Merry Swankster

tUnE-yArDs: danger at the spot jam hop

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:46:36 -0500

[Photos by Merry Swankster - 10.23.09 @ Bluebird, opening for Sunset Rubdown]

tUnE-YaRdS return to Denver on Sunday as warm up act for Dirty Projectors at the Bluebird.

Upon entering the Bluebird Theater for Sunset Rubdown's show I was immediately drawn to tUnE-YaRdS noisy racket taking place on the state. Merrill Garbus is tUnE-YaRdS and she was not only the most exciting performer I've seen rock the shit out of an ukelele, but the most exciting performer this year. She draws you in and hypnotizes. A performance style so raw and honest, even those turned off by the music remain fixated. With a strong and confident voice that appears to pull from the depths of her soul, Garbus represents the tUnE-YaRdS as sole member.

Songs begin by Garbus recording short drum and vocal samples and looping them for the intended track, all done in real time. Unfaithful to the Tune-yards inference of a band, this is an artist who is a true one person band. What struck me most about the composition was the precision of each loop and the flawless execution of timing everything together perfectly for each song's rhythmic foundation.

Much like the Dirty Projectors' experimental vocal intonations, Garbus dabbles extensively in modulating her voice, blurring the line between singing and chanting. Her innovative style can at times sound like an amalgamation of forest creatures. It's quite intense, but completely rad. A showstopper indeed. An accurate description for the Tune-yards would be Animal Collective's erratic structures combined with the aforementioned Dirty Projectors sweeter embrace of melody and a healthy dollop of African textures for good measure. Seeing the crazy eyed singer straddling the line between loud singing and screaming in front of a crowd unfamiliar with her work and pull off a captivating show was pretty remarkable. You could feel the audience embrace her as the set progressed. In spite of the interesting presentation it lacked the pretense one might expect.

With such a capable and sure voice, Garbus reaches out with a sincerity that is nothing if not wonderfully appealing. Her goofy cuteness during frequent crowd banter only endeared more, as if to further convince what was impossible not to do. If heading to Dirty Projectors this weekend I implore you to get there early and NOT MISS Tune-yards.

Below, a sample from the 4AD released BiRd-BrAiNs album, additional tracks streaming at the Tune-yards site.

From 4AD:

Possessing an expansive sound that marries a coarse folk ingenuity with the bold pop sensibility of an R&B siren, Bird-Brains was assembled with a staunch DIY aesthetic. Recording herself using a digital voice recorder and produced using shareware mixing software.

//tUnE-yArDs - site
//tUnE-yArDs - myspace

tUnE-YaRdS - "Hatari"

"Hatari" is like a grab bag of styles from the Tune-yards universe. Lo-fi R&B, African pop, bright laid-back reggae and ukelele(!) wrapped together in a brilliant track. A cursory Internet search taught me hatari means danger in Swahili. The rest of the recited chants (mimi naweza, sijui) I don't have an answer for.

Photos of the 10.23 show continued after the jump.

Retrohump: Mount up

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:50 -0500

Warren G & Nate Dogg - "Regulators" - 1994

Hey New York, this could be your Friday night! Can an artist survive for 15 years on a hit single? I guess the answer lies in how profitable shows are at this venue. I don't live in New York anymore, how big is the Music Hall of Williamsburg?

[ed note: I'm going to start having some fun with our neglected Wednesday feature in effort to bring it back to life.]

Gossip @ Bluebird Theater, Denver 10.19.09

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:30:53 -0500

[Photos by Merry Swankster]

Beth Ditto of the Gossip is a force to be reckoned with. Even without possession of a headline luring, outsized personality, Ms. Ditto's robust voice would likely be enough to attract. While in Denver for a weekday stop at the Bluebird last month, Ditto's operatic punk soul erupted for the Gossip's young, faithful fans.

Ditto's playful nature can come off as terribly endearing or inappropriately loose, but even tightly wound adherents to the latter can respect the extreme self-confidence she exudes while dealing with their own hang ups. She's funny too. Add that to a great command over a tremendous, booming voice. She's also unapologetically honest, never one to be accused of mincing words. Some might think it's gross for someone, especially a girl, to burp onstage (or anywhere really), or to joke about farting, or even discuss her giant vagina. Yet others find hilarity in the charm of oversharing. At the very least, all can agree that the incessant commentary is if nothing else, highly entertaining.

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 11.02.2009 - 11.08.2009

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:49:29 -0500

[Dirty Projectors...]

[w/ the vivacious Tune-Yards opening]

Monday November 2
Over the Rhine w/ Katie Herzig @ Soiled Dove
The Epilogues w/ Alan Baird Project @ Marquis Theater
Andy Davis w/ Jason Vigil @ Walnut Room
Awesome New Republic @ Hi-Dive
The Ohioan w/ Ah Holly Fam'ly @ Rhinoceropolis

Tuesday November 3
El Ten Eleven w/ Little Brazil @ Hi-Dive
Bouncing Souls w/ Bayside @ Gothic Theatre
Hanson w/ Hellogoodbye @ Ogden Theater
From First to Last w/ Greeley Estates @ Marquis Theater
Supercool w/ Hennessy Morning @ Larimer Lounge
Emile Autumn @ Bluebird Theater
Trans-Siberian Orchestra @ Pepsi Center
Swollen Members @ Fox Theatre
Psychostick w/ Mower @ Black Sheep

Wednesday November 4
Pyschostick w/ Mower @ Marquis Theater
Acid Sundae w/ Black Sheep Brigade @ Larimer Lounge
The Rakes w/ Free Energy @ Bluebird Theater
Deadmau5 w/ Burns and Sir Thomas @ Ogden Theatre
Kool Keith as Dr. Doom w/ Whygee @ Fox Theatre
fun w/ Leftmore @ Black Sheep

Thursday November 5
They Might Be Giants w/ the Guggenheim Grotto @ Gothic Theatre
Chevelle @ Fillmore Auditorium
With Vengence @ Marquis Theater
Valient Thorr w/ Early Man @ Larimer Lounge
Headlights w/ Pomegranates @ Hi-Dive
Joshua Radin w/ the Watson Twins @ Bluebird Theater
Hot Soup w/ Interstate Stash Express @ b.side Lounge
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers w/ Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck @ Black Sheep

Friday November 6
Rob Zombie @ Fillmore Auditorium
The Rouge w/ The Still City @ Marquis Theater
Del Tha Funky Homosapien w/ A-Plus @ Larimer Lounge
Hearts of Palm w/ To Be Eaten @ Hi-Dive
Art Brut w/ Surfer Blood @ Bluebird Theater
Pinback w/ Joe Jack Talcum @ Ogden Theatre
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers w/ the Railbenders @ Gothic Theatre
Perpetual Groove & Underground Orchestra @ Fox Theatre
The Widow's Bane w/ Dovekins and the Legendary River Drifters @ b.side Lounge
JLive w/ Kam Moye @ Black Sheep

Saturday November 7
Regina Spektor @ Fillmore Auditorium
Daughters of the Sun w/ Woodsman @ Rhinoceropolis
JLive w/ Kam Moye @ Marquis Theater
Jonny Woodrose & the Broken Hearted @ Larimer Lounge
Nathan and Stephen w/ Bad Weather California @ Hi-Dive
Pat McGee w/ the Trampolines @ Bluebird Theater
Skinny Puppy w/ Vverewolf Grehv @ Ogden Theatre
Perpetual Groove w/ Yamn @ Gothic Theatre
Seb Fontaine @ Vinyl
Flyleaf w/ Paper Tongues @ Fox Theatre
The Digger Trends @ Boulder Theater (George's)
The Floozies w/ Fresh2Death @ b.side Lounge

Sunday November 8
Dirty Projectors w/ Tune-Yards @ Bluebird Theater
Paramore @ Fillmore Auditorium
Fince w/ Blessthefall @ Marquis Theater
Gil Manteras Party Dream w/ Faceman @ Larimer Lounge
Grant Hart (Husker Du) & guests @ Hi-Dive
Queen Latifah @ Ogden Theatre
Afro-Punk feat. Saul Williams w/ Earl Greyhound @ Fox Theatre

Phish's musical costume at Indio Fest: Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:17:55 -0500

[Playbill. Photo cred]

Many of my free hours this weekend were spent glued to the simulcast of Phish's Halloween festival, uninspiringly titled "Festival 8". The festival is the Vermont band's eighth large scale, outdoor, multi-day, camping event. Phish fans recall previous incarnations for the art installations, sprawling performances as much as they do the traffic jams on the way to some of the towns in the most remote edges of the country which hosted festivals past. Traffic jam delays measured in the hours for the last remaining miles before entrance. Far from everything locales like Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, ME, located north of Nova Scotia in northern Maine and Big Cypress Indian Reservation deep in the Florida everglades.

The most infamous woes took place at the band's disastrous 2004 "farewell shows" festival in Coventry, VT. Before re-grouping earlier this year, those shows were the last the world saw or heard of Phish. (This being an indie blog, I'm sure much of my audience is quick to quip "too bad it didn't end that way". No matter, I've not cared for cliched expectations before so I pay no concern.) Coventry was the last festival before this weekend's extravaganza at the Empire Polo Club Grounds in Indio, California; better known as the storied site of Coachella. Coventry was by all accounts a certifiable mess. Record rain caused unstable conditions for parking cars in the otherwise beautiful, pastoral landscape of Vermont reserved for what was to be a final triumphant hurrah for the band and its' legion of fans.

Thousands were instructed to turn around due to the probability of getting stuck in the heavy mud was more of a guarantee than a chance. Despite the harsh terrain, untold thousands abandoned their vehicles and hiked for miles to the festival site. The deteriorating conditions would end up transfered from mother nature to the band members themselves. A final pilgrimage by the faithful to see what would turn out to be the worst performance of Phish's career. Phish's drummer, Jon Fishman put it best. “If there was ever a concert that represented a band smacking into a wall, that was it. I think that was one of the great train wrecks in live concert history.”

That was then. Since being back this year the newly sober band has steadied their focus back on what made them a must see on the touring circuit. Festival 8 represents the culmination of a year of return, reformation and revival. Ta boot, it combined the two cherished traditions of outdoor festivals and a Halloween "musical costume". Past legendary albums like Quadrophenia, The White Album, Remain In Light, and Loaded before, the Rolling Stones's Exile On Main Street received the skilled study of a band determined and capable of covering celebrated Rock artifacts. I wasn't there. So don't take my word for it.

It wasn't until concertgoers arrived at the gates yesterday that they finally learned what classic album Phish would cover in its entirety during their "musical costume" set at Festival 8. Reviving a tradition that began in 1994 when Phish covered The Beatles' The White Album, last night the quartet staged an ambitious cover of the Rolling Stones' 18-song double LP, Exile on Main St. As in years past, the costume choice was a closely-guarded secret until the day of the show, when thousands of "Phishbill" programs (à la Playbill) were distributed, complete with bios of the "cast," which last night included Sharon Jones on vocals and members of the Dap Kings on horns.
We have to give a hat tip to the Phish crew for organizing such a remarkably hassle-free and multi-faceted festival in this absolutely breathtaking corner of the desert. And here's a round of applause for the thousands of campers who came dressed to impress in some truly inspired—and masochistically warm—costumes. Believe it or not, they're not all burnout Trustafarians dancing arrhythmically with a nitrous balloon in each hand. (via LAist)

Also...

“What Phish is doing tonight is more than covering a record,” rock scribe David Fricke wrote in Festival 8’s official Halloween Phishbill. “They’re telling, through these songs, their own stories about ecstasy, madness and survival.”
So it is fitting that Phish decided to cover the Rolling Stones’ famed double LP Exile on Main Street,a classic rock opus built from a Phishy DNA of blues riffs, country honky-tonk, funky soul and guitar-heavy rock and roll, at a time when the band is actively revisiting and its own canon and reevaluating its legacy. Like the group’s current jamming style, Exile’s songs are gritty and loose enough to spiral into the unknown, but still focused and tight enough to fit with the band’s polished performance approach. Even the album’s theme—life in a rock and roll band—feels congruent with the band’s return and current neo-classic period. Plus, something about the Stones’ glimmer feels particularly relevant given Festival 8’s Los Angeles-area location.

Continued...

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 10.26.2009 - 11.01.2009

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:10:58 -0500

[Ghosface Killah (doll)]

Monday October 26
Honor Society w/ Esmee Denters @ Bluebird Theater
Mat Kearney w/ Vedera @ Gothic Theatre
The Supersuckers @ 3 Kings Tavern
Papa Roach w/ Jet, Kill Hannah @ Ogden Theater
Jay Brannan @ Larimer Lounge
Dragonette @ Larimer Lounge (late show)
Barcelona w/ Speakeasy Tiger @ the Black Sheep
Red Cortez w/ Kyle Galanaugh @ Soiled Dove
Turd Merchants Of Death @ Fox Theatre
Death Before Dishonor w/ Steel Nation @ Marquis Theater

Tuesday October 27
Al Stone w/ Dwight 4C @ Larimer Lounge
Needtobreathe w/ Serena Ryder @ Bluebird Theater
Lucero w/ Jack Oblivian @ Ogden Theater
Miniature Tigers w/ Abracastabya @ Hi-Dive
Dan Deacon w/ Nuclear Power Pants @ Rhinoceropolis
Matisyahu @ Fillmore Auditorium
Rob Thomas @ Magness Arena
Joan Osborne w/ the holmes Brothers @ Fox Theatre

Wednesday October 28
The Damned w/ Danko Jones @ Bluebird Theater
Fu Manchu @ Larimer Lounge
The Chinese Stars w/ Hot White @ Rhinoceropolis
Five Finger Death Punch @ Fillmore Auditorium
MSTRKRFT @ Fox Theatre
Brokencyde w/ Kill Paradise @ the Black Sheep

Thursday October 29
Modeselektor @ Bluebird Theater
Funhouse w/ Juliet Mission @ Larimer Lounge
Langhorne Slim w/ Dawes @ Hi-Dive
Goodie Mob w/ Scarface @ Gothic Theatre
Dinosaur Jr. w/ Lou Barlow @ Boulder Theater
Warren Hill @ Soiled Dove
Pete Tong @ Beta
Leftmore w/ Andy Henningsen @ the Black Sheep

Friday October 30
White Rabbits w/ Glass Ghost @ Larimer Lounge
Ghosface Killah w/ Fashawn, The Pirate Signal @ Bluebird Theater
Train w/ Uncle Kracker @ Ogden Theatre
Hallelujah the Hills w/ the Natural Selection @ Hi-Dive
Dome Cube w/ Carnivores @ Rhinoceropolis
EOTO w/ Vibesquad @ Gothic Theatre
Tech N9ne @ Fillmore Auditorium
Julian Marley @ Fox Theatre
DeVotchka @ Boulder Theater
Swollen Members w/ Common Market @ the Black Sheep
The Epilogues @ Marquis Theater
Dinosaur Jr. @ Aggie Theater

Saturday October 31
Paper Bird @ Everyday Joe's
Slim Cessna's Auto Club w/ the Limbs @ Bender's Tavern
The Hollyfelds @ Skylark Lounge
Nashville Pussy w/ Forth Yeer @ Bluebird Theater
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit @ Larimer Lounge
The Sounds w/ Foxy Shazam @ Ogden Theatre
Dia De Los Muertos w/ d. biddle @ Hi-Dive
Meese w/ the Northern Way
Bassnecter @ Fillmore Auditorium
Ghostface Killah @ Fox Theatre
DeVotchka @ Boulder Theater

Sunday November 01
Unikord w/ Brave the Breakdown @ Larimer Lounge
The Tragically Hip @ Ogden Theatre
David Bazan w/ Say Hi @ Hi-Dive
E-Town: Rob Schneider & the Flatlanders @ Boulder Theater
The New Heathers w/ Meese @ the Black Sheep
David Gray @ Paramount Theatre

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 10.19.2009 - 10.25.2009

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:45:06 -0500

[The Gossip - Monday]

[Dodos - Thursday]

[Ruby Suns - Thursday]

[Sunset Rubdown - Friday]

[Moby - Saturday]

I'm really bummed about not being in town this week to catch Kiwi band the Ruby Suns opening slot for the Dodos. Double bummer actually, since tomorrow I fly to Chicago for a non-MS related engagement, which means I'll miss them twice this week! Woe is me. I adore the Ruby Suns 2008 album, Sea Lion. Here's a taste of why.

Ruby Suns - "Kenya Dig It"

Monday October 19
Liam Finn and Eliza Jane w/ The Smart Set @ Larimer Lounge
Le Loup w/ Nurses @ Hi-Dive
Gossip w/ MEN @ Bluebird Theater
Rusted Root w/ Crowfield @ Ogden Theater
Ingrid Michaelson w/ Matthew Perryman Jones @ Gothic Theater
Mirah w/ Norfolk @ The Walnut Room

Tuesday October 20
Mt. Eerie w/ No Kids @ Rhinoceropolis
Pelican w/ Black Cobra, Sweet Cobra @ Marquis Theater
William Eliott Whitmore w/ Hoots and Hellmouth @ Larimer Lounge
We All Have Hooks For Hands w/ Eyes Caught Fire @ Hi-Dive
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead w/ Future of the Left @ Bluebird Theater
Boys Like Girls w/ Cobra Starship @ Ogden Theater
Blitzen Trapper w/ Wye Oak @ Fox Theater
Hellmouth w/ William Elliot Whitmore @ The b.side lounge
Say Anything w/ Eisley @ Cervantes Master Ballroom
The Black Dahlia Murder w/ Skeltonwitch @ The Black Sheep

Wednesday October 21
Great Lake Swimmers w/ Wooden Birds @ Larimer Lounge
The Nadas w/ Nelo @ Bluebird Theater
Sean Kingston w/ The New Boyz @ Ogden Theater
Roosted Root w/ Crowfield @ Fox Theater
Problems D'amore @ The Walnut Room
Life After Napoleon w/ Trashcans @ Herman's Hideaway
Marianne Dissard w/ Sean Morse @ Meadowlark
Framing Hanley w/ The Veer Union@ The Black Sheep

Thursday October 22
Mae w/ Jenny Owen Youngs @ Marquis Theater
Erin Jo Harris w/ Cool Papa Bell @ Larimer Lounge
The Queers w/ The Palsies @ Hi-Dive
The Dodos w/ The Ruby Suns @ Bluebird Theater
Zion I w/ The Jacka @ Fox Theater
John Common w/ Melanie Susuras @ The Walnut Room
Vienna Teng and Alex Wong w/ Paul Freeman @ Soiled Dove
Dead Sea Armada w/ Everynothing @ Herman's Hideaway
Funhouse w/ Keaton Collective @ Lion's Lair
Goldie w/ Amanda Hawkins @ Meadowlark
Impending Doom w/ Show Me The Sky @ The Black Sheep

Friday October 23
Novus Folium w/ Alan Baird Project @ Marquis Theater
A Place To Bury Strangers w/ Lion Sized @ Larimer Lounge
Hello Kavita w/ Houses @ Hi-Dive
Sunset Rubdown w/ Tune-Yards @ Bluebird Theater
The Pogues w/ The Detroit Cobras @ Ogden Theater
All That Remains @ The Fillmore Auditorium
Celeste Krenz and Rebecca Folsom @ Swallow Hill (Daniels Hall)
Sara Grey and Keiron Means @ Swallow Hill (Tufts Theater)
The Subdudes w/ Vienna Teng and Alex Wong @ Boulder Theater
Head For The Hills w/ Spring Creek @ Fox Theater
Soul School@ Soiled Dove
The Informants w/ Hellbound Billy @ Herman's Hideaway
Chambio @ Lion's Lair
Glenn Taylor Orchestra w/ Petals of Pain @ Meadowlark

Saturday October 24
Youth Brigade w/ Reno Divorce @ Marquis Theater
Trout w/ I Sank Molly Brown @ Larimer Lounge
Dysrhythmia w/ Pena @ Hi-Dive
Everything Absent or Distorted w/ The Knew @ Bluebird Theater
Uncle Monk w/ Tommy Ramone @ Swallow Hill (Tufts Theater)
Kinetix w/ Speakeasy Tiger @ Gothic Theater
Savoy w/ Dominic Lalli @ Fox Theater
MahaGroove @ @ The b.side lounge (Early Show)
Filthy Children w/ The Joint Chiefs of Staff @ The b.side lounge (Late Show)
Locksley w/ Endless Hallway @ The Walnut Room
The Subdudes w/ Michael Miller @ Soiled Dove
Debajo Del Ague w/ Guerrilla Jazz @ Herman's Hideaway
Night of the Living Barn w/ Slakjaw @ Lion's Lai
Sole and The Skyrider Band w/ Astronautalis @ The Black Sheep

Sunday October 25
DEAD TO ME w/ Dimmer Switch @ Marquis Theater
Mike Marchant and Cole Rudy w/ Wetlands @ Larimer Lounge
Sole w/ Astronautalis @ Hi-Dive
About John w/ The Vergers @ Bluebird Theater
E-Town: Moby and Nellie McKay @ Boulder Theater

Numerology: A Bit of 67 Magic

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:45:36 -0500

What comes to mind when you think of 67? The number of throws in judo? “Jailhouse Rock?” (Rolling Stone calls it the 67th greatest song of all time.) The 67 seconds it took Elliot Spitzer to announce he was resigning from office? Your local mathematician will tell you that 67 is what’s known as a lazy caterer’s number, meaning it’s part of the so-called lazy caterer sequence, which has to do with the number of pieces of a round object—say, a pizza—that can be made with a specific number of straight cuts. For example, if you make three straight cuts that meet in the middle of the pie, you get 6 slices, but you can make 7 if they don’t meet in the middle. Thus, a lazy caterer who knows what he’s doing can make 11 strategic cuts in an enormous pizza (imagine he’s catering a wedding) and make 67 slices. But you don’t have to be a math whiz to know that the lazy caterer’s sequence doesn’t exactly speak to songwriters.

“Have you seen her hair/it’s a style from heaven

Ah! She’s nowhere/she thinking this is 1967?

She's so square, she’s nowhere…” -XTC, “She’s So Square”

Nearly every instance of 67 in a song title is a reference to the year of Sgt. Pepper, Are You Experienced?, “Light My Fire,” the Human Be-In, and more generally, the Summer of Love. (It’s also the year Walter Matthau won the Oscar for best supporting actor for The Fortune Cookie.) “Supersexy ‘67” by Coltrane Motion (who won Numerology’s top spot for “Twenty-Seven,” a lacerating anti-tribute to Kurt Cobain’s “stupid club”) demonstrates singer Michael Bond’s predilection for alliterative syllables. Bond, who spoke with me via e-mail, was unaware that he had a thing for sevens, but acknowledged that the sound of the syllables is part of 7’s charm. With its half-sung vocals, canned beats, and ramshackle production, “Supersexy” is clearly indebted to early Beck, a charge that Bond readily cops to. In fact, he says, it was Beck’s Odelay that spurred him to start recording his own music in the first place. The music for “Supersexy,” which had been kicking around for a years, was Bond channeling Beck channeling Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” The slyly suggestive lyrics came later: “I was on vacation, and in the middle of reading Thomas Pynchon’s V, and his weird, paranoid description of ‘60s counterculture really resonated with me, especially when placed against the backdrop of the modern American beach town, which has a similarly jarring, almost trashy vibe. The lyrics are a kind of stream-of-consciousness flow about watching your culture get sold back to you, filtered through decades of commercials. Nothing particularly deep, but for those of us whose first glimpses at the ‘60s were through Monkees reruns or the Beach Boys guest-starring on Full House, it should make a little sense.”

Coltrane Motion - "Supersexy '67"

Two outsized forces on the 1970s pop charts showed up for the 67 party. “Questions 67 and 68” was the first single released by the group formerly known as Chicago Transit Authority. (The band shortened its moniker to avoid the same kinds of legal hassles more recently experienced by the Postal Service.) Say what you will about Chicago, the group has sold more records than any American band but the Beach Boys. And while many of the hits were right in line with formulaic ‘70s radio pabulum, Chicago forged a signature sound from the disparate influences of jazz, classical, and rock. I will also give Chicago credit for two juicy numerical singles (the other one being “25 or 6 to 4”). The numbers in the title refer to the years ‘67 and ‘68, when Chicago keyboardist Robert Lamm was besieged with commitment questions by his girlfriend. Elton John vied with Chicago for chart dominance during the “Me Decade” but his “Old ‘67” comes from The Captain and the Kid, a 2006 follow-up to the classic Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. The song has some of the Americana-steeped flavor of early Elton LPs like Tumbleweed Connection, but as often happens, the follow-up record failed to measure up to the original.

Let's Active - "Route 67"

It’s not clear if ace producer Mitch Easter, who once facetiously referred to himself as “the Dr. Dre of jangle,” was riffing on the ever-popular “Route 66” when he named the instrumental closer on his excellent Big Plans for Everybody “Route 67” or if he was merely referencing a highway in his native North Carolina. But this frantic, slide-guitar-driven nugget feels miles away from the twee-ness of the records he made when the group was actually together, and even departs from the luminous, layered pop constructions that preceded it on the essentially solo Big Plans. The record remains an underappreciated gem, although at the time of its release it received accolades from a variety of sources, including Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, who said he would be happy to mow Easter’s lawn.

Since 1967 is the outsized influence here, a brief accounting of 1967 songs seems in order, despite the fact that these songs are not eligible for highest honors. The suite-like “1967,” from Adrian Belew’s most commercially successful solo outing, Mr. Music Head (1992), has a cerebral charm and surrealistic lyrics, but I have to dock it points for having nothing to do with 1967, at least as far as I can tell. More to the point is “1967” by the Auteurs, which revolves around an undeniably Beatle-esque descending chord pattern and the arch, insinuating voice of main Auteur, Luke Haines, and, yet, upon closer inspection, lines like “The Beatles and the Stones mean nothing to us” reveal it to be a sort of anti-1967 song. (The snarling “67” by Love Battery, veterans of the ‘90s Seattle scene, takes a similar tack: “Well me and my friends were sittin’ round/talkin’ bout a thing called love/Since 1967 well it’s never been enough.”) “1967” by Tom Robinson of “Glad to Be Gay” fame is a touching backward look, with images of “eating apples off the allotments” and “swapping cigarette cards,” while Don McLean (who as a youth was apparently a lonely teenage broncin’ buck with a pink carnation and a pickup truck) avoided the metaphorical trappings of his landmark “American Pie” on his “1967,” a song narrated by a disillusioned Vietnam War vet. Some folks avoided that war by heading to Canada, home of Dayglo Abortions, whose 1981 debut LP, Out of the Womb, featured the taunting “1967” (as well as “I Killed Mommy,” and “Too Stoned to Care”).

Love Battery - "67"

“I shouted out, “Free the Expo ‘67” 

Till they stepped on my hair, and they told me I was fat ”

–They Might Be Giants, “Purple Toupee”

Expo ’67, the April-to-October international extravaganza held in Montreal, featured a geodesic dome by Buckminster Fuller, a live broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show, and performances by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Tiny Tim. A weeklong pass set you back 12 bucks. Montreal ska band the Kingpins saluted that event in their highly infectious “Last Train to Expo ’67.” (Meanwhile, in Trinidad and Tobago, where the yearly carnival celebration is commemorated in a song competition, the winning ditty that year was a joyous romp called “Sixty-Seven” by the Trinidadian calypso singer Lord Kitchener.) A number of songs have employed the Expo ’67 nomenclature strategy of tacking ’67 onto a solid noun or place name. “Detroit ‘67” by the Quebec-born Sam Roberts and his band is built around a honky-tonk piano figure that sounds both well-worn and timeless. In this rousing recollection of a time and place, Roberts yearns for a world he’s too young to remember; he laments the loss of Detroit’s past, from the sordid (Jimmy Hoffa) to the sublime (Motown), from the recent past (the assembly line) to the long-gone (the Chippewa). The chorus is earnest and infectious as the third-person narrative shifts to a direct plea: “Does anyone here remember those times? Can anyone here just tell me what they felt like?” “Jagger ‘67” by the Infadels, a twitchy storm of in-your-face beats and declamatory vocals, celebrates London’s lustful dance music scene, a girl with “twisted hair” and a “lip-ring stare.” (Note to rock trivia buffs: the song’s insistent dance groove is powered by drummer Alex Bruford, son of original Yes drummer Bill Bruford.)

The Infadels - "Jagger '67"

On the fringes of 67-dom are “67 Degrees” by echolyn (that’s right, the “e” is lowercase), a Pennsylvania prog rock institution that formed in 1989 from the ashes of Narcissus; “Sixty-Seven” a synth-driven instrumental by Korean duo As One; “67” by King’s X, a complaint about the surfeit of offerings on cable TV; and “Les Bonbons 67” by Jacques Brel, which features lines like “I say meow meow” and “I hear my hair push,” (at least according to my rudimentary French) and is strictly to be avoided. Meanwhile, on the same continent, Dutch saxophonist Candy Dulfer, who has collaborated with Pink Floyd and Van Morrison and received a shout-out from Prince on his 1989 single “Partyman,” offers up a frothy cup of jazz-funk on the instrumental “Finsbury Park, Café ’67.” Rounding out the European category is “Dirty 67” by Belgian hardcore punks Sunpower, from Pain For Profit (2007), which also features “I Hate Authority” and “Gonna Cut Myself.”

But getting down to the matter at hand, choosing a winning song for 67 proved an unusually nettlesome task. The Coltrane Motion and Sam Roberts songs are damned good, but I was determined to rustle up a bit of 67 magic. A few months ago, after bending the ear of my friend Zeebling Monroe, a New Zealand-born musician who tends bar at the Lower East Side watering hole Barramundi, I managed to get him jazzed about writing a 67 song. As a bonus, he also directed a video for it, and I think the results speaks for themselves. I realize I am setting myself up for allegations of voter fraud or influence pedaling or whatever, but if Zee’s song did not deliver the goods, I wouldn’t be crowning it king. But it does, and I am. It’s haunting and heartfelt, and Zee’s video incorporates some of the magical elements I was looking for. Here’s what Zee has to say about it:

“The song was inspired by master Hong Kong movie director Wong Kar Wai, who is one of my all-time favorite directors and inspires me no end. In particular, the song refers to and contains sound bites from In the Mood for Love and its sequel, 2046, both breathtakingly beautiful movies with minimal dialogue, dripping in emotion. Its kind of a different sound for me, but the stuff I got together for this album is all pretty varied, with a lot of Japanese influence, both in Japanese artists I’m working with on it and samples I’m playing with.”

Zeebling - "Hong Kong 67

The cinematic inspiration finds expression in the atmosphere and structure of the song, which bleeds into existence with a tremulous synth tone, a disembodied voice from a Wong Kar Wai film and the eerie childlike vocals of Yumi Kaizuka, which bring to mind those little she-devil twins in The Shining singing to themselves while playing mumblety peg in the Overlook Hotel’s hedge maze. Zee weaves a slow, insistent melody, his words indistinct, like whispers, over a mournful piano, a fat, blasted-out guitar and some softly pummeling beats. Sonic touches waft in and out of the mix, a fuzzy shard from a film score here, a slice of slowed-down Fellini dialog there; at points the sound melts away for a few moments, like a slow fade to black, followed by a smash cut back to the song. What stands out most in the end is the eerie “na-na-na-na” vocals, which feel like an eerie re-imagining of the joyous final section of “Hey Jude.”

In contrast to the picture the music paints in the mind's eye, the video, far from being ominous, is hopeful. In numerology, 67 becomes the sum of 6+7, 13, which is bad luck in our culture but a magical numeral in others. In the clip, a lone character (played by Yumi Kaizuka) uses magic to transform her situation. She does a tarot reading in her Manhattan apartment and draws a card that indicates emotional disappointment. She then pretties herself up, draws a magical sigil, and uses it to dress a candle to cast a spell. After reading the cards again, she finds her offering has been acknowledged and heads out into rough-and-tumble New York, where she pays her respects to the powers responsible for the change, making a humble public offering before walking off into an ostensibly brighter future.

Zeebling - "Hong Kong 67"

Numerology is our pal Dave's ill-advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. We hear 60 is the new 40, and now we're not even that impressed by his progress.

Previously: No. 1, 2 (redux), 3, 4 (redux), 5-7, 5 (redux),6 (redux), 6.4, 7 (counterpoint), 7 (redux), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, Footnotes, 57, 58, 59 , 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66

WTF Video: Balloon Boy Family Hip Hop video - "Not Pussified"

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:48:02 -0500

Heene Boys (Baloon Boy/Falcon + siblings) - "Not Pussified"

Hmmm.

Neon Indian fan video FTW!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:41:49 -0500

Neon Indian - "Should Have Taken Acid With You"

Though I'm wavering on how real this video is, my skepticism allows for just enough suspension to appreciate it either way. (Thanks to Marina for the tip)

Cover art battle: Who has the most artful vaginas?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:49:20 -0500

Islands or Flaming Lips? We report, YOU decide.

Islands - Arm's Way

vs.

Flaming Lips - Embryonic

Sometimes I see associations in the world that are too much fun to ignore, and so I'm inclined to create a competitive battle between them. In this case the gist is simple. Islands and Flaming Lips both put out albums with cover art that unequivocally resembles vaginas. If you harbor any doubt on the above art's inspiration, read further.

From a 2008 interview we did with Islands' Nick Thorburn:

JK: I wanted to ask about the Arm's Way album cover. Most of the reactions I saw to it were pretty perplexed. To me it suggested that if you opened up your chest there'd be some sort of 70s classic-rock utopia inside. Is that fairly on-base?

NT: No, it's a vagina.

JK: So if we opened your vagina there'd be a 70s classic-rock utopia inside?

NT: Exactly. If you opened my vagina, you'd find, you know, pregnant 11-year-olds embracing. You'd find sasquatches. That's the nature of my vagina.

JK: Roomy?

NT: Yeah, I guess so.

Without the directness of Mr. Thorburn admission, Wayne Coyne skirts confirming Embryonic's cover inspiration, while simultaneously implying the lady bits by fleshing out the visual metaphor in the concept for the "Watching the Planets" music video (pics):

Last month, Pitchfork reported on said video's Portland shoot as such:

[On] Wednesday, September 23, they'll be shooting on Portland, Oregon's Mount Tabor. Wayne Coyne told BikePortland that the idea came from the musical Hair: "You know how it's a bunch of freaked out naked people climbing some mountain with blood and fire and finding some new civilization there-- so I thought of Portland, right?"

Here's how Coyne describes the video's concept, which sounds, in a word, ridiculous: "I'm having one of my giant space bubbles covered in fake fox fur. It's going to look like some giant fur egg, and the people on bicycles are gonna sort of be born and erupt out of this fur, vaginalistic thing."

There you have it. Any others that I'm missing? We strive to be completists.

** ** **

Embryonic is out today. The Lips website is offering an Embryonic deluxe edition for $40 bucks. Includes the 2 CDs set with all 18 tracks, a bonus audio DVD of the album in "full dynamic range", a digipack wrapped in a custom "fur" box with full color art, lyrics and photos, and an exclusive lithography of Embryonic's vaginalistic cover art.

Buy deluxe edition here.

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 10.12.2009 - 10.18.2009

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:28:16 -0500

[Brakes Brakes Brakes]

[Sissy Wish]

I’m constantly trying to challenge myself, my music and my live-shows. Right now I find myself in a world of cheap synthesizers, toy organs and fuzz-guitars. I just ate up my band and put them in a box, so I could afford to go on a tour in America. So suddenly I turned out to be a purely electronic duo from Mars, and the respond from the crowd was fantastic, enormous, x-large! I’m constantly seeking new ways to express myself through music, and sometimes it just turns out to work perfectly right.

-Sissy Wish (Myspace)

Monday October 12
S.S Aka w/ Iuengliss @ Rhinoceropolis
Kittie w/ Soil @ Marquis Theater
Those Darlins w/ the Grates @ Hi-Dive
Kittie w/ Soil @ Marquis Theater
Straylight Run w/ Lydia @ the Black Sheep

Tuesday October 13
Strike Anywhere w/ Bane, Polar Bear Club @ Marquis Theater
Digital Leather @ Larimer Lounge
Har Har Superstar w/ Magic Cyclops @ Hi-Dive
City Light Symphony w/ Yellfire @ Bluebird Theater
Stone Temple Pilots @ Fillmore Auditorium
Little Feat w/ White Water Ramble @ Fox Theatre
Katie Herzig w/ Jessica Sonner @ b. side lounge
Pseudo Slang w/ 3 the Hardway @ Walnut Room

Wednesday October 14
Project 86 w/ Showbread @ Marquis Theater
Pierced Arrows w/ Kill City Bombers @ Larimer Lounge
King Rat w/ No Plot Kill @ Bluebird Theater
Mutemath w/ As Tall As Lions @ Ogden Theatre
Aimee Mann w/ Fountains of Wayne @ Boulder Theater
Josephine and the Mousepeople @ Meadowlark
State Radio w/ Elephant Revival @ the Black Sheep

Thursday October 15
Ten To None w/ the Forgotten Secret @ Marquis Theater
Astrophagus w/ the Republic @ Larimer Lounge
Brakes Brakes Brakes w/ Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, Rachel Goodrich @ Hi-Dive
Rahzel w/ JS-1 @ Fox Theatre
Joe Pug w/ Ramaya Soskin
Turn 4 w/ Gospel Gossip @ Lion's Lair
Ashley Raines @ Meadowlark

Friday October 16
Hit the Lights w/ There For Tomorrow @ Marquis Theater
Panal S.A. De C.V. w/ Vices I Admire
A Hawk and a Hacksaw w/ Damon & Naomi @ Hi-Dive
Emmitt Nershi Band w/ Assembly of Dust @ Bluebird Theater
Relient K w/ Copeland and Barcelona
Dark Star Orchestra @ Fillmore Auditorium
Joe Pug w/ Meg Hutchinson @ Swallow Hill (Daniels Hall)
The Radiators w/ Yamn @ Gothic Theatre
OTT w/ Emancipator @ Fox Theatre
Libra Party w/ Payrus @ b. side lounge
Luke Mitchem w/ Josh Queen @ Walnut Room
Mindi Abair @ the Soiled Dove
The 8th ElemEnt Family @ Herman's Hideaway
The Widow's Bane @ Lion's Lair
Fierce Bad Rabbit @ Meadowlark

Saturday October 17
MC Chris @ Marquis Theater
The Outfit @ Larimer Lounge
Elin Palmer w/ Sissy Wish @ Hi-Dive
Gregory Alan Isakov w/ Eleanor @ Bluebird Theater
Michael Ian Black w/ Michael Showalter @ Ogden Theatre
Lotus @ Fillmore Auditorium
Karla Bonoff w/ Megan Burtt @ Swallow Hill (Daniels Hall)
Satyricon w/ Chthonic @ Gothic Theatre
Emmitt Nershi Band w/ Assembly of Dust @ Boulder Theater
Cornmeal w/ Elephant Revival @ Fox Theatre
Nectar @ b. side lounge
Weird Turn Prose @ Walnut Room
Willy Porter @ the Soiled Dove
Mark Mallman! @ Lion's Lair
Alan Aida @ Meadowlark

Sunday October 18
LAKE w/ Karl Blau @ Rhinoceropolis
Quitdrive w/ the Higher @ Marquis Theater
Fissure Mystic w/ Breakfestes @ Larimer Lounge
E-Town: Cake w/ Chuck Prophet @ Boulder Theater
Jonah Smith w/ the Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic guitar duo @ Walnut Room
Bayside w/ Take It To 88 @ the Black Sheep

Video: Breeders & Deerhunter - "Bragging Party" (live Amps cover)

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:41:34 -0500

(Live @ ATP Minehead, May 17, 2009)

I somehow missed all mentions of this collaboration from earlier in the year, and only saw it today in the midst of looking stuff up for an extended Atlas Sound article I was writing. Pretty cool video though, with clear, close, poorly composed crowd footage and ever-so-muffled, but not so terrible sound (and a set of previous idolized sisters Mr. Cox gets for his crowded collaborative belt). The song is from the actually quite good Amps record. In the Deal biography, they are a distant third banana behind Pixies, and Breeders, but Pacer was a very cool record circa 1995.

Who Don't Like Kids? pt. 2

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:30:08 -0500

Previously: Part 1

Sometimes kids have been enlisted to sing words that are perfectly suited to their youthful status, such as on “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper, where they join in on the schoolyard chant, “No more pencils no more books/ no more teacher’s dirty looks.” The Smiths go for a similar but darker effect in “Panic,” as the kids echo Morrissey in his mournful “Hang the DJ!” chant. The sound of the schoolyard, with those disembodied, joyful voices rising and falling, was all Belle & Sebastian needed to lend an instantly evocative atmosphere to “If You’re Feeling Sinister,” while on Yo La Tengo’s cover of Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War,” version 2, the notion of cheery kids’ voices singing en masse is turned on its ear, as a gaggle of Ira Kaplan’s nieces and nephews join him in a call-and-response of, “Nuclear war/it’s a motherfucker.” Somehow, the effect is disarming, and it doesn’t feel as if any imp was traumatized by the experience. But one has to wonder how the young guest vocalist felt after the recording session for Current 93’s “Falling Back in Fields of Rape,” which entails a good deal of repetition of the title phrase.

Karen O and the Kids - "All Is Love"
(fan video by petedune)

On the soundtrack to Spike Jonze’s film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, the seminal children’s book by Maurice Sendak, kids join forces with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Ms. O, who wrote the soundtrack’s songs and co-produced the record, enlisted a backing band dubbed “the Kids,” (featuring a roster of prominent Merry Swankster-approved names, including Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) along with a chorus of untrained youngsters. Here’s Randall Monty’s take on the results: “While shouting/singing the lyrics of “All is Love,” the first single off the album, O’s voice rings with youth and enthusiasm. It’s a fitting transformation on her part, one that meets the supporting children’s choir halfway: while Karen O takes years off her voice, the children raise theirs to another level. The lyrics themselves, which consist mostly of the song’s title spelling out L-O-V-E and some howling, are suited for the younger vocalists, but that doesn’t mean this is a kid’s song. In spite of the youth of the singers, the anger and maturity of Sendak’s novel comes through.”

The first few generations of rappers were not particularly interested in using kids on their records. It took Jay-Z to demonstrate the full hook-worthy potential of the idea, and others ran with it. Mr. Monty picks up the story: “If we attempt to exit the world of hip-hop songs featuring kids and head all the way to the boundary, we would find a region where the accompanying children are not merely used for clichéd dramatic effect (the Pink Floyd model) but are instead imbedded as inseparable contributors to the whole song. At this edge, “statement” meets up quite succinctly with “inspiring” and “hilarious.” Here is a triptych of songs embodying the pinnacle of this hamlet of the genre.

Jay-Z - "Hard Knock Life"

Jay-Z’s first crossover hit (back when there was such a thing), 1998’s Annie-sampling “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” kicked the door down for hip-hop stars using children as supporting vocalists. In what would become a become a signature theme, Jigga raps about what it was like back in the day, interspersing lyrics about slinging dope and seeing neighborhood folks being gunned down with the taunting holler of that unavoidable (and unforgettable) chorus. But there’s no juxtaposition between the children and the man; instead, it’s a shared narrative of growing up in inner-city America. By no means a heartwarming message, but damned if it isn’t catchy. On the other hand, Nas amps the positivity vibe substantially with “I Can,” a track that became Nas’s biggest hit thanks almost entirely to the chorus’s inspiring words. “You don't wanna be my age and can't read and write” is cliché coming from your parents, but coming from the guy who once boasted, “I'm like Scarface sniffing cocaine/Holding a M-16, see with the pen I'm extreme,” it’s conveyed as wisdom worth minding. (And when he instructs little girls to ”act your age, don't pretend to be/Older than you are, give yourself time to grow,” well, it gets a little dusty for this writer.)

Swinging the pendulum back to the center, the first song from the first album by the recently maligned Kanye West combines the better components of Jay-Z’s and Nas’s tracks. By the time The College Dropout was released, we had already heard Kanye rapping with Jay-Z and Twista, but “We Don’t Care” serves as a formal reintroduction. Lyrics like, “Ain’t no to tuition for havin’ no ambition/And ain’t no loans for sittin’ your ass at home” come across as pointed, scathing, and above all, funny. By the time the kids start singing along, it’s downright anthemic.”

While many of his fellow hipsters would be hesitant to devote too much time to the topic of young kids singing pop songs, Jeff Klingman approached the task like, well, a kid in a candy store, and the result is the following novelistic account: "Like a science project that’s a little too academically illuminating, the best songs featuring children singers leave the listener suspicious. Rather than assuming prodigy status, the more natural inference is that there’s someone back there pulling the strings. Is this a disqualifying factor for legitimate art? In his critical takedown of Brooklyn tots Tiny Masters of Today’s album earlier this year, Matthew Perpetua rolled his eyes at “hipster stage parents” who would nudge their kids towards a rock n’ roll lifestyle in the first place, when their spawn would presumably rather be playing soccer or something. A little league stint surely wouldn’t cost the world any great songs if they’d pre-empted practice sessions by similar 00s alterna-kid-flavored bands like Smoosh, or the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players. (And we can only hope that a social worker, or even an out-of-state college, will eventually deliver those poor little Nazi twins away from the clan that nurtured their performances as Prussian Blue.) But does the unnaturalness of kids authoring pop music preclude that music’s worth? It would seem to depend on the vision and craft of the puppet master (moppet-master?).

M.I.A.'s 2007 record Kala, a rare hit in both the Web critic-sphere and actual real life, double-dips on kid vocals. The most prominently huge example, in the gunshot-flavored chorus of signature jam "Paper Planes" notably subverts the typical aw-shucks cutesy nature of children singing. All they wanna do is blam-blam-blam and uh, take your money, you know. You can think that's adorable on record, but it's still a little fucked up. Taken to its extreme when soundtracking the abject poverty fantasia of 2008's Slumdog Millionaire, it gains another couple layers of problematic queasiness. But hey, if this is a party and not a sociology class, it's still one of the best tracks of the decade. Kala's second try, featuring a gang of rapping aborigine lost boys (the Wilcannie Mob, they're called) in "Mango Pickle Down River" is far less heady, and objectively worse. Instead of attaching cuteness to violence and dread, it just stays at adorable. A spoonful of medicine helps the sugar go down, I guess.

Langley Schools Music Project: VH1 Special (portion)

Langley Schools Music Project - "Space Oddity"
Langley Schools Music Project - "Rhiannon"

One of the most famous instances of a maestro conducting young tykes toward pop immortality is the work of Canadian music teacher Hans Fenger. As music teacher for the Langley School in British Columbia in the late ‘70s, the anonymous work he did directing and arranging the performances of his young charges is perhaps the most critically lauded instance of kids doing pop songs ever. The amateurish, guileless thrills of these school gym-recorded cover versions, rereleased under the title Innocence and Despair in 2001, again lie in the juxtaposition of adult themes and non-adult voices. Even Bowie had to tip his hit to their completely bonkers take on his first big hit, “Space Oddity.” Their spacey loneliness is swell, and so is the shouting enthusiasm on bits innocuous as the countdown to liftoff. More often, though, the record falls back on the basic “a kid shouldn’t be singing this” trope. Sub in a few twenty-somethings at an open mic night, and even Fenger’s charmingly spare arrangement for Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” wouldn’t have made it very notable. But there’s something about all those blank waifs, singing “wouldn’t you love to love her…” in Stevie Nicks’ knowing manner, that endures.

Ricky Wilde - "I Am an Astronaut"

The still prevalent archetype of parents living out their lost glory through their offspring has certainly reached the music world as well. By 1972, sturdy ‘50s rocker Marty Wilde had no reasonable prospects for further success in the cod-pieced, glitter-eyed glam scene of the British charts. But he did have progeny to work through, and an ear for the sparkly zeitgeist of the times. The result is the minor hit “I am an Astronaut,” in which young Ricky Wilde’s Our Gang-worthy gravel voice plays wonderfully off of twinkling Hunky Dory pianos and a playful glam stomp. As delightful as the track is, it’s hard to see it as anything but a cynical ghost-write. I shudder to think at what sort of trouble modern 11-year-olds get up to, but I think it’s safe to say that even in ’72, they were probably a bit past crawling around the house, pretending to be polar bears. It remains a fun little novelty, though. Once past Tiger Beat suitability himself, Ricky recaptured a bit of his pre-teen glory vicariously through his little sister Kim, as producer and co-writer of her 1981 new wave classic, “Kids in America.”

Chandra - "Kate"

On paper, Chandra Oppenheim’s mostly forgotten 1980 song “Kate” would seem to be just as inherently phony as Ricky’s dad’s imagineering. The daughter of successful New York City artist, Dennis Oppenheim, the 11-year-old Chandra had easy access to the thriving musical cross-pollination that defined the wasteland Lower East Side of her childhood. When set up with two established post-punk musicians (who had been gigging around town as “The Dance”) to record, she might have been merely a prop in another high-concept performance art experiment. What makes “Kate” feel more authentic is that, while the angsty throb of the music is a bit beyond her, the actual angst that’s articulated couldn’t feel more age-appropriate. Anyone who has been, or known, a pre-teen girl can recognize that the song’s first bitter lines (and repeated mantra), “There’s a girl named Kate, and she thinks she’s really great. But she’s not…” is much more documentary than make-believe. It’s rare, and perhaps even unique, that a kid in a manufactured pop project has been allowed to realistically express such un-cute sentiments as jealousy and resentment. And it’s not that our gal is trying on these grown-up emotions for show, so much as she’s running with the feelings she’s confusingly developing. If someone older had tried to put these words in her mouth, they most certainly would have fallen flat for distance and nostalgia. As it stands, this is probably the closest anyone can get to honest-to-God “Pop Art,” as produced by an actual child.”

Angie (w/ Pete Townshend) - "Peppermint Lump"

Any cursory analysis of the foregoing songs makes it clear that the majority of them feature the voices of English kids. It’s tempting to say that English accents just sound extra lovely, or maybe it’s that English artists find the kids voices more alluring than do their American counterparts. In any case, the Brits seem to have made this a pet genre, and my two favorites, both extremely British, feature not a kid’s chorus but simply the sound of one child’s voice. They attain greatness because these untrained singers imbue their respective songs with a secret ingredient, their voices serving a far greater function than mere ornamentation. “Peppermint Lump” is an oddball single released on Stiff Records 1979 and credited to Angie with Pete Townshend. Over a tape-delayed piano loop, in a simple almost-spoken manner, the young singer relates the rather humdrum existence of her dad, a minicab driver who drives her to school. Angie sings a plaintive melody that sounds like something a kid could have made up, but Townshend takes over on the chorus, where we feel the crunch of power chords. Along with Angie’s vocals, Townshend’s brief but stinging lead lines, the schoolyard sound effects and the divine Who-ish fadeout imbue “Peppermint Lump” with a genuine, and unexpected, poignancy and grace. And then there is “Dear God,” the song that briefly pushed XTC into the consciousness of America and its native England. The band clearly didn’t see the potential in it; initially “Dear God” was just a B-side and wasn’t even included on Skylarking until it began gaining interest and some airplay on college radio. Though in some ways typical of mid-period XTC—a sumptuous melody, Beatle-esque production touches and literate, lacerating lyrics—“Dear God” broke the mold, with its first verse and coda sung by eight-year-old Jasmine Veillette. The daughter of a friend of Todd Rundgren’s, who produced Skylarking, Ms. Veilette’s straightforward but stirring vocal turn adds the right touch of urgency and innocence to a pointed song that takes just about three minutes to lay out a more succinct case for atheism than Bill Maher or Christopher Hitchens could ever dream of making.

XTC - "Dear God"

Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 10.5.2009 - 10.11.2009

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:30:53 -0500

[Gil Scott Heron]

Monday October 5
Yatagarasu w/ Spellcaster @ Rhinoceropolis
Daedelus w/ DJ Musa Bailey @ Bluebird Theater
The Postmarks w/ Brookville @ Hi-Dive
Margaret Cho @ Fox Theatre
The Accused w/ Speedwolf @ Marquis Theater

Tuesday October 6
Secondhand Serenade w/ Evan Taubenfeld @ Gothic Theatre
Federico Aubele w/ DePedro @ Bluebird Theater
Doug Benson w/ Graham Elwood @ Larimer Lounge
Sian Alice Group w/ Gangcharger @ Hi-Dive
Juliette Lewis @ Fox Theatre
Postmarks & Brookville w/ Jungle Bums @ b. side lounge
Mac Lethal w/ DJ Sku @ Marquis Theater
The Intelligence w/ the Don'ts @ Meadowlark
It Dies Today w/ Arsonists Get All the Girls @ The Black Sheep
Gordon Lightfoot @ Macky Auditorium (CU)

Wednesday October 7
(Poor Boyz Triple Threat Tour) @ Gothic Theatre
LTJ Bukem @ Fox Theatre
Roster McCabe w/ the Springdale Quartet, the Fox Street All Stars @ b. side lounge
Fear Before w/ the Color of Violence @ Marquis Theater
Vox Humana w/ the Guilt Complex @ Herman's Hideaway
Laura Meyer w/ Abraham @ Meadowlark

Thursday October 8
Brand New w/ Manchester Orchestra @ Fillmore Auditorium
FInal Formula w/ Stronger Kills @ Bluebird Theater
Man the Guns w/ Scram @ Larimer Lounge
CD Release: TIme w/ Whygee, more @ Hi-Dive
Masta Ace & Fresh Breath Committee @ Fox Theatre
Kelli Rudick w/ Gloam @ b. side lounge
Gregory Greer @ Swallow Hill
Souls of Mischief w/ Strong Arm Steady @ Marquis Theater
Gritt Hitter w/ Quitters Anonymous @ Herman's Hideaway
Night Owl w/ Tall City @ Lion's Lair
The Build-Up w/ Ivory Drive @ Meadowlark
All Shall Perish w/ Caliban @ The Black Sheep
Lyle Lovette w/ John Hiatt @ Macky Auditorium (CU)

Friday October 9
Snow Patrol @ Fillmore Auditorium
Slim Cessna's Auto Club w/ Drag the River @ Oriental Theater
Butthole Surfers w/ Psychic Ills @ Ogden Theatre
KMFDM w/ Anglespit @ Gothic Theatre
Why? w/ Au, Dark Dark Dark @ Bluebird Theater
The Noise Boys w/ The Bricks @ Larimer Lounge
The Chain Gang of 1974 w/ Jonathan @ Hi-Dive
Chris Smither w/ Jeffrey Foucault @ Swallow Hill
Kylesa w/ Saviours, Red Fang @ Marquis Theater
Danielle Ate the Sandwich w/ Benyaro @ Walnut Room
Hot Buttered Rum @ Fox Theatre
Casual Sinners w/ the Foot @ b. side lounge
The Best Response w/ At the Forefront @ Herman's Hideaway
Little Fyoder & Babushka @ Lion's Lair
Soulfly w/ Prong @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
Souls of Mischief w/ Strong Arm Steady @ The Black Sheep

Saturday October 10
Adult Swim Presents: Metalocalypse's Dethklok, Mastodon, more @ Fillmore Auditorium
Yo La Tengo w/ Cheap Time @ Ogden Theatre
Marcy Playground w/ Savage Henry @ Gothic Theatre
Shaky Hands w/ The Jim Jims @ Larimer Lounge
The Subjects w/ Bad Veins, the Titan Courageous @ Hi-Dive
Suzy Bogguss @ Swallow Hill
Jeffrey Foucault w/ Danny Shafer @ Swallow Hill
Random Hero w/ Fulcrum @ Marquis Theater
Gil Scott Heron w/ the Amnesia Express @ b. side lounge
BoDeans @ Boulder Theater
Hot Buttered Rum @ Fox Theatre
Jolie Holland w/ Matt Bauer @ Walnut Room
Buckner Funken Jazz w/ Jazz Del Barrio @ Herman's Hideaway
Snake Mountain w/ Powerpop @ Lion's Lair
Laura Goldhamer w/ Harpoontang @ Meadowlark
Despised Icon w/ Through the Eyes of the Dead @ The Black Sheep

Sunday October 11
The Used @ Fillmore Auditorium
Thomas Function w/ Yussuf Jerusalem @ Larimer Lounge
Dr. Dog @ Fox Theatre