Triple Play - Three good artists

So things have been quiet for awhile for me musically speaking. But then, all at once, I got three great new tracks from three really fun artists. Rather than breaking them down into individual posts, I thought I'd hit you all up with one big heap o' love.

The first gem of the day is from electro artist/DJ Morgan Geist. Geist has been in the scene for years but this is his first attempt at taking center stage. With guest vocals from Junior Boys' Adam Greenspan on numerous tracks, Geist takes a serious stab at reinventing and reinvigorating the sounds and styles of minimalist electro and italo disco. He doesn't always succeed, and some of the tracks seem to lack a fully realized punch, or a solid hook. But others show a deep understanding of the genre and real passion for what he's reaching for. This particular track, "Skyblue Pink" would have been as much a fit in an episode of Miami Vice as it would be in a hip lounge today.

Morgan Geist
MP3: Skyblue Pink
Purchase through Amazon: Double Night Time

The second track is from the French artist, Yelle. I've really enjoyed their french pop take on new wave so far and the "Ce Jeu" single and it's remixes are no exception. They make their music light and fun, and somehow way cooler than their American counterparts. Perhaps the French are simply better at sounding both silly and sophisticated at the same time. Regardless, Yelle is on my short list of favorites right now. It's impossible to listen to them and not want to dance and smile simultaneously.

Yelle
MP3: Ce Jeu (Tepr Remix Extended)
Purchase Through Amazon: Ce Jeu

I've saved my favorite for last however. The instant I heard the Royalties, I fell in love. The Norwegian trio may have started as a lark, but this track from their second album shows they are no joke. There's so much good stuff going on in this track that I don't even know where to start. They only comparison I can make is to Squirrel Nut Zippers, and even that doesn't quite fit. Just listen to it. Trust me. I can't wait to get hold of this whole album!

The Royalties
MP3: Music For Cooking With Gas
Purchase through Amazon: The Lost Royalties

It Doesn't Always Have To Be Heavy

Some of my favorite bands are Joy Division, Editors, Nine Inch Nails, and David Bowie. In all likelihood, none of them have been accused of being happy shiny artists. They tend to be heavy, thoughtful, perhaps even morose.

But that doesn't mean there isn't room for some fun in my world. In the past few years, there have been a few bands that, while retaining a punk aesthetic to their sound, nevertheless manage to sound like they are actually smiling while they play. Most of these next gen punkers use keyboards and synths as often as guitars.

This is where MIT comes in. Three young guys from Germany recommended to me by my amazingly talented and very sweet friend, Elhaam. Don't worry if you haven't heard of MIT. You don't need to. You don't need to know their influences or their history - they aren't important.

Listening to them for even a couple of minutes will answer all you need to know about MIT. They're happy, they're fun, they don't feel the need to make their music 'fit' into a particular category. And yet, there is something there. MIT remind me of a couple of west coast bands I know: Peachcake, from Phoenix AZ, and The Chain Gang of 1974, from Denver(both of whom, I highly suggest looking into). All are young, full of chutzpa and armed with synthesizers and a devilish gleam in their eye. Their style might be different, but their aims are the same.

MIT are danceable, quirky and full of life. Considering the way things are in the world today, it's nice to take a step back from things and listen to somebody whose only goal is to make you have as much fun as they are.

If you like 'em, their first full length album is called CODA.

MP3: MIT - Rauch

MIT on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mitmitmit

MIT's website: http://www.mitmitmit.net/

My Bloody Valentine

After reading this, I decided to ask my dear friend Leia if I could 'steal' her post about her experience at a recent My Bloody Valentine.  So consider this my first guest writer on RGS.

If in the practice of yoga you perform certain poses and movements in order to massage the inner organs – said to be healthy and stimulating – can the same be accomplished by massaging the organs with sound waves?

These are thoughts that flitted through my mind as My Bloody Valentine took us along on a ride inside their vortex of sound Tuesday night.

They may very well be the loudest band on the planet.

They are also amazing.

The venue (The Concourse at SF Design Center) was huge and not well-designed for the purpose of a musical performance. I count myself lucky to have been close enough to the stage to avoid having to deal with the poor acoustics of the room. I planted myself in the second row in front of Kevin Shields, donned my earplugs (which were handed out, free of charge, as we entered the venue – though many of us brought our own) - and settled in for the ride. 

I counted about a dozen full stacks lined up across the stage – most of them Marshalls – all with additional microphones attached, right against the grills. Colin's drum kit was set up right in the center, between them, buffered by sheets of plexiglass. Kevin's effects pedals were mounted on a board so large that it was carried out by two techs – I think I read somewhere he uses around 32 pedals onstage. 

Without a word as they took their places, the band ripped into "Only Shallow" to kick off the performance. Yes! I was exuberant. Finally – getting to see MBV live! 
(I literally just missed them in '92 – when they toured with Dinosaur Jr – I went to that show in Atlanta with my ex, but unfortunately, don't remember now why, we arrived late just as they were finishing…..)

With each song it seemed they got louder...layers and layers of sound, ethereal vocals buried within, just like the recordings. No, I couldn't really make out the lyrics, but somehow it didn't really matter. Colin was solid on the drums, Deb Googe was planted in front of him rocking out on the bass. Bilinda Butcher was seemingly effortlessly strumming her guitar, with her big wide curvy smile, and Kevin, true to "shoegaze" form, was focused on his wizardry on guitar. Together, in complete unspoken cooperation, they made powerful, loud, shimmering, beautiful noise. It was an exercise in the art of sound sculpture.

Very little was said between songs, except for Kevin early on several times having quick meetings at the side of the stage with one of his techs. He did, however, near the end thank us for coming out – twice, I believe – which was nice and more than other shows got, from what I've read. 

They played no new material, but a good solid selection of tunes from both albums – which was just dandy with us. I was completely happy.
This is a close enough approximation of the setlist I lifted from a couple of other websites :

Only Shallow
When You Sleep
You Never Should
Cigarette In Your Bed
Come In Alone
I Only Said
Nothing Much to Lose
To Here Knows When
Slow
Soon
Feed Me With Your Kiss
and, for the encore, You Made Me (Realize)

Yes, this last included the trademark 20-minute jet engine roar. All four members of the band stood in place and furiously banged or strummed, continuously, building this incredible, layered, awesome, outrageous, bone-rattling sound. Lights were wildly flashing and strobing – blinding and sometimes coercing us to just close our eyes and give in to the sound, let it take us where it may.

Wearing earplugs was the ONLY way to really appreciate this experience – otherwise it would have been too painful. In this case, wearing the earplugs actually helped, enabled me to make out distinguishing characteristics within the wall of sound like subtle pitch and volume variations, small twirps and beeps and swirlies here and there coming from Kevin's guitar. But I stood in the vortex of whirling sound and felt it, all around me, despite being surrounded by other human bodies. It was like standing in front of a big jet engine...or inside one.

The hair on my arms felt like it was dancing. The hair on my head lifted subtly off my neck. The cloth of my dress was twitching against my skin. I opened my hands at my sides to the stage and felt the waves coming into my palms and through my fingers like tiny breezes. Several times I thought I felt something against the front of my boot, but when I looked down, nothing was there. The entire building was vibrating. My bones were rattling, my innards were vibrating. 

And then I felt my sinuses draining, even though they hadn't been clogged to begin with. Wow! This was literally clearing my head. This is when I started having those thoughts about breathing in sound and the effects of sound waves on the body's organs. I took deep breaths – parting my lips - breathing it in. I thought, "This is a full body massage with sound!" It was truly a visceral experience. 

I felt each pound of the kick drum as a hit of wind – literally – like I was inside of the drum itself. I was inside this sound, and it was inside me. I was united with the audience and with the band, inside their music with them as they were making it. It was like we were all participants in some sort of sound experiment. What a mind trip. I sound like a tripping hippie: "Hey, man, we were all one with the music." And look, ma, no drugs! 

And then, just when you started to think you might not be able to take it much longer and if it got any louder your head might explode - it was over – by some subtle cue the band suddenly slid off the rocket ship and launched into melody again and finished the song, and then they were gone.

Um. Wow. 

And to answer the original question...afterward, my voice felt like clear liquid in my throat as I applauded and cheered. My body felt pretty loose. As I left the venue and walked the several blocks through the city streets to the bus, I felt relaxed yet energized, rejuvinated. My head was clear. As long as you're wearing good earplugs to leave your eardrums out of the exercise, I guess breathing in sound is pretty good for you. 

Leia Kaba

My Television Premiere

Not music related, but I thought I'd share anyway:

Some of you may know that I shot, edited and co-directed an episode for a travel show called Travelscope about two years ago. Well, it's finally airing starting this week on PBS!!

If you didn't know - we shot in Germany over the Christmas season. And damn was it fun! This will be the first project I was directly responsible for that's aired on television! If you have it, it's in HD.

If you live in the L.A. area:
It's on this Friday (10/3)at 9pm on Channel 58 (KLCS)for more info you can go to their website: http://www.klcs.org/programmingaz.html

If you live in the New Orleans area it's not on till October 29th at 8:30 on WLAE. Not sure what the station number there is, but here is their website: http://www.lpb.org/whatson/index.cfm

If you arent in L.A. or New Orleans, you can go to the show's website (and watch a preview!!) at: http://www.travelscope.net/TV/broadcast.htm(the preview is on this page: http://www.travelscope.net/Season2/germanmarket/index.htm)

I'm really proud of this piece and I'd love to hear what all of you think.
Okay, I'm going to go continue to pat myself on the back over here. Continue with your day.

Cheers,

Connor

{{{Sunset}}}

I've come to the conclusion recently that that there are two general paths for music to take. One form is aimed at your conscious mind. This form is often lyric heavy, and goes for an immediate impact. Top 40 music Ala Britney Spears is an example of this type when it's done poorly. A well executed example is Tom Petty. It's hook laden, catchy and goes into 'repeat' mode in your head almost immediately.

The other form is aimed at your unconscious mind. It may have melodies, or not, lyrics, or not. It may have an epic feel or a simple one. But it's impact is often not felt immediately, and the context in which you hear it is vital to the impression it gives. Good examples of this include Sigur Ros, Radiohead or Dead Can Dance. It's music from these bands that seeps in like a half-forgotten dream. It's doesn't demand to be repeated so much as it haunts you later, hanging around at the back of your brain like an itch you can't scratch. Of course, the bad version of this music is known as Muzak.

The band {{{Sunset}}} definitely falls into the unconscious realm. A friend of mine, Elhaam, sent me over a couple of their albums. Her timing on giving me these is oddly serendipitous because even as recently as a year ago, I wouldn't have given this ten minutes of my time. I was still DJ'ing and my brain seemed to simply not notice things that weren't beat driven.

Neither Bright Blue Dream nor The Glowing City are beat driven, that's for sure. And it's not 2007, and I haven't been DJ'ing for awhile now. So when I put on {{{Sunset}}} (we're getting a lot of bands that include symbols in their name lately, aren't we?), I took it in with more open ears. I let it just wash over me, without looking for a dance floor single.

The band, headed up by Austin's Bill Baird, produced their stuff through Autobus records, which apparently operates closer to the concept of a commune than a record label. Along with that comes a touch of 'dirty hippie' feel to the band that sometimes creeps in("New York Love" for example). For the most part, they keep that in check though.

There's a huge roster of artists that have contributed to their sound and it shows. Every track is lush and thick with ideas and instrumentation. I kept trying to latch on to their 'sound' with each track, trying hopelessly to fix a label on them. Psychadelia, shoegaze, experimental, all seemed to fail. I do like one that I haven't heard in awhile: dreampop. I think dreampop covers them nicely.

If dreampop doesn't really do anything for you, I can say that I can hear influences in them ranging from The Birds to Lou Reed to the Beatles to the Grateful Dead to Radiohead to...well, the list could get long( The song "Twenty Four Karat Soul" sounds like Pulp at it's best). My point in all this is that {{{Sunset}}} is a band that, listened to in the wrong context would not only be forgettable, it might be off putting. I often think of music in terms of cinema; Music and film have similar structures, concepts and goals. I think {{{Sunset}}} have a very specific cinematic world they live in, and to play them out of that world would be jarring. What cinematic world do they live in? One that occupies a montage during a Wes Anderson film or a closing credit sequence during a British romantic comedy or a long cross country drive is playing out during a Jim Jarmusch film.

{{{Sunset}}} has it's weaknesses. There's a fine line between 'ambient' and 'droning' and there a few times that they cross that line ( The two minute ending to "Man's Heart Complaint is a prime example). Also, as cohesive albums, I don't think there's a strength here. Of course, as individual tracks it actually becomes a positive. Each song is it's own world, it's own atmosphere. And maybe that's okay in the 21st Century. Maybe singles are the new albums.

Regardless, my suggestion for listening to this band is this: put on an album while you are doing something else. Ignore it. Let it play through twice. On the second play through, something will stop you from whatever you are doing and you'll pay attention. That's the {{{Sunset}}} song that your unconscious wants you to hear. The rest, you can feel free to discard or not. I have a feeling that's the way the band feels too: "Here's what we've got. Take what you like, leave the rest."

MP3: {{{Sunset}}} - Twenty Four Karat Soul

Purchase through their website: {{{Sunset}}}

Not to get political but...

This was too funny and I had to share. THIS is the photoshop contest currently being held for Sarah Palin. Here's my current favorite. Nothing says America like guns and sex wrapped in an American flag bikini. I want this on a T-shirt.

Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams

Finally some new tunes from FF!! "Lucid Dreams" can be heard on their site here: http://www.franzferdinand.co.uk/

An excellent beat, some fun lyrics and great guitar work. This is the kind of song that makes me want to jump out of my bar stool at a club and plow onto the dance floor.

Now, I'm all amped up for the new album.

Oh, and I'd post an mp3 here, but frankly I'm tired of the retards at the major labels and their lack of ability to simply ask me to take it down instead of throwing a temper tantrum at my host. So...instead, I encourage all of you to listen for free at their website, attend a non-TicketBastard show if possible, and while there, buy a t-shirt from the merch booth.

And just because I'm feeling feisty, let me say that again: Sony, EMI, Warner and Universal, you are all morons; Complete fucking idiots without the sense of a brain dead goat. I'm not sure if your mothers were all raped by cross-eyed donkeys, but somehow, you got the short stick when drawing for brains. Your idiocy is so complete and so overwhelming that grandpa needs to take you out behind the barn and shoot you, for the good of the farm.

Whew. I feel better. I'm going to go listen to some more Franz Ferdinand on their website. I really hope Sony is paying for the bandwidth.