Remember Jimmy Eat World?... yeah, not many people do. So you may not have been aware that they are able to ride monstrously sized household pets like magic carpets... all while STILL PLAYING THEIR INSTRUMENTS!
But NOTHING can match the musical stylings of resident character Brobee the green striped monster as he sings of the good times various foods are going to have in his tummy as he rudely shoves them into his enormous gob (seems those carrots are incredibly unaware of a little something known as "digestive juices").
You know what tragedy is? Tragedy is not stabbing your eyes out after realizing that you murdered your dad so you could marry your mom. Cry me a river, Oedipus. No, tragedy, girls and boys, is discovering the most awesome band evar... after they've broken up.
No, it gets worse. I must go on.
Tragedy is a band that's basically a modernization of The Smith, if The Smiths were happy and poppy and used deliciously synthesized drum tracks and were radio friendly, breaking up after releasing one lonely EP. Tragedy is having four songs in heavy rotation on your iPod for a month straight and knowing that those are the only four songs that will ever be released by that band. That is tragedy.
Tragedy has a name. That name is The Moths!
Since misery loves company, here is a live recording of the band playing "Wild Birds" -
Now, this is very important. The Moths!are not to be confused withThe Moths (note the lamentable lack of an exclamation point), a has-been eighties band that is still hanging around in some form. The Moths! Accept no imitations.
All band sightings should be verified by comparison to this actual factual music video:
Now, I need you to hit up iTunes because these are their two weakest tracks. Valentine is a punk rock love story that has to be heard to be believed, and Games will absolutely change your life. And after, having had your perception of the world irrevocably altered, you will come to the horrible realization that all you'll ever get is this one measly triple A-side, and after a tragic monologue you'll fill your pockets with stones and walk somberly out into the ocean, never to be heard from again.
Good times!
There is some, slight hope gleaming at the end of this darkened tunnel. While information is scarce at this point, it appears that at least one of the band members is forging on under the name Me My Head. While nothing can ever replace The Moths! in my heart, I am excited that at least some of the bands' immense talent will continue to be heard. At least, heard by other people who haven't already sawed their ears off and mailed them to former lead singer James Fox as a token of their undying love.
Ladytron has a new album out, but you already knew this. I mean, I hope you did, I want to remain friends and everything. Velocifero definitely comes from that phase in a young band's life where they're experimenting, trying new things, tweaking their sound. As such it's a little uneven, although it's hard to deny a dance floor rocker like "I'm Not Scared" or the haunting strains of "Predict the Day".
But Ladytron is out to prove that they are still the coolest nerds around. Exhibit A, this hypnotic video for the otherwise indifferent track "Runaway". Resolved: to wear a lot more stripes. Somewhere, Jack White is sobbing quietly in a corner. If only he'd thought of this.
I've noticed that recently lead singer Helen Marnie seems intent on reclaiming the title of The Hot One. I've always been a Mira Aroyo guy myself (she has a PhD in Molecular Genetics!), but I have to admit that the video for "Ghosts" puts some points up for Helen's team. Plus, you know, spooky rabbits.
(OK I've just figured out what the common thread is here. It's those damn pixie haircuts. They're too freaking irresistible. Helen, call me.)
It's no secret that we've got a soft spot for all things Muppet here at The Girls Music Blog... so in case you've yet to catch these rather dated viral vids please take a moment to enjoy them now. Oh, and make sure to stick around till the end of each video to get your geezer on with Statler & Waldorf!
Habanero by Swedish Chef featuring Beaker & Animal "Bort... bort, bort, bort, bort!"
Blue Danube Waltz by Gonzo "Greeting culture lovers and citizens of the world wide web!"
Sam Eagle's Independence Day Tribute "World Wide Web! Is there a way to put this just on the American part?"
Ode to Joy by Beaker "Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meeeeeeeeeep Meep-Meep!"
The Faint's latest studio album offering has been released, not on Saddle Creek, but on their own label Blank.wav. Exciting, yes. But...Faciinatiing, ehh. The Faint wrote, recorded, produced and released the new album on their own, with the inspiration behind their independent attitude coming from bands of their youth. It's more of the same, but thankfully I like the same - just manage your expectations on this one as they work out the kinks for their next release.
Here's what their press statement said:
"Fasciinatiion is an album that draws on many defining facets of The Faint’s sound, while remaining completely different from anything else they’ve put out. A record whose themes include predictions and the future, tabloid culture, the allure of what may never be, childhood lost and more, Fasciinatiion sounds as if it’s been beamed in from a satellite whose sole purpose is observing, and making sense of, the details of every day existence. In certain ways, the album is the most mechanical and precise of the band’s work: Todd’s voice sounds less human than ever before; the bass lines are more mangled, keyboards spiral and squeal out of control; electronic pings and stabs invade the melodies; the lyrical anxiety and disdain of previous albums pervades almost every song on Fasciinatiion. Opener “Get Seduced” is The Faint at their best, the song’s critique of celebrity culture matched with one of the finest choruses they’ve ever written. First single “The Geeks Were Right” draws on the tenets of futurist literature and sliding, siren-call guitars. “Fulcrum and Lever” marries ambient noise with space references, alienation and a stuttering, flexing beat, while “Mirror Error” explores identity and consciousness within its perfect, propulsive electro-pop, its choruses swirling high and taking Todd’s voice up with it. Closer “A Battle Hymn for Children” flinches with nervous rhythms against resentment of the future to be inherited and keyboards that sound like flailing voices (or is it flailing voices that sound like keyboards? On Fasciinatiion, one can never tell)."
Moby returns to his dance club roots in Last Night, which, according to RCRD LBL_, "is conceptually structured like one of these epic nights out, moving from the building excitement of the early evening to peak-time euphoria to 2 am confusion and the blissful peace of the early morning."
Sounds like they forgot the late night/early morning trip through the Taco Bell drive-thru, but if mix-master Moby can really cram a night-long rave into a 60-minute album, consider me intrigued...
...but it's gonna wreak havoc on the glo-stick market.
Janelle Monae is a cyber-soul rock angel from the future. Her debut, Metropolis: The Chase Suite, is a retro meets neuvo concept album based on Fritz Lang's iconic 1927 German expressionist film of the same name. Musically, she explores a dystopian universe full of robots, evil capitalists and oppressed workers as Android No. 57821, also known as Cindi Mayweather, who has comitted the unforgiveable crime of falling in love with a human named Anthony Greendown.
In a bold move designed to thwart piecemeal purchasers, Monae has decided release her material in a series of suites, a group of about five-to-seven songs released every few months. This is the first of four suites in the Metropolis series in which our beloved and beleagured heroine tries to flee from the Star Commission, which has caught wind of her little crush and are searching for her with intentions to kill, hence the subtitle, The Chase.
Ironically, Monae creates this futuristic world of hers by synthesizing past inspirations: the operatic pop and hornlike sharpness of Shirley Bassey, the energetic funk of James Brown and the breezy rock and soul of OutKast.
This rhinestone-bedazzled wonderkind, also known as Leslie Hall, has created her own niche online as a ferocious rapper, talented producer and dedicated sweater curator - she was born to bust a jam.
...but this is not one of them. Upon closer inspection, this single from Aussie-born soul girl (at heart, anyway) Sam Sparro sprinkles disco dust on a song about the existence of god and the meaning of life rather than some silly crush, which make the lyrics all that much more poignant. Check out the slickly produced video, with lyrics printed beneath:
If the fish swam out of the ocean and grew legs and they started walking and the apes climbed down from the trees and grew tall and they started talking
and the stars fell out of the sky and my tears rolled into the ocean now I’m looking for a reason why you even set my world into motion
’cause if you’re not really here then the stars don’t even matter now I’m filled to the top with fear but it’s all just a bunch of matter ’cause if you’re not really here then i don’t want to be either i wanna be next to you black and gold black and gold black and gold
i looked up into the gray sky and see a thousand eyes staring back and all around these golden beacons i see nothing but black
i feel a way of something beyond them i don’t see what i can feel if vision is the only validation then most of my life isn’t real
’cause if you’re not really here then the stars don’t even matter now I’m filled to the top with fear but it’s all just a bunch of matter ’cause if you’re not really here then i don’t want to be either i wanna be next to you black and gold black and gold black and gold
The rest of the albumn is just as bright and brassy, and socially conscious, it's decidedly funk-ified songs espousing on such popular topics as water shortage, pollution, hunger and famine and the importance of recycling.
Fortress Around My Heart is the debut album from Ida Maria -- the Norwegian Alt-Pop sensation described as a cross between Amy Winehouse and The Strokes with a bit of Bjork and Iggy Pop thrown in for good measure. As of now this album is only available as a VERY EXPENSIVE import from the UK ($26.99 -- ack!)... so we need to be on the lookout for when it drops in the The States.
This show was AWESOME! Great band, great venue, great experience..... The only negative of the evening was the Mouse's opening act, a mediocre jam-band from New Orleans. Even industrial strength earplugs couldn't stifle their painfully long set -- "Crawfish! Mardi Gras! Other things from our stupid city! Oooooh yeah!" -- it just went on and on and on.
Check out this awesomeness... Paste magazine is offering "pay what you want*" one-year subscriptions. If you're interested, follow this link A.S.A.P. because I don't know how long this promotion will last.
*Minimum price is $1.00 (and the normal subscription rate is $19.95, so I doubt you'll want to pay more than that) -- have a credit card handy to complete your order.
Also, if by the divine hand of fate you already have a subscription to Paste, the free-ness works for one-year renewals as well.
When I first heard this song on the radio, I couldn't get it outta my brain. I wanted to look them up, find out the name of the song and the band, but kept forgetting - not the lyrics, just looking up the lyrics in hope of reverse engineering the identity of my new guilty pleasure. But, thankfully, Tom saved me the trouble by reading my mind instead, presenting to me the fabulous new album Them vs You vs Me by Finger Eleven, whose infectious first single I present to you via the glory and magic of youtubery!
One of my favorite scenes from The Royal Tenenbaums reenacted by one of my favorite muppets, Kermit the Frog. Watch as, according to BestWeekEver.tv, which clued me in to this precious gem of puppetry, "Kermee stares at his own reflection, eyes never blinking, staring into the emptiness of life’s eternal puppetry."
Of course, this isn't the great green one's first dalliance with depressing lyrics...
Lisa, Kristen, Crystal & Myself caught the THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS concert at Freebird Live this past Friday (3/14/08). The opening band was crap, but the Giants, as always, put on a great show. And after one particular number that would have made the mildest epileptic foam at the mouth and swallow their own tongue, John & John were even kind enough to sympathize with our concert-goers plight... standing on the 2nd floor balcony right next to the disco ball suspended from a light stand turned out to be a really bad piece of real estate ~ I'm still seeing stars*!
* in all actuality these are probably just dying brain cells and not actual stars
Did you guys know that Mah Nà Mah Nà (the lyrics of which contain no actual words, just a lot of nonsensical words resembling scat singing) was written by Piero Umiliani and debuted as part of the soundtrack for the 1968 Italian softcore pornography movie "Svezia Inferno e Paradiso" (Sweden, Heaven and Hell). This pseudo-documentary about wild sexual activity and other behavior in Sweden featured Mah Nà Mah Nà playing in the background of a sauna scene!
The song became more widely known from its renditions by The Muppets. On November 30, 1969, Mahna Mahna was performed on the The Ed Sullivan Show by a Muppet also known as Mahna Mahna (crazy bearded guy in the dark glasses), and his backup singers the Snowths (pink creatures with crazy drag queen eyelashes).
Enjoy the bizarre comparison below: PLEASE BE PATIENT... IT TAKES FOREVER TO LOAD!
Fur & Gold features an extensive use of piano on most of its 12 tracks, but not in an “I am an artiste, bow down before my introspective profundity” Tori-Amos-sorta-way.
In additional to all the tickling ivories, there are a lot of other unique sounds on this album… on THE WIZARD I could swear they’re using a Maxwell house coffee can filled with dried lima beans to get that sound. And the much-lauded track PRESCILLA definitely uses the hand jive and a harpsichord to keep the beat.
Oh, and did I fail to mention Natasha Khan’s incredible voice?
This half-Pakistani, half-English songstress has been pegged as the British response to the U.S. freak-folk movement (comprised of artists like Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, and Cocorosie). But let me reassure you that Bat for Lashes is much more accessible to the general public that the American fringe artists to whom she’s been compared.
The debut album is a hauntingly beautiful, richly orchestrated work that, for all its experimentation, is an album that I think we can all agree is AWESOME.
In this video for WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO, keep an eye out for some masked sweetness at the .39 mark!
Vampire Weekend is a quartet of Ivy League grads from upper Manhattan that make no attempt to disguise their polo-shirt wearing origins (in the photo to the right please notice the telltale embroidered alligator on Koenig's cardigan).
All in all, this album is preppy, poppy, fun... and, in spite of references to French architecture, English grammar and upscale Italian fashion in their lyrics, the thinking man's indie rock this is most definitely not!
Taken at face value this band is awesome and this CD is a great first effort, but (*there's always a but!*) if you start to read up on the band... you end up wanting to smash them in the face with a 2x4... preferably one studded with rusty nails and broken shards of glass.
Let me share with you this pompous quote from the lead singer : "I found this really cool record from Madagascar that I started getting into, and when we started writing songs together as a band, afro-pop became something that we wanted to strive for." Good grief, a record? Seriously? Can you imagine this iZod wearing twat sitting on the front lawn of his summer retreat in the Hamptons grooving out to some contemporary African music on a vintage phonograph -- gimme a break!
Here's a little something to tide you over until Tom posts his review of the Devo-esque DataRock, a Norwegian trio of electro rockers - Fredrik Saroea, Ketil Mosnes and Kevin O'Brien - who who hail from Bergen, the same home town as pop-princess Annie, who makes an appearance on the final track.
This weekend I happened to be outside when the mailman arrived, asking for me by name. He handed me a sealed express mail envelope - no sender's name, no return address - which contained a used Apple Store Gift Card, with a remaining balance of $0.
This is the perfect way to drive someone bat shit crazy.
Though I lust after an Apple computer, the only connection I have to Steve Job's cash cow is through iTunes - the repository for my 10,000+ song collection. The first thing I did was check my iTunes account and see if there had been any untoward activity, like a download of the complete repertoire of Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, but everything looked normal. Same with my other credit cards. Same with my PayPal. Same with my bank account.
Lauren thinks it's some weird mailing mistake, but the sender KNEW MY NAME, KNEW MY ADDRESS and, most importantly, KNEW THIS MYSTERY WOULD CONSUME AND EVENTUALLY, INEVITABLY DESTROY ME! I can't stop thinking about it, worrying about it and most annoyingly for my friends and family, talking about it - I mean, why would a complete stranger from Atlanta, Georgia spend $16.25 to next day air me an empty Apple Store Gift Card, complete with the little Apple Store Gift Card Case? Can you picture them, racing into the post office and cycling through the mailing options. First class mail, too slow. Priority mail, tooslow. No, they gotta get this precious cargo - this used, empty Apple Gift Store Card - to me as quickly as the United State Postal Service will allow, damn the cost! It's totally crazy, and that crazy is catching.
What does it mean?
What do they want?
Do they know what I did last summer? Dun, Dun, Dunnn!
Break out the conspiracy theories people - We gotta turn this beat around because I am just one more sleepless night away from heading to Atlanta, with murder in my heart and crazy in my brain!
Saw this on 'Boards forever ago, and am (still) eagerly awaiting their arrival stateside - never has being chased through the streets by a horny man-ma-tron seemed so appealing!
Olivier Babinet turns Parisian band Stuck in the Sound into action figures for this delightfully odd promo.
Though I love reading about her, I never actually wanted to listen to Amy Winehouse, or 'Wino' as she has appropriately been dubbed by the gossip blogs, knowing her not for her love of jazzy, bluesy soul fused with lyrics about contemporary life in London, but for her love of crack. Sweet, sweet crack. And also alcohol, cocaine, heroin and the horse tranquillizer ketamine.
So imagine my suprise when I heard "Rehab," the first track on her stateside debut, Back to Black, and was treated to the layered and lucious sound of a middle-aged black woman from Brooklyn belting the most smoldering soul music to every grace my iPod. What the hell? Winehouse has been hailed by Newsweek Magazine as "a cross between Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill", by the New York Daily News as "a marvelous debut that would do Etta James proud," and by New Yorker Magazine as "a fierce English performer whose voice combines the smoky depths of a jazz chanteuse with the heated passion of a soul singer." For once, all these critical accolades seem well-deserved, not just prime space filler for an advertisement.
Whether it's the brassy gospel of 'Rehab' ('Try to make me go to rehab/ I say no, no, no'), the achingly Spector-esque 'Back to Black,' (I love you much/It's not enough/You love blow and I love puff) or the hip hop infused 'Addicted' ( Tell your boyfriend next time he around/To buy his own weed and don't wear my shit down), I really liked this album, with it's time-twisted mix of retro sound and modern lyrics - which, though I didn't make mention of them, also touch on love, loss and other things that will drive a girl to drugs & drink. She's a sinking ship, for sure, but the band is playing some great music on the way down.
Back to Black is actually Winehouse's second album. Frank, her first album, was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize and earned her nominations for two Brit awards with risque tracks like 'Fuck Me Pumps' - a title which has also assured it a place on my lala.com list.
Courtesy of Lauren spending some down time (translation: work hours) peeking into CrownDozen's windows - they sum it up nicely, saying "Turquoise Izod, collar up, peg legged jeans, sun at your back in Kenya, fake pointy teeth just for giggles. Strummy, Strummy. Jang, Jang. Skank.
This is the first single from Vampire Weekend's eponymous debut album on XL due out on Jan 29, 2008. The video was directed by the Hammer & Tongs guys (Blur, Pulp, R.E.M. and Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy). We can't wait for Lauren to get it, listen to it and review it so we know whether it's worth the buy!
Juno the movie was gentle and moving, and the same can be said of Juno the soundtrack, which stands on its own as a nice folk-centric album for people who don't really like folk. Kimya Dawson, formerly of the Moldy Peaches (also featured on the soundtrack), contributes heavily but there are also some great oldies from the Kinks, Buddy Holly and Mott the Hoople. This is a nice kick in the sonic ass, breaking up an otherwise acoustic heavy soundtrack with some much needed rawk, but classic rawk so as not to loose any indie cred. I don't think I would have been interested in the soundtrack if I hadn't seen the movie first, as there's a lot of love spilling over from the film - certain songs remind me of certain scenes, especially the last track featuring both Ellen Page and Michael Cera. As the credits started to roll and we exited the theater, Lauren was on one side saying how great the songs were and Jeff was on the other saying how annoying, so see the film first and decide for yourself.
