THE BREAKDOWN: Free Energy - Stuck on Nothing

Band: Free Energy
Album: Stuck on Nothing
Sounds Like: OK Go, Foghat, Blue Oyster Cult
Sub-Sub Genre: Soft-Hearted 70's Rock Revivalists
Essential Tracks: Bang Pop, All I Know, Free Energy

I don't mean to knock Free Energy too hard, but little about Stuck on Nothing appears to have any staying power. These kids never claim to be wise, but instead ballyhoo "cruising across town/lost in the endless sound" ("Dream City"). Yet they lack the manic youthful frenzy of early Arctic Monkeys or the sonic adventurousness of something like Japandroid. Free Energy seem unashamed to revel in a world where handclaps and cowbells are not only cool, but act as suitable lifeblood.

Not to allude that Stuck on Nothing is completely without life. "Bang Pop" is a taste of unadulterated joy quite rare in the indie rock realm, and which would be destined to become an alternative radio summer hit in a just suburban America. This is followed up by the most mature and textured piece, the string-heavy, mandatory-bob-along "All I Know" (and that hypnotizing finale...). Indeed, this track pairing would've made a fine finale to a excellent four-track EP.

Bang Pop - Free Energy

All I Know - Free Energy

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Damon Albarn's take on dreamy sentiment makes me giddy inside. Even when he closes with the straight faced "Up on Melancholy Hill sits a manatee/Just looking out for the day when you're close to me..."

THE iTUNES TOP 100 & THE END OF THE WORLD: Ludacris - How Low

Thank you Ludacris for Pop Music: The Squeakquel. This chorus might be the most evil thing this side of the Black Eyed Peas. Check out the video if you like low budget science fiction aesthetics and/or sluts.

WORTH A LISTEN: Broken Bells - Vaporize

The Dangermouse-Shins project is complete, and here's an early favorite. You can definitely hear both elements in balance on "Vaporize," blending in and out and together like only the best collaborations manage.

FYI...Erykah Badu Reenacts JFK Assassination, Getting Naked

This video for "Window Seat" off Badu's New Amerykah Part Two is perhaps more overtly controversial than enlightening, but give her props for the originality and gusto.

WORTH A LISTEN: Morning Benders - Excuses

This is like the red wine of indie-ism: all lush and poetic and gleeful.

Check out this video from a pretty massive studio session in San Francisco:

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Ted Leo - The Brutalist Bricks

Band: Ted Leo
Album: The Brutalist Bricks
Sounds Like: Clash, The Thermals, Okkervil River
Sub-Sub Genre: Personal Political Indie Punk
Essential Tracks: Bottled in Cork, Even Heroes have to Die, The Mighty Sparrow


DJ Sub Par Says:

Ted Leo is a steady hand. Every couple years he releases an album that comes from a punk rock impulse (read:the clash) that is unafraid to incorporate other influences, including reggee, dub, folk, celtic. While not every detour is successful, it is delivered with enough energy until Ted finds his feet again. He certainly finds his footing a few times on this album. He comes out of the gate with The Mighty Sparrow and the lyrics "When the cafe doors exploded I reacted to/reacted to yoooou." Try starting your morning of with that a see if you don't have a better day.

DJ Responsible Says:
Ted & the gang are at their best when they're making songs about places. "Bottled in Cork," the high point of The Brutalist Bricks's many peaks, is the sound of aging realists maintaining a bright-eyed wonder towards their globe-trotting ways. After name-dropping the United Nations and maybe a dozen (mostly European) cities, the narrative eventually drifts into something more narrow and immediate: "I tell the bartender/I think I'm falling love" repeated optimistically over the sound of dizzy, clinking glasses.

Even when Ted Leo are sounding raw for the sake of being raw ("The Stick"), or weird for the sake of weirdness ("Mourning in America"), they are simply avoiding the semi-downfall uniform-catchiness of 2004's Shake the Sheets. The Brutalist Bricks is just another example of Ted Leo giving 'prolific' a good name.

Bottled In Cork - Ted Leo & Th...

THE iTUNES TOP 100 & THE END OF THE WORLD: Justin Bieber - Baby (ft. Ludacris)

Wow. What a pairing. Ludacris, who's already played co-conspirator to a Eurodance-esque jam earlier this year, now joins 16-year-old heartthrob Justin Bieber for one of the most obnoxiously catchy singles of the new year (86 million views on Youtube!). Let's just say Ludacris phones in his verse (although they are definitely in the same room for the filming of the video), and the song loses luster on every listen. How long do you think this Bieber thing is gonna last? (for an example of the obsession, see: here).

WORTH A LISTEN: OK Go - The Leaf

OK Go, in addition to occasionally having way too much fun, are apparently capable making a beautiful, stripped down, guy-with-an-acoustic-guitar-and-some-sentiment ballad. In terms of longevity, this one's gotta be up there with their older poppier stuff like "1000 Miles Per Hour" and "Here It Goes Again."

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Band: Frightened Rabbit
Album: The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Sounds Like: A dirty Scottish Coldplay
Essential Tracks: Swim Until You Can't See Land, Living in Colour

DJ Responsible Says:
Admittedly, The Winter of Mixed Drinks is not as brash as The Midnight Organ Fight. It doesn't reach out and grab you by the throat, it simply gnaws at your ankle.

In other words, this one's a grower.

On first listen, I didn't catch the melancholy de-materialism of "Things" ("I don't need these things/I don't need them, oh"), and the rawness of "The Wrestle" ("they tore me limb from limb/there is bone, there is gristle"), recognizing only the immediacy of softie "Swim Until You Can't See" and the epic, should-be-album-closer "Living in Colour." Thankfully, these beautiful hidden moments become more tangible with every listen.

DJ Sub Par Says:
I echo Kevin's major point, this album requires a little bit of time.

In the meantime take a listen to the single (posted below). Frighted Rabbit are at their best when charmingly wishing for destruction. On the first single of their last album, Modern Leper, songwriter Scott Hutchinson makes his emotional crippling a physical one. Yet, on Swim Until You Can't See Land,  what immediately struck me as suicidal transformed into something else. The melody bobs along the surface. This act is an act of defiance. It is an act of living. He sings "Call this a drowning of the past"

Swim Until You Can't See Land ...

FYI...Artists Make Too Much Music

The A.V. Club has a great little piece on the prolific nature of modern indie artists. Animal Collective, for example, have more recorded output than did The Beatles. This piece pretty much sums up the rationale for my blog: in an age saturated with new music, I try to offer a little insight into what is worthy of the hype and what is tripe.

WORTH A LISTEN: Field Music - Them That Do Nothing

Field Music are sort of an uneventful collection, specializing in low key jams. Nevertheless, "Them That Do Nothing" is a memorable slice of folky, hand-clappy 1960's feel-good-ism. Enjoy.

MY TAKE: R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Call me a product of Generation Y, or a Millenial, but I am only familiar with one (great) Big Star number:



Time for some backlogging...

IN THE (FAUX) NEWS: Music Sales Doing Well

For the rest of The Onion's post click here.

FYI...Lady Gaga & Beyonce Try to Make Their Own Thriller

Beyonce and Lady Gaga have each produced their own share of like-it-or-loathe-it singles in their recent rises to female pop dominance. Beyonce had "Crazy in Love" and "Single Ladies" (like), but also "Halo" and "If I Were a Boy" (bleh). Lady Gaga had "Paparazzi" (like more than I should), but then the oversaturated brain-invaders "Pokerface" and "Just Dance."

Welcome "Telephone," the three-minute mindless club banger turned nine-minute epic video. Is the video's bizarreness genuine, harmlessly artificial, or unpleasantly profit-seeking? I still haven't figured it out. But I do know: it's rare to see a popular artist wearing less than his/her backup dancers, but Lady Gaga manages to pull that off.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Yeasayer - O.N.E.

Scoop the song below or check out the video (which makes the band look not very cool) here.

O.N.E. - Yeasayer

WORTH A LISTEN (Buried Treasure Edition): Shad - Out of Love

Pretty much everything off underground Canadian rapper Shad's When This Is Over (2005) is fairly exceptional. Both years ahead of and much superior to the onslaught of nerd-rap in 2007 (think Gym Class Heroes), Shad is unpretentious, humble, honest and clever as all hell. Too bad his follow-up, 2007's The Old Prince, already saw a gifted man's talents turning rusty.

QUICK RIFFS: Thao With the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster

This album's a party. One with janky-elbow dancing, Talking Heads posters, black-rimmed glasses and armpit stains, but hell. It's gonna be a damn good time: "Oh, bring your hips to me/Oh, bring your hips/Oh, oh, bring your hips to me." (More fun than the low-budget video might suggest).

WORTH A LISTEN: Real Estate - Snow Days

WORTH A LISTEN: Memory Tapes - Bicycle

QUICK RIFFS: Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange

I'll admit, I was once skeptical of this band. The world already had a Deerhoof, which was more than enough mayhem for musicdom already. Why would we need the quasi-experimental haze of a Deer-based indie outfit? And the backstory (the death of a bassist) just seemed like another reason to consider this more of an interesting idea than a compelling band.

Well, after exploring Cryptograms, Microcastle and the Atlas Sound side project releases, I actually found myself excited about this EP release. It's definitely not a let down: all five tracks are fairly stellar, ranging from straight rocker ("Disappearing Ink") to meandering ballad ("Game of Diamonds") to low-fi tropicalia ("Rainwater Cassette Exchange"). Never a wasted moment.

I've included perhaps my favorite track below:

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Neon Indian - Deadbeat Summer

Give credit to this song for making something so downtrodden (lethargy) sound so goddamn desirable. If these four minutes don't make your whole summer job plan (whether to get one or to keep yours) seem downright foolhardy, than you're missing something. 'I hope you enjoy working for the man, because we'll be down be the shore just spinning about....'

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): VIsqueen - Message to Garcia

Band: Visqueen
Album: Message to Garcia
Sounds Like: Neko Case, Joan Jett
Sub Sub Genre: Female-Fronted Rocknroll
Essential Tracks: Hand me Down, Fight for Love, Beautiful Amneisia, So Long

DJ Sub Par Says:

You won't find a Visqueen review on pitchfork yet. But watch for them to blow up at SXSW this year. Who are they? The Neko Case/Joan Jett comparison is apt. Soaring vocals of Neko and the guitar crunch of Joan. Visqueen stomps through 11 tracks in under 40 minutes and there is hardly a misfire (I find some of the lyrics on "Summer Snow" a little grating, but let's not dwell.) Put on the album, crank it up.

DJ Responsible Says:
Borrowing a compliment I've heard bestowed upon The Hold Steady, Visqueen might be the best bar band in the world (or at least in the top 5%). I can imagine them rocking through sweaty hits like "Hand Me Down" and "Beautiful Amnesia" before turning the lights down low for the lighter-raising sentiment of album centerpiece "So Long." But I'm curious to know how their sound will play out at the sunny fields of SXSW. For Visqueen's sound is decidedly indoor: all rasp, fuzz and toe tapping heartbreak

So Long - Visqueen

MY TAKE: Sparklehorse (R.I.P. Mark Linkous)

In addition to last year's inconsistent but occasionally astounding Danger Mouse-teamed Dark Night of the Soul, I will remember Sparklehorse for this lovely slice of restrained sunshine:

FYI...Zach Galifianakis + Piano = Funnier Than Most SNL Monologues

If you like this you should check out his DVD Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion. It's delightful the way the piano fills the between-joke pauses.

THE BREAKDOWN: Blakroc - Blakroc

Blakroc (and Blakroc) might be the coolest blending of sounds in some time, and maybe the best 'white people' meets hip hop project of all time (sorry Aerosmith and Run DMC, sorry Fred Durst and Method Man). One of the great things is how authentic it feels: Dan Auerbach throws down rippin' Black Keys beats and the Wu-Tang Clan (etc.) respond with some their richest and rawest of verses. There's no compromise, only oddly harmonious collaboration.

Mos Def eases in with a tightrope walker's confidence ("On the Vista"), letting y'all know that this about talent meets talent. But it's hard to top Raekwon's "Stay Off the Fuckin' Flowers," who kicks his cocaine adventures over a Woodstock jam--an alternative take on history where the civil rights movement happened thirty years earlier and people were ready for him by the 1970's. I mean, how can you argue with urban non-sequiturs like "Green pea soup/Corrine coup/In the front/With twelve rickshaws ready to front"). Jim Jones, Q-Tip, and RZA come along for the party as well, tossing in their own quality efforts.

This slick little disc isn't perfect, but it's an exciting glimpse into non-cringeworthy rap-rock potential to come. I'll be waiting for Part II.

Blakroc

IN THE NEWS...Apple v. Amazon & the MP3 Daily Deal

Although many of Amazon's MP3 Daily Deals are fairly bland (the "special" for today is Daughtry's Leave This Town for "only" $3.99), I still check the site on a regular basis with the hope of another Frightened Rabbit It's Frightening for only $1.99 just a couple months after its release.

That said, Apple and the iTunes Digital Music Domination Machine are none too happy about it, especially as its grown in popularity and included more pre-release specials. All in all, an interesting behind-the-scenes look into the digital music industry. See the full story: here.

THE iTUNES TOP 100 & THE END OF THE WORLD: Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart (ft. Ludacris)

Well, Europe, I hope you're happy.

We've let you have your gaudy techno. You've let us have our vapid hip hop. It's been a pleasant arrangement.

But now look what you've done with our radio pop: Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" is the sound of an R&B crooner singing to a packed discotheque in Amsterdam (I can practically hear the Dutch girls screaming 'Dao Crooz we luhv yoo!' over the "Sandstorm"-lite chorus). Ludracris shows up all deer-in-headlights, confused to be spitting over such thumping arrangements for such bad-dancing fans, but ably finding some stability in his quality second verse.

I thought this might happen when I heard David Guetta's "Sexy Chick (ft. Akon)" (She's nothing like a girl you've ever seen before/Nothing you can compare to your neighborhood whore"), but that was more like a one-off collaboration. This feels more like a trend (auto-tune, anyone?)

I'm just nervous for where this might lead. Will I ever hear a rap song on the radio again? Ludacris?

Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz

THE BREAKDOWN: Atlas Sound - Logos

I'll admit, I hold Atlas Sound to higher standards than the average ambient electronica project. 2008's Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel was a revelation, a cohesively surreal sonic experimentation equal parts human and space. Logos, while generally consistent and nearly excellent, is destined to be remembered as Let the Blind's less ambitious cousin.

The absolute standout, both in terms of innovation and quality, is the Noah Lennox-assisted "Walkabout." The melding of the Animal Collective's recent joyous uptick and Atlas Sound's mood setting temperance is an irresistible blending of styles. Other repeat listens belong to the steady "Criminals" and the patient "Quick Canal" (which features Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab).

One of the problems is that "Walkabout" is just too damn fun. Parallel openers "The Light that Failed" and "An Orchid," while not exceptional, set a dark and mysterious tone soon extinguished by its exuberance. The second half of the album then has to work pretty hard to recapture the mood. Thankfully, the talent of Atlas Sound shines through to make Logos memorable, if not legendary.

Logos - Atlas Sound

WORTH A LISTEN: Bear in Heaven - You Do You

This late release from 2009 is both dark and unquestionably compelling. If you were making any sort of movie that had to do with rainy, streetlit cityscapes you'd be a fool to let this one go.

FYI...OK Go Make Cool Videos

This is pretty sweet, wanton destruction and all. Nothing like a studio full of junk and a lot of time to spend. Cheers to music videos!