Month: December 2006

hello.music week one — introductions

An explanation: We here at hellocomein have been attempting to create music and build towards an album for about a year now. The problem is, we dont live in the same city. Or even time zone. So how can a band write music cross-country? Well that is part of this experiment. Over the course of the next few months we will attempt to collaborate by means of technology andwith a little help from accute telepathy we might be able to hash out something interesting.

Here is what we plan to do: Every week or so we will try to post either a new song we’ve been working on, or an existing song that has seen any major changes. In the course of our blog we will talk about what we are going for, where we want it to go, and make any critiques and commentary of the other member’s music.

I think it will be interesting to see how our music progresses and how it takes shape by allowing this blog to serve as a linear timeline for various songs and motifs. The end goal is to have an album of songs that all three members will have contributed ideas and tracks (as we will share the master tracks). Who knows, we might have mulitple versions of songs based on each member’s interpretations and contributions.
So join us, each week in the conversation: make comments and tell us what you like, what you dont and so on. Should be fun.

NPR’s Five for Friday — Pancake Mountain

Yet another featurette on NPR’s Five for Friday You can check it out HERE.

Nothing Syrupy About This Pancake Mountain

by Michael Katzif

The goat is the one on the right. The human is Bright Eyes, aka Conor Oberst, the Nebraska singer-songwriter. Pancake MountainOkay, so there’s this goat puppet named Rufus Leaking. (Get it, get it?… Sigh.) And he gets to hang with George “One Nation Under a Groove” Clinton, the Flaming Lips and even the seemingly angry musician Henry Rollins. And then there’s Captain Perfect, a cape-wearing sidekick who does not live up to his name. If this sounds like a flashback to the nutty world of Syd and Marty Croft, you’re not far off. Enter Pancake Mountain, an offbeat variety show that has both kids and parents alike tuning in to watch the mayhem.

The Washington D.C.-based cable-access program is the brainchild of filmmaker Scott Stuckey and a small group of friends who serve as the show’s actors, designers, writers, artists and puppets. Stuckey created the show to combat what he describes as “dumbed down” children’s TV programming. “Dumbed down” it is not, as can be seen on the new DVD set, fourth in a series.

Pulling its name from the theme song by a D.C. indie rocker, Pancake Mountain has grown into something of an institution, both for its oddball sketch comedy (Miss Manners teaches the art of sloppy eating) and as a place for musicians to reach a much younger audience — like ages three to ten. Each episode is framed around a dance party: a rock sock hop for tots featuring a who’s who from nonmainstream music scene, including Nebraska’s singer-songwriter Bright Eyes and Metric’s Emily Haines.

A highlight of the DVD is actress Juliette Lewis, who doesn’t always seem to be in on the joke. “Do actors make good musicians?” Rufus awkwardly asks Lewis, who fancies herself a singer. “Before you answer,” he adds, “let me say two words: Corey Feldman.”

Michael Katzif, a podcasting guru and music writer for NPR, scours YouTube for old Stevie Wonder performances on Sesame Street.

Best old song that is new to me

Before I drop my Best Albums of 2006 list later this week, I thought I would share something else… perhaps a new feature: Best OLD song that is NEW to me. I am still amazed when I only recently find out about songs or bands that seemingly everyone has known about forever. So from time to time it might be cool to highlight some of these older things and say why I like them.

In the innaugural segment I figure I will show off my favourite old, but new to me song of 2006: “Age of Consent.” I first heard New Order‘s “Age of Consent” from Power, Corruption & Lies probably two years ago when someone introduced me to the band and dumped a few albums onto my iPod. But I mostly listened to Low-Life and the first cut, “Love Vigilantes” and was perfectly happy. Then earlier this summer I saw a trailer for Sofia Coppola’s new film Marie Antoinette.

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Now Coppola amazed me with her previous two films and the soundtracks she collected so naturally the trailer was going to have more of the same. As the infectiously catchy opening notes and driving beats trickled in set to the images up on screen, you could tell the approach of her period piece drama was going to be a bit different. The film looked to compare the glut and overzealous materialism of 18th century France with the 1980’s party scene.

I knew I had heard this song and this band and even as I sat through the rest of the movie I was ACTUALLY seeing, I was still trying to figure out who this was. When I got home I searched my iPod for all my new wave music. In hindsight, given the title of the song, the album and the band who wrote it, the song worked perfectly to set the energetic tone and theme of the film.

To me there is something cool about rediscovering a song you might have overlooked thanks to someone’s great taste in setting it to the perfect scene in a movie. This song stayed with me the rest of the summer and fall as something of a go to for early morning wake up calls and late night walks home. It is now easily my favourite song by New Order.

Check out this live studio performance from 1984:

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Some additional observations from this video:

1) Notice lead singer, Bernard Sumner’s guitar f-ups at the beginning, playing a whole step up on the neck. Whoops.

2) Notice said singer’s crooning vocals sliding and dragging behind the beat.

3) Notice cute synth girl in the dress. Somehow attractive even in that 1984 haircut.

4) The good thing about the recent few years of 80s retro fashion\art revival is that we can pick and choose the best from the era and ignore the rest…like singer’s high shorts and previously mentioned bob haircut of synth girl.

5) I want to play this song. The hooks are incredibly catchy.

DeVotchKa – Logan Square Aud. 2 Dec 2006

Another great show to report. I think someday I will get quicker posting these things…

Opener- My Brightest Diamond… meh. She obviously has a great voice, and I can see how when she is singing other peoples material it could be fantastic. But I thought her performance was a little flat– weak guitar playing and annoying basslines. Maybe I’m not being fair, it is hard to be an opening band. You are there before trying to play to an audience that is most likely there to see someone else and usually you are a lower tier band. I’m sure she will be good someday. OK enough of that on to the main show.

DeVotchKa

DeVotchKa – Here is a group who’s music was used in the film Little Miss Sunshine which has brought a whole new batch of fans to their mix (i.e. me). A great blend of Latin and Klesmer music, everyone in the group were multinstrumentalists and great showmen/woman. The lead singer, Nick Urata’s heroic chin and coiffed hair recalled a mixture of Clooney, Morrissey, and Bruce Cambell which added to the appeal of his vocals. This guy has so many cojones he needed TWO microphones to capture that voice. He also plays the guitar and laud (??) with a very spanish style strumming pattern.

Violinist/accordionist Tom Hagerman’s virtuostic lines had that spiderlike quality that added so much to the fast eastern european sound. He definitely gave them that Yann Tiersen twinge. Jeanie Schroder on Sousaphone/bass played all of her lines with a smile on her face the entire night. The Sousaphone has such a thick sound, like an electric bass on steriods, that it gives a great pad for Hagermans higher notes.

And last but CERTAINLY not least the drummer. Oh the drummer… this guy was on FIRE! Shawn King. This band plays FAST and he was there, tight as hell, the whole time. I haven’t heard drumming like this in a long time. Very precise and very schooled and very intense. He might even be my favourite aspect of their live show (if I were forced to pick one I suppose).

This was such a fun group to see. Very melancholic yet jovial party music, much like a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico or something. They even had the bottle of wine to drink from on stage. All in all I think it was the second best show I have seen all year (Andrew Bird is still on top by a hair–not that his hair is better than Urata’s) and its definitely one of my top of all time. If anyone is in Denver over new years I would recommend checking them out, its a cheap show (36 bones) AND it includes Andrew Bird (obviously my new music man crush).

I give DeVotchKa the blue ribbon of success. Blue Ribbon of Success!

TV on the Radio…again.

TV on the Radio...best album of the year?As the end of year best-of lists begin to surface from every music rag and blog, I thought I would show a sneak peak of an artist who will surely be near the top of mine: TV on the Radio. As if anyone needed more evidence why this band is so great, and why their latest album, Return to Cookie Mountain, is leaps and bounds one of the best of the year, take a listen to this.

In a rare stripped-down, in-studio performance, TV on the Radio play songs from that record on the Interface a podcast associated with AOL Music’s blog Spinner.com.

“Province” might be one of my favourite songs all year so it’s cool to hear it from a different perspective. It definitely provides insight into their creative process and reveals that beneath all the sonic atmosphere and instrumentations is the nugget of a perfect pop song.

TV on the Radio — Province:

[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/TV%20On%20The%20Radio_Province.mp3]

TV on the Radio — Young Liars

[audio:https://hellocomein.com/soundbox/TV%20On%20The%20Radio_YoungLiars.mp3]

EDIT: Check out another stripped down performance of TV on the Radio from World Cafe which includes a great reinterpretation of “Wolf Like Me.”

What are your favourite albums of 2006? Weigh in at albums2006@hellocomein.com