Archive for 2005

Twice The Thrills With Half The Action

This is part of an unofficial series of posts dedicated to revisiting songs that were staples of my old mix tapes and cds circa 1996-2001.

Virgin-Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire In Lovers’ Lane” – One of the best things about the sort of flat sing-songy vocal style that was so common in the indie rock of the 90s is that it had a way of modifying the emotional content of the songs; dialing down the drama in the lyrics to something more low key and everyday, or underplaying huge feelings to reflect the artist/character’s guarded, uptight nature. This song is a bit of both, with two singers singing about crushes and looking forward to dates, both clearly excited, but holding back because they don’t want to seem overeager or get disappointed. It’s all about the conflict of having these big expectations, and then fighting them for your own emotional survival. (Click here to attempt to buy it used from Amazon.)

Solex “Waking Up With Solex” – The title is pretty literal, as Elisabeth “Solex” Esselink describes a presumably anecdotal scene in a bathtub with her lover in the morning, as “the smells from the kitchen filled the room.” It nails a very particular form of low key sexiness, but it’s mainly just fun/funny. My favorite thing about the track now is how its form and content is so elliptical – the song and the scene in the lyrics have a beginning and an end, but feel very open-ended, as there are clearly many good things that came before and after this little vignette. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Too Many Fools Following Too Many Rules

Ludus “Breaking The Rules” – How is it that I had never heard (or heard of) this song before acquiring the new GRLZ compilation? (I suppose the easy answer is that I never bothered to listen to Morrissey’s Under The Influence record.) It’s not difficult to understand why Moz would take a liking to this track, what with its exhuberant embrace of homoeroticism in general and polyamory in particular. There’s so much joy and enthusiasm in this song, but also a surprising amount of sweetness, as it associates sexuality with excitement, fun, and generosity cut off from insecurity and selfishness. (Click here to buy it from Crippled Dick Hot Wax.)

Bertrand Burgalat “Colour Wheel” – Fans of the April March song that I posted recently should take note of this track by Burgalat, who co-wrote and produced that composition. March (aka Eleanor Blake) is given a co-writing credit on this track, but sadly does not contribute any vocals as far as I can tell. Burgalat’s voice is fine enough, but is a bit more an acquired taste. As with “Sugar,” there’s a lovely sweep to this track, as well as a great sense of implied color and movement. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

How Obvious Should A Girl Be?

Sugababes “Push The Button” – “Push The Button” finds the Sugababes wondering why the object of their (collective?) affection had seemed so oblivious to their interest before he opted to “get with” one or all of them, even in spite of the fact that one of the Sugababes had somehow sent him to “the new dimension” with her “sexy ass.” It’s actually not so hard to understand why he’d seem so distant and confused given the girls’ incomprehensible seduction techniques and questionable grammar. (Click here to pre-order it from HMV.)

Stereolab “I Was A Sunny Rainphase” – Oh my God, you guys – Stereolab woke up! After spending entirely too much time stuck in a samey rut in which even their most elaborate tracks seemed lacking in dynamics, it sounds like the band is getting back into form with a renewed emphasis on live percussion and arrangements that slither and slink rather than stammer and slunk. (Click here to pre-order it from Inertia.)

I Tried Hard To Make The World An Exotic Place

The Fiery Furnaces “Seven Silver Curses” – It seems somewhat inevitable that most people are going to dislike Rehearsing My Choir. For one thing, it is the long promised “grandmother album,” and Olga Sarantos’ voice is not exactly pop-friendly – as observed by Jody Beth Rosen, it’s a bit like Elaine Stritch crossed with a carnival barker. The music is full of abrupt shifts, enough so that the most sprawling songs on Blueberry Boat seem rather uncomplicated in comparison. But as with their previous work, patience and close attention yield enormous dividends, as repeat listening to the album has revealed a surprisingly linear and involving story cycle full of absurd humor, pathos, and adventure. In spite of some rather shallow similarities with the Decemberists, this record makes it very clear why they are in fact the total opposite of that band – rather than tacking stories on to fairly standard folk-pop songforms, the Furnaces always make a point of making the music itself part of the narrative, pushing the story along by establishing scenes, characters, and shifts in time. As a whole, Rehearsing My Choir is an elaborate suite that is certainly intended to be heard as a single unit, with recurring lyrical and instrumental themes and motifs. It’s highly ambitious and initially off-putting in its mutant vaudeville/art-rock/opera/disco/blues/folk nature, but once you become acclimated to its internal logic, it is very entertaining. (Click here to pre-order it from Insound.)

Childballads “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” – It’s been years since any new material has surfaced featuring the vocals of one Stewart Lupton, the genius singer/lyricist of the late, great Jonathan Fire*Eater. As his former bandmates have gone on to modest success as The Walkmen, fans of the old band were left to wonder what ever became of Lupton, occasionally muttering something about a new project called Childballads. After years of waiting, at least one song has finally leaked, and thankfully the guy hasn’t lost it all in the time since Wolf Songs For Lambs. “The Onion Domes of Tallahassee” is a gentle shuffle falling halfway between Dylan and the Stones, but not so far removed from the best of JFE. Oh, and there’s a stray line sung by a woman that is unexpected and brilliant and compliments Stewart’s voice wonderfully. Hopefully she shows up on some of the other new tracks whenever they come out.

You’re Beautiful But Your Heart’s On Fire

Faunts “Memories Of Places We’ve Never Been” – This song is driving along the same star-lit road as The Smiths’ “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” but these love-sick passengers are lucky enough not to get hit head-on by that double-decker bus. In spite of the obvious similarities to that song, the track owes a greater debt to the melancholy hits of 70s soft rock and lite FM, from the graceful shift into the heartstring-tugging chorus to the gorgeous Fleetwood Mac-esque guitar tone on the verses. (Click here for the official Faunts site.)

Brakes “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” – It’s fairly common that I find myself having to choose between two songs from a record in order to determine what gets posted on this site, and more often than not, the decision is based on what I can come up with in terms of writing the review. This is definitely the case for Brakes – I chose “Heard About Your Band” over “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” because it was much easier to write about, and I was in a rush that day. As good as that song was, “You’ll Always Have A Place To Stay” is the song with greater staying power, the one that has left a lingering imprint on my psyche. I don’t think it was ever their intention, but Brakes manage to fuse the epic desperation and loneliness of Jandek to the construct of the alt-rock ballad, which is actually sort of brilliant since it allows for the emotional release that Jandek almost never provides in his own music. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

I Bite My Lip And Let You Know

Rachel Stevens “I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)” – Oh, Rachel Stevens – never stop with the glammy schaffel-pop! It is your thing and only Goldfrapp can touch you on this score. And please, let’s not fill up the comments box with some variation on the Goldfrapp backlash that’s going around lately, okay? I’ve had quite enough of this weird cola war nonsense – they are both great for more or less the same reason, and if you exist outside of the reach of their respective marketing in the UK, it’s very clear. (Click here to pre-order it from HMV UK.)

Gorillaz “Dare (Soulwax Mix)” – I wasn’t very clear on why this song was selected as the follow up single to “Feel Good Inc.,” but I get it now – it’s all about the remixes. The DFA mix is okay, but definitely a dud in terms of what they are capable of, but this Soulwax mix tightens up the song, emphasizes it strengths, and tones down the Shaun Ryder guest vocals a bit. Nicely done, though I still think they are going to have to run with something else in the US if they’d like to stay on the airwaves. “Dirty Harry,” maybe? (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Crowded Room, It’s Been So Long

Aluminum Babe “Everything 2 Me (DJ Downfall Mix)” – John Downfall continues his hot streak with this French house pilfering remix of a track by a bi-curious bi-continental pop group that splits their time between Sweden and NYC, but seems to focus mainly on marketing their music in the UK. Though Aluminum Babe’s vocalist lacks the effortless sexiness of Downfall’s regular partner Gene Serene, she has her own sort of demure charm that works for the track, especially when the song eventually arrives to its chorus. (Click here for the Aluminum Babe site. If you would like to contact DJ Downfall please email djdownfall @ hotmail.com)

Excerpt from RVNG PRSNTS MX4: Crazy Rhythms – Wide Boy Awake “Slang Teacher” – Mike Simonetti and Dan Selzer resurrect several rare/OOP singles on their new Crazy Rhythms mix, but I’m most grateful for this cut by Wide Boy Awake, an Adam and the Ants offshoot whose tiny, album-less catalog has never been properly issued on cd to my knowledge. Its beats, melodies, and textures are distinctly 80s in the best possible way, but it thankfully lacks the overfamiliar feeling of much of the music from that era. It’s a little like finding a twenty dollar bill in a pair of pants you haven’t worn in several years while cleaning out your closet. (Click here to buy it from RVNG.)

The Onus Is On Me

Steve Spacek “Slave” – Video treatment, “choose your own adventure” grab bag edition.

Column A
Steve Spacek is in a pimped-out space suite. He is singing to a lovely young woman with lavender-colored skin and wearing a metallic silver daishiki OR Steve Spacek’s face is attached to the body of a very buff oiled-up naked guy in a an empty room, kinda like that one D’Angelo video, but Steve keeps looking down at his ‘body’ with enthusiastic approval OR Steve Spacek (wearing a pair of flashy high tech goggles a la Cyclops from the X-Men) is lounging about in a vague space that is a bit like the Holodeck on Star Trek mixed with the grotto at the Playboy Mansion.

Column B
There are frequent cuts to: R2-D2 serving top shelf drinks to party girls on a space yacht OR Maria from Metropolis in a pink bikini washing a small space cruiser OR some random manga robot girl repairing herself in a way that is at least theoretically sexy OR a stationary machine that looks not unlike an ATM pumps phallic rods from its sides, suggestively.

(Click here to buy it from Sound In Color.)

A Song Or Two, A Boy, A Girl, and A Rendezvous

As far as official mid-career biographies of indie bands go, Paul Whitelaw’s Belle & Sebastian: Just A Modern Rock Story is well above average as it presents a detailed history of the band and most of its members, and provides some insight into their character and group dynamic. It’s an excellent source for trivia, and does a good job of putting their catalog into some perspective*, but since it is approved by the band themselves, the book often seems to be leaving out significant chunks of sensitive information key to the book’s narrative. In particular, the writer often makes references to Isobel Campbell and Stuart Murdoch’s turbulant relationship, but never elaborates on the topic in any satisfactory way, instead electing to drop tantalizing hints that left me frustrated and wishing that they had never brought it up at all.

The story arc presented by Whitelaw is clear and logical, if not especially dramatic. The first third of the book is spent getting acquainted with the key members of the group, placing emphasis on primary songwriter Stuart Murdoch and founding member Stuart David, and giving the reader about as much historical information on supporting players Sarah Martin and Mick Cooke as is neccessary. The second act focuses on their debut and immediate success, and the third on overcoming the relative disappointments of their third and fourth albums, and how they eventually evolved into the confident, professional band that they are today. Though it is clear that the author is often making a deliberate attempt to debunk certain myths about the band (certainly in terms of common misconceptions of what they are like in their personal lives – he goes through great pains to make sure that the reader knows that Murdoch is – OHMYGOD – an athlete!), the notion that the band is very punk in spirit in spite of their gentle music is trumpeted at any given opportunity, even when the claim is somewhat specious.

In order to maintain the dramatic structure outlined above, it was necessary for Whitelaw to depart from his general tone of B&S boosterism in order to present The Boy With The Arab Strap and Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant as flawed and uneven albums. Though most everyone (including the band themselves) can agree on that premise, I strongly disagree about many of the songs he deemed to be unworthy, especially since his selections generally follow a sort of party line that seems very common in my strictly anecdotal experience with B&S fandom. I simply cannot understand how anyone could think of “The Rollercoaster Ride” from Arab Strap to be a dud, for example – that’s surely one of the top ten songs in their catalog! Similarly, I will never understand the contempt many people have for Stevie Jackson’s sweetly melancholy “Chickfactor” while his inferior “Seymour Stein” is generally held up as a gem.

Belle & Sebastian “Women’s Realm” – The most egregious example of Whitelaw’s questionable taste, however, is in his dispassionate dismissal of the glorious “Women’s Realm,” the song I have long considered to be the wildly uneven Fold Your Hands‘ saving grace. I honestly can’t comprehend how anyone who likes the band could not love that song, especially since it seems to distill most everything great about their catalog into just under five minutes. Not only that, but it makes the best possible use of Isobel Campbell’s narrow vocal range, and plays up her undeniable chemistry with Murdoch by casting her as his foil for the final time on record. Ultimately, it’s that gorgeous round at the end that gets to me, as a handful of overdubbed Murdochs overlap as they sing some lines which rank among the most resonant words in their songbook, if just for me: Are you coming or are you not? / There is nothing that would sort you out / An interesting way of life / Deny yourself the benefits of being alive. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

*For some reason I never seemed to notice how quickly they were turning out product in the late 90s – between June 1996 and October 1997 they had released two albums and three EPs – possibly because I started with If You’re Feeling Sinister in late ’96 and acquired the rest out of order as they became available to me through the beginning of 1998.

Nature’s Radio Plays Music In Our Homes

Animal Collective “Grass” – After teasing their audience with occasional dabblings in quasi-pop songwriting for as long as they have existed, the Animal Collective have finally caved and made a (relatively) accessable art rock record with some songs that could fit comfortably on the radio alongside The Arcade Fire, Mercury Rev, Modest Mouse, Interpol, and The Flaming Lips. Now I don’t want to seem as though I’m accusing them of “selling out” or being crass – if anything, I applaud them for showing some sign of careerism and the common sense to continue to cultivate and expand their already inexplicably large audience. (The Sun City Girls surely never had it so good.) I suppose what I appreciate the most about this new record is that it seems so deliberate and disciplined, whereas much of the material released after Spirit They’re Gone Spirit They’ve Vanished often seemed like tossed-off improvisation that was only ever as good as chance would allow. (Click here to pre-order from No Karma.)

The Rosebuds “Blue Bird” – Video treatment: A man in his early to mid 30s is cleaning his apartment. He’s not freaking out, but he’s clearly a bit anxious – you can see him second guessing himself in some minor decisions along the way, and you can get the sense that he’s not particularly happy with his home. It’s a very modest apartment at best, and he has a bit too much stuff and not enough places to put things. He hides a few potentially embarrassing items from plain site, and foregrounds some other things (i.e. strategically chosen “intellectual” books and magazines). You see him leave and go to some stores – he buys some wine, some food. He gets home and begins to cook. You see him struggle a bit, but he’s not an incompetant. He goes back out into his living room and continues to clean out of nervousness. He tries to read, but he can’t concentrate. He checks his watch. As the song concludes, the doorbell rings and you see him buzz the guest up. In the final moments of the song, he answers the door and his date enters. She’s about the same age and is pretty but not model/actress/Suicide Girl-ish at all. She smiles, and as she enters the door closes behind her, and we fade to black as it shuts. (Click here to pre-order it from Merge Records.)

I’m Not A Piece Of Meat, Stimulate My Brain

Sara Jorge “Dirty Business” – I’m curious as to whether or not this song was written with Kylie in mind. It seems like it would have been a pretty good fit, and Jorge’s vocal similarity to Ms. Minogue only reinforces that notion. The track is elegant and sleek, so much so that it seems to be the entire point of its existence. It has this way of making me feel very poor when I listen to it, which is maybe a peculiar thing to get out of something that I definitely enjoy. (Click here for the official Sara Jorge site.)

Clea “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” – It’s not entirely clear on why this group of British televised singing-contest also-rans decided to resurrect Jermaine Stewart’s pro-abstinence (and cherry wine) anthem, but the kitsch-loving part of me cannot possibly complain, especially since the song has a special place in my heart after it was immortalized in this Failed Pilot phone prank by Andy Earles. It’s a great pop song, but it seems like such a random thing to cover, especially with this sort of earnestness. (Click here for the official Clea site and here to buy the Just Farr A Laugh cd from Failed Pilot.)

Isn’t It Good?

The Fiery Furnaces “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” – It’s a bit perverse to cover a Beatles song and take substantial liberties with the melody, of all things. I had been hoping that this recording (made for a compilation celebrating the 40th anniversary of Rubber Soul) would play it fairly straight and feature the vocals of Matt Friedberger, whose voice and persona seem perfectly suited to the melody and lyrics of this particular song. Instead, we get a peculiar psychedelic lounge arrangement that feels slippery and restless but strangely stagnant, eventually slowing down and reaching an abrubt conclusion. Eleanor Friedberger sings the song with an odd sort of bewildered breathlessness, almost as though she intended to make the character sound a bit naive, dim, and more than a little bit stoned. This is certainly not their best work, but it is definitely an intriguing experiment. (Click here for the official site of the This Bird Has Flown compilation.)

The Word Is That He Was Delta Force

Thanks to WFMU‘s Aircheck program, I’ve recently been introduced to the brilliance of syndicated radio host Phil Hendrie. Hendrie’s show airs on mostly AM stations throughout the United States, but is inexplicably unavailable in the New York area except on satellite radio. Hendrie’s show is in many ways very similar to the comedy sketches by Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, and Andy Earles on The Best Show On WFMU, but rather than working with a partner, he manages to play both the guest and the straight man in his bits, alternating between his default radio host voice and the character so convincingly that there is never any shortage of suckered audience members calling in to express their outrage and spar with the character. Though both programs are mainly concerned with finding humor in characters driven by extreme selfishness, vanity, and self-delusion, Hendrie consistently keeps his premises and characters right on the edge of believability, whereas the Best Show gives itself license to take bits in occasionally surreal and cartoonish directions.

Phil Hendrie “David G. Hall Wants More Female Listeners (August 14, 2001)” – In this sketch, fictional Vice President of Syndication for the Phil Hendrie show David G. Hall calls in to tell Phil about his proactive plans to increase his female audience, which amounts to a series of staggeringly sexist suggestions which result in Phil’s audible discomfort with the new corporate demands and the understandable outrage of several female callers.

Phil Hendrie “Bobbi Dooley on the American Flag (September 24, 2001)” – By all accounts, Bobbi Dooley is Hendrie’s most popular recurring character. Dooley is the shallow and overbearing president of the Western Estates Homeowners’ Association, a gated community in Southern California. Her husband Steve often cuts in with comments from the background, and she is prone to mindblowing levels of condescension and smugness. In this skit, Bobbi chastises people for not flying flags of the appropriate size in the wake of 9/11.

Phil Hendrie “R.C. Collins on Teen Sex (May 24, 2001)” – R.C. Collins is another popular recurring character, but tends to be far less defined than Dooley or Hall. The character is consistently a squeaky-voiced teenager, but his political views and situation in life change radically from sketch to sketch, ranging from him being a buff jingoistic military school student to a Satan-worshipping goth kid to a terminally ill cancer patient. In this sketch, R.C. talks about being one of the rare teenagers to actually go all the way and have sex, as well as voicing his deep resentment of the “Baby Bomber” generation.

(Click here for new Phil Hendrie broadcasts, podcasts, and archived audio in the paid membership area.)

These People Talk To Me But I Don’t Know Their Names

Death Cab For Cutie “Different Names For The Same Thing” – I had never thought much of Ben Gibbard’s music until fairly recently, and even now I approach his work with some reservation. On the surface, his music with Death Cab For Cutie and the Postal Service is amiable but somewhat indistinct, much of it coming off as bland and aggressively “tasteful,” like a contemporary literary fiction writer’s conception of what a sincere indie pop band would sound like. It’s hardly a shock that soundtrack people would gravitate to his catalog, or that television writers would have sensitive but deeply self-absorbed characters like Seth Cohen and Claire Fisher be fans of his records. It just sounds right and makes intuitive sense as a shorthand for an entire aesthetic.

As it turns out, I had mistaken Gibbard’s relative genericness for outright mediocrity. Though much of his catalog does not do much for me, he is capable of periodic flashes of low-key brilliance, particularly when he is in his comfort zone of creating a vaguely arty version of soft rock. He’s famous for covering Phil Collins, and judging by his best songs, doing that was never an ironic or kitschy gesture. “Different Names For The Same Thing” echoes late period John Lennon and Wilco, but the reason it works is mainly due to the subtle Phil Collins-ness of the melody and his vocal deliverary as he pushes for melodrama in a way that is more akin to the nuance of cinema than stage theatricality. Like Collins, Gibbard excels when he takes small moments and emotions and frames them so that they seem grandiose and life changing. This is clearly the work of a man who (rightly) believes that “Tonight Tonight Tonight,” “Take Me Home” and “In The Air Tonight” are great and unique pop songs. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

Audio Bullys “I’m In Love” – And it sounds like he’s in love, too. It’s not delirious or giddy or particularly dramatic, but more of a gentle, laid back sort of love best expressed by slow but bouncey saw wave synths, tinkly lead piano, contented la-la-la-ing, and a bit of heavily accented British lad rapping. (Click here to pre-order it from Amazon.)

I Should Write A Song About You

Robyn “Crash and Burn Girl” – Though I am very pleased to see that Robyn’s “Konichiwa Bitches” is slowly gaining in popularity on the internet and among critics, I worry that the rest of her new album is being overlooked. I can’t overstate the excellence of this record – with the exception of the brief and entertaining skits that punctuate the first half of the running order, virtually every song is post-worthy, not to mention hit-worthy. On an album full of unlikely musical choices for a Swedish pop singer, “Crash and Burn Girl” is actually pretty close to what one might expect from one – slick eurodisco with minimal beats and sampled strings, almost like the house flip side to the record’s first single, “Be Mine.” (There’s certainly some lyrical continuity as well, but then again, almost every song on the album is more or less treading the same bad-breakup ground.) The dynamics are brilliant, particularly when the song shifts from the string-based hook to verses backed up entirely by an electronic kick drum, followed shortly by a fluid bass groove that must sound amazing on a loud, high end soundsystem. (Click here for the official Robyn site.)

April March “Sugar” – This is another entry in a semi-regular series of posts dedicated to revisiting songs that were staples of my old mix tapes and cds circa 1996-2001. There’s really no place else to put this version of “Sugar” in a sequence other than at the start of a cd or a tape side. The intro is key to the song’s appeal, as it piles on pleasing rhythmic and melodic elements until a gorgeous ringing guitar motif comes in about thirty seconds into the track. March’s voice could do to be a little less flat, but her girlish charm matches the whimsical tone of the arrangement perfectly. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

All Of The Beautiful Things That Make You Weep

Rilo Kiley “I Never” – I am only a man of flesh and bone, and I am prone to irrationality. In this case, Rilo Kiley used to be on Saddle Creek, which put them at one step removal from Conor Oberst, and that simple fact tainted my opinion of them so much that when I sampled More Adventurous around the time it came out, I’m fairly certain I did not actually hear any of the music that was actually on the album. Whatever it was that I heard, it just seemed very bland and not particularly interesting, and I certainly wasn’t being convinced by the whole “baby, I’m bad news” angle at that particular moment in time. But I had never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never heard this song. There’s no way that I could have, because I can’t imagine not immediately loving it, and appreciating the way that it subtly updates the Dusty Springfield blue eyed soul aesthetic for 20something indie rock girls without seeming the least bit contrived. Jenny Lewis and her band totally sell this song with grace and feeling, and never go over the top or come off as young fogeys a la Texas. Seriously, the only thing that makes this fall into the increasingly nebulous indie genre is context. That’s it. This is pop, this is country, this is soul. This is far more Shania than Chan, that’s for sure. They should make a nice video for this and send it to CMT and cross their fingers. For real. Also, if this isn’t being played at weddings in the future as an occasional substitute for “At Last,” I’d be a little disappointed. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Ladyfuzz “Hold Up!” – The song seems to be running against a current of “Academy Fight Song”-ish guitar stabs on the verses, which sounds fine on its own, but it’s all set up for that lovely transition into the chorus, as it suddenly lets out all the tension and feels like it’s gliding in the air at high speed, only to be suddenly grounded. It repeats the cycle, of course, only to make the song evoke some sort of Sisyphean struggle. (Click here for the official Ladyfuzz site.)

Special Guest Post By Eppy From Clap Clap Blog!

Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band “L.I.P.S.T.I.C.K.” – Am I supposed to be embarrassed about liking Dmitri From Paris’ late-90s album Sacrebleu? It always just sounded so good, driving around central New York in my parent’s Corolla with the air conditioning on. Anyway, this song sounds like what Dmitri should be doing today, as it’s strongly influenced by Gallic lounge-pop, but gleefully tainted by disco, melding its relaxed atmosphere with a straightforward beat and gorgeous string runs. Would that more nu-disco acts incorporated the latter, and would that more songs were as great as this. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Geoff Reacher “You Like My Song” – Geoff Reacher’s bio lets us know that “It sounds live because it is…sequenced and variously twisted in real time using a foot pedal rig.” It’s a testament to the quality of this song, a MIDI-breakbeat-laden pop-country kissoff tune, that the liveness isn’t even an issue. The flourish of strings at the beginning draw you in, the drums tumble over themselves, and if Reacher can’t quite hit the high notes, well, it just serves to nicely undercut his message of “you’ll be dead in no time.” The track ends with a two-minute FX romp that, appropriately, sounds like a drum machine and acoustic guitar slowly expiring. (Click here to buy it from Geoff Reacher’s site.)

Wake Up In The Future

Prototokyo “Underneath The Sheets (Of Time)” – Is this like some kind of Doctor Who slow jam? Is this what centuries-old guys with time machines play when they want to get some action with 19 year old blondes in their TARDIS? (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Whomadewho “Space For Rent” – Please appreciate the fact that it took a great deal of restraint for me not to select the Whomadewho song “Rose” in order to keep up a Doctor Who theme in this entry, thus confusing the hell out of the vast majority of who, who have very likely never seen the excellent current version of the series. Also please enjoy the fact that I did not take the title of this song as an opportunity to whine at length about the difficulty of finding a suitable two bedroom apartment in New York City. (Click here to buy it from Juno.)

Also: Hello, Slate readers. I hope that you enjoyed that post from two years ago that they inexplicably linked to in that article.

Your Taste It Mirrors Mine

Kylie Minogue “Sweet Music” – I must have loved this song for at least a year without ever stopping to notice its lyrics. That fact alone ought to be enough of a recommendation, really. Exhiliration is generally well enough for me when it comes to pop music.

One way or another, I came to notice the words that Kylie was singing, and it became clear to me that this wasn’t just an incredible dance pop track, but also a song about the act of creating an incredible dance pop track. There’s a lot of art made about the creation of art, but in my experience, it normally concerns the emotional and intellectual problems tied in with being an artist (notions of orginality/authenticity, inspiration and/or lack thereof, frustration/experimentation with process, etc.), but very seldom an earnest expression of the joy of creation. There’s certainly a great deal of music made about a love of performing, but that’s arguably a very different thing, even in the case of improvisation.

What’s more is that “Sweet Music” is specifically about the joy of creating in a collaborative relationship. This is somewhat common in hip hop, but not much else as far as I know. The genius of this song is that it captures that rush of enthusiasm, optimism, and confidence that comes from knowing that you’re making great work, as well as the special sort of instinctual semi-telepathy and friendly competition that’s incredibly similar to flirtation and intense sexual attraction.

The conflation of artistic collaboration and the beginning stages of infatuation is no mistake, especially for an artist like Minogue who works within the traditional pop paradigm of working with multiple writers, musicians, and producers rather than the artistic monogamy that is encouraged and idealized in rock music. It’s funny how pop musicians (especially rock stars) are very seldom disparaged for infidelity in their personal lives, but the audience is usually all too eager to punish them for straying from their collaborators, sometimes to the point of villifying an artist who abandons a less desirable or self-sufficient partner in the way that we might turn against the ex of a close friend who has recently been dumped. So it’s not shocking that the most extreme rockists would think of pop stars as being artistic sluts, even if rockism favors the image of sexual freedom and inhibition in presentation. From that point of view, sex and love comes and goes, but loyalty to your artistic/business partners is paramount. It’s a flawed morality, but it’s pragmatic.

It’s worth pointing out that there’s almost nothing in the lyrics of “Sweet Music” that would exclude collaborative monogamy – in fact, the stray line that asserts that what they are doing is “no exotic affair” would seem to support that concept very well. But let’s be real – this is about a non-permanent arrangement, and that’s actually a lot to do with the freshness and the immediacy and the joy of it, not to mention the excitement of not being able to fully anticipate the new partner’s next move. This is a song, after all, with the refrain “I’m looking for that new sensation.” (And I don’t think it’s just a nod to Minogue’s ex-lover Michael Hutchence!) This is a celebration of new sensations, and it’s a romantic, beautiful thing. Perhaps moreso than any other song or piece of art that I’ve ever experienced, this song goes a long way towards explaining why so many artists become (or remain) artists in the first place. It’s definitely a better and more realistic alternative to the old “I must express my angst and pain” model, right? (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

What Was So Scary Once Is Now A Little Bit Quaint

Portion Control Scissor Sisters @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Laura / Can’t Decide / Hybrid / Tits On The Radio / Cher Baby / Paul McCartney / Magnifique / Other Side / Take Your Mama / Everybody Wants The Same Thing / Mary / Comfortably Numb (w/ Carlos Alomar on lead guitar) / Filthy/Gorgeous // Music Is The Victim

Scissor Sisters “Everybody Wants The Same Thing (Live @ Live 8)” – Have no fear, Scissor Sisters fans – their next album is going to be fabulous. All six of the new songs performed last night were instantly catchy and lovable, especially the jaunty banjo romp “Can’t Decide” and “Everybody Wants The Same Thing,” which received the most rapturous audience response to an unreleased song that I’ve ever witnessed. It was vaguely disconcerting to see the Sisters in such a tiny room after being at their huge homecoming show at the Hammerstein Ballroom last December. All of the songs, especially the new ones, seem designed for big rooms and massive outdoor shows, and their personalities are so much larger than life that it was almost surreal to be so close to them. Before the show, Jake Shears was standing about three feet away from me in pretty normal clothing, which seemed about as weird to me as if someone who I saw every day suddenly started dressing like…well, Jake Shears! (Fun fact: Jake announced that his father made the leather pants that he was wearing. That’s one supportive dad!) (Click here for the official Scissor Sisters website.)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Graceful Retreat / Is This Love / Cigarettes / Yellow Teeth / Over And Over Again (Lost And Found) / In This Home On Ice / Details On The War / Satan / Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood [This is taken from the setlist that was on the stage – the unreleased songs may have longer titles, and the order could possibly be different from what was actually played.]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah “Is This Love?” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah didn’t seem quite right coming between the stylish, high energy disco pop sets by Maxi Geil and the Scissor Sisters, but outside of that context, they played a fine if not particularly memorable set of songs that recalled at various points David Byrne, Jonathan Richman, Violent Femmes, and all manner of indie pop from Elephant Six to 80s New Zealand to present-day Pacific Northwest but mainly sounded like the Arcade Fire crossbred with The Shins. (Not such a shock that they would catch on so quickly given that math, right?) At their best, they have a knack for quietly likeable pop ideal for mix tapes and riding around in cars on sunny afternoons, so it’s hard to question their sudden success since that’s half of what the indie audience is looking for to begin with. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)

Maxi Geil & Playcolt @ Mercury Lounge 7/27/2005
Here Comes Maxi / Teenage Extreme / That’s How The Story Goes / Paying For Something New / Sunday Morning / Artist’s Lament / The Love I Lose / Makin’ Love In The Sunshine / Please Remember Me

Maxi Geil & Playcolt “Makin’ Love In The Sunshine” – This set started off a bit wobbly, but Maxi and the band fell into place about halfway through “That’s How The Story Goes” and kept it up though the set until the climactic disco showstopper “Makin’ Love In The Sunshine,” which has quickly become my new favorite song in their catalog. Unfortunately for the band, the superenthusiastic crew of buff gay dudes who danced nonstop through the Scissor Sisters show and the DJ set immediately before it had not showed up yet. I’m sure those guys would’ve been way into this set.

But oh man, “Makin’ Love In The Sunshine” – seriously, if this song doesn’t make you all love them, I just don’t know what is wrong with you. How do you resist this? How do you not love a song with a verse like this:

This kind of love is like Das Kapital
I often quote it, know who wrote it, never read it all.
This kind of love is like the Red Brigade
What was so scary once is now a little bit quaint.
This kind of love is like the SLA
It took a debutante to make me want to move its way.
This kind of love is like a guillotine
I just lost my head to a cause greater than me.

This track is going to be out on a limited edition vinyl picture disc with “That’s How The Story Goes” sometime in the next couple months. Keep an eye on the Maxi Geil site if you want to buy a copy. (Click here to visit the Maxi Geil website)