Armchair Viewing

Lou Barlow

I’ve been listening to Lou Barlow’s most recent album for a full day now and I must say it’s pretty stupendous. I usually shy away from the indie/folk/country divide and so I was pleasently surprised to find a well rounded and captivating album. “Goodnight Unknown” was released in early October on the hypocritically indie label Merge Records. I wish I could tell you a cool indie story worthy of the quality that Lou Barlow provides, but sadly, I found out about him via KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast. I’m a sell out, I know, but as I slowly make the transition from indie high school kid to yuppie/prep college student I find that it’s ok to listen to KCRW and NPR and not be considered “mainstream.” Good radio is the stereogum of the working crowd and I am fast finding it appealing. Oh well.

The Right

Pinback jumps to mind immediately upon hearing this song but perhaps that’s only because I’ve been trying to find a copy of “This is a Pinback CD” to no avail. It has a very distinct rhythym that makes me want to ride the train or go on a road trip. There isn’t a lot of diversity within the song but it’s strong and makes me feel good so check it.

Gravitate

It starts off a little slow and you will be forced to listen to some lyrics (ugh..) but that is over after a minute and a pretty sweet guitar riff starts up and the drums kick in for quite the symphonic sound. I’m still a little on the fence as to how much I like this song and it definitely stand apart from the rest of the album but for sure give it a chance.

I feel like you get the feeling for his sound if you actually listened to the two songs above (which you should) so I won’t really bother giving my thoughts on these two other than they’re good. They also have weird creepy videos to go along with them, but don’t let that detract from the music.

One Machine, One Long Night

Too Much Freedom

There’s also this kind of cool video documentary about the making of the album. It keeps the bizarre theme going but it is sort of interesting once you get three minutes in but nothing earth shattering by any means. It’s also long and for some reason he recorded his voice-over with a stereo microphone which really get’s annoying.

V

Last night I happened to catch the premiere of ABC’s new series V. The series is a remake of the sci-fi miniseries from the 80’s (which is my favorite decade that I have been alive for but do not remember at all.) The premise of the series is that a group of “Visitors” visit our planet. These visitors are scary scaly reptiles, but to mitigate the fear of such a different appearance, these aliens wear cloned human skin over themselves so that they can appear super attractive. The visitors arrive in vast spaceships that hover over the world’s largest cities while they wait to replenish their ships’ supplies and at the same time share their advanced technology with us. However, as we find out in the pilot, they are not as trustworthy as they might appear.

The main protagonist at this point appears to be none other than Juliet from LOST!!! She plays FBI counter-terrorist agent Erica Evans. My bet is that she will be leading the investigation into the Vs a-la Fringe or FlashForward. She has a son who is stupid and attracted to all the Vs so he buys into their bs manipulative spiel. You can compare his character perfectly with the son from the 4400. Speaking of the 4400, this show is made by the same guy and features Joel Gretsch but as a priest not an FBI agent.

We also have the main antagonist played by Adria from Stargate/Inara from Firefly. Her character, Anna, is the supreme leader of the aliens who lives aboard the main mothership which, incidentally, is above New York. She manipulates people and looks good while doing it. She’s pretty cool.

Anyway, the show seems to be hitting all the right buttons in terms of current sci-fi popularity as well as making it easy for the creators by being a remake. It is hugely similar to LOST, Fringe and Flashforward going so far as to steal the pupil dilation opening from LOST. However, this is not made by JJ Abrahms. Despite this, it has to potential to be confusing as the narration skips back and forth to different times. This is not to say that the characters are time traveling, but rather we see the present and then some things that happen in the future. This works pretty well, especially as it satisfies the viewer’s desire for answers while still preserving the plot lines.

It seems to have a ton of potential and I really liked the first episode, however, I am biased because I like the ridiculous amount of recognizable sci-fi actors.

Music Videos (are cool again)

I quickly am becoming infatuated with Music Videos on a level once reserved only for magazines. After going out of vogue from 1998-2008 I now am able to appreciate them again. Gone are the trashy cookie cutter dancey danceness of Brittney Spears and the Spice Girls and in are the phantasmagorical video-synths that hearken back to our perception of the 80’s. I really think that the music video allows for so much creativity that it has the potential to do so much more than most mediums. Perhaps I am giving them too much credit as the vast majority are still pretty bland and I am probably just expounding upon the topic because of my own desire to direct music videos or to do anything creative. I also should say that I consider a lot of today’s commercials to be the same thing as a music video. Anyway, I thought I would share some music videos that I particularly like.

This Must Be The Place

The first time I watched this video I thought it was stupid and quit about halfway through. This is probably due to my longstanding infatuation with the original version of this song, or rather the version that The Talking Heads performed in the film “Stop Making Sense.” However, I recently got over my grudge upon discovering that Miles Fisher (the guy in the song/video) is none other than Jeffrey Graves from Mad Men! Crazy. I then came across an article about him at ValetMag.com and how could I resist such obvious signs. Anyway, it seems to me as though Miles Fisher is kind of a douche bag and is almost exactly his character on Mad Men but perhaps I am casting judgment too quickly.

Here is the link to the article regarding him from Valet:

http://www.valetmag.com/culture/music/2009/get-to-know-miles-fisher.php/

Where the Wild Things Are

What a powerful movie. Max Records is the shit. Spike Jonze is the shit. Go see it.

Karen O (and the Kids)

Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) is pretty awesome. If you couldn’t already tell from the picture above, she likes to dress like a grunge equivalent of Lady GaGa. Anyway, I snagged a copy of the Where the Wild Things Are OST and it is done entirely by Karen O (and the Kids) At first you may assume the “Kids” moniker belongs to what sounds like kids screaming in the background MGMT style, however, that is wrong. The “Kids” are actually two guys from the YYYs, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and the Racontours, Greg Kurstin from the Bird and the Bee, and a bunch of people I don’t know. The gist is that it’s a ridiculously talented group of musicians. Also, Karen O used to date Spike Jonze! Despite all this, and the fact that it’s the where the wild things are OST, I was very hesitant in listening to this. I think it had something to do with not having seen the movie yet and not knowing who Karen O was at the time. So I saw the movie and downloaded the album and have been quite pleased so far.

Unlike many OSTs, this one feels far more connected to the film than I was expecting. It may be due to the sections of dialogue taken straight from the movie but I think it is that the music really captures the essence of Max’s story. Because there are so many different talented musicians I also get the feeling that they created this music solely for the film. When there is one person doing a soundtrack it is easy to pull from pre-existing songs or to make a new song and try to fit it in. However, I like to think that this was a democratic group and thus they all contributed to something new and unique.

Capsize

I have a thing for songs where they spell words. While that may be the only reason why I like this song, Karen O does her “ooooooh” (like a ghost) sound and you just can’t not like that.

Hideaway

Probably my favorite song off of the album. Hideaway is very slow and uses cymbals so darn well. It brings to mind the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is driving in a cab to his hotel. Karen O really demonstrates her ability to have a super cool voice.

Sailing Home

This song is only a minute long. Despite that, it is my second favorite song from this album.

Building All is Love

All the trailers and hype kind of ruined All is Love for me. Luckily there is a second version of it on the album that is much better.

Royal Bangs

This up and coming (despite being around for a while) band hit up DC last week. I was hoping to interview them for GW’s radio station but for one reason or another it fell through. We won’t hold that against them though. The band released a couple of albums as they went through different members but the current troupe appears to have two. The first one they worked on for a long time and it was super good and recorded in a house or something. The most recent one was put together fast and in a real studio. It’s kind of a mixed bag as it is more electronic and has a higher production value, but at the same time it lacks the song quality of their initial album. I would most liken them to Vampire Weekend. While Vampire Weekend is very mainstream-alt-bro-sellout-docuhey-saccahrine, they made a couple really good songs. Similarly, Royal Bangs has put together some spectacular songs amid a bunch of ok ones that all sound alike. Also, the guy in the top right of the picture looks and acts like Zack Galifianakis. Unfortunately, this is my second time writing this post so it will lack a lot of the wit and humor I like to pretend I have.

New Scissors (From: We Breed Champions)

This dope track has one of the catchiest hooks I have heard in a while. Right from the get-go the guitar riff that comprises the harmonic refrain (I have no idea what these words mean) pulls you in and then the unexpected female vocals keep you there. It sounds like Silversun Pickups crossed with Land of Talk and that is all the recommendation I would need. It is from their first album and I think it shows in the polish and uniquity of the song.

Handcuff Killa (From: We Breed Champions)

I would call this song restrained. That’s not to say that it could be better or needs to be better, but rather I keep expecting the instrumentation to pick up and go crazy or to have more of a chorus. The beat is almost mellow once you listen to it for a bit which is kind of nice after some of their other songs. I think of Battles’ “Atlas” when I listen to this song, but of course with more instruments, lyrics, oh and this is better.

Brainbow (From: Let it Beep)
Royal Bangs – Brainbow

Guitar Synthtastic with some drums and words. The melody is very Vampire Weekend in my mind but that’s ok, it works. The song lacks the depth of their earlier work and isn’t terribly unique if you ask me, but it’s catchy enough that it doesn’t really need to be in order to succeed. This is probably my favorite song off their new album so if you listen to any of these, make it this one.

War Bells (From: Let it Beep)
Royal Bangs – War Bells

Seemingly capitalizing on the lo-fi grunge pop craze, War Bells, is a good song that incorporates aspects of their other songs into a pretty cohesive love child. It sounds like a whole lot of things which I will hold against it in terms of being a really good song but it works in it’s favor in terms of popularity. I do like the fact that the consistent guitar chord is far more hooky than the refrain, it’s almost the opposite of what you would expect.

Tiny Pieces of Keytar (From: Let it Beep)
Royal Bangs – Tiny Pieces of Keytar

It starts off like a baller 80’s song. It is almost a rock ballad except for the fact that I have no idea what it is about. It is very clear, deliberate and clearly shows skill and something different from the hordes of modern music. There is so much I like about this song, so please just listen to it.

Atlas Sound

The big Atlas Sound blogo-debut occurred earlier this year with “Walkabout ft. Noah Lennox.” It’s just so jangling captivating.

Walkabout (From: Logos)

However, Atlas Sound’s new album Logos (Walkabout is on it) is about to drop and has been unsurprisingly leaked onto the internet. After giving it a quick once over here are my favorite songs. I like them all but for different reasons as they tend to have quite different sounds.

Quick Canal (From: Logos)

Going on nine minutes long, Quick Canal is definitely an investment of time, luckily it pays off in a big way. The song begins with a wandering, undulating search for the accompaniment. Then the vocals begin, I have no idea what they say but that’s all right because they are just so dreamy. As the words wash over and dance with you, it becomes apparent that the volume is still increasing and you are already past the length of a regular song. Around four minutes in, it is obvious that this song is more than a little bit repetitive but that’s ok because you are hypnotized by it. Then BAM you are hit with a nice little lo-fi break down and then it picks back up again. As the next four minutes go by I am trying to figure out how I would describe this. My best attempt would put it at DJ Shadow meets Sigur Ros. It’s very reminiscent of some of Radiohead’s more rambling live performances but I like my description more.

Logos (From: Logos)

It’s lo-fi electropop. The vocals are lo-fi which is fine as nobody cares about them anyway, at least not for this type of music. The pop is extra poppy with kind of a Battles feel and a bit less on the electro but you can tell it’s in the DNA somewhere.

Criminals (From: Logos)
Atlas Sound – Criminals

The first thing that comes to mind when I listen to this is “Didn’t think it would turn out bad” by Jon Brion. Unfortunately, this association may be quite a stretch for the rest of you. Anyway, it sounds almost acoustic by comparison to the rest of the album. This is due mostly to it’s lack of synthesizers and electromagadgets. It’s nice, dynamic, if a bit disparate from the rest of the album.

Washington School (From: Logos)
Atlas Sound – Washington School

Oh, hey there Animal Collective. This song belongs on MPP. If you like AnCo you will like this. It actually seems plagiarized in a sense, but it’s nice. I won’t go on about the song, but when I tried to find a copy on youtube (so I wouldn’t have to do anything uncouth by RIAA standards) I searched “Washington School” and the autofill came up with “Washington School fights.” Good golly.

P.S. Speaking of Animal Collective, did you all catch “What would I want sky” that came out in January and is only now(/last august) hitting the music blogs?

Animal Collective – What Would I want Sky (From: Fall be Kind)

David Sedaris

In my short tenure at The George Washington University, I have had the opportunity to see David Sedaris twice. The first time, last year, I was sure that this alone would justify the absurd tuition I pay to go here and it basically did. This past week, I had the opportunity to see him again and while not as good as the first time, it was a night to remember.

After a friend and I chatted up a stranger sitting next to us named Deanz (a letter has been added to preserve his anonymity) about study abroad and his distaste for the university and his decision not be a journalism major and how he never meets nice interesting people except for us of course and so on and so forth, the show began fifteen minutes late. On his last tour, David (we are on a first name basis, or at least I am) paid a random student $1o to introduce him and it was funny and great. This time he was welcomed as “The world’s greatest author” and few people there would have contested this fact. He then proceeded to preface his first story as a “fable but as [he] has no morals, it’s really just a story about animals.” It was funny. I would probably describe the atmosphere at these events as giddy, and as such, the hilarity and enjoyment of every little thing is exponentially greater. This added to the feeling of superiority and importance that comes from going to hear an author read a story you already would get in your New Yorker or hear on NPR makes for an audience higher than an unemployed post-graduate art student.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t that into his animal stories despite their cursory appeal. What really took the cake though were the stories from his “Diary.” Anyway, as I already think that there is a great loss of quality from hearing David Sedaris to reading David Sedaris’ work, I am sure that reading writing about David Sedaris reading his own writing leaves practically nothing of the original grandeur. So I offer you this bootleg and absurdly quiet recording of a brief segment from his event.

David Sedaris – Just a quick email
10/7/2009