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Friday, March 31, 2006 HIATUS.
I need a break kids. I'm burning the candle at both ends, and the results are half-assedness in everything, including this little blog. I know it's only viewed by an average of 19 people per day (and I love all 19 of you dearly), and so this isn't an earth-shattering announcement. But to those of you who do read this, I would like you to know that I appreciate it, and that this is far from the last you'll hear from me. Thanks for the support and the memories. And a special thank you to all the bands that have truly made my endeavors here worthwhile and electrifying. In the interim, I would ask for no more music submissions/press releases/etc. You can catch my writing up at LOOSE RECORD under the not-so-secret alias of S.L. Weber (which started as a way to see whether people read women differently than men in music journalism and ended up as a funny byline). Loose is where it's at, and, aside from my obvious bias, I turn to them even before OH MY ROCKNESS. Other plugs (some more obvious than others): BROOKLYN VEGANCOOLFERGORILLA VS. BEARMUSIC FOR ROBOTSSAID THE GRAMOPHONESTEREOGUMTODD PSo here's a hug and a kiss until we meet again (which should be sometime around June 2006). And when we do, my hopes are that Like A Rolling Stone will have its own domain name, a podcast, perhaps DJ dates, and most of all, an actual cool factor. But at the very least, I'll be putzing around again, writing up shows and whatnot. Loose until then, and then the glory of Summer '06. A song that wraps up all the sentiment I have for NYC and the bands that reside here (and the added bonus of it being one of my all-time favorite Four Tops songs): Four Tops: Loving You Is Sweeter Than EverBuy it here. Rock Photo: Mick Jagger with the City circa 1970. By © Cecil Beaton. Taken for Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS.  Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl/Someday I'm gonna make her mine/Oh yeah/Someday I'm gonna make her mine-S.
Thursday, March 23, 2006 ALL THE BOYS GO HOME ALONE.
So there weren’t too many shows to report on this week, since almost everything was sold out. But here on in starts the “March Radness”, as OH MY ROCKNESS is calling it. A little preview of things to come for this weekend. Because all the cool kids know that Thursday is the new Friday… Who? LOOKER, THE AFFAIR. What? Looker’s been a favorite band since the inception of L.A.R.S. Their punchy rock has a little bit of ska involved, a little hint of B-52s-esque giddiness. But whatever the conglomeration of genres you’ll find, one thing’s for certain: Looker will make you shake what the good Lord gave you. The Affair is another female-fronted group that I happen to love. Their lead singer has a powerful voice that bops like Cyndi Lauper and can howl like Pat Benatar. The group’s sound is more straight forward pop/rock, but goodness, what great pop/rock it is. Another grade-A dancefest on board. When? Tonight, 3/23 at 9pm. Where? Knitting Factory, Tap Bar, 74 Leonard St. Clams? $8. Company? The Cops. See Me/Hear Me.Looker: Hope & Anchor. [mp3]. [Ed’s note: How fucking GREAT is this?!?]. The Affair MySpace Page.  Who? LOVE IS ALL, CAUSE CO-MOTION. What? Love is All is the blistering rock group from Sweden who are the baby of Kevin of WHAT’S YOUR RUPTURE? records. If you don’t know who he/it are by now…just leave. Go. I’m ashamed of you…no, I kid. Come back, it’s okay. Go to the websites and redeem yourself. Anyways, LIA is…well, they’re kind of odd on first listen. There’s echoing and feeback all over the place, like a highway of sound. The female lead vocals (sensing a trend here?) are not unlike The Flying Lizards, hoppy/boppy with serious filtering, which makes them both incredibly cool and incredibly indecipherable. And the band goes crazy above and below them, doing up some saxophones, piercing guitars, off-beats and what have you. They’re odd. But they’re fucking cool. Cause Co-Motion are amazing live. A-Maze-Ing. I know I haven’t gotten around to that review (so sue me), but let me tell you this: Their show is double the fun of their recordings. They’re incredibly tight live, and their stage energy is unheard of. Their bassist never faces front, preferring to face the speakers and hop up and down, up and down, like a Charles Schultz cartoon gone punk. The lead singer needs no costume to go as Elvis Costello for Halloween next year, but the similarities end there, as his voice is distinctly his own, slightly nasal, very forceful, and very endearing. The guitarist is so surf-rock, it’s ridiculous. He’s the ultimate Big Kahuna, complete with the jeans and tight sweatshirt, and his guitar style matches the era as well, with surf-rock ripples and echoes. And the drummer is phenomenal; he’s really the ring leader, keeping everything on point with his tight skills on a significantly small kit. Point being? Cause Co-Motion are amazing live. Repeated because it bears repeating. Now go seen ‘em! When? Friday, 3/24 at 11:30pm (after the Future of Music Coalition performance! Whadda night!). Where? Knitting Factory, Main Space, 74 Leonard St. Clams? $12. See Me/Hear Me.Love Is All MySpace Page. Cause Co-Motion: Take a Look [mp3]. More show info in a bit, but if you’re impatient with me (as you have the right to be), go here and here for show listings. Also, because it’s a beautiful quasi-spring day, I was in a mood today that only this song can describe. Peaceful, folksy, poetic. Who is it? Well, naturally it’s Ron Wood and Rod Stewart! THE FACES are one of the Great bands, and their album Ooh La La (which featured the title song, which Wes Anderson used at the ending of his film Rushmore. Ooh street cred!) is fantastic backwards and forwards. So ladies and gents, I give you “Glad and Sorry”. The Faces: Glad and Sorry.Rock Photo. Ron Wood. Taken by Henry Diltz in May 1979 for CORBIS. “Ron Wood plays guitar on stage at a New Barbarians show. The New Barbarians were a side project of Keith Richards, Ron Wood(both of the Rolling Stones), and Stanley Clarke, a respected jazz bassist and producer.”  Stuff is gonna bust your brains out, baby/Gonna make you lose your mind-S.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 WE'RE HAVING A HOOTENANNY.
The former SEXY MAGAZINES were featured in an article today in the Washington Square News which chronicled the divorce of the Sexys and the birth of SHINDIG. Favorite quote? Well, of course that would be from my favorite guitarist, Mr. Marc Eskenazi, who describes the sad demise of his band as such:
Ex-guitarist and Harvard University student Marc Eskenazi compared his feelings toward Shindig to a parent’s toward a child after a divorce.
“You still love the kid,” he said, “even if on some level you blame him or her for your divorce.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you speak to the press about your band's breakup.
The full article is here, and oh, be sure to read to the end, where one Ms. Sarah Weber gets the dubious honor of being the only foul-mouth in an article about rock stars. I never realized I had a problem until now...
Rock Photo: Axl Rose. Taken by © Joe Giron in August 1987 in Seattle WA for CORBIS.  I scream you scream/We all scream for her-S.
DEATH CAB FOR FRANZ FERDINAND.
Y’all are going to hate me for saying this, but what the hell: I don’t like Death Cab For Cutie. Let me parse this statement: I don’t really mind their music, and some of Transatlanticism I liked. But I don’t have the “who’s got spirit, yes we do” fanaticism about them, and am kind of puzzled by the mantle upon which they’ve been put. FRANZ FERDINAND, on the other hand…I mean, there’s no parsing needed. If you haven’t been to one of their live shows by now, I can’t really help you out too much. But now you have an opportunity to see the Scottish Kings of Rock n’ Roll duel with the mopey princes of indie rock. They’re coming to the Hammerstein Ballroom on the 13th and 14th of April. Tickets are, according to Ticketmaster, sold out. But eBay is always a great alternative to scalping. Hell, I’d donate an appendage to see this one…maybe. Franz Ferdinand: Van Tango Live at the Glastonbury Festival in 2004 [Video]. Death Cab For Cutie: Directions [Video]. *I’ll have to admit that this is a great idea: have a video for every song on the album done by innovative directors. I’ll give you boys that one.
DON’T TREAD ON ME.
PS: I have a little bone to pick with YouTube. I think it’s a genius idea, but let’s be frank: No one wants to sign on to watch Joe Schmoe do air guitar to Poison in his dorm room. No, it could be a staggeringly great tool used to spread the wealth of old TV shows, rare live performances, music videos, etc etc and beyond etc. But copyright infringement is breathing down everybody’s necks, and so we have situations like mine where the account got cancelled because I decided to share the wealth of cool music performances I have (like The Who one that everybody loved). Don’t get me started on copyrights, I think they’ve been one of the most abused and originally fantastic ideas since the First Amendment. Instead, let me give you a brief quote from Siva Vaidhyanathan, the author of Copyrights and Copywrongs, who is a brilliant man and also a great professor at NYU:
“The framers of the U.S. Constitution instructed Congress to develop a statute that would grant an incentive for authors and scientists to create and explore…”
“It is essential to understand that copyright in the American tradition was not meant to be a ‘property right’ as the public generally understands property.”
“Lately, as a result of schools of legal thought that aim to protect ‘property’ at all costs and see nothing good about ‘public goods’, copyright has developed as a way to reward the haves: the successful composer, the widely read author, the multinational film company. Copyright should not be meant for Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, and Bill Gates at the expense of the rest of us. Copyright should be for students, teachers, readers, library patrons, researchers, freelance writers, emerging musicians, and experimental artists…”
“It is essential to understand that copyright in the American tradition was not meant to be a ‘property right’ as the public generally understands property.”
There. You have my political rant of the day. For all you emerging musicians though, this is a must read, it really brings into focus a lot of the issues musicians face when dealing with creating music within copyright infringement threats.
ALL TOGETHER NOW.
And speaking of intellectual property law, this Friday (3/24), THE FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION will be putting on a benefit. It will feature some of the best music around, with Will Sheff of OKKERVIL RIVER (whom, despite former posts, I do indeed really care about), Matthew Case and Ira Elliot of NADA SURF, and all of MAN MAN. Just in case you don’t know by now, I love MAN MAN like fat men love cake. I want to climb to the top of a mountain á la Julie Andrews and sing their praises. For real, this band gives the best live show around. So now you get to go see them AND give to a great cause that affects most of you out there. Because, as Pitchfork puts it, “It’s so easy to forget that musicians aren’t superheroes, and that they need health care coverage too.” When? 3/24 6-9pm. Clams? $15, going to FMC.
Where? Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. See Me/Hear Me:Okkervil River: For Real [mp3]. Nada Surf: ECard for The Weight is the Gift [mp3/video]. Man Man: Van Helsing Boombox [mp3].
I’M JUST A MEAN MACHINE SO TIGHT AND SKINNY.
Check out this snap that Brooklyn Vegan managed to catch of L.A.R.S’ favorite band EAGLES OF DEATH METAL (oh, I’d venture #9 on the billion scale) at the SxSW festival. How much more of an epitome of sexy rock n’ roll do you need? I mean, boys are hot. Period. And now that I’ve officially worn out the bombastically wonderful Peace.Love.Death Metal. LP, it’s time to gear up for the new one heading our way. It’ll drop on April 11th, and count on the fact that I’ll be first in line to be buying it.  For now, some deadly sexy treats: A teaser video for the upcoming album, as hilarious charming and sexy as the band themselves. And the video for “I Want You So Hard (The Boy’s Bad News)”, which, though sexually suggestive, does not have boobies. I promise you. Rock Photo: Prince. By Neal Preston on November 9th, 1985 for CORBIS.  We could be laughing lovers/I think you prefer to be miserable instead-S.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 AND I FEEL FINE.
I was sitting back today, doing work and listening to the iTunes, when I found myself deeply enjoying a song I hadn’t listened to in forever’s time. The song was “Dollar Bill” and the band playing it was THE END OF THE WORLD. This song makes me smile every time I hear it. It’s a four-minute piece of pop perfection, with strumming guitars, melodies that would make the dead tap their toes, and an endearing vocal performance from TEOTW’s lead singer Stefan Marolachakis. So I sat back and basked in the moment, and then set out to see what the band was doing now. Well, a lot. For starters, their EP dropped (buy it here), and they’re currently on tour to support it (perhaps some of you saw them play with the astoundingly great live band OXFORD COLLAPSE). They’ve been garnering favorable press from the likes of The Village Voice and (gasp!) Pitchfork. Jonathan Demme liked the New Yorkers so much that he featured them on the soundtrack to his 2004 film “The Manchurian Candidate”. And oh, if you are still having doubts as to their credibility, the Harlem Shakes love them. So there! But this is all besides the point really. I haven’t seen them live, so I can’t vouch for them in that department (though I’ve heard good things). But their sound has grown a lot since their “Dollar Bill” days. “This Little Theater” is a sharply produced track that has an elusive lonesome quality to it that strongly reminds me of LEVY. TEOTW still retain their steady beats, but Benjamin Smith’s guitar is no longer strumming. Instead it hovers over the vocals, quivering only to fade out, and then come back with a scratchy answer. At times, it sounds like the bells you hear at the harbor. Smiths’ sound is that evocative. And above it all, Marolachakis cries out dime-store philosophies like “A man once said that a man once said/Every man must do his part”, his voice crooning smoothly with some cracks once in awhile just to keep things a little dirty. The song is a phenomenal song, one that is neither rock nor pop. It only hints at what The End of the World must be doing right on the rest of the EP, and thus I must suggest that you all buy it and find out. This Little Theater [mp3] PS on this matter: That soundtrack to The Manchurian Candidate? AMAZING. I didn’t realize it when I watched the film (I was too mesmerized by Liev Schreiber’s baby blues). But looking on IMDb, you realize that Demme’s music taste is ever so perfect. Here are just a sampling of what he laid down: Armalite Rifle. By Gang of Four. When You Go Out Walking. By Blood on the Wall. Satellite. By TV On the Radio. Fight Song. By Bravo Silva (who performed with LEVY at SxSW). Trem Two. By Mission of Burma. Astral. By Calla. The Leaves Are Gone. By The Secret Machines. New Year’s Eve. By The Walkmen. Bambalance. By On! Air! Library!Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Round. By Dead Kennedys. Damn straight, man. And don’t tell me you haven’t seen Heart of Gold yet. Demme +Neil Young=musical and motion picture genius. Heart of Gold trailer. Speaking of TV ON THE RADIO, the band is working with the White Duke himself, DAVID BOWIE. NME reports that Bowie is a “self-proclaimed fan” of the band, and thus he is collaborating with them on a track tentatively called “Province” for their album (“Return to Cookie Mountain”), which will be released on June 12th. Funny, I was just reading the bit in last week’s New Yorker on designer Hedi Slimane, whose sensibility owes a lot to Bowie’s “David Live” album. Nick Paumgarten, the fine NYker writer, kicked in a little side-note about Bowie, specifically that Bowie was “well on his way to his ‘Thin White Duke’ phase, during which he subsisted, as he later said, on ‘peppers, cocaine, and milk.’” Well done David. I like that he’s now transitioned over to being a thin white duke of benevolence, who descends from on high to usher in new talent in the indie scene. Shows That You Might Already Know About, Seeing As How It’s 8pm, But Hey, Just In Case You May Not Know, Or Are Looking For Something To Do Instead of Reading This Blog:Who? Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. What? Moody synthesized music made by Owen Ashworth, whose penchant for self-imposed sets of limitations mirrors Lars Von Trier in more ways than one (Ashworth was a former film student). Ashworth originally recorded using only battery-operated keyboards onto a 4-track cassette. Now that he’s branched out in to the realm of musical normalcy, Ashworth’s sound is fleshed out by drum machines and pianos, strings and pedal steel guitars. The end results are dark and surprisingly not low-tech sounding; instead the richness of Ashworth’s talent pulls through and lands some uniquely beautiful moments. When? 8pm doors, CFTPA goes on last. Where? Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow St. Clams? $7. Company? The Donkeys, Federation X, GTR LKR. See Me/Hear Me.A lot of CFTPA goodies: Young Shields [mp3] Lonesome New Mexican Nights [mp3] And, in effort to show you the Von Trier comparisons are apt, the following: Rubbish Films recently made a video for "Young Shields" based on the following guidelines: 1 . All footage must be taken from nine different shots, each 2 minutes 59 seconds in length. 2. Each shot must be taken from a different location. 3. All footage must be shot outdoors, using only available, artificial light. 4. No script, no actors. Any persons appearing in the video must be strangers to you. 5. No stationary shots. The camera must constantly be in motion, but without zooms. 6 . No special effects, titles, or any sort of post-production treatments can be made to the images. 7. All audio must come from a single, on-location microphone. 8. All audio must be cut to match the image, without any other audio source. hence, the song must be broadcast wherever you are filming and recorded as part of the environment. 9. The video must run for the exact length of the song. You can watch the video here. The Donkeys MySpace Page. Federation X: Slave Song [mp3] GTR LKR MySpace Page. Who? Amusement Parks On Fire. What? English band with crazy indie street cred that has a wall-of-sound approach to electric pop, in the realm of M83 and My Bloody Valentine. Spacey, soaring rock. When? 7:30pm. Where? Rothko, 116 Suffolk at Rivington Sts. Clams? $8. Company? The Secret Life of Sofia, The Diggs. APOF go on at 9pm. See Me/Hear Me.Amusement Parks on Fire MySpace Page. The Secret Life of Sofia: Hospital Inside Me [mp3]. The Diggs: Trouble Everyday [mp3]. Rock Photo: David Bowie in Paris. Taken by © Simonpietri Christian for CORBIS SYGMA on June 28th, 1977.  And my brother’s back at home with his Beatles and his Stones/We never got it off on that revolution stuff-S.
Photo Credits: Tina Turner 1970; Rick Wakeman 1974. All taken by © Neal Preston for CORBIS. | | |
