Friday, April 30, 2010

Dom - Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP

Album Review
Pitchfork
April 30, 2010
Link
8.0














With MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter having made musicians so accessible, artists and listeners now seem to be missing some of the distance that, not so long ago, created an air of mystique around our favorite bands. Acts like the Tough Alliance, Blank Dogs, and Burial have made being unknowable desirable in the Internet era. That there's so little information on Worcester, Mass. five-piece Dom may be partly due to the fact that they've only been a band for a few months, but then again, the group's endlessly quotable Rising interview with Pitchfork earlier this month had no shortage of willful obscurity: Lead singer Dom declined to share his last name, and blurred the line between fact and fiction so nonchalantly that it became hard to know if anything he said could be believed at all.

Dom's incorrigible swagger carries over to their debut EP, Sun Bronzed Greek Gods, already sold out on cassette, and available on 10" vinyl early next month. Their demo-level production, surf-rock licks, cavernous reverb, and "psychedelic sampling elements"-- as the singer described it in a Craigslist ad recruiting band members last December-- might lead some people to align the group with chillwave. But their arena-size choruses, actual drummer, and overall don't-give-a-fuck spirit put Dom in a category of their own. In truth, the majority of their tracks are closer in tone to the female-fronted college-rock bands that hailed from their home state in the 90s, relying less on consumer synths than fuzzed-out guitars, revving bass, and lockstep drums.

The phrase "do it yourself" gets thrown around a lot, but "do your own thing" is a better goal, and Dom both embody and challenge that ideal. They sing about ecstasy and basement parties, yet their mini-anthem "Burn Bridges" could cross over as easily as Passion Pit, a band who tried, to no avail, to sign Dom to their own Black Bell label earlier this year. The electro fuzz on "Living in America" comes straight from French house, but it's subverted by an intentionally vapid chorus ("It's so sexy/ To be living in America"), which Dom himself acknowledges as "a 'YMCA'-type track that I would be best known for but forever hate myself for writing." What else would you expect from a 22-year-old who dismisses the troubled upbringing of Girls frontman Christopher Owens as "probably just his publicist's idea" right after discussing his own childhood experiences in foster homes?

Maybe Dom lie so they can get away with telling the truth. Their song "Jesus" is laced with drug references and movie-theater make-outs, but longs for the kind of substance that can't be abused: "Gimme gimme/ Something to believe in." That brand of subtle, detached malaise is present throughout the record, from the wistful noise-pop number "Hunny" to minor-key closer "I Wonder". But ultimately, what makes Sun Bronzed Greek Gods work is the band's innate understanding of the power of a killer hook, and their ability to turn them out effortlessly on each of the EP's seven tracks. Sincere, sharp, catchy, funny-- maybe these songs are all you need to know about Dom after all.


Unedited draft after the jump:

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You

Album Review
Pitchfork
April 29, 2010
Link
7.8














"Look it up on YouTube." That was Kate Nash at a gig in England last month, rejecting requests to play her biggest hit, "Foundations". Following in the virtual footsteps of similarly saucy Londoner Lily Allen, Nash first gained fans via another Web 2.0 site-- MySpace-- then graduated to the high-pressure world of UK #1 albums (2007 debut Made of Bricks), Brit awards (Best Female Artist 2008), and tabloid bullshit. Oh yeah, and she's only 22.

Nash hasn't cracked up yet, but her sophomore album is thrillingly schizophrenic. There's the brash riot grrrl who shrieks expletive-strewn girl-power polemic-- clearly, a new addition. But there's also the warts'n'all diarist whose keenly observed romantic vignettes made Nash an Internet sensation in the first place. And, of course, there's still plenty of piano-pop approachability to reassure the 600,000 fans who bought that glossily uneven first album; Bernard Butler's occasional touches of 1960s girl-group production nicely serve Nash's bursting mini-narratives about insecurities, sexual politics, and-- what else?-- L-U-V.

No one is going to mistake Nash for Karen O, let alone Ari Up. That's why I like her. Whether she's squawking on "I Just Love You More", hypnotically repeating a coming-out dilemma on "I've Got a Secret", or veering off into a foul-mouthed critique of groupie culture on "Mansion Song", Nash's leftfield moves resonate all the more here because she resembles someone you might actually know, a person with flaws-- not some impossibly cool rock goddess. On "Do You Want to Share the Guilt?", she declares, "Not being able to articulate what I want to say drives me crazy." This pivotal track's plainspoken anxiety, mallet percussion, and breathless coda are happily reminiscent of another wordy UK outfit recently undergoing a transition from politely employable to barely housebroken: Los Campesinos!. It's you, it's me, and we're emoting.

A couple of shows after Nash's defiant YouTube endorsement, "Foundations" started cropping up on setlists again. Sure enough, My Best Friend Is You hedges its edginess, too; first single "Do-Wah-Doo" cushions Nash's blunt charm with billowy arrangements. Only now, Nash is no longer struggling to establish romance-- she's deep in it. From breezily pessimistic opener "Paris" to sublimely mundane finale "I Hate Seagulls" (and on through a hidden title track), the album moves from infatuation and jealousy to lust and betrayal to real, young love. And it does so with not just the best of intentions-- feminism, anti-homophobia, artistic experimentation-- but also, in the storytelling style of the Streets or Sweden's Hello Saferide, a set of distinctive, well-crafted songs that should strike a chord with a whole lot of self-deprecating teens and twentysomethings. Anyone can add a friend these days. Finding-- and keeping-- a best friend remains as awkward and embarrassing as ever. And as exquisite.


Monday, April 26, 2010

People Moves for Apr 12, 2010

News Article
Ignites
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
  

CEO’s Push Against ‘Say on Pay’ Proves Successful

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)

PCAOB Seeks to Clarify Auditor's Job

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Avon Puts Four Execs on Leave Over Bribery Charges

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)

IRS Audits of Corporate Taxes Dropping: Study

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Goldman Board Seat Becomes Issue in California Gov. Race

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)

Business Lobby Fights Proposed Corporate Governance Changes

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)
  

Vermont Bills Push ‘Benefit Corporations’

News Analysis
Agenda
April 19, 2010
Link (subscription required)
 

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Mark Van Hoen - Where Is the Truth

Album Review
Pitchfork
April 20, 2010
Link
7.2














Mark Van Hoen didn't know he was adopted. Just listening to Where Is the Truth, the Brooklyn-based UK emigre's new album inspired by that discovery, neither would you. This founding member of UK electro-shoegaze pioneers Seefeel-- later known for his 1990s electronic output as Locust-- returns at a time when a similar strain of woozily psychedelic synth-pop has made the leap to indie prominence. Though not to be confused with chillwave or "hypnagogic pop," Van Hoen's first new record in six years serves as a reminder that wistfully nostalgic electronic haziness is no Gen Y novelty-- and ups the sound-design ante for the contemporary style's typically lo-fi practitioners.

Musically, Van Hoen belongs to a distinguished family tree. Originally influenced by the likes of Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream, and later presaging both Autechre's glitch and Boards of Canada's pastoral IDM, with his latest album Van Hoen would fit in just as well alongside White Rainbow or Atlas Sound on a current label like Kranky: He combines oceanic drone with pop lyricism, using technology as a catalyst. On "A Glimmer of Forgotten Ancestors", a mesmerizing 23-minute epic from 1997's The Last Flowers From the Darkness, he excerpts a wonderful quote where, in the full remarks, you can hear Gandhi go on to say, "God is...truth." Bearing that in mind, then, as well as Van Hoen's newfound knowledge of the truth about himself, it seems best to approach Where Is the Truth as an album of-- but, thank your deity of choice, not about-- inner spiritual search.

It's an intricately constructed album, at that. Vintage synthesizers, tape, radio, drums, and Van Hoen's airy vocals join with elegaic electric guitar by Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) and somber piano by Julia Frodahl (New York septet Edison Woods) to evoke a journey of self-discovery it never describes quite so literally. The emphasis on abstraction means that in casual settings, the more obscure tracks-- such as fragile organ-and-Orchestron opener "Put My Trust in You"-- may tend to drag. And the ones with vocals-- even the fantastically falsetto-led "She's Selda", or murkily propulsive "Render the Voice"-- don't quite communicate the way many pop fans would expect. Still, when you can spare your full attention, the album's meticulous production and nuanced conceptual unity make for a uniquely captivating listening experience-- a lot more cerebral than the stoner bliss-outs of the chillwavers, sure, but still related. Van Hoen may have found himself in more ways than he expected.


Lucky Soul - A Coming of Age

Album Reviews
Pitchfork
April 20, 2010
Link
6.4














"There's always a friendly, easygoing atmosphere at the club, but this one feels extra special for some reason-- like a secret gathering of like-minded people, hidden away from reality." That's the from the liner notes to The Kids at the Club, a 2006 compilation that features one of the earliest tracks from the London sextet led by songwriter/guitarist Andrew Laidlaw and singer Ali Howard. The image is pure Lucky Soul: a party where the nice kids are also the outcasts.

It's also pure indie pop, but Lucky Soul were always out of step even among the Bowlie set. Their 2007 debut, The Great Unwanted, was not only meticulously crafted and emotionally overflowing, but also polished for a popular appeal it could never realistically attain. Not that it did poorly: Despite being self-released and receiving little attention from big U.S. print publications, the record boasts worldwide sales of 50,000 copies. Three years later, sophomore album A Coming of Age is that much further removed from prevailing trends, and it's not quite as immediately endearing, but it's a little more grown-up. And it's still pretty easy to like.

The state of pop influenced by 1960s girl groups, Motown, and soul has changed a lot since the indie boomlet that gave us Lucky Soul, the Pipettes, and so many others. From Sharon Jones to Duffy, artists who take care to make music that "feels like it was born in 1963," as one Billboard source put it recently, are on the rise. Younger acts like Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Best Coast inherit from early girl-group singers the shambling "feel" as much as the emotional directness, adding their own reverb and lo-fi scuzz. As for the Pipettes, on the basis of at least one new song, they've skipped straight to the 70s-- and lost much of the human tenderness that made them special in the first place.

A Coming of Age attempts a subtler maturation, with mixed results. Drawing again from Spector- and Bacharach-sized 60s pop-- plus glam ("Woah Billy!"), country ("Love 3"), and singer-songwriters like Carole King ("Warm Water")-- the songs are packed with hooks, but they don't sink in as easily as before. For every "White Russian Doll", which bounds into the sort of romantic shadows where the Long Blondes used to smolder, or the title track, with its just-late-enough "...come too late!", there's a, well, "Ain't Nothin' Like a Shame". Still, Lucky Soul's latest proves once again that well-wrought, traditional melodic narratives packed with handclaps, strings, horns, whoa-oh-ohs, yeah-yeah-yeahs, and heartbreak can succeed without being painstakingly retro or modestly muffled. They only have to connect.

The nice kids are no longer so nice, nor such kids, but they're still just as unfashionably welcoming. The closest comparison to A Coming of Age is the 60s-steeped adult-pop of Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl project, except instead of fitting into indie's niche mindset, Laidlaw's glistening production doubles down on Lucky Soul's (poignantly unlikely) radio-readiness. Howard's delicately forceful lilt, which brings to mind Dusty Springfield and Saint Etienne's Sarah Cracknell, has only grown stronger, more supple. The debut's teenage themes, meanwhile, give way here to sadness, loss of innocence, and mortality. On The Great Unwanted, Howard sang, "I ain't never been cool." Now, she concludes, "It could be that I just don't belong-- anywhere but here."


No One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Valuation Practices

News Article
BoardIQ
April 20, 2010
Link (subscription required)
 

Monday, April 19, 2010

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

Album Review
SPIN
April 2010
Link
8/10













Southern bedsitter bids for king of swoon-pop

Of all the auteurs making hazy electronic pop in the mini-movement dubbed "chillwave" or "glo-fi," Toro Y Moi's Chaz Bundick is the one you'd most expect to cover Michael Jackson. Like Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, and Washed Out, Bundick floats dreamy yearning over lovesick synths, delicate guitars, and programmed beats. But the former punk frontman jacks more R&B than his peers. Funky bass and soulful samples add physicality to wispy apologies and shy come-ons. "It's my body's way," Bundick sings. Alas, his cover of "Human Nature" is online only.

People Moves for Apr 12, 2010

News Article
Ignites
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
  

More Women on Boards Equals Less Groupthink: UK Panel

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

Burkle Asks Barnes & Noble to Expand Board

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

SEC Still Faces Questions About Its Investor Advocacy

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

Merck Settlement’s Impact on Corporate Governance Still to Be Seen

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

Stressing Transparency, Moody’s to Change How It Accounts for Pensions

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

Boards Should Review Independence Tests After Black & Decker Case

News Analysis
Agenda
April 12, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

People Moves for Apr 5, 2010

News Article
Ignites
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
  

Feinberg Pay Restrictions Influence AIG Departure

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



How Prosecutors Pulled Off a Rare Backdating Victory

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Ex-SEC Division Head Warns Against ‘One Size Fits All’

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Boards Should Learn From Sweden, Says Activist-Sponsored Study

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Pay Equity Among Amendments to Finance Bill

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Activist Firm Shifts Sights From BofA’s CEO to Board Member

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



One CEO’s Campaign Against Say on Pay

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Class Action Settlements Rose in 2009 After Two-Year Decline

News Analysis
Agenda
April 5, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



People Moves for Mar 29, 2010

News Article
Ignites
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
 

AIG CEO Benmosche Tapped to Rejoin Credit Suisse Board

News AnalysisAgenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
  



Shifting Incentive Pay Complicates Executives’ Divorces

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Hershey Waives Age Limit to Keep Director

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Companies Hire Consultant for Second Opinion on Executive Pay

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



SEC No-Action Requests: Recent Success and Failure

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Lions Gate Board Turns Down Hostile Icahn Offer

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



IRS to Allow More Time on Uncertain Tax Position Disclosure

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   



Pay Czar Tests Power of ‘Bully Pulpit’

News Analysis
Agenda
March 29, 2010
Link (subscription required)
   

Search This Blog

Press Mentions

"Goes over the top and stays there to very nice effect."
-- David Carr, The New York Times

"I wasn't fully convinced. But I was interested."
-- Rob Walker, The New York Times

"...as Marc Hogan wrote in Spin..."
-- Maureen Dowd, The New York Times

Blog Archive