In case you missed it, I already wrote about the new Wilco album here. I’m not going to be talking about any of that today. I did make a point of mentioning the band’s chops and professionalism in that review, and that’s kinda crucial to discussing their live show as well. The difference is, while their precision can seem a bit dry and sterile on record, it’s maximized for beauty and drama in concert, and without any of the band members possessing an over-the-top charisma, they have a very high level of showmanship. You may think “Oh man, two and a half hours of Wilco, that could be kinda punishing,” but the entire duration demands your attention, whether they’re jamming out with Yo La Tengo on “Spiders,” going soft and delicate on “Impossible Germany.”

Wilco “You Are My Face” (Live from Ashes of American Flags)

I adore the lovely drift of these verses, but it would not mean nearly as much as when the tension builds up, tangling into knots, and snapping loose when Tweedy sings “I have no idea how this happens!” You need not understand or relate to any other word he sings in the song as long you connect with that feeling, like being in a daze and suddenly bolting up straight in your seat with what feels like an epiphany, but is much closer to the realization that you’re totally clueless. Then you drift off again…

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Yo La Tengo @ Keyspan Park 7/13/2009
? / Mr. Tough / ? / Little Eyes / Autumn Sweater / Periodically Double Or Triple / From A Motel 6 / ? / Tom Courtenay / The Story Of Yo La Tango

Yo La Tengo “Periodically Double Or Triple”

I’m going to assume that the songs I didn’t recognize were new ones from the forthcoming record, which sounds like it should be a pretty groovy record for them. I’m rather fond of “Periodically Double Or Triple,” mainly because I like when Yo La Tengo swings a bit, and the songs that allow Ira Kaplan to indulge in this sardonic tone of voice. I’m reserving judgment on this music until I hear the finished product, but I will say this: I will never ever ever ever be bored watching this band perform “Tom Courtenay.” It’s just never going to happen.

Here’s the Matador records website for Yo La Tengo.

1. “Julian Plenti” is Paul Banks, the main dude from Interpol, which is the quickest explanation as to why this sounds so much like Interpol.

2. At the same time, it doesn’t sound quite like Interpol. There is a wider range of sounds on this song, and even more so on the album, and it lacks the sterile formality of that band’s incredibly disappointing third LP.

3. It is difficult to listen to these Julian Plenti songs without getting the impression that the democratic collaboration of Banks’ regular band was holding him back. He might still enjoy working with those guys, but obviously he had some ideas that didn’t mesh with those players for whatever reason.

4. However, the thing is, nothing on this album would surprise you if it was actually credited to Interpol. It’s just more relaxed, and the arrangements are often more colorful and varied in texture. Banks can’t help but to sound exactly like himself — his melodic and lyrical style has become too recognizable, and his voice is too particular to pass for anything else.

5. Banks is very good at conveying a sort of blank sympathy with his voice, and that really comes through in “Only If You Run.” There’s a lot of goodwill in this song, but it is oddly muted. Nevertheless, the feeling rings very true.

6. I smile a bit every time I hear Banks sing that he has “tasted degradation.” This is mostly because I find it very easy to imagine this guy indulging in BDSM, but it’s also because I think of this song by Nine Inch Nails, and picture him with a fancy goblet of degradation at Trent Reznor’s Fountain of Decay.

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Looping and layering vocal tracks is nothing new, but Julianna Barwick’s compositions are so effective in subtly shifting familiar sounds that the soothing waves of her voice are at once comforting and vaguely alien. There is a strong minimalist influence in her work, and this track in particular sounds like it could be Steve Reich conducting a women’s choir, but the music is not stiff and academic. Quite to the contrary, it is difficult to escape the emotional pull in these songs, even when it is nearly impossible to accurately identify what feelings are being expressed. She’s tapping into something nebulous but potent, primal and mysterious, and you’ll understand it right away.

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Handsome Furs “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues”

It’s probably difficult to watch a Handsome Furs show without feeling a bit of envy for Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry: They are clearly doing their favorite thing with their favorite person, throwing themselves fully into the moment and enjoying every second of it. Boeckner’s body language is loose and relaxed, contrasting with the nervous energy in his voice. Perry is restless and spazzy, kicking and falling dramatically through the set, and being about 400% more physical than her task as a keyboard player and drum machine operator requires. The songs and the performances are intense, but in watching the show, your mind doesn’t go to a dark and desperate place. Instead, you just marvel at this couple’s wonderful chemistry, laugh at their banter, and smile when they display a deep gratitude for the very fact that you showed up to see them play in a city with a myriad entertainment options. Not everyone gets to live the dream like these two, but it’s pretty obvious that they deserve it.

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I think that most everything that I love about Chicks On Speed would be the top reasons why most people would find them to be incredibly off-putting: Hooks so aggressively catchy that they may as well be jingles, over-the-top campiness, relentless sloganeering, an unapologetic obsession with modern art and feminism. I’m also rather fond of their voices and the way their accents contrast, particularly in a song like “Girlmonster” that shifts between them at a dizzying pace. You can dismiss this as pretentious fluff, but it’s your loss — if people are going to be so ostentatiously arty, why not also be silly and fun? I love these women.

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Cam’ron is on this track, but he’s on a lot of songs, so nevermind him for now — I’m a lot more interested in his guests. Byrd Lady is a young MC from Harlem who is making her recorded debut on this song and the single “Cookies-N-Apple Juice,” and I’m very impressed by her performance on both cuts. Her voice and delivery reminds me a bit of Lil Kim, but she’s clearly her own person, and her verses ring out with a lot style, charm, and humor. She comes on authoritative and strong, but also quite playful, ending on a spoken bit punctuated with stifled laughs that kinda melts my heart. Apparently she’s working on a mixtape right now — I’m definitely interested.

Byrd Lady is followed by 40 Cal., a Diplomats rapper who turns in a vaguely odd verse that bounces between ostentatiously speedy rhyming and moments when he pauses for a few beats before finishing a thought. This is most amusing when he asks “What’s your favorite number?,” and in the few split seconds before giving an answer, your mind just stops cold, thinking “Wait, what is my favorite number? Should I know this? Is this slang? Am I old? Too square? What’s going on?” And then the answer: “40!” Oh, right! Of course. His name is 40 Cal.

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The last four Sonic Youth shows that I have seen have either featured all of Daydream Nation, or a large chunk of it, and so it was quite a relief that the band opted not to play anything from that record at the United Palace. The other notable thing about this show was that it was indoors, which has become something of a rarity for NYC-area Sonic Youth concerts in recent years. It was a nice change of pace — United Palace isn’t exactly my favorite venue, but it suited the darker, more intense oldies selected for this setlist. Aside from the meandering “Massage The History,” this show clearly favored tight, tense numbers with a lot more grit than the lighter, more sprawling songs favored during the Rather Ripped era. I’d prefer for the band to head off more in this direction — I’ve had my fill of beach blanket SY, and I have always had a great love of their more sinister material.

Sonic Youth “Calming The Snake”

Of all the songs from The Eternal, “Calming The Snake” is most certainly the best in concert, and I hope that they keep it around for years to come. The studio recording is excellent, but it does not fully convey the deepness of its slithering groove, or the urgency of its rhythm, particularly in its most jarring moments. I like the new album fine, but I would absolutely love it if it was more in the mode of this song — sweaty, sexy, scary, violent, unhinged.

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Like most everything else in the R.E.M. catalog, I have already written about this song. The thing is, even if you’ve decided very long ago to like a piece of music, it may not mean very much until some aspect of it somehow resonates with the circumstances of your life. This is the case for “Letter Never Sent,” a perfectly lovely number that I had always classified as a relatively minor album track, and still kinda do — obviously, I think very highly of a great many R.E.M. compositions. Either way, listening through the bonus live record with the new reissue of Reckoning, the song caught me by surprise. “Letter Never Sent” has a light, sunny bop to it, which serves to understate the loneliness at its core. It’s a song about missing people, and wishing that people could just be with you whenever you want them around, even as you come and go as you please. The line that rings out for me the most is in the chorus: “Heaven is yours where I live.” Well, yes, of course it is! Even if it’s a bit condescending, it’s always true from your perspective. Come here and make me happy, and of course you’ll be happy too! Ha, maybe that’s why Michael is knock, knock, knocking on wood.

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The first several times I heard this song, I misheard the lyrics slightly, and the result is that I’m making the song mean something to me that it’s not actually saying. That’s fair game, though, especially when I’m responding to the melody and the sound of the chords more than anything else. The phrase I’ve inserted into the song is “I shouldn’t make it matter,” which is actually the opposite of what they are singing, but precisely what I need to keep in mind, particularly when in the sort of mellow emotional drift suggested by the arrangement. I need to keep reminding myself that while it is perfectly reasonable and totally human to have feelings of petty resentment, jealousy, and disdain, it is foolish and self-destructive to dwell on them, and to make those feelings matter more than what is actually good, meaningful, and relevant. The sound of “Cheerleader” fits into this sort of minor, blindingly obvious epiphany — there is tension, but it slowly dissipates, shifting from shrugging resignation to a sense of calm and security.

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I’m pretty sure Amazing Baby do not want you to think too much while listening to this song. If they did, they probably would’ve at least spell-checked the word the singer is spelling out in the chorus. But really, why bother when the hook is so catchy and every other line is entirely inscrutable? It’s all surface and sensation, and that doesn’t have to be a problem. It’s sexy without being skeevy; it’s somehow rather smart about being very, very dumb. The song is like a very attractive person who could say anything at all, and you’d just nod along, smiling just to have their attention in the moment.

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