The Llano Idea

It seems like Virgina rap duo Gene and Terrance Thornton (otherwise known as Malice and Pusha-T, aka Clipse) revel in releasing their albums in December, purposefully screwing up everyone’s year-end list order after its been made. Although their latest effort doesn’t pack the punch as past releases Hell Hath No Fury and Lord Willin’, in a year when rap music was devoid of great albums and people were debating if this was the beginning-of-the-end of hip-hop, their release is probably second only to Raekwon’s epic wordily titled masterpiece Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II — which, to be honest, is kind of sad.

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Column, Music

For those who live and breath Lubbock’s live music scene, this comes as no surprise: WE HAVE THE BEST CROWDS AT OUR SHOWS! Apparently, we have also converted the oddball orchestral group the Portland Cello Project, as they just wrote a glowing review of their recently performed Lubbock gig (alongside Thao with the Get Down Stay Down) for their popular hometown newspaper The Willamette Weekly.

Here are some noteworthy excerpts:

“That was at the last of four straight shows in Texas, which culminated in this Supersized Sports Bar in a strip mall in Lubbock called Jake’s. On its website, this bar boasts 60 television sets. There were three in the men’s bathroom alone. In spite of all outward appearances and the context through my admittedly, and now ashamedly, prejudiced eyes, this was easily one of the coolest shows of the tour. It was definitely the most energetic…”

“…And then two days later, Lubbock beat Austin hands down, with probably the loudest and most energetic crowd I’ve ever played in front of with any band.”

You can check out the whole article here.

Live Show Reviews, Music, News

The Sandwitches are a quaint indie-pop band hailing from San Francisco, one of the epicenters of music for the past couple of years (See: Girls, Thee Oh Sees, The Dodos, etc…). Bucking the trend of most lo-fi “summertime feel” acts who drench their music in heavy reverb and perpetual loops, this all-girl trio invokes harmonies from the 50s layered over simple garage guitar to generate emotions ranging from the feel-good to morose. Catchy as hell, it’s hard not to find yourself tapping your feet and humming the chorus when you hear their songs.

Their first LP, humorously called How to Make Ambient Sadcake, is out now on newly formed San Fran label Turn Up Records. Now I don’t know what exactly an “ambient sadcake” is, but this album isn’t as downtrodden as you might expect from such a title. The opening track, “Back to the Sea” is infectious to say the least — with the melody sounding like the illegitimate child of the Beach Boys and The Crickets. Hearing the vocals on Side A, I couldn’t help but think that folk group Mountain Man decided to throw away their banjos, pick up some electric guitars and start jammin’ some beach pop.

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Column, Music, review Mountain Man, The Sandwiches, Turn Up Records

So during the brief period I had my camera operational, I got a couple of shots of La Panza’s set during Texodus which you can view below. As anyone who was at Bash’s that night can attest to, it was an AMAZING evening chock-full of great bands playing great music!

La Panza:

Live Show Reviews, Photos Bash's II, La Panza, Photos, TEXODUS

Back in ‘08 when I caught wind that there was going to be a Love Is All remix album derived from their stellar debut Nine Times That Same Song, I got all tingly inside. You see, I was first introduced to Love Is All via an Of Montreal cover of their song “Make Out Fall Out Make Up” at their Lubbock show. Convinced that the original would be just as good, I downloaded Nine Times later that night and instantly fell in love with their echoed vocals and noisy guitars. A couple of years had passed before I was able to get my hands on a copy of Mixed Up (distribution was limited to only Europe for a long time) and although of Montreal is absent from the tracklist, several heavy hitters, like Britain’s Maps and Hot Chip, remain to provide ample star power to the disk.

Instead of doing a cover for each track of Nine Times, Mixed Up selects a handful of originals and allows multiple groups to cover the same songs, resulting in some competing mixes. Take the song “Turn the Radio Off” for example. The original was a Love Is All ballad (or at least the most ballad-like song on a mostly noisy indie-pop album) with saxophone carrying the melody and soft guitars and bells linking up to it nicely. When you listen to the two remixes, one by Maps and the other by Studio, you hear two completely different takes on the song. The Maps version emphasizes the dream-like qualities of the music by including a lulling bass over a mostly subdued drum machine with added floating synth chords, making you feel like you are on the beach. On the other hand, the remake by Studio is very much tension-filled with its mysteriously altered vocals and chord selection — sounding like it could be played before the “ultimate showdown” of some sort of 80’s crime drama. It’s amazing to see how two artists could diverge so much after hearing the exact same song.
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Column, Music Love Is All, Mixed Up, of Montreal, Remix

Here are some pictures I snapped at the show Wednesday. Unfortunately, I came a bit too late to catch the first act, Fellow Citizens, but I got a handful of shots of the remaining three. So without further ado:

St. Clair

Dawes

Deer Tick

More photos after the jump.
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Live Show Reviews, Photos Bash's, Dawes, Deer Tick, Fellow Citizens, Live, Photos, St. Clair

At the very least, Spencer Krug is a busy man. Between co-anchoring the widely successful Wolf Parade with fellow prolific musician Dan Boeckner, contributing to the Canadian supergroup Swan Lake, and captaining the Sunset Rubdown ship, Krug seems to have no interest in sleeping. As if a March release of the sophomore Swan Lake album Enemy Mine wasn’t enough to satiate his musical appetite, Krug is back on June 23 with Sunset Rubdown’s latest and D&D approved LP Dragonslayer.

Getting sucked in to the blogosphere whirlwind of Dragonslayer hype a little too early, I decided to take a break from hitting the F5 key on fan forum sites and tune into one of Krug’s earliest recordings under the name Sunset Rubdown: the charming 2006 self-titled EP. Consisting mostly of solo material (although some songs include appearances from future member Camilla Wynne Ingr), the EP provides insight into how Krug composes skeletons of songs. Unfortunately unlike early Arcade Fire material, none of the five songs on the EP have gotten the pleasure of becoming meatier with a full-band arrangement and have only been sparingly performed live. Regardless, the s/t is a great listen for anyone who enjoys Krug’s interesting compositions and uniquely inflected vocals.
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Column, Music Dragonslayer, mp3, Older Stuff, Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, Wolf Parade

Sorry for going AWOL for about a month, but thesis duty called and I had to answer. Now that the defense is out of the way, let’s get back to the music:

It seems anytime a musician performs live there is always a healthy debate in the audience about how they stack up sonically to the album version. Some groups shun the idea of “recreating the album” when they step on stage, striving instead to give the audience an unforgettable experience filled with wild visuals and “I can’t believe they just did that” moments. A recent show I was able to catch from the German electronic duo Modeselektor certainly exemplified this type of concert. With a kick ass multimedia show and even a brief appearance of a man in a chicken suit – a true WTF moment – Modeselektor provided one of the best live shows I’ve seen.

Lately, the group has taken a break from cranking out their hyperactive genre-defying electronic concoctions and have joined forces with BPitch Control labelmate (and fellow German) Apparat to tour in promotion of their self-titled debut LP under the uncreative moniker Moderat. Although Apparat, with his generally subdued tracks and interest in “designing sounds rather than beats,” seems like an unlikely selection for the club-friendly group, the two quasi-contradictory sounds blend rather than take away from each other.

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Column, Music, review Apparat, Moderat, Modeselektor

Between winning an Academy Award for screenwriting and directing a random Flight of the Concords episode, Michel Gondry finds time to do what got him into the feature film industry: music videos. Working with everybody from Beck, to Radiohead, to The White Stripes, Gondry has amassed a rolodex of clients about as dense as his videography. Already boasting one DVD chock-full of his pre-2003 material aptly entitled The Work of Michel Gondry, the 45 year-old (but perpetual kindergartner) is set to release an even more appropriately titled second volume, Michel Gondry 2: More Videos Before & After DVD 1 on April 14. Read more…

Column, Videos, film Beck, Bjork, Muchel Gondry, The White Stripes

It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since The Knife smashed headfirst onto everyone’s radar with their fourth released LP Silent Shout. Combining interesting rhythm arrangements and unique percussion with dark dubstep-like undertones, Silent Shout was a complete 180 from their prior more dancehall-friendly LPs like Deep Cuts, thus providing the breakthrough album that have been described by some as revolutionary. Since then, the duo composed of siblings Karin and Olaf Dreijer has been maintaining their patently hermetic lifestyles, only stepping into the limelight for a remix here and a guest vocal spot there, much to the dismay of their swelling fan base. Well, it seems like Karin has had enough with the reclusion and has ventured out on her own, recording under the name Fever Ray. Her solo self-titled debut has much of the same characteristics as The Knife, but with some starkly noticeable differences.

Still present are the unique synth sounds based on samples of god-knows-what as well as the trademark darkly modulated vocals which are stepped down in frequency, turning a sprightly alto into a ghostly bass. However, K. Dreijer ups the creepy factor further by sliding up the pendulum weight on the metronome to produce tempos that slink along rather than move. If you are a fan of whole notes and beats-per-minute you can count on your fingers, then you’ll certainly love this album.
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Column, Music, review Fever Ray, Fuck Buttons, mp3, The Knife