The last music list was, well,
just not enough. It’s time to just discuss the last three months. Shall we?
Fingerbib by Alarm Will Sound (orchestral cover of Aphex Twin)
When I was in high school, I told a girl I liked, in response to her cherished Iris, that “strings are what make stupid people think the music they listen to is smart.”
Seven years later: I have learned to not tell especially otherwise attractive people that their music tastes are trite and shallow, yet my prejudice against unneccesary strings remains.
So: I doubt the value of orchestrally remaking Aphex Twin songs. Is this an attempt to legitimatize the work of a man whose Windowlicker video had him entertaining two scantily-clad honeys in a 50-meter stretch limo? A man more likely to be found driving a tank around the English countryside than appearing at aid benefits? I don’t entirely understand: The Richard D. James Album is regarded by many (and me) as high art, something untouchable and incredible and so unique it seems to barely exist within a modern, human frame. No one needs to get 50 people in a room tuning up to play 4 or Avril 14th or Logon Rock Witch to convince me that they’re beautiful, shocking songs.
That said, it’s always nice to listen to old favorites with some subtleties ripped away and others lavished with extra affection. The attention to detail is superb, and the texture added by physical instruments is a nice addition to music I should be relistening to anyway.
Dreamy You by the All Girl Summer Fun Band
NOTHING BAD EVER COMES OF THE ALL GIRL SUMMER FUN BAND. This is the rule. Short, sweet, flirty and fun. Thanks, Sima!
We’re In Business by Andrew Thompson
Walking a fine edge between good music and passable novelty, We’re In Business makes you wait through an intentionally drawn-out verse structure and an initially grating chorus, but the payoff is the song’s killer melody/line: “If you’re a human being, we’re in business!”
Always Too Late (¥€$ Productions Remix) by Annie
Always Too Late was one of the standout tracks on Anniemal, but over repeated listens, the melody began to struggle against the blandness of all that nonstop synth pizzicato. Never fear: Remixes are here to chop up, danceify, and generally give the production some teeth. While the original almost sounded plaintive and pleading in its accusations, the remix somehow puts Annie on the offensive, the girl dealing the pain instead of receiving it. And if you don’t understand why that’s sexy, you don’t understand boys.
It’s rare that a remixer can use as many tricks as ¥€$ does here while keeping the track reigned in, repetition-wise. The quirky, one-time details are fantastic surprises, but overall, this version still feels like a Real Song.
Formed A Band by Art Brut
Formed a band, we formed a band…look at us! We formed a band!
Art Brut’s fantastic guitarwork and self-referencing subject matter are just what I needed this year. Amid numerous indie success stories and excess Britpunk nostalgia, the one group that can feel above it all is the one willing to say “And yes, this is my singing voice…it’s not irony, it’s not rock’n roll, we’re just talking to the kids.” Make sure to listen to My Little Brother Just Discovered Rock And Roll and Bad Weekend.
Sorry I’m A Lady by Baccara
Baccara’s 1977 disco sub-hit rocks me like there’s no tomorrow. Heavy accent + absurd flirty putdowns = Kitsch beyond Kitsch!
Expectations by Belle and Sebastian
If you have If You’re Feeling Sinister (you’d BETTER), you pretty much know the deal with this one from Tigermilk, but let’s just download it for free and consider it the kickass bonus track from Sinister, mkay? B&S’s catalog dilutes itself the further you get from Sinister (although I’ll admit I haven’t heard much of the new one, which I’ve heard good things about), but Expectations is absolutely worth the download. Another misunderstood girl, another trumpet-backed anthem of acceptance, another beautiful autumn day.
Luno by Bloc Party
I warmed up to Bloc Party. A lot. I’m not sure why, but the DFA1979 cover first gave me the idea that Luno might actually be a fantastic, fantastic song. And actually: It fucking is. The sheer restraint Bloc Party exhibits through most of the track makes it feel, upon relistens, more and more like bombs in cages, terrible force locked up by superhuman strength, only to be released in a single, beautiful instant at 2:04.
You Got Your Bones To Make A Beat by Cloud Cult
Here’s a bunch of kids that are gonna maybe be the next Unicorns. Which is good, because the Islands stuff ‘Corns have been putting out hasn’t impressed me so much.
Light on the ideas, heavy on the energy. I’m downloading two more by them right now, I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Piano Duet From Corpse Bride by Danny Elfman
Oh, come now. It’s purty.
The Mask by DangerDoom and Ghostface Killa
I didn’t know what to expect from DangerDoom: MF Doom is alternately brilliant and forced, and my familiarity with DJ Dangermouse was passing at best. Sure, I love the Grey Album, but it’s not really a good representation of from-scratch production skill.
The Mask is what brings me back into the warm, loving light of Doom adoration. Between raging horns and funker-than-funk organ, Doom and Ghostface prove they can operate flawlessly at any speed, at any volume.
Raiding The 20th Century by DJ Food
Look here and here.
A monster in scope, effort, and impact, Raiding The 20th Century is an hour-long exploration of mashups, samples, scratching, the roots of these forms, and their most influential examples. Nothing gets missed: Grey Album, Beastles, Soulwax, Soulwax, more Soulwax, Grandmaster Flash, John Cage, even the commercial that smashed up Patsy Cline’s Crazy, all kept in neat little boxes labeled “interesting sections,” impeccably mixed from one segment to the next. The narration is loving and obviously knowledgeable, and the pace makes Since I Left You seem sluggish. Lord knows how much work went into finding relevant radio clips and interviews with so many important, incredible people expressing their opinions on sampling license, music downloading, and the psychological effect of restructuring the impact of music into mashups.
The fileinfo claims “A cast of thousands,” and it’s not lying.
It’s an hour you absolutely won’t want back. Listen ASAP.
Whistler’s Delight by DJ Riko
A lot more could’ve been done with this, but come on, it’s a megamix of all the best whistling in pop music and movies from the past forty years. What’s amazing is how many you recognize: Exactly how many of our brain cells are being taken up by things like the theme to Twisted Nerve, or songs from Disney’s Robin Hood?
But Still Nothing by Echo Depth Finders
This is the kind of song that makes me want to be Chris Cunningham. The skipping, swirling visuals associated with But Still Nothing absolutely must be recorded in my lifetime. While it’s not exactly ‘glitch’ structurally, the glitch approach to a paced electronic song is fascinating to hear and sink into.
The Show by Girls Aloud
That is the best damn band name ever.
The Show is a wall of soccer-stadium synth and Sugarbabes expounding about…well…I can’t quite figure it out. While the chorus and pre-chorus seem pretty inane, the hyperspeed “Shoulda known, shoulda cared, shoulda hung around the kitchen in my underwear” is oddly sexy, regretful, weird, and 900% danceable.
Business Before Pleasure by Group Sounds
The verses fall in and out of standard Franz-rock, but it’s that gorgeous falsetto chorus that we can agree to rock out during: “When it comes to me, is it business or pleasure?” The latter! THE LATTER!
I Hope I’ll Never See You Again by Happy Go Lucky
One of the purest, smartest songs I’ve heard in months. Never See You Again saves its sweet, mimicking synth and skittering piano until absolutely necessary, riding on entirely-relateable lyrics for the first half the of the song, and I absolutely approve.
“One year from now, I’m going to disappear, the last impression you gave me was weird, I never lost it but I know you will….Hey you, what else am I supposed to feel?”
Tito’s Way by The Juan Maclean / Give Me Every Little Thing by The Juan Maclean
Let’s take this back to ‘95!
Both tracks show DFA’s love/memory for the heyday of Techno, when my parents worried about my Orbital CDs because kids played that stuff at “raves.” Give Me Every Little Thing mates the pure spacey-yet-human sounds of Orbital’s In Sides to the single-sample funk of Mouse On Mars, while Tito’s Way crosses Daft Punk with the highspeed acid riffs that so many of us barely remember but secretly dearly miss. Both tracks are pristine, engaging, and mandatory listens.
Resistansen by the Kaizer’s Orchestra
View this page and tell me you don’t fucking love this band.
Destroy Everything You Touch by Ladytron
For the longest time, I thought Ladytron only had one good song, Playgirl. Now, I know they have two good songs. Hurrah for Ladytron!
This one fizzles with multiple listens, but that first time is a friggin’ blast.
Boogie Down Bronx by Man Parrish and Freeze Force
Sometimes, I worry that our retro-hungry views of the past are too loud, too bright, too unbalanced. Two things put my fears to rest:
One: Crazy Intermission/Preview Films with the Washington Psychotronic Film Society. No modern interpretation of the graphical style of the 60s can match the absolute insanity that even simple Sprite ads flashed back then. Holy crap.
Two: Boogie Down Bronx, the funkiest, synthiest, 80s-est rap song ever recorded.
Brompton Oratory by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Consider me uncool: I never quite got Nick Cave. A girl at my Ritz Camera job gave me a whole huge mix tape of the stuff, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the only nonpunk music she listened to just didn’t do it for me.
Years later, I finally get it: A mediocre melody can actually be an asset when its flat landscape hides a land mine like “The smell of you still on my hands, as I bring the cup up to my lips.” Crazy.
L.I.P.S.T.I.C.K. by Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herren Band
Classic sultry disco-smoothness that everyone needs to hear once. “Stick around…I’ve got lipstick on” indeed.
Crips by Ratatat
I already mentioned my torrid love affair with Ratatat’s Seventeen Years, but Crips be my GIRL ON THE SIDE. Smooth and sterilized, with every little bit locking into its perfect place. I’m not sure if one is supposed to dance, walk, or just stand in awe, but I have attempted all three in the past four minutes.
I Love You But… by The Research
This isn’t quite short enough for such a meandering piece, but The Research is clever enough to put the selling point right up front: A fragile Brit singing “I love you, but I’m scared I’ll fuck it up!”
Blue Bird, by The Rosebuds
These reviews get shorter as I keep thinking about stuff I should be doing instead of blogging. Apologies, kids.
Blue Bird sure takes a while to get going, but at least the waiting room is a soft bed of peaceful “ooh”s and reverb. Then:
“Each day this concrete cave….it takes our love away…”
I usually have trouble with such consistent songs, but in Blue Bird’s case, the quality works as a pro. It slows your mind just enough that the chorus interjection sounds nearly perfect when it hits.
Lightweight Contender by Scientific
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new Mates Of State!
Scientific is just as cute, but sadly, less manic. The best parts of this song, I’m afraid, take place in the first ten seconds and in the too-rare chorus. Still, those bits are worth enduring the so-so verses for.
Brown Boxes by The Spinto Band
While Oh Mandy and Crack The Whip could definitely be put up against Clap Your Hands’ material, Brown Boxes is a standout track of ingenuity and contrast. Dark lyrics, silly brooding riffs, classic pop chorus. I need to buy this damn CD.
Ray Of Light by String Quartet Tribute To Madonna
Well, this is nice. The string adaptation of Ray Of Light doesn’t have enough instruments to go for it note-for-note, which apparently inspires the egos and creativity of the attached players. Stuff goes crazy in the final two minutes: This is how instrumental remakes should be.
John Wayne Gacy, Jr. by Sufjan Stevens
You have no idea how many times I listened to this song before I realized what it was about.
Sufjan as usual: Fantastic emotion when applied to the right subjects, and Gacy is apparently the right subject. The only thing I would change is Sufjan’s attempt to insert himself at the end, but it hardly dimishes the aching impact of the track.
Death To Everyone by Will Oldham (live acoustic)
Will Oldham’s I See A Darkness is a gorgeous, overlooked modern classic. While his best efforts since bore me, I See A Darkness was the horrible spectre of peace and destruction that loomed over my music collection freshman year. And Death To Everyone was the ghost’s head: An anthem of joy inside depression and life inside the knowledge of finality. The acoustic version is just another chance to re-experience a fantastic moment of poetry in modern music, stripped down to the frail, naked man who had the courage to write it.
C.R.E.A.M. by Wu Tang Clan
I went to public school for a semester my freshman year of high school; a weird, entirely detached homeschool kid in a world full of normals. In my Spanish class, a huge black kid took a shine to me and let me sit at his table at lunch. I was dubbed “Macaulay Culkin” by his group, and, well, it was sure better than sitting alone and having crackers thrown at me.
One day, he wore a Wu Tang tour shirt that had a near-naked woman, breasts only covered by the hands of ODB, who was leering over her shoulder. I looked briefly, then turned away, embarrassed, and the table cracked up. The guy then proceeded to explain to me that the Wu Tang Clan used soul samples and black history as well as “Shaolin shit” as part of their gimmick, which sounded considerably more clever than I had considered rap could be at that point. When I announced I was dropping out to go back to homeschooling, he high-fived me in class and wished me good luck.
It was years before I actually heard a Wu Tang song, Triumph, but it was in the infancy of my music appreciation, before Odelay or OK Computer or even Nevermind. My prejudice remained, and I discounted it (although I loved the video).
Just this past month, I decided to revisit the Wu, and I’ve been repeatedly impressed. Tracks like 7th Chamber Part 2 and C.R.E.A.M. are not only classics of their culture and time, but still sound as fresh and aggressive today as they did on the day of their release.
C.R.E.A.M. itself is appreciateable just as an artifact of honest, intelligent rap: A memory of sadness, acceptance, and undeniable innovation.
Sous Les Ponts De Paris by Yves Montand
TIMONI: Did you get “Sous les ponts de Paris?” That’s my favorite Yves.
DOUG: That was the exact song I was rockin’ out to!
If you need a sassy accordian-laden French song (oh, and you DO), you need Sous Les Ponts De Paris. That is all.
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As always, if any of these songs seem like they’d be fun to hear, let me know and I’d be happy to e-mail/mixdisc you.
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