Good Weather For Airstrikes

Last night Girl Talk almost killed me. Whether it was the relentless unce-unce-uncery of a metric ton of hot jams crushing down on me the entire night, the absolutely packed (read: wayyyyy over-sold) crowd at Studio B, or the countless drinks poured in my eyes, hair and face, I nearly died on multiple occasions last night, but fuck if it wasn’t entirely worth it. Hell, I think I may have been responsible for the death of at least three people in my own right via a few inadvertent elbows to the temple, and those are only the ones I know about. But yeah, shit was INSANE, Studio B was absolute hinges (as in “off the”) all night and even the venue’s ridiculously oppressive no re-entry policy (which resulted in the devolution of the men’s bathroom into an opaque cloud of cigarette smoke) couldn’t keep all in attendance from having the absolute time of their lives.

I first saw Girl Talk in DC two months ago, one of my most triumphant concert experiences ever if only for the fact that I managed to get kicked out (not once but) twice and still succeeded in not missing a single minute of Greg Gilles’ fantastic set, and he made my efforts worth it, putting on one of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to. But the difference between his DC gig and his show last night, his first in Brooklyn in over four years, was astronomical. In DC, Gilles basically went crazy in front of his laptop and played a slightly-updated version of Night Ripper in its entirety, with a very small amount of new material sprinkled here and there, but I was left with no complaints and eagerly anticipated his Studio B show expecting to see more of the same and maybe turn some of my less-musically-aware ladyfriends onto an artist they’d never heard. As if to directly chastise me for my clearly-not-high-enough expectations, Girl Talk decided that he would blow me, along with everyone else in attendance, out of the fucking water with a set of what appeared to be comprised of almost entirely new material.

After waiting in line forever in the freezing cold on the ONE FUCKING NIGHT I forgot my scarf and gloves, we were finally admitted, only to have to wait through two interminable, nigh-unbearable noise rock sets (from Hearts of Darknesses and Pterodactyl, if you must know) before Parts & Labor finally took the stage and breathed some life into the party. I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of noise rock, but while the two opening bands seemed to subject the audience to nothing more than aural torture, with Parts & Labor you could tell that they were doing what they do best and they were doing it well, even if it didn’t necessarily cater to my tastes. But then the time was upon us as Girl Talk took to the stage and then, uh, told us to wait three-and-a-half minutes while he “just [went] to the bathroom real quick”. But then the time was upon us, as he returned to the stage and launched into the opening bars of album-opener “Once Again”, the only(?) Night Ripper track to burst forth from his speakers until nearly an hour later when he wrapped up the main set with an immaculate, incredible, life-affirming extended mix of the seminal moment from that album (and perhaps the entire mash-up genre): Gilles’ triumphant Biggie vs Elton John masterwork that occurs two-thirds of the way through “Smash My Head”. Everything else though - almost without exception - was brand new hot fire that, for the most part, blew the fucking doors off of Night Ripper, as impossible as that might be to believe.

First, there was that part where “Carry On My Wayward Son” birthed the synth line from “My Love”, before Rick Ross dropped by to spit a few verses of “Hustlin’” over the Timbaland masterwork and Mylo’s “Mothafucka gonna drop the preshaaaaaa” verse cut through everything to make me the happiest man in the NYC metropolitan area at that moment. Then later, out of nowhere, dude dropped the climactic synth surges of “Digital Love” over Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On” and brought a roar of approval from the crowd that wasn’t matched for the rest of the night. The Daft Punk hotness didn’t stop there as he brought the verse of “Technologic” into the mix toward the end of the set, and then absolutely destroyed the crowd in the finale of the encore with the synthetic euphoria of “Around The World”. Also making appearances were Talk’s new official remixes of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” and Peter Bjorn & John’s “Let’s Call It Off”, as well as the unveiling of his long-rumored “Cell Phone’s Dead” remix for Beck, which - if it ever sees official release - is sure to blow some doors off their hinges in a big way. Later, in the final moments of the main set, Gilles threw on “Lithium” over a foor-to-the-flour beat and launched himself into the crowd, narrowly missing my head and smashing head-first into the face of an unfortunately-located Asian girl next to me, which was, y’know, almost as terrifying as it was awesome (she shrugged it off like a champ). After the conclusion of “Smash Your Head” brought the music to a halt for the first time since it began over an hour before, he dangled the prospect of an encore (which we didn’t get in DC) over the audience on the condition that “Everybody better dance like you just got born!”, before a collage of “Bossy”, “Around The World” and a Queen-tastic mix of the percussive beat of “We Will Rock You” and the guitar-hero glory of “We Are The Champions” overwhelmed the room and ended the set every bit as amazingly as it began.

To experience the glory for yourselves hit up the excellent downloads below, where I’ve posted “Smash Your Head”, the essential track off Night Ripper (for the one of you out there who hasn’t heard it), and “Pure Magic”, taken from his recent Bone Hard Zaggin’ 7″, as well as his excellent official remixes of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife” and PB&J’s “Let’s Call It Off”. Enjoy, and be sure to do whatever it takes to make it out to a Girl Talk show if he so much as breaches a 500-mile radius of your location; I can honestly say it’s worth it.

MP3s:
“Smash Your Head” - Girl Talk ((highly recommended))
“Pure Magic” - Girl Talk
“Knife” (Girl Talk Remix) - Grizzly Bear ((highly recommended))
“Let’s Call It Off” (Girl Talk Remix) - Peter Bjorn & John

INTRODUCING… ENCYCLOPEDIA PICTURA
Speaking of Grizzly Bear’s “Knife”, I’ve never been a huge fan of theirs, but their new video for the track is great. Directed by Encyclopedia Pictura, an up-and-coming directing collective that’s sure to do massive things in 2007, the clip is a breathtaking masterpiece of animation and special effects, complete with one of the best closing shots I’ve seen in a music video in a long time.

Video: “Knife” - Grizzly Bear
Director: Encyclopedia Pictura
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

The “Knife” clip is only Encyclopedia Pictura’s second music video to date, and their first, for Zion I’s “So Tall”, upholds (and possibly even surpasses) the impressively high standard shown in the Grizzly Bear video. Check it below, it’s just beautiful.

Video: “So Tall” - Zion I
Director: Encyclopedia Pictura
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime]

NEW HOTNESS FROM PHONES & NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB
It’s always a tricky situation when the remix hits the internet before it’s original counterpart, as you can’t really judge the merits of the remix without having heard the original track, and in many cases the remix can only yield so much insight into the intact structure of the original. This is especially the case when a track is as chopped-up and reworked as Phones’ edit of “The Bomb”, the hotly-anticipated upcoming third single from New Young Pony Club. That aside, I’m not sure if I like the new direction Phones has been taking on his remixes in 2007 (see also: “The Prayer” [Phones Full Metal Jackin’ Mix]). Whereas past remixes of his have seen him updating indie rock hits with a danceable beat and bangin’ electronic flourishes, this year has seen him gravitating towards a more electronic, almost-techno sound, with chopped-up vocal samples and pounding electro beats taking the place of his previous signatures. In fact, it seems to be borrowing heavily from the Simian Mobile Disco bag of tricks in both technique and general sound; check out the blogosphere premier below and let me know what you think in the comments.

MP3: “The Bomb” (Phones Edit) - New Young Pony Club

TIMBALAND… FEATURING THE HIVES
Yeah, you heard me right. Timbaland’s readying his upcoming solo album, Timbaland Presents: Shock Value, for release on March 27th, and it features a ridiculously star-studded cast of guests, including Bjork, M.I.A., Elton John, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake (obviously) and even a rumored appearance by Coldplay. Here’s one of the first tracks to surface, featuring Swedish rockers the Hives, who contribute vocals and guitar-work to the track. According to the Hives, “We do not at this time know when it will be out but Timbaland is famous so you will notice when it is time.” Well put. Thanks to [grindin] for the hotness.

MP3: “Throw It On Me” (ft. The Hives) - Timbaland

LET’S TALK ABOUT BLOC PARTY, THANKS
I’ve got a full post on this (as well as my review of A Weekend In The City) on the way, but let’s just take a moment to talk about how fucking amazing Bloc Party is. I know they’re a pretty polarizing group these days (lord knows I still love them though), but you’ve got to respect the fact that they can drop an album as ambitious as A Weekend In The City and release 11 bonus B-sides (essentially, a whole ‘nother album) to accompany it without so much as batting an eye (no announcement, no advance notice, nothing). Every last song as good as (and in select instances, better than) the actual album; impressive as shit. That’s all I’ll say for now, I’ll go into it in further depth later, but I’ll leave you with one track for the taking to whet your appetite.

MP3: “Selfish Son” - Bloc Party

Now, “Selfish Son” is by no means the best of the bunch (it’s somewhere in the middle of the pack, really), but it’s perhaps the most interesting track of them all for me. You see, by far the most polarizing aspect of Weekend is Jacknife Lee’s production work, with nearly every one of the its detractors uniting to cite over-production as the album’s primary downfall. I’ll go into much more depth on this topic in my review of the album, but for now I’ll just be focusing on “Selfish Son”, a track that lives and dies on Lee’s heavy producton. Moreso than any other new song, “Selfish Son” would be absolutely naked and lifeless without Lee’s work behind the boards, and it makes for an interesting track that sounds more electronic than perhaps any other Bloc Party track to date. Plus, it also features Bloc’s twinkliest chorus yet, and you know I’m a sucker for all things twinkly.

That’s all for now though, check back soon for a massive surprise feature and stay tuned for much more Bloc Party coverage in the next two weeks.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Live Review, Music Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.