Monthly Archives: June 2010

Baths – ‘Maximalist’

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Will Wiesenfeld has crafted a luscious album of warm layered beats that ricochet across each song. The album is a marked success that carries the torch for the already excellent LA electro scene. Check out the exuberant thump of ‘Maximalist’:

BATHS – MAXIMALIST

Also, the remix of ‘Hall’ by One AM Radio that features the Los Feliz Ladies Choir over at Stereogum and the RCRD LBL exclusive remix by Asura below.

Cerulean will be released on July 6th, 2010 via Anticon. You can pre-order it from iTunes and on vinyl from Insound.

More Self Promotion – SRS BSNS Updates!

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My pop culture podcast has updated some more so here’s more shameless self promotion. We have new episodes up, episodes 2.1 and 2.2…parts 1 and 2 of our video game discussion. Lots of reminiscing about the good ‘ole days when games were cartridges and consoles had no clue of what the internet was. Some talk too about what’s coming in the future as we’re still basking in the glow of E3. Since I last posted about the show, we’ve migrated to a proper url. The show can be found now at dematteisand2hands.com. The feeds have been upgraded, so you can add us to your iTunes as well, check that out here.

Part 3 of the video game episode will be coming next week.

Thanks and let me know what you think.

Michael Gira’s Swans return, new material & tour!

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I’ve had a draft of a post dedicated to the Swans sitting in the queue for probably a year now. What I was planning to do was create a selection of posts just dedicated to things deemed in my mind “classics” and the late career live album Swans Are Dead is something that falls into that category. Perfect transition, as the news has hit that Michael Gira, frontman to both Angels of Light and Swans is reforming the latter with a mixture of old members and new for a tour this year. As well, Tiny Mix Tapes reports that an album of new material currently in the mixing stages will be released in September and will be titled My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

I never got a chance to see them live, as the first introduction I had was the postumous 1997 live album recorded around the world in various cities like Amsterdam, New York City, Trondheim, Prague, Brussels and Atlanta. Some of the reworkings on that two disk set are brilliant, angry crescendos fueled by the sometimes unnerving tenor of Gira’s voice. My favorite tracks ‘The Sound’, ‘I See Them All Lined Up’ and ‘Blood Promise’ all take their time, leaving long wordless passages that are spaces where heavy riffs grow like stormclouds. Often bolstered by the dull whir of ominous keyboards, the songs billow upward guided by heavy percussion. I think a lot of the more cascading, layered moments from those last live shows were some of what set me up to be an ardent fan of the post rock movement which would blossom the following year.

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SWANS – BLOOD PROMISE (LIVE)

I was lucky enough to catch Michael Gira wayyy back in 1999 at the Bowery Ballroom, for a show to benefit Swans bandmate Jarboe, who had caught a chair to the face while recording in Israel. The show then was a bit of a preview for the Angels of Light lineup that was to follow that year, featuring Larry Mullins, Bill Bronson, and Kid Congo Powers. More reserved than the Swans final live tour, the lush, folk derived sound was a shock, but still impressive. Selections from that show and another at Tonic were released as a cd for the Jarboe Emergency Medical Fund. The Angels of Light have had a good run in the last 10 years, but I’m happy to see Swans return, even with the altered line-up.

I’ll forgive Gira act of unleashing Devranda Barnhart upon the world by signing him to his Young Gods label, as the prospect of both touring and new material will outweigh the damage done by that fruity beardo.

Dates below:

09.28.10 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero Theater
09.29.10 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
09.30.10 – Boston, MA – Middle East
10.01.10 – Montreal, Quebec – Pop Montreal Festival
10.02.10 – Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Palace
10.04.10 – Detroit, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
10.05.10 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
10.06.10 – Columbus, OH – Outland Live
10.08.10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Masonic Temple
10.09.10 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
10.22.10 – Birmingham, England – Supersonic Festival

Marvin’s cover of Brian Eno’s ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’

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I was set up this morning to write a little bit about LCD Soundsystem…not really something undiscovered or needing of press, but it’s a beautifully composed album. James Murphy seems to pull from a lot of things I love: Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Joy Division…so the album hits me in the right places. The track “All I Want” always stuck in my ear, because the guitar riff felt warmly familiar. The song opens with a warmly dissonant, wandering guitar lead that I ultimately figured out is the love child of riffs from Brian Eno’s ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ and David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ (also produced by Eno).


From a 1977 Bing Crosby christmas special


A pretty amazing song, from an equally amazing album

Listen to those, then give a try to LCD Soundsystem’s ‘All I Want’. It’s not some note for note thieft, but you can see where the Eno influence has bled into Murphy’s music…something I wholeheartedly approve.

While I was researching, poking around at different versions of the above songs to post up here I came across this French experimental metal trio Marvin. The chose to close out their bizzarely sprawling album Hangover The Top album with a spaced out, Isis-derived take on the Eno’s album closer. I think as much as I’m really just happy that anyone is still interested in Eno’s solo pop work, I’m a fan of the riff heavy route that Marvin has gone. It’s a good way to discover a band.

MARVIN – HERE COME THE WARM JETS (BRIAN ENO COVER)

From what I’ve heard of the album, it’s a mixture of many different metal influences. Some songs groove like old Trans Am, hit riffs with that same Isis-ian sense of space, others are like the faster moments on any given Boris record. The band is just synth, guitar and drums, which makes for some interesting moments throughout. Given their taste in covers, I’ll definitely endorse.

Hangover The Top was released on April 6th, 2010 (my birthday, bonus points for that) and is available on iTunes, Amazon, or direct from their label African Tape.

Portland’s Breakfast Mountain is kinda blowing my mind

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I’m realizing now I probably should have counted my pennies last year and hit up that DAT Politics show when I lived in Portland. I’ve been meaning to see what the fuck they do live with their live set, but it’s hard to convince folks that the spastic electro they make is awesome. Had I gone, I would have gotten a sense of the equally awesome weirdness that is Breakfast Mountain, as they opened up the show. Instead, a year later I had to find out via the PDX Pop Now comp that is released in honor of the long weekend of music. Among them, Breakfast Mountain is my favorite and they’ll be of the 40+ bands playing the festival, which showcases the fertile & eccentric scene that Portland is home to.

Go download Hooooded Plus+, which is Breakfast Mountain’s debut-ish, for free by clicking on the cover above. It’s a collection of tracks, edits, remixes and live stuff that is hard to really put a single genre tag on, as it’s an explosion of styles assembled with a Jackson Pollock precision. The smashed together, sound collage element of Breakfast Mountain feels like it’s a mixtape made for someone you love that was left in a shoebox full of liquid acid for a few months. Heavily influenced by beat driven electronic music, cheeseball hip-hop & at times, noisy shoegaze, it’s incredibly enjoyable without slotting it under any single group.

His myspace page says he’s off recording, so keep an eye out for new material hopefully soon.

Here’s two of my favorites, both available on Hooooded Plus+:

BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN – J HOLLERDAY (RE-EDIT)

BREAKFAST MOUNTAIN – SECRET DRUMM

3 Somber Covers (Lykke Li, St. Vincent & Elliott Smith)

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I’m not really much a follower of Lykke Li’s career, but I recognize the hook from one of her other singles. The fantastic design blog Kitsune Noir posted this a few days ago and it struck me. I’ve always felt that the song is chilling if done right, and Lykke Li’s version does just that. Put in the echo-y reaches of some Swedish church, her voice has a harsh edge offset by just the soft piano accompaniment. The song has seen an incredible number of folks covering it, from a decidedly less metal Ronnie James Dio, a pre -autotune/surgery Cher, and more recently The French Kicks. The Shirelles original version is something I only really know by musical osmosis. When I was little, my aunt and uncle had this magnificent jukebox in the basement of their Brooklyn home which was stocked with original 7 inches from proto-Motown into a smattering of early rock. Much my knowledge of the vocal quartet and soul style of music came from then, killing time away from the parents listening to everything the machine had to offer while playing some kind of 60′s indoor bowling machine. (something like this, though in far worse shape.)

Head to Lykke Li’s website to sign up for her mailing list in exchange for an mp3 download of the song. Small price to pay, I guess.

Morose covers are always good to start the party, so I can’t resist adding this one. This fantastic Dumbo session in NYC has St. Vincent tackling the 1967 tune penned by Jackson Browne for Nico. St. Vincent’s voice has similar attributes to Nico’s, though there’s much less of that stern German annunciation.

Grab an mp3 of album version from her 2006 EP Paris Is Burning:

ST. VINCENT – PARIS IS BURNING

Finally, Elliott Smith covered a lot of folks in his short time recording. Head over to Rawk Blog to find a pretty amazing collection of live bootlegs. They have a long list to choose from; everything from The Kinks, Neil Young, Hank Williams Sr. and even his own take on the above Nico tune.