It's even more fun to share them with others. So that's what I've done for this show. I was actually surprised at how many songs didn't fit within my three hour time slot. I have a feeling that a few of them will appear on my next show. Picking the Pastels song for this one was particularly tough, it came down to the song that I took the title of this blog from "Baby Honey," and the song that I ultimately chose "Nothing to be Done." I suppose it gained bonus points for having something of a story arch, and for being one of the truly great duets out there. You'll probably hear "Baby Honey" if you tune into my next show. That song definitely deserves some credit for pairing some seriously romantic lyrics with the fantastically noisy guitar drone, and saxophone freak out that are featured so prominently.

One of my fondest memories of KCRW is volunteering years ago on a midnight to three show that was entirely Valentine's Day themed, running to the library begging the DJ to play Galaxie 500 and the Modern Lovers, so it only felt right to do a similarly themed show on my first Valentine's Day on the air. Plus, I'm a big fan of any holiday that pretty much demands that you play Huggy Bear on the radio, and shout along to it in the studio.

Here's the playlist:
Donna Summer - I Feel Love

Hercules & Love Affair - Raise Me Up

The Velvelettes - Let Love Live (A Little Bit Longer)

Love Is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up

Standard Fare - Love Doesn't Just Stop

Louis Philippe - You Mary You

The Troggs - With A Girl Like You

Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - A Teenager In Love

Buzzcocks - Love You More

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - By Your Side

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Beach House - Real Love

Melody Dog - Futuristic Lover

Sourpatch - Crushin'

Tiger Trap - Supercrush

Tullycraft - Sweet

Gene Kelly - I've Got A Crush On You

Arthur Russell - A Little Lost

The Siddeleys - My Favouite Wet Wednesday Afternoon

The Lucksmiths - Falling Off Of My Feet Again

Cats On Fire - Garden Lights

Razorcuts - Sorry To Embarrass You

Math & Physics Club - I Keep To Myself

The Magnetic Fields - Long Vermont Roads

The Divine Comedy - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie & Clyde

The Pastels - Nothing To Be Done

Go Sailor - I'm Still Crying

The Hit Parade - You Didn't Love Me Then

Princeton - Shout It Out

Huggy Bear - February 14

My Bloody Valentime - Sunny Sundae Smile

The Field Mice - And Before The First Kiss

Galaxie 500 - Oblivious

Otis Redding - You Don't Miss Your Water

Heavenly - Shallow

Biff Bang Pow - She's Got Diamonds In Her Hair

Mayer Hawthorne - I Wish It Would Rain

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine

Beat Happening

2010-02-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a little something here about how taken I've been lately with the Biff Bang Pow record Oblivion, particularly the song "She's Got Diamonds in Her Hair." More on that to come, but I found this video to be one of the most interesting appearances in the course of my search for a video for that particular song. I never got a chance to see Beat Happening live, nor have I ever seen Calvin Johnson perform in any other capacity. He really is as charismatic a performer as all accounts would lead one to believe. I found it nearly impossible to take my eyes off of him during the course of this show. Subtle yes, but perhaps all the more compelling because of that subtlety. And it really is amazing that regardless of how many bands I see doing great things with such minimal, child like presentations - Beat Happening still seem incredibly raw, and genuinely thrilling.

KCRW Playlist from 1/31

2010-02-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since I've been on the air, and I've been using a good bit of that time to track down new music that I can get excited about. I've also been spending more time with records that were released last year that I either didn't spend quite enough time with, or missed entirely. Of course I meant to spend a far greater deal of that extra time writing words of praise about those records here. Wouldn't it be nice if all of our best intentions automatically produced results? Oh well, I can say that lately I keep coming back to the new record from Standard Fare called The Noyelle Beat. They just seem to have the right balance of intimate and epic in their sound, and they manage this while still being a completely fun listen. It's a pretty cool hat trick if you ask me.

Another project that has a pretty firm hold on my attention lately is the The Diogenes Club. I knew nothing about them until I heard Jason Bentley play the single. "Tie Ourselves," from their forthcoming 979 EP on Morning Becomes Eclectic a few weeks ago. There is one previous EP called Do You Know How I Feel?. I haven't had a chance to pick that one up yet, but that's certainly my intention. I don't have too many words about it, it just sounds really really nice. Good synthpop is just endlessly satisfying if you ask me. There's a video for that single too!

You can listen to this most recent show of mine here...

... And here is the playlist:

The Crayon Fields - All The Pleasures Of The World

Zoot Woman - Lust Forever

Kid Creole & The Coconuts - I'm Corrupt (Idjut Boys Edit)

Nikki & Rich - Cat & Mouse

The Shangri-Las - Give Him A Great Big Kiss

Nation Of Ulysses - Today I Met The Girl I'm Gonna Marry

Boyracer - Your Dark Secrets

The Pastels - Anne Boleyn

The Magnetic Fields - The Dada Polka

The Soft Pack - Answer To Yourself

Los Campesinos! - The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

Standard Fare - Dancing

Music Go Music - Warm In The Shadows

Orange Juice - Flesh Of My Flesh

Belle & Sebastian - Le Pastie De La Bourgeoise

Old 97'S - Rollerskate Skinny

The Cure - Bananafish Bones

We Are Scientists - Worth The Wait

The Tartans - Scenic Circles

Wet Dog - Tidy Up Your Bedroom

The Monochrome Set - Espresso

Cats On Fire - Tears In Your Cup

Love - Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale

Jacques Dutronc - Les Cactus

Jose James - Made For Love

Laura Veirs - Life Is Good Blues

Lali Puna - Remember

Bibio - All The Flowers (Lone Remix)

Pepi Ginsberg - Shake This

Momus - The Sadness Of Things

The Diogenes Club - Tie Ourselves Around

Death Kit - I Can Make You Love Me

Memory Tapes - Bicycle

Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (Featuring Laetitia Sadier)

Kings Of Convenience - Renegade

The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath

Hope Sandoval - Wild Roses

Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo

Seven Saturdays - A Beautiful Day

Listening Too Long to One Song: Sunny & the Sunliners "If I Could See You Now"

2010-01-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

In the grand scheme of things, my knowledge of great Northern Soul records is severely limited. You could set me in front of a bin filled with nothing but absolute gems, and I could probably pull out something like five, maybe up to ten if I was particularly on top of my game that day. The fact that I would know any such records at all has a lot that I DJ at a club with people who are far more knowledgeable on the subject than myself, so I've managed to pick up a thing or two here and there. This track from Sunny & the Sunliners was the first one that really managed to jump out and grab me. I'd heard one of my fellow DJs play it a number of times, and always thought it was great. Still, it wasn't until one particular Hungry Beat! a few months ago that I finally said to myself, "I have to know what that song is!" I asked, and I was told. Ever since then I'll have a day here and there where I simply have to hear the song several times in a row before my intake of it has been satisfied. To my mind it perfectly encompasses everything about Northern Soul records that make them ideal for all night dance parties - the unasuming instrumentation with the always welcome use of horns and an organ in their respective exactly right places, the vocals that are sort of simultaneously heartfelt and whimsical, and probably more than anything else the relentlessly fast (yet very even) pace that blends fantastically with the vocal phrasing to guarantee that you'll be out of breath by the end of the song whether you've been dancing particularly hard or not. I've still not yet tracked down the 45, but I'm hoping that it's only a matter of time...

And if you feel like dancing tomorrow (quite possibly to this song) you should head out to La Cita and join us for Hungry Beat!

KCRW Playlists from 1/13 (filling in for Michael Barnes) and 1/10 (My show)

2010-01-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

Another week, another radio show, well, two actually, but not surprisingly the weekend and early part of the week managed to escape me too fast. Thus, here I am on Thursday sorting through so many thoughts of excitement over so many pop songs that I've been listening to and enjoying lately. Not surprisingly, a good number of those songs made their way into my past two radio shows so I thought this might be a good post within which to discuss those thoughts.

I'm really pleased with the lead singles from both the forthcoming Love is All record Two Thousand Ten Injuries, and the new Knight School record Revenger. It'll be interesting to see if the Brooklyn based Knight School picks up a larger audience with this new release. Their debut record The Poor and Needy Need to Party was one of my favorites of 2009, and I still can't understand why it didn't reach more people. In my opinion The Poor and Needy Need to Party was the one of the most perfect collection of bratty, noisy gleefully short pop songs to come out in quite some time. It's only further helped by the fact that it sounds like it was exactly as much fun to make as it is to hear. "Pizza My Coat," the first single from Revenger seems to be taking them further along in the same direction with perhaps a slight degree of assurance added to the sound. You can download that track here. The fact that the NME is writing about them does seem to indicate an encouraging development in their level of exposure. Slightly funny to see that the NME is writing about them now that they are releasing their music on this San Francisco based label, and not the U.K. based label that put out their first record. Lostmusic is fantastic though, and I would strongly encourage you to visit their website, and purchase the records they release. Love is All appear to have made a label change as well (they're on Polyvinyl this time around), but have also apparently stayed within the same sonic realm that they've been operating in for the past few years. I can't stop listening to the new single "Kungen," it's as giddy and frantic as any of their best, and based on it's strength Two Thousad Ten Injuries might now be my most anticipated record of this year. Hopefully this means a U.S. tour for Love is All in 2010 as well. I can't recommend their live show highly enough. It's almost certain to make you two thousand and ten times happier than you were before seeing it, in my humble opinion. On the rare occasions that I want something slower paced than the Knight School or Love is All singles I've been turning to the dreamy new Beach House record, Teen Dream. Has Beach House ever produced a song that wasn't positively dreamy? Speaking of dreamy, I severely neglected the Maria single from last year Love Is. I can't properly explain that one. Maria finally put three of my favorite songs from their live show on to a 7", and though I've owned it since it was released last year it's only within the past few weeks that I've given it the repeat listens that it deserves. The band finally achieved the exact right sound for them (the one that they have been hinting at since I first discovered that band), and I still maintain that the YAY! label is one of the most exciting things going on in indiepop these days.

Well, I suppose that is enough rambling from me for the time being. Time to head off and search for more lovely new and/or classic songs!

You can listen to me filling in for Michael Barnes here. That will be archived until Wednesday morning of next week.

And you can catch my show here. It's archived until Monday morning.

I've posted the play lists from both shows here as well...

Show from 1/13 (Filling in for Michael Barnes)
Was (Not Was) - "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming"

Quadron - "Slippin'"

Lucky Soul - "Whoa Billy"

Sunny & The Sunliners - "If I Could See You Now"

Myron And E With The Soul Investigators - "Cold Game"

The 24-Carat Black - "Gone The Promises Of Yesterday"

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Falling Over"

Testbild! - "My Brother The Submariner"

Slowdive - "Machine Gun"

Charles Bradley And The Menahan Street Band - "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)"

The Clientele - "Since K Got Over Me"

The Go-Betweens - "Bachelor Kisses"

David Bowie - "Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed"

Pete Dunaway - "Supermarket"

Jovenes Y Sexys - "Amor Platonico"

Maria - "When The Sun Goes Down"

Devendra Banhart - "Forget About Him"

The Yummy Fur - "Hong Kong In Stereo"

Comet Gain - "If I Had A Soul"

Love Is All - "Kungen"

Beach House - "Silver Soul"

Atlas Sound - "Shelia"

Knight School - "Pizza My Coat"

The Soft Pack - "Answer To Yourself"

Crocodiles - "Hollow Hollow Eyes"

The Velvet Underground - "I'll Be Your Mirror"

Wild Nothing - "Summer Holiday"

Jim Noir - "All Right"

Toro Y Moi - "Talamak"

The XX - "Heart Skipped A Beat"

Bibio - "Bones & Skulls"

Vis A Vis - "Obi Agye Me Dofo"

Francoiz Breut - "Mochoir De Poche"

The Pastels/Tenniscoats - "Vivid Youth"

Laura Veirs - "Silo Song"

Mulato Astake - "Tezeta"

Desolation Wilderness - "Slow Fade"

Dum Dum Girls - "Baby Don't Go"

Build An Ark - "In The Park"

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Show from 1/10 (My Show)
Girls At Our Best - "Pleasure"

Delta 5 - "Mind Your Own Business (Man Ray Mix)"

LCD Soundsystem - "Losing My Edge"

Dead Milkmen - "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything)"

Vampire Weekend - "Giving Up The Gun"

Zoot Woman - "Just A Friend Of Mine (Jump Jump Dance Dance Remix)"

Annie - "Bad Times"

The XX - "Shelter"

Princeton - "Shout It Out"

Clare & The Reasons - "Ooh You Hurt Me So"

Plaisir De France - "Le Responsable Revisite"

Laura Veirs - "Where Are You Driving"

Beach House - "Walk In The Park"

Memory Tapes - "Stop Talking"

Washed Out - "Feel It All Around"

Television Personalities - "I Know Where Syd Barret Lives"

Pink Floyd - "Bike"

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Good Kids Make Bad Grown Ups"

Nosaj Thing - "Coat Of Arms"

Taxi Taxi! - "Old Big Trees"

Devendra Banhart - "Goin Back"

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - "Atman"

Kyeremateng Atwede & The Kyeremateng Stars - "I Go Die For You"

Love Is All - "Kungen"

Quasi - "Repulsion"

The Muslims - "Walking With Jesus"

Aberdeen - "Cities & Busses (Live on Morning Becomes Eclectic)"

The Pastels - "Stay With Me Until The Morning Comes"

Maria - "When The Sun Goes Down"

Peter Sarstedt - "Once Upon An Everyday"

Belle & Sebastian - "We Are The Sleepyheads"

Pulp - "David's Last Summer"

The Broadfield Marchers - "Falling Asleep To Disappear"

The Clientele - "Bonfires On The Heath"

Liechtenstein - "The End"

Air - "Tropical Disease"

KCRW Playlist from 1/3 - A Few Personal Highlights from 2009

2010-01-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

This was a tough one. 2009 was a pretty great year for me, both in terms of the music that I heard, and personal things. More often than not the two overlapped. It's always nice when such things happen. There are many things that should have been played on this show, but weren't due to time constraints (it still kills me that I wasn't able to close things out with "The End" by Lichtenstein). There are also many things that likely should have made this list that I sadly did not have a chance to hear. These are, of course, only problems indicative of an excellent year for music.

I also realize that leading my show off with a Comet Gain single that was released at the end of 2008 might raise some eyebrows, but since the "Broken Record Prayers" comp was released here in the States in 2009, I decided that it simply must be that way. Since I've taken to the airwaves Comet Gain have to be my most often played band after the Pastels (who I include on every show). 2009 was also the year when I finally started really listening to Comet Gain after too many incidences of asking a friend who was responsible for the awesome song they just played, and the answer always being "Comet Gain." As for picking the song "Love Without Lies," well, I have a weakness for any song that can make the experience of walking somewhere more pleasant, fun or exciting. This song manages all three. When it fills my headphones I walk taller, faster, and with more confidence. Everything is heightened, and the world feels at once a thousand times more risky, and ten thousand times more safe. And what would life be if certain songs didn't come along to heighten everything at the very least once a year?

Upwards and onwards to all in 2010!

Love,
Marion

P.S.
You can listen to the show here:
http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/tl/the_lab

P.P.S.
Here is the playlist:
Comet Gain - Love Without Lies

A Sunny Day In Glasgow - The White Witch

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Twin Of Myself (Go! Team Remix)

U.S.E - K.I.S.S.I.N.G

The Postmarks - My Lucky Charm

Air France - Gothenberg Belongs To Me

Little Dragon - My Step

Annie - My Love Is Better

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - 1999

The Mayfair Set - Desert Fun

A Place To Bury Strangers - Keep Slipping Away

The Horrors - Who Can Say

Quadron - Pressure

Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill

Mos Def - Pretty Dancer

Chin Chin - Stay

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Falling Over

Bricolage - On The Omnibusses

Fol Chen - Winter, That's All

Tha Boogie - Peter Parker

Cry Babies - It's My Thing

Myron And E With The Soul Investigators - Cold Game

Mayer Hawthorne - Maybe So, Maybe No

Wake The President - Something To Turn Up

Wake The President - Professor

Sonic Youth - Malibu Gas Station

Knight School - Pregnant Again

Brilliant Colors - I Searched

Pens - I Sing Just For You

The Bridal Shop - Ideal State

Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun

Testbild! - My Brother The Submariner

Real Estate - Fake Blues

Pastels/Tenniscoats - So Many Stars

John Vanderslice - Carina Constallation

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Sets The Blaze

The Clientele - Never Anyone But You

Atlas Sound - Quick Canal (Featuring Laetitia Sadier)

KCRW Playlist from 12/13

2009-12-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

I'll keep this brief, but boy does it feel good to be writing here again. It's not been for lack of great pop songs, that I've been so silent lately. There have been many times within the past few months where I have wanted to share my thoughts on some incredible piece of music that I've recently encountered, or an old favorite that's found it's way to the forefront of my mind. It's just that every time I've thought of something to write about lately I've been inconveniently nowhere near a computer, and when I am near a computer again the words seem to have disappeared. I figured the best way to get back into the swing of things would be to begin posting my playlist from each radio show. My favorite thing about putting these shows together is always when my first set reveals itself to me. I usually have a song or two in mind for each of my nine sets during any given show, and then I build from there. Once I know what my entire first set will be, I feel like the rest of the show just sort of falls into place. This week I knew that I wanted to play Belle & Sebastian's "Your Cover's Blown," and that I wanted to play something from Jonathan Richman at some point during the show since I saw him put on a totally characteristically awesome show at the Mint last week. Regardless of the fact that I missed this show, I knew that he opened for Belle & Sebastian in 2001. "I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar" has been a major highlight for me both of the times I've seen a Johnathan Richman show so presto, "I Was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar" into "Your Cover's Blown," and then somehow that just set the tone for everything else in the show. I hope that moment where everything falls into place is never even a shred less exciting than it is now. I suppose that's all just to say that I really like the way this one turned out, and if you have a moment to check it out, I do hope that you'll feel the same way. And as a friendly reminder I'm on every other weekend for now, Sunday mornings from 3 A.M. until 6 A.M. Pacific Standard time. It's 89.9 on your radio dial, or kcrw.com. The schedule will be a bit off course for the next few weeks, but excitingly enough my next time on the air will be Saturday December 26th from 2 P.M. to 5 P.M.! I'll be filling in for Anne Litt who is something of a personal hero to me.

There is a link to listen to the show below this paragraph, and the playlist is posted below that. But I'll leave you with this thought since I did broach the subject. Is there any performer around today that is as uniquely engaging as Johnathan Richman? I was awestruck the first time I saw him live, and I the exact same way this time around. I just can't get past his songwriting style wherein which he explores subject matter that most people might not give a second thought to in a way that is thoughtful, and well expressed in an often hilarious yet somehow always poignant manner. Plus the man just knows how to put on a SHOW. Given that his band consists only of himself and drummer Tommy Larkins, the level of showmanship that he accomplishes is no small feat. If you've never seen him live I strongly, strongly recommend that you do just that the next time you have a chance.

Alright, on to the radio show link. You can listen to the it in the archives here. It will be up through Sunday December 20th.

... And here's the playlist:

Leaving Mornington Crescent - Seventeen

The Magnetic Fields - Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree

Jonathan Richman - I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar

Belle & Sebastian - Your Cover's Blown

Nouvelle Vague - Ca Plane Pour Moi

Kisses - People Can Do The Most Amazing Things

Bricolage - Footsteps

Comet Gain - Movies

Atlas Sound - Shelia

Annie - Bad Times

Quadron - Slippin

Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - I Found A Peanut

Ray Davies - Village Green Preservation Society

The Clean - Tensile

The Pop Group - She Is Beyond Good & Evil

The Slits - Pay Rent

The 24-Carat Black - I'll Never Let You Go

Mos Def - Auditorium

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

Oh No - Carnival

John Boswell - We Are All Connected (Triobelisk Remix)

Coconut Records - West Coast

Inara George - Bottlecaps

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Even Heroes Have To Die

Best Coast - When I'm With You

Felt - All The People I Like Are Those That Are Dead

Girls - Headache

Laura Veirs - Silo Song

Sister Vanilla - Delicat

The Pastels/Tenniscoats - About You

Devendra Banhart - Goin Back

T. Rex - Cosmic Dancer

Daniel Merriweather - Impossible

The Monkees - Forget That Girl

The Clientele - Never Anyone But You

Yo La Tengo - And The Glitter Is Gone

Listening Too Long to One Song: The Pastels/Tenniscoats "Vivid Youth"

2009-09-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

I like the summer. I like long days, a seemingly endless supply of outdoor activities to engage in, and those rare occasions when it is warm enough in Southern California to swim in the ocean. And those are just to name a few of the things that I enjoy so much about the season. However there isn't much that I enjoy more than feeling the summer end, those precious weeks where the heat seems to silently retreat usually in a far more subtle manner than the one in which it appeared. When the days are noticeably shorter, but not so short as to become depressing.

The song "Vivid Youth" from the Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration record Two Sunsets is, to my mind, a perfect sonic representation of that end of summer feeling. I'm not sure if this was their intent, but the video certainly helps to enhance that image. The song itself though, with it's relaxed jazz informed chords, and minimal accents do everything to create the feeling of a warm late summer afternoon, probably just around dusk. This song also has even further cemented Katrina Mitchell's place as one of my favorite female vocalists.

Two Sunsets will be released here in the States via the Domino record label on September 22.

I've posted the video below, and I challenge anyone to watch it without letting a nice, lazy grin completely overtake your face.

And then tell me about some of your favorite songs that bring a certain season to mind.

New Music from A Sunny Day in Glasgow

2009-08-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

A Sunny Day in Glasgow's second full length Ashes Grammar is set to be released by the label Mis Ojos Discos on September 15th. You can pre-order the ultra-limited, colored vinyl, double LP (or the CD ) here. I strongly recommend that you do.

I've been in something of a holding pattern with this record since it came in to my possession a few weeks ago. Most of my time these days is spent between searching for songs new and old that satisfy my addiction to catchy/straightforward pop, and re-learning how to have a genuine appreciation for certain types of straightforward rock and roll. A deepening love for soul sounds from various points scattered around the globe, and continuing to learn how to have a genuine appreciation for reggae take up most of the rest of my listening time. Still, there is a lot to be said for artists who are able to bypass those things completely (perhaps by slyly using certain elements of all of them), and create something of an alternate sonic universe that has the ability to pull a listener into it's fold, and keep that listener there until it's conclusion has been reached. This is exactly what A Sunny Day in Glasgow have done with Ashes Grammar. The songs have been expertly constructed to ensure that each one unfolds from or into each song that it follows or proceeds. Expert mixing further contributes to the likelihood that one might find oneself rather lost (in a good way) within the confines of this dreamy aural landscape. Most of the lyrics are somewhat inconsequential, instead the voices, and the words or sounds that they sing seem to be more another element in a larger overall construction of sound.

And true to the the records ability to draw you in so completely, coming out of the record is like gradually waking up after a very deep sleep. The type of waking up that tends to take until some time late in the morning (or even the afternoon) to fully occur. And yet, there are several songs on the record that can just as easily be taken out of context, and blended into another song belonging to almost any genre.

The Drums

2009-07-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

I love the composite sketches of songs that stay with me after a radio show. When my mind runs the "Boy girl revolutionaries... YOU AND ME!" segment from "Her Jazz" over and over on a loop until it suddenly somewhat (but somewhat not) inexplicably fades into the chorus of the Magic Bullets song "The Upstairs Flight," and then the whistled intro to the Drums "Let's Go Surfing."

Oh the Drums.

I saw them play at NYC Popfest. I didn't have the best view as Cake Shop is not configured to offer the best view to those not immediately in front. The sound was quite good though, and from what I heard I knew that the Drums were something special. It's just that... they played late Sunday afternoon. I'm fairly certain it was before I went to find my first meal of the day, and I'm also fairly certain that I was still anxiously wondering whether or not someone that I used to know a lot better than I do now was going to walk through the door at any minute. I did not give the Drums the level of my attention that they deserved. This sub par level of attention was in fact so severe that despite several friends referring to them as a highlight over the next few days, somewhere in the ensuing haze that took over my memories of both New York and San Francisco Popfests the Drums were lost completely. It wasn't until checking my Radio Free Silver Lake email account last week that they were rightfully pushed into the front of my mind. There were plenty of quotes in this email from various blogs citing them as a major Popfest highlight of course, and the memories started flooding back. However, it was a different quote in the email, this one from the band itself that really grabbed my attention:

"We just wanted to start a band that sounded like The Wake." say The Drums, "We heard their song 'Pale Spectre' and went crazy! Maybe our music didn't turn out sounding too much like The Wake but we're really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song. And that's not so bad right?"

I think I stopped just short of smacking myself on the forehead with the palm of my hand like people do in sitcoms. Brian told me about this band a few Hungry Beat!'s ago, only he thought that the Wake song they were inspired by was "Crush the Flowers." I do remember really wanting to hear any band that formed because they wanted to sound like the Wake. Their influence is definitely apparent, but that influence does somehow filter out into a sound that sounds rather current and exciting. They are releasing their Summertime E.P. on September 15th through the New York based Twenty Seven Records label, but you can pre-order it from Insound. Insound says the release date is August 4th so I suppose that if it shows up sometime that week, it's just an added bonus. Not too mention a whole extra month of the summer to enjoy an E.P. with the title of Summertime.

St. Christopher

2009-07-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

I can't remember if they played "All of a Tremble," at either St. Christopher show that I experienced this past weekend. It's the song that I've been most consumed by since purchasing the CD collection of all of the singles from the Sarah years at the show, but I just can't remember if we heard it at either show. I feel like we must have, but I just can't be sure. I know that we heard "You Deserve More Than a Maybe," at both shows. Yvonne was finally able to encourage a small group of us to dance to that one in the awkward (and curiously underpopulated room) in Ventura, and we danced again at the reassuringly fuller Echo the next night. I stood still during "Say Yes to Everything" in Ventura, even though that single is the only St. Christopher single that I've ever owned, and one of my absolute favorite songs to soundtrack any dance party. The stillness was made up for the next night at the Echo when I apologized to Mary for the spoiler, but continued on in telling her that the next song was going to be "Say Yes to Everything," and that we were going to have to dance. We did, and were eventually able to draft Yvonne, and perhaps even John and Eric into dancing with us as well.

This is all presented as a way to examine the idea of what it really is that constitutes a great show. Does one have to recognize every song? Because I didn't, I vaguely recognized more than I thought that I would, but I did thoroughly enjoy pretty much every song that I heard nonetheless. And must each song have to contain every element from the recorded version? This is a particularly important point to address it seems, when you are dealing with songs that have meant so much to so many over the years. As it turns out, the songs can still sound pretty great with simply drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. Glenn's voice was in top form, and his excellent lyrics did come across. The lack of timpani in "Say Yes to Everything" was jarring, sure, as was the absence of the intricate keyboard on "Antoinette." That last one was according to Yvonne, of course, although having heard the song now I know what she means. Still hearing it played live at all was so lovely, and the way they bled it into it's B-side "Salvation" was just cool. Watching Brian having what looked to be amazing fun with these bass lines that he'd only learned a week before, and only had the occasion to practice with the band for seven hours on the previous Friday was undeniably cool as well. And Jesse's comment that in Ventura it looked like Michael Jackson was playing bass for St. Christopher because of Brian's small white hand cast that was the last remainder of a recent bike injury just added another level of surreality to the whole thing. And St. Christopher will now perpetually remain in my mind, "The band that played two of my favorite shows during one of the most fun weekends of my life."

You can (and should) pick up a copy of the St. Christopher compilation Lost at Sea: The Sarah Recordings right here.

Sky Saxon

2009-06-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

He died Thursday as well, as I'm sure that most of you who are reading this already know. I've never heard any of his solo material, and I'm not exorbitantly familiar with the Seeds save for a few songs. I haven't listened to the Seeds in at least a year and a half. Still, the news of his death made me a bit sad. He was a very talented Los Angeles based artist, and I had really hoped to see a live performance from the Seeds one of these days. Anyway, I really don't much to offer in the way of a comment. I just thought that it deserved a mention. I heard "Pushing Too Hard" twice this weekend at dance nights, and it was greeted with a mild response of gratitude. Hearing Michael Jackson on Friday night garnered serious cheering. Although, when a DJ played "Rock With You" on Saturday night one of our friends came up with an impromtu "Sky Jaxon" mash-up by singing "Pushing Too Hard" over the Michael Jackson song. It seems that the entire group of friends I was with determined this to be an extraordinary display of splitting the difference.

Oh, and Sky Saxon was also name checked in the classic Pooh Sticks song, "On Tape." You really can't get much cooler than that, now can you?

Listening Too Long to One Song: Pocketbooks "Footsteps"

2009-06-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

How is it that certain songs can be so sincere, and so convincing that they not only change your general mood, but almost make you believe that whatever is detailed within the song is absolutely possible no matter how implausible the concept? I've had to stop myself several times to give this some serious thought. Do I believe that there is anyone out there whose footsteps I could imagine in perfect sync with mine, forever? Absolutely not. Do I believe that it's possible when the Pocketbooks sing about it? Absolutely.

The song is like a perfectly crafted miniature film in that regard. The type whereupon going in you know that suspension of disbelief will be inevitable, but you just don't care because the story unfolds in such a way that you're simply thrilled to escape into it for it's entire duration. Surely you can imagine how that precise concept just gets better when compressed into a perfect, three and a half minute, "feel good hit of the summer" ready pop song. The cheery keyboard line, and tambourine punctuate this sweet love story flawlessly. The melodica solo that emerges halfway through to play over the aforementioned through line is a pleasant surprise until you realize that of course this song would be somewhat incomplete without such a thing. It would be no less good without it, but it's the little details like that one that elevate this single from great song, to amazing song.

The single is available as a free download from the band's Myspace page, but I would also strongly urge you to pick up a copy of the full length, Flight Paths, to which it belongs. The CD will not be officially released until July 13, but the How Does it Feel to be Loved Record Label is selling advance copies here. I've had mine for about a week now, and it's already shaping up to be the official soundtrack to a good portion of my summer.

With the Clip of an I.V. Drip

2009-06-08T10:21:00.001-07:00

I've had the most recent EP from Swedish band Suburban Kids With Biblical Names in my posession for just under a week and a half now. I'm fairly certain that within that relatively short time span I've listened to the for songs contained on that EP more than I've listened to anything else all year. There is even a pretty good chance that I've listened to each one of these songs more times than probably half of the songs that were on my top twenty list from last year.

While I was driving to work the other day (listening to #4 for what was probably the 75th time) my mind began to wander, and it was to my horror that I could no longer remember any of the words to the song that Suburban Kids With Biblical Names took their band name from. The song is "People," and the band that wrote that song is Silver Jews, and when I discovered SKWBN I was probably most inclined to listen to them based on that title. I'm pretty certain that the obsession with American Water (the album that contains that song) that I was coincidentally so deep into at the time of the American release of the SKWBN record that put them on my radar was actually due to repeat listens to "People," and then letting the brilliance of the rest of the record inevitably unfold around me. Needless to say, I used to know every word of that song. When I tried to remember this past Friday I could not get any further than "Moments can be monuments to you." I've pieced together most of the song from memory (which was way more fun than reading the lyrics online), and once I have my computer back then I will likely be spending a few days with American Water, and absolutely nothing else on my headphones. In the meantime, it's given me a nice topic to explore for my next "Not Quite Punk" column on Web in Front.

I'll also be typing many more glowing words of praise about Suburban Kids With Biblical Names when I finally publish my top ten highlights from New York and San Francisco Popfests. They were my number one highlight at both festivals. For now though, I really just wanted an excuse to share this video for one of the songs on the new EP, "Europa." I do greatly wish that there was a video for "1999" which in my mind is THE dance party single for the summer of 2009. Whether or not the rest of the world catches on sadly remains to be seen. "Europa" is quite interesting though. It's probably the most melodic, and reflective song on the EP, and it contains one of my favorite examples of word play to date: "You said that you wanted some more bass and drum machine in your mon-i-tor (No money, no tour...)" And it's lines like that make me realize that while sonically they are in quite a different part of the pop music spectrum than the space within that spectrum that's inhabitted by Silver Jews, David Berman's dry wit has likely had more of an influence on this band than merely their name.

It appears that you can (and should) purchase the #4 EP as an MP3 download here.

You'd also be smart to pick up a copy of the band's sole full length #3 if you don't already own that record. You can do that here

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Europa from Bo Mikael Hall on Vimeo.

Nothing to Do So I Thought About You

2009-05-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

I'm just re-reading the Vaselines show review that I stayed up all of the Tuesday night before I left for New York attempting to complete. I still feel like it's just on the verge of being an acceptable representation of my thoughts on the show, but instead it's just reading pointless rambling. The most frustrating part about the whole thing is that I feel like I am only a sentence or two off from the review being an acceptable, and perhaps even borderline compelling read.

Oh well, I have to hope that once all of the Popfest anticipation/afterglow has worn off (one down one to go) I'll be better able to sort my thoughts about other live music related things. Speaking of Popfests, I'm in the process of jotting down my thoughts about the New York fest so that I can compose some proper reviews (of both New York and San Francisco Popfests) upon my arrival home next week...

While composing the aforementioned thoughts I've been watching some video highlights from New York. You can watch a great deal of videos from the weekend here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/soundbitesnyc

For now though, I will leave you only with this video of the Tartans performing "Cats of Camerford." I was quite taken with their sound as a five piece. Several days of touring served them very well as they sounded tighter, and more confident than I had ever heard them sound before. Brian Young's presence was a very welcome one, especially on any song to which he added a saxophone part.

And My Favorite Song's Entitled Boredom

2009-05-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

"Young people have a biological right to be excited about the times in which they're living. If you're very lucky, that hormonal urgency is matched by the insurgency of the era - your innate adolescent need for amazement and belief coincides with a period of objective abundance."
Simon Reynolds, Rip it Up and Start Again

Friday, April 17th. Approximately 8:40 P.M. I sit hunched over a tiny container of cheap fast food chow mein that would serve no nutritional purpose whatsoever other than to line my stomach with something that might keep me from fainting. I listen to a teenage girl a few tables over singing along to some terrible sounding radio hit in a questionable American Idol styled voice. Herr friends seem to encourage this behavior. I choke down what is left of my "dinner," and I reach the conclusion of the Simon Reynolds penned book Rip it Up and Start Again. Approximately ten seconds after I reach the conclusion of this book, I begin to wonder if it will come to be referred to as my favorite book, not necessarily just my favorite music book. My favorite book. Period.

Since there are still so many books that I have yet to read (music related and otherwise) I'll simply say that Rip It Up... was a very satisfying read. Due to the manner in which the book is composed, I was not entirely aware of how satisfying of a read that this would turn out to be until I reached the end. Reaching the end of the book immediately called to mind the beginning of the book, and I immediately realized that if the moment I completed that book on Friday April 17th was not the moment that I determined it to be my favorite book, then it was certainly the moment that I will refer to from now on as "the first time I read Rip it Up and Start Again."

The full title of the book is Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978 - 1984. The title explains what you will find contained within the chapters of the book, but again it's the composition of the book that makes it even more compelling than it would have already been given the fact that it discusses bands like P.I.L, the Fall, Joy Division, Orange Juice, and Josef K in great length. If you're like me, you'll also learn more than you might not have been aware that you wanted to learn about Throbbing Gristle, the Human League, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Malcolm McLarren's involvement with Bow Bow Wow.

I must admit that finding the book's website in 2007 was my introduction to the writing of Simon Reynolds. I cannot properly explain why it took me so long to get from discovering the website for Rip it Up and Start Again, to actually reading the book. In fact, I read the book that Simon Reynolds co - authored with his wife, Joy Press, entitled; The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'N' Roll before I got around to reading this one. I spent a decent part of my morning reading an old fanzine that was lent to me by a friend on the basis that it seemed like something I might enjoy. In this 'zine, was an interview with Simon Reynolds. Everything that was mentioned in the introduction to this interview said a lot about why Rip it Up... was such an enjoyable read for me. The blend of relevant academic references with music fan enthusiasm, feminist theories, and all manner of stylistic choices that add up to an intellectually stimulating, yet very accessible read.

You can buy the insanely affordable American issue of the book here. This is the one that I just completeted, and am currently raving about. However, I was also recently lent the U.K. edition by the same friend who was generous enough to supply me with the fanzine. Based on the few pages that I have read so far of the U.K. edition, I can say that it is absolutely worth your money to spring for that copy based upon the additional (essential) content that it contains. The blog that accompanies the book is essential reading as well even for the footnotes alone, which expound further upon the already quite thorough information found in the book.

In an extra twist of interesting coincidence, the week after I completed the American version of Rip it Up..., and also my first radio show for KCRW, Henry Rollins devoted his entire radio to a postpunk tribute using Rip it Up and Start Again as something of a guide. In the show that I had put together the weekend before that I played "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer based on the fact that it was cited in the book as a highly influential single on certain aspects of the sound of postpunk, and also based upon the fact that I love really good disco. I followed that song with Chic knowing even before I read this book that the lads from Orange Juice were big fans (and you know that thing about loving good disco), but reading the Postcard chapter in the book brought that to the forefront of my mind so I pretty much have to give the book credit for the fact that I made that Chic into Orange Juice segue that I had vowed to make (though promptly forgotten) a long time ago. To carry the odd coincidence further, I was already intending to play "Rip it Up," on what will be the second installment of my radio show this weekend. Interesting how these things work out, isn't it?

Anyway, needless to say, I highly recommend listening to Henry Rollins' postpunk tribute. Please do so here.

We Just Want to Play (Yeah!)

2009-04-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

D.I.Y. It's a term that you've probably seen throughout your life applied to various ventures from home improvement, to film making, to music. In fact, you've probably seen the term applied to music quite a bit in recent times. This is with good reason of course, as there is quite an impressive crop of bands employing lo-fi recording techniques, fuzzy guitars, effects pedals, and all manner of other wonderful things that help create interesting pop songs.

Puppy Dog play no electric instruments. They play stand up drums, glockenspiel, and tambourine. They shriek lyrics about mythical beings. I'm fairly certain that they don't have a single song that reaches the two minute mark. They are a breath of fresh air.

I have a soft spot for watching bands in the process of developing their sound, and the way that Puppy Dog seem to be going about it is pretty charming. For instance, they added the glockenspiel to their repertoire after watching the Tartans use the instrument in their songs. They also enlisted the help of Tartans' drummer Lon to mic their instruments, and record their songs - So, o.k., not entirely D.I.Y., but certainly D.I.Y. in spirit - I'm quite intrigued to see what shape Puppy Dog's music will take in the future. Perhaps they will flesh out their songs with a bit more structure, melody, and length. Perhaps they will continue to create the ultra breif, and beautifully odd song sketches that they are offering now. Either way, I think this is a band to keep an eye on...

Listening too Long to One Song: The Chesterf!elds "Ask Johnny Dee"

2009-04-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

"So what did happen to Johnny Dee?" asked Peter. I must have had a very puzzled look on my face, because whatever he said next was the thing that clarified for me that Johnny Dee was a real person. We were listening to the Chesterf!elds, of course, and this news was something of a revelation to me at the time. Everything about this song (which I had heard too many times before this conversation took place to count) suggested that it's title character must be fictional. This was not only suggested by the lyrics, but the dreamy sort of elongated tone of the guitar riff that opens the track, as well as the crisp drumbeat, and sharp yet very minimal bass line that combine with the nicely intricate guitar work that is being displayed at this point. The result of all of this is a terribly gorgeous sonic shimmer. But surely it is the lyrics that mostly do the trick of suggesting that Johnny Dee must be larger than life, and therefore could not possibly exist. The way the lines are delivered adds to this exponentially. "Well if you'd like to know what pop stars have for tea, ask Johnny Deeeee. With the name Johnny Dee sung in a manner that most resembles a sigh. I have to imagine that the Johnny Dee of reality was slightly embellished in this song. Though I have to imagine that any embellishment was very slight, as everyone I've spoken to who who has ever encountered Johnny Dee remembers those encounters with great fondness. Apparently he promoted shows, which may explain a band like the Chesterf!elds giving him such a glowing tribute in song form. According to my sources, he was present at quite a large number of shows. However, it seems that he is most well known as a writer who produced fanzines, and eventually went on to contribute to the NME.

I have to assume that the link that I am about to direct you to regards the same Johnny Dee, if so, then catch up with the current goings on of this somewhat prolific music journalist here. If anyone could confirm for me that this is in fact the Same Johnny Dee, I would be most appreciative!

There are several Chesterf!elds songs available for your listening pleasure here. While you're there be sure to give "Completely and Utterly," a proverbial spin as well. That's shaping up to be the next song to occupy a borderline unhealthy amount of my time.

Also, if you are looking set up a Chesterf!elds collection of your very own, this is a very nice (and inexpensive) place to start. Even though, sadly, this comp does not appear to include their seriously impressive cover of the Vic Godard song, "Holiday Hymn."

I Remember What it Was to Feel

2009-04-06T18:19:00.000-07:00

Before anything else is discussed in this post, please check the comments for the post that proceeds this one. I think I always want to believe that Forever Breathes the Lonely Word was Lawrence/Deebank era Felt, but it is not. I honestly think that somewhere along the way I learned that, and just for whatever reason let my mental Felt time-line slip away from accuracy. Also, in my sleep deprived state I did not do my proper research for that post. Sigh, my sincere apologies, but since this truly inexcusable error was corrected by Mr. Fire Escape Talking there is a wealth of information in his comment that you should all be sure to check out. Thus my suspicion that I should really know better than to think I am informed enough at this point to offer an opinion on anything Felt, or Felt related has been confirmed. I can assure you it won't happen again. Though the idea that I might one day sequester myself away from society with nothing but Felt records, and printed information about the band in order to fully absorb it all is never out of the question for me...

I am currently in the process of composing a review of the most recent Thermals album, Now We Can See for Radio Free Silver Lake. Oddly, this has just been one thing (musically anyway) in a not short line of things that have brought me back me back to those days where I listened to music, and I felt things. Uncomfortable things, embarrassing things, real things overall... I suppose... I don't know, it's an odd thing to discuss.

But this blog is supposed to be my free space, where I can discuss things that I would not prefer to discuss otherwise. I knew that before I got into the knew Thermals record, I would have to listen to a few of the songs on Fucking A that made me pay attention to that band in the first place. Particularly the song, "A Stare Like Yours." I can't remember the last time that I had actual romantic feelings for someone until I listen to this song. Enough time has passed for me not to feel those things anymore, but hearing the song is enough to remind me that I was once capable of such things. Strange. I close my eyes when I'm listening to that song, and it makes me feel dizzy, like the sheer force of it might knock me over at any moment. I think thisk this has more to do with the song itself than it does with the memory, but to be completely honest I really have no idea.

On Monday I was taking part in my normal volunteer shift at KCRW. As is so often the case when I'm at the station for the program Morning Becomes Eclectic there was live music in the third hour of the show. I've seen some really good performances during my time there, but every now and then an artist will come along i find myself terribly excited about. Such was the case this past Monday when Raphael Saadiq came through the studio. He did release one of my favorite songs last year after all. His set was remarkably stripped down, featuring only himself on vocals and guitar, and Rob Bacon on second guitar. I was initially kind of bummed not to hear "Seven," but I did figure that it would probably lose a bit of it's impact without the drums so not hearing it was likely for the best. I'll simply have to hope that I get to hear that one when he plays with a full band at the Hollywood Bowl this summer. Back to the acoustic set though, I could not believe how lost I found myself in the songs that were being presented right in front of me. The setting is almost disturbingly intimate for songs with so much soul. You find yourself separated from the performers by a not terribly thick pane of glass, and not too much distance at all. I thought that must look insane. I wondered if anyone was noticing how idiotic I looked. "Oh God," I thought at one point, "Am I keeping correct rhythm?" Because there was no way that I was going to be able to stop myself from tapping along. Then I remembered that none of this really mattered. No one in the studio that day was paying attention to my reactions, and even if they were, this is how people often react to music! People don't just have abstract feelings about pop songs as I so often do, they take them in, and react to them personally. Now why had it taken me so long to remember that? Why did it take two such vastly different facets of pop music that happened to be on my mind during the same week to remind me?

Heightened emotions perhaps? The same radio station is letting me take control of their airwaves for a few late night/early morning hours in about a week. I've just been informed that my official KCRW DJ bio (!) is now online. I haven't mentioned it here yet because it just hasn't quite seemed real. Linking to that bio makes it seem slightly more real. However, I don't think that it will actually feel real until sometime in the hour between 3 and 4 A.M. (Pacific time) on April 19th when it finally hits me that I am playing songs, and people are hearing them in their cars!

If you are o.k. with listening to a radio show from the girl who can't keep her Felt line-ups straight, then you can do so by going here, and where it prompts you to select a channel to listen online, chose the option that says "Live." As I mentioned this will take place from 3 A.M. to 6 A.M. on April 19th here in California. It will be archived as well. The time slot is unofficially referred to as the Lab, so you can look up archived shows that way. I will be sharing the time with two other DJs so after that first show I'll be on every three weeks or so. Any requests?

We're Gonna Sing Along, to a Brand New Denim Song, About the Summer

2009-04-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm keeping the oddest hours these days, so forgive me if this post seems a bit pointless, and without focus. Sometimes though when faced with the instance of having about an hour to kill before reasonably cleaning her way out of the place where she has been house-sitting, with the laundry already going, and most of the dishes drying, a girl is left with no choice but to write something about the all around marvel that is Denim.

I heard Denim for the first time on July 4th of last year. We were driving back from lunch in Yvonne's car and this song came on that sounded like pure, sonic sunshine. This probably had a lot to with the fact that the song we were listening to was called "Sun's Out." Even so far as the opening lines are, "The sun's out. In the sky. The sun's out, everyone's happy cause the sun's out, children are smiling cause the suuun's in the sky, oh it shines for you and I." It sounded like the most exuberant, cheesy, fabulous, synth and drum machine driven Euro-pop ever. Of course, based on the vocals, and many of the lyrics it was clear that the song was of English origin. Since I must have been clearly expressing my enjoyment of the song (smiling is involuntary when it's on, and usually there is involuntary dancing as well) Brian turned to ask me if I knew what it was. When I said that I didn't, but that it sounded great, Brian giddily exclaimed, "This is Denim, Lawrence's band after Felt!" I was pretty surprised as I had never hear anything from the Felt vault that sounded like it would lead to what we were listening to at that moment. Of course, having heard more from Felt, and from Denim subsequently it all makes perfect sense as a testament to Lawrence's odd genius. Any one of Lawrence's projects had the potential to thrive beyond the highly regarded cult status they achieved, and it does seem as though they all came so close. Why Forever Breathes the Lonely Word wasn't the thing that (at one point or another) made people utter "Lawrence/Deebank," in a similar manner to the way in which they utter, "Morrissey/Marr" is beyond me. Why the single "Primitive Painters" didn't make them a wildly successful pop band also boggles my mind. And, of course, in a world with more justice in it "Sun's Out" would have been precisely what the A-side of the single it shared described, a "Summer Smash." Actually that song itself should have been a giant hit as well. Allegedly EMI shelved it due to the fact that it's release would have coincided in poor taste with the somber air that was permeating Britain around the death of Princess Diana... due to a car crash... that happened late in the summer of 1997.

Pretty sad really, as this song along with pretty much every other Denim song that I have managed to hear qualifies as giddy pop perfection. Every Denim song that I own is currently creating the perfect soundtrack to morning of tidying up as I have finally begun to anticipate the arrival of summer. Now if only my anticipated bedtime set for about noon (seriously) would arrive just a bit sooner.

Once again, allow me to direct your attention to a post on Fire Escape Talking where you can download "Summer Smash" (The link for "Sun's Out" doesn't appear to be working at the moment), and also read a much fuller (and more sharply written) version of the story behind the single.

Here's a video for Denim's song "Middle of the Road" Enjoy!

Oh!

2009-04-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

"Do you want to hear the best Pastels song now?" Yvonne asked as were winding down the Hungry Beat! clean up last week. She might have been asking this to Mabern, but she was probably asking it rhetorically to no one in particular since she was already in the process of cuing the record. I knew which song she was going to play since she had already played it earlier causing me to run into the room almost in complete disbelief over the fact that I would finally learn the name of this song.

You see, a few months ago a friend gave me a CD that contained a Pastels demo, and a Peel session. The Peel session sounded great of course,, so did the second song on that demo. However, that first song on the demo just really stopped me in my tracks. It sounded like the Pastels paying more of an homage to the Television Personalities than I'd ever heard in any of their other songs, even though I had certainly often heard an undercurrent of TVPs appreciation in their music. This song though opens with a bass line that would have been right at home on And Don't the Kids Just Love It, and there is a really interesting echo effect on the vocals. I listened to it over and over again wishing that I knew what this song was called. Then about a week ago, I heard that familiar intro drift into Pehrspace's entry way. I immediately ran into the main room to finally learn the name of this song. The friend that had given me the demo in the first place beat me to the inquiry, and was already holding the record sleeve. "What is the name of this song?" I asked eagerly. Yvonne told me that it was called "Oh! Happy Place." She also said that she thought that it was one of their best songs and wished that it was one of the ones that they eventually brought back to the studio to clean up a bit as the recording quality of "Oh! Happy Place" does leave a bit to be desired. I agree with her wholeheartedly on both counts. Production value aside, you really should hear "Oh! Happy Place." It's magnetic, you won't be able to tear yourself away until you've listened to it so very many times.

Research to attempt to track down the song online led me to this post on the incomparable blog Fire Escape Talking. His post includes a good deal of valuable information about both the demo, and the Peel Session including the line-up of the band for the Peel Session. Interestingly that line-up included Joe Foster who was also in the line-up of the Television Personalities that existed at that time. I can only hope that the link to download both of these recordings is still active because you really will want to own them. I don't have my external drive with me at the moment, so I can't test it for you. I was, however, able to listen to the songs by following the link so at least you have that if nothing else.

Also, for a bit of additional fun since we were chatting about the Pastels and the Television Personalities anyway...

Here is link to an interview that Stephen Pastel conducted with Dan Treacy for his and Aggi's former 'zine Juniper Beri-Beri.

Are You Scared to Get Sad?

2009-03-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am aware that so many of my posts have been dublab related lately. That has much to do with the fact that dublab has been occupying a great deal of my time, and thought lately. There have been other things as well, but more on them later...

Dublab has a "Give Up," season wherein which two of the dublab founders Mark "Frosty" McNeil, and Jimmy Tamborello put on sad, slowdance nights. The season was shortened this year, but that did not detract from it's impact. Team Hungry Beat! had a blast a few Sundays ago reliving our teenage years, or for others, creating the teenage years that we only wish we could have experienced.

I was asked to contribute a set to a live "Give Up" Tuesday Transmission during the month of February. As it happens, I put more thought into this particular session than I ever have to any other DJ set that I have ever composed. Oddly enough, composing this set of sad songs was really fun.

It was my initial plan to bring together the most devastating, heart-breaking downers that I could find, but then this article on the Tangents archive made me slightly re-think that plan. I'd heard the Peggy Lee song that came in at number ten maybe once before seeing it on that list. "Oh that would be perfect!" I thought. I found a copy of the record of the same name, Is That All There Is?, at Record Surplus the very next day. Thus my new plan for the set was in motion. The characters in this set bemoan apathy, and ponder the state they are in. They watch trains go down the tracks wishing they were somewhere else, and they watch the tide roll away as they are wasting time. They contemplate similarly minded friends who "sit alone for hours, thinking only of flowers." Relationships are dreamed of, but never attained. They struggle to put together in their minds what exactly it is that people do all day, and surely everyone of them has at some point asked the question, "Is that all there is?"

And of course if it is, then we should all most definitely keep dancing.

You can download the session, and view the tracklisting here.

First the Bad News, Then the Better News...

2009-03-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

Anyone who is in the L.A. area, and was planning to venture out to the Echo to see the Tartans on Sunday night should still plan to do so, as Sea Lions are still playing, and the Part Time Punks will still be spinning some of the best 7"s ever pressed, but the Tartans are now unable to appear. It seems that on Wednesday night as drummer Lon was biking home, he was hit by a car. They were initially planning to have him released yesterday, but it turns out that assessment came too quickly. He is having surgery today to reconnect some muscles, and apparently there are broken bones as well. Hopefully this will all be a distant memory by the time their planned April and May shows roll around, but turning around to play a show two days after surgery would be next to impossible.

In far more positive Tartans news, have you been to their Myspace page lately? Many silent prayers have been answered, and finally a recorded version of "West of La Brea," exists for our collective listening pleasure. I haven't been able to stop humming that one, though it's becoming increasingly clear that the stand out recording of their next 7" will most certainly be "Tarmac." I've always enjoyed the song live, but on the recording all of the various elements that make it an interesting song seem far more apparent. That's just an internet recording too, I can't imagine how lovely it will sound on vinyl.

Also, very briefly, I've been ask to join the staff for the updated version of this website. Right now the link will still take you to the blogspot page, but hopefully by next week the shift to a more customized website will have been made. My role so far in these proceedings will be to search for new bands to recommend, and to organize a more expansive CD/single review section. Right now the site is mainly focused on L.A. music, but hopefully with the additional staff the coverage will become a bit more international. Naturally, I will also try to post as many indiepop reviews here as I am able to in hopes that some very deserving bands will have a chance to reach a wider audience. It's all an experiment at this point, but it's an exciting challenge to be sure. Plus, I finally feel genuinely productive for the first time so far this year! Which is nice.

I've Got Falling and Laughing (Falling and Laughing, Falling and Laughing...)

2009-03-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I contribute regularly to an online Radio Station called dublab.com. I've also mentioned that I am in the process of putting together an indiepop related themestream for the station. Two sessions have just been added to the dublab archive that will eventually be added to that very themestream.

The idea was brought about somewhat by a comment that was left on Hungry Beat's Myspace page (before we had even held our first night) by our friend Krister who used to put on a similar night in Malmo, Sweden. He noticed that we were on the same night each month, and that we should look into doing virtual guest DJ sets. I mentioned this on Hungry Beat! night one to dublab Ale, and he brought up the idea of the themestream. At the rate that I am going in terms of actually compiling these things, this theme will likely be in place by early 2015. I'm kidding, of course, I hope to have it all worked out over the course of this year. So far I've been thrilled by the diversity of ideas that I've been presented with as I've been reaching out to people, and putting this all together.

So far (fairly appropriately I think) my favorite session has come from the person whose comment set this idea into motion. I don't know how many people when approached about creating an indiepop session would automatically think to create a history of noisy guitar music that traces the threads from James Chance to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. This is precisely what Kris has done for us though, and it sounds fantastic. I made the possible mistake of listening to it for the first time while walking around my neighborhood. I had to remind myself (more than once) that mouthing along the words to a Go Sailor song while taking such a walk is not quite appropriate, and probably made me appear to be mentally ill. Still a set good enough to make me momentarily forget societal norms surely must be good for making an hour of work pass by more quickly. You can (and should) listen to that set here.

Also new to the archive is a set that I contributed with my friend Allan Kingdom who was the guitarist for this band. If you don't currently own that Siddeleys retrospective that was my not so subtle way of hinting that you should. Naturally I asked Allan to put together a set for the pop themestream that I was working on, and it was his idea that it would be more fun to turn that into an installment of my show (Not Quite Punk) and carry on a conversation in tribute to Orange Juice. What it turned out to be is Allan filling us in on a lot of obscure Orange Juice history that I wouldn't even know where to begin to search for otherwise, and demonstrating connections to other bands and songs that influenced them. My role as it turns out was to come across as a silly fangirl, and say, "Wow..." a lot. Anyway, excluding my contributions, the set is very informative, and contains several live performances, and radio sessions that you are not too likely to find to easily anywhere else. Listen to that set here.

There is talk of extending this set into an overall Postcard Records of Scotland tribute, with a Josef K/Aztec Camera session next, and then a Go-Betweens set to round things out. There are several other label tributes that I am attempting to organize, I will naturally do my best to keep you posted as these take shape.

Listening Too Long To One Song: Scars "All About You"

2009-03-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't been obsessed with a song to the point where I simply had to write something about it for far too long. I usually have these impulses surrounding the dance party night that I take part in (Hungry Beat!) which occurred this past Saturday. However I haven't really been able to expound upon them as I have apparently been without any intelligent thought for the past month or so. Of course it's debatable if anything that I've ever typed around these parts could honestly be described as "intelligent" at all, but it's just so lovely to geek out about records you know?

On that note, I spent the greater part of my day yesterday listening to this song "All About You." I woke up far too early considering that we weren't finished cleaning the venue until 4 A.M. Of course I stayed in bed until the exact second that my need to put food in my stomach surpassed my desire to fall back asleep. I got up and made toast, and figured that I would go ahead and transcribe the playlist. When I saw the name Scars on the list, I immediately thought that I had to hear the song again at that moment, and listening to it over and over again yesterday while typing up the playlist was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. This may also have something to do with the fact that Brian played "Ceiling to the Floor" by Mighty Mighty, but he wrote it as Mighty to the second power, or Mighty squared depending upon how you look at it. I still can't figure out whether or not multiplying Mighty by Mighty would actually result in Mighty Mighty, but seeing that small 2 next to the word Mighty when I had completely forgotten that he wrote it that way made me laugh out loud.

Scars were on my radar long before I ever heard their music. I'm sure that I came across their name when I was searching the internet for any information to do with the bands most commonly associated with the "Sound of Young Scotland" label (Orange Juice, Josef K, etc.) I have no idea where I read it, but someone somewhere mentioned Scars, and how great and influential they were. I did a quick search for any vinyl that might have been for sale somewhere, found nothing, and kind of let the band's name reside in the back of my mind for awhile. Then about a month ago I purchased an iphone, began a seemingly endless revelry in the fact that I can now listen to lastfm while I am driving, and had this song played for me through a Josef K (one of my other current obsessions) station. I had such a strong reaction to this song when I first heard it, and since I was driving it took me a minute to look down to see what was playing. When I finally did look down I began to mentally kick myself for not persuing this band more fervently when I first read about them. Granted, when I read about Scars I was not expecting such a blast of exciting straightforward pop. It makes sense upon further research that this was their most recognizable single at the time, and it came about later on in their career when they were beginning to move into a more melodic direction with their sound. I was able to procure a copy of this 7" whose b-side Author! Author! has more of the arty post punk sound that I was expecting from this band though it still showcases a far poppier sound than any of the earlier singles that I've managed to hear. That side of Scars is genius as well, but there really is just nothing like that rush of pure pop that is "All About You." Both songs appeared on the band's only LP (also titled Author! Author!) which has been subsequently re-issued as a CD. It doesn't seem to be too widely available, but it's not extremely difficult to find, or terribly expensive either. A quick Google search should provide you with favorable results if that's something that interests you. In the meantime, I found a fantastic performance of "All About You" on a 1981 episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test. There are also plenty of videos up that feature earlier Scars tracks, and those are very well worth checking out while you are on the page. You can read more about Scars on their Wikipedia Page.

Dance With Me, Beneath the Circuitry

2009-02-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for weeks. Not a thing, not here, nor anywhere else. I would be lying if I said that it wasn't beginning to slowly drain my spirit.

Does that sound over dramatic? It sounds that way because it is, in fact, very over dramatic. How can something that you do part time, supposedly for fun, cause so much stress in the times where no ideas are present to be typed?

I decided to take my career as a waitress seriously for the first time this year. After attempting an office job for which I was a terrible fit, I was officially re-hired at a restaurant that I've held ties to for what is coming up on three years now. The biggest part of this has been to stop dreading, and/or complaining about making espresso drinks. My first job was at a Coffee Bean, I later worked at Starbucks, then I worked at an Italian restaurant, and now at a small cafe/bakery whose main draw is breakfast. I've been making cappuccinos for the past eight years. Until the beginning of this year, I hated making cappuccinos, now making a perfect cappuccino, or soy latte is my biggest source of professional pride. This is all to say, that there are certain areas where I have creative satisfaction in my professional life. However, if I haven't written for a while I just feel stagnant.

This morning though, I woke up thinking about what is always my go-to when I haven't been able to write: Clare Wadd's rant in the fanzine titled Sarah Four. She details having partially completed pages of fanzines, and journals before expressing her dis-satisfaction in them by writing "FUCK" repeatedly across those unfinished attempts at creativity. Oddly this almost never fails to help me feel creative again. She also talks of how there is so much to do, but being in a warm kitchen with a cozy cat makes this extraordinarily difficult. I have a very cozy cat on my lap at this very moment, but there is a film that I've been researching all morning, and am now dying to go out to see.

The trailer for this film has been stuck in my mind since this past Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards. It's called, "Medicine for Melancholy," and it looks endlessly intriguing with it's "desaturated" style. Essentially this is a soft black and white with only subtle splashes of color here and there. This apparently also works as a metaphor for the film's storyline...

Hopefully I'll have more to say about the film itself once I've actually seen it, but naturally as I respond more deeply to music than to film itself, the thing that most piqued my interest about this trailer was it's use of one of the best Saturday Looks Good to Me songs: "Meet Me by the Water." I've become wary of pop songs in films lately. This has nothing to do with some sort of self righteous need to protect songs that I love from being wrongfully interpreted by mass audiences (o.k. maybe a little to do with that) but that is the price that people like me have to pay for devoting an unhealthy portion of our lives to obscure pop music. Anyway, my biggest problem with the use of "indie," or even outright popular music in films is that it almost never seems to be woven in correctly. It more often than not seems to be placed solely to add to a film's hipness. This usually makes the song (whether it's one you enjoy or not) more of a distraction from rather than an enhancement to the scene that it is accompanying.

However, when a pop song is woven into a film's action well, it almost becomes another character. I have to be optimistic, and imagine that this is what most filmmakers who employ pop songs are trying to do. Yet few are actually able to pull this off, which I suppose is a big part of what makes the experience all the more exciting when it is done correctly. If every person who supplied the music for films possessed this skill, and you didn't have all of the times in the past where you rolled your eyes at the glaring distraction that a song was providing at any given moment to compare with the sheer excitement of a song you love blending perfectly in with the action, well then that sheer excitement could be taken for granted. Hmmm, on second thought, maybe that would be better. Nevertheless, it is what it is. I love they way that "Meet Me by the Water" was integrated into the trailer for "Medicine for Melancholy." The way words are spelled out to the song's unique drum intro, and the way it's beautifully edited so that even though the song's beginning and end are the only parts featured if you didn't know the song you probably wouldn't immediately pick up on that. It fades nicely into the background here as well, which is also I think due to the spot on editing, as it's a song that could easily over shadow the action were it not used properly. Finally the song just matches the film's muted color, and images of San Francisco, and those intriguing characters so beautifully, and so subtly that I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Which is (sorry cat) exactly what I'm off to do right now.

Watch the trailer here:

Listening to Long to One Song: The Wake "Talk About the Past"

2009-01-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

"Have you heard the good news? Everybody is a star/Have you heard the good news? Everybody works so hard..."

Tell me if this has ever happened to you before. You find yourself at a dance club, or listening to the radio. Someone plays a song that you have had in your record collection for ages, but that you listen to quite infrequently. They play this song at just the right moment, at just the right volume. You wonder how you have made it so far in your life without noticing that this is surely one of the greatest songs in existence.

Every time in my life that I have listened to the Wake, I think to myself, "When will I ever be able correct the severely questionable level of judgment that I must posses in order to have made it this far in my life having only ever heard three songs from the Wake?" The Wake just happen to be one in a long inexplicable series of bands that I was lazy about searching for for far too long. I looked for the LTM CD reissues of all of their albums and surrounding singles about seventy percent of the time when I went to any given record store. I sporadically go through fervent bouts of searching for their vinyl on ebay, but then go through far more extensive periods of neglecting to search for anything on ebay, let alone the Wake. This last move is likely far more due to subconscious self-preservation of my bank account than laziness really, but you know...

"Talk About the Past" was one of the three Wake songs that I had heard prior to this week. I own the 12", and have always loved it, but it's also one that I would fail to pull out and listen to often enough. Then I heard it at a club, at club volume, while dancing. Everything fell into place right there I suppose. I walked home listening to "Carbrain," (the only other Wake song that I owned at the time) and the next day I pulled out my 12" copy of "Talk About the Past." I lifted the needle over and over again trying to figure what it was about this song that now had me so entranced. I've always marveled over the speed of this song. It's really fast, but it's very well measured at the same time. Every now and then it feels as if the speed will pick up and spiral out of control, but it never does. It doesn't leave you feeling out of breath by the end of the song, just perfectly, properly exhilarated. Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column (another band whose shape creates a giant hole in my record collection) punctuates the piece nicely with outstanding flurries of piano. Caesar's vocals are dreamy, and well, it's very exciting to read on the band's Wikipedia page that this was something of a hit with the "indie" contingent when it was released in 1984. It's combined elements are kind of awe-inspiring upon first listen, and it seems to improve with every subsequent listen. Not that this is something that usually constitutes a hit at all, but if you really think about it wouldn't it be nice if it were? I tend to find that most songs become less exciting the more I listen to them, take them apart, and try to figure them out. The more I listen to this song, the more complex it seems to become. I'm so intrigued by that.

So I suppose that my inconclusive musings on this subject serve as very little more than a testament to the idea of getting out of the house so that you might hear something new, or hear something familiar in a new way. It's something that I so often need to be reminded of, and this was a nice way for that to happen. Since hearing "Talk About the Past," a little over a week ago I came to my senses and purchased the LTM compilation Here Comes Everybody + Singles, as well as another LTM collection Assembly, from Amazon.com. This still has me scratching my head over why I didn't think to do it sooner. I also found affordable vinyl copies of both their first full length Harmony, and their first full length for Sarah Records Make it Loud on Ebay. That was just extraordinary luck on my part. I've listened almost exclusively to the Wake within that time period, and I couldn't be happier about that fact.

And of course - once I realized that my casual need to repeatedly hear one particular song had moved into a full blown obsession with this band that by all logical reasoning I should have become obsessed with ages ago - I knew that my research would have to start within the Tangents Archive. I knew that there would be at least one insightful, and well written personal encounter of discovering the music of the Wake to be found there. I was right, and there were two. The first is a review of LTM's Harmony + Singles collection written by Kevin Pearce who once wrote a 'zine called Hungry Beat that was so well written, and well regarded that my clever friend Yvonne determined we should name our club night after it. You can read that review here. The second is a review of Here Comes Everybody + Singles written by Alistair Fitchett who may very well be my favorite pop music writer. This particular review should be able to offer some proof as to why that is. You can read it here.

Purchase Here Comes Everybody + Singles.

Purchase Harmony + Singles.

Purchase Assembly. This includes several live tracks, and both of the Sarah singles.

Purchase Holy Heads. This includes both Sarah full lengths Tidal Wave of Hype, and Make it Loud.

Can I Interfere in Your Crisis?

2009-01-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

I work at a small breakfast lunch place in the relatively small community of Woodland Hills. One of the nicest things about the restaurant is the fact that any of us work there have the capability to connect our ipods to the stereo, and listen to pretty much anything that we want to listen to. I'm usually a bit nervous whenever I decide to plug my own ipod in. Will someone, someday listen past the shimmering guitar, and determine that Lawrence singing, "All the people I like are those that are dead..." might not be the best soundtrack for housewives, consultants, and car salesmen munching away on turkey sandwiches?

However, once I am outside of work I tend to find that most of my social dealings occur with people who know way more about obscure music than I do. Sometimes I bring this mentality into work with me, and I figure that everyone else around me thinks of "Mind Your Own Business" by Delta 5 as a dance party classic, and completely appropriate for Saturday brunch. It took one teenage girl's pointed exclamation of "What IS this?" to her friend to help me realize that my judgment may have been slightly off on that one.

Even though I admittedly attempt a certain level of envelope pushing with my song choices at work, I would never give so much as a second thought to the idea of listening to Pens while I was there. I think that if I ever were to try the majority of the people who dine/work at the Baker would veto them immediately. Pens tear into their songs, shambling, and clattering all the way to the end of each one. They fall apart, and put themselves back together again in about one hundred split second increments, and this is usually done within the time span of a minute and a half. They are one of the most exciting bands that I have heard in a really long time. I would even go so far as to say that the songs contained on Pens' Myspace page are more exciting than maybe eighty three percent of the live music that I saw last year. I'm kind of not so secretly hoping that they eventually make it out this way. Ideally this would involve them touring with my favorite live show discovery of last year, and fellow girl shamblers Finally Punk. From the looks of their Myspace page though, Finally Punk will be making it to the U.K. before Pens make their way over here. If you (like me) don't live in the U.K., but still want to hear more you can purchase records from them. All of the information is on their myspace page, which I linked to earlier in the paragraph. I really think that the four way split that they have coming out with Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, and Best Fwends has the potential to be on of the best singles of 2009.

A Few Thoughts on Some Songs That I Loved Last Year... Part Two...

2009-01-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

11. Love is All - "Last Choice" - A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night (What's Your Rupture)

Buy the CD here.

Buy the record here.

Listen to the song here.

Out of all the mostly excellent bands that played this past year's (very well executed) Part Time Punks fest, Love is All put forth the only set that made me forget how sick I was for the proceedings. I was too busy dancing, jumping up and down, and just generally feeling happy that I was there witnessing something so ... life affirming? Yes, I suppose that's the only way to put it. That's the effect that Love is All had on seemingly everyone who was present. Recorded the effect is almost as immediate. I listened to this album non-stop during a recent marathon apartment cleaning session, pausing from my work only to turn the record over. After several listens to the record in it's entirety, this is the song that had me lifting the needle over, and over again. I can't quite figure out exactly why it's this particular song that grabbed me more than any other. Most of their songs (sometimes even the more quiet ones) tend to have a lot going on, but it always manages to work. Synthetic hand claps, glockenspiel, and one of the liveliest keyboard melodies that I've heard in some time are present in this track alone. It's more than kind of a disco track. Not exactly in the post punk tradition of no wave/no disco, but not really in the mainstream disco hit manner either. It's kind of a hybrid of both styles mixed with an element of non-irritating epic-ness that is purely Love is All. If that makes sense. Lyrically it details a type of purely validation seeking/drunken one night stand in a refreshingly self effacing, honest, and quite funny manner. The girl telling the story leaves a party with her, well last choice because it seems a better alternative than leaving alone. While the music around the story remains exciting and upbeat the band chants: "I'm not your kind and your not mine, but for tonight you'll have to do." The last words you hear are these: "I have since long lost my poise, I'm walking home with my last choice." Then there are a few last keyboard trills, and a single incredibly satisfying ding! to bring the song to it's necessarily abrupt ending.

12. The Tartans - "My Baby Doesn't Care for You" - My Baby Doesn't Care for You 7" (Cloudberry)

Buy the record, and listen to the song here.

This one was a tough decision. My favorite local band (who for the sake of full disclosure became close friends as well last year) released two singles within weeks of each other on two of my favorite existing labels. Since this was to be a single disc compilation, I knew that I could only pick one of their songs. "My Baby..." wasn't always my favorite Tartans song, in fact that title used to belong to the B-side of this single, "What About You." Still over the course of this year I began to notice just how strong of a single this song is. I would get it stuck in my head at work, I would play it from time to time when I was DJ-ing, and it fit in flawlessly, and it soon became a highlight of their live set often bringing more people out to the dance floor than there had been previously. The other day I noticed that this song also has the potential to become a classic brush off song in the tradition of "Our Love is Heavenly." The two songs share the similar casually bouncy pace, and tossed aside lyrics that kind of require girls as cool as Amelia Fletcher or Yvonne Sone to sing them in order to have their full effect. The cheery glockenspiel line is a perfect touch to add insult to injury to the poor hypothetical girl on the receiving end of Yvonne's skillful navigation of Brian Cunningham's exceedingly clever rhyming scheme. My personal favorite, "What's there to misconstrue? My baby doesn't care for you." This song is deceptively simple upon the first listen or two which is why perhaps more blogger's favor went to the (more than equally deserving) Cats of Camerford 7" which you can (and should) purchase here. Still, I couldn't shake just how much this grew into a favorite song of mine over this past year. I'm sure that I'll have plenty to say about a Tartans YAY! single next year when "West of La Brea" finally makes it's way to the 7" format...

13. Vivian Girls - "Where Do You Run To?" - Vivian Girls (In the Red)

Buy the CD here.

Buy the record here.

Listen to the song here.

This choice has more to do with my biography of 2008 more so than any sort of wow factor from Vivian Girls. As I've alluded to on this site before, I'm not really sure that wow factor is the point of this band. They were perfectly enjoyable, yet kind of non-descript live which is precisely what I imagined they would be. They released a perfectly enjoyable record that I only felt compelled to listen to a few times, and yet I can't think of any other contemporary band that I spent more time discussing in 2008. Trying to pin point why exactly it was good, and how it was that a considerably large contingent of people were now into this particular girl group filtered through post punk sound. It's interesting too, to see how it's already unfolding to receive even more attention in 2009 with bands like Dum Dum Girls, The Splinters, and Pens (more on all of them soon) offering even more new variations on that endlessly pleasing formula. The song that I picked for this list does happen to be one of the album's highlight in my opinion. I think it perfectly showcases their nonchalant harmonies, and how they are just skillful enough on their instruments to garner attention and acceptance from the more mainstream press, yet enough lack of skill to sound refreshing and charming to those same people. It's that sort of charming lack of skill that holds their appeal for me, and I suppose why this particular song made my list.

14. Liechtenstein - "Security by Design" - Apathy 7" (Fraction Discs)

Buy the single here.

Liechtenstein follow the girl group filtered through post punk pattern as well, but their charm is not due to any lack of skill. In fact, repeated listens to "Security by Design" reveal quite the opposite to be true. An unnerving, human heartbeat-esque, solo drum pattern sets the tone. Everything that follows in terms of the musical structure of the song serves to heighten the sense of paranoia that the lyrics entail. Even the Spaghetti Western inspired guest trumpet work from Kristin Lidell manages to feel vaguely threatening while also adding to the razor sharp wit that the song maintains. I'm not a musician myself, but I just can't imagine that this is an easy thing to pull off. "All of them are sharp," is the description that the song's narrator offers flatly, and dead seriously about her kitchen knives before she bounces right back into the chorus of, "I'm so happy here," over that same trumpet. Funny, I could offer the same description of every single Liechtenstein song that I've heard so far. Allegedly they will release a full length in 2009. Also allegedly, this will be 2009's best record.

15. Crystal Stilts - "Departure" - Alight of Night
(Slumberland)

Buy the album, or the CD here.

This is another one that is more to do with biography than the actual song. Crystal Stilts contributed to two of my favorite live shows this year. The first was in Oxnard incidentally the same show where I witnessed my favorite performance from Catwalk thus far,) and the second was two days later at Part Time Punks. The show that they presented in Oxnard was shockingly engaging. I liked their recordings, but I was fully expecting observe their show in an almost reverent manner. Instead, I found myself dancing in a small crowd while others sashayed across a wooden plank over a bonfire in the background. Needless to say, the experience was slightly magical. This was even regardless of the fact that they were operating with a very newly borrowed drummer, Jock from Cause Co-Motion! Cause Co-Motion! were also great fun live, yet I regretfully didn't spend enough time listening to their recordings this year to include them on this list. I should offer in their regard, that they saved one of my mornings a few months ago as I was getting ready for work, and my roommate was going through a surprisingly loud period of obsession with Ray Lamontagne... Back to Crystal Stilts. Their show at Part Time Punks was absolutely dreamy with full time drummer Frankie Rose (formerly of Vivian Girls) providing backing vocals. The lead singer Brad Hargett seemed to be in a completely different world throughout both sets that I witnessed. This felt precisely correct for the murky pop songs that Crystal Stilts create. The fact that they manage to be ultra-engaging at the same time, is still something of great mystery to me. I suppose it's a similar effect to the one that the Airfields manage with their echo drenched production. The distance hold commands your attention, as you can't help but long to be closer. After their set that Sunday night we danced with them well into the very early part of a Monday morning. They threw flowers out to various attendees, and slowly but surely we began to throw these flowers around as we danced to things as disparate as Brian Eno's "Needle in the Camel's Eye," to Fire Engines' "Get Up and Use Me." We all sang all of the lyrics to "Part Time Punks," at 2 A.M. We did this at the top of our lungs. Perhaps upon further review, this was actually my favorite show of the year. So I guess for this list I tried to pick the song that I felt best represented the feeling of that live show.

16. Wake the President - "You Can't Change That Boy" - Split 7 w/the Kingfishers (Aufgeladen & Bereit)

Buy the single here.

Listen to the song here.

Read the description that Alistair Fitchett offers about this song in the post that I have linked to above. I have nothing else to add.

17. Catwalk - "Past Afar" - Past Afar 7" (YAY!)

Buy the single here.

Listen to the song here.

If only there were such a succinct, and completely accurate way to describe Catwalk as there is for Wake the President. Catwalk delivered some of my favorite performances in 2008, and I've been continually wowed by how cohesive they have become as a band. Their Halloween cover of the Stooges' "No Fun," for example was a one of my biggest highlights this year because it absolutely shattered all of my expectations. It would have shattered any expectations really of what you might think this band should always sound like. I suppose that's why I always feel like there is no succinct way to sum them up. While every band member adds something essential to this project, the more I listen to this single the less I am able to shake the feeling that Nick Hessler will be a name that future generations (especially musicians) will revere on some level. He certainly has that sort of pop songwriting sensibility that could easily yield songs that will be appreciated by a good portion of the general public, and obsessive music fans alike.

18. Beach House - "You Came to Me" - Devotion (Carpark)

Buy the CD here.

I fell in love with their first, self titled record, a bit late. It took a trip to Seattle, a chilly fall day, and a three hour walk for the album to have it's full effect on me. Based upon that, Devotion was one of my most anticipated releases of last year. Victoria Legrand, and Alex Scally were already easily categorized as one of the most compelling two piece bands in contemporary music with the minimal instrumentation and production on the first album. This album, however takes their sound to a different level altogether. For me personally, this song was the best example of that. It begins in a haunting minor key with the expected minimalism, then the sound of the timpani appears which should cause your jaw to fall to the floor due to the sheer magnitude of the sound that it produces, but even after all of that the song changes course entirely with the dreamy lalalas that eventually usher in the phrase that the song's title was taken from. The fact that they were able to pull this off at all is nothing short of amazing. The fact that they were able to pull it off so seamlessly is a perfect testament to why they are a band well worth paying close attention to for years to come.

Robert Forster - "Did She Overtake You?" - The Evangelist (Yep Roc)

Buy the CD here.

Listen to the song here.

I strongly feel that I still have a long way to go before I fully grasp the genius of the Go-Betweens. That being said, I spent a large part of my year listening to their music, and wishing that Grant McLennan were still around. This record from the other half of the brilliant Go-Betweens singer/songwriter team, while extraordinarily bittersweet, was also one of the most lovely accomplishments of last year. To pull off a song like the one I've listed here that is heartbreaking, and thought provoking, yet ultimately catchy and enjoyable surely cannot be easy. It's a good thing that Robert Forster mastered that tricky combination ages ago. A song like this comes across as effortless because to someone like him, it surely is.

20. Northern Portrait - "Our Lambrusco Days" - Napoleon Sweetheart EP (Matinee)

Buy the CD here.

This song closes the EP that it appears on, and it truly feels like an album closer. I usually try to avoid closing a mix with a song that feels like an obvious closer, however this one I felt just couldn't be helped. I didn't really listen to this EP until the very last week of 2008, but for that week it was really all that I wanted to hear. I think that I always subconsciously search for a good, well paced waltz in a pop song because my mom used to teach ballroom dancing to top 40 songs, and she always claimed that a waltz at proper teaching speed was the hardest thing to find. Perhaps this one would have been a bit too fast for teaching, but it certainly deserves to be danced to nonetheless. It really is that elegant.

A Few Thoughts on Some Songs That I Loved Last Year

2009-01-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I decided to pick twenty songs that really stood out to me this year, and make a one disc compilation out of them. I feel like I missed so much in 2008, but so many of the things that I heard I fell in love with. A few of the songs are associated with live shows, and a few are here for the sake of cohesiveness. I'll comment a bit on the songs that made this list, and try to figure out why these were the ones that made it over so many other great choices. I'm not great about constructing zip drives. If you would like to have a CD copy of this mix, please get in touch with me, and I would be more than happy to mail one to you! I will also post links for you to listen to as many of the songs that I can track down somewhere online. So on that note, here are some thoughts about some of the pop music that was released last year...

1. The Magnetic Fields - "Please Stop Dancing" - Distortion (Nonesuch):

Buy the CD here.

Buy the record here.

Listen to the song here.

Much was made at the beginning of 2008 about Stephin Merritt proclaiming Psychocandy to be the last record to showcase, "startling new production." According to an article in New York Press, Merritt had this to say about the creation of Distortion “I wanted to do something new, and being a postmodernist, I don’t believe in that,” Merritt says. “So, new for me means the latest new thing, rather than something that hasn’t been done before.” I listened to this record non-stop for something like a solid month, and while there were songs on it that were far more clever, this was the one that immediately stood out to me. Perhaps because of it's (relative) simplicity. I say relative simplicity because each listen reveals a layer to this lovely pop song that I had not yet noticed. Everything about this song (and the record as a whole) is unassumingly smart. This is one of the many things that reveal it's mastermind (Stephin Merritt) to be something of a genius. I also very much liked the idea of opening my comp with shards of feedback...

2. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "Sometimes I Think About You" - Searching for the Now Vol. 3 (Slumberland):

Buy the single, and listen to the song here.

Slumberland introduced a brilliant split 7" series last year with a different band to each side of one record. This song was on one of those 7"s and there was no possible way that it wouldn't make my list of favorites. Scribble Mural Comic Journal, the full length that A Sunny Day in Glasgow released last year was my favorite record of 2007, and "Sometimes I Think About You" is a Pastels cover. I quite like what they did with it. Bass, percussion, and ASDIG's always fantastically executed female vocals take center stage. For example, wordless voices appear in certain places here where guitars did in the original. In a move that I feel strongly adds to the song's intrigue, the lead vocal has been slightly buried underneath all of this. Similar to the Magnetic Fields song, this is one with many layers, and one that gives you something new upon each successive listen.

3. The Bridal Shop - "Violation" - In Violtaion 7" (Cloudberry):

Buy the single, and listen to the song here.

Hands down my favorite song of 2008. One of these days I will catch up on other releases from The Bridal Shop, and this will likely begin when their new EP In Fragments is released this year on Plastilina Records. For now though, I kind of like the fact that all I know of this band are the two perfect songs on this 7". I wrote about the song earlier this year for Squaregirls. A few people seemed to like what I said then, so I will repeat it here. "... It really is everything that a good indiepop dance track should be from the echo-y, atmospheric sound that kicks into a blast of drum machine and synths at the beginning, to the distant Morrisey-esque vocals, to the dramatic center where everything becomes almost still, to the part where it all kicks back in at full blast to level off neatly albeit abruptly at the end. Kind of like the soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist about dance clubs that don't exist where you perpetually expect to see someone grab their secret crush and kiss them in a highly dramatic fashion as a vivid technicolor light show explodes behind them. Yes, the track is that good."

4. The Airfields - "Icing Sugar" - Up All Night (Humblebee)

Buy the CD here.

Listen to the song here.

I purchased this record several months ago during a period where work was going well, and I had some extra cash. It didn't grab me immediately perhaps because my expectations for it were too high. Nonetheless, this was probably the full album that I listened to more than any other. There was a time when I would take a long walk every night simply to listen to this record, and that has much to do with this song. Once I picked out the lyric "Your headphones and songs how they pushed you along the sidewalk at night, I suppose they give you all you'll ever need to know," as I was walking alone at night listening to this song on my headphones the entire album clicked into place for me. This track was haunting, beautiful, and produced with a sense of distance. As if it were intentionally keeping the listener just out of reach, so that the listener will keep coming back for more.

5. Twig - "Wentworth" - Ciao Ciao Bomb 7" (Cloudberry)

Buy the single, and listen to the song here.

Yet another band that has more material that I need to purchase. In fact they actually released a full length for Plastilina in 2008 that I am fully intending to order this week. Also as in the case of the Bridal Shop though I like having only two fantastic songs on either side of a 7" be my only knowledge of a band. I bought the Bridal Shop single first, and mentioned that to a friend. "Yeah," he said, "But what about that Twig single?" I immediately purchased the Twig single. My love for this song really set in after hearing the A-side "Ciao Ciao Bomb" played at Part Time Punks. It sounded so good, and blended in so well with Felt, or whatever had been played before it that it took me a moment to place what it was. When I figured it out I was dancing, jumping up and down, and singing along with a small group of friends. I decided to give the single a few more listens after that night. The B-side "Wentworth" quickly became one of my favorite songs altogether. It's dark, vibrant, pretty, and vaguely threatening all at once. In a different conversation, at a different Part Time Punks, I discussed this song with the same friend. "What's that line, something about your tear stained face?" he asked, and we both tried to remember. The line is "I touched your tear washed face." Possibly the most exquisite imagery that I found myself presented with all year.

6. The Lodger - "The Good Old Days" - Life is Sweet (Slumberland):

Buy the album, and listen to the song here.

From dark, yet vibrant to just plain vibrant. This was certainly one of my most listened to songs over the year, and every time that I heard it, my spirits were instantly lifted. Everything about this song from the production, to the musicianship, to the lyrics was the height of brightness and crispness. All of the songs on this record were great, but this was a truly standout single. I honestly can't believe that this didn't become a moderate hit. Perhaps their next release will yield that for them? It's really only a matter of time.

7. Bearsuit - "More Soul Than Wigan Casino" - OH:IO (Happy Happy Birthday to Me):

Buy the CD here

This was another album full of great songs, but again this single was the clear standout for me. I put this song on a mix CD for a non-indiepop inclined co-worker, and eventually he was singing it randomly at work. This led me to wonder why this song wasn't something of a hit as well, it's certainly a bit more challenging than the Lodger track, but it is perhaps even more catchy and infectious. The giddy pace of the chorus, the exuberant sounds of the trumpet work, the shout along ending, the relentless (in a good way) pounding of the drums, all of these things contributed to making this one of the most exciting songs that I've heard in some time. Oh, and the cheeky title is pretty great as well.

8. Raphael Saadiq - "Seven" - The Way I See It (FYE Version) (Columbia)

Buy the version of the CD that includes this track here.

Listen to the song here.

Volunteering for KCRW keeps me more in touch with the outside world than I would be under other circumstances. I remember walking in to the station one day, and hearing something from this record. I asked Anne Litt (who was on the air at the time) who it was. She told me that it was Raphael Saadiq, and that I should really think about including one of his songs on the demo that I was working on. I found this song via a fortuitous trip to the Soul Sides blog. The above link where I directed you to listen is Oliver Wang's post about the song, and of course everything that he says about it is spot on. I would have never picked up on those influences as I know very little about what distinguishes early seventies era Motown. I do know that this song definitely does have the feeling of a classic soul track. It's little touches like the muted horns that really get me, and that pure simple "Ooooooh" that closes the song out is flat out stunning. This track easily wins my vote for favorite vocal delivery of the year.

9. The Lucksmiths - "California in Popular Song" - First Frost (Matinee):

Buy the CD here.

Listen to the song here.

I'm a big fan of artists who do interesting things with phrasing, and Marty Donald has crafted some of the most creative phrasing here that I've heard in a long time. The lyrics are lovely as well, bittersweet, and simple. This is a very straightforward story song. The narrator is saying goodbye to a great love, and offering the classic advice that a change of location won't make all of your problems disappear. But who ever believes that? The line that absolutely floored me in this song was this one: "Though you promised not to cry when you said goodbye your - eyes are bright with wine, and oh, so are mine." Everything about the music that backs the words exists simply to propel the song forward. The melody is just catchy enough, and the gentle presence of strings give it the touch of wistfulness that is needed. One of the most cleverly arranged songs that I heard all year to be certain.

10. The School - "I Don't Believe in Love" - Let it Slip EP (Elefant)

Buy the CD here.

This song adheres to a pop tradition that I adore, but that I don't find too often. It's action takes place within the course of a single dance. The fact that this is a duet makes it even better. I honestly don't know what else to say about this song other than to state the fact that it is dreamy, Wall of Sound encased, pop perfection. And that I would highly recommend that you hear it immediately.

... That's all that I have time to post right now. Check back within the next day or two if you care to see which songs round out the remainder of my list.

Resting, Reposing

2009-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! The first email that I received in 2009 was concluded with the phrase "upwards and onwards." It made me smile.

I fully intend to start writing more as 2009 progresses. This will of course mean that I will need to pay attention to far more new music than I was able to pay attention to in 2008 while continuing to catch up on classics that I should have fallen hopelessly in love with years ago. Fortunately this is one of the only things I truly love to do. I just hope that 2009finds me ignoring distractions, and lethargic tendencies on a more regular basis.

In the spirit of that, I'll spare any expansion on my comment that after this past New Year's Eve any slight concern/guilt that I've ever experienced about not relating to 95 to 97 of American society has pretty much vanished altogether. That's what you get for going to any bar on New Year's Eve I suppose, and it's really what you get for getting there early when you know in the back of your mind that your friends will probably be at least an hour behind you.

However, I was fortunate enough to run into Jackie and Joey after not too much time spent half heartedly dancing/people watching/feeling uncomfortable. Jackie and Joey put on Anorak City at the Mandrake Bar in Culver City.

- side note I went on Saturday, and it was great. They have exellent taste, played their songs loudly, and are incredibly nice people -

... Anyway needless to say, since I had only met Jackie a few days before when she requested the Primitives from me at Hungry Beat!, I spent a good 10 minutes on NYE hoping that these vaguely familiar looking people were in fact the nice popkids who ran the West Side Club. I was very relieved when they approached me to ask if I DJ-ed at Hungry Beat! Popkids of the world unite!

Of course, from that point on the night was fantastic. It's always fun to listen to Micheal work his version of the "hits" into the mix, and the majority of the rest of the Hungry Beat! team was able to jump on the decks to offer a brief soul set or two. Though a few songs from Yvonne would have made it complete.

I suppose there was not much point to recounting my New Year's Eve story here other than to say just how nice it was to welcome 2009 surrounded by pre-existing friends, and new ones. Upwards, and onwards indeed!

Oh, and I also spent part of the weekend putting the finishing touches on my favorite songs of the year sampler, or whatever it actually is. Not all of my favorite songs were included, and I know that there were plenty of fantastic songs that I missed out on. Nonetheless, I'm pleased with how it came together so instead of writing any sort of qualifying best of on this site, I'll write a few sentences about each song on the tape. Probably five songs or so at a time. This will start tomorrow, approximately 30 to 45 days after everyone officially stops caring about year end lists. Oh well.

How was everyone else's NYE? Anything looking promising for 2009? Discuss!

Listening Too Long to One Song: The Rain - "Dry the Rain"

2008-12-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

I love the rain. Perhaps the only thing I love more than the rain itself is waking up to it's undeniably comforting sound on the plastic roof that covers the modest porch that extends from our cozy apartment. If this happens on a day where I don't have to leave the house immediately after I wake up - a day where I can sit on my couch in my pajamas drinking coffee while reading or writing - then I will be about as happy as it is possible for me to ever be. It would make sense to say that my obsession with rain has developed through the course of ten years of living in Los Angeles. To be honest though, I've always been obsessed with the rain. As I noted in my recent post about the School's Let it Slip EP (certainly one of my favorite releases of the year) being outside in the rain has the ability to heighten any experience. Perhaps because the feeling of rain on your skin is so immediate, of course you can feel the sun, but not quite in the same way. Even if you are actively attempting to find shelter from heavy rainfall, chances are that you are more engaged in the process of running for shelter than you will be in most other moments of your life. To me, it's unbelievably exciting. By the same turn, if you find yourself inside while the heavy rainfall is lurking outside isn't it safe to say that you will never feel more safe, warm, or dry?

Given my sheer adoration for rain as weather, I find it extraordinarily odd that my favorite song of the moment is entitled, "Dry the Rain." The still relatively new indiepopedia resource is truly extraordinary in helping to speed along my process of discovering bands that I was likely just on the verge of discovering anyway. While looking at the band page on the site one day, I noticed that there was a band called the Rain, and of course I checked it out given my obsession with the weather that the band takes it's name from. Based on the lovingly crafted biography that was featured, and based on the strength of the "Watercress Girl" single included on the site's mp3 player, I immediately began to search for their records online. All I could find was a copy of the Medium Cool sampler, Edge of the Road, and since copies of this record are still relatively easy to find, and affordable, I purchased it immediately. Since that time I keep finding myself drawn back to that particular song, "Dry the Rain," the last song of side two of the record. It is also just around two minutes of sharply written, guitar pop perfection. You know, it's one of those songs with precisely the sort of rapid intro that jangles assuredly into life leaving you without any doubt that you are in for something exciting. The kind of song with confident, aesthetically pleasing vocals that are effective whether you are following the song's story or not though you will likely be far too busy dancing to pay close attention to the lyrics. Yet by the same token, the chorus is easy to memorize and sing along to, given that it consists only of the phrase dry the rain sung repeatedly with backing vocals echoing various aspects of the phrase. I have a genuine fondness for such immediate simplicity when it comes to the chorus of a pop song. Especially when it's executed with as much exuberance as it is here.

Unfortunately I can't find "Dry the Rain" anywhere online, but do be sure to visit the Clark Springs Myspace page. Clark Springs is the band that the Rain evolved into, and the page features songs from both Clark Springs, and the Rain. "Hi There 1968" being amongst the most notable. It's their fan-boy tribute to the Byrds, and it seems easily poised to be the next song that I am completely obsessed with.

Incidentally, as I am clearly very late in my discovery the sheer beauty of the Rain (the band that is) I have not surprisingly been unable to track down a copy of their one full length album To the Citadel. Is there anyone out there who might be able to help me out with this?

As Long as They Gaze on Waterloo Sunset, They Are in Paradise...

2008-12-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

I'll be back tomorrow with more of my standard over-obsessing about single pop songs, and/or bands either later tonight or tomorrow. For now, I would simply like to direct your attention to my friend Peter Hahndorf's recent set for my radio show on dublab.com. Peter is the founder of the ultimate indiepop database Tweenet, a site that I would be completely lost without the existence of. Needless to say it was a huge honor to have him put together a playlist for us at dublab.

It's a great session that features an expansive array of mostly new-ish indiepop groups. The songs are divided geographically to showcase a representation of the high concentration of exciting indiepop bands that exist in South East Asia, Australia, Japan, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. His choices are fresh, and original, and it's certainly worth noting that the area with the most representation on this compilation is South East Asia. When this was recorded I was just beginning to notice how many good bands were appearing in the region. Peter then came along, and proved that I didn't even know the half of it. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even really know a quarter of it.

I strongly encourage you to head over here, and listen for yourself.

Worlds of Possibility

2008-12-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

I saw Sea Lions as a full band on Saturday night. Write ups of their music on the internet seem to be scarce. This is likely only to do with the fact that they have yet to release their first single for the YAY! label. Once that happens, I expect to see much more. I'll be honest, I've never felt inclined to write much about the band before this weekend. I've always enjoyed what they did, and I always knew there was potential for something great, but I could never quite find the words to make their sound seem compelling to new listeners without resorting to the cliche of comparing them to a laundry list of other bands. Of course there are still comparisons to be made, you'll hear them, and you'll decide for yourself what they are. For me personally, I always felt that Sea Lions deserved far better than that. They were the first YAY! band that I had the occasion to witness a live show from after all. Last Saturday proved that I was absolutely right to hold out.

What I saw on Saturday night was a full band in the process of gelling as a cohesive unit. I arrived to what seemed like an endless set up period: the working out of technical difficulties concerning borrowed equipment, and the extended wait to see whether or not they would even be in possession of a guitar! When they finally began to play, I was greeted by a full blast of energetic fuzzy guitar pop. I also couldn't help but notice that Sea Lions masterminds Pat and Adrian have become quite good on their respective instruments. As I mentioned though, the full band itself is very much in the process of coming together as a cohesive unit. There was something so intriguing about watching that unfold in a live show. All of the thrill of watching a still somewhat shambling band, yet for-seeing the dynamic, unstoppable force that they are just on the verge of becoming.

Interestingly enough, my Google search for their Myspace page led me to this. The band that I saw on Saturday night, I would count in the great company of the new shamblers that were cited in that article - side note DO be sure to listen to Pens, trust me. I would really not be too surprised if the incarnation of Sea Lions that I saw on Saturday night eventually produced a single that could somewhat near (my personal favorite track to be mentioned in the article) "Truck, Train, Tractor."

You've seen the title of this blog, surely you must realize that my saying a band could potentially produce a single that nears the caliber of a classic Pastels track is the highest praise that I could ever give.

Listen to the track "Beautiful Day," on the YAY! label's Myspace page for some idea as to what I might be talking about.

Keep checking the label's Website for updates on when you will be able to purchase the band's first single.

Oh, and if you live in Southern California and are feeling adventurous this Saturday, drive to Oxnard in your pajamas! Details about this year's installment of the annual YAY! pajama party can be found here. Sea Lions are playing along with other such personal favorites as Catwalk, and the Tartans.

Identity. Crisis.

2008-12-04T17:22:00.000-08:00

I remember reading either last year, or the year before that Matthew Caws of the band Nada Surf cited Rihanna's single "Umbrella," as one of his favorite songs of the year. He spoke of the sheer enjoyment he was able to experience in connecting with a pop culture phenomena that the majority of the population connects with. When I read this quote I had not yet heard the Rihanna single, but I knew exactly what he meant. It's tough sometimes, when you venture outside of your small community full of people that are able to converse about the songs, the films, the shows, or whatever it is that you and this small community truly, truly love. Sometimes instead of feeling as if you are in on some sort of wonderful, exclusive secret that the rest of the population will just (sigh) never quite get, or attempting fruitlessly to turn that segment of the population on to your greatest pop culture treasure, it's actually a bit of a relief to meet them exactly where they are. Especially when it comes to music. I honestly believe that the majority of top forty music that we are faced with today is more disposable than ever, which is why I tend to pay so little attention to it. Perhaps it is because of that very thing that gives anyone who could be described as something of a music snob the potential to become so insanely excited over a silly pop single that will be replaced by the majority of the music listening public within a few weeks or months by something that's just as catchy if not as good.

No one asks to be a snob, but falling so in love pop music that it takes precedent over every other area of your life kind of leaves you no choice. So when you come closer to what the rest of the public enjoys it can almost feel like a meeting of the minds has been achieved. You feel a bit more in step with the world at large whose enjoyment of pop music usually takes a back seat to other (likely more socially desirable) things. You also have the pleasure of realizing that some very exuberant/well written/well produced pop still exists in the mainstream.

There is a big debate amongst music journalists and music fans over mindsets described as rockism, anti- rockism, anti-anti-rockism, popism, and/or (my personal favorite) poptimism. I'll link to some of my favorite articles on the subject below, but if you google any of those terms you could easily find enough reading material to last you for days. As each of the terms are so filled with contradiction that they lead there readers into further confusion and/or guilt over what you may genuinely like, or dislike. I struggle every day with wanting keep an open mind regarding music, and yet falling deeper into a pattern of indiepop specialism. And why shouldn't I? It is, after all, the sound that I prefer to any other sound. Of course, on the other hand, I'm too busy trying to put it all into context tracing it from Motown to Punk to surrounding elements of Post Punk, and then holding it against it's concurrent genres like Hardcore, Riot Grrrl, Indie Rock, and even current poptimist favorites like Britney, Beyonce and Rihanna. I'm so intrigued by where my first love (indiepop) fits in with my second love (the dissection of all other forms of pop music) that I have missed so many of the finer points of my first love. I'm not too worried about the rest of the pieces of my indiepop puzzle falling into place though. In fact I think that learning and absorbing these bands, and songs slowly over time will probably produce the most satisfying effect for me anyway. And, of course, I will never be able to stop myself from putting things into context no matter how hard I might try.

Of course, in the midst of all of the dissection, and debates we tend to forget what is ultimately so exciting about pop music in general. When it is at it's best, it should be able to transcend any sense of genre loyalty/specialty. It should grab you by the lapels and force you to enjoy the two to three minutes that it has you for more than you will ever enjoy any other two to three minutes of you life. That is, until the next amazing song comes along, and makes you feel that way all over again. You'll move closer to the rest of the world, and hope and pray for some instance to move the rest of the world closer to you. And then maybe we could dance?

Further (far more well researched, and insightful) Reading:

The New York Times article that famously sparked so much of this debate.

Seattle Weekly Article attempting to narrowly define Rockism as a means to perhaps learn how to counter it.

Slate article fantastically titled: "Does Hating Rock Make You a Music Critic?"
This is a nice musing on the subject that i found on a message board. I think that I remember originally reading it in Spin a few years ago.

Listening Too Long to One Song: The School "Let it Slip"

2008-11-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

Just as us citizens of Los Angeles were beginning to resign ourselves to a year with no winter, something magical happened. Last week the temperature dropped about 20 degrees, and it began to rain. It began to rain with an intensity that most of us seem to have forgotten could exist. The general rule that I find with Los Angelinos is that we love the rain because we see so little of it here. When it does pay us it's ever elusive visits, it washes our cars, clears away the smog, and it just seems to render our collective senses heightened. It's no wonder then that I officially fell in love with the School's song "Let it Slip" while running through a torrential downpour.

I'd had their Let it Slip E.P. in my possession for months. I'd listened to it, and even played a different song from it on my radio show, but this time the opening title track became something of an addiction. I think because every instrument shimmers, and pops and fills up every inch of space that the song inhabits. Listening to this song in the presence of a lovely grey backdrop, as water pours steadily from the sky will tend to make everything else around you seem brighter. Something as simple as a street sign coming into sharp focus as you run down a hill in search of shelter can seem impossibly beautiful. In other words, since songs that are as exuberant as this one tend to come along almost as infrequently as rain in Los Angeles, the combination of the two has the the ability to make the listener feel very, very alive. Of course the song is strong enough to give off the same life affirming effect with or without the presence of rain.

The story of the song is simple: a girl suspects that the boy she is seeing is in love with someone else, and she is imploring him to let the information slip for her own peace of mind. The music is a modern take on the Phil Spector version of the girl group sound. Though their girl group update is not filtered through, and distressed by the noisier elements of punk rock the way that of my beloved Vivian Girls, and Lichtenstein is. Theirs manages to be modern, and confidently produced in a way that could almost make you forget that the styles of punk or indie even exist, even though you are quite aware that the ideas behind those styles are tucked neatly away somewhere in the background.

However, any similarities that you might find in this song to that of any other song are completely irrelevant. It's a perfect single that is bursting with pure joy. The type of single that (were there any justice in the world) should be a giant hit, and inspire an exorbitant amount of singing very very loudly into hairbrushes all across the world. Much like the aftermath of rainfall in Los Angeles, this song will heighten every one of your senses. And don't we far too often forget how much we need for our senses to be heightened from time time?

Watch the video for "Let it Slip" here:

You can order a copy of the School's Let it Slip E.P. with a quick search here.

Little Flashes of Yesterday

2008-11-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

I saw Vivian Girls this past Sunday. During the set, I was wondering what things would be like for me if I could build a time machine to go back to Scotland in nineteen eighty-four, and see the Shop Assistants. Of course, while I was there I would try to take in at least one Pastels show, and maybe even see if I could manage to wait around a few years so that I could catch Talulah Gosh, and well I could ratle of bands that I wish I'd been able to see in the eighties for hours. That's not really the point though.

I like Vivian Girls, a lot. Of course, I must like them, they play what is likely (were I absolutely forced to choose) my favorite style of music: Noisy, punky pop music that owes a huge debt (yet always manages to be an update on) 60s girl group sounds. Yet still, I left their show the same way I left their album - wanting something more from them. They can't really give any more though. They have their version of what it is that they are doing down to a science, and their ideas are executed perfectly in their lovely, minimalist glory.

So perhaps instead of wasting my mental energy willing a break in the space time continuum, I should instead focus on saving money so that I could travel to Europe to see Liechtenstein. Lichtenstein are a Swedish band who seem to have similar ideas and influences as those of Vivian Girls, yet they are able to give me that elusive something more that Vivian Girls (by their very nature) cannot.

It's not really a fair comparison I suppose. Of course, based on my personal tastes I am more inclined to like a band who takes this clever girl group update idea more in the indiepop direction than in the punk direction. I suppose it's just fascinating to me that with so many music fans, and music writers going crazy over Vivian Girls - if this is a style of music that people are suddenly enthusiastic about - why aren't more people in general going crazy over Liechtenstein?

Watch recent videos from both bands, and formulate your own theories...

You can order Vivian Girls' self titled full length
here

and both 7"s from Liechtenstein here

Ambition...

2008-11-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

... It's something that I, in so many ways, lack severely. Except in this one way, I have the ambition to one day posses a level of ambition that far exceeds the one that I posses currently. Of course, given my (natural) lack of ambition, this often tends to lead me... not very far.

That being said, when I encounter people in my life that posses REAL ambition, I find myself completely in awe of them. Last night I received this link via a hurried chat message. Since I was just determining whether or not I should brave the (inevitable) two to three hipsters that would be populating my street at that time of the night by running out to my car (while dressed in fleece pajamas) to get the book that I was planning to start - this message caught me far more off guard than it would have ordinarily. Once I realized what exactly it was, and that I was being asked to contribute, I was naturally thrilled.

So now, here I am asking YOU to contribute. I spent the greater part of my morning reading about the history of the punk rock movement, but this is just as exciting. Even more so, because we get to be a part of it! Visit indiepopedia; read, write, discuss, learn, and well... enjoy!

You're So Semi-Precious About Life

2008-11-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

El Records is one of those subjects, like Felt, that I would actually have to live inside of before I could ever find something substantial to write about them. That being said, I discovered a band today that reminds me very much of El Records.

I had been listening this band Testbild! for about two minutes, thinking that they sounded like they could have been an El Records band - elegant pop experimentalism, jazzy chord progressions, and all manner of other such wonderful things - when my friend who alerted them to my attention came back to our chat message and said something to the effect of, "Yeah, it's quite experimental, El Records type stuff." Their new album looks as though it will be called Aquatint, and that it should be available to purchase any month, week, or even day now! I find it difficult to stop listening to their cover of The Hepburns' song, "My Brother the Submariner." The original is a song that I have loved greatly in the past, and their version stands up quite nicely. I very much enjoy what they've done with the ending.

When you click the above link to the Hepburns' myspace page do be sure to listen to their collaboration with Testbild! entitled "Blurry." Testbild! also deserve a huge personal, "thank you" from me for bringing the Hepburns back to the forefront of my mind, and for the fact that The Magic of the Hepburns will be spinning around on my turntable tonight...

Oh, and for your reading pleasure, here are some words about El records explained by it's mastermind Mike Alway.

2008-11-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

It is Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. A few hours ago, I voted in what may end up being the most important United States presidential election of our collective lifetimes. All I want to do is turn on MSNBC, and not divert my attention from it until we have a new president. Yet...I...can't. As high as my hopes are for the nation there is a part of me that just can't bear to look, at least not yet.

One of the good things about participating in a dance club night with friends who have better records than you do, is that sometimes those friends will fail to remember which record belongs in which record bag. Sometimes when this happens you will find, after the fact, that you've had a copy of The June Brides, This Town EP in your record bag for about a week without realizing that it was there. I know who it belongs to, and she will have it back in her possession tonight, but for the time being I thought that this record might provide a brief moment of escape. A safe world that exists in a standstill somewhere between 1985, and 2008. Of course I should have known better, June Brides songs consistently brim with wit, excitement, and frustration. If they are not political, though some surely are, they can be easily applied to most any political situation.

The second song on the b-side to the EP, "Just the Same." was there to greet me with this opening line:

"Left it til tomorrow, tomorrow came to soon. And I meant to be up early, I slept all afternoon. So much to do, nothing to lose, I must do better this time..."

I'm hoping that we do better this time...

All of the songs from the June Brides' This Town EP are available on the compilation Every Conversation: The Story of the June Brides & Phil Wilson. You can find a copy here.

All You'd Ever Need to Know

2008-10-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Isolation is a tricky feeling to capture with a pop song perhaps because by the act of making a pop song you are willfully inviting other people into a certain aspect of your personal space. You may be writing about a song to say that surely no one, nowhere, has ever felt any more alone than you. Yet from the moment that that song was distributed, you have made a conscious decision to make a slight connection to another person. Even if the listener is experiencing the song in an empty room, and thinking that no one, nowhere has ever felt more alone than them.

Up All Night, the new album from Toronto based band The Airfields captures a very subtle sense of isolation that comes from a feeling of not really being isolated at all. Very few of these songs are about feeling like the loneliest person in the world, but rather the near misses that far to often occur when you reach outside of your safety zone to make a connection with another person. The song opens with the cleverly fatalistic, "Prisoners of Our Love." "Oh, fly away," the narrator sings, "You'll be back, we'll remain, prisoners of... prisoners of... prisoners of our love." These oddly reassuring words are sung over an easy, resolved jangle that is promptly obliterated by the next track, "Never See You Smile."

In a way, you could almost compare the way this album unfolds to the way that a first conversation might unfold, the opener is friendly, relaxed, and clever. However, once you realize that the respective guard of each party may have been let down too much too early on, you present something a bit noisier to help recreate a bit of the distance that has been lost. Unexpected outros are included throughout the album to the fascinating effect of keeping the listener wholly engaged without allowing them to be absorbed by it. Kind of like the inevitable awkward pauses of a first conversation.

"Icing, sugar," may be the best example of this, as isolating either the intro (though the song does reveal itself to be built around this very intricate intro,) or the outro could never prepare someone for the song that they encase. "I wait for you, I always do..." begins the lyric. I can't quite determine whether the song is about a failed relationship, or a relationship that was never able to get off of the ground. I suppose that you could consider the two things different versions of the same feeling. The longing for what could have been vs. the reality of what was lost. "Your headphones and songs how they push you along your lonely life, how I hope they give all you'd ever need to know," is the final message that the narrator chooses to send to the one he loves, or perhaps it's directed at himself, or both of them. Of course a pop song could never give you all you'd ever need to know, not even close. The narrator of the song is surely aware of this fact, but he also must be aware that for some people it's the only thing that they have the ability to know.

The recording quality throughout the entire album helps to add to this sense of distance, and subtle isolation with it's extended dreamy echo. And, ultimately, isn't that the best way to establish yourself in any kind of conversation?" Leaving most everyone that you meet wishing that they could know so much more.

You can pick up a copy of Up All Night by the Airfields through Humblebee Recordings, here, or you can download it from itunes.

But No Matter How Fast We Go...

2008-10-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

On a Monday night not too long ago, I found myself in the company of a few like minded (i.e. indiepop obsessed) friends chatting about records. When talk turned to YAY! Records, as these conversations so often do, it took virtually no time for all of us to begin marveling over just how good the most recent Catwalk single is. "It gives you something new with every listen," remarked one friend, "That last song especially..."

Oddly enough, I had been meaning to go back and listen to that single again. It received many spins on my turntable when I acquired it earlier this summer. Several times I sat down to write something about back then, but I could just never quite get my head around any way to write about this single that would do it proper justice. After the conversation that I took part in on Monday, I realized that I really wanted to try again.

I think this recent interview with Catwalk mastermind Nick Hessler helped to crystallize for me why it is that Catwalk produce such good singles that are so difficult for me to get my head around. Hessler doesn't consider Catwalk to be an "indiepop" band. They are, rather, just a band who happen to use a pop template to create their songs, and they happen to have so far only released records for an indiepop label. Therefore if they happen to produce songs that bear any resemblance to bands that came before them, it's simply because they are using the same recording processes as those bands, and probably share some of those bands' ideas about what constitutes a good pop song.

My friend was absolutely right, of course, the highlight here is the last song of the b side, "I Can't Believe." Yet, it's the a side, "Past Afar," that is really getting under my skin today. Perhaps it's the fact that I spent so much time with the b side this summer that the a side feels like a bit of an unearthed treasure? Perhaps it is the fact that it's one of those songs whose intro, and through line makes you feel like you should be driving while listening to it? Perhaps it's the fact that song is actually about driving fast to escape something vague? Perhaps it's the fact that listening to the song makes the listener feel like they escape the mundaneness of their own life? Perhaps it's the fact that this particular listener has also been repeating the Honeybunch song "Walking Into Walls," quite a bit lately - whose lyrics describe exactly how she feels about everything at the moment, but offer nothing in the way of escape, just reassurance that she is not alone in feeling that way? Perhaps it is all of these things for me, but really it has everything to do with the fact that all three songs on this 7" are just great songs. They need not be analyzed, and/or compared with other songs. They simply need to be enjoyed.

You can still pick up a copy of Catwalk's "Past Afar" 7" directly from the YAY! records shop.

Disappointment's Noble When it's Someone Else's Life

2008-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

Very few words send up as many warning flares for me as the ones "eight-piece," and "orchestral." That's not to say that I will outrightly dismiss any band with a large number of members who employ strings (other than guitars,) horns, and woodwind instruments in their songs. It's quite the opposite actually. When those elements are employed properly they have the potential to create absolutely stunning music. I just feel that they are far too often abused, taken too far, and the result is often emotionally manipulative.

Glasgow's Butcher Boy, just saw their album Profit in Your Poetry have a domestic release this past Tuesday, October 7th. This record manages to walk the entire length of a tightrope between over the top orchestration, and genuinely effective beauty with out so much as dipping one toe over to the dangerous side. Not being a musician myself I am baffled by people that are able to achieve this balance so well. If I had to guess I would say that every note of instrumentation seems to be in place to serve the song that is at hand. No one is showing off. It also helps that the lyrics are razor sharp (and yes quite poetic) observations, and they are delivered in a tossed aside manner by front man John Blain Hunt. Since the lyrics are so sharp they need no vocal embellishment, and it's a brilliant contrast to the often borderline epic-ness of the music.

The record opens with the careful build of strings and drums into the line "I'm screaming in my sleep, I'm tired of the cool content of irony..." It's not delivered as a call to action, instead he voices his annoyance with the fact that this is disturbing his dreams. Later in the song he asserts, "I don't want any trouble, I just want to find a way home." I've considered the theme of escape in pop songs to be an important one lately. I think that it is safe to say that at some point in all of our lives it's likely that we've wanted to escape from or to something. The ability to convey this feeling in a thoughtful manner is a skill that far too few song writers possess.

I would consider title track to be the album's highlight. The intro vaguely recalls a darker version of American surf rock, not distorted, just dark. Lines such as "Your eyes reflect in my eyes," greatly benefit from the aforementioned tossed aside delivery. The song itself is likely about some facet of interpersonal relationships that I will never understand, but it moves with a well constructed sense of urgency that alerts the listener to the fact that something important is happening within the context of the song. It's also fortunate enough to know that it doesn't have to beat you over the head with what exactly is happening, and what you as the listener are supposed to feel.

Another note-worthy element of this album is the cleverness of the song placement. The most radio friendly track, "I Know Who You Could Be" is proceeded by the record's most dance-able number, "Girls Make Me Sick," and followed by the bleak resignation of "Fun." In the former the narrator details a lonely afternoon of sketching, and how that afternoon turns to evening color by color. The following morning when his lover shows up, he thinks about "How I look through bluer eyes than mine." Then on "Fun" he notes that the person in bed next to him, "Smells like places I've not been, but that's o.k. I wouldn't want it any other way." He also talks of being "Blinded by the times when we were fun." Perhaps this is in reference to the same person from earlier songs? Who knows? Well, surely the author knows, but he is kind enough to let the listener use their imagination.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this record over all is it's ability to explore these largely familiar themes, highlight them with familiar elements of orchestration, and come across as being just as necessary as any other band or record that it might recall. I'm not quite sure how this is achieved so successfully, but I'll chose not to question that. Poetry that is as good as this is better left a mystery.

Available through the How Does it Feel to be Loved? label, and (hopefully) any good independent record store.