recordings

what i bought while record shopping: 4.18.09 record store day edition

I happened to be in NY this last weekend, which also happened to be the weekend of Record Store Day.  This had an upside and a downside.  The upside was that I was able to go to Other Music to celebrate, which is awesome because it’s one of my favorite record stores.  The downside was that I had to go to Other Music where everyone else in NY was going to go.  I showed up about an hour and a half after they opened and I still had to wait in line for about 10 minutes just to get in the doors.  It also meant that they were pretty picked over, although I still managed to find most of the stuff I was looking for.  Here’s what I picked up:

1.  Pavement – Live in Köln

SM’s vocals on this album kinda remind me of Keith Moon’s drumming.  And by that I mean that they’re kinda sloppy and all over the place, but they still totally work.

2. Sonic Youth/Beck Split 7in

Sonic Youth covers Beck, Beck covers Sonic Youth and both do really interesting things for each others songs.

3. Jay Reatard/Sonic Youth Split 7in

Two demos from their upcoming Matador Records releases.

4. Grizzly Bear – Live on KCRW 7in

I recently became slightly obsessed with this band after a long time of not liking them even a little.  And then things got worse when I discovered that they had previously covered the girl group classic “He Hit Me”.  This 7in includes a live version of that song.

5. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

Better than their first album.  Better than their last album.  Not as good as the one before that.

Other things:

What I really wanted to pick up at record store day was the limited edition Breeders ep that was released that day in a pressing of 1000.  I’m told Other Music only got one copy.  I later picked it up digitally on itunes.  It’s quirky and weird.  Track one sounds like typical Breeders.  Track two has Mark Lanegan singing lead vocals (and he’s never sounded so good as he does here).  Track three is a stripped down Bob Marley cover which is fantastic and beautiful.  Track four is just kinda strange.  But not bad.  Lets hope we don’t have to wait another 7 years for the next full length.

Also I was lucky enough to be in town during the New Music Bake Sale that was put on in a joint effort from Newspeak and Ensemble de Sade and got to catch just about everyone who plays new music in NY.  Opening the show was itsnotyouitsme, the duo made up of violinist caleb burhans and guitarist greg mcmurray.  They were sort of there playing pre-show music, which is a shame because they were awesome and not too many people were listening.  But I was, and I thought they sounded beautiful, so I picked up their album walled gardens.

I’ve been listening to it pretty constantly since I got it.  I”m not tired of it yet.  My only real criticism is that it’s too short and it appears to be their only release.  Although they do have some other stuff up on their myspace page.  Lets hope they put out more stuff soon.

band of the week: animal collective – merriweather post pavilion

It seems like it’s sort of impossible to escape them now.   Merriweather Post Pavilion may very well end up being the best album of 2009.  This is what everyone is saying right now, and yes, I realize that the year is less than a month old, but this album is freaking awesome.  I’ve never really been a huge fan of Animal Collective, but I have thought that they’ve been getting progressively better with each album since I first heard them years ago.  They’ve put out a few individual songs that I thought were really great (“Bat You’ll Fly”, “Grass”, “Peacebone”)  however, it wasn’t until the release of Panda Bear’s Person Pitch (which I realize is just one person from Animal Collective but “whatever”) that I was really able to enjoy a whole album of theirs from beginning to end.  Merriweather takes all the really great elements of Panda Bear’s Person Pitch and then takes them a step further by making them poppy and accessible.  I’m sure some of the die hard fans will suddenly think they’ve sold out, but those people are just plain wrong.  Animal Collective has gone from being a sort of interesting art rock band with an occasional great song, to a really fantastic band with interesting compositional ideas that has created an album that’s brilliant from beginning to end.

Now I’d like to talk about a few of my favorite tracks and what I find interesting about them.

Track #2: “My Girls”

This song has proved to be the first “single” off the album.  I can’t hardly turn on the radio without hearing it.  I think KCRW plays it every hour, on the hour.  But that’s ok because this song is great. I’m still finding myself completely blown away by the beginning of this track every time I hear it.  Let me digress for a moment by talking about….Elliot Carter.  Now those of you who know me are probably aware that Mr. Carter is not my favorite composer.  Most the time I find it very difficult to sit there and listen to his music.  Elliot Carter is the kind of composer that I always thought was more interesting to talk about than to listen to.  And why is Carter interesting to talk about?  Because of METRIC MODULATION.  Whenever people talk about Carter in the academic sense, they always mention metric modulation.  This is because metric modulation is really awesome.  I love it.  But I never really thought Carter used it in the right way.  Now let me get back to Animal Collective, more specifically, the beginning of “My Girls”.  The piece starts out in a fast 4 time signature, but then a new pulse comes in over the top, with a relationship of 3 in the time of four.  Now isn’t this really just a big triplet over the bar.  Yes it is.  But then suddenly, that triplet becomes the beat, and we back in 4, only slower.  It’s a beautiful thing.  Mark my words…when someone finally decides that they should give me a job at a university and I am stuck with the job of teaching undergrad theory, I will use this song to demonstrate metric modulations.

Track 5: “Daily Routine”

Imagine what it would sound like if Brian Wilson and Bjork got together and wrote a song after listening to some early Philip Glass followed by some Erik Satie.  Thats kind of what this song sounds like.

Track 11: “Brother Sport”

I recently read an interview with Animal Collective which contained a long discussion over how they decided to close out the album.  Apparently there was a heated battle over whether or not this was the right choice to end things.  It’s a tough call.  It is arguably the best song on the album.  Now I’ve just spent the last 15 minutes searching the web to find out what this song is actually about.  Most of the lyrics are unintelligible, and there seems to be quite a bit of disagreement on the internet as to what they actually are (although most everyone agrees the song is about one of the members brothers). But that doesn’t really matter, even if you can’t understand what they’re saying, it’s obviously upbeat and positive.  It makes you feel good.  It makes my imaginary tail wag. Incidentally,  I would also like to point out that this song has a remarkable harmonic resemblance to Broadcast’s “Hawk” off of their Haha Sound album.  It’s one of my favorite Broadcast tunes.

I don’t have a rating system here on my blog.  I won’t give it two thumbs up or 5 stars, but I will say that I have not been able to stop listening to this album since I bought it on its release day.  If I was going to highly recommend anything, it would be this.

Top 20 Songs of 2008

Here are my top 20 favorite songs, in no particular order, that came out in 2008.

1. Vampire Weekend – Ottoman

2. MGMT – Electric Feel

3. Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook

4. Phantom Planet – Quarentine

5. Deerhoof – Offend Maggie

6. Jay Reatard – No Time

7. Times New Viking – Drop Out

8. Stereolab – Self Portrait with Electric Brain

9. Department of Eagles – No One Does it Like You

10. Britney Spears – Womanizer

11. Kanye West – Love Lockdown

12. The Breeders – Spark

13. Ratatat – Falcon Jab

14. She & Him – I Should Have Known Better

15. Crystal Stilts – Crystal Stilts

16. The Magnetic Fields – California Girls

17. M.I.A. – Paper Planes

18. Daniel Corral – Cadential Variations

19. Lykke Li – Little Bit

20. Portishead – The Rip

Top 10 Albums of the Year

It’s that time of year where everyone is putting out their list of the top 10 albums of the year. What kind of respectable blog would I be running if I didn’t do the same? So here’s my favorites that came out this year, and in no particular order.

1. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

Girl Talk has been blowing my mind since his Night Ripper release. It’s like John Oswald with longer samples. And a beat you can dance to.

2. The Breeders – Mountain Battles

One day I hope to live in a world where you don’t have to have to wait 7 years for every new Breeders album….although I find this album to be well worth it. The more I listen to it, the more I like it.

3. The Magnetic Fields – Distortion

This is, in my opinion, the best of The Magnetic Fields albums. It’s consistently awesome and sonically cohesive from beginning to end. Amazing lyrics too.

4. Beach House – Devotion

I’ve already mentioned Beach House before, but I would like to reiterate how great this album is.

5. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

I really didn’t want to like this band. They’re pretentious and contrived…but they still sound really good. I know it’s been said by countless other critics, but they sound like a Wes Anderson movie.

6. Portishead – Third

I think we might have all waited as long for this album as we did for that new Breeders album. Finally!

7. Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal

I got turned onto this band courtesy of Kimber at Stinkweeds in Phoenix, AZ. Stinkweeds is one of my favorite record stores on earth and Kimber’s opinion seems to be pretty much always right. Everyone I know that I’ve played this Fleet Foxes album for as fallen completely in love with them.

8. Ratatat – LP3

This album sounds pretty much like the two albums before it, which is to say full to totally awesome instrumental jams. I suppose this one has slightly fewer guitars that sound like they’re from outerspace and more harpsichords and other obscure instruments.

9. Stereolab – Chemical Chords

Like Ratatat, Stereolab tents to put out pretty consistently similar albums, although this one seems to be a step up from their last couple efforts.

10. Kanye West – 808′s and Heartbreaks

I don’t even like Kanye West, but this album is amazing. It’s super dark and may possibly make you want to hang yourself after listening to it. 808′s and auto-tune throughout the whole album….what’s not to love?

Stay tuned for my upcoming list of the top songs of the year.

band of the week: daniel corral – cadential variations

My friend Daniel Corral has just released his first digital download from his website.  The piece is called Cadentail Variations and it’s a 17 minute plunderphonic piece made up entirely of endings.  Sources used come from a very wide range of artists.  From Bowie to Strauss to Bernard Herrmann to Patsy Cline to Naked City (I think).  There’s even an amazing 3 note cadence from The Breeders, which delights me to no end.  The piece is available in several different audio formats and is a 3 dollar purchase.  Totally worth it.  Be sure to listen close at 15:10 where there is an amazing (for lack of a better way to describe music) clashing chord subtractive modulation…it’s fantastic.

neil halstead: paint a face

I discovered this song by Neil Halstead today and I really love it.

Here’s the link:  neil halstead – paint a face

I guess it’s off an album that came out back in July but I haven’t heard anything else off of it.  I did however really enjoy the last Mojave 3 album, Puzzles Like You.

Enjoy!

LOL! OMG!

Today I discovered an awesome video by my friend and sometimes collaborator Treasure Mammal.  It’s for his song Best Friends Forever and it’s pretty fantastic.  Especially the part with Hitchcock and David O. Selznick.

Also, here’s a link to the Treasure Mammal myspace page.  You can hear a bunch of his songs, plus an improvisation with myself on violin, Treasure Mammal on guitars and samplers, and Corey Fogel on the drumset.