¿donde viven los bangers?

breaking from normal practice to post a couple of reviews ahead of schedule – these were slated to run in city paper (and online) today, but got bumped back due to space constraints... but i wanted to share b/c for once it seems i am (semi-inadvertently) in lockstep with the daily pitchforkgeist, in the sense that these albums both got Best New Music, today and yesterday respectively.  (and now it will maybe look like i was trailing hype trends by a week behind...oh well whatevs.)  sweet tunes, lame covers, check it:

Disclosure - Settle

Daft Punk can keep their randomly accessed analog memories; British brother duo Disclosure are using much more precise, calibrated means – pinprick-crisp digital beats, icy smart-missile synth hooks – to summon a very specific place (London – the predominant home turf of their myriad guest vocalists: Jessie Ware, Jamie Woon, AlunaGeorge...) and time (the turn-of-the-century heyday of sleek, syncopated UK Garage.)  No slight on our beloved Parisian disco-bots, but Settle (PMR/Island) – a crossover-ready club thumper that plays like Basement Jaxx's Remedy as reimagined by two-step maven MJ Cole – is looking like the dance party album to beat this summer.

Jon Hopkins - Immunity

Jon Hopkins is no stranger to warmly inviting, ambient-leaning soundscapes, as his collaborations with Brian Eno, Coldplay and Scottish folkie King Creosete all attest, but the producer's fourth solo album finds him aiming for something a bit rougher.  Just a little bit.  Six of Immunity (Domino)'s eight cuts are solidly beat-based; most of them appreciably danceable, many of them more expansive takes on The Field's lush, feathery minimal trance, commingled with Dntel's warmed-over glitch techno.  It all sounds pretty glorious, but it's the glacially-paced, nearly beatless, title track – the most luxuriantly billowing bliss-out Four Tet never made – that's perhaps most heartmeltingly resonant.

No big surprise that Disclosure got the BNM status (though impressive that they leap-frogged Daft Punk on the score – more on that later); seems like a third of the tracks on the album were already being heavily hyped, and anyway it's just an obviously great album.  Though I haven't completely decided if I really think they're the second coming of early-period Basement Jaxx, which seems to be everyone else's go-to comparison (and mine) – if only because it's a lack we've been feeling for so long (if their next album gets as wild and wide-ranging as Rooty I'll be truly impressed; so far they seem to be mostly fitting their guest vocalists to their specific mold/choosing from within a narrow range, rather than letting collaborations broaden their approach – which is a totally reasonable approach, at least for now...anyway...)  But the Hopkins review was a bit of a surprise; as much as I'd been enjoying the record it seemed like the kind of thing that p4k might sniff at.  I guess you never know.  Anyway (as I wrote), it's the closing title track that really does it for me – precisely because it sounds almost exactly like one of the slow/gentle cuts on There Is Love In You.  It's the kind of perfect that could be stretched to an hour long and be all the better for it.

so anyway, yeah – as nate asked me recently (in english) – where do bangers live?  if you'll notice my unusually up-to-date "2013 scene" sidebar, i'm developing a pretty sturdy canon of 2013 hits.  i'll probably fashion these into a summer jams mixtape before too long (probably with that as a title) but in the mean time i thought i'd share a few of the most notable.  oh hey soundcloud (apparently that's the answer.)

  
most recently, i've been crushing super hard on this song by CHVRCHES (are we allowed to call them Chrvches in polite company?) – actually overplaying it to the point where I feel like I'm in danger of wearing it out.  not so far, though.  still sounds like crystal clear summertime sprinkles.  i guess i still need to fully parse the lyrics, but in the mean time it hits a whole bunch of tried-and-true electro-pop marks just so meticulously, and often with a little twinge of something extra... one of my favorites is the slightly martial (definitely live-sounding) re-entry of the drums after the breakdown (around 2:40)   dance with me?


not sure i can fully explain why this song has stuck with me so strongly – the rest of caitlin rose's album is good but this is a head-and-shoulders stand-out – but it just feels like utterly perfect pop.  i connected with it immediately when i saw her play live (before hearing the record), so that probably helped.  lyrics are great too, even the loose tennessee williams references which could so easily feel forced.  also great for such a sweet sounding song to be about such a dark destructive impulse.

 
so this is a "minimix" of all the different remixes on the 12", which is especially fun b/c it's exactly the kind of goofiness i would get up to. (qv my treatment of "mixed bizness" on superstar djs and "dancing on my own" on the 2010 mix.)  been banging this all year but it's clearly built for summer.


so i'm just hearing this remix for the first time now... nice stuff! reminds me a lot of the avalanches treatment of "i'm a cuckoo" (one of the all-time greats.)  i'm not gonna say it's better than the original, but it does a good job of translating the song's gooey saccharine sweetness into something very different.  hard to beat those super-chimey chirrupy mandolins, but hyperactive multi-tracked slap bass is a pretty good approach if you're gonna try.  what do you think?


I'm sure this song will get its due time to shine (VW don't like to go about things orderly, which is just fine), but as far as i'm concerned this is far and away the banger from MVOTC.  (It obviously doesn't come close to "Giving Up The Gun," which is one way, at least, in which the new album is a let-down – but it's a solid shot.)  I always want the blazing pianos to kick ("I know I love you...") when the bottom drops out instead ("I'm not excited...").  Why they gotta hold back like that?  (I do like the handclaps in this live version.)  Meanwhile "Obvious Bicycle" is so utterly beautiful, and "Hannah Hunt" works so well that it's really tough to pick a favorite track from the album as a whole...



feels so cheap (not to mention clunky! - i know it's supposed to feel casual but omg those dubbed-out curse words are just sloppy – even if actually including the curse words would be 10x worse) but dammit it works.  #on repeat.

as for Daft Punk...i didn't mean to pick on them in my Disclosure review, it was just an easy target.  I'm taking my time with Random Access Memories, have only given it three or maybe four listens thru so far.  So I don't feel ready to make a definitive statement.  there's a lot of fun stuff there, for sure, but it is clear that sequencing is a major issue – "Giorgio by Moroder" would make so much more sense later in the album rather than killing momentum on track three.  and what's up with putting a slow-jam second (in the "Aerodynamic" slot, if you will.)  a lot of the best stuff is in the middle of the album - esp. "Instant Crush" (Julian!!) and "Lose Yourself To Dance" although that song is just begging to be sped up a good ten clicks.  I guess I'm a little undecided on "Giorgio" but some of the other epics do work pretty well, especially "Touch."  (also "Get Lucky" is much improved at this length and with proper song structure.)  anyhow, i'll keep on living with it, gettin comfy.

SXSW 2013: Day Three [Thursday]

 Another glorious blur of a day here in Austin.  I love whizzing through town, hearing the non-stop aural patchwork of every musical style imaginable, pouring out of practically every club in town (which is seemingly at least half of the buildings.)  This is who I heard (and saw) today, in the spaces between those audio-montage bike rides, together forming their own musical crazy-quilt.

Mount Moriah at The Stage on Sixth Patio, 12:30pm

Solid, tuneful country-rock band signed to Merge, which makes more sense when you see what they look like – they’re definitely the indie-hipster sort of country-rockers, though I guess to their credit you wouldn’t know it just to hear them.  (Well, and also because they’re from Durham.)  They’ve definitely got some Allman Brothers flava in the guitar leads too.  They were good! But honestly 12:30 feels like a very long time ago.

Blank Tapes at Rusty’s, 1pm

L.A. band playing retro, garage-y rock.  I liked the minimalist front-of-stage two-drum kit.  Also, one of the four members seemed to only be playing auxiliary percussion (maracas, tambourine), though maybe he does other stuff sometime.  Seeing shows at SXSW makes you (well, okay, me) think about the utility economics of band composition – like, what does it really add to have that additional fourth, or fifth, or sixth member?  In this case, three out of the four sang in harmony – that’s some good value!

Chvrches at The Fader Fort, 1:30pm

These guys get compared to The Knife a lot, I think, but it seemed like pretty straightforward, by-the-book upbeat electro-pop. (Though to be fair who else actually sounds like The Knife anyway?)  Well executed and definitely enjoyable, but nothing too remarkable.  I did appreciate the outfit synergy: one member in Pipettes-esque black-and-white polka dot dress, one in blank and white striped shirt, one in a Michael Jackson “King of Pop” T-shirt, all of which went nicely with the Fort’s grainy B&W Fader/Converse ad wallpaper backdrop.  Also, adorable banter from the sweet petite big-eyed lead singer (and you’ve gotta love the Glaswegian accent), even though she’s generally not a very commanding presence for the frontwoman of a big shiny dance-pop act.  “If you leave here feeling a strong urge to buy some Converse sneakers, give it an hour, just to make sure it’s really a genuine desire.  If you still want ‘em, then go for it!”

Phox at The Stage on Sixth, 2pm

Not the next Phish, but a seven-piece folky-chamber-pop group from Madison WI – they met in high school, they said, and from the looks of things that probably wasn’t too long ago.  Chipper and wide-eyed and wholesome and gracious almost to a fault (the doe-eyed, doll-like lead singer, who reminded me of V.V. Brown, offered copious thank-yous to everyone from the bloggers who helped them get noticed to the bartender who recommended her whiskey.)  (On the other hand, she did also introduce one song as about a lady who replaces the sugar in her baked goods with apple sauce to keep them healthy: “that is fucking not cool!”)  The music was great though – gentle, soulful, upbeat, just enough intricacy to keep it interesting.  The bassist doubled on flute, and they also had a full-time banjo player (though he also picked up a trumpet for a few licks on the last song, Belle & Sebastian-style.) 

Bleeding Rainbow at Club Deville, 2:30pm

Go Philly!  Noisy punky fuzzed-out pop that just makes me grin.  Plus I walked in just in time to catch them playing “Waking Dream,” the most awesomely bliss-inducing jam from their new record.  Sweet.

Paws at The Main, 3pm

At least I think that’s who this was.  More hard noisy poppy punk.  Right on!  But, I got the picture pretty quick.  They’re from Glasgow too, incidentally.  Also, the bassist broke a string (!) on the second song.

Pickwick at The Stage on Sixth, 3pm

Spirited rave-up rock’n’soul from Seattle.  My initial thought was that they’re somewhere between Mayer Hawthorne and the Black Keys.  Revised that to more like Black Keys, except times three.  Well, there’s six of them rather than two.  But I’d also say they had at least three times the energy. (Although I haven’t seen the Keys live.)  Pickwick have an absolutely fiery lead singer who was in non-stop motion throughout, yelping and wailing and testifying and shaking his tambourine all over the damn place, on numbers like “Do the Ostrich.”  I also liked that their sound was (electric) piano-heavy rather than guitar-heavy.  (Also, incidentally, my buddy’s friend is one of the keyboard players.)

Pearl and the Beard at Papa Tino’s, 3:30pm

Much beloved by several folks I know, and also by many in attendance, though something about them feels decidedly un-SXSW.  They certainly strike a memorable, quirky image: stand-up cellist, cat-eye specs, thrift-shop glam chic, not to mention that beard.  They come off as folky and funny, and they are, sort of, but their music is much moodier and artier than you might expect from look at them.  Let’s just say the Amnesiac sticker on the cello case is a strong clue.  Really nice harmonies too.

Charli XCX at Mohawk Outdoor, 4pm

Whoa.  Now, talk about a pop singer who can totally own it on stage.  Charli XCX is an incredible performer.  Kinetic, theatrical, darkly sexy in a larger-than-life kind of way, but also not afraid to flash a smile, and clearly having a total blast herself.  And she rocks a completely distinctive (albeit perhaps questionable, but isn’t that practically corollary?) look: this afternoon, it was a neon-green Nike sports bra, dog collar, and goofy pleated plaid pants.  And long wild black hair which she flails with abandon.  (Bringing back that ‘90s Alanis style, maybe?)  I already liked her couple of released songs okay, but this took it to a whole new level (arriving home after an utterly music-saturated day, the tune that was stuck in my head was her “Nuclear Seasons”), and some of the new songs were just as good or better: lavish, quirky, charismatic synth-pop that fully incorporates the lessons of forward-thinking UK bass music (including one literally incorporates the magical shimmering beat of Gold Panda’s “You.”)  Tied with Kitten for best SXSW performer so far.  Great crowd too!

Disclosure at Mohawk Outdoor, 5pm

More amazing dance party energy, particulary once I connected up with Cathy and her crew, who travel equipped with confetti-filled plastic eggs.  (Serious dancers can be distressingly few and far between at South-by, so we’ve got to stick together.)  Props too to the woman packing a water-pistol – brilliant, and much needed!  Oh yeah, Disclosure: good stuff.  I hadn’t been totally convinced before, but I get it now: their twist on poppy, treble-heavy house (one forthcoming comp has it pegged as neo-garage…okay) is both distinctive and hugely danceable.  I liked the new, punchier songs they played a lot more than the older stuff, with their recent AlunaGeorge collab “White Noise” and Jessie Ware remix somewhere in between.  (Speaking of which, why isn’t Jessie Ware here?)  Adding in a little bit of live instrumentation (cowbell, roto-toms, bass) had a transformative effect on their performance, though somehow it seemed more pure that the vocals weren’t live.

Free Energy at Peckerheads, 5:30pm

Go Philly again!  I broke my rulez here because I have seen this band before, although not since they put out what I’m gonna say is probably still my favorite album of 2013 so far, Love Sign.  Totally mystified about why they aren’t way huger; it seems like two  years ago Pitchfork would’ve given them a prime showcase slot, and now suddenly nobody cares.  Well, folks who complained about the sheenier production and increased synth quotient on the new record (seemingly the consensus complaints) would have had nothing to worry about at this set – no synths in sight, just ragged fist-pumping classic rock and roll.  And believe me, fists were pumped.

Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent (of The Zombies) at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, 6pm

And speaking of classic rock…  This was a total treat.  The fourth in a row, I guess.  (It was a good afternoon.)  Colin and Rod may look a little haggard these days, but they sound like they’ve barely even aged.  Blunstone’s voice, in particular, is some kind of miracle – if anything, it’s richer and fuller than it is on their sixties records, but every bit as sweet and winsome, and he just sings his heart out.  This duo setup – Argent on electric keys (his keyboard tone sounds just the same too) and harmonies – really brought out the soul in the songs, which included a few new ones (not half bad!) but also everything you would’ve hoped for: “This Will Be Our Year,” “Time of the Season,” “She’s Not There.”  Just delightful.

Chic Gamine at Empire Automotive, 8:15pm

Nice surprise here.  This is a four-woman mod-soul/R&B girl group from Winnipeg and Montreal, almost like a Canadian Destiny’s Child or something.  (Well, they also had a male drummer, but he sort of seemed like their back-up band.)  The four gamines all sing big brassy harmonies and switch off on lead vocals (and keyboard and moog bass) and I’m imagining maybe the songwriting too – sassy, funny, good stuff.

Lianne Le Havas at Empire Automotive, 9:15pm

Kinda-like-a-big-deal Brit-soul singer who I’m thinking has more going on than her generally understated presentation initially suggested.  (Her amazing, preposterous print shirt-dress – I think it was actually just a repurposed man’s shirt – was one pretty clear sign of personality.)  But in the moment, coming after the spunk of Chic Gamine (and a lengthy set change, which SXSW has trained me not to tolerate), it all felt a little tasteful for my taste.  

Mikal Cronin at The Parish, 10pm

So instead I left to go see old-school UK dubstep/digi-reggae wizard The Bug, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase.  I did catch this SF garage-rocker at the Merge showcase, which was fun.  He’s got a surprisingly strong, sweet voice, though unfortunately you can’t hear it over the guitar racket in most of his songs.  I bet the record will be a good one though.

Spooner Oldham

Donna Jean Godchaux, David Hood, etc.

The Legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section/The Swampers with Spooner Oldham, Donna Jean Godchaux, etc. at The Stage on Sixth Patio, 10:15pm

Unclear exactly how many of these geezers were actually in the original Muscle Shoals band – at least David Hood and Jimmy Johnson were there, for sure.  Anyhow, pretty amazing to get to see this, and also weird how this kind of thing goes on surprisingly often at SXSW and people rarely seem to really take notice.  They did “Brown Sugar” (“Jimmy here engineered this song”), “When A Man Loves A Woman” (“I’m going to sing this a fourth down from where Percy sang it”), and called up Spooner to sing “Sweet Inspiration” (“you probably won’t know this one, you’re too young”) and “I’m Your Puppet” (fitting, as he looks a little muppet-ish); just two of the zillions of classics he co-wrote in the sixties.  Unreal.

Air Traffic Controller at Bayou, 10:40pm

Apparently these guys are from Boston, but they gave the distinct impression of being British.  In particular they reminded me of my favorite, not quite Mumford-ish Brit-folk/pop band, Stornoway.  Though maybe that’s mostly because of the main guy’s dapper little hat.  Anyway, good stuff; nicely-crafted, winsome, bouncy pop tunes, though the NPR-approved “You Know Me” definitely takes the cake.

D E N A at The Tap Room at Six, 11pm

German (I guess?) pop/club/rap weirdo who put out the amazing single “Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools” a month or two ago.  (Watch the video, it’s awesome.)  She’s a little bit slacker M.I.A., a little bit old-school good-times hip-hop (like Young MC or Biz Markie), except it’s definitely closer to dance music than rap, with sparse and funky electronic beats, to which she occasionally added some simple but effective synth chords.  Her other songs were great too, including one about status updates and one whose hook was back-and-forth exchange with her DJ/backup girl: “Are you on the guestlist?/welcome to the club”/“I think not”/“get the fuck out!”  Real talk.

Zebra Katz at 1100 Warehouse, 11:25pm

More awesome left-field hip-hop, this time from Brooklyn and seriously bad ass.  “Imma Read” is the anthem, a simultaneously hilarious and majorly hardcore bitchy/queeny dis track, with a hypnotically spare, menacing beat – performed, like the rest of his set, tag-team style with rapper Reddd Foxxx (not sure why she doesn’t get equal billing.)  I feel like I can’t really do this performance justice, but it was tremendous; you should get familiar.

Bernie Worrell Orchestra at Flamingo Cantina, 12am

Alright, just had to stop in and see what Bernie is up to.  Well you know, he’s doing his thang.  Wearing a crazy gold top hat with a five-foot-long feather.  Getting down on the funky clav.  Reminding us that if we want to feel alright, not to be uptight.  Or something like that.

Action Bronson at North Door, “12:20am”

Outrageous.  Action (or “Bam Bam” as he likes to call himself) tends to come off like a bit of a novelty at first, what with all the bullet points – former chef; raps about food; sounds like Ghostface; built like a blimp.  But he is definitively not a novelty rapper.  Indeed, he’s practically a classicist.  He seems to be rapping about food less, which is really a shame (though probably good for his cred.)  He came on at least twenty minutes late (mostly because the whole showcase was running behind), announced that he had “literally just woken up,” and after maybe twenty minutes, maybe not, abruptly dropped the mic on the floor and walked off stage.   

Rustie at 1100 Warehouse, 1:15am

I didn’t know if this would be a DJ set or not, and I couldn’t tell for nearly the first half – it was, albeit presumably with a bunch of his own stuff, and lots of crazy tweaking plus actual vinyl scratching (!), but with a strong enough, undeniably distinctive cohesive character to it that it partially invalided my quibbles last night about DJ sets at South-by.  Basically it was trap music – in a nutshell, “EDM” with similar extremes of intensity to Americanized dubstep, but atop a hip-hop/dirty South rhythmic chassis instead of a dub/reggae one.  Which, for my money at least, means it’s a lot better for dancing, and also better for mixing with hip-hop (which Rustie did, dropping Danny Brown and Wacka Flocka Flame among others.)  He also flipped TNGHT’s “Goooo,” which is an incredible track in the proper context.  Things got pretty wild, pretty much constantly, with often outrageous amounts of absurd, laser-zapping sci-fi tension building up before a beat would finally, triumphantly drop.  I guess that’s how they roll in Glasgow.