Monday, August 29, 2011

Katy Perry Wins Big, Beyonce Shines at VMAs

News Article
SPIN.com
August 29, 2011
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Katy Perry / Beyonce (Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic, Perry; Kevin Winter/Getty, Beyonce)

Girls run the world, Beyoncé declares in her recent hit, and in a sense, female stars certainly dominated last night's MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles. Even if one of them (Lady Gaga) was dressed as a man.

Katy Perry took home top honors, winning Video for the Year for "Firework" and sharing Best Collaboration with Kanye West for "E.T." Lady Gaga, in character the entire night as male alter ego Jo Calderone, won for Best Female Video and, in a non-televised victory, Best Video With a Message, both for "Born This Way." Adele nabbed the most moon men statues, picking up pre-ceremony trophies for Best Art Direction, Editing, Cinematography, and Direction for "Rolling in the Deep."

"Now is the time when you want to interrupt me, Kanye," Perry said to West as the two accepted their combined honors, a reference to the rapper's notorious stage-rushing during Taylor Swift's 2009 VMA acceptance speech for Best Female Video. Perry led in nominations this year with 10, but her rule was nowhere near as total as that of her predecessor. Last year, Gaga won eight trophies on a record 13 nominations.

The 2011 VMAs had no host, and appropriately, its big moments came from an ensemble cast. Britney Spears, who got the festivities started with a Best Pop Video win for "Till the World Ends," also received a Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her lifetime of music video contributions. Also among the winners last night were Justin Bieber (Best Male Video for "U Smile"); Tyler, the Creator (Best New Artist, "Yonkers"); Nicki Minaj (Best Hip-Hop Video, "Super Bass"); and Foo Fighters (Best Rock Video, "Walk").

In keeping with the night's lack of one dominant winner, a few artists with multiple nods went home empty-handed, including Bruno Mars, Eminem, and 30 Seconds to Mars.

While Perry was the night's biggest winner, Beyoncé may have made the most news. "I want you to feel the love growing inside of me," she said as she performed "Love on Top," from new album 4; at the end of the lightly funky, 1980s-steeped song, she dropped the microphone and pulled open her sparkly purple jacket to reveal a visibly pregnant midsection. Looking on from the seats of the Nokia Theatre, West could be seen heartily congratulating the father-to-be, Jay-Z. Beyoncé also won a behind-the-scenes VMA (Best Choreography, "Run the World (Girls)").

New Wavves: "I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl"

News Article
Pitchfork
August 29, 2011
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Life Sux, the new EP from Wavves, is out September 20 on Nathan Williams' own Ghost Ramp imprint. "I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl", a song from that EP, premiered last night on MTV's new scripted series "I Just Want My Pants Back". Wavves is serving as "guest composer" for the first season of the series.

MTV is offering the track up for free download on their website. In addition to Life Sux cuts, the "I Just Want My Pants Back" score will also include 20 original compositions."
Catch Wavves on tour this fall with Fucked Up.

Hurricane Irene Wreaks Havoc on Live Music

News Article
Pitchfork
August 26, 2011
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(double byline with Amy Phillips)

With Hurricane Irene making its way up the East Coast this weekend, as many as 55 million people are predicted to fall into its path, according to The New York Times. Music fans, of course, are no exception. Weather concerns have forced organizers to cancel or postpone a number of concerts and festivals, including scheduled performances by the Walkmen, the Roots, Janelle Monáe, Santigold, Das Racist, Toro Y Moi, Cee-Lo Green, CANT, Q-Tip, Male Bonding, Ted Leo, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, School of Seven Bells, Matt & Kim, Talib Kweli, and many others.

"I cannot stress this highly enough," President Barack Obama said today in a press conference in Washington, DC, as quoted by Reuters. "If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. Don't wait. Don't delay."

A list of selected music events affected by the storm is below. Stay tuned to the Village Voice's Sound of the City blog for the latest NYC-area live music updates.

Pukkelpop Festival Sets Up Fund for Victims

News Article
Pitchfork
August 26, 2011
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The Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium has established an independent private foundation to benefit victims of last week's fatal stage collapse and their families. As reported on Wednesday, the latest estimates from Billboard put the death toll at five and the number of people injured at more than 140.Those who wish to help can transfer their donation to the bank account of the 'Steunfonds Slachtoffers Pukkelpopstorm' (Support Fund for the Victims of the Pukkelpop Storm). The fund's account number is 001-6498434-92, and the IBAN/BIC for international bank transfers is IBAN: BE12 0016 4984 3492 // BIC: GEBA BEBB.
Pukkelpop notes that the entirety of every donation will go to the victims, with none of the money going to the Pukkelpop organization. Though the fund will be independent, Pukkelpop says that festival organizers are prepared to "provide the fund with the practical support it needs," according to a post on the festival's website. "Everyone taking part in the establishment and operation of the fund-- now and in the future-- is doing so from a sense of social engagement on an unpaid volunteer basis."

New Charlotte Gainsbourg: "White Telephone"

News Article
Pitchfork
August 26, 2011
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Charlotte Gainsbourg has given away a new track, "White Telephone" to subscribers of the French newspaper Courrier International. Magicrpm is streaming the audio now. It appears that "White Telephone" will appear on Gainsbourg's 2xLP of live and unreleased material, Stage Whisper, which arrives November 8 on Because Music/Elektra. Gainsbourg is also set to issue the Terrible Angels EP September 6. Yesterday, we posted the video for the title track from the EP.

Watch St. Vincent Perform New Songs Live

News Article
Pitchfork
August 26, 2011
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Last night, St. Vincent performed a special concert at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. As Consequence of Sound points out, Annie Clark and her band performed several tracks from their forthcoming album Strange Mercy, due September 13 in the U.S. and Sept. 12 in the UK via 4AD.

Below, check out live clips of three previously unreleased songs from the album ("Cheerleader", "Champagne Year", and "Year of the Tiger") plus advance single "Surgeon". And watch the official video for "Cruel" over here.

Continue Reading »

LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Feist on "World Cafe" Anniversary Comp

News Article
Pitchfork
August 25, 2011
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The NPR program "World Cafe" has broadcasted live performances and interviews for two decades from WXPN in Philadelphia. To celebrate the occasion, they are releasing Live at the World Cafe, 20th Anniversary Edition, a new compilation of tracks selected from the show's history. The comp features contributions from LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Beach House, the National, the Decemberists, Feist, Coldplay, Adele, and many others.The compilation is available in exchange for donations to WXPN. The 2xCD version and a commemorative T-shirt can be bought for $144 or $12 a month. A limited 2XLP vinyl edition of the release is available to WXPN members only with a $100 gift, or to new members with a $365 pledge.

Below, we've got the comp's tracklist. WXPN will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of "World Cafe" with a weekend celebration from October 28-30 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. The October 29 performance will be co-headlined by Feist and Robbie Robertson.

Mark Sultan Collaborates With Black Lips, Prepares Two New Albums, and More

News Article
Pitchfork
August 25, 2011
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With a barrage of planned new releases, Mark Sultan embodies the word "prolific." First off, the Canadian garage-rocker (also known as the "BBQ" half of the King Khan & BBQ Show) has two new LPs on the way. Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want are set to arrive in a limited color vinyl run this October on In the Red. A CD called Whatever/Whenever, culling tracks from both, will follow. Among the collaborators on the albums are members of Black Lips and the Gories. Sultan is issuing three new 7"s, each under a different one of his guises, via his eponymous Sultan Records label. The Livin' My Life EP, released under Sultan's own name, features the title track-- which will appear in an alternate mix on Whatever I Want-- plus two other songs, including a cover of Lee Maye's 1958 song "Pounding". Another 7", recorded in Berlin this past spring, reunites the King Khan & BBQ Show for a new song, "We Are the Ocean", backed with a cover of Syd Barrett's 1970 song "Terrapin". The third is Lucky Day, an EP by the Ding-Dongs, a duo consisting of Sultan and fellow Montreal rock'n'roller Bloodshot Bill.

There's more. Landing soon via Hozac will be a split 7" between Sultan and Black Lips, featuring the Lips' "I Wanna Dance With You" on one side and an alternate version of Whatever I Want's "Song in Grey" on the other.

As if that weren't enough, Sultan is also preparing another new album and a reissue of his 2010 album $ for this spring. And he's also touring. He'll be in South America in the coming weeks and plans to announce more shows later this fall in Canada and the United States, including Puerto Rico.
Check out the tracklists for the albums and a full list of tour dates below, as well as King Khan and BBQ's video for "Invisible Girl".

Jon Stewart to Host Q&A With Former Nirvana Members on Nevermind Anniversary Night

News Article
Pitchfork
August 25, 2011
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Nirvana's surviving members will spend the night of Nevermind's 20th anniversary with Jon Stewart. On September 24, "The Daily Show" host will sit down with Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, along with Nevermind producer Butch Vig, for a two-hour Q&A session that will be broadcast live on SiriusXM Radio. Subscribers to SiriusXM can enter a contest to attend the Q&A session, and ask questions themselves. "SiriusXM Town Hall With Nirvana" will air at 8 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM's channel 34, the aptly named Lithium channel.

Pre-Dum Dum Girls Band's Lost LP Released

News Article
Pitchfork
August 25, 2011
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Before Kristin Gundred was calling herself Dee Dee and making fuzzy girl-group garage-pop as Dum Dum Girls, she sang and drummed in San Diego band Grand Ole Party. They released one album, Humanimals, before breaking upin 2009. But they had recorded a second one, titled Under Our Skin, with producer Ben H. Allen (of Animal Collective, Deerhunter, and Gnarls Barkley renown), in 2009. On August 30, DH will finally release that album. Check out the tracklist below, and enter an email address into the widget below to receive an mp3 of opening cut "All Night".

Audio/Video: BBC Concert Orchestra Performs Jonny Greenwood's Norwegian Wood Score

News Article
Pitchfork
August 25, 2011
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Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's score for the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's book Norwegian Wood has gone from the movie screen to the concert hall. In March, Nonesuch gave U.S. listeners a chance to get their hands on the soundtrack, as previously reported. And as TKOL Part 2 points out, last weekend, the BBC Concert Orchestra delivered the premiere live performance of a piece of Greenwood's score. It was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London under conductor Keith Lockhart, who Americans might recognize from the Boston Pops' nationally televised Fourth of July spectacles.


Video of the live premiere is below, via TKOL Part 2. Audio is available to download at 5 Against 4.


2011's Overlooked Gems

Feature
eMusic
July 29, 2011
Link



Killer Mike, Pl3dge

Though Killer Mike got his break as a tough-guy OutKast guest, he has increasingly established himself as the favorite political rapper of people who hate political rappers. The blunt-spoken Atlanta MC’s stylish, impassioned outrage culminates on Pl3dge, which samples a wrestler’s boasts one moment, calls out Jay-Z for obscuring the huge power gulf between himself and the billionaires who actually run our world the next, and never forgets to balance its pox-on-both-parties vitriol with equally furious entertainment. That it only spent one week on Billboard’s Top 200 list — at No. 115 — just reinforces Mike’s righteousness.




No Joy, Ghost Blonde

This Montreal quartet’s sumptuously shrill wall-of-noise debut came out too late in November to have a chance at most year-end lists. Coincidentally, the title of an earlier 2010 sleeper, labelmate Tamaryn’s The Waves, applies here just as well: Singer-guitarists Jasmine White-Glulz and Laura Lloyd summon up crest after dizzying crest of churning distortion, their incantatory vocals half-submerged, as elements of 1960s girl groups clash with the brutal dissonance of the ’90s rock underground. “You Girls Smoke Cigarettes?” is a cool blast; the title track a warm bath. Either way, there’s no rush surfacing.

courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc., © 2011 eMusic.com

One List Wonders

Feature
Pitchfork
August 17, 2011
Link


One List Wonders

Freelance Hellraiser

"A Stroke of Genius"

[self-released; 2001]


When casual music fans ask me what mash-ups I like, I send them this wonderfully cheeky mind-meld between the powerfully sung come-ons of Christina Aguilera's debut single and the downtown New York down-strokes of the Strokes' "Hard to Explain". Grafting the teen-pop seductress onto the punk-descended classicists back in 2001 was a truly in-genie-us way of exploding the false barriers between chart-pop and indie-rock. More importantly, though, "A Stroke of Genius" works as an excellent pop song in its own right, cleverly predicting the guitar-driven turn that bubblegum pop would take on songs such as Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone". Created by UK DJ and producer Roy Kerr, who records as Freelance Hellraiser, the song gained mention on Xfm as well as in The Village Voice and The Guardian. Pitchfork ranked it #78 on the Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s.

Unless you have a famously insane live show like Girl Talk, however, it's tough for mash-up producers to get paid. The popularity of "A Stroke of Genius" gave Kerr a chance to do some official work, including remixes for Aguilera, Placebo, and the Verve's Richard Ashcroft. In 2005, he released a collaborative album with Paul McCartney called Twin Freaks. Freelance Hellraiser's album Waiting for Clearance arrived in 2006, featuring the tender, Fatboy Slim-like single "Want You to Know". Kerr joined with Anu Pillai a year later as Kid Gloves, and the duo has written and produced songs for UK electro-pop acts Ladyhawke and Little Boots.

The MFA

"The Difference It Makes (Superpitcher Remix)"

[Kompakt; 2004]


They called themselves the Mother-Fucking Allstars, and indeed, the first record from the UK duo of Alastair Douglas and Rhys Evans brought together the best from different rosters. Following singles from fellow British electronic musicians James Holden and Nathan Fake, the MFA's "The Difference It Makes" was the third release on Holden's Border Community label. With a crisply pulsing beat wrapped in a warm fog of hi-hat, bass, and swelling synths, eventually giving way to a robotic vocal, the track was dance music at its most reassuring. It was also a good fit for the "pop ambient" aesthetic of Cologne-based Kompakt, which wound up reissuing the single as the fifth installment on its Kompakt Pop imprint. The B-side was an extended remix by Superpitcher, aka German producer Aksel Schaufler, who had been catching ears with his own remarkably like-minded brand of glistening, melodic techno.

The two versions of the song shared the #43 spot on Pitchfork's Top 25 Singles of 2005. The track came at a time when Kompakt and a particular strain of welcoming, euphoric electronic dance music had been increasingly gaining attention, as artists like Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas), Michael Mayer, Thomas Fehlmann, Jürgen Paape, and Justus Köhncke came to symbolize techno for a new set of listeners. In May 2005, New York magazine published a profile of Kompakt entitled "The Modern Lovers", saying the label "has gained much unlikely renown by making techno sort of sweet."

In the following years, records by Kompakt artists like the Field, Gui Boratto, and Matias Aguayo achieved similar success outside of the dance audience. Meanwhile, the MFA put out a handful of other records, culminating in 2009 single "Throw It Back (We Will Destroy You)," but they never quite captured a critical mass the way they did with "The Difference It Makes"; their blogspot page hasn't been updated in almost two years. Superpitcher followed 2004 debut album Here Comes Love with Kilimanjaro in 2010, again on Kompakt, and turned in an mp3 mix for Resident Advisor that same fall. A new Superpitcher track, "White Lightning", appears on Kompakt's new Total 12 compilation, out this week.


J-Kwon

"Tipsy"

[LaFace/So So Def; 2004]


Disclaimer: Teen drinking is still not exactly legal in the States. Yeah, but we have J-Kwon's "Tipsy". With help from production team Trackboyz, the St. Louis rapper conquered the summer of 2004 with this breakout hit from debut album Hood Hop, on Jermaine Dupri's So So Def imprint. At the time, it looked as if both J-Kwon and Trackboyz could conceivably headed for bigger things, as the single topped the U.S. rap chart and hit #2 on the Hot 100, held off only by Usher's "Yeah!", amid not only favorable coverage from the music press but also a glowing Trackboyz profile in the New Yorker. There was so much about the song to like: the goofy spoken-word intro, a clanging beat not far from Clipse's "Grindin'" or Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss", the "e'rybody" local color, the squiggling synths, and even the simplistic yet entertaining Midwestern party rhymes. The song ranked #31 on Pitchfork's Top 50 singles of 2004.

Still, those nursery-rhyme cadences on "Tipsy" indicated some of J-Kwon's shortcomings as a rapper, and he has never been able to match the success of his first hit. Follow-up single "You & Me" failed to crack the top 40, and when J-Kwon issued Hood Hop 2 five years later, it was digital-only. To be fair, that summer's Hood Hop 2.5 was available as a physical release, and it did reach #23 on the U.S. rap chart-- though maybe partly because it included "Tipsy '09". Last year's J-Kwon, which featured no singles, failed to make much of a dent in the public consciousness. "Tipsy" had already done much more, though in that song's case, "semi-consciousness" might be more like it.

Johnny Boy

"You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve"

[Vertigo; 2004]


Appropriately for a band that emerged via the Internet and then almost as quickly vanished, not much is known about Johnny Boy. The Liverpool duo consisting of Lolly Hayes and the mysterious Davo released debut single "Johnny Boy Theme", which featured a voice-over from the Martin Scorsese movie that gave the group its name, in 2002. In the latter half of 2004, follow-up single "You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve" began to draw attention online. The bum-ba-bum beat and swooning production by Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield garnered plenty of comparisons to Phil Spector. The memorable title suggested a vague critique of consumerism, but the song itself was pure pop, with girl-group vocals, cascading horns, and endless sea of "baby baby"s and "yeah yeah"s at the song's end (the latter of which you can hear even more prominently on a very fine, very underrated "Crews Against Consumismo Extended Mix"). The cut-and-paste aesthetic on display aligned Johnny Boy with groups like Brighton's the Go! Team and Seattle's United State of Electronica.

In August 2004, "You Are the Generation" cracked #50 in the UK singles chart, and the song eventually landed at #50 on Pitchfork's Top 50 Tracks of 2004. In 2005, the label Wild Kingdom released Johnny Boy's self-titled debut album-- aptly enough, in Sweden, ground zero for expertly sculpted but still youthfully ebullient pop. The full-length came out a year later in the UK, but aside from the two already-familiar singles, it was disappointingly scattered, lacking another track that could pack the emotional punch of the opener. And that was about the last we heard from the group. Johnny Boy's MySpace page is still online and shows the page owner's last login as recent, but for all intents and purposes, Lolly and Davo have disappeared. We were the generation that failed to make this song a world-conquering hit, and I guess we got what we deserved.

The Futureheads

"Hounds of Love" (Kate Bush cover)

[679/Sire; 2004]


The Futureheads took their name from the Flaming Lips' 1992 Hit to Death in the Future Head, but their jittery, harmony-laden sound turned out to be more influenced by 1980s post-punk and new-wave than 90s psych-rock. The UK band formed in their hometown of Sunderland, and they'd already put out three singles from their self-titled 2004 debut LP before releasing this spiky cover of the 1986 Kate Bush classic. With clockwork whoa-oh vocal rounds and brash Brit-rock guitars, the Futureheads' version converts Bush's horror-movie fear of romance into a joyful eagerness to be loved, with a springy charge that conveys that first buzzy flush of a new relationship. The song finished at #5 on Pitchfork's Top 50 Singles of 2005; it also hit #8 in the UK singles chart and was NME's top single of 2005.

Kate Bush has become only more prominent since the cover, with her style echoing through more recent artists such as Bat for Lashes and Gang Gang Dance. And the Futureheads have hardly been silent. Their strong debut album itself earned a "Best New Music" nod and subsequent albums-- 2006's News & Tributes, 2008's This Is Not the World, 2010's The Chaos-- have been mostly solid, but without the high points of the group's initial offering. Their most recent non-album single declares "Christmas Was Better in the 80s", and while Futureheads clearly have the talent to keep improving, it's hard to top that first-love giddiness.

Lady Sovereign

"Random"

[Casual; 2005]


In hindsight, Lady Sovereign's success may have been (ahem!) random, but it also marked a relatively overlooked chapter in audiences' embrace of British and/or female rappers. Known by the government as Louise Amanda Harman, Sov came up influenced by the UK garage sound of Ms. Dynamite, who won the 2002 Mercury Prize but never really caught on in the States beyond music critics. Lady Sovereign arrived as part of another UK-specific moment, the grime scene brilliantly memorialized in 679's Run the Road compilations, but she also proved she could beat the Yanks at their own game.

Following 2004's "Ch Ching (Cheque 1 2)", a rework of Sunship's 2000 UK garage milestone, Lady Sovereign's second single, "Random", announced its ambitions straightaway. "Make way for the S-O-V," Sov chirps before tweaking J-Kwon's then-contemporary U.S. rap hit and mixing it with a bit of Elephant Man: "E'rybody in the club getting tipsy/ Oh, fuck that, just wine like a gypsy," she rhymes over a steely electronic drone, neatly contrasting two sets of regional slang. The message was clear: Lady Sovereign, like the Streets and Dizzee Rascal before her, was not going to try to act American. Also: She was good, very good, even by Americans' own standards.

"Random" ended up at #8 on Pitchfork's Top 50 Singles of 2005. The single reached #73 in the UK and appeared on "The O.C." in 2006. In November 2005, Lady Sovereign released debut EP Vertically Challenged on Chocolate Industries. It was available only in the U.S. and UK. After UK-only EP Blah Blah, debut album Public Warning! followed, this time on Def Jam-- the same major-label imprint as countless hip-hop classics. But neither that LP nor 2009 follow-up Jigsaw could come anywhere close to matching the winning, immediate élan of those first couple of singles.

In the meantime, London rapper M.I.A. has become a media phenomenon on both sides of the pond, while New York's Nicki Minaj has shown a schizophrenically swaggering female MC can still burn up the Hot 100. As for Sov, she has had her troubles, including a drunk-and-disorderly arrest in Australia, a last-minute escape from a scheduled BBC political-show appearance, and the death of her mother from a terminal brain tumor. She has also come out as a lesbian, a bold move in a rap business with few openly LGBT performers. Lady Sovereign maintains an active presence on Twitter, but it's unclear when we might see her next album.

Cassie

"Me & U"

[Bad Boy; 2005]


The singer, model, dancer, and actress born Casandra Ventura hasn't had a sophomore slump, because as of press time, Cassie still hasn't released a sophomore album. Her self-titled 2006 debut-- and specifically its first single, the icily minimal electro-R&B seduction "Me & U"-- might just have been enough. Written and produced by Ryan Leslie, and released in conjunction with Diddy's Bad Boy label, the song's steamy lyrical content and flat, distanced delivery helped it sell more than 1 million digital downloads en route to becoming an international hit. "Me & U" ranked at #48 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2006.

Lackluster live-TV performances soon sidetracked Cassie's pop-star ascent, however. In 2006, amid rumors she had collaborated with virtually anybody who was anybody in mid-2000s R&B and hip-hop production, Cassie announced the title of her follow-up album would be Electro Love. Over the years, she has released three singles from the album: "Official Girl", with Lil Wanye; "Must Be Love", with Diddy; and "Let's Get Crazy", with Akon. In the meantime, Cassie has also appeared in the 2008 movie Step Up 2: The Streets as well as music videos for Wiz Khalifa, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Chris Brown.

Peter Bjorn and John

"Young Folks" [ft. Victoria Bergsman]

[Wichita; 2006]


The breakthrough record from this ultra-melodic Swedish trio depicts a chance encounter-- two lonely people, strangers in the night-- that might or might not bloom into something more lasting. Which pretty much sums up the whole "Young Folks" phenomenon. Oh, sure, guitarist Peter Morén, bass player Björn Yttling, and drummer John Eriksson had already recorded two fine indie-pop albums; the second, 2004's Falling Out, received U.S. distribution on the Hidden Agenda label. But it was 2006's Writer's Block, released on Sony imprint AlmostGold, that made the three singer-songwriters an international sensation. And while their album flouted its self-mocking title with an abundance of exquisitely crafted, 1960s-leaning guitar-pop songs, the first single, "Young Folks", had the biggest impact.

"Young Folks" was both familiar and novel. The laconic lyrics-- a boy and a girl feeling each other out, interested not in the past, not in the future, but in each other-- gave it a broad appeal, while the understated, offhand vocals by Morén and the Concretes' former singer Victoria Bergsman, complete with a grammatical error or two, firmly grounded the song in a slightly exotic but firmly recognizable everyday reality. A crudely animated video, something like an urban-Scandinavian Archie! comic brought halfway to Saturday-morning-cartoon status, added a visual component, illustrating both the underlying romantic tension and the song's more broadly meta connotations. "It's a hit," a dialog bubble exclaims.

Prophetic words. Big-name producers from Diplo to Erol Alkan (collaborating with Richard Norris as Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve) remixed the song, Kanye West rapped over it on a mix CD, the German singer Nena (of "99 Luftballons" fame) had a hit with it in her native country, the Japanese singer/songwriter Shugo Tokumaru had a more modest hit with it in his, and several other artists also tried their hands at covers. The song appeared in many TV shows, commercials, and even a video game (FIFA 08). The band played it on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" and "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. "Young Folks" ended up at #5 on Pitchfork's top 100 of 2006, and the iTunes Music Store named it the #1 track of 2007. For a minute there, people debated how much it borrowed from the so-called "oriental riff." The original YouTube video now has more than 20 million views.

Bergsman, who had already reached a smaller level of popularity with the Concretes, has since put out two strong albums as Taken by Trees. The first, 2007's somberly introspective Open Field, was produced by PB&J's Yttling, while she recorded the second, 2009's gracefully ascetic East of Eden, in Pakistan with local musicians, getting production from Studio's D. Lissvik; Taken by Trees' non-album 2008 single with Air France, "Sweetness", shouldn't be overlooked, either. Morén put out a lackluster solo album in 2008, followed by a Swedish-language sophomore effort two years later. Yttling has continued to produce, coming closest to another "Young Folks" in the ongoing rise of Lykke Li. As for PB&J, they first put some space between themselves and their hit with 2008's Seaside Rock, a nearly instrumental album, then embraced heavier beats and barely missed the recent trend of gleefully foul-mouthed pop songs with 2009's Living Thing; they've stayed on a fair course with this year's back-to-basics Gimme Some. Still, as the new album's first single, "Second Chance"-- which can be heard in a Bud Light Lime commercial-- observes, "You can't, can't count on a second try."

Black Kids

"I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You"

[self-released; 2008]


Before Black Kids became a cautionary tale about the hazards of hype and major labels, they were just five young musicians who rarely played outside their Jacksonville, Florida, hometown. Formed in 2006, the group consisted of singer/guitarist Reggie Youngblood, keyboard-playing backup singers Ali Youngblood, and Dawn Watley, bass player Owen Holmes, and drummer Kevin Snow. On Aug. 11, 2007, Black Kids played an ear-catching set at the Athens Popfest in Athens, Georgia, and they posted their four-song Wizard of Ahhhs EP for free download on their MySpace page that same month. You could also find a recording of the Popfest set for download online. With tautly catchy new-wave songs and evidence of a fun, energetic live show, Black Kids looked like the real deal: an indie-pop band with broad appeal and, of course, an unforgettable name.

From then on, everything happened for Black Kids at hyper speed. On Sept. 2, 2007, the NME's blog called them "amazing" and "the new Love Is All." In short order, Vice interviewed them, describing their songs as "The Cure vs. My Bloody Valentine", Pitchfork posted "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" in Forkcast, and London's Guardian labeled Black Kids the "new band of the day."

Soon came signs it was all happening too fast. "How does it feel to be loved, assholes?" said Reggie Youngblood, as the band began a set that same October during New York City's CMJ Music Marathon. I gave the performance a positive writeup on Pitchfork, but other observers were more critical. A couple of days earlier, Pitchfork reported that Black Kids were working with Arcade Fire/Björk managers Quest Management. A photo from their CMJ debut appeared in a piece in The New York Times by critic Jon Pareles, under the headline, "Play Well, and May the Blog Buzz Be With You." In the coming months, the band toured and played summer festivals in the United States and Europe, including shows opening for Australian synth-poppers Cut Copy. Debut album Partie Traumatic, produced by Suede's Bernard Butler and containing new songs in addition to polished-up EP cuts, came out on Columbia in the summer of 2008, topping Billboard's U.S. Heatseekers chart.

A big reason for all the attention was "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You", a scraggly, hook-filled indie-pop ditty with instantly understandable subject matter and playfully gender-ambiguous verses. UK singer/songwriter Kate Nash covered the song on a French radio station. The demo eventually placed at #68 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2007. The band went on to play the song on several late-night TV shows, both in the States and abroad, and the Butler-produced version of the track hit #11 on the UK charts. The single featured a brightly colored electro-funk remix by the Twelves, which the cast of "Glee" covered in that show's second season. The Twelves' remix also appeared in the FIFA 09 videogame.

Sadly, it was all too much, too soon. Shortly after Black Kids played CMJ, current Pichfork contributor Jess Harvell wrote an Idolator "special report" called "The Black Kids Hype Must Be Stopped," arguing that the songs were "very much undigested." Harvell wasn't alone in his skepticism: Partie Traumatic lacked the homemade charm of the EP, but more importantly, it failed to provide another single as endearing as "I'm Not Gonna Teach". In 2009, Black Kids released the Cemetery Lips EP, comprising three remixes and three new tracks. A year ago, the band played a Florida "mini-tour", with a setlist that appeared to include new songs potentially intended for a second album.

Stocks' Volatility Puts Boards in a Bind

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Brocade's Option Case Settled, Climate Change Risk at ...

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Board’s Loan Decision a Cautionary Tale

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lollapalooza 2011

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SPIN
August 5-9, 2011
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Monday, August 15, 2011

Jacuzzi Boys - Glazin'

Album Reviews
SPIN

September 2011
Link

7/10


Cover Art: Jacuzzi Boys, 'Glazin'

If these goofy Miami garage punks ever come to your town, be there with beer money. After a 2009 album, assorted seven-inch singles, and a recent live recording for Jack White's Third Man imprint, Jacuzzi Boys have taken their place among the best sloppy racket-makers bashing out easy-boogie soundtracks to your next drunken night at the local rock dive. Led by singing guitarist Gabriel Alcala, the trio does little on its second album to reward closer, repeated listens. But between chugging good-climes opener "Vizcaya," scrappily Led-en stomper "Zeppelin," and spaced-out acoustic closer "Koo Koo With You," you won't be disappointed.

Stephin Merritt - Obscurities

Album Reviews
SPIN

September 2011
Link

7/10


Cover Art: Stephin Merritt, 'Obscurities'

Stephin Merritt never has lacked for ideas. Under various guises, but mostly as the Magnetic Fields, the wittily morose indie-pop maestro has issued or reissued a dozen or so records. This well-curated compilation dusts off a few more previously unreleased tracks that play like castoffs, but the rarities -- including an unintentionally moving Patsy Cline parody, a Moog-warped "I Don't Believe You," and an alternate version of "Take Ecstasy With Me" sung by longtime cohort Susan Anway -- are prime Merritt. Perfect for Magnetic Fields fans let down by 2010's concept-heavy Realism.


Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic

Album Reviews
SPIN

August 2011
Link

8/10



Cover Art: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, 'Mirror Traffic'

"No one is your perfect fit / 
I do not believe in that shit," Stephen Malkmus confides over lightly distorted electric guitar on "Forever 28," from the 45-year-old father of two's fifth album since his former band, Pavement, split more than a decade ago. Then, coloring those chords with jazzier notes, he warbles, "Don't you know that every bubble bursts / Kill me." His current band, the Jicks, soon join in with a sunny bounce that recalls Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky."

It's a moment that epitomizes Mirror Traffic, a patient, inviting album that feels like a fresh start from a guy whose recording career spans multiple boom-and-bust cycles, both for indie rock and the economy. Pavement's best-of compilation and globe-trotting reunion tour last year left the perennially underachieving group finally resembling what some critics had been calling them all along: the preeminent band of the '90s. Produced by another of that decade's so-called slackers -- Beck Hansen -- Malkmus and the Jicks' latest responds to all that success, in true Malkmus fashion, not with blatant nostalgia, nor with some pathetic stab at timeliness, but with a thoroughly beguiling roll of the eyes.

Malkmus and the Jicks may reside in Portland, Oregon -- where, per Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's Portlandia, "the dream of the '90s is alive" -- but unlike, say, Billy Corgan, both Malkmus and Beck have continued to evolve since their Clinton-era commercial peaks. Over the course of his four post-Pavement albums, Malkmus has toyed with electronics (2005's Face the Truth) and explored 1970s gnarled-guitar workouts (2003's Pig Lib, 2008's Real Emotional Trash). And Beck? Since wrapping up his major-label deal a couple of years ago, the 41-year-old Los Angeleno has been in the full bloom of a career revitalization, most recently producing Thurston Moore's superb Demolished Thoughts.

Where Real Emotional Trash began on a quasi-autobiographical note, Mirror Traffic opener "Tigers" leads with a farcical scene worthy of Will Ferrell: 
"I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks / 
A scary thought / In the 2Ks." And where that last album was Malkmus and the Jicks' most stylistically unified, Mirror Traffic is both more varied and more focused. Malkmus dismisses sit-ups as "so bourgeoisie" over Wes Anderson-ready chamber pop, revels in "putzing 'round the Internet" over spidery guitar and warm keyboards that inexplicably crackle with cellphone distortion, and condemns himself as a mortally doomed "one-trick pony" over pedal-steel-drenched, Updike-referencing alt country.

Millennials who chafe at Generation X's shrugging anti-dominance and Pavement's mocking of arena-rock idols, take note: Malkmus and Co. are not half-assing it here. Pavement, even at their best, never had anything like the Jicks' adroit nonchalance. Captured here mostly over two days in L.A., after the completion of a 2009 world tour, 
the band have the punchy, relaxed assurance of a group of pros who know exactly how many beers they can drink and still hit 
their marks.

If Mirror Traffic has an overriding theme, it's not the coming-of-age goose bumps of new-school '90s acolytes Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Yuck. It's impending death. "I know what everyone wants / What everyone wants is a blowjob," Malkmus howls on stoned romp "Senator." How can he be sure? "You are fading fast / You are fading fast / You are gone." The album's last words are "fall to dust." At least Malkmus prefaces them with a blaze of ragged guitar glory.

Fool's Gold - Leave No Trace

Album Reviews
SPIN

August 2011
Link

6/10


Cover Art: Fool's Gold, 'Leave No Trace'

Not to be confused with Fool's Gold Records, this Los Angeles quintet distilled a refreshing blend of African influences and Hebrew-language vocals on their 2009 self-titled debut. Featuring three members of indie-rock vets Foreign Born, Fool's Gold sidesteps here toward shiny '80s pop -- sung in English -- on their sophomore album. Synths glimmer on "Street Clothes"; the title track has that Smiths/R.E.M. jangle. Though still sunny and hooky, Leave No Trace lacks the enigmatic spark of its predecessor, especially now that the words are more readily understandable.

Soft Metals - Soft Metals

Album Review
Pitchfork
August 3, 2011
Link

7.5


Soft Metals

All pop music is love and theft, and Soft Metals are particularly upfront about both. The arty Portland electronic duo formed in early 2009, with singer Patricia Hall and keyboardist/programmer Ian Hicks becoming a romantic couple not much later. The two recently did a mean cover of Throbbing Gristle's 1979 "Hot on the Heels of Love", a techno-predicting cult classic that mixes robotic arpeggios and steamy vocals (recalling Donna Summer's rapturous "I Feel Love" from a couple of years earlier) with the industrial pioneers' own creepy foreboding.

Soft Metals' self-titled album extends that combination of lovers' intimacy and retro-futuristic ominousness, which Hall and Hicks previously introduced on the 2010 EP The Cold World Melts. With Hall's detached, often-indecipherable vocals over Hicks' pulsating configurations of vintage synthesizers and drum machines, Soft Metals bears traces of virtually every bleakly gliding descendant of Kraftwerk's O.G. synth-pop grooves, from gothic early-1980s new wave to house, techno, and electroclash. But it's somewhat telling that this blurrily beguiling debut-- which reprises two tracks from the EP, plus eight new ones-- arrives on Brooklyn-based Captured Tracks, a label better known for the lo-fi noise-pop of Blank Dogs, Beach Fossils, or Wild Nothing.

As with their labelmates, Soft Metals' aesthetic is born not of lavish studios but in the bedroom. The songs on Soft Metals have a foggy, surrealistic shimmer rather than the clear-cut precision of many of their electronic forebears. Where Ariel Pink cohort John Maus uses like-mindedly retro trappings as a jumping-off point for experiments with ideas about art and artifice, Soft Metals concentrate instead on the type of subtly evolving textures you might be more inclined to play when you're drifting off to sleep than when you're throwing a dance party. Even the most lucid songs here, whether echo-besotted EP cut "Voices" or swelling first-meeting reminiscence "Do You Remember", stake their appeal on their glistening, ever-changing surfaces, not traditional songcraft.

Still, just because your brand of old-school electronics has more in common with mood-oriented Italians Do It Better producer Johnny Jewel (Glass Candy, Chromatics) than with song-driven nu-disco princess Sally Shapiro ("I'll Be By Your Side") doesn't mean the wordless repetitions of "Celestial Call" or "Hold My Breath" fully reward our attention. Then again... Soft Metals might wince at this comparison, but it's not such a leap from their album's prelude-to-a-kiss cover art to the Cosmo-copped sex scene (speaking of love and theft!) that adorns Washed Out's latest. Soft Metals' "Eyes Closed" may have a faster tempo, a more dangerous charge, and one fewer title syllable than languid Within and Without opener "Eyes Be Closed", but they're both headed toward a similarly sensual place.

If Soft Metals are nostalgic, however, it's less for lost innocence than for a lost idea of the future. Where are the flying cars? The album's use of analogue synths isn't a regression, but an attempt to find a new way forward. On instrumental finale "In Throes", they finally do, as eerie buzzes and disjointed rhythms chart a course somewhere near the Knife's still-unmatched 2006 dark-electronic landmark Silent Shout. In the end, the more important love on Soft Metals isn't necessarily between Hall and Hicks; it's between them and three-plus decades of synthesizer music. And wherever that leads next.

Mike Simonetti - Capricorn Rising EP

Album Review
Pitchfork
July 28, 2011
Link

7.1


Capricorn Rising EP

Earlier this year, Mike Simonetti released a limited-edition picture disc of disco re-edits called I'm Getting Too Old for This Shit. Age has nothing to to with it, but the New Jersey-based founder of the labels Troubleman Unlimited, Italians Do It Better, and, most recently, Perseo, has without a doubt enjoyed a lengthy and meandering role in the world of relatively underground music. For all the many releases Simonetti has overseen at his labels, ranging from hardcore to Italo disco, Capricorn Rising is the first record of original material to appear solely under his own name.

On the evidence here, Simonetti is definitively not too old for this, though like many artists with full creative control he can sometimes be a bit indulgent. At nearly 39 minutes, the EP is longer than plenty of albums, but 21 of those minutes are given over to a single song, advance mp3 "Third of the Storms", which appears in three separate instances. Mesmerizing chill-out disco that sets an innocently chiming melody atop handclaps, driving krautrock bass, droning washes of synth, and occasional idyllic sound effects, the song makes a fine bookend to the record: On the opening, vocal version, Australian electro-R&B smoothie Sam Sparro adds multi-layered, chant-like repetitions conveying a sense of joyful fatalism, while the closing, instrumental take leaves more room for the track to breathe; each is excellent depending on your mood, though as with disco singles like this since time immemorial, you probably won't want to listen to both cuts in the same sitting (that's not a criticism). As a centerpiece, though, "Third of the Storms (Acapulco)" disappoints; more or less five minutes of Sparro's already-familiar incantations over sparse, monotonous backing, it almost could have been called "Third of the Storms (A Cappella)".

Elsewhere, Capricorn offers another four cuts in a similarly hypnotic, synth-based mold. The best is the title track, with pulse-raising electronics and wisps of breath that suggest a mechanically precise jogger; Blade Runner would be too obvious a reference point for a crate digger like Simonetti, but given this track's sci-fi synthesis of chilly electronics and thriller suspense, a comparison to that classic film (and its equally classic score by Vangelis) can't be too far off the mark. Just as seamless is pounding synth workout "Song for Luca", the longest non-"Third of the Storms" piece here, building to a climax that belies its Balearic calm. Simonetti also detours into humming ambient textures, on "Dust Devil", and a mournful keyboard reflection, "Renko's Theme", which has a rich, yacht-friendly pomp. The end result is a worthwhile stepping-out EP from a longtime behind-the-scenes player, and if its worst crime is excess, well, we're talking about a record with an ice cream sundae on the cover.

Iceage - New Brigade

Album Reviews
SPIN

August 2011
Link

9/10


Cover Art: Iceage, 'New Brigade'


By the time you read this, Iceage will be here. Before kicking off their North American summer tour, the Copenhagen four-piece were already generating the kind of awed praise a noisy young guitar band just can't buy anymore. The group's thoroughgoing blog, with its images and videos from bloodied, chaotic live shows, certainly helped. But so did this jagged, visceral debut album, now receiving a proper U.S. release after emerging last year on Danish label Escho.

From its trudging ambient intro to a cathartic shout-along finale, New Brigade is a 12-song, 24-minute call to arms. On behalf of what cause nobody seems to agree. Early online reaction has been intense and wide-ranging, from highbrow (The New Yorker) to hipster (Vice) to DIY punk (Maximumrocknroll). Comparisons have spanned Wire's inspired punk clatter, Joy Divison's splintered post-punk brooding, the bipolar post-hardcore of San Diego label Gravity, and even Liars' ethereal art-scrawl -- plus lesser-known European genres such as D-beat and anarcho-punk.

Whatever. Equal parts dizzying and galvanizing, New Brigade is a dissonant cry to seize the moment, though the band seems to acknowledge that moment will soon be gone. The English-language lyrics take time to decipher, but they're still stirring, delivered in a brusque, boyish bellow. And with their ingeniously disjointed almost-anthems ("Broken Bone," "Remember") Iceage shouldn't lack for recruits, among either punk devotees or rubbernecking dilettantes.

Death Cab’s Chris Walla On UGGs, Nine Inch Nails, and Bacon as the New Vegan

Feature
eMusic
May 31, 2011
Link


Death Cab’s Chris Walla On UGGs, Nine Inch Nails, and Bacon as the New Vegan


Chris Walla is best known as the guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie, but the Pacific Northwest musician is also a solo artist and veteran producer in his own right. But while Walla produced Codes & Keys, Death Cab’s first album since 2009′s chart-topping Narrow Stairs, he delegated the mixing duties to someone else: Alan Moulder, whose name has appeared in the liner notes to many of the greatest alternative-rock albums from the past 25 years (Depeche Mode,Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, to name a few).

Shortly before the release of Codes & Keys, eMusic’s Marc Hogan got on the phone with Walla during a brief tour stop in Edmonton, Canada, ahead of the band’s headlining slot at the Sasquatch Music Festival.

Who Are...Cults

Feature
eMusic
June 6, 2011
Link


Who Are…Cults



File under: Girl-group pop, refracted through an eerie, contemporary lens


Personae: Madeline Follin (vocals), Brian Oblivion (beats, guitar, vocals)

If people join cults to escape adulthood, what Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion started looks like an exception. A little more than a year ago, the Cults leaders — who met when both lived in San Diego and then, later, moved to New York — were just a couple of 21-year-old film students haphazardly posting a few demos online. Now they’re major-label artists promoting a hotly-anticipated album, with all the grown-up demands that entails: constant travel (SXSW! Coachella! Buffalo, NY!), innumerable phone calls (um, guilty) and precious little free time.

But Follin, whose stepfather co-founded White Zombie, knows it’s nice work if you can get it. “I feel so much more free than when I was going to school and I would go to a party and people would be like, ‘Oh, so what are you doing after college?’ and I would be like, “I have no idea — still trying to figure that out!’” she explains. “But you know, don’t really have to deal with that anymore. We’re really lucky.”

That spirit of freedom extends to Cults’ self-titled debut. Like the initial demos, Cults is a rare mixture: There’s sunny indie pop with the heart-grabbing hooks of ’60s girl groups, sure, but it’s all built meticulously, from the beats up, with a note of darkness at the edge of every silver lining.

eMusic’s Marc Hogan reached Follin — who, boyfriend Oblivion has joked, “is quickly becoming the Nicki Minaj of indie rock” because of her numerous guest appearances (DOM, Fucked Up, Guards) — at a rest stop in Ontario, at the height of Cults’ first-ever headlining tour.

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