#79: Red Hot Chili Peppers/Stadium Arcadium (2006) — I’ve already noted that John Frusciante is one of the best guitarists of all time. As a collective, any band than can pull off the prolific feat of a double album in this day and age and have a sizable chunk of that music trully showcase why a band should be a Hall of Fame act is considerably impressive. Check out: ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’ ‘Wet Sand,’ Storm in a Teacup,’ and ‘Turn It Again.’

#78: Dinosaur, Jr/Farm (2009) — Before Nirvana, there was Dinosaur, Jr. That was 16 years ago in my mind…and in MY mind, my formative years took place just before the alternative era…I was listening to the Pixies by way of the U2 Zoo TV tour, and naturally found myself turned on to Mascis and Murph and the 1993 commerical breakthrough, Where You Been?…this was back when MTV played videos, kids. ‘Start Choppin,’ and ‘Out There,’ garnered several spins in the tape deck (yes, remember walkmen? No, no the band…) Jump ahead to today and they’ve never sounded so good (with Barlow back in the fold)…every song a testament to why J Mascis should be remember for the guitarist and songwriter he is. Check out: ‘Pieces,’ ‘Plans,’ and ‘See You,’ for a brief tutorial.

#77: Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson/Break Up (2009) — o.k. we all know the story – Pete woke up one morning and decided to do a duets album. Save for the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss record, there haven’t been too many duets records this decade that have been able to truly cross lines and blow people away. As with anything over time, this album is an update on a theme, but it works (addressing both the past and present musically) – in the end, it’s a beautifully crafted pop album. Scarlett’s voice is truly a gift and a great foil and muse for Pete’s music. In a nutshell, it just works. Check out: ‘Relator, ‘I Am The Cosmos,’ and ‘Clean.’

#76: Our Lady Peace/Spiritual Machine (2001): Up until ‘01, was a damn good year for music and competitive for my ears, OLP was the only music coming out of Canada worth my time. OLP probably produced their most artistic and well balanced album that year, save for the whole conceptual, sci-fi b.s. The music stands the test of time, and holds up remarkably well. Check out: ‘In Repair,’ ‘Are You Sad?’ and ‘Made to Heal.’

#75: Nonpoint/Statement (2000) — these guys, like fellow East Coast Nu Metalers Sevendust, made a household name for themselves by just constant touring…I can’t tell you how many times (ad nauseum) they have ended on local bills. So much so that perhaps their message is a bit watered down these days. That aside, 10 years ago Statement was released and the crunchy metal along with a lead singer was the right amount swagger, sway and full-on rage fit the time in place. Bear in mind I was 23 and was still one for the pits. In fact I think it was crushing blow to the spine and jaw at a subsequent show that finally made me hang it up. When you ‘re having a bad day and want to imagine breaking sh*t…this is what one listens to. Full album is a TANK. Check out: ‘Endure,’ ‘What a Day,’ and ‘Tribute.’

#74: Head Automatica/Decadence (2004) — I remember the first listen of this album (my expectations were low, seeing as I just never got into Glassjaw – surprising, I know…), but I love a lead singer who can completely re-invent himself for a new project and that’s exactly what Daryl Palumbo does for Head Automatica. Decadence is a hard-rocking pop gem. The boys in H.A. get the party starting and never let up. Such great lyricis, such great funky rock. Check out: ‘At the Speed of a Yellow Bullet,’ ‘Brooklyn is Burning,’ and ‘Beating Heart Baby.’ — and you’re hooked.

#73: Thirty-Six Crazyfists/A Snow-Capped Romance (2004) — 36CF’s second album and second entry on my Top 100 of the decade. They don’t call it a sophomore slump for nothing folks – I can’t tell you how many bands I’ve seen crash and burn this decade b/c of it. 36CF cleaned up some of Brock’s vocals (but not the heart-on-sleeve reverence of his lyricism) and continued to bridge that gap between the hardcore sound remniscent in late 90’s acts like Handsome, Deftones and Flaw while maintaining a metal following for their brash, angular guitar-work. In other words, not for the weak of heart. Checkout: ‘The Heart and the Shape’ ‘Skin and Atmosphere,’ and ‘Waterhaul.’

#72: The Duke Spirt/Neptune (2008) — during my brief tenure at R.S. there were only a handful of acts that really got my juices flowing and made me want to bend over backwards to promote them despite many obstacles. Liela Moss is a true rock n’ roll frontwoman. That powerful European voice …fits into the hipster melodies crafted perfectly around her. The band is equal parts Spiritualized, Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. God love ‘em. Another great ‘road,’ record. ‘The sky is more certain than you will ever be/the rainclouds are angry at you and at me/forgive me baby/I’m not all that you see/I would understand your heart/if I could feel it…’ Check out: ‘The Step and The Walk,’ ‘This Ship Was Built to Last,’ and ‘Wooden Heart.’

#71: Smashing Pumpkins/ZEITGEIST (2007) — It’s hard to say whether or not this release might’ve ended up higher had it not been for the past two years of Billy slowly jumping the shark and Jimmy finally jumping ship. I was a believer as promo built for the album and the Pumpkins returned to active touring duty for the first time in seven years. Yes, I say Pumpkins b/c I still believe the Pumpkins were really just Billy n’ Jimmy anyway. Save for ‘Starz,’ this album, when put together completely after you bought the final Best Buy version (and added the iTunes and Target exclusive tracks), is a formidable asset to the discography. While 2000’s MACHINA was the formal swan song of the band as SP diehards new it; this is the rock album fans wondered if they would see after Mellon Collie. Check out: ‘Bleeding the Orchid,’ ‘Tarantula,’ and ‘Stellar.’

#70: System of a Down/Toxicity (2001) — at the turn of the century, nu metal was on its last legs. Korn’s Issues was released in (1999) and they would only release one meaningful album over the next 10 years. Limp Bizkit were also fading away. Godsmack’s Awake came out in 2000 and, save for newcomers Mudvayne, could widely be considered the mainstream hard rock success as a heavier new scene in metal began to develop. S.O.A.D. debuted in 1998 and three years later launched Toxicity with all the manic tendencies of eccentric frontman Serj Tankian, railing about multiplying, leaving keys on the table, and pogoing at swinger parties. Beyond that Daron Malakian was creating metal riff’s that spoke to the masses while an Armenian percussion and backdrop offered a well-rounded, Grammy-winning style that set the band apart from its peers. Check out: ‘Chop Suey,’ ‘Bounce,’ and ‘Deer Dance.’

iTunes has a great new celebrity playlist by Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page.

Promoting their movie Whip It, Barrymore and Page have compiled a list of their favorite songs. They made a 30 minute podcast describing and playing clips of the songs. You can listen to it by clicking the iTunes link on your right.

Although there’s a wealth of wonderful music that Barrymore and Page share, After The Show has compiled the top best songs from their sonic suggestions:

“1901″ by Phoenix:

“Suffer for Fashion” by Of Montreal:

“Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne:

“Walking on a Dream” by Empire of the Sun:

“The Step and the Walk” by The Duke Spirit:

Straight-forward rock with great lyrics from across the pond. I had a hard time picking a song, because they have so many good ones. Look for a second sketch of The Duke Spirit later on.

The Duke Spirit “Hello to the Floor”

Like what you see feel free to email me at tad@creativesquall.com and don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook. Check out the Creative Squall website to see how sketches grow up to be complete ideas.

the raveonettes // break up girls !

the kills // the good ones

the duke spirit // lassoo

howling bells // into the chaos

_

Lately I’m in a strange mood. I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to party, I don’t want to drink and I don’t want to talk to strangers. I’m having different theories about this: Maybe it’s a sign that I’m turning into an adult? Maybe I’ve had a party overload? Too much work stress? Yesterday I even went to bed early! Strange…

So now my favorite environment is my couch, in combination with thick, ugly socks (no cartoon figures on them) and a big pile of books. In search of new books I stumbled upon the autobiography of Ronnie Spector. I didn’t know her that well, but because Debbie Harry is a fan of her, The Raveonettes recorded “Ode to L.A.” with her and The Duke Spirit had her portrait on their “Neptune” record, it made me curious about her.

She started as a member of 60’s girl group The Ronettes, but her life came in a negative spiral after marrying producer Phil Spector (who recently went to jail for murdering actress Lana Clarkson). He kept her prison and had a coffin in his basement, so Ronnie would know where she would end in case she tried to escape. Charming guy…..

I saw these pictures of her and suddenly I realised that Amy Winehouse is probably a fan also:

In the sixties with her sister and cousin in The Ronettes.

With her trademark big hair and eyliner 

Cool suit. 

Debbie Harry, producer Mike Chapman and Ronnie in the seventies.

With the Duke Spirit.

And the book that made me start this post!

Little did I know this would be the last show with my gear…this show had doom written all over it…I ended up selling my camera and all of my lenses shortly after this show to pay fucking bills…bah…

Out of all of the shows I was going to shoot…this was the one my wife was anticipating the most…all year..enter the pocket book of a live music photographer…the show sold out before I even found out I was approved for a photo pass…

What’s worse? We were broke…broke as fuck! So searching craigslist for a ticket that had a price equivalent to trading a kidney on the black market was out of the picutre! Fuck! I was trying to get creative but all failed. I went and shot one of my wifes favorite bands w/o her!  This is where shooting shows gets hard on a personal level…her last words to me were “You better kick ass tonight!”

No pressure!

So..all that was on my mind on the way to shoot Incubus was guilt…a little excitement…but a whole lot of guilt. When you get approved for a big show you can’t just back out…well…you can…but it is political suicide. You don’t get approved and then back out unless someone is dying…otherwise you make a name for yourself…something like “Donottrustmewithbigshowswhatsoever.” It takes a lot of work to get a photographer approved for a show like this so when a photographer backs out it can really sour the relationship with whomever they are shooting for. Just don’t do it…period!

So yeah…stoked to be there…but feeling guilty as fuck!

The rules on this shoot were kind of crazy…songs 4, 5 & 6 for Incubus ONLY…meet inside the venue…upstairs…get escorted side stage and then shoot away! Cool!

On my way to the Austin Music Hall…walking from Butler Park…I received a call from C3…they told me the deal with Incubus…I asked if we were able to shoot The Duke Spirit and the voice on the other end of the phone said “No…well we didn’t even ask.” I explained that a lot of photogs like to shoot the opening act so she gracefully tracked down the tour manager for The Duke Spirit and got all of the photogs approved. Just like that…

When I arrived my photo pass wasn’t at the box office…well nobody’s was…so it was hurry up and wait…once they arrived I waited upstairs for like 30 minutes and then was escorted sidestage for songs 1,2 & 3 for The Duke Spirit set…wow! This band kicked a lot of ass! I really hadn’t heard much of their work aside from MySpace but I was impressed…it was like the Doors meet Arctic Monkeys…except with a frontwoman (Liela Moss)…nice…to boot she had so much energy that photographing this set was a treat! It is always nice to shoot an opening act you haven’t seen before and they go on to kill it!

The Duke Spirit:

Next up…Incubus…whoa! I hadn’t seen them since the Summer of 2000 in Virginia Beach, VA! I was a little stoked that I was going to be in the pit this go around. I am WAY new to this whole photography gig…especially live music…I started shooting music in March of 2008…so yeah…this was surreal!

The anticipation for songs 4,5 & 6 was so strong for me that I can’t even tell you what songs they played while I was shooting. Seriously! All I have to show for this concert is my photography. Yeah! Ask me what songs they played while I was in the pit and I will draw a blank. All I remember is trying to dodge security and bodies being crowd surfed right into the pit (while trying to get shots). I was in a zone so I probably wouldn’t have felt it if I got kicked in the back of the head. The only thing that stopped me in my tracks was seeing one of my security friends hit the deck…HARD! That broke my focus for sure.

I really don’t have many words for Incubus…

Three songs were up in a flash and I found myself DONE!!

Incubus:

All the Best,

Phive.

http://phivephotography.com

The Duke Spirit – Lassoo

Rock, Londres-Neptune, 2008, another Moss.

The Duke Spirit

din categoria “pfua, ce mesaj are piesa asta”

The Duke Spirit – Send a little love token

Versuri/Lyrics

Did you read what I wrote?
Oh did you read what I wrote?
Or did you just sit back to tear it up and prove I was wrong?

And did you smile when you read?
Oh did you smile when I said,
That you have a cold heart, cold hands and you're a cold, cold disgrace

And do you roam on your own?
Oh do you roam on your own?
Oh you had to ask mother father brother for some money again.

I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home,
I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home.

D'you ever think how I might be
When I'm alone and I need -
For there's no one home and you're not reaching for me.

Listen - do you roam on your own?
Oh you go on, on your way,
But you had to ask mother father sister for that money again, ooh ooh

I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home,
I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home.

Read those words you never heard,
Read those words that you've never even heard.
And you're too cold, I bet we've never see you burn
You should read those words I bet you've never even heard.

I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home,
I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home,
I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home,
I would send a little love token, wrap it in my heart and go home.

Bookmark this on Delicious

Here are some choice photos (out of about 400) of Incubus and the Duke Spirit (please check out both bands immediately if you have not already). I went to their shows in Philadelphia and Maryland, best concerts of my life. If you are a great big fan, great! I will be dropping more great shots in here from time to time.

Incubus and The Duke Spirit at the Ford Amphitheater.

My taste in music will never, of course, harden with age—I am far too proudly receptive of new sounds to permit that—though The Duke Spirit do their best to disabuse me of this fact. Blues-inflected rock & a powerful alto—damn but they get me every time.

Forget Harry Potter. (500) Days of Summer is the film to see this summer. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in this charming, fairly realistic film about loving, being loved and the conflicts that inevitably arise when love is unrequited. And although it wears at times, like someone you’re in love with, certain flaws can be overlooked. Especially when the soundtrack is this delicious.

For me, seeing this film was as great as what came from seeing it. I finally realized I needed to let Patrick go. Completely.

We haven’t spoken since that evening in February. Since then, I’ve deleted him from my cell phone contacts and the few remaining traces of our life together have also been removed.

After a breakup, it’s tempting to replay all the great moments you shared together in your head. The night we met, when he declared that he wanted to “kiss me on every street corner in Manhattan.” His laugh. His smile. How perfectly our bodies aligned while spooning. The silly little finger drumming thing we did when The Office theme song came on. The way he took care of me when my wisdom teeth were removed and I looked like a chipmunk. Playing in the snow in Prospect Park.

This film made me recall the footage from our relationship that hadn’t been rolling, like the time he was frustrated with his MacBook and punched it so hard that it could not be repaired. This brought back memories of my father and I so was terrified that he would turn out to be abusive that I almost ended things right then. There were also his bigoted comments, how reluctant he was to ever leave his apartment, all the passive-aggressive fights we used to have, his addictions, his drunken blackouts and so many other things that I had looked away from.

Maybe things weren’t as good as I thought they were….

Since that night on the 7 train, I’ve been letting him go in bits and pieces. I still love him so much, but I know that love will subside. Tonight I deleted him from my friends on Facebook. Simple and stupid, I know, but that was the only thing that made me feel like we were still part of each other’s lives, the last thread I was hanging on to. I’ve known all along that I’ve needed to cut all ties and leave him behind, but didn’t fully realize it until tonight.

Love isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. One day you feel like crying out their name and performing a song and dance number with a bluebird on your shoulder. Months later, you wonder how you can possibly move from your bed and every time you hear their name or think of them your entire body is overcome with a despicable, nauseating ache.

My impatience often gets the best of me. Where is the love of my life, already? Does this person even exist? If so, then why aren’t we spending every damn second our lives swaddled in bliss!?

The truth is: what will be will be. Love is simple, love is complicated, love is really seeing, love is blindness and love is all you need. And sometimes you just have to wait and see.

Why am I not in Denver right now? Well, that’s a long story. With some luck, I should be there tomorrow.

———————————————–

Click Song for Savefile Download Link
“Sweet Disposition” – The Temper Trap
“There Goes The Fear” – Doves
“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” – The Smiths
“Us” – Regina Spektor
“Quelqu’un m’a dit” – Carla Bruni
Bonus: “You Really Wake Up The Love In Me” – The Duke Spirit

Today, Phillip Lim celebrated the one year anniversary of his store in West Hollywood.

Of course, Rachel Bilson, one of my favorite fashionistas, would host a party for one of my favorite designers.

Image - Just JaredImage - Just Jared

And… Phillip’s favorite band, The Duke Spirit, performed. I can attest to the fact that they are incredible, especially so live! Last summer, I discovered the Duke Spirit at the All Points West Festival. I was mesmorized by their wonderful lead singer, Liela Moss. So much energy… I literally could not help but love her. She was the muse behind Alexander McQueen’s line for Target… I believe one tee shirt even featured her face!

The Duke Spirit

Alas, this is yet another reason why Phillip Lim and I were destined to be BFFS :]
I’m sorry… I just can’t help but gush about this man. He is redefining American sportswear. One perfectly crafted dress, or party, at a time.

Incubus, and the band that has been opening for them on their current tour, the Duke Spirit, want to send you to Outside Lands, a music and arts festival in San Francisco. The festival is August 28-30 and the lineup features Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Silversun Pickups, Modest Mouse and many more.

Head over to enjoyincubus.com for details.

So I was reading through the ‘Guide To Being One Of The Cool Bloggers’ (You can download it on Pitchfork, but you have to answer a 20-question quiz on Kraut-rock before you can access it.  I used my Julian Cope book to cheat.) and it says that I have to do a “Best of the first half of 2009″.  Seriously?  Are the cool kids that desperate for content?  I started reading through the lists a few sites have already published and noticed a disturbing trend: They were listing albums released in 2008.  Sorry everyone, but Ida Maria was released in July of 2008 and I don’t want to hear the “it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 2009 argument.   Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ was released online in 2007 and was properly put on the 2007 “Best of” lists.  NOBODY, put but it on their 2008 list.
Instead, I make a different proposition.  Why not put out a revised ‘Best of 2008′?  I’m the first to admit that sometimes I miss an album release.  With so many bands self-releasing albums and with the internet creating a larger number of accessible bands, it’s hard to catch everything.  So I’m going to take this opportunity to reflect back on 2008 and list my revised top 10.

Here’s the list I published on January 1 of this year.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune (Both of their albums have been my number 1 for their respective year.  Clearly, the most under-rated band on the planet)

2) The Virgins- Self-Titled (Still a good pop record, but fading fast in my memory)

3) Darker My Love- 2 (Despite mailing it in when they were interviewed by me, this album still packs a wallop.)

4) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash (As with many Pavement records, it continues to grow on me.  Such a great songwriter.)

5 thru 10 were occupied by albums that I still like, but have quickly faded from my frequently played list: The Kooks (Konk), The Late Greats (Life Without Balloons), The Pigeon Detectives (Emergency), Fujiya & Miyagi (Lightbulbs), We Are Scientists (Brain Thrust Mastery), The Bronx (3)

So, with apologies to those I originally forgot, here’s the revised Best Albums of 2008…with a little perspective:

I’m efforting to post some videos that haven’t been shown here before.  With bands like TDS, it’s hard because we’ve written them up so many times.  But I’m pretty proud of these brand spankin new videos.

1) The Duke Spirit- Neptune

2) The Black Box Revelation- Set Your Head On Fire

3) The Black Keys- Attack and Release

4) Ida Maria- Fortress ‘Round My Heart

5) Darker My Love- 2

6) Jaydiohead- Jaydiohead: What?  I can’t put a mashup album on my list?  Well, this is the best mashup I’ve ever heard and deserves to be on this list.

7) Steve Malkmus- Real Emotional Trash

Division of Laura Lee- Violence Is Timeless

9) The Pigeon Detectives- Emergency

10) The Virgins- The Virgins

What do you think?  What albums did you miss the first time around in 2008, that you’re loving now?

I bought a new car a couple of months ago and haven’t had time to replace the stereo. I’ve suddenly been zapped back to the nineties. I’m at the mercy of the radio and the single disc slot in my dash. It’s nearly unbearable; an untenable situation that I’ll need to resolve quickly. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains are still a staple of commercial radio? Driving home on Friday night I counted 4 stations at one time playing one of these 2 bands. I freaking hated them in the early nineties and those crappy songs don’t sound any better today. Who’s listening to these guys? At first I thought I must be picking up one of the New Hampshire rock stations. It’s not uncommon for them to be stuck on the worst 20 year-old music, but after a closer look I’ve found the same phenomenon applies in Boston as well. No wonder I’m nearing a nervous breakdown listening to the radio.

With the absence of the never-ending mix from my Archos MP3 player, I’ve resorted to finding new music in some interesting places. I thought I’d share a few. You’re going to notice a common theme below that I feel I have to talk about; that theme is NPR. 10 years ago, if you told me simply that I’d be getting music tips from NPR I would have laughed at you. If you’d told me that I’d be getting music tips from NPR stations in whacky places like Minnesota I’d have probably punched you square in the nose. I may be getting older, but I still have my dignity, right? I’m not willing to admit that I’m getting less hip, so I’m going to have to advance the theory that NPR is evolving and getting hipper.

Musicheads Podcast: This podcast is produced by one of Minnesota’s NPR music stations, 88.9 the Current. I particularly like the format; a roundtable discussion. I plan a lot of meetings and roundtables are always my favorites. I love to hear people share ideas and debate a given topic. When I’m kicking around with friends on a Saturday night what do we do? Talk about what we’ve been listening to lately and argue about what’s good and what’s not. So this show is perfect for me. In twenty minutes or so 3 or 4 DJs debate 4 new releases and whether the music is “working for them” (an annoying catch-phrase that gets repeated every 2 or 3 seconds of the show). What I particularly like about this show is that in and amongst the banter they leave time for extended samples of at least a couple of songs from each release. So you’re hearing more than just the latest single, but getting a glimpse deeper into the album. Beware that you will have to suffer through occasionally pretentious commentary, but by-and-large this has been a decent place to discover some great new music.

Slacker Radio – Street Punk: I’ve never been much for the gimicky iPhone Apps and streaming music services that purport to play your favorite genres and “recommend” bands that you might also like. In my experience they’ve mostly spewed a bunch of generic crap that I already knew and couldn’t care less about. Slacker Radio’s Street Punk station has been something else altogether. Mind you, it hasn’t introduced much by way of new music. It has been an amazing opportunity to walk randomly through my punk rock collection; Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, Adolescents, Dead Kennedys, interspersed with more modern punk-rock gems by the likes of; Bad Religion, Rise Against, and Refused. This has been the perfect Friday afternoon mix. Many an afternoon random colleagues will stop at my door and enjoy a tune or 3.

NPR’s Live Music Podcast: I forewarn that you’ll have to suffer through a bunch of generic and crappy live music from this podcast series, but in and amongst you’ll find some amazing nuggets. The Decemberists performing their entire new album was amazing. Liz Phair doing Exile in Guysville was a lot of fun. The annual SXSW coverage is second-to-none. It usually consists of a dozen or more podcasts of live music along with show reviews and DJ picks. Let me mention that host, Bob Boilen has the coolest job on the planet. He opens the podcast with a few words about the band and turns it over to the live performance. He then sits back and enjoys the (typically) hour-long show. Unbelievable! How come no one ever asked me if I wanted that job?

Wolfgang’s Vault: An amazing repository of classic and psychedelic concerts. I recently found their iPhone App through which I can stream all kinds of classic concerts. I can’t describe how cool it is to be able to a live Jefferson Airplane show from 1968, or the J. Geils Band from 1975. How about Santana from ’73 or the Clash from the early ‘80s? I can listen for hours, and hours, and hours…

NPR’s All Songs Considered Podcast: A really interesting weekly podcast that covers a surprisingly wide variety genres. Often the commentary does focus on standard NPR Music fare; Indie Pop and Alt-Country but at the same time I’ll get to hear new bands that I’ve been reading about or odd nuggets of jazz and hip-hop and field recordings. All Songs Considered takes the same documentary approach that they use for the All Things Considered new program which is refreshing when applied to music. I tire of the standard sound-bite interview followed by in-studio performance, so this is a nice change of pace

College Radio Tuner: I’ve always been a huge college radio fan. Being from Boston, I’ve always had a huge variety available; WMBR at M.I.T and WERS at Emerson being my favorites. The College Radio Tuner iPhone app has put college stations from across the country at my fingertips. The interface isn’t particularly sexy and the stations are a potluck of genres and quality but it’s thrilling to tap into what has traditionally been a very localized outlet for music. It’s great to hear what local bands and venues someone in Santa Monica is jazzed about. I may never get there or see the band, but getting local flavor has always been the best way to discover the up-and-comers.

KEXP Live Performances Podcast: Another NPR podcast that comes which comes with the same caveat as some of the other NPR podcasts. You’ll have to suffer through some very average music here. But I’ve also found some great sets by the likes of the Hold Steady, the Duke Spirit, Band of Horses and Yeasayer. These are mostly nice, short, in-studio performances. The interview banter doesn’t really add any value, but the 20 – 25 minute format is perfect for a short drive or walk.

WMBR M.I.T.: Speaking of college radio, you don’t get any better than ‘MBR. Since I mostly use ‘MBR to make it through the workday, I’ve never paid much attention to the names of the shows, but on any given day I can hear early eighties punk rock, lost 45s from the psychedelic era, classic soul, and random stuff from the thirties and forties. It’s an endless potpourri of the obscure music and genres that I love to listen to. I do warn that the early morning experimental music show and the every-week-or-so later afternoon free jazz show send me running for the hills. But by and large there’s something here for every music lover.

so much for everything i posted below….

i wandered into the e’fetus last night looking for the new la roux (drat, its still not out) – but found some treasures on sale including:

prince | dirty mind (6 bux) [can you believe i didn't own this on cd?]

melissa etheridge | skin (2 bux)

the duke spirit | cuts across the land (7 bux)

+

the brand new the crystal method record, which i didn’t even know was out.  divided by night:

this is going to be in my cd player non-stop for days.  thick, dense, wet grooves with a cast of current who’s who (new order’s peter hook, metric’s emily haines, she wants revenge’s justin warfield + jason lytle and samantha maloney).  

i swear i should have been a club lighting designer – as i was driving to work this morning, i could completely envision a mad lighting design for the track ‘drown in the now’ featuring matisyahu – the track is just wierd and cool.  i need a career change pronto!

here’s the video for ‘drown in the now’:  

want to know more?  the crystal method in the wall street journal

hey, look – its june 2009 & i haven’t made a mix-tape (disk? playlist?) in sometime.  i was killing time the other day so i threw together some shit that i’m loving at this moment – some of it is new, some of it old, some funky & filled with hooks – other tracks a lil’ quieter… but all good imho.  want a copy?  let me know… or better yet, show the bands some love & spend .99 on them, most of these tunes are on itunes.

baditude | spoon, harris + obernik

this was a huge dance floor jam last summer & it still amazes!  dave spoon, paul harris & vocalist sam obernik join forces for this instant classic.  we’ve used it a ton in runway shows & trust me, girls can walk the fuck out of this groove.  turn this baby up loud in the car, with the windows down.  

disco heaven | heloise & the savoir faire

what do you get when you mix “tina turner beyond the thunderdome era…diana ross central park 1983 era…and the french revolution”?   nyc’s club scene/fashion provocateur’s heloise + the savoir faire.  disco punk never sounded so fun.  debbie harry is swooning in her hair bleach even as we speak.  i’ve been addicted to their cd ‘trash, rats & microphones’ for about 6 months now, the full album never ceases to get me to jump around my apartment like a fool.  

heads will roll | yeah yeah yeahs

what new order started in 1983 with ‘blue monday’ evolves sweetly into the brand new yeah yeah yeahs track ‘heads will roll’ – it’s urgent, synth-y & pure dance floor sex.  the infectious groove get’s under your skin & sticks to your bones.  and based on their gig last week at minneapolis’ 1st ave, we finally have a proper heir to siouxsie’s throne.  throbbing, sexy, hard, soft, aggressive & vibrant.  all at the same time.

i was made for loving you | queen of japan

having absolutely nothing to do with japan (are a nebulous group of producers + catriona shaw on vox), queen of japan are a confusing lot.  they’ve made their underground name on remaking (reworking?  destroying?) well known tunes with an ear towards sleaze/electroclash.  the track here, originally done by kiss, turns into a slow-burn, deeply intimate/sexual come-on to an unseen girl.  is the music a lark, or is it meant to be taken serious?  not sure, but i do know i love the groove they’ve laid down & again, this thing sounds massive in a car or in headphones.

black + gold | katy perry

yeah, yeah, she kissed a girl and the track sucked balls.  she’s redeemed herself a bit here with this cover of last year’s sam sparro smash.  completely up-ending the tune and reworking it as an urgent, quiet ballad works well for the song (!) and for katy’s thin voice.  yeah, i love the original, but katy’s version opens new layers to sparro’s grammy-nominated song.  

listen to the darkside | charlie mars

this track is my new favorite as i just discovered it a week or so back.  one review i read compared him to the ethereal quality of daniel lanois mixed with a bit of g. love.  to that i would add some of the country-rock flavor the jayhawks.  the tune is a simple little groove that is quite lovely and subtle, but with a lot of soul.  

front street | the gutter twins

anyone who’s ever read any of my blogs knows i love me some greg dulli.  along with prince, siouxsie, peter gabriel, kate bush & concrete blonde; his songs have informed the better part of my musical world for the better part of 15 years.  this tune, off last year’s saturnalia was the result of a partnership with screaming tree’s mark lanegran  and finds dulli at his most confessional.  admitting secrets is never an easy thing, but his words evoke a dark feeling most of us are too afraid to tell the world.  for me, it’s amazing when a song can take you on a journey – and that’s just what front street does, granted its a dark journey, but a journey just the same. 

lassoo | the duke spirit

i discovered the duke spirit after they appeared on the last UNKLE record & was immediately taken with liela moss’ voice (NME calls moss’ a proper lady of rock, and what a wonderful thing that is).  then i checked out their sophomore effort, neptune, from-which ‘lassoo’ was taken and was quickly blown away.  the mix of big horn’s, 60’s grooves and tight hard rock makes for a pretty impressive sound.  

you can’t see me | grand ole party

ok, you won’t be able to get this track for a bit o’time – the band gave it out at a show i saw last week (they opened for the yeah yeah yeahs).  matt and I were completely impressed by this cali trio (by the way, the vocalist is also the drummer, how cool is that?)  the music itself is such a brilliant mix of that classic 60’s sound mixed with the modern edge of a siouxsie or a pj harvey.  i see big things happening for grand ole party .

tell the lie | the bellrays

discovered these guys via lead singer lisa kekaula’s appearance on the ’05 basement jaxx album kish kash.  and was a little taken aback by the bands punk/soul vibe (vs, the straight up soul/disco of the ‘jaxx), but the more i listen, the more i love.  this is what i think me’shell ndegeo’cello would sound like if she ever made a straight up bar/rock record.  powerful pipes supported my a very muscular lil’ punk/soul band.  nice job bellrays!

exit through you  | joseph arthur, peter gabriel aka big blue ball

i’ve talked at length about how much i love the world beat fusion rock record big blue ball (recorded over a 4 year period in the early 90’s & then guided to release over the next 13 years by karl wallinger (world party) and stephen hague (pet shop boys, annie lennox) before, and the album is still a-must listen to a couple times a week – and this is the track that fires on all cylinders.  arthur’s moody earthy vox and words partnered with gabriel’s world view is a great mix.  filled in with a cast of players from all over the world and you get one great tune – a tune that you’ll be humming for days to come.  

fucking boyfriend (peaches remix) | the bird & the bee

as a huge fan of the bird and the bee, i was giddy happy to see what electroclash queen peaches would do to this killer track.  what she does as a remixer is brilliant; she takes the track, twists it and builds the monster groove (in a club this would be amazing), but holds onto the essence of the song (love when it all drops out about 3/4 of the way in and your left with the simmering original vocal).  very nice peaches.  and yes, i would be your fucking boyfriend.

puppets | atmosphere

winning the title for best album name of 2008 (when life gives you lemons, you paint that shit gold), minneapolis based hip hop kings return with this moody, atmospheric (!) slow burning anthem.  puppets is simply an amazing piece of poetry with a really great groove underneath.  who’s it about?  who knows, but given they’re from minneapolis – there’s a ton of speculation that they’re about our purple prince.  slug’s words are nothing short of amazing:

i think its great how you used to be great

i cant hate on how you choose to relate

but i know that you had the potential

i understand why you wanted to let go

a lot of pressure in the middle of those shoulders

and we aint gettin nothin but older

aint nothin change but the day we run from

but nobody knows it better than you huh?

billionaire | peaches featuring yo majesty’s shunda k

all hail the queen.  peaches came back this year with the utterly amazing ‘i feel cream’ album.  what puppets did for subtlety, billionaire does for sheer force of power and bravado.  billionaire is raunchy, hard, throbbing and completely inspiring.  there’s power here in both her rap and shunda’s – these are women completely, unapologetically in control of their lives and sexuality.  lucky is the man (or woman) picked to please them.  peaches is the female equivalent to every male rock-fantasy icon in a way madonna can never be. 

absent minded friends | moloko

this is an old track that is stuck on repeat for me lately.  what grabs me every single time is the amazing production (layers upon layers; listen to it in headphones = amazing) mixed with róisín murphy’s amazingly fragile voice.  normally she sounds strong and hard, but her voice here is like a pane of thin glass.  i love that dichotomy.  surprise me like they did in 2000 with this release and i’ll come back time and time again.

i’m good, i’m gone (black kids remix) | lykke li

hailing equally from stockholm, portugal, lisbon, morocco, nepal & india, lykke li is much like a better travelled bjork.  albeit a better travelled bjork with more accessible tunes.  equal bits new wave & dance-pop – this tune is infectious and slinky.  as rolling stone said in their 100 best singles of ’08; “hand claps are the new power chords.”

quiet steam | peter gabriel

rumor has it that gabriel, fearing that his 1992 hit ‘steam’ would simply be dubbed ‘son of sledgehammer’, simultaneously recorded this muted, ambient version & released it as a b-side.  as great as steam is, this version just blows it away.  there is an aching, yearning quality to his voice that the pop version simply doesn’t have.  the rhythmic percussion, simple repeating guitar line (that maintains a bit of that soul/stax vibe the original has) & flutes move the song along a gentle winding stream. 

drifting away | faithless

i am dying to use this song in a show; i have the whole production mapped out in my head, now to just find the money and the talent!  hard to sum up this song in a paragraph – it’s just beautiful plain & simple… the opening vocals, to the percussive  (loose) beat.  the song just moves me.  

Guitar Hero, the popular musical-video game phenomenon is coming out with its fifth volume. And it might as well be called the “Emo Edition.” Or the Indie Edition… One fits with the other.

While the new version of Guitar Hero (GH5) if you will, has the regular mainstream-rock fare, it’s jam packed with many an indie, and emo, act. Just look at the official list:

3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, AGI, Arctic Monkeys, Attack! Attack! UK, Band of Horses, Beastie Boys, Beck, Billy Idol, Billy Squier, Blink-182, Blur, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Brand New, Bush, Children of Bodom, Coldplay, Darker My Love, Darkest Hour, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Eagles of Death Metal, Elliott Smith, Elton John, Face To Face, Garbage, Gorillaz, Government Mule, Grand Funk Railroad, Iggy Pop, Iron Maiden, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Eat World, John Mellencamp, Johnny Cash, Kaiser Chiefs, King Crimson, Kings of Leon, Kiss, Love and Rockets, Megadeth, Motley Crue, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Nirvana, No Doubt, Peter Frampton, Public Enemy (featuring Zakk Wylde), Queen & David Bowie, Queens of the Stone Age, Rammstein, Rose Hill Drive, Rush, Santana, Scars on Broadway, Screaming Trees, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Spacehog, Stevie Wonder, Sublime, Sunny Day Real Estate, T. Rex, The Bronx, The Derek Trucks Band, The Duke Spirit, The Killers, The Police, The Raconteurs, The Rolling Stones, The Sword, The White Stripes, Thin Lizzy, Thrice, Tom Petty, TV On The Radio, Vampire Weekend, Weezer, Wild Cherry, Wolfmother

You can check out the full list here.

Ok, so it’s not overrun with emo artists, but there’s a good deal of them: Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, Thrice, Weezer. That’s enough to take notice. And the Sunny Day Real Estate entry is, above all, really odd… I know my thirst for a reunion is getting the best of me, but it seems very coincidental that they’re included in all the bands… could we see something along the lines of when the Sex Pistols reunited (again) and debuted a re-recording of “Anarchy In The UK” for Guitar Hero 3? Hopefully not. Maybe I’m searching for a connection way to hard, but we’ll find out…

What may be even more interesting than SDRE are some of the other included acts.

Spacehog?! They’ve got to be using “In The Meantime” which I haven’t heard on the radio since middle school.

Screaming Trees?! Gotta love Mark Lanegan and that band, but all I can remember of them from when they were around was “Nearly Lost You” being on the air, and yet that wasn’t their “big” hit.

Elliott Smith?! Aside from the guy’s stuff in Heatmiser, I’m not quite sure what they could put into GH5!

And then there are the newer indie acts. You’ve got your Arctic Monkeys, Band of Horses, The Duke Spirit (really? on a video game?), TV On The Radio (hopefully something other than “Wolf Like Me” – they’ve got plenty of great songs that people aren’t aware of!), and Vampire Weekend (ugh).

Activision’s got quite a game on its hands. Looks like I’ll have to find a friend with a copy come September 1st.

My hopeful selections for Guitar Hero 5:

Spacehog – “In The Meantime”:

Screaming Trees – “Nearly Lost You”:

Elliott Smith – “Miss Misery” (let it be the live Oscar version):

Sunny Day Real Estate – “J’Nuh”:

Brand New – “Jesus”:

Eu, sincera e verdadeiramente espero que esteja tudo bem. Sério. Espero que você tenha achado seu caminho, que tenha encontrado alguém que te ame – e que você ame de volta, apesar de, para você, isso ser irrelevante – que tenha descoberto o sentido da vida e a salvação nas artes e na poesia, na fruição estética que tanto buscamos, em vão, como todo o resto…

Espero, francamente, que esteja ganhando dinheiro e gozando a vida. A vida, essa vadia infrene, essa algoz monstruosa, essa colombina de humor sombrio que nos faz engasgar com seu confete e que depois nos deixa perdidos, bêbados e sozinhos no salão, depois da festa…

A vida…

Pois é, apareci depois de tanto tempo, “um fantasma infausto de sua vida pregressa” como você gosta de inflar o peito e encher essa sua boca pra falar. Essa sua boca cheia de dentes alvos, que exibe esse seu sorriso ceshiriano, besta, mascarado, blasé. Esse sorriso lindo.

Essa sua boca…

Só passei pra dizer que, enfim, depois de tudo dito, não dito e maldito finalmente acabou. Não resta pedra sobre pedra, literalmente.

Espero que você esteja no controle de suas ações e dessa sua boca.  Veja bem o que você vai me falar…
Sabe, se você estivesse aqui, digo, fisicamente presente, se eu não estivesse feito uma idiota aqui, de pé, na chuva, apertando o botão desta porra de porteiro eletrônico sob o risco de levar um choque, se tivesse culhão o bastante para me olhar nos olhos, eu te diria para sair na chuva e… sentir a brisa.

Porque a chuva, a brisa, ah, seriam coisas concretas, capazes de tocar sua pele, já que memórias…

Memórias, meu amigo, não são reais.

Não há mais nada.

Se você quiser dar uma olhada no terreno onde antes havia nossa casa, bem, deixei um papel com algumas instruções… não sobrou quase nada, você não vai se achar, enfim…

Demoliram a garagem e nosso antigo quarto. Como não retiramos mais nada, e nenhum de nós deu as caras ou mencionou algo à demolidora eles… derrubaram tudo e…

Soterraram.

Soterraram móveis, roupas e tudo mais que havia, mas! Não, não fique triste.

Sobraram algumas fotos e aquele maldito buquê de rosas selvagens para alimentar sua pira funerária…

Porque você não desce? Porque não me olha na cara? Você sempre, sempre saiu pela tangente, nunca enfrentou nada, você…

Você saiu…

Está frio, estou batendo os dentes. E, eu só passei pra deixar alguns papéis e oficializar a condição.

Não há mais nada.

Tchau.

(Conto baseado na canção “Dog Roses” do disco Neptune, da banda britânica The Duke Spirit)

Deb and Hunter, meeting cute (naturally); image taken from the WB

Sigh. The things I do in the name of research.

I finished watching the first season of Rockville CA, an irritating Web show brought to the masses via Josh Schwartz, the wunderkind behind The O.C., Chuck, and Gossip Girl. Who knew 20 six-minute Webisodes would weigh down on me like a lead balloon?

Note: After hearing lead fanboy Hunter crack whip-smart for about two hours, I will resist all urges to make a Led Zeppelin reference.

My friend Kristen brought the show to my attention, as she does with many things, after sending me this interesting New York Times piece on it.

So, I’ll be honest. I kind of have an axe to grind with the Schwartz empire anyway. Mainly because it has commodified music geekery in the most generic, bland, pretend-smart, pretend-cool way possible (shooting daggers at you, Seth Cohen).

It could be a knee-jerk reaction. Schwartz’s right-hand lady, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, who co-produced Rockville CA and, like me, also got her start in college radio, has a job I’d kill for and know I could do so much better if I wanted to use my record collection to underscore beautifully-lit, woodenly-acted scenes of teen angst and lust. In short, my irritation could be simply reduced to “bitch took my job.”

But it’s never that simple.

Or is it? Christ, the things that are wrong with this show are so by-the-book.

1. The set-up. Oh, you know this one. If you’re seen any romantic comedy, ever, you’ve got this one down. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets . . . you know what? Not even gonna finish the sentence. You’ve got it.

2. You know the couple — Deb and Hunter — are in love because they hate each other instantly and start arguing. I don’t know where this narrative contrivance began, but this has never happened to me. Usually, if I like someone, the attraction has nothing to do with wanting to rip the person’s face off until enough people are like “hey, you two would make a cute couple” that I think “you know what, you’re right! This annoying person who I cannot stand is actually pumping my ‘nads.” No, when I purport to not find you appealing, I don’t actually want to go on a date and kiss in the rain or whatever. I actually don’t want to be seen with you socially at all.

3. Perhaps I’m being unfair about my next point in conjunction with point #2, as many romantic comedies hinge on adult couples not meeting cute, but this premise seems very high school. Especially for men, as Hunter sweats and stammers immature misogyny. Through 17 of the 20 episodes, his actions and banter seem to say, “I don’t like her, she has cooties! She scares me . . . I think my body is changing. I’m compelled to her, but I don’t know why. Foul temptress! I was much safer with my comic books, G.I. Joe figurines, and Ramones records!”

In fact, perhaps unsurprisingly given Schwartz’s involvement, this show reads like a high school melodrama. The nerdy hot girl with glasses. The pretty blonde girl who is friends with the nerdy hot girl with glasses that the male lead originally finds attractive (there’s a bit of The Truth About Cats and Dogs in there too). The unattainable hunk that the nerdy hot girl with glasses likes (at school it’d be a football player; here, it’s a bassist). The wise elder who is charmed nostalgic by all the angst and endearing awkwardness. And even though the show takes place at a venue (where the show gets its name), it could just as easily take place in in the high school gym, made all glittery for prom, or in the library, during weekend detention. I’ve been to Southern California. It’s a little dangerous and a little seedy. That’s part of its charm. This show turns it into an American Eagle ad. Or a womb. Whatever.

4. If this is what music geeks are really like, we are insufferable. By that, I mean, if we are, in fact, indexical, socially-inept, commodity fetishists. If all we do is make snide comments, droll asides, and catalogical recitations of bands and their output, we are lame. The show would also suggest that we are completely beholden to capitalism and instant gratification, blind to corporate enterprising’s hold on us, what with the show’s incessant plugging of Heineken. In short, if we are what this show suggests we are, we are sheep.

5. Goddamn, is the music awful. A perhaps promising trapping of the show is that each episode takes place during a different concert. However, almost everyone sounds like a reduced, flattened, laminated version of some pre-existing band (usually Joy Division or U2).

And, as you can imagine, almost all these bands are comprised of white dudes. Earlimart, The Duke Spirit, and a couple others are exceptions, but I’ll bet you know what position most of the women (who are the lone female in each band) occupy. Also, Lykke Li is in an episode, which kinda bums me out, as I like Lykke Li. But I already heard “Dance Dance Dance” at a Victoria’s Secret and “I’m Good, I’m Gone” on American Idol, so she’s already been co-opted.

6. The “clever” banter. Puns are the lowest form of comedy, and any punchline based on making a play on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is lower still. Hunter is the worst perpetrator, but Deb slings her share of barbs as well. Plus, people are never that funny and quick. It was unbelievable in the first half of Juno, when all the characters were always so damn quippy. Like Dawson’s Creek before it, the dialogue is completely fictive in Rockville CA.

Kristen’s big question at the time she sent it was “Web series that codes the music geek as male maybe?” And one thing that is good about the show is that I can say “No, not exclusively.” However, I must qualify . . .

It’s true, Deb is a confirmed music geek. And a music professional as well (fresh out of college, she works in A and R; I hope she finds a nobler calling in the biz soon). Thus, in many ways, Rockville CA is a workplace comedy for her (not so much for Hunter — he basically, and appropriately, sells digital ad space).

Unfortunately, Deb’s not very discriminating, stating that almost every band playing at Rockville is “major” (a doubly-unfortunate connotation, bringing to mind both Victoria Beckham and the corporate label system; indeed, any time she says a band is “major,” she may as well be saying “ready for the majors!”).

Also, while she does get to exhibit geek savvy, like correcting her crush (Syd, the elusive bass player for Australia) when he says Ian Brown was the frontman for Teenage Fanclub (he actually sang for The Stone Roses), she is given the cold shoulder and reminded by Callie, Rockville’s leggy waitress, that guys, um, like, like to be right sometimes and, like, don’t like to be proven wrong. And while Deb vocally rejects Callie’s advice, it doesn’t keep her from looking in the mirror and taking her hair out of its ponytail at the end of the episode (I think the black-out came just before she took off her glasses).

Thankfully, Deb is not alone as a music geek, a fact that Shaun is happy to exclaim. Though Callie and Isabel, Deb’s needy friend who wears stripper heels “ironically” to seduce a musician she hooked up with previously, are a bit regressive — though both seem like true friends to Deb — Shaun has potential. For Shaun, who owns Rockville, the show may also be considered a workplace comedy. Shaun’s presence is heartening; she’s tough, smart and also a hot, older single lady (picture Allison Janey playing Kim Gordon — not the worst, right?).

However, she ends up selling out, signing her bar over to Chambers, a tow-headed poser, and his business partner, who wants to phase out the bands and bring in more DJs. This happened in the finale. I’m hoping that if the show gets a second season (and I can bear to watch it), Shaun becomes a tough entrepreneuse and fights it. I sense a benefit on the way.

By the way, while I love deejays, I take the new (evil, soulless) owners’ hope to maximize profits by bringing deejays in as a way to suggest that the artform (and its raced, classed implications) as being denigrated alongside of the show’s clear investment in rock, perhaps aligning with Lisa Lewis’s assertion that early MTV catered to “rock’s white-male bias” (see “The Making of a Preferred Address” in Lisa A. Lewis’s Gender Politics and MTV: Voicing the Difference). There’s several mentions throughout the show that rock is the supreme genre in popular music, suggesting that it is pure and authentic and ignoring the ways in which rock steals from other genres, and the white-washing that occurs in the process.

Which brings me to race. If you’re picturing a bunch of white people bickering with one another when they aren’t kissing or playing, you’d be right. There are two people of color on the show (three if you count Isabel, who is played by Natalie Morales).

One is the doorman, Hugh, who is African American. He kinda had a promising bit at the beginning of the first few episodes where he’d freeze Hunter out of the club because he didn’t like him. This would create moments where Hunter would exhibit painful displays of white guilt by trying to seem down and then fearful that he accidentally said something racist. Deb, who is Hugh’s friend, would get him in as her plus-one. In these episodes, Hugh would be reading a different book, like The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. In other words, a smart guy with layers who wasn’t charmed by Hunter. More Hugh, please.

The other character is Annie, the Asian photographer who never speaks (the actress, Chris Yen, is Chinese American). SHE NEVER SPEAKS. In all 20 episodes, not a line of dialogue. While it’s interesting that she’s a photographer, and is always snapping shots of the bands and the venue’s denizens, having her be a silent outsider distanced by the camera kinda, you know, others her. Let’s get her to strike up a conversation with somebody. A great instance would be when Shaun threatens to set her on fire if she takes any pictures of her. Kind of an unfortunate line, as I tend to think of this image. Anyway, Annie could totally put down her camera and call Shaun out. But she doesn’t.

And that, in its way, encapsulates Rockville CA. A fair amount of promise, a lot of missed opportunities.

Liderados pela bela vocalista Liela Moss, está banda inglesa que faz um som entre My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth e Pixies, lançou o segundo álbum – “Neptune”, ano passado (2008), mas só agora fui descobrí-los.
O estilista Alexander McQueen é um dos que apreciam a banda.

http://www.myspace.com/thedukespirit
http://www.dukespirit.com

“The Step And The Walk”
http://www.sendspace.com/file/m9bzjx

My NPR Music Notes newsletter today contained an interesting article on music and kids that completely resonated with me. Entitled Bringing Up Baby, As Music Lovers Might, it speaks to the careful diligence new parents, who are passionate about music, take when selecting the music their child will listen to.  

Being a music snob, I always found children’s music to be trite and belittling. Why do we have to dumb down music for children?  Just because they’re tiny and unable to speak, doesn’t mean they can’t comprehend what’s going on around them. Turns out I was right about that. Babies can recognize surprisingly complex rhythms and are sensitive to the differences between consonant and dissonant music. 

Hell bent on eliminating Barney and anything remotely like it in our household, I created my own child-friendly music program for my little guy, Judah – which has turned into a bit of a rock history overview in the process.  James Brown, The Flaming Lips and Cut Copy were early favorites. Now he asks for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,  The Duke Spirit and The Raconteurs by name.  And I swell with pride every time he does so.

I know I’m going to catch flack from all you kid haters for this, but here’s the video that solidified my theory on kids and music – that they don’t need to be fed music through a purple dinosaur in order to connect with it. Here’s Judah, not even 2 years old, channeling the Grandfather of Soul himself. (He still uses our T.P. holder as a microphone to this day.)