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Archive - January, 2008
Shepard Fairey Supports Barack Obama
Friday Tunage
THE EPOCHS – OPPOSITE SIDES
Another great band out of Brooklyn, The Epochs are making music that sounds like what Justin Timberlake would be doing if he had skipped his Mickey Mouse Club and Boy Band origins and simply focussed on creating catchy falsetto driven pop songs. Opposite Sides is a gorgeous, rambling track that seems to head out in five different rhythmic and thematic directions over the course of its 4 minute span, jumping between fuzz box dance beats, quiet psychedelic digressions and sweet ethereal harmonies.
More from them can be heard on their MySpace site.
SAY HI – NORTHWESTERN GIRLS
Say Hi is going to be at the The Royal Unicorn Cabaret on February 16, and from what I have heard of them so far, it is going to be well worth checking out. Northwestern Girls starts with a Coldplay-on-Casios riff and simple premise (“Northwestern girls, with their fresh faces. Don’t mess it up this time. They seem so nice. It must be in the air here”) and then builds layer upon layer of analog and digital tracks to a worthy climax. Definitely check out the website for additional tracks not to mention its quirky D&D; stylings.
LOUIS XIV – GUILT BY ASSOCIATION
Che Guevara observed that “Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel”. Pitchfork Media, the one time online underdog of indie music has in the course of just a few short years risen to the top of the pile, toppling the old guard publications like Billboard and Rolling Stone to become the new king-maker. Which means that it sucks when they hate you. And Pitchfork Media hates Louis XIV. Their main criticism of the band seems to be that their lyrics are too lewd and they are doing nothing that the Stones, AC/DC and The Strokes have already done a hundred times over. Apparently rock n roll is not just about sex and drugs anymore. It all seems a little harsh in my opinion. Take a listen to Guilt by Association and let me know what you think. You can also catch them on tour with Hot Hot Heat and the Editors. They’ll be at the Commodore on Feb 5.
The Tokyo Graffiti Scene
For some time now, I have been on the lookout for examples of Japanese street art. The uncanny means by which Japan adapts Western culture, reprocesses it and then spins it out as something altogether hyperreal, combined with the ever-prevalent superflat movement suggested that there must exist something extraordinary in the darker corners of the Tokyo streets.
So it was great to read PingMag’s recent piece on The Ghetto, a former love hotel in Shin-Okubo that has been converted into a skater shop/graffiti space. The article also provided links to flickr groups on Tokyo Street Art and throughout Japan. But I found what I was truly looking for in the calligraphy of designer/artist USUGROW which is an incredible hybrid of not just Western and Japanese scripts but also Arabic influences. Kakkoii desu yo!
Art I Pass By On My Way To Work: The Binge
I am fairly convinced at this point that the best places to find art in this city are on the walls of the abandoned laundromat at the corner of Main Street and 14th and the equally vacant warehouse at Quebec St. and 2nd (with a few scattered treasures to be found in between).
Thoughts Are Like Bullets
The video for “Alice”, the first release from Moby’s forthcoming album ‘Last Night’, is directed by Andreas Nilsson, whose seemingly prolific, eclectic and often disturbing oeuvre includes work with The Knife, Soundtrack of Our Lives and Love is All.
Stranger by Sunny Day Sets Fire
Strains of psychedelic pop goodness ooze out from the seams of this ditty called “Stranger” by UK band Sunny Day Sets Fire. A Remix EP that includes collaborations with CSS, Diplo and Baron Von Luxxury (the latter’s take on the track “Brainless” is well good) is due out on Feb 26th with a full length to follow in the spring. In the meantime, more tunes can be found on their site and mySpace page.
Google Earth vs. The Bible
In one of the most blatant epoch incongruities since Spartacus’s Rolex-wearing Roman, Australian artists, The Glue Society have rendered satellite photographs of various Biblical events as though seen via Google Earth. Awesome.
Wolf Like Me (alt-country take)
My latest home recording: a cover of TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” complete with southern drawl and country twang.
More personal musical sojourns may be found here.
