Though, much to my detriment, I did not arrive in time to see Chicago’s Angel Eyes pull the scab off this amazing bill to get the vital essences exposed to air, I did take a face-full of rock from tone-freak virtuosos Mayor for Life, following that with a sail on the seas of metal when Czar took the stage.

I saw bassist Rich Fessler’s other band, the genius, mind-bendingly aggressive Bear Claw, last Saturday, August 14th at the Empty Bottle ahead of the Del Rey, and they absolutely stole that show from the Del Rey’s comeback kids.  Mayor for Life brings the straighforward rock element to Rich’s dark, meticulously husbanded bass arrangements by way of guitarist Todd Rabideau’s punctual strumming and the ambient shimmer he bends from the wires strung across his custom Aluminum-neck guitar.

Saturday’s Mayor for Life show found me standing in the midst of a fully-formed scene untrammeled by the vigorous vanity and commercialism of the over-exposed and twitter-inflated mediocrity maquiladora of a place like New York.  I was in a room full of people who just knew what rock is and weren’t concerned with much else.

Mayor for life exercises the full priveleges of their office- Not since the first time I saw Deerhunter play live over two years ago and I was stunned to a happily stupored drool by the start of the guitar solo on “Nothing Ever Happened” have I had as many smiling “What?  What did they just do?” moments when watching a band perform. 

Here’s to hoping Mayor for Life continue to occupy their office without surcease and the tubes in their amps remain always warm.

As I gather my things to roll communal internal combustion Conestoga across the great plains of the middle western desert, I hand off to you a couple of pieces of reading material.

The first is a quick review of some research done on the impact of money or social status on generosity that appeared this past week in The Economist.

The second is an excellent story from Victor Pelevin, courtesy of Google Books, excerpted from 2010’s Best European Fiction about how money changes everything.

That’s where I’ve been.

I have managed to listen to just a very few things since I’ve been out here, but they have been very, very good things, and they’ve mitigated the occasional (and trivial) stresses brought on by the very good problem I have had of having to study a lot this summer.

Wild Nothing – Gemini

The strong wash of good feelings and reverb on this record makes me happy to be alone when I am alone.
Wild Nothing – Gemini

LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening

This record about getting older, disillusionment, and knowing what you want warms my fuckin’ heart.  It’s just as though Brian Eno traveled through time from the ’70s to release a dance album about how much I personally came to loathe New York and the culture you get sucked into while you’re in it.

Kurt Vile

I only recently discovered Kurt Vile for myself thanks to a comrade at whatwearelisteningto and was lucky enough that Philadelphia’s constant hitmaker passed through Bloomington this summer.  His music has the looping atmospherics of a Deerhunter or Crooked Fingers and the wry personal lyrical touch of a Paul Westerberg wrapped up in a psychedelic sandwich.

One of the lucky strokes of coming late to the party a musician like this is throwing is that he has an extensive back catalog to comb through and get familiar with, which I have been doing at my leisure.  He is also in Philly’s The War On Drugs, but his solo material with the Violators is far, far superior.  Here’s his record Childish Prodigy for the streaming.

Matthew Dear: Black City

Matthew Dear has a vocal fetish.  Where James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem applied himself to perfecting Brian Eno’s weird choruses, Dear has taken the idea of layered vocals with weird chords outside the bounds of simple harmony, and he’s put deep effects on all his vox.  Voila.  Signature sound.  This is a very visual record whose sounds almost come across as monochromatic, all bright whites and shadowy blacks with the occasional wash of orange.  Am I even making any sense?  Have a listen and let me know.  Dear’s music has departed from its now barely recognizable minimal house roots, focusing more on strange atmospheres and laborious exploitation of tone, reverb, and the stereo field.

Luckily for me, Kurt Vile came through on the 15th and put on a really excellent show.  He’s got a sound that’s a cross between Deerhunter and Paul Westerberg.

I present to you three shitty cell phone photos of that show, one of which is of in the main boring opener Real Estate.

[Show as slideshow]

It was not Joy Division that the band took after most, as some mused when the band’s first record, Turn on the Bright Lights, appeared on record store racks at a special Matador-reduced price intended to to move those units.  Sure, both Joy Division and Interpol were bands whose music was at times dark and sparse, but there was something cavernous and distant about Interpol’s attitude and sound that didn’t match up with the barely contained fury of Ian Curtis and co.  Joy Division was suffused with a similar darkness, but something about the two styles didn’t mesh when the bands were compared.

Unflagging devotion to what band gave these well-dressed dudes the edge over other indie wunderkinds?

Here is the video for the new single, “Lights”, from the forthcoming self-titled 9/7 CD release.

Do these two songs bear any significant resemblance to one another?

Is this Chameleons record the shard of Krypton that lies at the cool, cool heart of Interpol’s fortress of attitude?  If so, they deserve their accolades for bringing back a cool sound and doing it really, really well.