See You In The Pit: February 20, 2005 - February 26, 2005 Archives

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Manishevitz

Adam Busch used to play introspective, pretty folk music under the moniker of Manishevitz. Then, somewhere along the way, he picked up a full band, and then a small orchestra composed of classical and jazz musicians. And meanwhile his sweet voice began to take on the definite characteristics of a sneer, vocal utterings not unlike Mark E. Smith of The Fall or a little bit like David Byrne with shadings of David Thomas of Pere Ubu. Manishevitz bring to mind the best of new wave and glam-rock, and have garnered more than the occasional Roxy Music comparison.

With snarky saxophone and flittering synths, all crying out for attention, this band plunges forward into melody and hooks, making full-bodied, beautiful post-rock songs that sometimes transform into straight out glittering, shiny, complex music and sometimes create an atmosphere of almost menacing melting sounds.

Manishevitz - Beretta
Manishevitz - City Life

Manishevitz web site. Buy City Life from Jagjaguwar or Amazon.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.26.05 at 5:28 PM | Comments (1), TrackBack (0)

Nada Surf

I listen to a lot of music, but I've been listening to even more since the Queen of the Front Row and I started this blog. A lot more.

And to be really honest with you, I've heard very few contenders as utterly perfect as Nada Surf's last two albums, The Proximity Effect and Let Go.

The funny thing is, I would never name either as one of my favorite albums -- and yet there they sit on my playlist in their glimmering, glorious power pop perfection. Unassuming, patient, reliable and heartbreaking.

Kind of like Nada Surf themselves.

Their story goes a little something like this: You may remember a little mid-90s alternative radio hit & MTV favorite you may remember called "Popular." Remember the video with the cheerleader and the guy in a suit lecturing her? That was Nada Surf.

"Popular" had all the hallmarks dooming Nada Surf to one-hit wonderhood -- cute video, quirky lead vocals, snide lyrics half spoken and half sung -- and they almost ended up there.

So you may have heard this next part before, in a million variations: the band recorded their second full-length record, The Proximity Effect, for Elektra. The label didn't hear a hit, and the band refused to build one out of "Popular"-shaped blocks and were summarily dropped. Shockingly, the album was released to critical and popular acclaim in Europe. The band later bought back the masters, released it themselves in the US, and toured relentlessly.

And then came Barsuk Records. Quickly becoming a new home for untethered quirky pop bands (Harvey Danger, They Might Be Giants), Nada Surf was the first veteran band on Barsuk, which released the aforementioned Let Go. Album #4 is expected later this year.

Here's a gigantic slice of Nada Surf goodness for you. Because there's no greater joy than sharing my love for Matthew, Daniel, and Ira and the fantastic music they've made together.

Nada Surf's official website. Buy Let Go from Amazon. And if you missed The Proximity Effect -- it's available from the Barsuk Records shop.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.26.05 at 2:50 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Rosebuds

So there's this guy and he's very earnest and his name is Ivan and he plays the guitar and he believes in rock'n'roll, because it's going to save his soul. And this guy, this guy loves this girl, Kelly, who plays the keyboard and shakes her head back and forth when she's playing and pumps her first in the air and sings along at the top her lungs. And there's this drummer who's their friend, and together they whip up the most amazingly catchy and sweet indie pop on the planet, like the kind they used to make back in the '50s.

They've got swooping drums, singalong choruses, and handclaps. The Rosebuds have got a little Motown, and a little Kinks, and a little Zombies, and a little Buddy Holly, and a whole lotta "yeah yeah yeah" and "la la la" and "ba da da" and "oh, whoa" all over the joint. It goes down quick and smooth, and leaves you in a sugary hazy of happiness with classy sweaters and rollerskates and the kids up at the Point on a Saturday night. The formula is simple, the execution is flawless, and all the kids dig it. Yeah? Yeah.

The Rosebuds - Kicks In The Schoolyard
The Rosebuds - My Downtown Friends

The Rosebuds official site. Buy The Rosebuds Make Out from Merge Records, iTunes Music Store, or Amazon.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.25.05 at 10:55 PM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Goldie Lookin Chain

When I listen to Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin Chain, I'm pretty sure I'm missing 75% of the joke -- mostly because, well -- I'm not Welsh. But that remaining 25% is still pretty amusing, what with the goofy sports togs and the poking fun at US hip hop culture and the random references to Penelope Keith and Felicity Kendal and the whole goofy stoner vibe and all -- so I can't imagine what it must be like to be completely in on the joke.

(I must admit that Google's been very handy in helping me clarify some of slang involved. For instance, I now now that 'soapbar' is a really low-grade chunk of hash that looks like ... a bar of soap. It's all been very educational. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to integrate the GLC catch phrases "Clart!" or "safe as fuck" into my vernacular yet, but "You knows it!" is gaining popularity in my day to day conversations. Sadly, I already knew what a BBC Micro was.)

I think I decided the GLC were totally awesome when I heard the clarinet loop (!) on "Self Suicide" -- which gives it a weird kind of klezmer feel, oddly enough. Or maybe it was the stuttery early 80s hip hop vibe on "Roller Disco" -- or the Har Mar Superstar-esque earnestness of "You Knows I Love You." Or possibly it was when I heard they'd self-released seven singles through their website and the group's meteoric rise to popularity in the UK generally pissed off the ultra snobby contingent of the music press across the pond.

Far from being just a novelty hip hop act (and taking cue from The Streets and Eminem), the GLC traffic in jovial yet biting social commentary -- especially on tracks like "Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do" and "Soap Bar". But just in case you thought things were getting a little too serious (oh, as if!), there's always the fantastically vulgar and amusing "Your Mother's Got a Penis."

Goldie Lookin Chain - Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do
Goldie Lookin Chain - Roller Disco
Goldie Lookin Chain - Your Mother's Got a Penis

The offical Goldie Lookin Chain website. Their debut album, Greatest Hits, doesn't seem to have a US release date planned (that I could locate), but it is available on iTunes and the UK pressing is available from Amazon.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.25.05 at 1:29 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Earlies

Take sleepy, sweet Grandaddy-esque vocals mixed with a heavenly chorus of voices floating in space. Let those voices gallavant with the likes of Spiritualized, Air, and the Flaming Lips, while still bouncing around classical pop song structures as done by the Beatles. That's the Earlies. I'm a sucker for lush and clever instrumentation done as orchestral bombast, especially by a band that's half-British and half-Texan. Rumor has it that the majority of the songs These Were the Earlies was constructed by sending music files back and forth online across the Atlantic Ocean. (Now that's what I call transatlanticism, Mr. Gibbard.)

The Earlies concoct a dreamy yet quirky blend of electronica, classic rock, prog, and psychedelia; close neighbors of the Beta band, The Earlies make electro-pop with beats galore poured over wispy folk, fighting with a bellicose army of brass instruments, and a few deranged free jazz lovers. On tour, they morph into a collective 11 members strong, in an effort to retain the awe-inspiring majesty of traditional rock matched with electronic tweaks creating a giant, sweeping landscape of sheer bliss.

The Earlies - 25 Easy Pieces
The Earlies - Wayward Song
The Earlies - One of Us Is Dead
The Earlies - Morning Wonder

The Earlies' official site. Buy These Were the Earlies from Amazon and iTunes Music Store.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.24.05 at 2:29 PM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

What Made Milwaukee Famous

I've never had a chance to ask the members of What Made Milwaukee Famous if they're named after that Jerry Lee Lewis song ("What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)"), or the just the old Schlitz slogan. Or both.

But don't let that initial impression give you the wrong idea -- WMMF are not a beer-soaked frat party band, but purveyors of very fine dark-edged power pop -- a sort of California-meets-New-York sound that could only come out of a band based in Austin.

Big swinging pop hooks, singalong choruses and melodic basslines collide with New Wave-y snare and synths, all tied together with lead singer Michael Kingkaid's sweet, strong, melancholy voice -- and the effect is pretty impressive. Instead of sounding like every power pop band since the dawn of time or yet another Joy Division ripoff or Interpol Jr., WMMF are on a path to carve out a sound that's uniquely their own. And I think they're doing a damn fine job of it -- plus, they put on one heck of a live show. I expect big things from these fellows.

What Made Milwaukee Famous - Hellodrama
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Almost Always Never
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Mercy, Me (live on KVRX)

What Made Milwaukee Famous' website. Buy their self-released debut CD, Trying To Never Catch Up, from cdbaby.com and iTunes.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.24.05 at 1:45 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

...because the music festival showcases schedule is finally online.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.24.05 at 12:59 AM | Comments (1), TrackBack (2)

Centro-matic

Will Johnson must be one of the most prolific songwriters in independent rock today, writing and performing songs under his own name, as well as South San Gabriel and Centro-matic. At the core, Centro-matic is a rock band from Denton, Texas that has slowly built up a fan base across the United States through a mad-cap touring schedule. Fans of Whiskeytown, Son Volt, and Uncle Tupelo will appreciate their Americana-tinged music. Centro-matic are best described as the new working-class heroes of indie rock: spunning up catchy country rock spanning a wide spectrum of pop, with flourishes by organ, cello, piano, and violin.

Their country-fried pop combines the best of sweet, carefully-arranged ballads with lo-fi, energetic bursts of rock and loud, hook-filled power pop anthems. The signature sound of Johnson's sincere, gravelly vocals mixed with the insistent keyboards of Scott Danborn create pure joy, live, and audiences agree. Just listen to "Love Has Found Me" and see if you don't find yourself whistling or humming along.

No fancy sleight of hand, no tricks, and no gimmicks: Centro-matic are as American as good old-fashioned rock'n'roll.

Centro-matic - Flashes and Cables
Centro-matic - Argonne Limit Co.
Centro-matic - Biology Tricks
Centro-matic - Love Has Found Me

Centro-matic official web site. Buy their last album, Love You Just the Same, from Misra Records, Amazon, iTunes Music Store.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.23.05 at 4:19 PM | Comments (1), TrackBack (0)

Keren Ann

I worry when my favorite chick musicians are unabashedly adored by (male) music critics. This leads to all kinds of uncomfortable questions I'd rather not ask and assumptions I'd rather not be forced into making. Witness The New York Times pop critic Kalefa Sanneh's crush on Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley last year. That was kinda creepy and bordering on kind of embarrassing! Now, I'd say the same thing about New Yorker pop critic Sasha Frere-Jones' adoration of Dutch by birth, French by choice chanteuse Keren Ann, save that well, SFJ's adulations for Keren Ann seem more couched in a genuine appreciation of her music and less in a schoolboy crush on her stage presence or other version of her public persona.

Normally, music like Keren Ann's bores me to tears -- namely girl + guitar + breathy, quavery, indistinct vocals -- but like the music of Mia Doi Todd or The Concretes, there's melodic heft and concrete lyrics buried in all that misleading airy-fairyness, so that it ends up not being airy-fairy in the slightest.

Keren Ann's lyrics are that kind of poetic storytelling that it seems only a non-native speaker of English can dream up (see also: Jens Lekman), so that the songs are interesting just based on the new and interesting things she does with phrasing, diction, and imagery. But then there's also the deep-focus sonic soundscapes and simple repetitive melodies that are delicately hypnotic and not at all tiresome. The end product is a luscious array of pop songs that are heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

Keren Ann - Chelsea Burns
Keren Ann - Right Now and Right Here
Keren Ann - La Forme et Le Fond

Keren Ann's offical website. Her first English-language album, Not Going Anywhere, is available on Amazon. Her latest French release, Nolita is available as an import from Amazon as well.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.23.05 at 1:39 AM | Comments (2), TrackBack (0)

The Mae Shi

(Note to Little Miss Rock'n'Roll, you will probably hate this band.)

The Mae Shi make hyperactive, post-punk collages that take more than a few pages from the book of Brainiac. They start with quirky, heavy pop songs with warped vocals and rip them to shreads, and then run at full speed to the next target. They are the kind of fragmented nightmare you would expect to emerge full-fledged from the minds of the more accessible Deerhoof or Erase Errata, or early Dismemberment Plan, or maybe Tim Harrington of Les Savy Fav. (Can anybody say "art school"?) But what is it really, you ask. Is is hardcore? Not really. Is it no wave? Not really that either. Is it dance-punk? Nope, not that, either.

The Mae Shi guys are nerdy, art students whose first EP's title is a reference to Dungeons and Dragons; the story also goes that they were signed to their record label via instant messager. They also appear to be quite insane, or, at least, that's what they'd like you to believe. Allegedly recorded on a budget of only $120, their debut album, Terrorbird, jumps around in a manic state of energy and you can almost see the four members of the band running around and tearing up walls in the process of recording.

There's jagged, angular guitar work, or even tracks of static-y, distorted vocals and sampled blips, all manner of sound textures rubbing up uncomfortably against each other. Songs are rarely more than one or two minutes long, and exist in a state of bizarre obsessive-compulsiveness, with repeated, screeching vocals and an endless cycle of spazz attacks. Once in a while, the Mae Shi will find an amazing hook, but then it self-destructs and the next song starts. Word of their impossibly schizophrenic and strange stage antics is also an indicator of their approach to good, old-fashioned noise-making, within dripping sweat and flying instruments and an uncontainable force of four on stage. (And I also believe togas are involved...somehow.)

You may be bewildered, and you may run screaming from their show, but you won't deny that when this strange formula works, the Mae Shi strike gold. Now, if they would only freaking sit still for a minute.

The Mae Shi - Power to the Power Bite Two
The Mae Shi - Hieronymus Bosch Is A Dead Man
The Mae Shi - One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi

Official Mae Shi web site. Buy Terrorbird from 5 Rue Christine, Amazon, or iTunes Music Store.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.22.05 at 3:28 PM | Comments (3), TrackBack (0)

Norfolk & Western

Listening to Norfolk & Western is like taking trip to an alternate reality. Unlike a lot of other bands taking influence from the voluminous catalog of traditional American popular and folk music, Norfolk & Western's music doesn't reinforce a nostalgic view of America's frontier past. It's a dirty, gritty, tubercular, coal-soot smudged chunk of unromanticized Americana.

Portland-based singer/songwriter/producer Adam Selzers' raspy, rickety voice combined with ominous percussion and occasional paper-thin backing vocals from Rachel Blumberg (formerly of that other alternate reality band, The Decemberists) are the foundation of the band's sound. Layered over that are mournful guitars, banjos, mellotron, vibraphones, piano, and other mysterious sounds (often reminiscent of the far-away whistle of a ghost train), creating a songs that are solemn memorials to a past that never was, sending clear but faint and fading messages to a future that will never be.

If you listen closely, you'll be transported to that alternate reality -- where Jim Jarmusch's film Dead Man is a true historical document, where Ennio Morricone is as revered as Mozart, where Roy Rogers never existed -- and it doesn't take much persuading to sit down next to the sputtering coal stove on a cold winter's day and stop a while for a listen before your train back to the 21st century rolls into the station.

Norfolk & Western - Impossible
Norfolk & Western - A Hymnal
Norfolk & Western - Disappear

Norfolk & Western's official website. Their fourth (and certainly best) album, Dusk in Cold Parlours, is available from Amazon and iTunes.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.22.05 at 1:30 AM | Comments (2), TrackBack (0)

Tarantula

A punk rock drummer walking down St. Mark's Place. Fugitives sitting in an anonymous, smokey coffee house, skulking in the corner. A wild cellist, case in tow, rushing madly about the streets of some European town -- Berlin, perhaps, or maybe Budapest. A pair of lovers, dressed in their best tango-ing outfits, having a quarrel on the streets of Paris. The sneering gypsy with his violin in one hand and the other on the knife hanging from his belt; he surveys the room quietly, with a glimmer of mischief in his eye. This is history, this is drama, this is merely your imagination, this is circumstance, and this is a band named Tarantula. It's music for the novel that's still being written in your head.

Drawing from such disparate sources of inspiration as free jazz, nuevo tango, and classical string quartets, they will take you musky libraries and dirty street corners. Tarantula is about the melding of minds and the beautifully unexpected, where one half of the band looks like they'd be playing your grandmother's tea party and the other half of the band looks perfectly at home at your neigborhood dive bar. It's Tin Hat Trio meets the Tosca Tango Orchestra meets Bill Frisell meets The Dirty Three meets that shitty punk rock band that's always practicing in the garage, all synthesizing into a single, mesmerizing entity that explores everything from an all-out, powerful wall of sound to the quietest, most intense moment between a single violin or a glockenspiel. Live, they do not rest until every single person in the room is left slack-jawed and dazed, leaving as believers in Tarantula.

Tarantula - Embedded In Ice
Tarantula - Opening Theme

Official Tarantula site. Buy their self-titled EP from Insound.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.21.05 at 1:23 PM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

Clem Snide

If you must know, I'm a sucker for a certain kind of reedy, nasal male singing voice. Now I could make a clever Mountain Goats joke here and say that John Darnielle is like, the alpha version (ha ha!) of that voice, but I think Eef Barzelay of Clem Snide is pretty tops as well.

I'm sure -- no, actually, I'm pretty positive that I cringed the first time I heard Clem Snide -- ugh, that voice and those too-smart lyrics! But, boy did they ever grow on me, and hopefully you'll like them too. Clem Snide's one of those country-tinged indie rock bands, you know the kind? Music journalists always want to compare them to Camper Van Beethoven or Lambchop, which I always think is kind of lazy and uninspired. And did I mention Eef's distinctive voice and those clever -- but not overly clever -- lyrics as well? Okay, just making sure.

But here's the one thing that really gets me about Clem Snide -- it seems like Eef (and I don't know, maybe the rest of the band) are captivated by the strange lives of legendary and obscure pop culture figures alike, and have subsequently written songs about some of them: far-Right English conspiracy theorist David Icke, Lucille Ball, and "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane (long before Auto Focus, the film version of his sordid private life, was made). The songs about the first two are included below, along with an incredibly heartwarming and sincere cover of the Christina Aguilera (also another odd pop culture figure, to be sure) hit "Beautiful." Also included is the downer anthem "Moment in the Sun," just so you won't think that Clem Snide is like, too bizzare, or anything.

Clem Snide - Moment in the Sun
Clem Snide - Made for TV Movie
Clem Snide - The Ballad of David Icke
Clem Snide - Beautiful

Clem Snide's official website. Their new album End of Love (on which "Made for TV Movie" appears), is due out tomorrow, 2/22. It's a fine return to the band's melancholy, misanthropic form after the almost upbeat cheerfulness of their previous album Soft Spot, both of which are available from Amazon. Also recommended is their second album, The Ghost of Fashion.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.21.05 at 1:25 AM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Comas

The Comas make blissful, warm rock with a spacey feel that feels oh-so-comfortable. Their last album, A Def Needle in Tomorrow, was a grower, its clever little songs worming its way into my brain after repeated listens, insidiously catchy and I could not displace them no matter how hard I tried. Then, seemingly, the Comas disappeared off the face of the earth for a few years, only resurfacing in the last half of 2004 with a new album.

A certain unnamed music magazine hailed their hazy stoner pop as one of the best things you didn't hear all year; the press release also makes note of the fact that the album's lyrical material is drawn upon a breakup between the lead singer and a certain actress on a popular teen drama of the late 90s, which is more than enough to overshadow the subject here. The truth of the matter?

The Comas' last album, the swelling, magnificient Conductor, runs the gamut from delightfully fuzzed out pop anthems to droning guitar-filled songs to gentle, nuanced ballads, with a hint of country here and there. Despite the haze surrounding so many of their songs, listeners can still pick out the attention to little details, important when so much of the music depends on the dynamics within the tiny orchestra frontman Andy Herod has assembled. What makes the Comas so crushworthy is the male and female vocal interplay in their songs, which also happen to be filled to the brim with dreamworthy hooks and can't-get-it-out-of-my-head melodies.

The Comas - Tonight on the WB
The Comas - Falling
The Comas - The Science of Your Mind
The Comas - Last Transmission

The Comas official site. Buy Conductor from Yep Roc Records, Amazon, or iTunes Music Store.

Posted by Queen of the Front Row on 02.20.05 at 3:32 PM | Comments (0), TrackBack (0)

The Like

I like The Like, and so should you. But don't hate Elizabeth Berg, Tennessee Thomas, and Charlotte Froom because they're young and beautiful, the daughters of music industry veterans, and live in Los Angeles. Despite all these seemingly detracting factors, The Like aren't just likable, they're totally lovable.

I'll admit it, I found out about The Like in an issue of Interview a few years back. The picture and accompanying little blurb were enough to make me seek out their music and subsequently obsessively share it with anyone who would listen. If I made you a mix CD anytime in the past few years, no doubt The Like's "(So I'll Sit Here) Waiting" was on there, often as the closing track.

The Like play girly dream pop songs full of lightly crunchy hooks, and I mean that in the nicest way possible -- because I love girly dream pop, especially when lightly crunchy hooks are involved. But don't let that turn you away: I dare you to resist the danceability of "Falling Away," or lead singer and guitarist Elizabeth "Z" Berg's plaintive voice, a growly mix of innocence and experience, on the chorus of "(So I'll Sit Here) Waiting."

I missed The Like's set at SXSW last year; it was one of those situations where a band that my friends wanted to see (which, of course, I can't even remember now) was playing in the same time slot. So, in penance, I dragged myself to an early weekday show at Emo's this summer when The Like were touring with the (rather down at heel) Phantom Planet. I was the oldest person there, except for like, people's parents. It was also deadly hot, as Austin is in July. But it was so worth it to finally see The Like play live after three years of ardent devotion.

The Like - So I'll Sit Here (Waiting)
The Like - Falling Away
The Like - Bridge to Nowhere

The Like's official website. You can order their self-released three EPs, I Like The Like, ...and The Like, and Like It or Not directly from the website. A full-length album is expected later this year -- the girls of The Like wanted to finish high school before recording it.

Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll on 02.20.05 at 1:36 AM | Comments (3), TrackBack (0)