Liars Interview from Anthem Magazine on Vimeo.
Oh, how I love Liars. The trio is one of those bands that we all know is going to be pumping out albums for years and years to come; one of those bands that will inspire generations of future musicians; one of those bands that will always seem utterly accessible and completely alien (have you ever seen Angus and company live!?)
Four albums and a handful of EP's in, countless recording locations later, and uncanny genre hopping, Liars comes out with a curt single that has no affiliation to anything as far as we know, "Disgusting." Unlike the bulk of their last LP's work, "Disgusting" is more reminiscent of early punk cuts by, say, the Slits during their collaboration with Half Japanese that never happened. The throbbing beat and helter-skelter hook makes the tune messy; the slightly off drumming only further convolutes the thing; the piece is genius.
Now that the band is officially holed up in L.A., I'm hoping to see more of them ... don't tell me this isn't a Los Angelino tune.
"Why can't they turn on the lights? You are a man and I am a drug. It's so disgusting."
Early last month, Los Angeles exports No Age, Mika Miko, and Abe Vigoda performed at the Smell's second annual matinee performance. I'm still a little in the dark as to why they decided to hold such a stellar show during some of the hottest hours during the day and how they managed wrangle up every hipster in the great L.A. region, but -- needless to say -- the mini-festival (or whatever you want to call it) was fun.
I did this film for Anthem Online. Check out the original article and small clip here. We got footage of all three bands' sets (amazing), a solid Q&A with No Age, and a fun chat with some of the Mika Miko girls and a couple of the Abe Vigoda guys.
I put together a rather lengthy post on Service Records on the Anthem Online site, and since I know not all of you read that Web publication, I'm excerpting some of it here and offering the same MP3s. Read the full article here.
First and foremost, the Swedes' control of the English language is subversively contrary to ours. When Lykki Li or Jens Lekman sing of love, they express different experiences, conveniently constructed in a pop manner than alludes to unilateral and exact understanding; when Shout Out Louds or Peter Bjorn & John write of relationships and breakups, they transmit entirely different meanings conveyed through the mechanisms of mainstream indie-rock that imply only one meaning.
If only it were that simple! The Swedish experience is vastly different from the American experience, and any word a Swede pens intrinsically contrasts any word an American does.
So don't think of Service Records as another New Order-loving, post-punk-adoring collective that's prepared to pump out electronic pop ballads and guitar-driven rock songs in order to quench our undying need to always have music blasting.
Where in the U.S. will you find a manifesto like Service's, centered around the following slogan?:
Service is a permanent vacation, catalog its only luggage.
Nowhere. These Stockholm natives are in an orbit of their own, and we ought not attempt to bring them under our fold and stick them in our system.
Service brought us Studio, The Embassy, Jens Lekman, The Tough Alliance, and many more creatives, and for that alone, we must be thankful.
Now, the independent label's got a chain of new releases to doll out to listeners or all varieties, and Anthem wants to make sure you all know that and buy in to the utterly from-the-heart company.
First, there's a Jens Lekman remix release, Sipping On the Sweet Nectar, the Epic Remixes. The three-track digital download is a disco reinterpretation of our favorite European crooner. Stream one of the Bogdan Irkük edits [below] and buy the thing already!
Third, there's The Embassy's newest single, "State '08," an electronic-infused jam that's reminiscent of New Order cuts of old paired with the beachy vibe of TTA. If you're looking for a sweet and melancholic gem for those Summer days at the beach or road trips down the 1, you've found it with "State '08." Stream the song [below as well].
Fourth, Kool DJ Dust has made a killer joint, "The Quest" that has us finally convinced: the Swedes ain't all that bad on the dance floor. You can download [and stream the single below], but why not head over to the Service page and grab if from them?
Finally, Anthem would like to request that all its readers join Service. For the low price of €21 you'll be granted access to all of Service's digital offerings and opted into a music community that is truly rewarding. Plus, you'll sleep easy knowing you've helped them perpetuate. Sign up!
The Embassy - State '08
Jens Lekman - Sipping On the Sweet Nectar (Bogdan Irkük Love Nectar Remix)
In the earlier part of this millennium's teen years, Baltimore's Wilderness became one of the most important post-punk revival groups, seamlessly melding the old aesthetics of the 1980s angular rockers and the more experimentally-driven and rockier sound of modern times. Wilderness' stuff was, granted, artier than typical post-punk bands (the Cure, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen), and a little more melodious, edging dangerously close to the "rock" genre. That aside, though, Wilderness was one of the first Baltimore bands to gain national attention, and certainly one of the more oblique quartets out there. Still, they're shrouded in mystery and darkness ...
Colin McCann, Wildnerness' guitarist, has obviously been a little bored since Vessel States, an oddly emo-twinged work ... so bored that he went off an made his own solo album under the moniker, the Lord Dog Bird. Whereas Wilderness' output is hyper-complex and obviously the work of an especially able bodied studio ensemble, the Lord Dog Bird is a bedroom recording of an unusual variety. The nine tunes were recording primarily with a four-track, and definitely sound it. There's a simplicity and delicateness to the tracks that is topped off by distortion and atmospheric echoes, ghost sounds, creakings ...
Listen to a couple songs below and see for yourself. This is magical stuff -- and really emotionally accessible -- that represents a slight departure from Wilderness' usual ambiance and a definite switching up of the usual formula solo lo-fi artists incorporate into their pieces.
Sweden's Hybris just can't stop releasing awesome stuff! Sayonara, Labrador Records -- Hybris is the new stronghold of Swedish tunes. From the quirky and lo-fi melodies of Elias & the Wizzkids to the Michael Jackson-esque ballads of Juvelen to the bizarre a capella of the Sweptaways to the sweet pop music of Kalle J, the smallish label simply can't turn out an unwanted single, EP, or LP.
Now they're proudly releasing the Kid's sophomore album, Transient Blood. This is BBBD's first time listening to the Gothenburg quartet, but boy are they good. Imagine Sambassadeur merged with New Order circa 1987. The Swedes have a penchant for churning out tracks with heavy, super-catchy bass lines, playful synth riffs, and rhythm guitar parts that sound so in motion, so fresh and not boring like rhythm guitar tends to be. And the Kid does it best. The first single off the record, "Transient Dance," is a stunning jam that's reminiscent of cutesy European exports like Bonnie & Clyde and more recent New Order cuts like "Krafty." It's charming beyond belief, and the rest of the release holds muster well.
Transient Blood is out on June 18, and you must purchase it if you hope to have an enjoyable summer ... or if you're looking for that perfect soundtrack for a house party, BBQ, whatever. It'll work. Listen.
It's been said many times before, but today's pop music scene is one dominated by producers rather than musicians. (Yes, that's an overstatement, but the core point remains: the music that surrounds us is made with the notion that a good producer -- and not necessarily a good artist -- is what makes a hit single.)
BBBD's expressed a love and adoration for Erol Alkan several times before, but we want to solidify this opinion into something a little more meaningful and substantive. What makes this guy so good? We all know that he (1) took a promising young band, Late of the Pier, and rejiggered them into the spastic club-meets-post-punk-pop they are today, (2) picked up the Long Blondes before they embarked on the hyperbolic sophomore slump and spit them back out as an angsty, hook-riddled, ultra-clean and concise outfit, (3) gave Mystery Jets a shiny waxing and through them reinterpreted the nuggets of the 1980s in a totally not cool-because-it's-ironic sort of way, (4) spun decaying Klaxons in an unexpected manner, and (5) is supposedly producing those aged hipsters representing the Sound of Scotland, 2008, Franz Ferdinand ... but we don't really look at his technical prowess and admire what he's doing behind the mixing boards; for all we know, he could be just a lucky guy springboarding of his long and successful club circuit in the right place at the right time.
Alkan is applying what is noticeable old and tried to an era of music that is in constant denial of its place in history and the tradition of pop. It ought to strike us all as slightly strange that so many music journalists, critics, and tastemakers -- BBBD included -- note that the best bands of today always sound like someone else who was most likely cooler than them, more authentic than them, and more original than them. A sweeping and broad statement, yes, but comments like, "Franz Ferdinand sounds like a band right out of 1980" or "Long Blondes could've opened for Gang of Four in 1979" isn't necessarily flattering; it's a bit condescending and discredits the fact that such acts are living in their own time, making their own music, and doing their own thing. All music is derivative, but that doesn't mean that we have to make such comments front and center.
So, Alkan takes the old and doesn't attempt to imagine himself a musician or producer living through the times of Martin Hannett ... Furthermore -- and this is the yeah, duh remark -- he applies the techniques he picked up as a renowned DJ to every track he works on, a characteristic that is readily pointed out, but rarely highlighted as one of the most important facets of his work. Alkan reappropriates an aesthetic that no one else before him could've ever injected into music -- there was no London scene quite like the one he matured in ever before and there was definitely no club Trash until 1997. Alkan took advantage of the situation he prospered in and catapulted to success by merging his unique gifts from his nightclub tenure and the dedicated study of the Old Master he had under his belt.
So listen to these Long Blondes b-sides as they're absolute proof of his genius. "Five Ways to End It (Erol Alkan 12" Mix)" is the most obvious testament to Alkan's dance music abilities, and a solid one at that. "I'm Coping" is one of Long Blondes' greatest lyrical achievements, and really deserved to be on Couples. Is this song about cutting off a relationship or quitting heroin? Hmm. Considering the explosion of Strokes-infused guitar jangling at the end, it's primarily about the latter, but thinly veiled (how does the intial jolt of heroin running through your veins feel any different?) Spectacular. "Whippet Fancier" is a song that could only be composed and performed in the U.K. (who the hell talks about whippets here?) Again, the fills are more club than rock, the lyrics more disco than post-punk, the synth line more theme-song-esque and gimmicky than serious garage; Alkan's production leads one to believe Long Blondes are copycats, imitators of the greats of three decades ago, but dig beneath the surface and you'll find much more going on. The magic this guy works on his bands is awe-inspiring ... absolutely mystifying. He should make his own group with "wizard" in the name, yeah? What card will this wizard reveal to have up his sleeve next?
BBBD is in a state or turmoil. The world has become more complex for your favorite blogger: he neither wants to quit not exert more time into writing daily posts; he wants to pursue other things but utilize the freedom that BBBD gives. A conundrum has arisen, and solving it seems unlikely.
We can no longer churn out daily posts that hail the Hot New Thing -- such artists are few and far between, anyway, and not the stuff of frequently-updated blogs such as this one -- and we no longer want to compete with the other names out there. BBBD is content knowing it's been around, that it maintains a voice, and that it is still of at least some relevance.
That being said, expect to see plenty of articles on this website, but perhaps with diminished regularity. Today, we commence an experimental column of sorts: "Don't Start A Band." That's right, BBBD is prescribing abstinence. We're tired of the tirade of press releases, are afraid that every conceivable band name has been registered on MySpace, and are annoyed with our own desire to keep churning out write-ups for God knows why. With "Don't Start A Band N° 1," we indirectly outline the reasons why one shouldn't create a band (one-man or otherwise) through a brief look at more worthy artists. This is all we need. Sorry.
The Kills
The early 2000s were huge, and this doesn't need to be reiterated. Others had revived genres and styles before, but no previous generation of young musicians had done it so self-consciously. BBBD personally holds that this occurred because wannabe hip acts realized their fathers were actually listening to some pretty friggin' sexy music, played by pretty sexy kids, in pretty sexy and gritty clubs. Conversely, it's hard to imagine a twenty-something admiring Elvis in all his blandness in 1975 and thinking, "Wow -- I could totally reappropriate the King's sound, aesthetic, and fashion for my own, more current needs and desires." For a myriad reasons, 1975 - 1985 was an exceedingly appealing era to the younger musicians of the late-1990s and early-2000s who grew up on hip records by the likes of the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and so on. This was before the massive reissue trend put the CD market into a deathlock. Teenagers were listening to music that wasn't necessarily grounded in an era -- "In Between Days" still makes any somewhat emotional person fall prey to tears -- and certainly detached from prudishness, uptight behaviors, and constriction. The Beatles may have churned out some stunning pop tunes, but do you know what really has left them eternally ingrained in our psyches? Their fedoras, two-button, skinny cut blazers, narrow, leather-soled shoes, and knit ties. That and their rabble-rouser behavior ... who else could compete with their immediately gratifying nature? No one.
But we're digressing here. At the beginning of this millennium, kids growing up on the post-punk of the 1970s/1980s reservedly acknowledged that their parental units were actually attached to a pretty damn cool musical epoch, one that deserved to -- no needed to -- be revived. Hence the post-punk revival (or post-post-punk if you're especially dim). (Now we're bringing back "original" rock 'n roll, the stuff that finally snapped people out it and got them rejecting the crud that was on the radio ... after this Black Lips-fronted phase ends, though, what will we have? A revival of the 21st century's post-punk? Let's hope Devendra Banhart isn't in the equation, whatever it may be. Square.)
The Strokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, Futureheads, and, of course, the Kills were at the forefront of this reincarnation of post-punk ... and we are forever indebted. Now those of us too young to have actually bought a vinyl record but old enough to remember the bad days of 1990s pop can happily live through both the modern and the trendily old both. That's the whole appeal of post-modernism, right? Keep recycling, reinterpreting, reading ... and never become unaware. As long as we understand what we're getting ourselves into, we're all set. The Kills, unlike the other aforementioned outfits, perpetuated their existence by pushing forward this whole post-punk revival trend. "Warm Leatherette" may be a tremendous piece of industrial post-punk music history, but it serves as a gimmick to many; that crap Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner put together as Electronic was only intended to be a goofy side-project that neither moved the early U.K. electronic movement forward nor compelled many folks to actually listen; likewise, we're starting to believe that perhaps the Strokes (and like bands -- there are thousands ... use your imagination) didn't actually want to stick around, but rather hop into the scene at an opportune moment and profit off our collective interest in the post-punk of yesteryear. The Kills have plodded through the eight or so years since the dawn of postpunk revival and have kept their charisma and core principles intact. The Kills are a band to aspire towards, but few can do what they've accomplished. Plus, Jamie dates Kate Moss. Dream on, Brit-poppers. Tie your shoes and go home.
It's 2008: the Strokes have yet to return, Interpol has yet to impress us like they did with "P.D.A.," and Jack White has yet to shed the pounds. Hack DJs clutter out clubs pretending to be the voices of a generation, but have no idea what the hell their generation is, who don't give a rat's, and haven't an iota of a clue as to how to become relevant. Let's just mosh in the meantime, right? Next time you consider checking out Le Castle Vania or Steve Aoki or Guns 'n Bombs, resolve to staying home and watching Jeopardy at 3 AM. It's better than walking into a club, immersing yourself in the noise and confusion, and fooling yourself into thinking it's music. Until a duo like the Kills comes along again -- and the Old Guard of 2001 is replaced by a New Guard -- we've nothing. Don't Start A Band until you've something to say.
I tend to not post music videos on BBBD simply because they're too many of 'em out there, and who am I to select a couple out of the hundreds floating around in the vast Internet?
That being said, Cazals' (MySpace) latest music video for "Somebody Somewhere" is stunning and certainly deserves all the attention it can get. Not only is the song a great the-Jam-meets-the-Strokes sort of garage-rock pop cut, but it also features one of the cutest and coolest animations I've seen in a while (by French street artist André), and, duh, a beautiful French chick, dancing up and down the streets of Paris with such gleeful finesse. Love it, love it.
We're also drawing the Kitsuné Records video to your attention because we've a surprise waiting for you that'll drop in a few ... Kitsuné-themed, of course.
Imagine the Cure producing Good Shoes with some new Lily Allen-type chick subbing in on vocals and you'll have a rough approximation of how ridiculously awesome the Kabeedies are.
U.K. bands may come a dime a dozen, but every once in a while, one of those groups is a gem that's just been unfortunately overlooked or shoved to the side. The Kabeedies seems to be one such band. The Norwich quartet has been pumping out hooky singles for a while now with little exposure (and certainly none in the States) even though they're undeniably catchier and more talented than the bulk of British acts.
"Lovers Ought To" is literally one of the best pop tunes BBBD has heard in a while ... it's abrupt, straightforward, and accented by a wonderful dose of unique vocal talent, angular guitar riffs, and slightly off-kilter drum patterns. The Kabeedies are charming in that way ... they outwardly appear completely coherent and solid yet subliminally convey a sort of scatterbrained aesthetic that's exciting and ... perfect.
So there's the BBBD endorsement. In a major way. Enjoy a couple tunes below and be sure to hit up the MySpace page for more jams and purchase information.
Typically, my memories of growing up in Cleveland is all the connection I need to the Midwest (or thereabouts -- I still think Cleveland is more akin to a coastal city than say, Boise). I stick to the coasts, as terrible as that sounds. While there are certainly good bands sprouting in the pastures and prairies of Nebraska, Idaho, North Dakato, and all surrounding States, that stuff doesn't appeal to me as much as a Baltimore group does. And, to make another terribly generalized statement, most of the Midwest's musical offerings are the U.S. version of a British pub band or the 1970s bar band transplanted to a modern age. Bland beyond conception.
That being said ... Provo, Utah's Alligators have really caught my ear. I'm a little stunned, but not afraid to admit my adoration for this quintet (I believe it's a quintet ... they have experienced a confusing number of lineup shuffles).
The Alligators are a pretty standard pop-punk indie band, but with a multitude of twists. The keyboards add a Metric-like post-punk edge; the female vocals soften the blow of spiky guitar hooks and heavy, straightforward bass lines; dueling guitars bring a complexity and layeredness that is rare.
But what would one expect from such a dynamic crew? The members met in a [high school?] film class, formed the Alligators, split because of work, a trip to Japan, and more school, but eventually found themselves all back in ... Utah and picked right back up where they left off. Check out a couple tracks below. Get more on the MySpace page.
Check it out and download a couple tunes while you're at it ("Thor" is a b-side from the forthcoming Do It! release; "Free Not Free" is the first single off said LP).
Do It! sounds like your poppiest effort yet to me. You seem to incorporate more digestible and straightforward pop hooks into your otherwise minimalist, gritty psych-pop/post-punk aesthetic ("Free Not Free," "Memories"). Were you deliberately trying to make something a little subtler and accessible for this album?
Yes definitely. We felt it was time to change. I love pop music so it was inspiring to make it more melodic and mellow. It also in a weird way makes the LP more extreme, to have those sharp cut-ups between melody and a raw sound.
I'm curious about the album artwork and visual component that you've applied to Do It! The cover illustration is more playful; you're now wearing Hawaiian T-shirts instead of Freemason getups -- any concept behind these alterations and developments?
It all went hand in hand with the music being brighter. There's more humor and yes, a playful piss-take side to Do It! and the artwork etc. I much prefer it, if that side is brought out.
This could be a completely bogus comparison, but listen to London's the Great Shakes and tell me you don't hear equal parts Deerhoof and the Jam/Paul Weller.
Hear it? That nimble, jumpy guitar that tails the vocals and implies a melody through spastic accenting and sonic punctuation ... sounds straight up like John Dietrich's but with a shimmer or British post-punk. And then Dan Foden -- the singer -- totally channels Paul Weller, anyway ...
Or something. Man, these guys are good. Melodramatic and theatrical with an element of Mod rock and Motown swing. Pair the Great Shakes up with other throwback groups in the U.K. right now like Vincent Vincent & the Villains (whom they've toured with), the Rumble Strips, and Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong. The below two tracks are the quartet's only recorded demos, but judging by the strength of them, we've only good things ahead with this band. Yeah ...
Cut Copy Interview, Concert, and After-party from Anthem Magazine on Vimeo. Cut Copy (MySpace) has a rigorous and super busy year or two ahead of them. After four years of waiting, the Australian trio has finally produced a sophomore LP, In Ghost Colours, and their fans -- not to mention the group itself -- couldn't be happier, more ecstatic. (It's really good, by the way.)
The three passed through L.A. on March 10 on their way to SXSW and a few other select U.S. locations before kicking off their "real" tour in April. I was fortunate to meet up with them on behalf of Anthem in between their countless interviews, photo shoots, performances, DJ sets, and scarfing down of food. We captured some photo shoot footage and a brief interview at the Modular offices in Echo Park, tons of concert footage at the Echo, and a significant portion of their after-party DJ set.
Check out the full story over at Anthem Online and stream the stellar "So Cosmic" DJ set below (too good to forget about).
BBBD's waiting for Sweden's exquisite record label, Songs I Wish I Had Written, to offer us a P.R. job since we rep them so friggin' much, but alas, our inbox remains in want of such propositions.
The label -- also home to Moto Boy, the LK, Le Sport (you heard it here!) -- just released a new freebie single by Gentle Touch (MySpace), "Once You Used To" from the forthcoming proper long-player, In Memory of Savannah.
Imagine Shout Out Louds covering Depeche Mode or, better yet, the Pet Shop Boys ... with a 90s alternative rock side note also in the picture.
This is cool stuff that's very Songs I Wish I Had Written, very hooky, very soothing, and, of course, very gentle. Check it out!
Oh yeah! And be sure to view PSL's acoustic set Gentle Touch film as it exposes a grittier, punkier, and rawer side of the otherwise subdued duo. (PSL is to Sweden what Take Away Show is to France.)
So -- guess what? Hedi Slimane's These New Puritans (MySpace) is the buzz band of the momentweekmonth year. They're refreshingly angular, simple, charismatic, and detached from any other British buzz scene. They're just really sexy. Like a really, really sexy couture-endorsed version of Test Icicles.
Beat Pyramid is easily one of the most anticipated releases of 2008, and lucky for us, These New Puritans has released a 12" single for "Navigate, Navigate" to entice us to buy Beat Pyramid when it's released on March 18.
Aside from featuring the original single, the 12" also includes a Tim Goldsworthy (AKA the Loving Hand) remix ... which you can download -- free of charge! -- below.
I'll end the post on this note:
A week before Hedi Slimane's Autumn ‘07 collection for Dior Homme was to be introduced on the catwalk, Slimane called Jack Barnett (These New Puritans' de-facto band leader) to Paris, requesting of him the no small task of composing a 15-minute soundtrack suitable for the collection. In under a week, they worked for hours on end long into each night, only retreating for sleep to the top floor of a block of Paris flats, writing, producing, recording, mixing and mastering the 15-minute track. The resulting “Navigate, Navigate” seemed to draw as much of the resulting press as Slimane's sleek, elegant costumes. It showed the band, in only a few short months, to have moved light years ahead of previous work.
The Bell (MySpace) released Make Some Quiet on Badman Recording Co. to much acclaim last year, and now the Stockholm trio's back with a couple remixes of their stuff with another on its way.
Make Some Quiet was an Interpol-esque post-punk record; dark and brooding; energetic, rhythmic, and clean; heavy on the warble-y bass lines and gritty rhythm guitar; a great production, in short.
The below two remixes are good if you're looking for an excuse to dance to the Bell at your local club ... the Joe & Will Ask remix of "I AM History" sounds a bit like a Junior Boys edit or something; this tinny, pulsating synth rhythm extends throughout the song, making it reminiscent of say, "In the Morning." The remix of "Target Group" is shorter and features Happy Mondays-esque chanting, LCD Soundsystem-esque cowbell usage, and a fat, robotic synth line that lays atop everything else. They're both pretty damn good.
I'm not afraid to say this -- and none of you, dear readers -- ought to, either, but I've a very, very soft spot set aside in my heart for Metric. Fame and fortune, commercialization and watering down aside, they rock hard, and it's a real shame there aren't more bands out there like them. Dancey post-punk/New Wave stuff that is all at once of the current and the new and reminiscent of the oldies but goodies (Blondie, the Jam, Squeeze, and no, Duran Duran is not representative of New Wave in the positive fashion I'm referring to it here).
Canadian compatriots Bad Flirt (MySpace) popped up at just the right time, then. These six pump out angular, high-energy pop/rock tracks that're chalk full of stellar hooks, perfectly archetypal post-punk bass lines, and mechanical drumming that's strangely not in want of soul or passion. The singer sort of sounds like the gal from Altered Images -- very nice.
Okay, so here's the deal. "How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation" is mastered, the others are not. Keep that in mind while rocking out and thrashing about to these guys (you inevitably will) -- most likely, the unmastered songs'll get even better. At present, they've only a single out (buy it at the MySpace page), but an LP is on the horizon, and probably an abundance of hype.
