Good Weather For Airstrikes

From Union of Knives, we move to my other favorite new UK find, Battle. Rather, I should say it was Lizzy’s find, as it was she who first played “Tendency” for me in the car this summer, and though I remain unaffected by it upon first listen, I took an immediate liking to it the second time around. “Tendency”, Battle’s debut single, stands as the perfect introduction to their sound: straight-forward organic guitar rock with tight production, extremely urgent vocals and instrumentation (a la Bloc Party) and clever, blue collar lyrics (“every weekend it’s my only vice/let me drink myself to debt to forget about the rent”). Second single “Demons” builds on this formula to even greater success, riding on a driving rhythm section and a punchy vocal structure that climaxes in that anthemic “some-TIMES…” chorus. The highlight comes after the second chorus, when lead singer Jason Bavanandan (or Bananaphone or something like that) yelps, “I’ve thrown stones at passing cars/it’s funny ha ha ha” and each ha is punctuated by a quick drumbeat, further highlighting the group’s creative songwriting ability and tight production.

Battle’s full length debut, Break The Banks, drops this fall on Transgressive Records (where Bloc Party got their start before signing to Wichita) and will be preceded by a four track EP release, but unfortunately the rest of the material on the album for the most part fails to maintain the high standard set on the singles. Download the two aforementioned highlights below to get a feel for this exciting new group.

MP3s:
“Tendency” – Battle
“Demons” – Battle

A third single, “Children”, was released this June and is quite good as well, and you can go here to view the beautiful video in sparkling high resolution, which is excellent with the whole invisible explosions thing but might be better if Bavanandan didn’t completely lack the ability to act. Also worth noting is that the “Children” seven inch release features a remix by Union of Knives as the b-side, which I would kill to hear but doesn’t seem to be available anywhere on the various internets (Hype Machine and Limewire yield nothing, and even the omnipotent Oink fails to deliver). But hey, if you have it and want to send it my way, I just might love you forever (and ever). Finally, I urge everyone to head over to their MySpace, which is somehow the most classy and asthetically pleasing  MySpace page I’ve ever seen, quite a feat considering there probably isn’t anymore more inherently classless than a MySpace page.

Today Capitol/EMI gave Pitchfork the honor of premiering a track from the Decemberists’ upcoming major label debut, The Crane Wife, out on October 3rd. It’s a Pitchfork exclusive, but hey, they pretty much stole my scoop on Epic Man (same picture, same song, paraphrased write-up), so I’m going ahead and posting it here as well (and being the nice guy that I am, not even jacking their bandwith). Those who know their way around the leaky internet, myself included, have been enjoying the album for about two weeks now, but this is the first that everyone else has gotten a chance to hear it, as Capitol’s been fairly all-over-it when it comes to shutting down leaked tracks on the blogs. “Summersong”, though not the best track on the album, is one of the most immediately-accessible songs and has possibly the catchiest vocal structure (though “Sons & Daughters” gives it a run for it’s money) on The Crane Wife.

Of all the tracks on The Crane Wife, “Summersong” is the most major-label-esque, with it’s simplistic, accessible melody, immediately catchy vocals and higher production values, but worry not, the Decemberists have by no means sold out. I mean, c’mon, there’s two 11+ minute epics on the album, it doesn’t get any less accessible than that. As I said before, there are a handful of songs on the album better than “Summersong” (”O Valencia”, “Sons & Daughters”, and “The Crane Wife 3″, just to name a few), but as Pitchfork noted as well, none are more appropriate for the waning days of summer, which so many of us are experiencing now. Colin sings with nostalgia of a summer love lost over a languorous accordion, lamenting the passing of summer as it gets “swallowed by a wave”. I know a thing or two about summer loves lost (yeah, weep for me), and for anyone whose been in a similar situation, “Summersong” is a good as any to reflect on old memories to. If Death Cab’s “Summer Skin” was the essential end-of-summer song of 2005, “Summersong” is this year’s update.

MP3: “Summersong” - The Decemberists

As I mentioned earlier, one of the tracks on the album that bests “Summersong” is potential first single “O Valencia”, which has seen exposure as part of Meloy solo show setlists over the past year or so. While I can’t share the album version due to the potential ramifications (y’all want another hiatus?), I can share an excellent-quality solo recording from Colin’s August 2005 solo performance at The Beachcomber. The song’s structure remains identical on the album, though he obviously doesn’t forget the lyrics in the final version and the album sees the introduction of a full band to the track, but don’t worry, it remains every bit as catchy.

MP3: “O, Valencia” - Colin Meloy

Yawn. Bereft of originality and blatantly an effort to re-create the magic of 2004’s mega-anthem “Run”, Snow Patrol turn in a numbing bore of a single, their biggest flop yet. Further evidence that lead singer Gary Lightbody wants nothing more than to be Chris Martin, “Chasing Cars” plods along with the overwrought vocals and tangible melodrama that is so often found in these over-the-top vanilla Britpop ballads. Unfortunately for Snow Patrol and those in the UK who will be forced to endure this song 20 times a day on British radio, it never really goes anywhere or amounts to anything. Sure, the strings swell and later the instrumentation drops out to force us to focus on Lightbody’s emotional final verse, but neither do anything to make the track feel any less cliché or contrived (rather, they only make things worse). Yeah, this is giving “Run” (which peaked at #5 on the UK charts and even charted in the US) a major run for its money as the group’s highest-charting single (it’s currently at #7), but Snow Patrol should really be held to a higher standard than this. I’m curious if any self-respecting music fans (or even long-time Snow Patrol fans) actually like this as anything more than a guilty pleasure; get at me in the comments.

MP3: “Chasing Cars” - Snow Patrol

The Hey Team, who are a self-described “Underground Resistance Unit formed to combat the vain and pretentious Hipster scene”, take this incredibly lame template and actually manage to make a remarkably good remix out of it, dressing Lightbody’s emotional whines up in samples (of everything from birds chirping to children playing) and glitch-pop booms and bips.

Bonus MP3: “Chasing Cars” (Hey Team Remix) - Snow Patrol [exclusive, holla]

Much like the song, the video is pretty and everything, but ultimately dissapoints. Iceland’s Arni & Kinski, whose track record is more or less spotless to this point, direct here, but the video proves to actually out-bore the song. Arni & Kinski are pretty much the gold standard as far as stunningly beautiful cinematography is concerned, and while that’s present again here, the plot and concept of the clip are just flawed from the start. I mean, regardless of how perfect the lighting and natural shots are in the video, did anyone over at HSI (their production company) really think we’d get psyched to see a clip that consists solely of Lightbody (in order): wringing his hands, staring dramatically into the distance, getting drenched by rain, and, finally, flopping into the water. And also, considering Lightbody’s chronic blinking issue, extreme-closeups of his face and eyes as he’s getting pelted by raindrops may not have been the best idea ever. There may never have been a more boring treatment proposed in the history of videos. Despite my harsh feelings for the clip, I’m still posting it as this site gets a lot of love from Snow Patrol fans and I’m sure there are some out there who will still want it, despite my critical assessment. Recommended for insomniacs.

Video: “Chasing Cars” - Snow Patrol
Directed By: Arni & Kinski
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

File this under Could Not Possibly Be More Right Up My Alley. Seriously, remember how I said my music taste was becoming more and more defined by two genres: Brit Pop and slickly produced electronic tracks? Well it’s a fusion of those two styles that is exactly what Union of Knives bring to the table, and that’s exactly why their one of my favorite new bands of 2006. Angular guitar riffs drenched in undulating synths and pulsing drum beats create a unique dark electro-pop sound that’s a welcomed refreshment in the UK’s crowded (and played-out) dance punk scene. All in all, this adds up to what it might sound like if Sigur Ros and Radiohead got high as shit together and invited the Faint over for drinks and a synthesizer jam session, and then liked the results so much that they went ahead and released an album together.

The closest thing we may ever get to that album is Union of Knive’s debut, Violence & Birdsong, which compiles all of the group’s previously-released tracks (from their 2005 self-titled debut EP and 2006’s “I Decline” single), shows them a little reproduction love and unleashes them on the masses. Album opener “Opposite Direction” draws you in with a twenty-second intro that’s straight out of a dark and twisted carnival soundtrack (you know, like what you hear on all those Dark & Twisted Carnival Music compilations you have lying around), before a tidal wave of moody synths crush down on the listener and stay the course the rest of the way out. “Taste For Harmony” is the album’s lead single, and while you won’t find a catchier chorus on the album, it’s previously-released “Evil Has Never” that is the real burner of the bunch. With a dancefloor-ready BPM rate, that addictive “evil has never loved you” refrain, and catchy boy-girl verses courtesy of Jenny Reeves (who also appears on “Opposite Direction”), it seems like the track most immediately ready to roar out the gates and get the indie kids moving. Taking a similar approach to “Opposite Direction” (gentle lead-in to crushing beat), it’s the album’s standout track and reason enough on its own to start expecting big things from this Glasgow trio. Violence & Birdsong is one of my favorite debuts of ‘06 so far, so you’d be wise to get on it and feel the hotness below.

MP3s:
“Opposite Direction” - Union Of Knives
“Evil Has Never” - Union Of Knives ((highly recommended))
“Taste For Harmony” - Union Of Knives

We’ve already hailed “La Ritournelle” as one of the most beautiful songs of the last few years, but furthermore, even the two videos released for the song are great. The first clip is for the original track, released last year, and while it beautifully (and mysteriously) depicts the story of a man living in isolation and his memories of the woman who once accompanied him there, it’s the second clip, for Mr. Dan’s remix of the track, that is superior. Before getting into that though, below are the download links and info for the original video.

Video: “La Ritournelle” - Sebastien Tellier
Director: Mathieu Mantovani (?)
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]
MP3: “La Ritournelle” - Sebastien Tellier

To round off the first installment of Music Video Monday, here is my favorite new find, Ace Norton’s fantastic video for Mr. Dan’s equally-fantastic remix of “La Ritournelle”. Though it’s a technique that’s been done before, most notably in The Thrills excellent 2005 clip for “The Irish Keep Gatecrashing” (view here), Norton employs it to better effect here, not only creating an awesome visual effect but also using crafty camerawork to impart a narrative onto the video. The clip opens with a young couple frolicking and doing the couple thing in a golden field, before the camera takes off on a high-speed forward-tracking journey through the city, taking us through houses, down drains, under water, and into parties and debaucherous bedrooms. We are shown all of the different aspects and variants of love, as we move from the couple in the opening scene (in which the camera comes to focus on the girl’s bracelet before taking off into the woods a split second later), to the same girl from that scene with another man in bed at a party (we know this because, subtly, Norton has the camera linger on her bracelet for another fleeting moment in this second scene), to the one-night-stands taking place throughout the house at the party and later an older man proposing to his girlfriend in a fancy restaurant. Finally, the closing scene shows an old woman in a hospital bed as her heartbeat flatlines, and her elderly husband watches helplessly. As the man walks dazed from the room, the camera pans to the right in rhythm with one last swoon of the brass, and we see another young couple, holding each other’s hands in the same fashion as the couple in the opening scene did. With this final shot, the video comes full circle, and as one love is lost in the hospital room, another is being kindled just around the corner.

Video: “La Ritournelle” (Mr. Dan’s Magic Wand Remix) - Sebastien Tellier
Director: Ace Norton
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]
MP3: “La Ritournelle” (Mr. Dan’s Magic Wand Remix) - Sebastien Tellier

First of all, props to the only best music video blog out there, Shots Ring Out (formerly So Hot Right Now), for tipping me off on this here video. Wolf Parade is back here with their third video, an accomplishment considering Sub Pop tends to commission very few videos for bands on their label not named the Postal Service or the Shins, and while it’s not quite as good as their clip for “Modern World”, it’s got an impressive budget behind it (again an anomaly coming out of the Sub Pop camp) and is enjoyable nonetheless.

I’d be lying if I said I was able to really follow the plotline all that well, but it’s pretty to look at and whatnot. I mean, are we supposed to be favoring either one of these guys as the protagonist, or is director Matt Moroz just into that German Expressionist shit where good and evil are ambiguous and the viewer is left to their own devices to choose sides and come to their own conclusions? I mean, Victorian-era gunfights and smashing champagne glasses on the ground when you don’t feel like holding them anymore is bad-ass and all, but neither one of these guys really come off as someone you want to root for. Either way, the clip is beautifully shot in terms of tonality and cinematography, and director Matt Moroz does a great job creating a lovely Victorian set, and while the video as a whole is nothing to write home about, it’s an impressive cinematographic accomplishment and shows Moroz’s potential as a director.

Video: “I’ll Believe In Anything” - Wolf Parade
Director: Matt Moroz
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

Further proving himself as a master of stop-motion animation (see his clips for Death Cab [“Crooked Teeth”], Smoosh [“La Pump”], and Sebastien Tellier [“La Ritournelle” remix] as well), up-and-coming director Ace Norton reminds us just how good he is at what he does again here with his video for The Faint’s “Desperate Guys”. Employing art supplies to wonderful effect once again as he did in his videos for Death Cab and Smoosh, Norton utilizes figure models and manipulates them so that they perform impressive choreographed dance moves. I mean, check out the bottom screen shot, he’s even got that one little guy rocking out with the headspin. These stop-motion videos always amaze me with their sheer attention to detail and the amount of effort that must have gone into setting up and choreographing every single frame, but Norton repeatedly comes back to the technique and seems to outdo himself every time.

Video: “Desperate Guys” - The Faint
Director: Ace Norton
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

NOTE: Welcome to the first installment of music video mondays. Awh yeah.

Well this is a bit of a masterpiece, isn’t it? Seriously, this is one of the most brilliant clips to come along in a long, long time. It’s pretty much just one big WTF-fest… I mean, it’s a western set in the future with fucking lasers and shit. LASERS AND SHIT! That should be all I need to say to have you guys downloading away, but if not, maybe these screenshots can convince you:

…yeah, seriously.

Video: “Knights Of Cydonia” - Muse
Director: Joseph Kahn
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

Hip-hop is generally not the forte of Good Weather for Airstrikes, as we tend to cater more to an indie-rock crowd. When I find a track as phenomenal as “The Moment I Wake Up”, however, I feel as if it would be a crime not to post it here. Although he is currently based in New York, Satchel Page was raised in the Washington, D.C. area. Killer Mike justifies his incredible 5-minute tirade “That’s Life” by saying he went to Morehouse (where he didn’t graduate), but not many rappers can claim to be graduates of Harvard University. Satchel Page got his start rapping during his time at Harvard, where in 2001 he founded a rap group known as Tha League, which featured fellow Harvard students N.I.C., Hollaman, and K. Kess. Tha League saw marginal success in their short lifetime, opening for Fabolous in 2003 and Busta Rhymes in 2004, and managed to put together an EP. Produced primarily by Page, the EP is nothing to write home about, excepting one song: “The Moment I Wake Up”, which sees Page rapping solo. A smooth, pensive track, “The Moment I Wake Up” features lyrical content reminiscent of early Kanye West with less braggadocio, as Page talks about the difficulty of getting heard as a rapper/producer. When Page delivers triumphant lines like, “hide your rulers, I’m measuring up to pros now,” it doesn’t feel like he’s bragging. Rather, it seems obvious that he’s telling the truth: he’s got talent.

Page considers Mos Def, Common and Talib Kweli as his influences in rap, and his delivery evokes those three. The beat, which was produced by Page himself, is the most initially impressive aspect of the track. A gorgeous piano loops over a drumbeat punctuated by samples of “I Say A Little Prayer For You”, and it’s obvious Page is a talented producer. In fact, as a producer, Page has a gold record to his name. Well, technically, it’s not to his name: he wasn’t credited in the liner notes for the beat he made, on which a song rode to gold status. Needless to say, Page was upset by the slight, and has since sought and succeeded in some fashion in taking legal action against the offenders, but the reality remains that Page’s talents as a producer are undeniable. As evidenced by “The Moment I Wake Up”, his talents as an MC are definitely up to par as well.

MP3: “The Moment I Wake Up” - Satchel Page ((highly recommended))

Though it got off to a bit of a slow start, 2006 has been shaping up to be a great year for music videos (though not yet quite as good as 2005), and seeing that Videoteque is now deceased, I’ll be using GWFAS as my outlet for distributing these clips. Deal with it.

The Knife have consistently put out excellent videos, and their newest clip for “We Share Our Mother’s Health” just might be the best of the bunch. This time out they’ve put creative control in the hands of brilliant Japanese animator Motomichi Nakamura, and the result is an absolutely stunning video that is easily one of the best animated music videos of the last five years. The Knife provide the perfect track for this kind of video, but it’s Nakamura’s animation that completely steals the show. It’s got a lot of shit going on and it’s pretty fucked up in general, so I’m not even going to venture a guess as to what exactly the concept or storyline behind this video is, but thankfully Nakamura explains himself in this excerpt, taken from his website:

“The animation starts with a girl that wakes up from a long sleep and starts searching for a sacred apple. At the end of a nightmarish story the girl is able to find her apple but only to discover the real price that she has to pay for it.

This was def. one of the best projects that I have worked on. The band gave me full creative freedom and they were very happy with the result. One of the film’s concepts was to express pain in suggestive ways. Funny thing is that coincidently I had undergone nasal and septal surgery at the beginning of the project, and because of that I was in pain and my nose was still bleeding during the first two weeks of production (sorry for being so graphic…).”

As usual, I’ve got the clip for you in Quicktime-compatible .mov format and I would have it in iPod format for y’alls, but my Quicktime Pro has decided it’s gonna front and refuse to convert it for me, sorry.
Video: “We Share Our Mother’s Health” - The Knife
Director: Motomichi Nakamura
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

For those music video fans and former Videoteque readers, I’ve got good news. Announcing… MUSIC VIDEO MONDAYS!!! Mondays at Good Weather For Airstrikes will now be chock full of music video goodness; that’s right, you’ll now get at least three or more great music videos every Monday to start the week off right. Holla at your boy.