Recent Posts
Elliot Smith's Leaky Basement
Look at what was hiding in Elliot Smith’s leaky basement.
The Jesus And Mary Hope Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain plus Hope Sandoval equals Sometimes Always (performed live in MTV studio).
Bono's Joyless Division
For a long time I use to argue with my brother that while Bono hasn’t written decent music in ages and has the world’s worst Jesus complex, he as one person has done a lot of good in this world. I guess I started thinking differently about this when his project (RED) spread across the world. Completely against my ethical beliefs, he ushered in a campaign that’s soul purpose was to encourage people to buy shit that they don’t need in the name of fighting AIDS. By my logic, if this is the only way for both individuals and corporations to take some action of social responsibility, then we are truly screwed. Solving world issues shouldn’t be as simple as making purchases on your credit card, unaware of the very campaign that one just contributed to.
U2 have played the super bowl. They’ve marketed their own version of an ipod. There may even be a Bono action figure; U2 is now first and foremost an industry. They have generated gobs of money. In fact, Bono is literally the richest man in Ireland. This all strikes me as hugely contradictory coming from the guy that I once saw walk out on a stage in a silver suite with a matching cowboy hat preach like a Southern Baptist in great parody. Throughout the Zoo Station show, he swaggered with game-show host appeal condemning the “big brother-like” video images of our nation’s president, George Bush Sr. I can recall him pretending to prank call the President, ordering a pizza to the White House. Many early fans of U2 considered this zeal to represent the beginning of the end. Earnings would demonstrate that it was the beginning of one of the most profitable rock acts of all times. Despite their ostentatious image, I thought the band avoided creative repetition and boredom as they continued to make very different sounding albums, all the way through their album appropriately named Pop.
Then what ensued was just poop; the band chose to market diet advertising-friendly shadows of their earlier work. This move turned a fortune into an empire. What I had failed to realize as a young teen was that even when he seemed to be mocking everything wrong in the world, it was all a show that was obviously about the cult of his personality. Last year, I read several reports about how U2 had hidden many millions of dollars of earnings in Dutch banks, thereby averting their due taxes. I can’t hate him for caring about world issues related to poverty, violence, and health. But I am absolutely sickened by his destruction of the Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart. The band performed the song while sharing the stage with the Arcade Fire. Not knowing the lyrics is one thing but he is painfully off key to boot.
Mouth to Anus Video
Eeek what a horrible title for a post. My new favorite music video is from Southern Records act Mouth to Anus.
Scott Irvine Blurs the Edges
I’ve always had a strong place in my heart for photography with a darker experimental quality. Growing up, I was attracted to the work of Man Ray, and later Joel Peter Witkin and Matt Mahurin. I just discovered and adore the photographic work of Scott Irvine whose work seems to be in a similar tradition to the afore mentioned photographers. Inky black lines bleed throughout his frames blurring edges. The photos are riddled with texture and often glow like an old daguerreotype. As an image taker, Irvine snaps up shots of both people and places. He has collaborated on striking shoots with a long list of bands including: Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kasabien, and James Chance.
Jazz Hands!
Mexican Breakfast is the brainchild of legendary choreographer Bob Fosse; it’s also the dance that Beyonce used as the basis for the endlessly copied Single Ladies choreography. Some genius (thank GOD for the Internets) paired original footage of the dance with Walk It Out and it makes my eyeballs scream, the result is so amazingly good. Seriously, have a look. The mating of these two artistic triumphs is like a little slice of heaven here on Earth (aka YouTube). Go here.
My Teenage Stride is Underrated
At some point about a year ago, I heard a My Teenage Stride song—Theme From Teenage Suicide—and pretty much ignored it. Somehow, it didn’t quite pique my interest enough to goad me into hearing more, and I left it in my iTunes library, but decided it didn’t actually deserve to be included on my actual iPod. A move which puzzles me now because, I heard this same song again just about a month ago, and I was immediately quite taken by how very nearly perfect it is. My Teenage Stride wears their power pop heart prominently on their sleeve, granted, but can you really go wrong when you sound like a pastiche of The Boys (The ‘70s UK outfit, not the ‘80s R&B group of little kids), The Nerves and The Go-Betweens? I don’t think so. Jangling guitars; giddy rhythms; vocals that sometimes rise to a deliciously sweet croon. It’s all as catchy as a disease you inexplicably want. Check the song below. Then go and check out more.
You need Flash to listen to this track.
My Teenage Stride – Theme From Teenage Suicide
Breaking Electric Boogaloo Style
Mr. Rogers gets an impressive lesson in breakdancing from a little B-boy.
The Way It Is
When I was in art school, one of the most creative people that I knew was a guy named Michael Sanchez. He wasn’t a student; rather he was a childhood friend of another exceptionally talented student that I knew. Michael and my friend DW epitomized young indie-rock. If I enjoyed the The Pixies, they adored them. And it wasn’t just their love of music that said so. The songs that they were writing at 19 or 20 years old were really something special. Recently, I got back in touch with Michael only to find out that he is living in Chicago, is a pretty hilarious stand up comedian with a great Joy Division joke, and is still playing music with his group The Way It Is. Go to their site and check out their video for You Chose Heads; it’s a perfect little tune, clocking in at under a minute and a half.
No Need to Explain
Jumbling Towers is Creepy in All the Right Ways
Almost overnight, Jumbling Towers have become one my favorite new bands. Which is a bit of a misleading statement since, technically, although they’re new to me, they’ve actually been around since 2005ish. It’s difficult to find out much about them (they’re not all that helpful in giving out details) but via their website, I’ve been able to uncover that they were still a band as recently July ‘08 (that’s when their last show is posted), that they’re from St. Louis, that they have an eponymously-titled LP that I cannot stop listening to and…not much else. More important than facts and bios, though, is the sound, man, and JT have managed to put together something that is so theatrical it could quite easily ruin itself. Yet, somehow, it manages to be histrionically awesome. This is sort of like what a haunted house would sound like if you transcribed it into music—mysterious keyboards; lurking basslines; anxious, twitchy guitars; and vampiric vocals. If you are thinking that this sounds like everything you don’t want in a band, please have a listen for yourself and don’t let words get in the way: the band has an EP called Classy Entertainment that you can download (for free!) here. Below is Cowards, from their long player:
You need Flash to listen to this track.
Jumbling Towers – Cowards
Hatchetfish Are Watching You
Off the top of my head, I can rattle off a handful of reasons that hatchetfish have started to interest me lately: the fact that they’re bioluminescent (would that only I could make random parts of my body glow at will), that they travel in migratory nocturnal packs that aren’t so much schools as gangs, that they are shaped like…well, hatchets. That’s all pretty good on its own but even better is the fact that, head on, they seem to photograph like desperate, lonely souls trapped in boundless, watery purgatories. Other face-forward images of these fish I’ve found have the same eerie, pleading quality to them. It’s just a striking look on so many levels, from the starkness of what’s featured in the surrounding darkness to the sadness—even grief—that seems to stretch across their faces. Nature is the coolest weirdo ever.
Meeting Erik
We have some big news. After countless pints thrown back and endless hours of working on music together over the years, we are sad to say that Bill has departed DFN to focus his energies on another project. We wish him well. In his absence, Kali and I have turned to another musician of exceptional talent. We first collaborated with Erik Snyder some time ago on a photo shoot. We were as impressed with his passion for music as we were with his skills behind a camera. Erik’s unique stylings are already having a profound impact on us. We are working on new material and hope to present it with new dates and recordings in a timely fashion. Stand by for something different and new; in the mean-time check out this gorgeous image that Erik just shot in New Orleans.
A Knife to the Heart
Karin from The Knife has an album coming out from her side project Fever Ray. The first single, If I Had A Heart is rather hypnotic and the strange video is pretty mesmerizing too.
Frank Juery Freezes Time
Many of Frank Juery’s photos have a dreamy quality that resonate with me in a way that feels akin to our music. This series particularly seems like a set of images that could be screen captures from a DFN video.
Lykke Li Breaks It Up
I really love the strange harmony of the Lykke Li song Breaking It Up. But I love her odd style of dancing seen in the moody video even more. The fashion sense and overall mood of this promo is a perfect pairing to her music as well. Previous to seeing the video, I had images in my head of poorly behaved British prep-schoolers singing in a choral group and making a ruckus as the instructor struggles to maintain order.
Sadly, our show at BAM with School of Seven Bells has been cancelled. We are hoping that we will be able to reschedule a performance with them later in the year. For those of you who are not acquainted with SVIIB, it is the newest project of Benjamin Curtis from Secret Machines and the Deheza sisters of On! Air! Library!. To put SVIIB’s sound in a visual context, their airy harmonies are equal parts Solaris sci-fi and Koyaanisqatsi spirtual experience. Check out this performance of SVIIB performing White Elephant Coat.
(photo by Timothy Saccenti for Flaunt)
Once Upon A Time In The West
I just screened Sergio Leone’s classic western Once Upon A Time In the West. The film’s music which was composed and conducted by Ennio Morricone is simply brilliant. I really love how there is a unique piece of instrumentation scored for each of the major characters which is weaved throughout the film to subtly let the viewer know who will lead the scene. I am feeling completely inspired to take a crack at scoring a piece of film. Watch the scoreless ten minute opening title sequence here. This quiet scene creates an unsettling drama that paves the way for Morricone’s iconic theme refrain to enter the film.
A Beach House Vacation
We enjoy and admire the breathy music of Beach House. Here is a perfectly little dreamy video that they commissioned to accompany the track Used to Be.
