Grizzly Bear - 'Lullabye'

Things are busy, but they're busy in a good way. Shows I am going to this month:

10/2 - TV on the Radio / Grizzly Bear
10/3 - Sherwood
10/12 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Architecture in Helsinki
10/13 - Sufjan Stevens
10/23 - Matt Pond PA
10/30 - Make Believe

Holy frijoles. Either way, you'll notice that yesterday was the TV on the Radio and Grizzly Bear show, which was nothing short of other-worldly. TVOTR was taping the performance for a tour documentary which made for a very interesting evening. Portland absolutely loves TVOTR. I've never seen a crowd so pleased with a band's performance (perhaps with the exception of the response of the Portland crowd to the Arcade Fire this time last year). At one point guitarist Kyp Malone asked us, "Is this Awesome-town?" Yes, in fact it is. Until these folks make it to your town, ride the high seas of this amazing Grizzly Bear song. 'Lullabye' is one of my favorite songs of the year (the winner currently stands as 'Pull Shapes' by the Pipettes).

Lullabye by Grizzly Bear

'Just a Little Heat' by The Black Keys

Now is the time of year that we start thinking about what happened to this one and what we're going to do come January. As for me and my house, it'll be back to school much like my current situation. Before I start thinking about anything like that, I need to start thinking about what the best records of this year happened to be. I know currently what will be included if I needed to finish the list now, but there's still plenty of time left for good new ones.

If I had to call it a year right now, you'd better believe the new Black Keys record would make the cut. Believe the hype, don't be a jerk, the Black Keys are better than just about every one of these 'stripped down' outfits that made such a splash a few years ago. The White Stripes are arguably the worst band in popular music grinding out nominal bluesy banality on a semi-annual basis, refusing to spare me from their endless wellspring of outrageously annoying songs void of any soul or meaningful lyrical content. And all this under the reign of some of the most tedious percussion out there. The Black Keys are like bizarro White Stripes doing everything the Stripes do well better and everythign the Stripes do poorly exceedingly well. The speakers ooze with soulful blues licks drenched in the finest guitar tones I've come across all year long. The rhythm section? Superb. The songwriting? Even better. Why settle for less with the cutesy, gimicky garbage presented the listener by the White Stripes?

Out yesterday, the Keys dropped their first record for Nonesuch entitled 'Magic Potion.' Blistering electric guitar, pounding drums and amazing vocals comprise the Keys grittiest, most soulful, coolest, most fun and all around best record to date. Nothing but the hits. Check out 'Just a Little Heat' below.

Just a Little Heat by The Black Keys

Joan of Arc - 'On a Bedsheet in the Breeze on the Roof'

Well, the madness is finally over. My girl's best friend has thus been married off to a Las Vegas police officer (not as mean as he sounds) and is gone for a time. The whole situation of being involved in DJing the reception and the like made me quite contemplative, which is cool, just exhausting. School is hard, but that's fine too. But that's not why you're here.

In the midst of everything, my life has begun to feel a bit like a Joan of Arc song. I think that it always does, but it depends on which record. The last week has felt like 'Live in Chicago, 1999' and it has since evened out to something a little more manageable like something from 'So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness'. Life in the Northwest is always a bit chaotic for me seeing as this is not my natural dwelling place, but at times it coalesces into something easier to listen to for the trained ear. It never evens out to the point where it feels like an Owen song, but that's probably why I listen to those records so much: because it's out of longing for something a little more lush. Maybe not lush, but more calculated.

Either way, I've been listening to 'So Much Staying Alive...' which came out on Jade Tree in 2003. Since then, mastermind Tim Kinsella has released a rarities collection ('The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc') and a new record for Record Label ('Eventually, All at Once') but I can't say that he's topped the album with anything that I've heard him do. The thing is a controlled chaotic world unto itself illustrated by some of the best clean electric guitar tone I've ever heard in my life. Today I'm treating you to 'On a Bedsheet in the Breeze on the Roof' from that record, which I hated the first ten times I heard it but I honestly can't get enough of this guy. Don't believe the hype: Joan of Arc is actually really really good.

On a Bedsheet in the Breeze on the Roof by Joan of Arc

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - 'Bed Is For Sleeping'

To you, O faithful reader, wherever you may be: I apologize. It's been a hectic week complete with hospital visits, new releases, an unhealthy obsession with Joan of Arc (band, not historical figure) and the first full week of school. It is about to become even more complicated with the most recent incarnation of my favorite show, Nip/Tuck. Who knew something so trashy could be such an unending source of joy?

Either way, on a completely unrelated note, everything is most certainly for something. I am prompted to think that much of life is figuring out what certain things are actually for (what their function is) and treating them appropriately. I've heard similar conceptual truths manifested in other ways and in other words, but the simplification is satisfying. That is proposition one.

Proposition two is about music rather than life experience. There is a lot of great music out there that is not great simply because of its melodic element but also for its arrangement/instrumentation (while the truly great song can gauge the adequate amounts of each to create a truly expressive piece). There is also great music out there that is great because of its simplicity. While I have tried (quickly) to simplify what comprises much of our daily lives (what function did that statement serve? why am I here? what good is it to listen to this/read this/watch this?), Matt Sweeney and Will Oldham have created a completely beautiful piece of music with nothing but guitar, bass and vocals. Within, the lyrical content explores simple concepts which in turn build on themselves in order to comprise what we perceive to be our lives. Their medium? A very simple three minutes of music. 'Bed Is For Sleeping' is a wonderful song that can be found on the critically acclaimed and fan adored 'Superwolf' album, which I would highly recommend. With that, I leave you. Nip/Tuck on FX at 10pm if you're interested. Who will be the love of Christian Troy's life? Surely it cannot be himself!

Bed Is For Sleeping by Matt Sweeney and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Maybe I do want to be a french fry.

Watch and learn.

The Pipettes - 'Pull Shapes'

Holy goodness gracious. Every once in a while, pop music can strike an individual such as myself in such a way that it sparks a need to tell everyone about it. When you listen to as much music as I do and share as much as I do, your strong opinions that you feel are so important can be lost because you have already said 'This is the best song I've heard all year' so many times that it becomes completely useless and even annoying to the listener of your stupid comments. This happens to me all the time, which sucks, but at least every once in a while someone gets to hear something that they will really enjoy. I recently played my roommate the Evangelicals record, which is awesome, and he berated me for keeping it from him. Keeping it from him! I just got it a week ago! Am I independent music's keeper?

I have been fortunate enough just hours ago to enjoy one of what I call 'moments of pop perfection'. The Pipettes have recently garnered a lot of press for their new record eloquently titled 'We Are The Pipettes' released last month on Memphis Industries. Rightfully so. The record is full of extremely well-written doo-wop flavored songs by a group of three talented British young women. However, I wouldn't even need the rest of the record if I just had the unbelievable 'Pull Shapes' gracing my collection. It is stunning in every way and stands to become a party staple for my DJ needs over the next several weeks (including a cocktail party and a wedding). Please, if you download one song today, this week, this month, make it 'Pull Shapes' and then get their awesome record. It's very very very good.

Pull Shapes by The Pipettes

Aug 25 - Monsters of Spex Festival Cologne, Germany
Aug 26 - Get Loaded In The Park Cardiff, UK
Aug 27 - Get Loaded In The Park London, UK
Sep 1 - Circolo degli Artisti Rome
Sep 9 - Bestival Festival Isle of Wight, UK
Sep 20 - The Academy Birmingham, UK
Sep 21 - The Junction Cambridge, UK
Sep 22 - Corn Exchange Brighton, UK
Sep 23 - Rescue Rooms Nottingham, UK
Sep 25 - The Academy 3 Manchester, UK
Sep 26 - The Garage Glasgow, Scotland
Sep 28 - Newcastle University Newcastle, UK
Sep 29 - Koko London, UK
Sep 30 - Leadmill Sheffield, UK
Oct 2 - Spring and Airbrake Belfast, Ireland
Oct 3 - TMBC Dublin, Ireland

The Moldy Peaches - 'What Went Wrong'

Today, I don't have much time to post on this blog since there's a bunch of people at my house and a lot going on before my band plays a show on Saturday and I host a gang of people for the weekend for no good reason other than the fact that they're my friends and they're coming over. First things first, I want to make a major film recommendation: Me and You and Everyone We Know is the best movie I've seen in ages. It prompted some strange conversations as well as some interesting memories as I watched it with my roommate Aaron last night. I went on iTunes and downloaded the Michael Andrews-scored soundtrack which also features a few acts that I love on soundtracks but can't handle in record-sized doses represented by the likes of Cody Chestnutt and Spiritualized. Needless to say, the soundtrack is excellent as I do no usually go out and get the soundtrack for a film on the strength of one viewing of the film regularly. The other occurrences of this phenomenon have been Lost in Translation and The Life Aquatic, both of which have become staples in my listening habits.

Today's post has nothing to do with any of that. I, as I live and breathe, have discovered what is possibly the worst song in the history of earth. The immensely overrated band, The Moldy Peaches, wrote a song called 'What Went Wrong', a lo-lo-lo-fi piece of garbage that was released on their self-titled album. From time to time, a band comes along in independent music that makes serious waves and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. The Moldy Peaches are a truly, madly, deeply horrible band. Why is it that when a band like the Peaches come along and create horrible music that there is a subculture ready to pick it up as 'misunderstood' or 'deeply artistic'? It is a completely nonsensical result. The fuzzed-out sound of 'What Went Wrong' is that of a band trying to make something that maybe rocks, maybe places in the listener in state of dancing tomfoolery, but realistically, the question must be asked: who can have this? Who can stand for the blistering idiocy of some wannabe beat poets who wish they were The Pixies and fail miserably at all that they do? And why, oh why, would anyone willingly listen to this rather than something else?

It transcends comprehension. Or at least my comprehension.

I hope you can listen to the track and join me in my distaste as well as my curious fascination with this horrific band, The Moldy Peaches.

What Went Wrong by The Moldy Peaches