Good Weather For Airstrikes

Chistmas has come early again this year in the form of the Wombats long-awaited debut album, A Guide To Love Loss & Desperation. Nearly a year after my initial love affair with the band, they’d begun to slip off my radar a bit after the luster of recent singles “Backfire At The Disco” and “Let’s Dance To Joy Division” wore off much faster than anticipated and the unveiling of an LP tracklist comprised almost entirely of tracks I’d heard before. My expectations weren’t low per se, but they definitely weren’t high, especially after a year in which bands with promising early singles consistently produced disappointing debut records (see: the Maccabees, Good Shoes, Air Traffic, et. al). But fucking fuck motherfuck, this is an amazing record.

The Wombats early singles established them as an endearing guitar-pop trio who made their money on wonderful three-part harmonies, playful anecdotal lyrics and blissful melodies, but somewhere along the line they apparently decided to evolve into a band of the motherfucking ROCK variety. I never would have classified them as such prior to the album, but the fact of the matter is, this shit does indeed rock. The amps are turned up to 11, the guitars are placed at the front of the mix and processed through heavy fuzz, and the three-piece generate more noise than you ever thought they had in them. These elements converge to give the tracks a truly visceral edge and inject the album with more vitality than perhaps any Britpop record since Silent Alarm. The mixing and production work is flawless, with the band’s new, heavier approach nicely complemented with just enough synthetic flourishes to give the band a polished, unique sound without overdoing it. Elements that would be overly-cute, even cloying (a capella intros, childrens choirs, Bridget Jones references) in another band’s catalog sound perfect and endearing in this context; the Wombats can do whatever the fuck they want as long as they keep kicking out jams of this caliber.

The brilliant production work and new recordings makes the fact that there are only three new tracks here a complete non-issue. Old favorites (”Moving To New York”, “Lost In The Post”, “My First Wedding”) take on wonderful new life in their reincarnations, promising demos (”School Uniforms”, “Dr. Suzanne Maddox”) come alive in technicolor in their finished versions and even aforementioned singles “Backfire” and “Joy Division” (which appear unchanged from their single releases) take on new worth and enjoyability in the context of the full record. Throughout the album, frontman Murph will win you over with his anecdotal lyrics of his romantic misadventures, and though he’s singing of failure and despair, there’s always a hint of a smile or a tongue planted firmly in cheek. Having experienced nothing but the album’s nominal themes of love, loss and desperation as a result of the opposite sex, it seems a whole cast of female antagonists (Laura, Susie, Patricia, Dr. Suzanne Maddox, even Bridget Jones) are conspiring against him. Rest assured though, he’ll have the last laugh. The trio’s uncanny ability to write harmonies in which backing vocals pop in and out of the mix with a mechanical precision at exactly the right time, coupled with the band’s combination of accessible riffs and addictive hooks, should bring them massive success in no time (and with massive success, of course, comes fly-ass honeys). All in all, this is the complete package… the Wombats have arrived. Debut of the year? You better fucking believe it.

MP3s:
“Moving To New York” (Album Version) - The Wombats ((highly recommended))
“School Uniforms” - The Wombats ((highly recommended))

Once again, alternate links for those of you having difficulty with the direct ones.
ALTERNATE LINKS (via zShare)
• “Moving To New York” (Album Version) - The Wombats
• “School Uniforms” - The Wombats

The first time we mentioned Plan B in this space was in reference to Paul Epworth’s (aka Phones) foray in to hip-hop under the moniker Epic Man. Epic Man’s first release was as, er, epic as expected, a blistering track called “More Is Enough” that featured Plan B on vocals and cracked the top half of our Top Tracks of 2006 list. The track was more a showcase for Epworth’s production than it was a fair introduction to Plan B, so despite his performance on such a phenomenal single and a critically acclaimed debut album that was released in June of last year, he remains criminally underrated.

Plan B has, however, created his fair share of controversy in the UK, seeing one of his songs (”Kidz”) banned from the radio for violent lyrics that dealt with real-life issues that the radio-listening public was unprepared to face, such as abortion and the unchecked behavior of the youth in Plan B’s native London. Plan B, née Ben Drew, addresses the reaction to the ban through a skit on his new tour-only bootleg album, Paint It Blacker. The skit, entitled “Dave From Leicester”, features a female DJ asking for people to call in with responses to the lyrics in “Kidz”. Dave from Leicester calls in and rants about the poor, unoriginal light Plan B puts young African-Americans in London. The track features no mention of race whatsoever, and Plan B, who is white, gives a one-line response that completely turns the tables, asking Dave, “what color do you think I am?”

The aforementioned mixtape has many similar moments, with Plan B struggling with his identity and ranting against people who, like Dave from Leicester, dismiss him out of hand. The CD features Plan B rapping over tracks from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Jose Gonzalez, Coldplay, and many more, bringing Plan B’s memorable lyrics to the forefront. More than half of the tracks on Paint It Blacker are new, with a handful of them are reworks of tracks from his 2006 album Who Needs Action When You Got Words.

Of the new tracks, the two featuring the Rolling Stones are definite highlights. The first track on the CD, “Paint It Blacker”, shows Plan B first telling the story of a man who is sickened by the colors he sees around him, so he goes around either burning things to a blackened crisp or painting them. Plan B does not avoid poignancy on the track, however, finding time to humanize his villain, who first cries over the sight of a dead bird and then ceases his actions when confronted with a particular tombstone in a cemetery. The whole story is told over the memorable guitar lick and chorus from the Rolling Stones “Paint It Black”. The other Rolling Stones song, “Wild Horses”, features Plan B’s ruminations about someone he used to see as a father figure over the Rolling Stones song of the same name. Perhaps the most emotionally affecting track on the CD, “Wild Horses” is a compelling narrative that tells a tale of alcoholism and womanizing for the poor man as Plan B tries to set his life on the right track. Plan B urges him to track down his children and quit drinking, until the last verse when even Plan B can’t stand by him any longer. Disappointed that the man is unable to change and that his “true colors are shown”, Plan B drops the last line before “Wild Horses” chorus comes in, “Keep your fucking drink, you’ll need it now, you’re all on your own.”

Of the tracks that have simply been reworked from Plan B’s album, “Missing Links” is the standout. Outfitted with a looping sample of Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”, the song takes on a whole new heaviness that serves the hard-hitting lyrics about the drug scene Plan B has witnessed growing up. Plan B takes a strong anti-drug stance that seems far more real than most due to his honesty. He says “I ain’t no stranger to drugs, I’ve had my fair share,” but addresses the problems that come with drugs with lines like “I’ve seen my best friends die” and his rhetorical question posed to a hypothetical drug user: “What happened to your dreams and aspirations, blood, now the highlight of your day is masturbation, blood.” “Missing Links” highlights an important aspect of Plan B; he is not afraid to take a strong stand for what he believes and doesn’t try to water down his feelings to be more consumer-friendly. One of the most honest rappers out there, Plan B deserves all the attention he’s gotten and far, far more.

MP3s:
“Paint It Blacker” (with The Rolling Stones) - Plan B
“Wild Horses” (with The Rolling Stones) - Plan B
“Missing Links” (with Radiohead) - Plan B

BUT EVERETT, WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD OF MAINSTREAM R&B/HIP-HOP?
Well, I’m glad you asked that, because what’s going on in the world of mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop is that Timbaland decided why the hell shouldn’t he take that over too? If he can give street cred to a former Mickey Mouse Club member and Ms. “I’m Like A Bird”, why can’t he resuscitate the floundering career of You Got Served star Omarion? Well, he can, and he does it via a beat that’s “My Love”-lite for the chorus and “Say It Right”-atmospheric for the verses. Yeah, the combination works even better in music than it sounds on paper and like, somehow Omarion is catchy too. I blame Timbaland, whose official motto should read something like “Timabland: Making You Love Songs By Artists You Hate Since ‘96″. Seriously, everything dude touches turns to gold.

MP3: “Ice Box” - Omarion

Also, everybody’s favorite Akon knockoff, T-Pain, is no longer smitten with a stripper and has moved on to an easier target: every other girl! With the help of Yung Joc (of “It’s Goin’ Down” fame something), T-Pain will approach girls, try to get them drunk, and then persuade them to come home with him. In this sense he’s pretty much the same as every other guy, except every other guy doesn’t sound like Akon got the computer from “Fitter Happier” stuck in his voicebox. Yung Joc’s guest spot showcases lyrics as meaningless as sex with an ex-girlfriend (as in, you tell all your friends it’s totally meaningless but deep down you still like her so you try, in vain, to find some sort of meaning) and the chorus doesn’t exactly reach new lyrical stratospheres (”Lemme buy you a drink, ooh-ooh-ooh”), and I’ve certainly painted a pretty negative picture of the track, but the catch is that the whole is about seventy billion times greater than the sum of it’s parts. So, y’know, it’s a good song.

MP3: “Buy You A Drink” (ft. Yung Joc) - T-Pain

Man, the UK gets fucking everything. All the exciting buzz bands, all the excellent single releases, all the enthralling accents, and when the US finally produces a herky-jerky guitar-rock band to get excited about, the UK steals them away from us too. Apparently, said herky-jerky guitar-rock band enjoys rubbing it in my face, lavisihing the UK with single releases and tour dates and now this: We Are Scientists have announced a UK-only CD/DVD of rarities and music videos, titled Crap Attack, slated for release November 6th. The CD culls b-sides from the band’s various single releases and features two new remixes and even two covers, of Sigur Ros’ “Hoppipolla” and Art Brut’s “Bang Bang Rock & Roll”, the former of which was only previously available as a live recording from one of the band’s BBC Radio sessions. Its DVD counterpart features music videos for all twelve songs on With Love & Squalor as well as live footage from the band’s April 13th Shepherd’s Bush Empire show, so between the two you’re getting quite a bargain it seems. If you’re in the UK, that is. The band’s got a real gift for words, so I’ll let them take it from here:

Behold Crap Attack, our most unedited expulsion to date. With 15 tracks on the CD, 12 videos and a full live show on the DVD, and emotional, semi-factual liner notes, and a standard plastic case that all that stuff goes in — this is truly a voluminous ejection.

The CD contains:

1. Ram It Home
2. Surprise
3. The Great Escape (The Silence Remix)
4. Mucho Mas
5. Callbacks Under The Sea
6. Hoppipolla
7. Bang Bang Rock & Roll
8. Nobody Move Under The Sea
9. Sie hat Was vermisst
10. Be My Baby
11. This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predictable Remix)
12. History Repeats
13. This Means War
14. The Great Escape (Under The Sea)
15. Textbook (Under The Sea)

Whereas the DVD has only got:

• Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt directed by Akiva Schaffer
• This Scene Is Dead directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• Inaction directed by Eric Gross
• Can’t Lose directed by Graham Rich
• Callbacks directed by Akiva Schaffer
• Cash Cow directed by Keith Murray with Christian Owens
• It’s A Hit directed by Akiva Schaffer
• The Great Escape directed by Akiva Schaffer
• Textbook directed by Randy Bell & Justin Rice
• Lousy Reputation directed by Justin Rice & Randy Bell
• Worth the Wait directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• What’s the Word directed by Agnes Chu
• It’s A Hit (alternate version) directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• Shepherds Bush Empire show, April 13, 2006, with full commentary

I won’t stiff you on the mp3s, so below is the brand new studio version of “Hoppipolla” as well as the CD’s two serviceable remixes, for “The Great Escape” and “This Scene Is Dead”. “Hoppipolla” is the highlight here, as it’s awesome to hear it performed on an acoustic guitar and Keith actually does an a pretty serviceable job of recreating Jonsi’s unparalleled vocals. Who knew that falsetto even existed? Furthermore, dude even nailed the lyrics, an unbelievably impressive accomplishment, as memorizing lyrics in a language as ridiculous as Icelandic is surely no easy task. Downloads, ahoy:

MP3: “Hoppipolla” - We Are Scientists
MP3: “The Great Escape (The Silence Mix)” - We Are Scientists
MP3: “This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predicatble Remix)” - We Are Scientists

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO A WEEKEND IN THE CITY, OR, HOW TO GET RIDICULOUSLY PUMPED FOR THE NEW BLOC PARTY ALBUM, OR, LESSONS IN EXCITEMENT-INDUCED PANTS-WETTING

Exciting exciting exciting. Awh yeah, Bloc Party sent out a press release today revealing their release plans for their upcoming sophomore album, A Weekend In The City, as well as their plans for the singles that will precede the album. Before getting to the singles though, let’s get into those album details. The album is set to be released in the US through VICE (holla) on February 6th and in the UK on V2 the day before. As implied by the title, the album is inspired by “the living noises of the metropolis” and is centered around themes of urbanite relaxation and the workings of everyday life in the city, as well as continuing the theme of the emotional detachment of youth established on Silent Alarm on songs like “Banquet” and “She’s Hearing Voices”. I am most positive that this will be a truly massive album and it should easily obliterate all of the previously-nagging notions that Bloc was nothing more than a Gang of Four rip-off, and hell, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised if Bloc Party were one of the biggest bands in the world by the end of 2007. If Bloc Party’s primed to steal the international spotlight, then they’ve got the right man to take them there, as producer Jacknife Lee is no stranger to larger-than-life bands and albums, having rocked production duties on Snow Patrol’s last two albums as well as U2’s most recent offering. Blog Party’s got some great quotes taken from Kele’s latest interview in the NME, the most exciting of which I’ve excerpted for you below:

“We wanted to make something that references some of the great contemporary electronic music that’s being made without also lusing the industrial energy of rock music.”

Though I really can’t imagine a more perfect album cover for this album than Hendrik Wil’s “i n a h u r r y” photograph, the band has chosen German photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg to provide the cover art. Incidentally, it’s Blees Luxemburg’s “Towering Inferno” photograph that adorns Bloc’s US labelmate the Streets’ album cover for Original Pirate Material, so she’s no stranger to VICE or album cover photography. Enough with semantics though, onto the tracklist:

01. “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)”
02. “Hunting for Witches”
03. “Waiting for the 7:18″
04. “The Prayer” (formerly “A Prayer To The Lord”)
05. “Uniform”
06. “On” (formerly “Wet”)
07. “Where Is Home?”
08. “Kreuzberg”
09. “I Still Remember” (formerly “It Started In An Afternoon”)
10. “Sunday”
11. “SRXT” (formerly “Seroxat”)

While the live hits (”Hunting For Witches”, “Waiting”, and “Uniform”) are all present as well as previously leaked track “Song For Clay”, conspicuosly absent are “Cells Shaped Like Stars” and “Blue Moon” (most recently renamed “We Were Lovers” and “England”, respectively), which were two of the better new tracks circulating the net in the form of live recordings for a while. The group have announced that two singles will be precede the album, “I Still Remember” in the US and “The Prayer”, formerly titled “It Started In An Afternoon” and “A Prayer To The Lord”, respectively. From the live versions I’ve heard “I Still Remember” seems like a curious choice for a lead single, but the pulsing beat that develops midway through shows definite promise, and “The Prayer” is not in existence in any form on the internet as far as I know, so I’ve got no insight on that I’m afraid. However, Kele did say that “with ‘The Prayer’ the idea was to do something really interesting with rhythm. It’s got a real, almost crunk feel to it. I know that’s probably gonna frighten people, but it’s still us”. In an earlier interview, Kele revealed that “The Prayer” was inspired by a Venezuelan dance called The Bolero, which - Lizzy had to fill me in here - is apparently comprised predominantly of heavy stomps and handclaps, so I guess we’ve got that to look forward to. And crunk. Handclaps, stomps and crunk. Sounds like the recipe for a hit to me. What… you actually want to hear some of these songs now? Well I can oblige, but only in the form of live versions that vary greatly in quality, indicated in brackets after each track.

First up is the single, “I Still Remember”, recorded live on Bloc’s fanclub-only tour in Northumbria earlier this year, back when it was still called “It Started In An Afternoon”.

MP3: “I Still Remember” (Live In Northumbria) - Bloc Party [QUALITY: B-]

Next up, the highest quality recording to surface yet; the brilliant “Uniform” recorded at Intonation Music Festival last June. I was there, seven rows back, to witness the song and the shit was life-changing. I can’t wait to hear a studio version of “Uniform” moreso than any other song I’ve heard so far.

MP3: “Uniform” (Live @ Intonation 2006) - Bloc Party [QUALITY: A]

The second-best quality live recordings come from April’s Coachella festival, where the band debuted “Uniform” and “Waiting For The 7.18″ for the first time to US audiences.

MP3s: [QUALITY: A-]
“Waiting For The 7.18″ (Live @ Coachella 2006) - Bloc Party
“Uniform” (Live @ Coachella 2006) - Bloc Party

Finally, here are live recordings from Bloc Party’s show this past winter at London’s vaunted Fabric Nightclub, where the band played last March 16th. The show was a very special event, with all opening DJs playing for free including the incredible and very much in-demand Erol Alkan, as the show was to raise money for a friend of the band undergoing an expensive cancer treatment. Before the show, Kele said that ““We want this to be a really special event, one that the people lucky enough to be there will talk about for a long time,” and to ensure that they did, the band played a whopping FIVE new songs. “Uniform” and “Waiting” are the only songs here that ended up making the album, though “Machine” (formerly “Perfect Teens”), appears to be a very early version of “Song For Clay” with it’s opening “People are afraid/To merge on the freeway” refrain, though the instrumentation is completely overhauled and nothing else remains the same. Also played were the aforementioned “Cells Shaped Like Stars” and “Blue Moon”, the former of which I’d been looking forward to hearing a studio version of ever since this set first surfaced, so I’m significantly crushed to find out that it didn’t make the albums final cut. Fingers crossed for it to surface as a b-side though. The quality is not great, with the vocals fairly muffled, but it’s certainly listenable, especially if you’re a fan dying to hear some of the new material. All mp3s are generously provided by Blog Party; head over there and holla at James if you get a chance, he does an awesome job keeping everyone update on absolutely everything and anything that goes down in the world of Bloc Party.

MP3s: [QUALITY: C]
“Waiting For The 7.18″ (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Machine” (formerly “Perfect Teens”) (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Uniform” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Cells Shaped Like Stars” (formerly “Into The Blue”) (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Blue Moon” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party

There you have it, everything I could possibly give you to get you pumped for the new Bloc Party album. If you’re not excited, you’re not human.

With the new Decemberists album, The Crane Wife, finally gracing the shelves of record stores nationwide yesterday (almost two months after the leak first hit the internet), I can at last share with you some of the excellence that comprises one of the year’s absolute best releases. Any concerns aroused by the album’s “major label debut” status can be put to rest, as Capitol’s influence can be heard only in the album’s increased production values rather than in any impediment of the band’s established undeniably-indie sound, which was surely the fear of the band’s loyal fanbase. You’ve already heard “Summersong” here before, thanks to Capitol savvily granting Pitchfork the exclusive mp3 last month, which is the album’s most immediate and accessible (i.e. the “most maintream”) track, but even that retains the distinct Meloy feel. Chris Walla, now working with the relative freedom of a major label budget for the second time, does another brilliant job behind the boards here, expanding the already epic scale of the music and taking the band’s sound to new heights.

Electric guitar is introduced to the band’s already vast arsenal of instruments, but this isn’t to say Colin Meloy: Lit-Rock King has become Colin Meloy: Guitar Hero. Rather, it’s used more as a tool of emphasis in a complimentary role, as can be seen on album highlights “The Crane Wife 3″ and “Sons & Daughters”, which bookend the album flawlessly. The electric guitar does take center stage on the album’s biggest wtf moment, the hard-rocking “When The War Came”, which opens with a barrage of electric power chords that wouldn’t be out of place on a hardcore album. Soon enough, Meloy’s distinct vocals come in and things click, and the track ends up working well (really well in fact), but it’s a sound never before heard from the Decemberists. New ground is also broken on “The Perfect Crime 2″ (don’t hold your breath for a “Perfect Crime 1″ though, as you won’t find it on this album), which sees the band at their danciest with a pulsing drumbeat and a jumpy, dancey bassline.

MP3: “When The War Came” - The Decemberists

Elsewhere, the rest of the album sees the band perfecting and expanding the sound found on their three previous releases. Probable first single, “O, Valencia” is one of Meloy’s best works to date, a classic feuding families/forbidden love story with a soaring chorus and addictive refrain. I feel badly sharing more than three cuts off the album, so you’ll have to settle for an excellent-quality solo performance of the song 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” (Live @ The Beachcomber) - Colin Meloy

The lit-rockers’ irrepressible penchant for the epic manifests itself in epic long-runner “The Island”, one of the two primary song cycles around which the album is structured along with the three-part “Crane Wife” series. The latter is broken up between two songs (”The Crane Wife 1 & 2″ and album-opener “The Crane Wife 3″), while the former remains intact as one 12+ minute masterwork. “The Island”s three parts (”Come and See”, “The Landlord’s Wife”, “You’ll Not Feel The Drowning”) darts all over the map in terms of melody, pace and intensity, climaxing in a ridiculous “La-ahhhhh” falsetto the likes of which have never been heard from Meloy. The other featured song cycle is the “Crane Wife” series, the final installment of which serves to open the album perfectly. “The Crane Wife 3” is centered on a repeating descending guitar riff, accented by an emotive electric guitar stroke and completed by Meloy’s tender “hang my head, hang my head low” chorus. “The Crane Wife 1 & 2″ would be much better off split into two parts, as part one proves to be significantly better than part two, what with its driving rhythm section and the uplifting crescendo that leads into another soaring chorus, complete with an ascending xylophone progression and everything. The xylophone love continues at the end of part one, stealing the spotlight for a moment (along with an equally-catchy keys progression) before the instrumentation dies out and gives way to part two. They kind of flow into each other, but the reality is that these really should have been broken up into two separate parts, the first of only a few gripes about the album.

MP3: “The Crane Wife 3″ - The Decemberists ((highly recommended))

The only other instances in which the album stumbles are on “Yankee Bayonet” and “Shankhill Butchers”, which are by no means bad songs, but neither maintains the extremely high standard set throughout the rest of the album. “Yankee Bayonet” serves as a polite “thanks for everything” to Kill Rock Stars, as its a duet with former labelmate Laura Veirs (whose profile will be raised significantly if this album’s well received by the general public), and while the unconventional beauty of Veir’s voice nicely compliments that of Meloy, the track dwells in mediocrity and fails to be anything more than average. “Shankhill Butchers”, by far the album’s worst track, is a tedious acoustic affair that fails to recapture the emotive magic that previous Decemberists classics of the same ilk “Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect”, “On The Bus Mall” and even “Angels & Angles” did. Fortunately, the album perserveres and ends on a high note, with repeated plays proving album closer “Sons & Daughters” to be the best track. The song opens with gentle acoustic strumming and one of the catchiest vocal structures Meloy’s ever composed (also, dude gets props for rhyming “dirigible” with “untraceable”) and builds throughout, adding more instruments as it progresses and snowballing to an epic finish in which the group’s voices unite to carry the album to a perfect close. All in all, the Decemberists have turned in an extremely impressive major label debut, and while it immediately stacks up well next to their previous releases (so much so that Everett’s currently got it tabbed as his front-runner for album of the year), only time will tell if it can maintain the replayability and enjoyability of Castaways & Cutouts and last year’s career highlight (in my opinion) Picaresque.

MP3: “Sons & Daughters” - The Decemberists ((highly recommended))

It’s long, but there’s a lot of goodness in this one, so do your best to perservere.

Last June, Lizzy and I tagged along with the whole VICE crew to Chicago for the VICE-curated Intonation Music Festival, but due to the shitty timing of that whole hiatus ordeal, I didn’t get a chance to review the incredible weekend here. This is extremely regrettable, but not because you really needed to hear me rant any more about how good Bloc Party is or how transcendent it was as the stage lights illuminated the rainy mist of the evening during “This Modern Love” or how life-changing “Uniform” was. Rather, I’m most troubled by the fact that I didn’t get a chance to attempt to convey truly how mind-blowing Jon Brion’s epic set was. Fortunately, Pitchfork was there and summed it up way better than I ever could, but even that can’t do justice to what, for me, was one of the most unexpectedly-amazing performances I’ve ever witnessed. Going into it, I’d never heard of Brion’s apparently-infamous live show. All I really knew about the guy was that he’s considered a musical genius (and rightfully so, might I add) and that he produced the last Kanye album (on which he also played drums) and the superior version of Fiona Apple’s Extraordinay Machine. I was also aware of his extensive work scoring films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, I Heart Huckabees), but with no knowledge of the existence of his solo material I had no idea what to expect from his live show. Little did I know, I was in for the best performance of the festival (sorry Bloc) and a show unlike anything I’d ever seen.

The main focus of this post, however, is Brion’s incredible solo album, Meaningless, the existence of which I was unaware of before the show but which I made sure to acquire immediately after the festival. In 1997, Brion signed with Atlantic-subsidary Lava Records on the strength of his four-song demo, but he was dropped from the label after turning in Meaningless in 2000 and the album would go on to be released independently by Brion in 2001. To this day the album remains an independent release and his website directs you to CDBaby.com, one of the few places you can purchase the record (which you should probably do as soon as possible).

Meaningless is a collection of brilliant pop gems, that sees the multi-instrumentalist hopping from genre to genre without disrupting the album’s impressive cohesiveness. While remaining extremely enjoyable throughout, the album is indeed front-loaded in terms of quality, as the first four tracks contain the album’s three best songs. Of these, “I Believe She’s Lying” is the clear standout, a truly elite pop gem that stands up against anything released in the last few years. Riding a breakbeat rhythm and a frenetic guitar riff, the song is a self-described “fear of commitment anthem”, featuring lyrics contributed by former-girlfriend Aimee Mann and vocoded back-up vocals, an awesome production touch on a song that doesn’t immediately appear to lend itself to electronic flourishes in any way. Opener “Gotta Start Somewhere” makes its money on an undeniable chorus and was one of the original four-track recordings that got him signed to Atlantic, but still pales in comparison to the pop-perfection of “Believe”. The album’s penultimate moment occurs on ballad-esque “Ruin My Day”, a poignant post-post-breakup anthem with brilliant lyrics contributed by Jeff McGregor on one of his two co-songwriting credits on the album. Vocally, and to an extent, musically, Brion’s closest peer is Ben Folds, but Folds hasn’t put out anything that’s even come close to impressing me on the level that Meaningless has since the days of the Five. Despite Brion’s near-celebrity status as one of music’s brightest minds, the album is criminally underappreciated, as I’m yet to meet another person whose heard it and even the omnipresent Hype Machine’s results for “Jon Brion” turns up only a few cuts from the album amongst a sea of Brion’s more well-known soundtrack and production work. This post serves as my official effort to rectify that situation, and I implore you to download the tracks below as incentive to purchase the album for yourself.

MP3s:
“Gotta Start Somewhere” - Jon Brion
“I Believe She’s Lying” - Jon Brion ((highly recommended))
“Ruin My Day” - Jon Brion

ELSEWHERE/ODDS & ENDS:
- If Brion’s got you in the mood for more Folds-esque piano-based pop-rock (so many hyphens!), get over to Green Peaness as fast as humanly possible to download Air Traffic’s excellent debut single, “Just Abuse Me”, because, well, it’s just way good.

- Also in the category of “way good”, I’ve been really into Los Campesino’s “You! Me! Dancing!” after getting a hold of their four track demo, only to find out that Adrian over at ATG beat me to the punch and posted on them way back in July. Get on it.

- New Imogen Heap? Don’t mind if I do. Taken from 4AD’s fascinating Plague Songs compilation, on which ten artists each contribute one song based on one of the ten biblical plagues that take place in the book of exodus, Imogen Heap’s “Glittering Clouds” details the darkness and horror of the plague of locusts, albeit in a more danceable fashion than the subject matter might lead one to expect. Another excellent b-side from Ms. Heap, causing me to further wonder why it is that - outside of the singles - Speak For Yourself drowned in mediocrity while all of her non-album tracks consistently impress me.

MP3: “Glittering Clouds” (The Plague of Locusts) - Imogen Heap

- As if the fact that the Long Blondes’ debut LP, Someone To Drive You Home, is barely over a month away from being released isn’t exciting enough, the band has to go and announce that they’ve once again teamed up with super-producer Erol Alkan on the three b-sides for their upcoming single, “Once And Never Again”, out October 23rd. Do the right thing and pre-order all three formats for £5 (approximately way more in American dollars) to ensure that you don’t miss out on any of the Alkan-Blondes goodness. Need I remind you how incredible “Fulwood Babylon” is?

- Finally, how about those Redskins today? Specifically, how about Santana Moss’s superhuman performance? 4 receptions, 183 yards, 3 TDs, 0 suicide attempts (yeah, that’s low). Haven’t decided yet if it trumps the last time he decided to remind us just how immortal he really is, but the Skins are definitely back on track.

Well today is an exciting day. This morning I showed up tired and bleary-eyed as shit for my weekly Saturday morning shift at work, only to see that Downtown had sent us the new Cold War Kids album yesterday, and needless to say, my spirits were dramatically raised.

I was a bit nervous about how the stellar EP tracks would sound re-recorded and reproduced, and though I was initially slightly put off by the fuller, more polished sound, the new recordings manage to retain the raw emotion and intensity that made the originals so great suprisingly well. You know me, I could go on and write at least 1,000 words more on the album (saying what most people could say in a paragraph), but time is short as I’ve got a veritable shit-ton of work to do. What I will leave you with though, is something old and something new. Here’s the album version of Up In Rags EP standout “We Used To Vacation”, as well as brand new, previously-unreleased track “Passing The Hat”. As for something borrowed and something blue, you’re on your own.

MP3s:
“We Used To Vacation” (Album Version) - Cold War Kids ((highly recommended))
“Passing The Hat” (Album Version) - Cold War Kids

My Cold War Kids song, “Hospital Beds”, is one of the least changed songs on the album, but it remains the best. Here’s the EP version, courtesy of the band’s website.

Bonus MP3: “Hospital Beds” - Cold War Kids ((highly recommended))