Monday, November 5, 2007

everything she wants

If you know me at all, you know I have a ridiculous penchant for gimmick-y English bands who just scream one-hit-wonder. You could say that it's my own version of liking faux-punk/hardcore Warped Tour "emo" (and don't get me started on the misuse of THAT word), all girls' jeans and flat-ironed hair and obnoxious hoodies and guyliner. However, the English bands I like tend to lean heavily on a post-Strokes or post-Franz Ferdinand sound, and their look is a more generalized indie rock style. The look: scruffy converses, skinny jeans but not too tight, t-shirts, impossibly young (seemingly no older than 25), spotty, pale and doughy. Like how Arctic Monkeys look and dress, essentially - overly styled bands like the Horrors or Klaxons are in their own category, really. The sound: clipped, syncopated beats, sharp guitar lines, shouty choruses. It's the kind of indie pop that sits comfortably in the UK top 20 alongside your typical US dancey hip-hop tinged pop, and crap ballads, kind of like how that "emo" business functions here. Only in these English bands, there's a different kind of artifice that appeals to me more, that seems slightly more earnest and simple. There's something so generically appealing about them as well - how nondescript they essentially look, the simple guitar and drums setup, but somehow it's still exciting. Maybe it's the giddy rush of youth I'm going for, what with me getting all old and whatnot. Here are the ones floating around my brain at the minute:

"Monster" - the Automatic



This song is "old" already, and the annoying shouty dude in the band has mercifully left. And this band otherwise is pretty bland in that "emo" Warped Tour American way (even though they're Welsh), but this single...I liked it as soon as I heard it. The melody of the chorus is especially hooky, the old-timey nature of the harmony. This is also the only time that I condone the background "singing" of the shouty dude. It makes sense in the cadence of this song.

"Let's Dance to Joy Division" - the Wombats



Now this song has so man elements that would usually turn me off a song. Cutesy reference to Joy Division. Yet another indie song about how cool "dancing" is. Use of children's chorus. However, shouty chorus? That chanty bit at the end, "we're SO HAPPY, SO HAPPY..." Love it.

"Take Her Back" - the Pigeon Detectives



I was initially really excited by this band - the "I'm Not Sorry" single is so unbelievably catchy and wonderful and induces so much dancing on my part. However, after listening to the album...whoah. Some of the most inane, almost misogynistic lyrics ever. "You know I love you/take off your clothes/it's alright"? A friend heard this song during a road trip and texted me the lyrics to this song with this comment: "seriously? Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!?!?!" I agree. This song ALMOST teeters on the same sentiment. But again, it's saved by the shouty, chanty chorus, and thankfully its premise is elementary enough to not be quite as offensive. I even like how the singer's voice squeaks when he shouts "CUZ!" before the chorus.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

you're the chain, you're the rope



Charlotte Gainsbourg with Air, playing "Everything I Cannot See" on Canal Plus TV in France. This is probably the song on her album, "5:55", that I will listen to on repeat. I think she takes after her mother so much vocals-wise, but negates the high, schoolgirl-perv element and replaces it with a kind of melancholy that is so beautiful. I love the chorus so much, how it's just a run-on sentence, and how she sighs at the beginning, and every time it gets more and more exasperated. Coincidentally, whenever I think of her music, I think of doing it. Not that it's like looking at a Playboy for me or anything, it's more just like an acknowledgement in my head. "Yep...that's what it's about." I think it's all the whispering and intimacy and singing about vulnerability and touching and stuff.

Strangely, while trying to find this video, I found a ten minute video of her smoking in films she's been in. Weird.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

justin and britney

First, the earworm:


"Lovestoned" - Justin Timberlake, Justice remix

It's just audio, but now you know the version I've been talking about. It's not the greatest thing in the universe but I really do like it. It becomes a club track, but not in a cloying, completely unrealistic way that often happens with mediocre/bad remixes. Sometimes DJs try to put the original song's melody over something they've concocted themselves (usually a bad keyboard hook), and I hate when they don't really match up, or are fine but then don't match up in certain places. Then the only things I hear are those mismatched, non-harmonious parts. Bad mashups are the worst offenders. Here, Justice actually builds on the original instrumentation (they really play with the hook done with the strings, yummy) and noise while adding their own (hello glitchy squeaks), this time playing more with phrasing. Instead of the vocals starting on the down beat (the 2nd beat in what sounds like 4/4 time), they're moved up to the first/upbeat, which changes the whole feel of the song. Instead of being smooth and sleazy, it becomes more urgent and in-your-face. Hence, good club track. The "she shuts the room down" breakdown bit is pretty great, too.

Now for his ex-girlfriend.

New Britney songs? [From TMZ] Sure sounds like it. I actually think these sound quite promising, good club tracks. If not Kylie then definitely Dannii, if you're pickin' up what I'm throwin' down here. I'm telling you, if she can pull off some insane dancey stuff like she did with "Toxic", I think things may actually work in her favor. Obviously my favorite bit is "It's Britney, bitch...." HAHAHA. I saw photos from her "video shoot" from weeks before, and if that's for either of these songs, I'd be really bummed because these songs would be such a good opportunity for her to do something really cool. But asking her to make good decisions at this point? I dunno. Like, I don't care, call David LaChapelle, for god's sake! Something! And stop putting that goddamn weave in your hair! And put on some pants!

*calms down*

I was going to make this a little less tabloid-y/pop with an indie-friendly musing but...nah.

EDIT: wait...here's a full stream of the song from Perez Hilton. It's even better than I thought! This is too good, BritBrit, don't f this up!

Thursday, August 9, 2007

i heard she broke your heart again

New music time.

I saw the much-blogged-about (I'm just here to add fuel to the fire) Metronomy the other night courtesy of my friend, Rachel, who's working with them right now. It's one of those times where I lack the eloquence to explain why I like a band or a song, but I can say that if they ever play the US again, I would highly recommend going to see them. They're going to be in NYC next weekend, playing at the Seaport and Studio B, and they're doing Reading and Leeds Festivals. They are good fun, Devo dancing with touch lights on their shirts, playing fun, mesmerizing music with one of the catchiest singles I have heard in a while ("Heartbreaker"). I guess I could compare it to Ratatat with a little Girl Talk thrown in with occasional vocals and jerky Devo dancing, although that seems pretty goddamn lazy so ignore that.

Metronomy used to be one dude named Joseph, doing a lot of bedroom remixing and things like that, before he started putting stuff out and eventually put together a live backing band, which is what exists today. He's been talked about for doing a remix of Britney Spears' "Toxic" (beat THAT, Mr. Ronson), Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons (who give Metronomy a shoutout in their liner notes) Kate Nash, Dntel, the Young Knives, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, and Dead Disco amongst others. They've got one album out, and a couple EPs, but finding them is a bitch.

I think all the blog love (just search for them on Google and you'll see what I mean) is very much justified, I'm glad I got to see them, and you should check them out. The end.


Little interview bits, "Heartbreaker", "You Could Easily Have Me", and "Are Mums Mates"

Monday, August 6, 2007

i can rock it all night

I have no explanation of why this song is stuck in my head. I really don't.



"Rocket 2 U" - the Jets

It's one of those songs that I absolutely loved as a kid, taped it off the radio on my little Fischer-Price boombox and played it over and over, not knowing at all that it was about getting together and having marathon sexcapades. If that's the "only thing" they can do, like it says in the song, I think there would be some problems. Nothing against marathon sexcapades, obviously, fantastic, but you'd at least want to talk about the weather or something, or what to have for dinner. The sentiment is kind of funny: there's nothing on TV, your car's not working, your plumbing's effed up, don't call me to be your one guy friend who can fix stuff, because really I just want to fuck you, as it's the "only thing I can do". It's the epitome of 80's cheese'n'sleaze, what with the hollow-tin-can synth drums and wah-wah keyboards. I do wonder at what point in the 80's did that kind of hollow, tinny drum sound come into vogue, and why. They turned the drums down and the keyboards up, and man does that sound strange. I guess it was the backlash from the heavy prog production, or the bass-heavy disco production of of the 70's.

And now for something completely different.



"Moving Pictures" - the Cribs

I'm on a Cribs kick after seeing them at the Empty Bottle this past weekend. This was the fifth time, and I'm pretty sure the best. The other times I've seen them were when I was living in New York, and while they were all fun and great, there was always a tinge of too-cool, arms folded kind of a thing. This is mostly, upon reflection, because a good chunk of the crowd were always industry people/fashionistas. I danced so hard at this last show, and the crowd went insane by the end, guys jumping up and hugging Ryan Jarman like he was Morrissey, stagediving by both band and crowd, almost starting mosh pits. It was the kind of crowd and reaction I always wanted to see at a Cribs show, and I got it.

This song is probably one of my favorites off the newest album. I always enjoy when they take a gentler approach, and the result is always both incredibly sweet and still has somewhat of a bite, via vocal delivery. I also love how so many of their lyrics are about being awkward and not knowing how to deal with people in certain situations.
Not real brown eyes look into mine but I was so shy, it's alright
You'll sleep tonight, dream dreams where I would die, it's alright
Fakes, liars, and stars of moving pictures, what's the difference?
Like all the parts that I'm not into but I see in you

It's like an unsure, ungraceful and slightly bitter kind of sweet. My favorites are when they get super snarky, like on their album before this one. "Well how can it be to get a slap on the back from a room full of morons?" Haha.

The only thing marring this video is the presence of Cory Kennedy, but I guess that can be overlooked. It was probably the director's doing.

Monday, July 30, 2007

I built this "kinda ooh" for you my love, love, love....

Three random songs stuck in my head.



"Ten Storey Love Song" - Stone Roses

I had forgotten about this song for a really long time, and then a few months ago when I was still in my old apartment which had satellite, I saw the video for this on VH1 Classic's "The Alternative" (now rightly called "120 Minutes").

Side note: upon looking up the new 120 Minutes, I read a lot of ranting about its return and that it should stay dead because it's somehow messing with the integrity of the old show, and it was just rehashing to "cash in" on nostalgia or something ridiculous like that. Ummm...I'd rather watch old Wonder Stuff and Love & Rockets videos than see a bunch of disgusting, orange-spraytan coeds have sex with each other and then get arrested for drunken behavior YET AGAIN. Also, it's on VH1 Classic, which is supposed to rehash old videos. Enough with this "back in my day" talk.

Anyway.

So I saw the video for this song on "The Alternative", and had forgotten how much of a gem this song was. It comes from their much-derided second-and-last album, "The Second Coming". You could tell by the name alone that the album was going to be pap. Okay, so it's not necessarily pap - I think it's gotten a bum rap over the years, although I do think it gets a little jam-band up in there, and if you know me, you know what I think of jam bands. So it's not at all bad, especially when "Ten Storey Love Song" comes along, which is one of their sweetest songs ever, aside from "Standing Here" from the first album. It's all very "I love you, take my hand and we'll fly away" kind of stuff, and the melody is so much lighter and more spritely than most of their back catalog. This is definitely not afraid of being a pop song, and it totally wins. Which is why it's so funny that the video is just chock full of insane British art cues, like Mani dressed up as the pope in homage to Lucien Freud.



"Something Kinda Ooh" - Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud are like if Danity Kane were actually entertaining and put out more than 2 songs. All their music is like crazy dancey helium balloon inhaling girly gay pop. I'm sure that made a ton of sense but that's the only way I can describe it. Obviously, this makes it an immediate guilty (or not-so-guilty) pleasure. The beat is pretty great, I love the manly "OH YEAH" shouting bits dispersed throughout the chorus, whoever is doctoring their voices did a great job because the girls don't ocmpletely sound like machines. The lyrics, however, leave me scratching my head: "something kinda ooh/jumping on my tutu", for example. Jumping on your tutu? Pardon me? I also thought at some point that they sang "I should've come with a body wrap/so I'd know whether or not he would take me". WHOAH. GROSS. But in reality, it's "I should've come with a party rap, so I'd know where the night would take me". So I guess that makes more sense, although who says "party rap"? And not party rap like the Fresh Prince, more like a party itinerary. In any case the song gets regularly lodged in my brain and this video was apparently made with a $5 budget. Also the redhead's utter plainness irritates me.



"Me Plus One" - Kasabian

This album definitely lost luster for me over time, but the songs on it that stand out kind of smack you in the face. I think this is one of them. The strings in this are pretty mesmerizing, especially at the end when they get all frantic. Also, the "I want love, love love" part of the chorus is catchy as hell and I find myself singing it a lot. I'm not entirely sure what guestlists have to do with doing it with ladies, as this song clearly is about (oh wait, me plus one...ahhhh), but whatevs. Also, the video is nice because Serge Pizzorno is a pretty, pretty man. Watch out, office workers, there are boobies in the video!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Monsieur Gainsbourg

If you know me, you know I harbor some serious love and admiration for Serge Gainsbourg. I've been playing this song a lot recently.


"Requiem pour un con" - Serge Gainsbourg

I'm dying to know what movie that scene came from. It is really a fantastic groove, over which I'm sure many a dance and hip-hop record has been built. I like how sparse it is - just snappy drums, bass, and the occasional bow-chicka-bow guitar bit, and the fact that the melody doesn't stray very far from a certain set of notes makes it hookier for me. For a while, my dream DJ moment would be to play that, and then mix a segue into Beyonce's "Crazy In Love". Oooh, or Amerie's "One Thing". That might be better. Less is more in this case, no?

If you're unfamiliar with Gainsbourg I'd have a look here. I'm always conflicted about him - he's an absolute genius and provacateur on both a musical and personal level. However, he's also essentially a mess, with the kind of drinking problems and womanizing that would rival most contemporary celeb troublemakers (stand forward, most of young female Hollywood). He seemed so damaged esteem-wise, as well, having supposedly become an unapologetic, misogynistic, bing-drinking and chainsmoking playboy after getting his heart broken/blueballed by the daughter of Leo Tolstoy. This insecurity about women spurred his obsession with them, and his insecurity about his own notoriety and talent constantly made him want to be in the papers even more. But despite the a-hole womanizing, you can see that he also really worships and respects women as well. It's so weird, it teeters on exploitative but never quite gets there (with me). I highly recommend picking up Comic Strip and/or Couleur Cafe to sample my favorite Gainsbourg era, although it's all pretty interesting and entertaining. Avoid the 80's stuff if you're a newbie, and don't say I didn't warn you.

For fun, here's some old footage of ol' Serge telling a young Whitney Houston that they should bone:

Classic!