Naive Harmonies

Fine Tune Friday in the front row and singing

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:55:48 PDT

Iron & Wine, "Kingdom of the Animals" (2009)

find it on Around The Well

There's a distinction to Sam Beam's (aka Mr. Iron & Wine) sound that is can start to drone after just a few songs. "What's this?", you think. "More quiet plucked acoustic guitar with whisper-sung vocals?" It's starts to all blend together after a while.

But the funny thing about his stuff is that after it's all blended together, it starts to separate again after a few listenings. The individual melodies harden and the production seasonings start to give each song a distinct flavor.

All a roundabout way of saying that "Kingdom of the Animals" at first faded into the quietly-plucked, whisper-sung wallpaper of the odds-and-ends collection Around The Well, until round about when the iTunes play counter hit four and it was suddenly clear that this song is freaking gorgeous. It seems carefully considered and rambling at the same time, and is a song about discord wrapped in the sound of contentment. Beautiful.

Leave your Fine Tune Friday at home

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:57:07 PDT

If you read Troy's 4-caws review of Florence & The Machine over at Kindness of Ravens, then you're probably already as struck by it as I was, but when a song gets repeated as much as "Dog Days Are Over" has in the last 24 hours, there's no point pretending that anything else is my song of the week. And Troy's great writing means I get to phone this one in.

Florence & The Machine, "Dog Days Are Over" (2009)

get it on Lungs

It's pretty often that I retch over a white British woman wishing she was a black American soul singer, and it's almost as often that I completely forgive the charade when the songs transcend any of the singer's wishes to be someone else.

So, yeah...file under Amy Winehouse. But it's the sheer intensity of this song's chorus that makes it just an irresistible repeater. While the mandolin and harp textures are a great touch, this song would have had a better life as a disco burner a la "Don't Leave Me This Way" instead of with the hard drums. Maybe someone will remix it.

I don't know why I'm complaining, though. This song is a stunner. The insistence of its sound is an insistence to replay, something I've been more than happy to comply with.

Summertime Clothes: mix for the summer of '09

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:39:36 PDT

The romance of the summer song is too great to ever let go, even though I'm not often in the kind of places where ordinary songs turn into definitions of one season of one year. But it's still in me to look for those shared experiences and cultural touchstones, even if I'm not sharing or touching them.

With that, here's the twelve songs that, if I were writing the world, would be the songs that remind everyone of the summer of '09 as much as they will me.

You song(s) of this summer? That's what God invented comments for.

(download all of the songs here)

Animal Collective, "Summertime Clothes"
Do you live in an alternate universe? Lucky, because there, "Summertime Clothes" is THE song of the summer, with it getting played so much in so many places that everyone's sick of it, but it has enough hold to be a classic for years. In this world, it's just stuck in a purgatory of indie love/hate, assumed to be known by everyone and not known by enough. Anyway...it's perfect.

Phoenix, "Lisztomania"
As summer a song as they come.

Beck, "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"
Beck soundtracked your street swagger years ago with "E-Pro" and even "Devil's Haircut", but now he reworks a Dylan song into the soundtrack for the start of a roadtrip, those precious moments when you're still glad to be in the car and aren't sick of everyone else you're roadtripping with.

Mos Def, "Quiet Dog"
In that alternate summer universe that Animal Collective rule, this is the song that rules the sweaty dance clubs, where the floor goes from throbbing to exploding.

Dirty Projectors, "Stillness Is The Move"
A song that's as intense as it is dreamy sounds impossible, and yet...here it is. The chorus melody is like putting butter on sugar cake.

Of Montreal, "First Time High (reconstructionist remix of "An Eluardian Instance")"
A wistful summer vibe is easy for a song that mentions "our last summer of independence", but when a sound matches up with the words, it's some kind of magic.

Camera Obscura, "French Navy"
Forget for a moment that "French Navy" hits on all sorts of tweepop stereotypes, but with convergences of line and melody as blissful as "we met by the moon and the silvery lake, you came my way", they can suck their teddy bears' thumbs for all I care.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, "Inspiration Information"
Trust me: the hot, tight brass of this Shuggie Otis cover makes any sweltering heat feel like the refreshing cool of all the best beer commercials. Speaking of, can you grab me a beer while you're up?

Vetiver, "More Of This"
I never ride a bike, so why does this song remind me of riding a bike in the welcome hot of a summer weekend day? I blame the magic of chill pop hooks.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "I Am Goodbye"
Country, alt-country, Americana...whatever you want to call it, the constant is this: you can sing it when you're blitzed drunk.

Iron & Wine, "The Trapeze Swinger"
It's a long song, but you're sitting on that dock with the fireflies and a cooler of beer and your supposed best friend--and ride home--heading off to the woods with the girl you just spent two hours chatting up. You're not going anywhere for a while. Enjoy.

The Decemberists, "Isn't It A Lovely Night"
Instant pop song success: title a song with a phrase that fits an often occasion. Why yes...it is a lovely night. Thanks a lot, assholes.

There is nothing Fine Tune Friday can't do

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:33:00 PDT

Dirty Projectors, "Stillness Is The Move" (2009)

get it on Bitte Orca

Dirty Projector's aimless quirk generally misses me, but "Stillness Is The Move" hits the target...and then makes it explode in a slow-motion action movie kind of way. The stride of the chorus is as luxurious a melody line as you could hope to hear as their Talking Heads worship gives way to Tom Tom Club worship. The complex catchiness of this treads that exciting line of being just pop enough to be a hit, but just odd enough so that everyone would think it was completely unexpected if it was.

Add to all of that the lush keyboards coming in at the end, and you start to understand why the singers got excited enough by the song when we saw them a few weeks ago to get their microphones off the stands and dance around stage, breaking the cool they'd kept up to that point.

I should also mention that I first heard this song when Limo mailed it to me. I got in trouble the last time I didn't give him credit.

Fine Tune Friday thanks you for a lovely evening

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:48:07 PDT

Dance music is like action movies: the elements of greatness seem so simple, and yet, even though there's plenty of people doing it enjoyably, there's precious few who can really nail them perfectly.

The Juan MacLean, "No Time" (2009)

find it on The Future Will Come

The Juan Maclean are (is?) kind of a frustration. For every near-perfect indie disco single like "Give Me Every Little Thing" or "Happy House", there's two or three plodding piano pieces or electronic fuck-arounds.

"No Time" doesn't approach the genius of the other singles, but it still scratches the dancefloor and pop itches real good like. John Maclean and Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystems keyboardist) give this song their best "Don't You Want Me" polish and never let up the beat, but it is--like every other good dance pop songs--the quick stabs of hooks that keep it going: "Shut your mouth" and the sublime cheesiness of "Everybody need loving". The now-standard tambourine and woozy synth climax don't hurt either.

(see also: Fine Tune Friday playlist on Lala)

Sent shivers up your Fine Tune Friday

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 05:15:45 PDT

An unhealthy obsession with my own personal history, my little song-of-the-week project and lala.com all collide with the Fine Tune Friday Lala playlist. You may not be able to hear all of them in their entirety, but you can spend hours of time with my immaculate taste in music.

This week's:

Pink Mountaintops, "Vampire" (2009)

find it on Outside Love

What better way to end a week of shitty weather that puts everyone in a bad mood than another day of shitty weather that keeps everyone in a bad mood? The perfect antidote is a knee-buckling slice of gorgeousness, a true moment song custom made for headphones, where you don't even regret the subsequent tinnitus.

The grey moods of the early song give way to pure beauty at 2:54, where the lush peak turns your feelings of the song's theme from Twilight to Let The Right One In. I've listened to this song 7 times in a row, and when it starts up again, I can't stop it. This song will drive legions to the vampire recruiting offices in strip malls the world over.

Fine Tune Friday would like to request a late pass

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:47:30 PDT

I love it when bands deliver on hype or promise. It was fun in the eighties to see bands like U2, REM, The Cure and Depeche Mode get to a point in their career where they were huge, but they just needed to come up with that one album with a handful of songs that climbed up the charts and took them from popular to superstars, to come up with those right songs at exactly the right time.

It still happens now, but on a much smaller level. Animal Collective and TV On The Radio didn't become superstars, but they were still able to take their signature sounds and find the people who wanted the style with a little less quirk. It's that thrill of watching a band honing their sound to something that you know they love and makes more people see the brilliance of their work.

Grizzly Bear, "While You Wait For the Others" (2009)

find it on Veckatimest

I always liked Grizzly Bear okay, but none of the songs connected with me for longer than the song. But this song's hit was immediate and lasting. The trade off between the swooning leads and the lush harmonies of the backing vocals in the chorus are about as knee-buckling a musical moment as I've had in a long while, and it's only heightened by the middle bit that echoes the chorus's harmonizing with even more decadence, as though the band couldn't resist going back for more, diving all the way in. The stabs of guitar add a perfect sour to the melody's sweet and you end up with one of the most divine songs of the year.

I'll be at the show at the 930 tomorrow (thanks, Christian). Anyone else?

Note: posted late thanks to Friday train riding and Saturday heavy drinking.

Neva Gottz Ask

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:18:54 PDT

Brilliant George Michaels sample. Saturday morning coffee spin'age. These mash ups never get old. I feel like Jay Z is the most remixable artist alive.

Lil Wayne Feat. Kanye West, T.I. & Jay-Z, 'U Ain’t Neva Gottz Ask' (2009)
download mp3

Some guy is mentioning Fine Tune Friday in his prayers

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:49:38 PDT

I try to reserve this weekly spot for something new, but I have to be true to the tune that moved me the most that week. And there is no question that this was it.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!" (2008)

find it on Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!

A friend of mine has a favorite question: what strikes you most when you first hear a song, the music or the lyrics? I'm a music man, but only because lyrics take longer to unearth. But when the words are gems, they can end up creating hooks that are more haunting than any melody.

And this is where I've found myself in the last two weeks with "Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!": haunted. I've been an insane man for it the last couple of weeks, with lines just on the tip of my tongue, and only a tenuous hold on social normality keeping them repeated in my head instead of muttered out loud.

I'm in awe and envy of Nick Cave's blunt language. I'm usually attracted to puns and bittersweetness, not the crude force of words like Cave's, where the world is being grabbed at instead of requested.

Lazarus, 0:35: He came from New York City, man, but he couldn't take the pace. He thought it was like a dog-eat-dog world. But he went to San Francisco, spent a year in outer space with sweet little San Franciscan girl.

...where "sweet" sounds so sleazy. There's no grasping for description here. The girl is San Franciscan, and the old-fashioned cliche of "dog-eat-dog" is fine for describing New York.

Larry may be Christ, or maybe not. Maybe this is the second coming or a fact-finding mission or maybe it's just some guy. The whole song is both hinted and blatant, treading the waters of complete blasphemy and then diving deep without anyone really knowing what the hell's going on.

Lazarus, 2:38: I mean, he...he never asked to be raised up from the tomb. I mean, nobody really ever actually asked him to forsake his dreams.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, fame finally found him.

I'm addicted to those words. Completely addicted. A maybe-Christ totally losing hold in a blame game, followed shortly by fame, followed immediately by complete ruin.

And through all of it, in the one moment that strays from the main riff, the one part that dares to introduce a chord change, there's the line that takes the non-commitment of agnosticism and delivers it with the fire of complete conviction:

Well, I don't know what it is, but there's definitely something going on upstairs.

Amen.

Get your body movin'

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:02:17 PDT

Yeasayer + Yeah Yeah Yeahs + TV On The Radio = Suckers.

Their sound is kind of like a Dum Dum...enjoyable, yet diminishing returns.

New EP here.

Suckers, 'It Gets Your Body Movin'' (2009)
download mp3

Fine Tune Friday is a liar, and that's the truth

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:09:33 PDT

St. Vincent, "Actor Out Of Work" (2009)

find it on Actor

As someone who constantly cranks on and on about creative rhythms, it's a little embarrassing to admit that my favorite track on the St. Vincent album is the most straightforward: a catchy tune with a driving beat than never lets up. It's not very representative of the record, which is full of crackpot-genius arrangements and more lilting vocals.

But maybe that's exactly it: there's nothing wrong with a good, driving R!O!C!K! beat as long as it clearly comes from a mind that's looking for the best rhythm, rather than just the easiest, as is so often the case the with standard rock 'n' roll.

Requiem for The Lucksmiths

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:48:59 PDT

It was hard to imagine the breakup of a band deeply affecting me anymore, but I don't have to imagine it now: I'm feeling too-real heartbreak over The Lucksmiths breaking up.

I have a lot of my life wrapped up in the songs of The Lucksmiths. From the first time I heard them on my friend Christian's recommendation, I found a true musical friend in this band who could see the thrilling happiness of life just as clearly as the inevitable sadness, making jokes and puns even at the most frustrating and difficult times.

Past loves and life changes are all over the music of The Lucksmiths. Ever house or apartment I've lived in since 1998 can be brought back by at least one song in their discography. One of the greatest regrets of my life--passing up the chance to play guitar in a band that was touring with them--is there in the notes of their songs.

I saw them live four times, and yet the one time that springs to mind is the last time they were in DC, when I was too hungover and exhausted to stick around for the show.

It would be perfect to be able to make a clever joke or pun at this point to honor the memory of a great band that was so funny and charming while also being beautifully sad, but I just can't think of anything funny at the moment. So, like a true indiepop fan, I'll let a mix fill in for my feelings.

"Requiem For the Punter's Club"
"Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows you're drunk."

"Untidy Towns"
One of the perfect Lucksmiths songs: bittersweet wordplay ("given time, I could get tired of all this sleeping, the days I've thrown away and the hours I am keeping") combine with a great melody, and touches of backing vocals and piano. The starting point for anyone unfamiliar.

"Under The Rotunda"
The first Lucksmiths song I ever heard. Full of puns and innocent love, it is, in retrospect, the sound of the last of the early days of the Lucksmiths.

"Midweek Midmorning"
The standard Lucksmiths sound, with that kind of heartlifting moment they could give up so effortlessly: "You beside and bluer skies above me...spring fashion week and don't we both look lovely."

"The Fog of Trujillo"
Mark Monnone's songs were always brighter than Marty Donald's bittersweet, and even though Marty's songs always spoke to me more clearly, Mark's songs were the perfect "should have been hits" indiepop catchiness.

"I Started A Joke"
One of the best things about the Lucksmiths as they went on was to hear how Tali White refuse to be just a good singer, and by 2008's b-sides and rarities comp Spring A Leak, he'd turned into one of the best male vocalists around. I know this will be blasphemy to a lot of people, but Tali's turn in this song makes this cover stomp all over the Bee Gee's original.

"Fear of Rollercoasters"
2001's Why That Doesn't Surprise Me was a big turning point for the Lucksmiths. Tali started using a floor tom along with his snare drum, which seems like a small move, but it had a big effect on the sound of the Lucksmiths. Marty started playing around with more robust and unusual song arrangements, and there was a lot more instrumentation. When it first came out, I missed the sparse sound of their earlier work, but it didn't take too long to realize that this was the moment when they turned from a good indiepop band to a great one that defined everything good about the style while keeping every bit of the charm.

"T-Shirt Weather"
If there was any justice in this world (note: there is no justice in this world), this would have been a massive hit. Mark at his peak.

"The Music Next Door"
In some ways, I wish that the Lucksmiths had seen out their career with Warmer Corners. This song--the jewel of that album, my favorite of theirs--defines the later period Lucksmiths in the way that "Untidy Towns" defines the early. A sad song of unsure friendship, it's made by the "ba-ba-ba"s melting into the horn line. It's almost too much.

"Frisbee"
The charm of their early years. Even puns as corny as "I still have the alarm clock that you bought me for my birthday...there's no present like the time" sound charming from them and it never fails to cheer me.

"The Year of Driving Langorously"
I have too much life and love woven into this song. The pun title betrays a song of total uncertainty and unraveling relationships. It's incredibly hard to listen to this song, but I do anyway.

"We drive, time flies." Bye, Lucksmiths. I'll miss you.

Fur or fowl or Fine Tune Friday

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:07:28 PDT

Aw, I've been a little harsh on 2009. Poor little guy. Never meant to hurt anyone. Just because he hasn't taken music a step forward doesn't mean he doesn't have plenty of good listens in him. Yeah, Camera Obscura and Neko Case have given more of the same, but didn't we like the same? We did.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "I Am Goodbye" (2009)

get it on Beware

Billy's new record Beware is stingier with the moments of knee-buckling beauty that last year's Lie Down In The Light was packed with, but with this song, it brings the hooks that even Light's oral sex hymn "So Everyone" can't touch. It's lyrically sparse (unusual for BPB) and begging for the type of "someone get a guitar and lets sing along" singalong that everyone dismisses as corny but secretly desperately wants.

NEW THE FIELD

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:49:53 PDT

The Field, 'The More That I Do' (2009)
download mp3

Fine Tune Friday is going on a date tonight

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:39:58 PDT

I have a big fat songload of springtime to dump on you, but then the weather in DC decided to be a cloudy, drizzly jerk. If the weather's nicer where you are, this song will sound perfect, but if you're in DC or are in weather that's doing an imitation of today's DC weather, then save this song up for later.

Stupid weather. I don't know why the scientists keep making it.

Camera Obscura, "The Sweetest Thing" (2009)

get it on My Maudlin Career

I love it when songs review themselves. "The Sweetest Thing" is exactly that. Who cares if it's so similar to their last record that you can sing the lyrics of the title track to the intro...it's about as heart-warming a song as you could hear, a perfect slice of Everything's Gonna Be Alright, even as the story of the lyrics tell you that things are certainly not gonna be alright for the characters involved. In spite of its sour story, I want to take this song out to a sunny park and make out with it in front of everybody.

BIG CITY OF GLINTZ

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:21:15 PDT

Swine flu'n _ Brooklyn move'n _ Facial sploog'n

Outputmessage, 'Glintz' (2006)

Fine Tune Friday follows me everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:22:53 PDT

It's easy to have a love/hate relationship with the singer-songwriter stuff. On one hand is the craft of the simple song, but on the other, singer-songwriters are a breeding ground for gratuitous backing tracks: dolt-simple drums and bass lines. So when something gets thrown into the singer-songwriter category, I tend to ignore it until someone gives me a good reason to go back to it.

Elvis Perkins in Dearland, "I Heard Your Voice In Dresden" (2009)

go get Elvis Perkins In Dearland

Elvis Perkins' music reminds me of the more creatively presented simple songwriting of the early 90's like Michael Penn or Crowded House. There's no question is the product of A Guy Writing Songs, but not only are the songs strong, but there's the added benefit of this century's production, where there's a reverbed gauze draped over the songs but still enough Real Musicians grit and energy to give it a tangible feel.

"I Heard Your Voice In Dresden" has lessons learned from Neutral Milk Hotel, but without being as unhinged. The combination of a meandering arrangement with an excitable insistence makes even the slightly-trite exclamation of "glory glory hallelujah" sounds as impassioned as it's meant to.

Oh, and if don't know Elvis Perkins's background, you need to go read it. So fascinating and tragic that it's almost hard to believe.

A little bit of knowledge will destroy you

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:18:23 PDT

Been digging through old Radiohead b-sides...its amazing how much quality music was deemed 'not album worthy' by the group over the years. 'Cuttooth' is probably one of my favorite RH tracks. Its a b-side off of Kid A, and upon listening, it is obvious why it was cut. Heavy on the guitars/piano/set drums...though, at times it feels like it could have been recorded at any phase of the band's 15 year career.

Patented Radiohead Orwellian Paranoia:

'As the tanks roll into town
A little bit of knowledge will destroy you'

Radiohead, 'Cuttooth' (2001)
download mp3

Fine Tune Friday was a foreigner when you appeared

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:18:57 PDT

Of Montreal is one of the few bands whose changes you can track through its song titles. In their early, kazoo-laden bedroom pop days, the titles were twee but lucid, but as the career went on, the titles got more bizarre and impenetrable, advertising the darker sides of life that Kevin Barnes had seen. They went from "Springtime Is the Season" in 1997 to "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" in 2007; from "One Of A Very Few Of A Kind" in 1998 to "Triphallus, To Punctuate!" in 2008.

Of Montreal, "First Time High (A Reconstructionist Remix of "An Eluardian Instance")" (2009)

get it on the Jon Brion Remix EP

"First Time High" is one of the most brilliant editing jobs in history, or at least one of the few where we can actually see the before-and-after. The actual changes made are minimal, but the new song title acknowledges what the difference between the oblique and muddled original and the clarity of the reconstructed version.

The polish that Brion gives the song brings out the irresistible hook of the chorus, the contrast of the nostalgia of youth ("Do you remember? Our last summer as independents?") with the a relatively benign but still confusing and frustrating life of an adult ("I asked your friend if you were available, she answered, 'no, but yes, oh well oh well, yes and no,'"). The beauty and pure pop craft of this song was hid in Skeletal Lamping's scattered presentation, and this new version may lose the novel approach, but it's a better song in its more basic form.

I only wish Brion had redone the whole album, or at least take the middle part (0:50 - 1:50) of "Women's Studies Victims" and turn it into the dance floor electroclash raver that it's dying to be.

BONUS TRACK: Of Montreal, "Women's Studies Victims" (2008)

get it on Skeletal Lamping

Funny that the man who, a decade ago, sang "I will be a good boy and never tell you the bad things that I think about, the nasty little things I'll keep them to myself", now sings, "I took her standing in the kitchen, ass against the sink."

Saturday subs for Fine Tune Friday, who couldn't be bothered

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:12:49 PDT

Around this time last year, I was busy comparing 2008 to 2007 counting it didn't size up. Now I want 2008 back. It's not that 2009 has been a terrible year in music, but it's felt really pedestrian: lots of albums that are fine listens but nothing noteworthy. My two favorite listens lately are albums that were released in 2008, but I just didn't get around to: Nick Cave's Dig! Lazarus, Dig! and the self-titled album by Friendly Fires. Otherwise, it's been a meh year.

And so, as a protest noted by no one but me, I'm putting forward a lukewarm like on Saturday, because it's just not quite good enough for Friday.

Neko Case, "Red Tide" (2009)

get Middle Cyclone

Neko Case has become infuriating to me. After creating the "this is what country music should sound like" Furnace Room Lullaby in 2000 and then following it with Blacklisted, a spotty record that still contained some brilliant moments and one of my alltime favorite songs in "Deep Red Bells", she's gone a little wonky. Her last record and her new one could be flattered as, say, "patchwork quilts" or as exploring song structure, but they sound to me like unfinished works: moments of brilliant descriptive wordplay forced onto afterthought music and trotting out the same few melodic ideas over and over.

"Red Tide" is an odd song: when I play it at a quiet volume, it catches my ear and I think it's pretty good, but louder volumes don't bring out any depths of the song. It's a brooding song that kind of motors along with the vibe of a good song and it's a pleasant enough listen, but it still feels undercooked, and by the time it's over, I'm more in the mood to listen to something else.

March mix: We Call Upon The Author

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:31:46 PDT

Remember when I said I probably wouldn't use mixtape.me regularly? Apparently, I lied. Or rather, I spoke without yet having the Truth. And the Truth is that there really aren't any better tools for creating full mixes, which I now plan to do on a regular basis. But then again, that could be a lie, too. You just never know.

But let's live the lie for a little while. I'm hoping to do a weekly mix to re-find that fun of building and planning mixes. Some of them will be themed, like the amusement park, but without the disgusting blue water from the flume ride that made you stick to the car seats on the way home, and some of them--like today's--will just be the best of what I've listened to for the month.

So plug in the headphones or crank up the Airfoil and listen on in to my favorites for March:

Dan Deacon, "Build Voice"
As uncreatively titled as most of the songs on Bromst are, they're still fantastic slices of true musical craft, meticulously arranged with no loss of thrill. Note: give this one about a minute to start up.

Phoenix, "1901"
The same type of note-perfect craft that Dan Deacon has, with more of an eye on the pop. In other words, a lot more fun.

Estelle feat Kanye West, "American Boy"
A gem from last calendar year, this got stuck in my head for a full day on my vacation a couple of weeks ago. You have to give the head what it wants. It knows things about you.

Beck, "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat"
Now THIS...is how you do a Dylan cover: by not trying to sound like Dylan. A raver.

Mclusky, "To Hell With Good Intentions"
In short order, this has become the standard for volume music to me. The muted strings at the breaks is the sound of adrenaline.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, "We Call Upon The Author"
Next to Friendly Fires, Dig, Lazarus Dig is the album I most need a 2008 late pass for. This album absolutely defines badass.

P.O.S., "Goodbye"
P.O.S.'s "Never Better" has been one of my favorite listens of the last few weeks. His lyrics may force the politics a little too much, but the hooks are strong enough to not worry to much about that.

U2, "No Line On The Horizon"
Bono actually sounds old on this track, but for some reason, that's a comfort for me. Maybe it's because this song is the most genuine he's sounded in years. Meanwhile, Larry Mullen plays the same beat he's been phoning in since 1991. Which is what it is.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "I Am Goodbye"
Beware isn't hitting my swoon buttons like Lie Down In The Light did (yet), but it's the same high quality that I think Will Oldham isn't capable of not creating.

Vetiver, "More Of This"
Endlessly lovely, leading to endless listens.

Camera Obscura, "My Maudlin Career"
I'm almost a little nervous to read the lyrics to this song. If the true meaning of this song is as melancholy as I think it is...I just don't want to know.

Time waits for no Fine Tune Friday

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:49:48 PDT

I love the stories of the people in loud bands who give up a career in volume for an acoustic guitar and careful arrangements. It usually takes a little time for them to make the transition, but the comfort of the quiet usually comes. It seems to be a relatively recent trend and it's a welcome one: It's a rejection of the rock ideal that once you stop wanting to rock really hard, you need to hang up the guitars. But the spirit of punk wasn't volume: it was doing just what you want and what you feel is right.

Vetiver, "More Of This" (2009)

get Tight Knit

Vetiver's first record was pleasant enough, but it made so little of an impression on me that I didn't even bother checking out their second. My close friend and longtime musical guide Christian encouraged me to check out their new one, and I followed the recommendation to a lovely reward. "More Of This" is a particular joy: the backing vocals folding over on the lead vocals with a thick stew of guitars and a little no-frills pepper of drums. It's breezy but never weak; just a perfect little song that immediately cheers and makes the wait for those beautiful spring days seem even longer.

Sing it

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:54:40 PDT

Last Christmas, I was talking over the songs in the Pitchfork 500 book with my brother-in-law Michael. We went back to Michael's home recording studio and he played me Refused's "New Noise"--which I'd never heard before--out of his perfect studio speakers. The tight noise of the main riff of that song when it hit at 1:07 brought out the familiar feel of excitement that comes with volume.

Refused, "New Noise" (1998)

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About halfway through the song, my eight-year-old nephew wandered back into studio and listened with us. It was a great sight: he seemed almost scared of this awesome noise, but the excitement was there, too. There was a look in his eyes that was familar: awe that music could sound so powerful. I don't know if this will be a defining moment for him or something he won't remember. His dad is a power pop enthusiast with a home studio, so this kid's been familiar with distorted guitars since the day he was born. But I swear that I saw that boyish instinct to loud music come out at that moment, visceral and pure.

There's that part of me that's always desperately wanted volume and excitement. The problem is that so few artists are capable of delivering the goods. Most metal is surprisingly uptight and compressed, the lyrics are pretentious and everything from the band names to the album covers hammer home DEATH BLACK ROTTING DECAY DEATH. Okay. We get it.

Even when you try to turn to reviews of metal, it leads you up the same dead ends. Every metal review uses the same adjectives, only swapping out band names. There's no real description of the music or what makes it stand out, just a bunch of violent adjectives that tell you nothing about what you're in for. It's pounding, slashing, thunderous, wrenching and murderous. In other words, it's metal.

Punk and hardcore are a little more thoughtful, but way too much of it is just spastic and sloppy and nothing more. Sometimes you get to the intersection where thought meets primal emotion, and there you find Fugazi or Refused, but too often it speeds away and you're left behind and figure maybe if no one's going to give you the loud stuff right, you may as well look for something else.

Which is why it's been so exciting to get songs like "New Noise" that I never paid attention to when they were first around because I had dismissed anything tagged "loud" as someone else's music. It's no surprise that it's in a list like the Pitchfork 500, where these songs are alongside indiepop and hip-hop as songs that are just plain great: genres need not apply.

Mclusky, "To Hell With Good Intentions" (2002)

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This song is about as pure loud as it gets, and yet it's still all about the feel, that freeing feel of a shower of volume, of unrestrained thrill. It's joking around with friends and screaming to feel alive, not to pretentiously welcome death. It has a small but sharp hook--sing it!--but it's not a pop hook; it's a hook that's there only because it feels good and right. It's perfect.

Velvet Glam

noreply@blogger.com (limocrazy) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:09:33 PDT

Watched Velvet Goldmine last night. It takes place in the early '70s, just as the glam-rock movement is warming up in the UK, and follows the lives of Brian Slade (a Bowie resemblance) and Kurt Wilde (an Iggy Pop resemblance) as they mold the new genre. The film itself is more of a musical more than anything...borrowing or mimicking songs from Bowie, Eno, Iggy, and others throughout, but is distinctly original in its 'rags to riches' rock tale delivery. Think Citizen Kane meets Boogie Nights, set to music...if that's possible. Aside from a few over dramatic performances from a few axillary roles in the film, I think its one of the better music movies I've seen in awhile.

Non spoiler, a seminal scene in the movie involves the lead actors performing Brian Eno's 'Baby's On Fire' at a concert while the director takes the viewer through a montage highlighting the sex and drug revolution so closely related to the Glam movement. Also, if you ever wanted to see Christian Bale in drag, this is your movie.

Brian Eno, 'Baby's On Fire' (1974)
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Digital Love: making quick mixes with mixtape.me

noreply@blogger.com (areseven) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:24:06 PDT

This morning, one of my friends on Facebook offered up bait that was too juicy to resist. She said that she didn't like the Decemberists, and called on her friends to defend them. And if it isn't clear yet after reading any more than one of my posts, I love defending the music I love.

I rambled on a little bit about how they're hit or miss, but I still felt like it wasn't enough to just describe it. I needed a way to give her (and the other people on the comment thread) a few songs--just enough so they would listen and hear my points. Links to YouTube videos would be restricted and laborious to type in. Muxtape is dead.

Then I remembered a feature I had read about called mixtape.me, and it worked perfectly.

Mixtape.me runs off of the same Seeqpod search that blip.fm and others use, so as long as someone's posted it somewhere on the web, but you can also use any mp3s you've posted anywhere (related post: my guide to hosting mp3s for free).

THE GOOD: While it doesn't replace the late, great Muxtape, it's a definite step up from the other online mix options I've seen. It pulls in lyrics and info on each song from last.fm and LyricsWiki and is easy to create mixtapes really easily and quickly. Dragging and dropping are a snap, as are embedding and linking.

THE BAD: White and gray text on a black background? Come on. What we all loved about Muxtape was it's simplicity. While I might use mixtape.me for some embedding work, the horribly ugly look of it is going to leave it as a tool of occasional convenience rather than something that I'll look to often.

THE SUGGESTED: Besides a cleaner (or at least more customizable) look, it would be nice to have better social control. I don't have any friends yet (I'm areseven if you want to be my first and give this a try), so I guess I can't address the social aspects, but the ability of to find random mixes or recommended music is one of the things that could make this more useful. There's a "Popular songs" option, but it's hard to believe that those are the most popular songs.

Finally, Last.fm support would be great, having full information and comments on the embedded player would be nice, and the ability to put my own Amazon associate ID into the embedded player would be incredible, though a perfectly understandable long shot.