Good Weather For Airstrikes

UPDATE: Ezarchive is back up and running and the link is working again. Enjoy.

Finally. FINALLY. I’ve been searching for this song for fucking ever. Yeah, yeah, “The Marshals Are Dead” was a track on Bloc Party’s excellent self-titled debut EP back in 2004, but it was rumored that Paul Epworth had produced another version of the track that was a last minute cut from Silent Alarm. However, countless searches proved fruitless and I had just about given up hope, until my So Here We Are 7″ arrived in the mail from Rough Trade last month. I expected it to come backed on the b-side by “Positive Tension” (as was the case on the CD release), but no! There it was – “‘The Marshals Are Dead’, produced and mixed by Paul Epworth”. Needless to say I played the record more or less on repeat for the rest of the day, thrilled to find out just how much better the Epworth version of the track is than the original. Both the Silent Alarm versions of “Banquet” and “She’s Hearing Voices” trump their EP counterparts, but neither holds a candle to the vast improvement between the EP and re-produced versions of “Marshals”.

Making the original sound like nothing more than a shitty demo, Epworth’s re-produced hotness is the slick, polished Bloc Party we’ve all come to know and love. Matt’s drumming is as tight as ever, Russell’s guitar riffs are sharp and angular as usual, Kele’s “forever!” yelps sound fantastic, and Gordon even gets his own short verse, a first as far as I’m aware of. As I was converting this from vinyl to mp3 in UVa’s incredible sound lab, the rotund fifty year-old woman who was helping me out insisted on putting the volume on high as we recorded and got way too into it. When someone knocked on the door requesting that we turn down our “headbanger music” (actual words), she defended it saying, “Come on, we’re just rocking out a little”, and I just smiled uneasily and shifted from foot to foot. The awkward circumstances surrounding the way in which I attained the track aside, it’s an absolutely awesome update to a song that was already great, and the improvement is so great that we can basically view this as a new Bloc Party song. Seriously, I can’t tell you how excited I am about this; download below or you shall rue the day.

MP3: “The Marshals Are Dead” (7″ Version) - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))

So you’ve already had a few days to freak out over the immaculate freshness that is The Long Blondes’ “Fulwood Babylon” (the b-side to their latest single, “Weekend Without Makeup”) but now I’m gonna do you one better and hook you up with the other two tracks from the Blondes’ sessions with dance producer du jour Erol Alkan. “Platitudes” and “Last Night On Northgate Street”, as their called, don’t come close to matching the perfection of “Fulwood”, but it’s interesting to see what Alkan, in his first time ever producing a band, can do with these tracks. “Platitudes” is a bit more experimental than I’d like my Long Blondes tracks, with intentional feedback consistently popping up throughout, but it’s got that signature Erol Alkan depth and a mediocre Long Blondes’ song is still better than the bulk of material coming out of Sheffield right now (not to knock the vibrant Sheffield music scene, I just don’t think there’s another band there right now operating at the same level that the Blondes are). “Last Night On Northgate Street” is the real keeper of the two, with the same jangly, skittery guitars and compelling narratives - not to mention some more of that great spoken word action - that we’ve come to know and love from the band. All in all, these three tracks get me extremely interested to see what Alkan was given the opportunity to get some more production experience with other bands (the mere thought of a Bloc Party-Erol Alkan collaboration leaves me needing a fresh pair of undies) and this is definitely an impressive start to his fledgling production career.

MP3s:
“Fulwood Babylon” - The Long Blondes ((highly recommended))
“Platitudes” - The Long Blondes
“Last Night On Northgate Street” - The Long Blondes

Here’s a little treat to make up for that apparent Postal Service hoax. This was originally part of the initial PS-writeup, but as the issue began to heat up I removed it so as to narrow the focus on the issue at hand. Regardless though, in the short time it was up it sparked interest and praise, so here it is again. Funkagenda, an up-and-coming house DJ and producer in the UK, has taken the Radiohead classic, transplanted a four-to-the-floor house beat onto it and danced it up with some synthesizer surges, all the while keeping the original vocals and that immediately recognizable descending guitar progression. I think he’s done a good job with the track, though the changes aren’t drastic, and according to his website he’s got remixes of Hard-Fi’s “Cash Machine” and Jose Gonzalez’s “Crosses” floating around out there somewhere, both of which I’d love to hear, so if anyone can point me in the right direction that’d be much appreciated as always.

MP3: “Street Spirit” (Funkagenda’s Spandex + Ketamine Mix) - Radiohead

This is a great song that is definitely not by the Postal Service. Enjoy!

MP3:“The Importance of Being” – Not The Postal Service

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

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))

Oh hell yeah. Any doubts caused by the incredible mediocrity of “SexyBack” just got obliterated; Timbaland is back. Not since “Cry Me A River” (the pinnacle of American radio pop in the last ten years, in my opinion) have we seen Timbaland operate at this level of perfection, as he drops an absolutely immaculate beat over which JT sings the love song anthem of the new millenium, the yin to “Cry Me A River”’s break-up tragedy yang. With vocals, verses and sentiment not far off from those found in Sebastien Tellier’s equally-flawless “La Ritournelle”, “My Love” gives “Maneater” a real run for its money as the pop jam of 2006. Yeah, T.I. drops by to spit some verses towards the end of the song, but by that point he’s Mr. Irrelevant; the deal’s already been sealed and Timbaland’s re-established his reign over the pop charts.

[NOTE: We’re going YouSendIt style on this one, I’m not trying to get my house bombed by Jive.]

MP3: “My Love” - Justin Timberlake ((highly recommended)) [follow link]

Also, since “My Love” has me so jazzed on life right now, here’s the title track from the upcoming FutureSex/LoveSounds. Note that while “My Love” is rocking an album-quality 320 kbps, “FutureSex/LoveSounds” is a 128 kbps rip. Just sayin’.

Bonus MP3: “FutureSex/Lovesounds” - Justin Timberlake [follow link]

More and more I find my musical taste becoming more focused on three distinct genres: ambitious pop music, slickly-produced dance tracks and well, Britpop. So much so that I’ve begun to wonder if there will come a day when my listening habits will have devolved to the point that I listen exclusively to Guillemots, Bloc Party and whatever it is Paul Epworth and Erol Alkan are up to at the time - which, if things keep going the way they are now for Epworth and Alkan, will probably consist primarily of “ruling the world”. However, every once and a while a song like “All Fires”, which couldn’t stray further from any of those categories, comes along and bitch-slaps me right back to square one.

As you’ve probably read on every blog ever by now, Swan Lake is the new collaboration between Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade), Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes), and “All Fires” is the first track available off of their Jagjaguwar debut, Beast Moans, which is to be released this November. Now I’m a big fan of the New Pornographers (see: “ambitious pop music”), but Wolf Parade’s always been pretty hit or miss for me and neither Destroyer (Bejar’s main gig) nor Wolf Eyes have ever really gotten much love from my iPod. But while I might not be so stoked on the individual parts, the sum of the whole sure is pretty damn excellent.

While all three members provide vocals in their respective individual projects, Krug takes the vocal reins here, though there’s no telling how this will be handled on the unheard remainder of the album. The trio’s bio describes their collaboration as the three coming together “as if stuck in a sea-storm, in a sinking boat, forced to bail together”. Interestingly enough, this is the scene evoked by “All Fires”, as Krug sings of a flood, “a world of water”, and the tragedy of a town’s struggle to survive. The most stirring moment comes in the fourth and fifth verses, as Krug sings with haunting simplicity of the townspeoples’ futile struggle for life:

One thousand people
Did what they could.
They found the steeple
And tore out the wood.

Five hundred pieces
Means five hundred float.
One thousand people means
Five hundred don’t.

Through it all, Krug, Bejar and Mercer stand huddled together on high ground, instruments in hand and rain beating down on their backs, helplessly watching the disaster unfold below. The tragedy of it all is summed up perfectly in the final refrain - “all fires have to burn alive to live”. That is, hardship and grief are the necessity of life, and though many refuse to accept this fact, “All Fires” is the sound of the Swan Lake collective accepting what so many cannot. Beast Moans comes out on November 21st on Jagjaguwar, click here for more information.

MP3: “All Fires” - Swan Lake ((highly recommended))

ELSEWHERE: Green Pea-ness has the new Phones’ remix, which despite being commissioned by The Music (who are um, dreadful), retains Epworth’s high standard of quality and hotness.