endorse/the\dark/horse

Transition

2007-08-16T13:20:00.000-04:00

Going back to school = lots of last week responsibilities at the now-defunct day job = no posts last week = bad blogger.

More discoveries to come: mp3s, video, and possibly podcasts.

Radio LXMBRG

2007-08-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

Behind the fairly straightforward pop rock of Radio LXMBRG, there's a meticulous care given to the keys and samples which really flavors these tunes. They list their influences as "bombastic movie soundtracks, French sixties music, UK eighties music and German kraut rock," and normally I pass on genre-shifting chameleons (unless we're talking about Derek Trucks - he can record polka and I'll buy it), but these Swedes could become your guilty pleasure, too.

http://www.myspace.com/radiolxmbrgband

of note:

2007-08-03T10:04:00.000-04:00

ASCAP reminds Brooklyn Vegan that their lawsuits are legal, reasonable, and "there is a reason why ASCAP wins all of these." I suspect RIAA envy.

When a compilation called "NEXT: Indie's Biggest Hits, Volume 1" comes out, it's time to drop the all-inclusive "indie" moniker, mmkay?

Stevie Wonder is gonna tour. Awesome.

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band

2007-08-02T17:07:00.000-04:00

Key ingredients to making a tolerable roots-rock-blues band:

1. Steel-plate F-hole acoustic guitar (probably dented, scratched)
2. Bass drum, snare drum, maybe a maraca?
3. Washboard (the portable laundromat) player named Breezy
4. Vocals of a tripped-out hick
5. Cool beard

I dig it.

http://www.myspace.com/therevpeytonsbigdamnband

Peter Adams

2007-08-02T16:40:00.000-04:00

This guy from Cincinnati - he's barely 23 (and studied classical violin for 20 of those), writes sweet, multilayered pop songs, produced and recorded his entire first album, and he doesn't have a record deal? The Internet-age makes finding a savant like this easy, but damn it's kind of unfair. If anyone deserves a major marketing campaign, it's Peter Adams. The melodies and phrasing of Jeff Buckley come to mind. This orchestral production is mellow and flawless.

From his site: Cementalisque

http://www.myspace.com/peteradamsmusic
http://www.peteradamsmusic.com

Flowers of Hell

2007-08-02T16:22:00.000-04:00

If you're going to identify as a "collective" rather than a band, AND include "Hell" in your name, I expect scary epics in minor keys. The 10 folks comprising Flowers of Hell agree. The long drone jams rise and fall with trumpets, violas, and theremin (check out "Compound Fractures"), and there's plenty of ways to interpret the sounds they create. I'd say "mournful." They are, of course, British.

http://www.myspace.com/flowersofhell
http://flowersofhell.com/

of note:

2007-08-02T11:09:00.000-04:00

John Petrucci of Dream Theatre finally explains: "You'll never be able to get close to what I sound like."

Breaking news! Sound from iPod ear buds can actually bother others around you!

Harry Potter listens to Sigur-Ros, but not geeks who play in bands named after him.

Said the Gramophone wants to know why you haven't listened to "Bird Flu" yet. It's a valid question.

Scissor Sisters at the Brit Awards

2007-08-02T10:07:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I hadn't heard of these UK awards, either, and that's because they haven't been broadcasted live since 1989, when the performers just - well, played really sloppily, and no one cared.

This performance by the Scissor Sisters (while not my favorite electroclash pop band) is certainly the opposite of sloppy. At first glance I thought, oh, they're ripping off Beck and the Flaming Lips' knack for whacky stage direction...and then they started floating...

" Fusion / Acousmatic / Tape music / Psychedelic"

2007-08-01T13:16:00.000-04:00

That's how the Finnish group Valojuopot describes itself. Not far off, either. They've obviously taken a few cues from Robert Fripp, but in these erratic, psychedelic noise tunes, the samples cover world music instruments, strange chanting, and perhaps even human screams. Play nice, kids.

http://www.myspace.com/valojuopot

Warm Morning

2007-08-01T11:13:00.000-04:00

Italian brothers write earnest ballads with slight 70s nostalgia. Mostly acoustic and crooned, but there's some haunting melodies here and there. Restrained but smooth and relaxing vocals. One album, "Silver Rain," available on Shelflife.

http://www.myspace.com/warmmorning
http://www.warmmorning.net

of note:

2007-08-01T10:53:00.000-04:00

WMFU provides rather embarrassing audio of Nina Simone in her later years

Ben Folds' solo demos predating the band's success turned up at The Rawking Refuses to Stop.

Neil Young's making a comic bo - harumph - graphic novel?

On the heel of director Michelangelo Antonioni's death, blog Aquarium Drunkard digs up the bootleg soundtrack Pink Floyd made to his film Zabriskie Point.

Harp studies at Eastmon School of Music really pay off, I guess...

Missed...

2007-07-27T10:54:00.001-04:00

...a free show last night by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings in Battery Park. I discovered Sharon through normal routines at the day job. She's a 51-year-old former corrections officer and gospel singer who met some neo-soul enthusiasts in the mid-90s, started jamming with the house band for Dap-Tone Records, and soon enough she's come to symbolize a new soul throwback. She's certainly picking up speed if the folks I work for notice her. Her record "100 Days, 100 Nights" packs a mighty punch. Hmm, seems to be a pattern with this retro stuff, considering Amy Winehouse and all. I wonder if, after this post-punk '80s rock thing dies down, we'll see more Motown nostalgia? I doubt it. It's easy to cop Television or New Order, but Diana Ross is something else...

www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

Photo by cvalda

"jimmy give me a call i lost your number."

2007-07-27T10:34:00.000-04:00

Superlatives this morning for the Craigslist musician forum:

Best...Attempt at Promoting a Band through Haiku?
http://www.myspace.com/peopleintheback
SUNSET ON THE CONCRETE JUNGLE...
ORANGE, GREY, AND A HORN PLAYING THE BLUES

Most Unnecessary Display of Outrage
Go to the Village Voice musicians classified and on the right where you post a large box add, there is a drummer " professional drummer NEEDS a KILLER heavy electric". Is this guy for real? what a FAT FROG. He's from Conn. or Westchester, you know Green Acres or Mayberry RFD. His big show is on his deck for his kids 10th birthday party. What a douchebag.

Best Acknowledgment of Incompetence/Stupid Nick Name
jimmy give me a call i lost your number.
babylon don

Lost Moments in Music History: Frank Zappa's fight against the PMRC

2007-07-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

Back when I was first forming coherent sentences, the wives of Al Gore and Strom Thurmond came together in a rare instance of bipartisan ignorance and - with the help of the National Parent-Teacher Association, Recording Industry Association of America, and family-value Christians - went apeshit over offensive lyrics in pop music. As everyone today should know, when you find a "Explicit Lyrics" sticker on your newly-bought album, you can thank Al Gore's wife, Tipper, and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). Thanks, gang.

That's common knowledge. What isn't widely known is that in the midst of this political hoo-ha which threatened the first amendment and the commerce clause, only a few musicians actually spoke up to make the artistic viewpoint heard in the congressional hearings before the Senate Commerce committee.

John Denver, who whined about misunderstood lyrical allusions in "Rocky Mountain High."

Dee Snider, who wimped out and said, No, no, 'Under the Blade' isn't about sadomasochism, it's a simple description of medical procedures.

And Frank Zappa...who kicked all of their asses:

At the PMRC hearings (Check out a young and sheepish Al):

On mo'f*ing Crossfire:

And debating on Charlie Rose:

Yeah, we all appreciate the DIY aspect of the '80s, the underground scenes, the new wave, and the punk sensibility that has reared its head today against the RIAA's efforts to sue the pants off every college kid. But let's give Frank some credit here. Of all the articulate, news-savvy musicians of the day, Zappa was the only one who stuck up for free speech when the PMRC threatened it. Yet to this day, he's unfairly remembered as a jam-rock Howard Stern.

"Frontman needs Best band in the Universe Ya down?"

2007-07-26T10:53:00.000-04:00

What classic band is just approaching its metamorphic stage over at Craigslist's musicians forum, today?

Cockiest Potential Front Man
I am 22 and am a passionate mofo. heh i could put all this energy in this post - but dont feel it, maybe next post. i have the look cuz im a hotstud.. the talent and mind, creativity... oh it's high. i have not yet sung in a band, but i like my voice.. and my emotional power and creativity is unique, so i rock, guess ill be a muscian - lead singer, gotta get on it , oh yeah! write me with words of encouragement or if you need a singer / art director writer. Sounds patterns, beats all come easy to me.

Most Over-reaching Headline
"PULVERIZE THE LIMITS OF YOUR VOICE. SING WITHOUT RESTRAIN!"

Worst Idea for a Cover Band, Best Emphasis on Fitness
We performed off-Broadway in a show about Cobain that contained all songs from Nevermind. Need drummer who can cover Grohl and Channing from Bleach, Incesticide, Nevermind, In Utero. Will reprise show and gig around NYC. Need a banger with attitude. No overweights please. Serious only.

Map of Africa: great blends of sound, questionable name

2007-07-26T10:30:00.000-04:00

"LCD Soundsystem revamping Phil Collins" is how Dave at blog The Rawking Refuses to Stop characterizes this band, Map of Africa. He's posted two tracks, one which surely bleeds echo guitar and the crooner type on the mic. Browse the self-titled album on iTunes, and you'll hear strains of dub, synth-rock, ambient floaters and funk, too. Brazen name for two white dudes, but hey, I like the record.

www.myspace.com/mapofafricatheband

Your web designer rocks

2007-07-26T09:57:00.000-04:00

Sometimes bands' homes on the Web are more captivating than the band itself.

So it goes with Frauke, your typical tongue-in-cheek descendant of the Pixies...

Pretty menus!

Interesting side note: the main site's url is "Fraukehatesyou," where the MySpace url dares "Fraukefuckinghatesyou."

Make up your mind. Seriously.

www.myspace.com/fraukefuckinghatesyou

End of day MySpace roundup

2007-07-25T17:39:00.000-04:00

I gave them a few clicks, you should, too.

Porter
Flighty, freewheeling, trip-hoppish, from Mexico.
www.myspace.com/porterband

Puscifer
The voice of Tool/APC takes up a Moog/samples.
www.myspace.com/censorshipisacancer

GOXXXIP
Discopunk with actual disco-worthy vocals.
www.myspace.com/gossipband

"The Point" and its music still fresh today.

2007-07-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

Kudos to the blog Aquarium Drunkard for running a piece recently on Harry Nilsson's music (including the wonderful "Me and My Arrow"), which underscored the 1971 animated film "The Point." Completely tolerable kid's cartoon on tolerance, it's the tale of Oblio - a boy with a round head in a mythical city of people with pointy heads. As you can guess, they don't take kindly to him. Ringo Starr narrates, and Harry Nilsson provided songs I remember singing along to, when young. Some kind soul has posted the whole thing onto YouTube.

Here's Part 1, which includes the Me and My Arrow sequence:

File Under: Good Music by Gay People

2007-07-25T11:44:00.000-04:00

Actually, gay people have made perhaps-better-than-average music since time began. I just find gay culture's taste in tunes a bit lacking. Moving on...The Soft Pink Truth finds one-half of electro-duo Matmos (they provide bleeps and beats for Bjork now and then), Drew Daniel, taking old hardcore and punk anthems and turning them into erratic, dark, and sometimes hilarious house tracks. My favorite is Nervous Gender's "Confession," which re-imagines Jesus as a street-walking Galilean deviant. B made little refrigerator magnets of great album covers, and considering I found this gem in his collection, it's a shame that cover doesn't greet me every time I go to make a sandwich. Whoo!

www.brainwashed.com/spt/

Craigslist: earnest musicians cry for help

2007-07-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

Ah, the Internet's back pages, the destination of earnest guitarists everywhere looking to start a band. There's the "pro player" who only wants serious responses, and then the dudes who just want to jam, man. Today, there's also these people:

Most Blatant Acknowledgment of Influences
Are you into Amy Winehouse Music? Male vocalist looking to do something along the lines of what Amy Winehouse is doing. I can explain further what I have in mind if we get a chance to speak. Extremely versatile vocalist looking start a project along the lines of what Amy Winehouse is doing. Looking to record and shop the album (a producer would be great) or play out (booking connections would be amazing) OR BOTH. Read more

Washed-up Musician of the day
Jules Radino, drummer for the classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult is accepting drum students. All levels and styles. Will travel to you! Read More

Most Pretentious Description Award
Seeking gifted guttersnipes and frippian neologistocrats who are Adept in factory noise-waste,
garbled throatshrieks, industrial shards, splattered transmissions and ghostly tendrils. You are a controlled-feedback genius, a low-res Giacometti who thrives on live, on-stage Creation...Read More

Nonesuch: face of a "good" major label

2007-07-24T17:38:00.000-04:00

Say what you will about Warner Bros. Records (like, say, the overzealous copyright protection, allegiance to the RIAA's rather draconian view of file sharing, the dubious marketing of multiple versions of the Smashing Pumpkins' Zeitgeist, just to start) but the suits have nourished Nonesuch Records. They've got Brian Eno, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, Ibrahim Ferrer, Wilco, Caetano Veloso, Joshua Redman, Joni Mitchell...that's one hell of a roster.

http://www.nonesuch.com

Best intro ever; Mastodon rocked the Aqua Teen movie

2007-07-24T11:44:00.000-04:00

I got clued in to the metal band Mastodon last year sometime. I needed something heavy and fast to listen to that wasn't prog or stoner rock, and this band just served it up: Named after a prehistoric creature, authors of an entire album revolving around Captain Ahab and Moby Dick (Leviathan), and touring with Tool later that fall? Yes, please.

Then I saw the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film. This is the opening scene, and yes, it's Mastodon.

Love it.

www.mastodonrocks.com

What's with French electro duos? Justice prevails.

2007-07-23T11:08:00.000-04:00

Seriously, something in the wine must randomly infect pairs of shaggy-haired bros to fart out dance beats the color of Cabernet. Justice - unlike countrymen Air and more like Daft Punk - layer heavily distorted synth over haltering beats and mix in the loop flavors of early hip-hop, '70s TV themes. Nifty rock riffs, too. I'd call this record a dance album, but it'd be a challenge to move to.

www.myspace.com/etjusticepourtous

photo by Nicole Blommers

"I brought my friends the dragonflies,"...

2007-07-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

...said Brazilian Girls vocalist Sabina Sciubba, having fallen to her knees at the foot of the stage, looking above the crowd where about 5 or 6 beastly insects buzzed, as if arriving on her command. If so, no small feet, since she'd just mimicked flight with a cloth wings, danced (as this should certainly be described) exotically, and all while possibly blindfolded. That's her trait, but I wasn't sure at that distance.

I liked them a lot better after this show. Although the crowd focus definitely falls on her, the music is from the collective. That voice is irreplaceable, but no one should sneeze at the loops and rhythm section behind her. For all the crunch and beeps, the live performance comes across as organic; from what I can tell, the turntablist works his own Moog as often as sampling.

I think I'll leave the review of the opening acts to B, from his own bookkeeping:

My comments during the show: “Himilayas = We Think We’re the Arkestra” Jeff: “The happy, go-lucky, working-on-our-MFA-arkestra”; “Bombastic Elevator Music!” Jeff: “I’m convinced only 10 people are actually mic’ed/playing.”

Cat Empire, was next and proved to be somewhat ungratifying. Though, they were more tolerable than Apples in Stereo. They had that polished, jam band appeal but with Australian gusto and/or sheepishness. They committed the following sins: White man soul high pitched/faux gospel that tried so dearly to sound soulful and poignant; enforced hand clapping and waving (my biggest pet peeve); pointless banter about how amazing it was to ‘be here with everyone’; abrupt about faces in genre dipping (first a reggae number, followed by a blatant electro-clash meets cuban jam; white men singing in forced Caribbean accents {the worst!}; and then an ‘anti-war’ song.

We get along swell.

Photo by mteson.

What can we get for (no) dollar?

2007-07-22T22:54:00.000-04:00

Made it to Jones Beach Saturday, and still scurried back to Brooklyn soon enough to catch M.I.A.'s set (preceded by the yawn-inducing We Are Scentists - hey guys, experiment like your name implies you do) and the collegiate Siren Festival crowd, further making me feel old and out-of-moshing shape.

MIA came bouncing out to new material - more length in verse and chorus, complex hooks that revealed vocalizations I hadn't heard on Arular, and if anything a more jaded point of view. As caustic as her first record's underlying themes ran, she sang with melancholy between those grime phrases. There's less regret to these songs, whatever the reason.

Photos by "j.appleseed"

The Fader

2007-07-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

The blog Idolator gave a nice summary of The Fader this past week, and the comments that ensued after its posting really represent my own evolution of opinion for this magazine:

Stage One: Pleasantly surprised
BY DANGIBSON AT 07/13/07 01:15 PM

"It is a very pretty magazine, and...I actually learn something from the magazine each issue, which is certainly more than I can expect from most music rags these days."

Stage Two: Skeptical at potential conflict-of-interest
BY JETSETJUNTA AT 07/13/07 01:38 PM

"You forgot to mention how the Fader is just another PR device for Cornerstone Promotion, and as such not actually a magazine at all. But sure, it is very pretty."

Stage Three: Resignation at ethical impasse, digging the tunes
BY TAYLOR T-SIDES AT 07/13/07 03:30 PM

"@loudersoft : "It's a damn good looking magazine in which they cover good music, so I could care less." exactly. if they covered only Cornerstone artists, I'd be miffed, but who gives a shit?"

I should note that Cornerstone exec Jon Cohen went to my college, knew my professors, and gave me an excellent series of tips on the publishing biz when I came to NYC.

Download their issues here, or better yet, buy one.

This is what the best band in the world looks like

2007-07-20T15:18:00.000-04:00

Laurie Anderson knows problems

2007-07-20T14:41:00.000-04:00

Even if ambient electronica and spoken-word monologues aren't your thing, give Laurie Anderson a try. I saw her last May at the private, la-di-da National Arts Club (reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut, wealthy-class-orgy type stuff, I have to say) after B had shown me a video of her stuff - big arena, projected-screen, nonsense rants and cheese-sustain keyboards. For whatever reason, it didn't hit me, so I wasn't too thrilled for the show.

But she really shined. A little older, a little more graceful. She played an electric violin and a keyboard now and then, and on one song sang through a vocoder. Sounded like James Earl Jones. She went off about politics/policy for a bit (see video below), but mostly she just went.off.the.deep.end. We're talking 10-minute jams mimicking the flight of birds. Hipster aristocrats abounded. But who else is going to show up in droves at a ritzy hole like that?

This is pretty good: "Only An Expert."

EDIT: Oh, and this is classic, too:

www.laurieanderson.com

At the races...

2007-07-19T17:25:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 20, 2007
Neko Case
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
Free
Link

Saturday, July 21

MIA
(see post below)

Matmos
8:30 PM
Lincoln Center, The Allen Room
$30
Link

Sunday, July 22

Brazillian Girls
3:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage
Free
Link

M.I.A. - in NYC, she'll be anything but

2007-07-19T14:12:00.000-04:00

This morning, an e-mail from Brooklyn's Studio B tried to alert me to the upcoming M.I.A. show, but I was busy 'net-shopping for grandma's birthday, and soon after all tickets for July 25 quickly sold, sold, sold.

As much as I dug Studio B the last time I walked thru miles of concrete-factory nothingness to see the Fucking Champs (fucking good, too), I'll hopefully catch the grime-y anarchist for free this Saturday. She plays Coney Island at 6 p.m. this Saturday, July 21, towards the end of the Village Voice's Siren Festival. Then again, the shows can fill to capacity, and if I get there too early I'll have to suffer through way-too-much indier-than-thou ear damage. B and I were going to hit the beaches, too...

Regardless - glad she's back in the States and releasing new material.

www.myspace.com/mia
www.miauk.com

It's tough to review Frank Zappa...

2007-07-19T11:11:00.000-04:00

...when his music, performance, and earnest approach to creating is so honest. The only way to take him down with tact is to question this altogether. The bf showed me this piece by Robert Christgau in the Village Voice, Dec. 24, 1970. A highlight:

But where Zappa's distance from his audience is a calculated means of bullying it into some sort of respectful cash-on-the-line attention, Beefheart really doesn't give a shit. Zappa plays the avant-gardist and Beefheart is the real thing. He does perform, but for once performance and self-expression are almost identical: his detachment is in some sense pure and even innocent, and at the same time he is arrogant as only the pure in heart can be arrogant. Unlike your run-of-the-mill musical galahad, however, Beefheart's noises sound truly original--much more original, my intuition tells me, than Zappa's usual mix.

His point that Zappa is somehow exploiting his audience is a definite assumption, without much in the way of example or evidence. This is a trend I've noticed with rock purist critics - to interpret a style of music and put your own spin on it is somehow devious or exploitative, whereas the idiot savant who isn't trying to make a new piece of art, but plays something poignant without seeming to conscious of it, is better because he's "closer" to the music itself. It gets to such a minute, splitting-hairs level of detail that you want to grab the reviewer's ears and hold them to the stereo.

This is the route critics take when they're given the task of critiquing masters. It's tough to say Zappa's music or stage performance is somehow lacking, so it's safe to go for an accusation of duplicity - that he's a performer in the vaudevillian sense, while Beefheart is the true artist.

Whatever, I doubt anyone reading this will listen to either of their recordings in a different light. Really all this diarhea of the typewriter does is say Beefheart is better than Zappa. And its sudden shift from concert review of Beefheart alone to comparison piece suggests that Christgau was straining for a thesis.

Live: Marc Ribot

2007-07-18T22:26:00.000-04:00

I discovered avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot last night at a free concert in downtown Manhattan, part of the River to River series of free shows every summer. This is a veteran from the New York Downtown scene, and one who defended free-form music venue Tonic until its final moments, so I'm sure he bristled at the irony of playing an inexpensive concert backed by corporate sponsors.

He's an eclectic player; in one concert he transitioned from an opening flamenco-style piece into jazz, fusion, prog, and noise. His first set with jazz ensemble Spiritual Awakening discordantly interpreted Albert Ayler compositions, and the second band, Ceramic Dog, replaced the brass with Moog synthesizers, flange, and crash cymbals galore. Ribot's not ashamed to bend notes into dissonance, but his improvisations moves with inspiration. His resume includes recording with Wilson Pickett, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithful, and Tom Waits.

www.marcribot.com
http://www.myspace.com/marcribotsceramicdog

Commercially Unavailable: Nina Simone, Live at Drury Lane, London, England - December 1977.

2007-07-18T20:39:00.000-04:00

Having read Ms. Simone's autobiography (you should do the same), I know she had particular disdain for the record companies that "bootlegged" her recordings and sold them without giving her royalties. That said, this recording won't see the light of day anytime soon, and it captures the ferocitious beauty of her ballads, protest songs, and esoteric commentary it's criminal to be so neglected, considering her exasperating "greatest hits" packages at your local record store.

Completely different show here: