Good Weather For Airstrikes

It’s hard to keep track of whether the hipsters are hating or loving Pitchfork at any given time, and the latest I’d heard is that the blogs were displeased with the indie media juggernaut (oxymoron?) for becoming too “blog-like”, because apparently people don’t like blogs, not even the people who write them. Regardless, one positive thing that has occurred since the blogification (new term!) of Pitchfork is the creation of their Infinite Mixtape project. Basically, it’s a glorified way for them to get away with posting random mp3s that they like a lot, and though I can’t say I always agree with their choices, I’ve definitely found some great songs thanks to the project. One such song is “Notorious”, by Jamaican dancehall rapper Turbulence (né Sheldon Campbell). I’m confident I wouldn’t have discovered this song if not for the Infinite Mixtape, and my life would definitely be slightly worse for it. The track was originally released two years ago, but has been rereleased as the leadoff song on an XL Records-curated compilation entitled Serious Times, and is basically just really freaking awesome. It’s got a well sung hook (Turbulence has a surprisingly good voice) and infinity-steps-better-than-Sean Paul verses, and it definitely has the potential to fill dance floors around the United States, just as it’s been doing for years in Jamaica.

MP3: “Notorious” - Turbulence ((highly recommended))

I don’t know a whole lot about Los Angeles-based electro-rock foursome Shiny Toy Guns, but this is what I do know: They released an album in 2005 called We Are Pilots, signed to Universal Motown a few months ago, and the major label remastered re-release is coming out today (October 17). You may have heard their track “Le Disko” that was going around the blogosphere a bit a while back, a track that showcases female vocalist Carah Faye and is intended to be the first single from the We Are Pilots re-release. This track, “Starts With One”, features male vocalist Chad Petree in the spotlight, and I definitely prefer it to “Le Disko”. Either Petree has a great voice or the band has great software to run it through, but whichever is the case the track sounds fantastic. It may not be life-changing, but it’s certainly a lot of fun.

MP3: “Starts With One” - Shiny Toy Guns

Damien Rice is back and, unlike Derek, I’ve only been through one Damien Rice phase, and it began when I first heard his stunning debut, O, and will likely continue until eternity. His new single, “9 Crimes”, is slated for official release on November 20, but can be purchased from iTunes without the (phenomenal) b-side as a pre-release this very moment. The song is a fairly straightforward piano ballad, and though the combination of his voice with the angelic Lisa Hannigan definitely elevates the track above most of your run-of-the-mill piano ballads, I fear my expectations for his sophomore album may be set entirely too high by my adoration for O. The majority of Rice’s debut is stronger than the lead single for 9 (out Nov. 6th in the UK and the 14th in the US), which does not bode well in my book. To be fair, “9 Crimes” is a great song, but as far as I’m concerned the addition of a crescendo with a minute left does little to make a song more interesting. Rice definitely exhibited a penchant for the song-closing crescendo on his debut, but at least he’d mix up the instrumentation for those, adding strings and layering vocals to make it more interesting. On “9 Crimes”, the only change is in volume, which doesn’t go much farther than creating a contrived sense of urgency. It’s important to stress that an average Damien Rice song is better than at least 99% of releases this year, and I realize I hold Rice to an unimaginably high standard, but the reality is that this song is just that: an average Damien Rice track.

The single release is hardly a bust, however, for the inclusion of what is almost definitely Damien Rice’s best b-side ever, “Rat Within The Grain”. I have historically been underwhelmed by Rice’s b-sides, and garnered similar feelings for his more upbeat material. “Rat Within The Grain” is an immediate exception to both of those counts. The song features an instantly accessible vocal melody and a simple strummed guitar in the background, and though the technique is in nothing new, Rice takes it to a level not seen since a certain Green Day tune innocently snuck its way in to graduation slideshows around the country. A rare occurrence, in the case of the “9 Crimes” single the b-side definitely outshines the main event. I’m looking forward to finding out which of the two entirely different tracks is more indicative of the sound on 9, which after such an unbearably long wait is only a month away from seeing the light of day.

MP3s:
“9 Crimes” - Damien Rice
“The Rat Within The Grain” - Damien Rice ((highly recommended))

Derek also uncovered a pretty interesting exclusive for you all, so I’ll let him take it from here.

Holla at yr boy (then please forgive him for leading in with such a preposterous salutation). I’ve got a pretty ridiculous cover for you below (y’know, the kind that seems to exist solely for the purpose of making the Hype Machine implode) - Captain Somber himself, Damien Rice, covering Pink’s “Get The Party Started”. Seriously. Taken from an Irish pop covers compilation, released in 2003 and titled Even Better Than The Real Thing Vol. 1, the track should really be credited to Hannigan, as it’s primarily her voice here with Rice chipping in with back-up vox from time to time, but it’s interesting to hear anything with the word “party” in it with Rice’s name attached to it, let alone a cover of Pink.

Bonus MP3: “Get The Party Started” - Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan [exclusive]

I’ve definitely gone through a few Damien Rice phases over the years, and while his brand of hyper-sparse folk is less and less my thing these days, Rice’s long-awaited and breathlessly-anticipated sophomore album, 9, out November 6th in the UK and a week later in the US, is shaping up to be something truly amazing. I’m sure many of you have come across lead single “9 Crimes” by now (if not, I’ve got a single review with an excellent exclusive bonus coming over the weekend), but it’s the incredible b-side, “Rat Within The Grain” I’m posting here tonight. Perkier and of a more upbeat tempo than anything found on O while retaining the distinct vibe found on all of Rice’s material, “Rat Within The Grain” has an undeniably timeless quality about it, lending it a classic feel despite it’s relegation to b-side status. Beautiful.

MP3: “Rat Within The Grain” - Damien Rice ((highly recommended))

I’d really hoped to post more live sets around here once I got version 2.0 up and running, but somehow I’ve ended up slacking in that department. Regardless, what better way to take a break from my epoch of an all-nighter than to bring some attention back to Maximo Park, who - lest you forget - had the best debut of 2005 (considering that Bloc Party’s true debut came in 2004 with their self-titled debut). We haven’t heard much out of the Maximo camp recently, as last we heard of them was last spring after the release of A Certain Trigger’s final single, “Stay”, as they were supposedly readying their sophomore album for a late 2006 release. That “late 2006 release” has since been pushed back to March 2007, with a lead single - possibly “Our Velocity, which lead singer Paul Smith described as “a spaceship exploding” - out sometime in January. Smith went on to discuss the band’s decision not to team up with Trigger producer and god-of-all-things Paul Epworth (they’ve gone with Pixies producer Gil Norton in his stead) this time around, pointing towards the fact that it seems that Epworth has an air about him that suggests he’s a bit too aware of his god-of-all-things status:

“We wanted to use somebody who didn’t tell us what to do and didn’t think that they knew everything about music, and would have a particular sound.”

Ouch, then. First introduced to me as “kind of a Hot Hot Heat ripoff” by Lizzy nearly two years ago, Maximo grew on me so much that they actually eclipsed HHH (both pre and post-Elevator) and finish six spots above the aforementioned Canadians on my year-end best albums of 2005 list. I was immediately hooked by the album’s near-flawless lead single, “Apply Some Pressure”, with that unbelievably addictive central guitar riff and its grueling pace, and the Park have subsequently earned themselves a spot near the top of my Bands I’d Kill To See Live But Haven’t Seen Yet list. Only further augmenting this desire is this fantastic official live recording, which I received as a bonus disc when I purchased the album on the day of its release in the UK last year.

SOUND QUALITY: A

Maximo Park, Live In Tokyo:
1. “Signal And Sign”
2. “The Coast Is Always Changing”
3. “Graffiti”
4. “I Want You To Stay”
5. “Limassol”
6. “Once, A Glimpse”
7. “Kiss You Better”

I’m all about the added bonuses, so here’s Field Music’s excellent remix of Maximo’s last single, “I Want You To Stay”. Field Music make the song completely their own, taking the bass-driven original and turning it into a jangly piano number far removed from the original, and it’s one of the best remixes I’ve heard all year.

MP3: “I Want You To Stay” (Field Music Remix) - Maximo Park

And while we’re on the topic of the “Stay” single, my main man Ramon Bloomberg (who also rocked that new Raconteurs vid) directed the track’s slick video, which you can and should download below. Let’s take a moment to give props to directors like Ramon and Elliot Jokelson who make their videos available for download for free on their personal website (*moment*, “props”). As for Ramon, he’s got some major projects coming down the pipeline, so remember the name.

Video: “I Want You To Stay”
Director: Ramon Bloomberg
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

A final note: My apologies for the slight lull in updates - it’s hard to get into pretentious music “critic” mode when you’re personal and academic life are simultaneously assaulting you with crisis after crisis from all directions, but I’m doing my best to forge ahead and keep the updates coming. However, if things slow down around here for a little while (which I sincerely hope they won’t), you’ll know why.

The following precedings will go off a bit different than usual, as even new readers can probably recognize the uniform rigidity found in the presentation of all of my posts (the product of my unshakeable habit of taking everything too seriously), but I’ve recently found my attempts at perfectly categorizing everything and keeping things as officious as possible to a bit suffocating and - to an extent - slightly contrived. Here’s a break from my unrelenting quest to find what’s new and unheard in favor of just appreciating two songs that have been around for a little while, but don’t get nearly the respect they deserve. So maybe you’ll see more of these pretense-less posts around here more often, but then again maybe not - as I said it’s not really my style - but here goes regardless.

MP3: “10,000 Lakes” - Kid Dakota
MP3: “Safe Travels” - Peter & The Wolf

It should go without saying how much I highly recommend these two songs given the title of this post, but I should make it clear I’m not trying to nominate these songs as two of music’s all-time greatest or that I even think a lot of you will agree with me, but these are just two songs which, for me, are just perfect. Each one of these songs serves to perfectly capture a specific, tangible emotion for me, despite the obvious differences in their mood and presentation, and each song has found their way (in that exact order), onto any downtempo mix CD I’ve made in the last two months.

“10,000 Lakes”, the only output from Kid Dakota to ever grace my ears, finds itself decidedly tied to a miserably-bleak, fatalist nature, despite lyrics referencing Paul Bunyan, the Minnesota Vikings and treadmills (in that order). Without a doubt the best song ever written about Minnesota - so much so that I wonder if even the by-all-accounts-untouchable Sufjan can top it when he finally gets around to the Land of Lakes on his fifty states project - “10,000 Lakes” operates with a cinematic scope and grandeur not found in the bare bones presentation of “Safe Travels”, despite what feels like an equally sparse arrangement. Darren Jackson unconvincingly delivers that “I’m optimistic” refrain to what feels like a sympathizing audience of backup vocalists, with their response of collective sighs and moans (found again in “Safe Travels”) providing the backing vocal track for Jackson’s opus. An ominous six-chord progression opens the track, setting the stage for the precedings to come, which are as haunting as anything I’d ever heard until “All Fires” reared it’s mournful head this summer. Shotrly after the tone of the piece is set by the opening bars, an equally-baleful fragmented chord progression that begins in the left channel and drifts over to the right in a beautiful example of subtle lo-fi production at its best arrives to grab the listener’s rapt attention, before the doom and gloom gives way to the lonely piano notes that close out the track. “10,000 Lakes” will likely never see it’s way into my most played list on my iPod, assuming I stay on this generally happy and decidedly non-suicidal path I’ve taken to this point in my life, but it will always be a curiously comforting soundtrack to the most desperate moments in my life, something I realized last night somewhere between relationship breakdown #1,362 and the realization that my impending exam schedule just might be too much for me to endure and still come out the other side with any semblance of well-restedness or stable mental health.

Thus, just as the fatalist desperation of “10,000 Lakes” will always be there for me at the lowest points of my life without fail, Peter & The Wolf will always be there for me to put on immediately after, as there may never have been a song that so ably convinces the listener that, “hey, everything’s gonna be okay”, without trying better than “Safe Travels”. The perfect soundtrack to the departure of anyone close to you and the song I’ve found myself listening to every single night before I go to bed (without fail) for the last month, “Safe Travels” takes the bleak melancholy of “10,000 Lakes” and channels it into a bittersweet optimism that is the perfect progression and pick-me-up from the hopelessness of the latter. The fact remains that the effect of art on an individual is subjective and will inevitably vary from person to person, but if either of these songs can mean half as much to any of you as they do to me, then this post (and the valuable time it stole from my already-last minute studies) will be well worth the change of pace from my usual fare.

[beautiful photograph taken by Grit, somewhere near the Baltic Sea]

YES. This is so awesome. First of all, who ever thought we’d have the priviledge of hearing a late-90’s boy band-revivalist group whose primary influence is shitty synthesized early-80’s disco, let alone that it would actually be something worth listening to. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Fibes, Oh Fibes! bring to the table, and it’s incredible. And best of all, the pretty-boy sextet is from Sweden, whose primary export these days seems to be ridiculously-trendy indie pop groups (though F.O.F! is pretty much purely pop without a trace of indie to be found), so no matter how cheesy the lyrics and that monologue toward the end may be you know it’s still certified-hip as a result of their nationality alone. Furthermore, they’re so good at being so unbelievably-80’s (their art direction! their music videos!) and they’re so hilarious in how seriously they take themselves that it’s really hard not to love them. Add in the fact that “Can’t Be So” is one of, if not the single most fun song of 2006 and you’ve got a hit on your hands.

First of all, you’ve got those twinkling intro-to-every-80’s-movie-ever opening bars, which lead directly into that incredibly catchy, dancey synth line that’s straight out of Miami Sound Machine circa 1984. Cue the howling electric guitars and those “oh-wha-oh-oh” backing vocals and shit just starts getting ridiculous. Have I used the word ridiculous enough in this review yet? Because honestly it’s the only way to describe Fibes, Oh Fibes! and “Can’t Be So”. Please feel free to check out the lyrics, they’re just as cheesy and terrible as you might expect, but if you’re looking to a song like this in search of lyrical profundity than you’ve got your shit all mixed up in the first place. Separating themselves from should-be contemporaries like the aforementioned Sound Machine and every other shitty synth-disco act of the eighties who consistently rehashed this relentlessly electronic (drum machines, synths, keytars, etc.) sound, F.O.F. actually play all of their instruments, sing all their backing vocals, and write their own music, thus lending them some artistic credibility, but seriously, if you’re looking at this song as anything more than a little slice of incredibly fun dancefloor heaven, you’re looking way too much into the situation. This isn’t the kind of song that’s going to change your life or leave you with even the slightest hint of deep meaning or profundity, but it’s three minutes and forty-three seconds of pure, unadultered pop fun and if you can listen to this without a huge smile spreading across your face than you’re a stronger man than I.

MP3: “Can’t Be So” - Fibes, Oh Fibes! ((highly recommended))

I’m gonna hold off on the full-fledged single review until I get a chance to hear the three Erol Alkan-produced b-sides that will be backing the single release of “Once And Never Again” (officially out on October 23rd, preorder here), but for now here’s your chance to hear the song, produced by Steve Mackey and previously only available in demo form (here). First impressions indicate it to be every bit as good as “Separated By Motorways” and “Appropriation”, but it doesn’t quite match the extremely high standard of excellence set by the “Weekend Without Make Up”/”Fulwood Babylon” single release, but then again, few songs have this year.

MP3: “Once And Never Again” - The Long Blondes

“Futures”, the first single off of Zero 7’s The Garden actually received the music video treatment twice. The first clip, beautifully directed by Robert Seidel, was ultimately passed on because it wasn’t commercial enough. With the state of music video distribution in the US one might find this curious, but you must remember that MTV and MTV2 actually play videos (and good ones at that) in the UK and that videos are often included as added purchase incentive on CD-single releases so commercialism remains a factor. Seidel’s video operates on high artifice and is centered around abstract images of what reveals itself to be different kinds of deconstructed foods and other natural materials, but ultimately succeeds thanks to it’s creative rhythmic editing and originality. Directors are always way better at describing their visions than I am though, so here’s what Seidel had to say about the clip:

“This low-budget video was done within just 2½ weeks for the planned DVD of Zero 7’s The Garden. The video visualizes crushed objects representing a diffuse future of wishes and desires which shape over time. Visible artifacts and the rough synchronisation add subtle emotions to the uncertain process…”

Video: “Futures” (Version 1) – Jose Gonzalez
Director: Robert Seidel
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

The formally-released video was directed by up-and-coming production team Duckeye, who create a wonderful clip in which the aerial view of a landscape is manipulated in rhythm with the song. While the clip is brilliant in concept, it could have been better executed, as the video could stand to be more stimulating with more instances of the landscape interacting with the song as can be seen at times throughout the video. The two videos are difficult to compare due to the fact that their treatment of and approach to the song is so dramatically different, and I really don’t know which one I prefer. Compare the two for yourself and feel free to discuss in the comments.

Video: “Futures” (Version 2) – Jose Gonzalez
Director: Duckeye
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime] [iPod]

Oh, fuck, another awesome song called “Heartbeat(s)” to keep track of? Yeah, that was my initial reaction as well, but trust me, this one’s worth keeping track of. While Blackbud’s debut single, “Heartbeat”, isn’t quite of the elite class that it’s similarly-named predecessors (brought to us in previous years by The Knife, Annie and Jose Gonzalez), it’s an extremely exciting rock track on par with and vocally reminescent of the best of Muse’s recent output. A refreshing change of pace from the dark, brooding Joy Division-inspired guitar work that’s so trendy (and played out) these days, Blackbud bring to the table an unabridled rock intensity built on relentless, serrated guitar riffs and vocalist Joe Taylor’s ominous vocals.

An initial reaction to the emotive balladry of the song’s opening verses will yield understandable comparisons to reviled soft-rock Britpop acts like Keane and Embrace, but Blackbud manage to refine the soft-loud-soft technique to absolute perfection here, bringing a surprisingly raw intensity to the track that’s typically absent in the often-vanilla singles of their aforementioned contemporaries. Taylor’s uninspired lyrics about holding hands in the pouring rain and kisses in the morning light (seriously) initially lend the song a definite guilty pleasure feel, but that’s immediately shaken once the Matthew Bellamy-esque “you know much more than I do” pre-chorus gives way to the driving power chords of the chorus. The “loud” in the soft/loud/soft equation, that massive chorus hits hard twice before the song goes out guns ablazing, as the rollicking, unforgiving guitars of the chorus are drawn out over the course of one final, powerful bridge, leaving you breathless and wanting more.

MP3: “Heartbeat” (Single Version) - Blackbud ((highly recommended))

Unfortunately, my want for more led me to investigate the band’s debut album, which came out this past July. I say unfortunately because rather than being more of the same extravagant rocking I’d come to expect from the band after playing the shit out of “Heartbeat” for weeks, I was left with an album of watered-down and highly forgettable throwaways. I mean, my expectations weren’t unreasonable - “Heartbeat” really is an incredibly exciting debut single and the group did win the Glastonbury Festival’s unsigned band competition two years ago (their co-champion? The Subways), but From The Sky, as the LP’s titled is nothing more than a dissappointing, plodding mess. To make matter’s even worse, “Heartbeat” has fallen victim to absolutely egregious production here, as the reproduced version of the song is stripped of the original’s raw emotion and intensity by lifeless, glossed-over production. Good god, the humanity:

MP3: “Heartbeat” (Album Version) - Blackbud ((why? WHY?!))

Often times re-production can do wonders for a band’s early, pre-LP singles (see: Bloc Party meets Paul Epworth), but in this case I just don’t understand how no one was able to realize the unholy injustice being done to the brilliance of the original. Seriously, it’s just tragic. Below is the closest thing From The Sky has to a saving grace, the album’s lead single “Barefoot Dancing”.

MP3: “Barefoot Dancing” - Blackbud