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Dawn Landes : Fireproof by Lee Henderson

"Bodyguard," the first song on Dawn Landes' latest album, was written as a reaction to her Brooklyn apartment being burglarized.  The ensuing theft saw a hard drive, containing the only copy of her ready- to- go second album, vanish.  "I never looked back or tried to recreate those songs, never played them, nothing.  I just started over from scratch," she says.         

The album "Fireproof" is the fruit of that labor.  The title, obviously, suggests both vulnerability and indestructibility:  I'm sure Ms. Landes is much more protective of all the things in her life following her home invasion. "Now you know what you want/ You want what you had/ But you can't have that/ You can't go back," she sings in "Private Little Hell."  A sad lesson learned, indeed.

The songs that comprise "Fireproof" are reminiscent to me both of Athens, GA band Azure Ray, and of Sub Pop recording artist and Seattle native Rosie Thomas (that's to say only that they all seem to synthesize the same influences).  Lyrically, I'm not always with her-- "La la la la Life's a gag/ La la la la You're a fag" doesn't exactly have the air of high- mindedness, though it's probably simply an inside joke-- but musically, color me impressed.  Ms. Landes isn't reinventing the wheel here, yet she seems right in her wheelhouse when it comes to some of the more offbeat Waits-ian instrumentation offered here (optigan, banjo, toy piano).

And at the end of the day, who can argue with the lines, "When it's hard to breathe in the city/ It's easier to drink"? Not I, said the fly (drunkenly).  

All in all, I'm glad this album came across my desk.  Not just for me, but for my wife-- who I only think agreed to marry me as a thanks for introducing her to Azure Ray and to Ms. Chan (Cat Power) Marshall.  This is a good one to have on while cooking dinner, with a bottle of Biodynamic Oregon Pinot open next to the stove.  Be sure to look out for the hidden Tom Petty cover ("I Won't Back Down," at the end of album closer "You Alone"), and, finally, be sure to heed "Fireproof"'s cautionary tale-- that while, of course, you should look out for and guard steadfastly what's most important to you, everything ultimately is just like what Bob Dylan once said: "It's not the experience that matters, it's the attitude towards the experience."     
      
Available on Cooking Vinyl USA

Dawn Landes on Myspace

Strangers Die Every Day : Aperture For Departure by Lee Henderson

When I read, in the accompanying press release for Portland's Strangers Die Every Day's debut album, that they had previously opened up for Thurston Moore, I was immediately seized by an intuition telling me that I was not going to like this album at all. I saw Thurston (one of my absolute all- time musical heroes) at the Great American Music Hall back in October and the group (not SDED) that opened for him... well, suffice it to say they just weren't my thing* and I was afraid it was going to be more of the same here.

I was so heartened to be wrong. "Aperture For Departure" is a cool record, something I'd much sooner classify as left- field chamber music than I would Indie Rock.  It's entirely instrumental, and some of the tracks don't even incorporate a drummer-- and for a guy who spends just as much time these days listening to Gershwin and Glenn Gould as he does Gogol Bordello and Grizzly Bear, that's a welcome thing.

Fans of Tortoise and Godspeed You! Black Emperor will really enjoy "Aperture."  In fact, I'd just about recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bit of both "Rite Of Spring" and "Real Emotional Trash" in their same- day repertoire.  2 out of 3 stars.

Available on the This Generation Tapes label. 

~lee.

*Think Yoko Ono meets "Metal Music Machine." Even though I had recently (and quite begrudgingly) quit smoking cigarettes after almost twenty years-- and the cravings were still killing me-- I boycotted their set and stood outside with the smokers until it was over.

John Peel is better than god and chocolate by Farhad J Parsa

My life is pretty good.  I have a long way to go to get to where I want and I'm sure even when I get there, I won't be satisfied--probably because I'm never content with anything. My point being, as each year slips by, there are a few people in my life, both private and public persons, who I never got a chance to meet because they died. Some I wanted to head-butt with a steel spike, others, dine with over some wine and Moroccan food. But when I was in a band my DREAM, my GOAL IN LIFE, was to be invited to perform on BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions.

What John Peel did was and continues to be my structure for integrity, vision, contemporary actualization (keeping up to date and exposing it). Mr. Peel (died of a heart attack while traveling in Peru) was an English disc jockey, radio, and print journalist who worked at the BBC from 1967 to 2004. The man had great musical taste and never stopped keeping his ear to the pavement to showcase unknown bands to the rest of the world. Peel, in a boiled down version of his life, introduced BBC listeners to punk, reggae, hip-hop, and electronic dance music.

For those of you who want to probe deeper into the Peel Session bands and the songs they played go here and on the BBC here. (They have tracks you can stream and listen to for only 30 seconds...like, what's the fucking point there?) Anyway if you know what's up with Bit Torrent, then I suggest you search for Peel Sessions through that since the only Peel I've found is on vinyl (I know there's more but vinyl is the best way to find Peel's recordings besides online Torrent).

My favorite aspect about the Peel Sessions is how well recorded they are. In addition to getting great performances he could be one caustic son of a bitch, which I love, when he felt that a performance was lacking or the artist was shit.

Here are a few examples:

Smog : I Break Horses
Mudhoney : The Straight Life
Pretty Girls Make Graves : More Sweet Soul
The Damned : Neat Neat Neat
Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Tick
Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Maps
Interpol : The New 
Interpol : Hands Away

And one of Peel's favorite bands, The Undertones, have lyrics from their song Teenage Kicks, on Peel's headstone.

Life is too short to live. Ya know? So, here's to John Peel. (I'm drinking a Guiness with a shot of Jameson's in my mind)

Words by FJP

Applied Communications : Heavenly Gospel by Lee Henderson

It is raining outside, and I am in kind of a bad mood. I've been trying to work on music all day and—what can I say, there's just no blood going there at all like hanging upside- down in a meat locker.

I want to get something done today, though, and thankfully I have a couple of reviews due. So I reach for Heavenly Gospel, the second album from Applied Communications, and am immediately struck by the album’s layout--hand-bound with string, the CD cover is nothing more than a folded, color-copied piece of high gloss paper. Inside it is another folded, color-copied piece of high gloss paper, this time with lyrics (or something). I like it. It's econo. It's punk rock.

It's absolutely the only thing about this album that I like.

Weird for the sake of being weird (or for no reason at all) has never sat very well with me. I can spot these guys' influences, if you can call them that, within the first thirty seconds, though I do sit through the whole album: Beck (when he was selling tapes out of the trunk of his car), "Revolution #9," Lard, the Descendants, video games, and lysergic acid diethylamide (or maybe just Robitussin). And masturbation--—lots and lots of masturbation. Brutal, uncompromising, I'm- going-wind-up-with-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome masturbation.

I really hope that these guys are thirteen, but they have a website better than I could pull off so I'm kind-of doubting it.

Suffice it to say, yes this album is just that bad, and yes it has made my bad mood that much worse. It should have been called something like "Thirty-Five Migraine-Inducing Minutes, and Other Assorted Love Songs." Except that nothing on this CD can be actually classified as a song*. So I'd go with "Worse Than The Holocaust," and call it a day.

~lee.

*Just in case you were wondering, Heavenly Gospel is made up entirely of sound snippets like truncated (or otherwise irregular) drumbeats, keyboard, um, melodies, and, finally, what can only be charitably described as somebody using a dictaphone to record a television (or something). There is nothing avant-garde at work here. The ACLU wouldn't defend this CD.

Free Beer and Noise Pop

I met Janet Weiss yesterday. I think her husband was there too, you know, the other half of the amazing Quasi. I didn't say hi to him, but almost embarrassed myself gloating over Weiss. She's awesome. I think Quasi's in town for Noise Pop, but I couldn't find them listed anywhere. Anyway, Noise pop promises to be great this year. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket for tonight's sold out Magnetic Fields show, I envy you.

I hear there's free beer available thanks to Diesel. Check the details below:

Say Hi : The Wishes and the Glitch by Lee Henderson

One of my favorite images of all time is a Shel Silverstein sketch of a man playing a guitar that is also his own face and torso. A guitarotaur, if you will. The cover of Say Hi (formerly Say Hi To Your Mom) 's fifth album, The Wishes and the Glitch, reminds me in a fleeting way of the Silverstein sketch, for it is an illustration of a boxy robot (three boxy robots, actually) opening up its own quadrilateral chest outward, like a refrigerator door, exposing what's inside.

Say Hi is, according to both the website and "Wishes'" liner notes, "a boy named Eric" Elbogen. Eric lives and records in Seattle, and is, ostensibly, the whole band (there are some ancillary background singers), playing all the "guitar, bass, synthesizer, and drum machines. . .  encapsulated on this compact disc, vinyl long player or digital collection."*  
  
Right away I'm somewhat skeptical, as my personal tastes tend to gravitate less toward the laptop and more toward . . . well, not new country music, and not the laptop--though I don't mean to conflate the two.  But the opening strains of "Northwestern Girls," the first track on "Wishes," does much to assuage my worry--there's an immediacy in those two-and-a-half minutes that grabbed me and pulled me in. The following tracks "Shakes Her Shoulders" and "Toil and Trouble" continue piquing my interest, especially "Toil," which I can really see delivering live, given of course that it's performed loud enough. There's a nice balance of what I'll call, for lack of a better term, organic tension in the song, and the lyric "sometimes the slow simmers to a boil" contained within -- well, syllogistic isn't exactly the right word, but let's just say that the line delivers on its promise.
   
Unfortunately, the wheels more or less come off the wagon for me after that. "Back Before We Were Brittle," "Oboes Bleat and Triangles Trink," and "Magic Beans and Truth Machines" are tracks that, for me, don't really go anywhere but sideways and in circles. And at this point it should be noted that, while I'm sure he hates the comparison, "Wishes" is more than just a little (Postal Service) "Give Up"- esque and Elbogen's singing voice is, again, more than a little similar to the nerdy romanticism of Ben Gibbard's**.  But Say Hi is no Postal Service, and these three songs prove it.   
   
"Bluetime" and "Spiders" get us back on track somewhat, but the damage has been done (though "Spiders" does contain the best line of the album: "there’s the thing with her father, the thing with me broken, her new jealous ex and the press").  And while there is good imagery like this throughout the album, such lyricism ultimately doesn't make up for the lack of dynamism or cogency -- for the overall lukewarm songwriting -- that I feel typifies it. 

This is cemented with the last three songs, "Zero to Love," "Apples For the Innocent," and "We Lost the Albatross," songs which all deal with themes of either obtaining or "need(ing) something new." On the whole I would recommend to Mr. Elbogen to capitalize on what works on this album -- the first three songs, specifically -- and jettison the rest.  In other words, a third of what he's got works.  The other two-thirds need something.  

Additionally, I would simply warn him of the risk he takes when opening up, in general, and exposing the elements inside, their inner-working. . .  I would warn him to think twice next time about the robot on the cover of his record.  For when the robot opens up, it reveals itself to be hollow, its contents nothing but cold air.  I don’t think Mr. Elbogen wants his art suffering the same criticism.           

*That Elbogen is Say Hi's only decision-maker has lent him the space and freedom to employ some personal touches (like this one) in the album's layout that I didn't like, and some that I did: specifically that, though only symbolically, it is broken up into a side A and a side B, a la a throwback vinyl record. I wish more artists, when tracking their albums, would factor in this variable.     

**And Conor Oberst's, for that matter.  And mine. But, Senator, I am no Jack Kennedy, and I digress.   

Words by Lee

Ringo Starr : Liverpool 8 by Jory John

I'll admit this here & now: Every time a former Beatle releases a new album, I'm hopeful, ready to give every benefit of every doubt. And this is true: I got teary eyed, once, when I was reading a review of a then-new Paul McCartney CD that received high praise. I couldn't believe it, especially when the reviewer wrote that the new songs stood up to Paul's output on "Revolver." Yes! "Revolver"! Dang! Then I went and bought a copy and the first lines of the first song were "One, two, three, four, five/Let's go for a drive." Not exactly a revolutionary debut and the album -- "Driving Rain" -- remained lackluster and uninspired, throughout.

And I know that this isn't meant to be a McCartney review, but I think it's generally an apt comparison, because Paul and Ringo have had a tendency to share the same problem: They both try too hard in that overproduced, electric-guitar-and-synth, forced-rhyme sort of way. Quit rhyming so damn much, Paul and Ringo! All those songs you keep pumping out would stand up better. Over the last few years, I've sincerely wanted to sit these post-Beatles down and say, "Listen up, you two ... I want both of you to focus on your strengths. OK? Paul, for you, it's your melodies, acoustic ballads and knack at storytelling. For you, Ringo, it's your drumming and dry sense of humor. And while we're at it, why don't you give George's final album, 'Brainwashed' another couple of listens. George went back to writing beautiful, stripped down songs with harmonies that people rightfully compared to 'Abbey Road.' Think about it."

With all that said, I'm actually pleased to report that there are some good things about "Liverpool 8": 1.) For a Ringo album, it's not bad at all. 2.) That is, it grows on you with a few listens, even if the music has an occasional tendency to blend into one long ramble. 3.) And the song "Give It a Try" sneaks up and approaches Ringo's best work and it's definitely one that I'd add to a playlist if I created a mix entitled "Songs Written By Former Beatles That Are Actually Good and Worth a Listen." Granted, this is all relative and you know what you're getting into when you see the name Ringo Starr on the cover. Because let's be honest: Nobody ever really looked to the Fourth Beatle for his song-writing prowess and the fact that he just released a generally pleasant, nostalgic, fairly well-sung album may be the closest we come to a celebrated post-Beatles offering this year.

Ring Starr : Liverpool 8

Check out Jory's Bigstonehead

SMILE with Neil on Valentines

As you probably already know, Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. In North America, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. Named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in /Parlement of Foules /(1382) by Chaucer:

              /For this was on seynt Volantynys day/
              /Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese/ [choose] /his
              make/ [mate].

Wow! He's supposed to be such a great poet, and yet he can't even spell. Shocking ...

Well, anyway, you are probably aware that in some North American elementary schools,students are encouraged to give a Valentine card or small gift to everyone in the class. The greeting cards of these students often mention what they appreciate about each other. Now, this is no elementary school, and I don't expect everyone of you to bring me a Valentine, but it would be appreciated if certain select people would consider doing so, and you know who you are... Married and unavailable ladies need not fear that I will take it the wrong way!

In any case, I hope you will not let this daunting prospect hold you back from attending another fantastic night of fun and frivolity at Ye Olde Knockoute. Just see what I have lined up for your listening pleasure:

11pm - The Moore Brothers - Thomas and Gregory by name, they are no strangers to SMiLE! attendees. Truly, sweeter songbirds are rare to come by in any era, and local appearances by this pair are equally rare ever since they've relocated up North. So be sure to catch them while you can!
http://www.myspace.com/themoorebros

10:15pm - Dreamdate - What a delightful surprise when I discovered there was such a band as Dreamdate! Yea-ming, Anna, and Elbert produce a delightfully tuneful clatter that'll have you dreaming up some wonders.
http://www.myspace.com/dreamdater

9:30pm - Them Hills - The Moores are bringing up some friends of theirs from Nevada City. Never having met, seen, nor heard them in person, I can't speak from experience. But they seem just delightful and wear funny glasses. What more could you ask for?
http://www.myspace.com/themhills

The place is at 3223 Mission near 29th and the cost is a mere $5.

I look forward to seeing you!

Best wishes,
Neil Martinson

Valentines Day Bummer by Avery Monsen & Jory John

It's February in San Francisco and it seems like everybody has somebody. The sun came out yesterday for the first time in weeks and love-struck assholes from every walk of life flooded the streets. There was kissing in the on the sidewalks. There was hand-holding in the corner store. There was what looked coitus in the park. Yuck. Public coitus is the absolute worst.

"Public coitus is the absolute worst," I said to no one in particular, although "no one" included everyone in the 10-items-or-less line at Safeway. "Hallmark must be responsible for this."

I kept walking. Things were turning ugly. Heavy petting, heavier petting, heaviest petting. Everywhere I looked, cheese-balls were asking other cheese-balls for their cheesy hand in marriage.

"You complete me," some jerk said, to some she-jerk.

"You had me at 'hello,'" some tool said, to some she-tool.

But I don't think I'm alone, here. I can't be. There must be other people out there who are sick of this Valentine's fever. People who have a hunch -- like I do -- that those little "Be Mine" candy hearts are actually just chalk. People that know that flowers die and chocolate will just make you fat. We're the Lonely Majority (coined!), and we're not going to take it anymore.

The Whigs : Mission Control by Lee Henderson

Full disclosure:  I am a former, and slightly fanatical, Athens, GA resident.  As such, January was a great month for me in terms of new music. Athens' finest the  Drive- By Truckers' latest opus "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" does not disappoint,  and neither does Chan Marshall's (Cat Power) latest, "Jukebox" (that Chan is technically a native of Atlanta, really got her start in New York City, and now lives in Miami does not phase me).

Athens' residents The Whigs' second release, "Mission Control," (also issued in  January) is yet another such record.  While the album may play it a little safe at times, what I like about it is that it doesn't pretend to be anything other than it is: straightforward rock n' roll.  And who, at the end of the day, doesn't enjoy straightforward rock n' roll*?  People I don't like, that's who. You know who you are**. The album announces itself confidently with the opening track "Like A Vibration." Immediately one notices the unmistakable similarity between singer Parker Gispert's voice and that of Dave Grohl's--a similarity that helps personify both what is great about the album and what is not so great about it.  On the one hand, both Grohl and Gispert have cool rock n' roll voices—strong, spiky, and distinguished.  On the other,  that both singers sound so alike—and, ergo, the Whigs sound similar to the Foo Fighters—that overall the album is nothing new.

Which, as I've said before, doesn't mean it's not a good album.  I may teasingly refer to Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses as "Jim James Mercer," but that doesn't mean  I've been able to stop listening to "Cease to Begin" for the last couple of months. The second track "Production City" starts off with a staccato "Orange Crush" kind of thing before settling in to a groove that makes me think:  this is what Minutemen might sound like had they made it to the 21st century. Of course, "Production City" is longer than a minute and a half and has a melodic chorus.  But the scratchy guitar work is reminiscent of the late D. Boon, and the bass playing of Mike Watt.  Listen for it. Similarly, "Sleep Sunshine" begins with a riff and a theme that vaguely reminds me of Radiohead's "Wolf At The Door" before channeling the Athens instrumental combo Japancakes' warm pedal steel sound.  Neither influence seems too overt or gratuitous--in fact "Sleep Sunshine" is one of the most mature and best songs on the album.  It, more than any other song on the record, shows off drummer Julian Dorio's talents, and I’m sure the song is a highlight live.

Another highlight live, I'm sure, is "Already Young." Probably the most commercial song on "Mission Control," I can totally hear it on the radio or see it on a Starbucks sampler. The chorus is melodic and infectious, and, and there’s no better way to say this—it feels good.      

So does "I Got Ideas," the best and most mature song on the album.  It's promising to see them add extra instrumentation (horns in the chorus) and I hope they continue down this path with future recordings.  

No matter what path they're on, I hope it leads to the Independent or the Rickshaw Stop soon--I am really looking forward to checking these guys out live. I am really looking forward to hearing them play "I Never Want To Go Home." I can't wait to soak up the irony of singing along to the "I don’t want to go home again" chorus, knowing I would go home again, if only to have dinner at Farm 255, a drink at the Mercury Lounge, and then to have my hand stamped at the Caledonia or the 40 Watt for a Whigs' show.
 
Words by Lee
 
*(Besides my parents.)
 
**It suddenly occurs to me that I feel compelled to steer this review towards a histrionic
rant about hipsters who eschew anything mainstream in the interest of fashion. I don't
want to marginalize the Whigs by doing that.  So this passive- aggressive parenthetical is
going to have to do. 

The Whigs : Right Hand On My Heart

Evan Greenwald's look at '07 and more free tunes by FJP

I've been quite lucky to have so much help from great writers like Farhad J. Parsa, Evan Greenwald, Jory John, and John Hell. No longer is 4F a space for one person's look at the current world of music, but instead, it's a true collaboration.

I've set up a separate page for Mr. Greenwald's epic list of his favorite music, musicians, and songs from 2007. Here's just an excerpt:

Album of the Year:

Neon Bible
By The Arcade Fire

I don't know why I've been denying it all year--maybe because I didn't want to give all the awards to the same band--but the truth is: I love this album. Especially after giving it a year to grow on me. Even songs that feel boring at first ("Neon Bible," "Ocean of Noise," "Windowsill") have eventually grown on me, and on some occasions have even become my favorites on the album, of only for a day or two. The real power in Neon Bible is the way that Arcade Fire have mastered their sonic oxymoron. For example, on their first and classic album, Funeral, inspired by nine deaths in the families of the seven members of the group, you'll feel joyous. Listen to the Springsteen-meets-Bjork anthem "Haiti," about escaping from the country of the same name, complete with angry soldiers and dieing cousins, and keep yourself from dancing. At that point in the career, they might as well have capitalized the FUN in FUNeral. Now, listen to "Intervention," the moody church organ centerpiece of the album about salvation of the religious variety, and keep the Kleenex nearby.

The sonic changes in Neon Bible from Funeral are significant, but the power each song has not lessened in any way. And where some songs are sad and beautiful, the best songs you'll hear are the dancier ones like the American Spirit of "(Antichrist Television Blues)" or the contagiously catchy "Keep the Car Running" (which even the Foo Fighters have been known to cover recently).

First came the Funeral, then came the Bible. Now we've got to believe. It’s easier than you might think.

AND . . .

More tunes fished out of the web by FJP:

• Sebadoh : On Fire
• The Microphones : Ice
• LCD Soundsystem : Daft Punk is Playing At My House (Soulwax Shibuya Re-Remix)
• The Futureheads : Let's Dance (Bowie Cover)
• The Organ : Brother
• The Occasion : All Over Idaho
• Heatmiser (Elliott Smith) : Plainclothes Man (acoustic)
• The Polyphonic Spree : Lithium (Nirvana Cover)
• Sunset Rubdown : The Mending of the Gown

The ultimate guide to music for people in need of a root canal, by FJP

• 764-Hero : Terrified of Flight
• Bad Brains : Big Takeover
• sadsadfun : Ever Loving Light (the old version...it's downloadable now)
• Spoon : Revenge!
• Spoon : Underdog
• CSS : Art Bitch
• CSS : Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
• Fiery Trees: Scorpio
• The Organ: Brother
• Pavement: Silence Kit
• Soft Machine : Instant Pussy
• Portishead : Strangers
• Portishead : Sour Times
• Portishead : Wandering Star
• Polar Bear Club
• Lastly check out the music of SQE

Kingsbury: THE GREAT COMPROMISE by Evan Greenwald

There is little room for Kingsbury to be happy, apparently.  They're melancholy of sometimes the best quality, like the Smashing-Pumpkins-meets-a-sad-version-of-the-Violent-Femmes of their album's opener, "Corpse," with the heavy church bells and the distorted humming guitar, the climactic gloom of "Buried Beneath the Trees," or the heavy, sped-up march of "Blood In the Kitchen." And sometimes it's just really, really bizarre, like in "Desert Inn".

But you have to give Kingsbury credit. Most bands who try out the dreary vocal style drown faster than their lyrics say they want to be.  But here the dreariness is all apart of a bigger picture. It's not whiny enough to be emo and it's not hardcore enough to be goth, it's just generally dark, and it sounds pretty good that way.

Now, Dreary doesn't mean quiet, like it is usually assumed to mean, and "Peninsula" helps back me up. It's loud and dark at the same time.

See, the fun of Kingsbury is that it's seriously dark. Not dark to be funny or dark because the band thinks it'll make them more popular, but because it's how they are.  And sometimes being yourself means being depressing. Doesn't mean you're not allowed to enjoy the sound of suffering, does it?

Key Tracks: Corpse, Blood In the Kitchen, Peninsula

Kingsbury on Myspace

Animal Collective: STRAWBERRY JAM by Evan Greenwald

Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, but really, this is a musical achievement. A band has actually combined the weird-noise beep-boop-bopping of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the jolly dance of the circus, and, but only sometimes, the brainless insane screech of the screemo genre into one compact nine-song album.
 
Imagine you've got yourself a fifty-five-minute, twenty-eight-second long caffeine rush that just happens to sound great too, and there you go. Animal Collective.
 
Some of it actually doesn't sound good at all (the mumbling drone of "1"), but when it works, it's a miracle. Easily the best song, "Peacebone," though lacking in the insanity, is one of the most brilliant songs I've heard all year. From the jumpy bass line, the sugar rush synthesizers, and the ridiculously good lyrics ("I was a jugular vein in a juggler's girl/I was supposedly leaking the most interesting colors"), that still retain poetic brilliance even after your realize that none of them make any sense at all.
 
"For Reverend Green" is the song where the Collective start, and stop, screaming. If begins and a jolly pop tune with distorted loops playing underneath Avey Tare's singsong microphonage. But, almost at random times it switches to the full-throttle screech, the alt-metal wail that not only is unexpected, but is also very good sounding.
 
Sometimes the revolution comes from places we didn't expect it to come from. What Animal Collective have done doesn't exactly sound consistently good, but it is unfailingly original, and occasionally it's brilliant.
 
Key Tracks: Peacebone, For Reverend Green, Winter Wonder Land

Animal Collective : Fireworks

I'm Not There: Music from the Motion Picture

I'm not usually the one to rave over soundtracks to movies, but this one has to have some glimmer of amazing-ness: a movie using Bob Dylan as a metaphor, while apparently not being autobiographical, has only one song actually by the guy the movie's about anyway. And an added bonus: Of all the many different playing Dylan in the same film, the only one of them who looks anything like the real thing is Cate Blanchett, famous for playing Queen Elizabeth in that one movie.

Nevertheless, there's something that puts you in a great mood in hearing Eddie Vedder yell out "All Along the Watchtower" with Wilco's Nels Cline (as a part of the Million Dollar Bashers, a continuous presence on the record) spinning Hendrix-rivaling solos nonstop. Or letting Craig Finn and the Hold Steady slurr out "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" with an extra side of Springsteen.  Or letting Wilco's Jeff Tweedy go solo on "A Simple Twist of Fate", where you can finally notice the similarities with Dylan and his voices. And even Karen O, someone who I’ve still got a bit of a grudge against for sucking so much at last year's Download Festival, sounds great with her art-metal screech over "Highway 61 Revisited."

And those are just the highlights by artists I've been previously aware of. Mark Lanegan's rendition of "Man In the Long Black Coat" is dark and moody and epic on many levels. Stephan Malkmus's "Ballad of a Thin Man" is an air-keyboard marathon.

Calexico, the Million Dollar Bashers, and Stephen Malkmus have continuous appearances throughout, and they fail to disappoint on many or most of their slots.

There are some weaker points on the record, like Yo La Tengo's freak-fuck-up "Fourth Time Around," and Marcus Carl Franklin's boring cut of "When the Ship Comes In", Anthony & The Johnsons completely butcher "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and there are a few other skippable portions, but for the most part it’s a solid CD.

This being the second Dylan Covers album does take some of the effect off the thing, but that doesn't mean that it’s not fun to hear. When the artist who's playing the song knows what they're doing, everything goes well, even if you didn’t expect it would.

Listen here

Words by Evan Greenwald

This Monday at the Knockout

Way up in the rural New Hampshire town of Alton, miles from any state highway that carry vacationers to the nearby lakes and ski areas, are the workshops of Smile Laboratories. There's no sign on the highway alerting you to its presence, and the vast building complex is set back too far to be seen from the road. If you do somehow manage to beat the odds and find the place, it's likely that you'll never forget the experience. You'll be greeted at the door by our attractive receptionist, the ever ebullient LaShaundra, who will be only too happy to give you a tour of the grounds. She will explain all that it takes to put on Smile, and will answer any questions you might have. Fresh pastries and coffee are on the house, as well as a lavishly printed map of the grounds.

It is here that all the music you hear at Smile is invented by the most experienced and adept people in the field. All the bands that play at Smile are designed and fabricated here as well, and are shipped to San Francisco where they can perform for your enjoyment. The dj/host Neil is constantly being refined, repaired, and periodically replaced, so as to better serve your needs.

How far ahead does the work stretch? LaShaundra picks up a yellow legal pad, and runs her finger down the list of projects: "Honey, this is a complete restoration here, this band's just come out of the chicken coop. Honest to god, these kids required several recalls and we been working round the clock for weeks ... We ended up having to do the whole thing over, but I think we got it right!"

No doubt, she is referring to Monday night's headliners, the amazing Brian Glaze and the Night Shift. The lifelike features and fully movable parts on each figure are a sight to behold! When you hear the music they play, you'll be in no doubt that you're in the hands of true professionals. Other projects have had to wait their turn, in order that this one could be perfected, but the technicians and engineers at Smile are really on the ball. Just take a look around the shop!

Brian Glaze : Rainsplitter

Over there, we have the prototype of Fun Machine, side project of Angelina Moysov, lovely vocalist and keyboard player of the critically acclaimed Persephone's Bees. Ready just in time to appear second on the bill Monday night, fresh out of the plastic wrapping and glistening serenely in the moonlight: a row of identical replicas, each one as beautiful and luscious as the next. You don't really think her busy schedule allows her to singlehandedly pull off such a startling solo act, do you? The costume changes alone require several separate units! All in a day's work at the Smile Labs...

Starting off the show will be our latest creation, The Trade. As delightful a group of young men as we've ever assembled, I think you'll enjoy their program of songs. LaChaundra explains with a wry smile: "They were supposed to appear at an earlier date, but the thing was jammed sideways in a box van, and we were doing work on one of the other bands when the time came to ship them off. But after a few minor adjustments, they are better than new!"

http://www.myspace.com/oaklandtrade

The people at Smile Labs have a straightforward approach to their work. "We try to do it the way we've always done it," LaChaundra explains. "Look at the way we do something, and invariably it's the most efficient way--we're in the business to make money. And, simply stated, Smile is the best. We have no competition."

How do they choose the program of music that plays between and after the bands? "They're just cool songs," LaChaundra asserts. "When we started working on them in the Sixties and Seventies, you'd listen to them and think, man, these tunes are kind of awful. But they grow on you, they've really got some nice melodies, and they're really well-produced for the time." The dj/host Neil is programmed to keep an eye on the crowd and see what people are responding to. They've even set him up for a few flubs for that extra touch of realism!

So, next time you're planning a vacation, look into Alton, New Hampshire, and seek out the Smile Laboratories. In the meantime, just jump on the Muni bus and head over to the Knockout -- this Monday, December 3, around 9:30pm. It's at 3223 Mission near 29th Street. The gears are waiting for you to set them in motion!

Words by DJ Neil

Grizzly Bear and Final Fantasy by FJP

In the past couple of weeks I've seen two really great live shows: one by Grizzly Bear and another by Final Fantasy.

I have a feeling that Grizzly Bear and Final Fantasy, both, will shape the future of music.  I don't see them as big stars, I see them more as catalysts to a newer sound.  As with most great bands their music is SO MUCH BETTER live than on their albums. You can hear/see their subtleties and dynamics, as you do with really great bands. Grizzly Bear's multi-instrumental/vocal sharing is tight. These guys don't mess around and their songs shine out in a live setting. FF's compositions are genius but his ability to play live with just his violin keyboard and a bunch of delay/loops is pretty fantastic.  Plus he's got a voice that is reminiscent of Smog and...hmm, make your own decision.

Final Fantasy : This Modern Love (Bloc Party cover)
Final Fantasy : Fantasy (Mariah Carey cover)
Final Fantasy : Sharks (with Cadence Weapon)
Final Fantasy : Grim Fandango (with Cadence Weapon)
Final Fantasy : Paris 1919 (with Cadence Weapon)

Grizzly Bear : Knife (live: Dallas,TX. 02/27/2007)


Words by FJP

Robbers on High Street by Clare McNulty

When Robbers on High Street performed at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco last Friday, I got all turned around. They're a tricky band, these guys.

The earth-toned hipsters started their set with songs that could have been a mating call for early Strokes and Spoon fans, but as they drew more from their new album Grand Animals it became apparent that the Robbers are quite eager, and ready, to carve a niche of their own.

And little wonder; when you've been accused of being derivative as many times as the Robbers have, it seems like you'd be itching to distinguish yourself.  Reviews make comparisons with The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Interpol, The Arcade Fire, Maroon Five… a reviewer for Stylus magazine decided that the band owes a "great debt" to Spoon (are they supposed to pay them back in quarter notes, I wonder? In drumsticks?). And yeah, you'll recognize the influences, but you'll also enjoy it, because they're integrated very, very well. So well that watching this band sort of strips you of the indie-rock mentality dictating that you've got to snub the familiar. Instead, you just kind of rock out.

With the songs on the new album, we're given a pretty vivid look at the Robbers' identity crisis; their style varies wildly from song to song. The once upbeat rhythmic guitars and jaunty horns of their first album, Tree City, seem to be transitioning into something a little darker: some blues, some gypsy cabaret, and some prominent funk-inspired bass lines. Grand Animals ranges from "Across the Knee," a delicious little poplet set on edge by disconcerting lyrics, to "Guard at your Heel," a mysterious combo of lilting trombone, synth accordion, and a lot of minor chords. These darker songs are obviously the band's forte; watching "Married Young," "The Fatalist," and "Kick 'em in the Shins" performed was like watching purveyors of cool give their very best pitch.

This darker bent was apparent in performance, too. I got the distinct feeling that the band was, like, 100 steps ahead of the audience at all times. It felt like I had stumbled into a 60's sock-hop, and while everyone around me was swing dancing, the band was sneaking sips of Jack Daniels out of concealed flasks and skipping off to the bathroom to bone their groupies. They had this really mischievous attitude that seemed inconsistent with a band that looked and sounded (at first) like nice guys who were eager to please, and this is the characteristic that serves Robbers on High Street the best, I think. They're subverting their own image, and their own music… like a little schizophrenic rebellion. The result is really solid music with a devious edge, and it's definitely worth listening to.

Robbers on Hogh Street : Crown Victoria

Two Gallants at the Independent 10/27/07 by Jory John

There are these moments when you're watching the Two Gallants and Adam Stephens is singing so forcefully and Tyson Vogel is essentially destroying his drum set and you're thinking, "Where can the song go from here? How long can you maintain what is essentially a six-minute climax?". . .yet it manages to just keep building and expanding --occasionally accented by the quick, dramatic ceasefire in all sound -- and the logical conclusion, when a band with a weaker constitution and less stamina would take a bow and launch into something else, the Gallants power up and all of a sudden Stephens has started singing an octave higher and you're not totally sure where it's coming from or how it's possible to take it a full step above what was already an intense, gravelly melodic wail, wasn’t he already reaching a breaking point? Yet now he's wailing, yes, and his eyes are clamped shut and you can see the spray of his yell in the spotlight -- every eye in the room is fixed on him if they weren't before and Vogel's drums fill the hell out of the gaps while he simultaneously takes his own wailing harmony --and the song-- let's say The Deader off their new album 2GS, for the sake of argument -- which was already good has become something else completely: chill-inducing. This is just a duo that makes music that makes you want to make music at the same time causing you to ask, "Why bother? They've already got it covered." Blues, rock, finger-picking electric-folk, breakup ballads (in the best sense of those words), alt-country, topical stuff: all of the above.

On Saturday night -- taking the stage at San Francisco's Independent around 11 PM -- the Two Gallants played a high-intensity, varied two-hour set that left ears muted well into the early morning hours, a gig that set the formerly stone-faced room to "sway." These Gallants are energy, personified, and it was with great fanfare that they played a couple packed shows (Friday night, as well) in their hometown in an incessant touring schedule. Stephens managed to call out names of a few people in the audience, old friends perhaps, now relegated to standing six feet below the band and perhaps reminiscing about the days when these guys used to play BART stations and street corners in the Bay Area for the exposure and commuter tips. Now they're signed to Saddle Creek, have just released a new album and are receiving regular radio play (especially on college stations). The hard work has clearly paid off in their performances, musicianship and songwriting. They're better than most and with just two people in the band, both members have a variety of roles to fill: In addition to keeping a watertight beat throughout, Vogel's drumming plays an active role in the melody-enhancing, continually synching up with guitar and lyrics … and Stephens not only finger-picks his way through rhythm and lead guitar, but he plays the bass parts as well as harmonica and whistling solos. Their voices seem designed for each other, blending so well that sometimes it's hard to tell who's singing what part, perhaps a result of growing up and making music together for so many years. (In interviews, they've said they've known each other since they were five-years-old. They've been making music since they were 12.)

This is absolutely a band that gives you your money's worth, never seeming to tire, never going through the motions. And there were some unexpected on stage moments: a.) Stephens getting down on his knees and playing a few minutes of guitar while hiding behind the drum set b.) Vogel's microphone getting whacked by a stick and the stage manager fruitlessly trying to fix it for the duration of the song c.) some smiling.

The crowd was with them the whole way. It seems obvious that the Two Gallants' fame is growing and will continue to do so in the coming tours and records and years … pretty much everyone realizes that these concerts are a treat, a chance to stand 15 feet from a fantastic band that started out good and is writing songs and albums that are headed toward classic.

Discos Mariscos

Just got this in the email, and, well, I like it. I actually like it more than anything that has been sent my way in a while. The label is called Discos Mariscos and they're out of Florida, apparently. Here are three of their latest releases. The words are theirs:

On the Death of Science as a Major World Religion by the Cadets
Noise squalls and deliberate rock songs from one of the dozens of Northeast Florida's unjustly ignored weirdrock bands. This album is currently available at Discos Mariscos, but is being properly released on November 20. It's a CD with painstakingly handmade, glue-gobbed (in a good way) digipack-ish cases.

Cadets : G-Ville As Rare Factions

Sleeping Dreaming All Day in Your Room in Your Brain by Adel Bengo.
Songs by polite, understated woodland creatures who live inside your brain and make it hard for you to wake up in the morning. Or, distorted grungy folk pop from a girl who lives in a gated community and doesn't make a lot of sense. This comes out on November 20 as well, and is also currently available early on our mail order page. It's a hand-painted cassette tape in a hand-sewn felt pouch with a tiny folded book of lyrics. It looks like coziness and sounds like a womb, if wombs were managed by the guys who brought you Chuck E. Cheese.

Adel Bengo : Keep You Here

Heavenly Gospel by Applied Communications.
A compilation of the best of Maxwell Wood's work since his disastacular and generally uncomfortable attempts at appearing on the national scene with 2005's indescribably awkward Uhhh Sort Of. Fortunately unlike Uhhh, we doubt this one will be such an embarrassment when we look back on it two years from now. Pride will swell from our ankles. Grimey 4-track kinderscreamo experiments and soft honesty. This is an MP3-only release for now, currently available for free download at discosmariscos.com and applcomm.net .

Applied Communications : Awesome Fantasies

Autumn Sweaters

A playlist of sorts by FJP:

Iron & Wine : Boy With a Coin
The Shins  : Phantom Limb
Grizzly Bear : On a Neck On a Spit 
Chapterhouse : Summer Chill 
Yo La Tengo : Autumn Sweater (acoustic solo)
The Magnetic Fields : It's Only Time
Nick Drake : Blues Runs the Game 
Voxtrot  : Mothers Sisters Daughters and Wives
Dan Rosen (Grizzly Bear)  : Deep Blue Sea 
My Bloody Valentine : Only Shallow
Blonde Redhead : In Particular 
Thurston Moore : The Shape is in a Trance  
Fu Manchu : We Must Obey
Beirut : Postcards from Italy
Grizzly Bear  : Don't Ask (remix) 
Grizzly Bear : Don't Ask (album)

Pure Horsehair : Aubade

I've been listening to the album Aubade by Pure Horsehair.

It's good. Real good. I want to sit by the Mississippi River and drink a lemonade with this album. Not that you have to but that's the rolling grace I get when this album is on.

Pure Horsehair is a band that hails from Brooklyn, New York, consisting of Garrett Devoe and Shahzad Ismaily. Garrett got some analog recording equipment from the bassist of TV on the Radio and turned his apartment into a analog recording studio. Mixed by Joe Blaney the album was produced, written and recorded by Garrett. And again, it sounds real good. I mean to stress this point because as I listen to Aubade, I'm reminded of how in today's digital world, musicians, like Pure Horsehair, who are willing to put a bit of extra love into their music, go with analog recording.

The warmth in the recording is reciprocated by their songwriting and Garrett's vocals. Both songwriter and voice carry sincerity and a sense of urgency that is missing  from most of what I hear today.  

So I urgently suggest you check out Aubade before another day breaks without it.

Pure Horsehair : H.D. Told Me

Word by FJP

Gogol Bordello : SUPER TARANTA!

♣♣♣½ (3.5/5)

The first song on Gogol Bordello's Supter Taranta, "Ultimate" sort of grabs you by the neck, shakes you for a couple minutes, spits in your face, kicks you in the balls, then maims you, all the while telling you about all the things in the world that you once thought were wrong, and then it walks away, and you're perfectly fine with all this.

Robert Christgau reviewed this album for Rolling Stone last issue and loaded it with a bunch of over analytical garbage about immigration and all that. He also reviewed the White Stripe's Icky Thump, piling anti-Stripes bias into his words, and Against Me!'s New Wave, insulting it, then giving it four stars. He's really a bad writer. I had to get that out of my system.

Anyhow, the rest of the album does more or less the same thing, just with less force. "Wonderlust King" Is an example of a song that just isn't as awesome as Ultimate.
"Zina Marina" is a strung out, distortion-riffed, psychadellic track, "Supertheory of Supereverything" is an anti-religion anthem, "Tribal Connection" is a quiet but epic song about being at home and comfortable with it, "Force of Victory" is hard rocking and loving it, and "Harem in Tuscany (Taranta)" Is an awesome singalong. But Super Taranta is not all that Christgau makes it up to be. It’s a very good album, but it's by no means four-star worthy. Some of the songs sound the same, and some are just too weird to stand ("Suddenly… (I Miss Carpaty)", "Strange Uncles from Abroad").
Suck it, Christgau.

Key Tracks: Ultimate, Your Country, and American Wedding

Gogol Bordello : Troubled Friends
Gogol Bordello : The Last Wish of the Bride
Gogol Bordello : God of Sameness 1

Reviewed by Evan Greenwald

Of Montreal, Eggers, Mirman Join Boston Book Eaters

From Pitchfork: Reading, as a friendly giant once reminded me, is fundamental. Kevin Barnes and Bryan Poole of Of Montreal seem to concur, as they've linked up with Dave Eggers' Revenge of the Books Eaters project, which holds star-studded benefits to boost Eggers' 826 youth writing centers.

On September 26 at Boston's Berklee Performance Center, Barnes, Poole, Eggers, bad influence Eugene Mirman, Found magazine founder Davy Rothbart, writer Rodney Rothman, and New York indie poppers Via Audio will all perform in various capacities at yet another Revenge of the Book Eaters event, this one in support of 826Boston. The Boston cavalcade is being held a month to the day after the New York one, which features page-turners Feist, Grizzly Bear, Carl Newman, Jim James, and new addition Britt Daniel of Spoon.

Ryan Adams has also joined the fun, auctioning off "premium seats" for several shows on his fall tour to benefit 826. Go here to bid.