NOTABLE COVERS: Rural Alberta Advantage - Eye of the Tiger

I can't quite tell the degree of sincerity with this one, but the track holds up to seemingly earnest acoustification better than you'd first imagine. Now try an alternative version with some "Don't Haunt This Place Drums," RAA!

Eye of the Tiger - The Rural A...

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

Band: Charlotte Gainsbourg
Album: IRM
Sounds Like: PJ Harvey, Rilo Kiley, St. Vincent lite, Air
Sub Sub-genre: Eclectic French Indie Adult Contemporary
Essential Tracks: Trick Pony, In the End, IRM, Heaven Can Wait

DJ Sub Par Says:
Charlotte Gainsbourg almost died. The effect can be felt in many ways. The sounds of a MRI invade the song IRM, the french abbreviation for the same machine. In the duet with beck Heaven Can Wait she sings, "Heaven can Wait, hell is to far to go. Somewhere between what you need and what you know." Even in the cover art we can imagine her staring death in the face. Beck produces the album, composed the songs and wrote most of the lyrics. Yet, this isn't just beck arranging songs for a pop princess. This  collaboration is two artists using each other. Beck brings his junk yard bag of tricks, but Charlotte gives these songs a warmth. Two artists huddled against the void.

DJ Responsible Says:
I have to admit that this album's unquestionable relevance took me as a bit of a surprise early this year. I must have missed 5:55 a few years back, I know little of her fairly consistent acting career, and I really only know her father Serge from his duet with this female orgasm, which I first caught wind of after reading a dirty anthem breakdown from The Onion A.V. Club. Have I merely been Gainsbourg ignorant over the years?

That said, the surprise was also decidedly pleasant. Charlotte's got the experimental tendencies of a PJ Harvey or a St. Vincent, but with slightly softened edges (with the exception of the aggressive "Greenwich Mean Time"). She knows when to let loose, from the soft-spoken ass kick of "Trick Pony" to the Beck-featured "Heaven Can Wait" to the blues-y "Dandelion," but she'll also reign the mood back in for a gorgeous and vulnerable ballad like "In the End" ("Treading so long I can't see where we've been/Tracks on the trail and nails digging in"). The album might've used a little more edge, given the thematic overtones, but IRM is definitely not a lifeless ride.


And because this video is surrealisticaly beautiful:

Charlotte Gainsbourg "Heaven Can Wait" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

QUICK RIFFS: Why - Eskimo Snow

 

The hype in the wake of 2008's wondrous Alopecia appears to have been short-lived, likely cut short by Why?'s decision to soften his edges instead of building upon his cherished eccentric approach. Eskimo Snow contains the same trademarked apathetic drawl (think The National's Matt Berninger in a quasi-hip hop context), but strewn over lulling piano-string compositions. It's perhaps not surprising that Why?'s half-hearted delivery is especially sensitive to lazy production.

"January Twenty Something" is an engaging and surreal journey, if merely an homage to the much superior "A Sky for Showing Horses Under." But "Berkeley by Hearseback" is the album's most successful effort, a dark-light, saddened-joyous counterpiece that Why? normally makes commonplace.

QUICK RIFFS: Discovery - LP

Here's the test. Take a listen to Discovery's rendition of MJ's "I Want You Back."

I Want You Back - Discovery

How are you feeling? Annoyed? Curious? Infatuated? Angry? Such is the nature of this divisive album by Vampire Weekend's keyboardist and Ra Ra Riot's lead singer. If you're not gonna like it, you're not gonna like it.

For whatever you may make of its substance, LP is surprisingly consistent in its tone and approach. That consistency basically means that every song is inconsistent: they get bored with an idea no matter how ridiculous its initial conception may be. There's a radio pop, or at least an indie pop gem, hidden in "Osaka Loop Line," but they make sure to wrestle their way out of it. Ditto the fast-slow-fast-sow lure of "So Insane." "It's Not My Fault" plays the least tricks and holds the strongest footing, resulting in the best expression of this odd collaboration. If you pass the test, be sure to check this song out.

It’s Not My Fault (It’s My Fau...

Osaka Loop Line - Discovery

So Insane - Discovery

MUSIC IN THE MOVIES: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Although their music is pretty much an antiquated rehash of what was cool twenty five years ago, it's hard not to root for at least middling success for the wash-out protagonists of Anvil! The Story of Anvil. 

These also-rans shared a brief moment of stardom alongside Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and the like, before somewhat inexplicably being left by the wayside during the late 80's metal pinnacle.

The lead singer-guitarist and drummer's relationship is amazingly complex, like that of the duo from American Movie but one degree more self-aware and one degree less drug-addled. Together, throughout a semi-debacle European tour and the recording of a new album, they share their thoughts on fame, failure, the methodical passage of time, death, love, friendship, money, and, of course, music.

Good luck, gentlemen. Good luck.

THE BREAKDOWN: Four Tet - There Is Love In You

Four Tet have always been on the adventurous side of my listening tastes. A song like "Hands" from 2003's Rounds builds patiently into a hypnotic-yet-unstable rhythm before falling back into pieces, like a talented band trying to play in outer space. And that's on the commercial end of Four Tet's output. Often, it's simply a lulling and futuristic sort of insanity.

There Is Love In You arguably tapers off the eccentricity of previous efforts, but in another way his limit-pushing sensibilities are merely built into the dynamic more subtly. Trust me, there's a heap of madness imbued across the entire album, it's just more melodic and contagious than usual.

As I previously wrote about, "She Just Likes to Fight" is the early frontrunner for instrumental track of the year. "Sing" is the kind of danceable electronica that makes me wish I thought raves were cool, and "Angel Echoes" feels closest to the classic Four Tet sound, something like Burial-goes-pop.

At eight full length tracks, there's no filler on There Is Love. The most succinct might therefore just be the best Four Tet release to date.

There Is Love In You - Four Te...

QUICK RIFFS: Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

 

The religious angle doesn't really do much for The Life of the World to Come, except to make the song titles bafflingly interchangeable. And paying extra close to the lyrics doesn't get you any closer to unraveling the biblical parallels, unless perhaps you're a well-versed thumper or willing to do more research than I. 

As for the music itself, the question becomes how well the more expansive production complements the traditional Mountain Goats sound. "Genesis 3:23" is harmless, although potentially a dangerous sign of things to come, while "Psalms 40:2" benefits from a hint of aggression ("Checked into a Red Roof Inn, stayed up for several hours/And then slept like infants in the burning fusillage"). Perhaps predictably, the best numbers are the most lo-key, such as the sparse "Ezekiel 7."

It's worth a listen, if an unmemorable one by Mountain Goats standards.

Psalms 40:2 - The Mountain Goa...

Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Ef...

IN THE NEWS...Hot Chip Fears Popularity

 

Hot Chip, in the limelight again after dropping their latest quality effort, don't look like the kind of guys who should've expected fame (the above picture could be out of a Wes Anderson parody). Well, according to a recent piece in The Guardian UK, fame doesn't appear to be their cup of tea either. Music purists in 2010, who knew! 

So who wants to bet fifty bucks their next album goes off the deep end a little bit. Because you're on!

THE BREAKDOWN: Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind

Extended-play singles have become almost the norm for any well-respected indie bands' between-album downtime, tempering fans' and critics' nigh insatiable yearnings. Fall Be Kind might be the perfect expression of that art.

Bookending 2009 in a way that appears, retrospectively, quite ordained, Fall Be Kind cements the Collective's striking relevance and impressive consistency. There's just enough of Merriweather to feel appeased, and yet just enough unexpected moments to remain intrigued. Two around-the-corner surprises highlight the two best tracks: "Grass" drops from outer space into a Kubrick-esque carnival, while "What Would I Want? Sky" rises up from underwater into a Dali-esque masquerade.

The rest of Fall Be Kind basks in the ambience Animal Collective do best, testing your patience for their next much-awaited project.

Fall Be Kind EP - Animal Colle...

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Hot Chip - One Life Stand

Band: Hot Chip
Album: One Life Stand
Sounds Like: LCD Soundsystem, Junior Boys
Sub Sub Genre: Smart-Rock Electro-Pop
Essential Tracks: Take It In, I Feel Better

DJ Responsible: Hot Chip have been, I must admit, perhaps my favorite band since my first listen of The Warnng three and a half years ago. Neither Made in the Dark, a rollercoaster of brilliant highs and tossed-off lows, nor One Life Stand, its similarly inconsistent follow-up, are unloveable enough to steer me from this notion. In fact, the only portion that isn't amazing is the cloying and lethargic triple threat of "Brothers," "Slush," and "Alley Cats." The rest of the album is just a bunch of guys with expensive keyboards, youthful jubilance, and a host of great ideas. One Life Stand is like a sagging mattress: if you stick to the edges, you'll be alright.

DJ Sub Par: Can you dance to Hot Chip? You should. Their take on electro pop is to steal R&B tropes and craft them into tracks that veer between playful and honest. The worst thing would to interpret Hot Chip's style of bleeps and beeps as ironic. While it will be constantly difficult to surpass The Warning as an album, Hot Chip continues to deepen the complexity of both their melodies and emotional undercurrent. With this album, the title refers to making a one stand last a lifetime. Then, on the final track "Take It In," when Alexis Taylor sings "Take my heart and keep it close to you" he wants you to feel it. And also dance.

I Feel Better - Hot Chip

Take It In - Hot Chip

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Four Tet - "She Just Likes to Fight"

An absolutely gorgeous instrumental closer off the recent There Is Love in You. Here, with 'plants-in-slow-motion' based video--presumably fan-made:

FYI...Hip Hop Hipster-ism is Alive and Well

It's not the greatest verse ever, but, at least in a big picture kind of way, it's pretty cool that a rapper like Kid Cudi even listens to LCD Soundsystem let alone raps over them.

THE BREAKDOWN: Wale - Attention Deficit

 

One might say that Wale doesn't have a style all his own: he wraps his cleverness into no-pause flows that are difficult to digest. Although an exaggeration, this minor critique becomes magnified on Attention Deficit, which lacks the creative production inherent to his mixtapes 100 Miles and Runnin' (the Justice-sampling "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.") and The Mixtape About Nothing (getting his Jay-Z on with "The Freestyle (Roc Boys)").

Wale has few detractors, but it's hard to make a stink about a consistent and unspectacular album like Attention Deficit. We saw the reaction to the one album wonder Rhymefest, although Blue Collar at least felt a little risky. Wale's straightforward production (make a beat without tablas, please) is matched by casual verses that don't take enough chances.

The exceptions are twofold. The first are the songs with bite, namely the twinkly darkness of "90210" and the non-stop punchlines of opener "Trimuph." The second are the ones that nail the formula, primarily the back-to-back hits "Pretty Girls (ft. Gucci Mane)" and "World Tour." The latter half of the album could've used either/or. 

Or a trim. Or some edge.

But hell, I'll take Wale over 90% of you rappers out there any day. 

Attention Deficit - Wale

THE iTUNES TOP 100 & THE END OF THE WORLD (ATROCIOUSNESS FOR A GOOD CAUSE EDITION): Artists for Haiti - "We Are the World"

This song is an interesting peek into all that is (mostly) awful about the mainstream end of the contemporary pop cultural spectrum. As with Hollywood, the music industry distinctly lacks original ideas (here: a timely swoop of an iconic piece of 'good vibes' history drenched in the schmaltziest and most expensive of studio production). It's the same American Idol re-hash that the population just laps up. Some thoughts:

-the Janet Jackson-MJ green screen moment feels particularly forced.
-the guitar solos are wanky to a hilarious degree.
-Barbara Streisand is loathesome.
-The idea to do a group rap (led by LL Cool J) was moronic.
-The Black Eyed Peas are evil (see also: iTunes Top 100 #2 "Imma Be").
-I can surprisingly recognize just about all the solo players (shame on me?).
-Daughtry is a pile of garbage.
-Lil' Wayne and Kanye come out of this thing looking pretty cool, as always.

Feel no desire to watch the whole thing. It's quite painful.

And, remember, Haiti will still need help three years down the road when the rest of these celebrities are onto their next agent-induced benefit project. So give plentifully, but be in it for the long haul.

FYI...The Flaming Lips House is Cool

The Flaming Lips don't just make crazy albums...they make crazy houses. You can check out some more photos on their website.

WORTH A LISTEN: Hot Chip - "One Night Stand (Drums of Death Remix)"

The first couple of minutes are pretty much killer. The last couple drift into unnecessary land (ft. pretentious noise). For a more straightforward dance track, there's also Carl Craig's PCP Remix and the very un-Hot Chip Joris Voorn Dusty Flower Remix.

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Vampire Weekend - Contra

Band: Vampire Weekend

Album: Contra

Sounds Like: Ra Ra Riot, Paul Simon's Graceland, The Very Best

Sub-Sub Genre: Indie Prep-rock

Essential Tracks: Cousins, Giving Up the Gun

DJ Responsible Says: Even with the substantial critical hype and the (unsurprising) massive populist backlash--or at least bickering--my first reaction to Contra tended not to be love nor hate, but an unqualified 'wtf?'. Was this really what they had spent all their time and money doing? Was this really the album, the Ivy League hipster so-uncool-it's-cool-again album that went number one in the country? Who sits down and writes "In December drinking horchata/I'd look psychotic in a balaclava" and feels that it's somehow a reasonable way to start an album (whether ironic or not)?

For however unenjoyable Contra can be at times ("Horchata," the auto-tuned "California English"), you can't label Vampire Weekend sell outs. In fact, there's an odd dichotomy to this release: their sudden and (for me) inexplicable popularity butt up against the downright incomprehensible oddity that is the actual listening experience. Did people know what they were getting into? Or were they just drawn in by the beautiful bemused blond?

There is at least half an album to love here: "Giving Up the Gun" is fairly spectacular, perhaps simply for its relative normalcy and earnestness. "White Sky" is obnoxiously buoyant and contagious, but somehow doesn't go too far. And "Taxi Cab" is a stunning, downbeat mid-album showcase for their impressive musical craft. A little taste of realness goes a long way, especially when it's hard to find.

DJ Sub Par Says: I consume music the way Michael Phelps takes in calories. I hardly pause to breathe. A month belated review of one of the most hyped bands in the last few gives me time for something rare, a chance to savor. Above all, VW have a distinct sound, joyous and upbeat. Perhaps it is derivative, schticky and might not hold up over time. But for now I'd wager that anyone can cull ten tracks from their last two albums and have themselves a nice driving CD. What more do you really want from a band?

MY TAKE: Tupac v. Biggie, circa 2010

As always, it starts in a bar.

"California Love" comes on the radio, and my buddy tells nobody in particular how much he loves 2Pac, in that reminiscent, I-haven't-heard-this-song-in-awhile kind of way.

That devil's advocate in me has to give credit to Dr. Dre ("It's his production that makes the song"). And then, seeking a pop music argument wherever I can get one, I pose the eternal question, the one American suburbanites are forever destined to pose: "Who do you take, Biggie or Tupac?"

Without hesitation, my buddy says: "Tupac. Biggie sounds like...a fat man. Like he can barely breathe."

I'd never heard that one before.

I went on to defend Notorious B.I.G., the perpetual underdog in any West Coast establishment, on the grounds of his unmistakable voice and his cleverness. I mentioned a few killer tracks ("Notorious Thugs," "Sky's the Limit," and the ubiquitous "Juicy"), but without a laptop to back it up, the argument eventually fizzled into a "seriously, you should check those songs out."

The next day I consciously stumbled upon Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up," one of the most impassioned recordings in music history, and found myself at square one.

Until the next inevitable bar debate, of course.

Notorious Thugs [Featuring Bon...

WORTH A LISTEN: The Deer Tracks - "Slow Collision"

This one is courtesy of a friend of mine, who say this band in a small venue in Sweden. I could see this band eventually achieving some States-side, crossover success. Pretty cool video too.

THE BREAKDOWN (W/ DJ SUB PAR): Spoon - Transference

Band: Spoon

Album: Transference

Sounds Like: Ted Leo, Cold War Kids, White Rabbits, The Walkmen

Sub Sub Genre: Minimalist Rock

Essential Tracks: Got Nuffin, Goodnight Laura, Who Makes Your Money?

DJ Sub Par: Britt Daniels and Co are unflappable. Apparently they don't know how to make a bad album. Sure, their first single, "The Mystery Zone" might have them going back to the Spoon book of tricks with a minimalist grove, but elsewhere they have eschewed the studio gloss of their previous outing (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga) for disoriented tracks, where the vocals might cut out sudden. The Ballad "Goodnight Laura" feels like a tape recorder has caught Britt taping out a song on the piano for the first time - a rough beauty.

DJ Responsible: As DJ Sub Par alluded, the production is a little all over the place. It's hard to imagine that the shimmering "The Mystery Zone" and the shiny "Is Love Forever?"--a.k.a. Spoon performing atop American Gladiators' Assault, can you hear the tennis ball gun?-- are only a stones throw removed from the grungy (and mediocre) "Trouble Comes Running." However, as trustworthy as the well-worn silver spoon in your morning granola, it all just sort of coheres.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Who Makes Your Money?," the best thing they've done since Gimme Fiction (so, not that long I guess). It's got the spine of a Spoon song, but all twisted and spaced-out and warped. If the rest of the album would've felt a little more like this, the memories may have reverberated even deeper.

Got Nuffin - Spoon

Who Makes Your Money - Spoon

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Solilliquists of Sound - "Bulletproof"

This poetic take on MLK Jr.'s life, courtesy of the relatively unknown and decidedly eclectic Solilliquists of Sound, reaches goosebump-inducing heights as the protagonist is given his own chance to speak.

THE BREAKDOWN: Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

I was definitely nervous about getting into the Fuck Button's Tarot Sport. All I knew was that it was an electronica album with a lot critical acclaim, a.k.a. an album with the potential to cross over into "we call it music but it's really about pushing boundaries" territory.

There's definitely a little bit of that here (I played "Rough Steez" on my radio show on a whim, which didn't help), but the majority is about displaying dense and textured grooves. Opener "Surf Solar" is fairly spectacular, building a warble of waves and lazerbeams into a pummeling epic straight out of an artsy European version of The Fifth Element. "The Lisbon Maru," "Olympians," and "Flight of the Feathered Serpent," if similarly constructed, are all still worthy of their nine-plus minute running times.

If you have a keen eye for bold electronic music, in which the prime focus isn't to make your friends think your taste in music sucks, then look no further than Tarot Sport.

DJ Responsible's Picks: "Surf Solar,' "Flight of the Feathered Serpent"

Tarot Sport - Fuck Buttons

GREAT COVERS: Taken By Trees - "My Boys"

An outstanding and original cover of an absolutely outstanding and original song. I'm not going to lie, if I were an artist, I wouldn't have the imagination nor courage to cover a song as recent and well-regarded as Animal Collective's "My Girls." But hey, she pulls it off. Leave it to the Swedes.



She also does a respectable take on my favorite Guns N' Roses song, "Sweet Child O' Mine."

THE BREAKDOWN: Raekwon - Built for Cuban Linx...Pt.2

Talk about universal acclaim. Everybody with any reasonable credentials took their place in line to suckle at the teet of Raekwon and his concept album some fourteen years in the waiting. Built for Cuban Linx...Pt.2, although not brilliant, does contain enough highlights from enough talent to make it worthy of at least a fair share of the suckling.

Raekwon is an impressive storyteller, never one to waste a line, in the vein of his accomplice and cover art partner Ghostface Killah. At his best, he feels like he's defining the rap genre, in particular two hazy, thickly woven street anthems: the endearing ODB-tribute "Ason Jones" (with an amazing beat swooped from Wale's "The Star") and the eerie calm of "Black Mozart," which also features the best guest verse on the album from Wu-Tang also-ran Inspectah Deck ("Like Friday night cruise in the coup, new Velour suit/Fruit-flavored kicks takin' flicks out in 40 deuce"). The second half is full of these urban insights Hollywood would love to steal and sell back to the masses: "Canal Street," "Ason Jones," "Have Mercy" and "10 Bricks" is a particularly strong four-song set.

Ghostface is not at the top of his game here, generally sounding lazy and immature ("I'm like Urlacher, beasting at the top of the pile/Laying niggas in the nuts, damn I'm foul)," especially his many descriptions of elicit sex acts (you can imagine your own lyrics). However, this gives Raekwon plenty of room to cover the more compelling "so detailed how could it not be true" exploits of the coke-crack dealing game, as on one of the few shorter, conceptual tracks "Pyrex Vision" ("The Pyrex is bubblin', the stove is broke, fuck it/Use the flame from the oven"). Method Man kills it as always ("House of Flying Daggers" and "New Wu").

Production-wise, check out the Elton John-sampling "Kiss the Ring" for a potential novelty that actually grows more substantive with every listen.

If you can stomach the harshness of the Wu-Tang sensibility--drugs, chauvanism and murder--there's a lot for you here. And I mean A LOT (over seventy minutes!). If not, Built for Cuban Linx...Pt.2 isn't really going to change your mind. It's definitely not the best hip hop album of 2009--that honor goes to Mos Def--but you might want to seek out a little of the best stuff here for when the cool Brooklynite cousins come to visit.

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt....

WORTH A LISTEN (SEMI-IRONIC DIVISION, PT. 2): R. Kelly - "Pregnant (ft. Tyrese, Robin Thicke & The-Dream)"

This song only really needs the first verse, because the rest just sort of drifts off into, well, non-R. Kelly territory. Seriously, I think now that he's finished his Trapped in the Closet series (or has he?), every one of his songs has that wondrous hint of unabashed absurdity. His verses feel impeccably real and honest, and yet simultaneously blunt and child-like. There are very few artists willing to sentimentalize a white picket suburban lifestyle built on the foundation of a single beautiful ass in a nightclub.

WORTH A LISTEN (SEMI-IRONIC DIVISION): R. Kelly - "Echo"

R. Kelly takes tired, sentimental R&B themes and makes them brilliantly specific and self-serving. The earnestness is hilarious when he says: "And when you need a break/I'll let you up/I'll let you breathe/Wash your face/Get something to eat/And come back to the bedroom."



Oh, and did I mention that there's the yodeling?

THE BREAKDOWN: Mew - No More Stories...

Mew need to diversify their sound. Or densify. Or ossify.

If I had to describe No More Stories... in a word, it would have to be digestible. Maybe palpable. Accessible. Manila.

Here's what works: "Beach" is a great, great tune, full of confidence and spirit; I'm surprised I didn't see this on at least one year-end list. Softy "Silas the Magic Car" is like adult contemporary Minus the Bear, in a good way, while "Cartoons and Macreme" endeavors for the grandiose, and gets respectably close. Most of the others, especially the upbeat first four, don't work so well.

In the end, all that's left is a feeling that this would've made a really good EP.

No more stories Are told today...

WHEN TALENT COLLIDES: DOOM - Gazillion Ear (Dr. Who Dat Remix)

The video makes what appears to be a mediocre outdoor, daytime show seem epic. Also: I didn't realize he was such a big fella.