I always get a kick out of bands who appropriate and regurgitate a public figure’s name into something great and weird. And while Oliver North Boy Choir can’t compete with the handle The Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza they school them in terms of melody and listenability (in the opinion of this old man. I’m sure the kids go ape for TTDTDE). “Shell for the Mourning” has the schizophrenic energy of a Cornelius track. Bursts of fuzzed-out guitars intercut with lulling electronics while a frenetic beat keeps everything going along at a brisk clip until the bridge where the singer carries on a call and response with a Speak & Spell. The singer’s calm, cool delivery, she sounds as if she could be Laetitia Sadier’s younger sister, stands in contrast with the rest of the track, with the exception of the few lyrics I caught in the chorus, “another rope for your neck” and “another wound from a bullet.” They just add to the sweetly subversive texture of the rest of the song. An important postscript: “Shell for the Mourning” is the next output from this Danish trio who exclusively release singles digitally. They’ve accepted and embraced the much-prophisied demise of the album as an art form without sacrificing the stereo-life of their music.
Through the Sparks
If you’ll excuse the blatantly obvious for a second, one of the awesome things about the Internet is that you don’t have to be in New York, L.A., Chicago, Boston, Austin, or one of a handful of anointed college scenes to get noticed. Although, no matter where you are, you need a MySpace page come hell or high water. Through the Sparks aren’t in one of the Chosen Towns—they’re in Birmingham, Alabama, which by all accounts has a thriving local scene but probably won’t make any “The next” lists nonetheless. Plus, get this, Through the Sparks record in an actual garage. How…quaint. It’s enough to make you regain faith in American music. It also helps that the music itself is easy on the ears: a thinking feller’s mix of guitar and piano rock that’s both down-home and sophisticated. Any inherent Birmingham-ness or Southernness in general you might be looking to place on these polished pop articles will be as elusive as the band’s lyrics are charmingly obtuse. Maybe that’s the other awesome thing about the Internet: you can be from a scene without necessarily being of it—provided you’re on MySpace.
Santa Maria
This one’s gonna be quick because I gotta take care of the mothers in my life today! Maria Eriksson from The Concretes pulled together some of Sweden’s finest players to back her up on her solo album. The first selection, “Cuckoo” is the most Concretes-like: playful, bouncy pop, while “Dogs” is slightly more introspective and somber. Ericksson and company get downright proggy on “Make Up.” A little something for everyone. Enjoy the music. Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to call your mother!
Dntel
Lately there have been all these commercials for the NYC “easy listening” radio station and despite my general aversion to anything “easy” (especially when “listening”), I’ve been fascinated by how calm the woman on the advertisement is. One has to wonder… is it the music? Well I’m not ready to throw in the musical towel yet and so my latest solution to needing a little sonic R&R is going to have to be Dntel. Dntel is definitely not going to make the evening drive line-up next to Celine Dion BUT Dntel is Jimmy Tamborello (also part of The Postal Service and Figurine)–which earns him some cred in my book. His vocals are calmer (and prettier) than Ben Gibbard’s (although BG gets points for style) and the beats are a little lighter and more folky-playful. The end result is that I can’t turn it off. It’s a lovely and complicated melange of bips and tics that also manages to calm and soothe. Interesting. It ain’t easy like I thought I wanted, but it’s just right. As always, some tracks are included here, but the intrepid listener can find the whole album on Dntel’s Myspace page…
The Autumn Defense
Though the season isn’t quite right, these gentle tunes from The Autumn Defense sound just fine on our cool, sunny southeast Michigan mornings. Breezy easy-listening pop pleasure from Pat Sansone and Wilco’s John Stirratt, complete with whispered vocals, organ, strings, horns, and the the spirits of Cat Stevens or maybe Nick Drake. Two of these tracks — and there are plenty more available for free on their website — are from their 2003 release Circles, but a new, self-titled album looks promising. I know I’m a sucker for things that sound this pretty. Are you, too?
Magic Bullets
Writer’s block. That’s it. That’s the only explanation of how I can continue to tap my foot and nod my head on the sixth consecutive listen of “Heatstroke” from Magic Bullets and still not come up with something to write about it. Yes, it’s lame to just write “I like it” about a band/song, but with the pulsing keyboards and snappy drums of “Heatstroke,” that’s all your gonna get outta me. I like it. a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love is the debut album of this San Francisco band just out on Words on Music. If you must have comparisons, try these from Words on Music: C86, Felt, Gang of Four, New Order, Feelies, Talking Heads, Stranglers, Orange Juice, and the French Kicks. And make that eight consecutive listens!
Taxi Taxi
Sounds like Terence Bernardo can’t make up his mind. “Do I do a gritty, urban groove thing, or a slow piano jam?” Lucky for us he’s undecided. He’s given us both and sure enough there’s plenty more on Taxi Taxi’s debut, Maps and Legends. The variegated styles of Taxi Taxi are a sort of tribute to Bernardo’s kaleidoscopic, adopted hometown of New York City and his friends there who define the city and helped record the album. But music-heads from East to Left Coast will find something to love on Maps and Legends. From the Liquid Liquid-inspired party track “Shoot the Dog…” to the introspective “X Marks the Spot” Taxi Taxi holds all the songs together with inventive production, solid songwriting, and universal themes like love and loss.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
If classic French pop singers are my weakness, then Charlotte Gainsbourg is kryptonite. She’s not only the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg, France’s version of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen combined, but she’s gifted with Gallic melancholy—wispy melody-making that is perpetually running from the spotlight but never making it all the way out—that seems to be instilled in the French, or at least those who sing, from birth. (Although, Charlotte is half-British, so perhaps there’s a bit of Anglo resignation there as well.) “The Songs That We Sing†is one such number, which despite being in her English tongue loses none of its quiet desperation. You can hear AND see for yourself, because Michel Gondry shot the video. Oh, Charlotte’s also an actress of some renown and both her acting and her appearance could be termed, if you will, “magically delicious.†I hadn’t noticed that until just now. Had you?
Oh Bijou
My friend Neal just bought a satellite radio receiver on eBay, and my guess is he’s listening to as much Canadian radio as he can. That’s really his thing, along with snowboarding, long-distance bicycling, vacuum tube stereos, new albums on vinyl and the benzodiazepine-induced superoxide signalling of B cell apoptosis. (I’m not kidding! PhD scientists! My wife is the same way…) Anyway, he sent an e-mail suggesting Oh Bijou, and let me tell you there’s no apoptosis (that is, cell death) here, just nice, quiet, hazy pop songs with a 70s flavor. I mean, really, “Misty Eyes” is just about perfect. Oh Bijou! Oh Canada! Keep it up!
The Clientele
Tim O. and I went to see Ted Leo/Pharmacists last night, which was loud enough to blow out the new amp Ted bought earlier in the day, and so as ear therapy on the way home we listened to God Save The Clientele, due out next Tuesday. It’s so awesomely mellow, psychedelic and spacy that I’ve been using it at home in a similar manner, like when my 4-year old daughter repeatedly “sings” a joked-up version of the alphabet (X, T, G, R, B, V, J, J, J, etc.) at the top of her lungs. While the single “Bookshop Casanova” is fine, I’d drop a dollar on the whispers of “The Queen of Seville” or the Lawrence Welk-inspired “From Brighton Beach to Santa Monica” for a better feel for the new album, or for straightforward, drug-free headache relief.
Bookshop Casanova [MP3, 5.2MB, 192kbps]
Original post: 11/17/05
Hey, Clay! What’s up? Hey, how come you never posted The Clientele? This band seems right up your alley — hazy, dreamy British guitar pop about London and all that. I mean, just look at this song title: “St. Paul’s Beneath a Sinking Sky.” Isn’t that your thing? I guess if you didn’t post because The Clientele have only one free & legal MP3 available, and that song clocks in at less than two minutes long, well, that’s understandable. But they do have a new album out, and that’s as good a reason as any to post ’em. BTW, if you happen to be in Detroit this Sunday, let’s take Sam out for his birthday and catch The Clientele at the Magic Stick. Pas/Cal, a band you posted way back when, is opening. Greetings to the whole family! Love, Joe