Slow day at the office so to speak… so here are a few things I’ve rediscovered this week. None are really all that ‘new’ to me per se, but sometimes you sort of just forget about things for awhile, until someone mentions or pops up somewhere (iPod, internet). Such is the case here.
1) They Might Be Giants — I remember how fun and crazy this band was when I discovered them back in late grade school (like most people my age did via Tiny Toons’ Particle Man). It’s amazing to think that this band has consistently put out quality records for over 20 years and really have never wavered from much from their quirky, lovable sound. Their forthcoming second children’s album Here Come the 123’s looks to be more of the same. Check out this great video from their first self-titled album.
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2) Blonde Redhead — Definitely not old, nor new to me but the past video reminded me of this video from Blonde Redhead’s “Top Ranking” from last year’s 23 album. They’re coming here to the DC next week so I might just have to go.
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3) Daft Hands — Recently I became aware of yet another fad in YouTube videos…this one involving hand dances set to Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” The video is a highly coordinated series of hand motions spelling out the lyrics with hands and fingers (with the words drawn in sharpie). But the amazing thing is that if you search just a little, you will find more than a few imitation videos of other people coming up with their own versions, some even trying to outdo the original.
I have never quite understood this variety of ‘original content’ that surfaces on the site; in my mind it’s one thing to create your own short film or video or mash up etc. I get that…they’re often funny, sometimes painful, and most likely completely terrible. But when others create videos of themselves enacting the Crank Dat (Soulja Boy) dance or those old mash ups of that poor ‘Star Wars kid’ I do wonder what drives people to do that. I obviously feel old and out of touch so really I just want to feel young and hip again before they change whatever hip is.
Either way it’s not a new phenomenon by any means, but just interesting how one decent idea yields so many imitations. I suppose that with the ease of creating videos and music and sharing ideas (on crappy blogs like this one), anyone can have a voice, which ultimately inspires others to try it for themselves.
Anyway…enough rambling about the obvious…here’s the damn video.
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We’ve got one last EP coming soon…but due to holidays and weddings and life and such, we’re running typically late. Stay tuned. Also expect some news soon about what’s in store for 2008. (oooo mysterious…)
Now that this great year in music has nearly come and gone, sufficed to say 2007 will be hard to top. But what new music releases are worth looking forward to in 2008? Here are a few artists and\or bands on my radar:
What else can I say about this album that I haven’t already rambled about in the past? While there were certainly some better albums that made more of a dent influentially, Bird’s witty and melancholy sense of lyrical depth and instrumental prowess was challenging and yet familiar. As the year went on this collection of songs continued to be a go-to source for inspiration and influence. Over time, I think this will assert itself as an all-time favorite and a creative peak for such an already fantastic body of work.
For one day in October almost everyone I knew and thousands of people I don’t were all talking about music; perhaps in the same way fans feverishly discussed a new Beatles release. As the day wore on, everyone had asserted their opinions of the “pay what you feel it’s worth” distribution, the music industry implications and hopefully, (and most importantly) the music contained within. When you strip away all of the hype and the forward looking business plans and all that, what you have is a stunningly exposed and beautiful album. In many ways this is the most relaxed and honest I have ever heard Radiohead, especially when singing of love (“House of Cards”) or of our lingering legacy after we’re gone (“Videotape”). Radiohead feel loose and at ease with their songwriting, and have created an album that highlights just how much they do everything right. (Plus that diskbox is a work of sheer inspired beauty). What else can you ask for?
How do you follow up an album so beloved and explosively expressive as Funeral? By not imitating or trying to follow it up at all. Win Butler and company expand the scope and soundscape on Neon Bible discussing the ‘big issues’ without feeling like an overwrought soapboxing. Songs like “Ocean of Noise” and “Keep the Car Running” explore the depths of life and death and relationships and war and everything in between in such a dark and poetic way. I wonder how they will attempt follow up this one.
When I saw this six piece Montreal-based band this summer, they had already outgrown the tiny stage they were jampacked on. You could easily envision them playing in larger concert halls filling the space with their gorgeous mixture of Beach Boys’ harmonies, epic 70s rock and dark shoegazer walls of sound. I was pushing for this band to get more attention this year, but I think this second album has at least put them on people’s radars. Can’t wait to hear what they have in store next.
Sure this one’s dark and inward as well, but the introversion The National bring to their music is expressive and universal, making songs about very mundane things such as day jobs and relationships seem grand and hauntingly lovely. Songs like “Fake Empire” (with its polyrhythmic piano) and “Green Gloves” (with its house stalker storyline) have so much going on that they surely will seep under your skin.
With 2005’s incredible Black Sheep Boy, frontman Will Sheff said was finally able to make as much money as he did when he worked at a video store early in his career. This notion certainly made me realize that these bands we love aren’t always living the highlife ala Def Leppard. So it’s always encouraging to see a group that has been consistently under the radar finally get the credit they are due: Okkervil River’s latest, The Stage Names, a highly literary concept album, is the best work of their career. Making a song cycle that ambitiously exposed insight and references to popular culture it could’ve been huge catastrophe. But the songs reach great heights and rocked harder than most this year. 
By now we’ve heard the anthemic “1234” about one thousand two hundred and thirty-four times thanks to the iPod commercial and the many television appearances on Letterman and the Today Show. But Leslie Feist’s huge success is highly deserved as came into her own on this amazingly personal album. It’s brimming with lilting yet moody, powerful yet delicate songs of love and pain, musically being both diverse and cohesive. And that voice. Nuff said.
A late entry onto my list, this emerging DC band made the interblogs swoon in mid summer when Sam Simkoff spun his solo work into a band by posting music on the internet and ads on craigslist. While they are still learning to play together as a group on stage, this album is a dark take on failed relationships, war and the end of the world as filtered and inspired by Dante’s Inferno. The songs, driven by the same banjo motif played throughout, are about as catchy and densely layered as one can expect from a home-crafted laptop work; personal and impassioned.
When you normally hear bands that are labeled as ‘experimental,’ it can instantly conjure expectations of scraping metal and angular, hard to listen to melodies full of disjunct dystopian themes. But Panda Bear is far from that often unfair stereotype. Noah Lennox (of Animal Collective) created an album that pushes boundaries yet is still accessibly easy to listen to. With a patchwork tapestry of overlapping harmonies and soaring Brian Wilson-esque melodies, you could listen to this album a hundred times and still discover surprising nuance and layers every time.
Bowerbirds are one of a few “little engine that could” bands I have tried to champion this year. So while very few heard this neo-folk trio’s ‘back to nature’ album or heard that they all live on in one of those ’50s streamline trailers in the South Carolina countryside, they are certainly worth a listen. The music is stripped down and earnest but definitely not just typical strummy folk music. This album was a grower for me all year, as I often went back to it in times when I wanted a soundtrack to those quieter and more intimate moments, something Bowerbirds’ songs explore.