by the time the arcade fire strolled into town wednesday night, the only question that remained was, 'what took so long?' it's taken arcade fire three years to come to utah in the wake of 'funeral' [wake, funeral-get it? hey-o!]. even the 50 degree outdoor weather at thanksgiving point couldn't keep away the throngs of hipsters assembled for a lesson in rock. and in the immortal words of joe in say anything, arcade fire imparted these words of wisdom: 'yo, hang with us man. we'll teach you [neon] bibles full of truth.' ahhh, where's a rim shot when you need one?
truth be told, i think i was a bit more excited about seeing lcd soundsystem. 'sound of silver' still holds the top spot in my favorite albums of 2007 and i can't imagine someone knocking it off that lofty perch. james murphy and company put on an electric performance. and in the strangest of strange things, they actually took the stage on time. kate and i were still in line along with a couple hundred other people when they came one, so we got to listen to the first two songs from a distance. thankfully the line moved pretty quickly and by the start of 'north american scum' we were in. and just in time to see win butler and jeremy gara do the background screaming during the chorus. great. great. great. great. great. take me to outer space, mr. murphy. i'll gladly go so long as you're the pilot.
and speaking of james murphy, i don't know how much he got for his soul, but i imagine it was a pretty hefty sum. the man is all sorts of nutty pants talented and some sort of secret genius. [if you've not yet had the chance to listen to 'sound of silver,' please do. you're not likely to find a more exhilarating record.] he's got great stage presence and more charms than a night at hogwarts. they only bummer was that they didn't play 'get innocuous' or 'daft punk is playing at my house.' BUT they did play for a solid hour, so this lcd fan was more than happy. and hey, they still get spitcake's not-at-all-coveted 'album of the year.'
after some collective post-lcd shivering in the cool utah night, arcade fire took the stage. all i can say is that was well worth the price of admission. it's kind of impossible to describe what an arcade fire show is like. it's part frat party, part high art, part multi-media experience, part musical chairs. it's organized chaos. every last member of band never met a drum stick he or she didn't want to bang against something. the great thing is that it never came across as pretentious or glib. whether it was a solitary high hat set off to one side of the stage or the stage itself, nothing was safe from the barbarian-esque drumming.
and taking a page from the belle and sebastian approach to music, members of arcade fire don't play an instrument. they play instruments. plural. multitudinous. one minute ranee's playing a hurdy gurdy. the next she's playing drums on 'neighborhood #1.' one minute richard perry's playing the guitar, the next he's hitting something with a drumstick, the next he's playing a cello. not to be outdone, drummer tim kingsbury stepped away from the skins to rock out on the guitar. and win? well, he plays the guitar, pipe organ, and yeah, he bangs on stuff, too. and did i mention the megaphone seems to be the vocal projector of choice?
and this is seems to be the ethos of arcade fire: the end result is what matters, not necessarily how you get there. if you want to play the drums, go ahead. if you want to run around the stage shaking a tambourine with demonic-like possession, please do. you say you want to just yell into the microphone? don't let anyone try to stop you. and as chaotic as it all sounds, it was seemless. aside from win forgetting a few words, the band was tight.
after spending ninety minutes watching them tear through a grueling set [including 'old flame,' a song that pre-dates 'funeral' that win couldn't remember playing last] with terrific energy, verve and gusto, i get the feeling that they would've played the exact same show even if there hadn't been a single soul in attendance. that, my dear friends, is magic.
→ arcade fire: intervention
→ arcade fire: old flame
→ arcade fire: surf city eastern bloc ['no cars go' b-side]
Arcade Fire w/ LCD Soundsystem @ Thanksgiving Point
Friday, September 28, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 6:37 PM 4 shout outs
SONG OF THE DAY (#199)
'thief of me,' by dot allison
a gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, a seige of herons, a murmurations of starlings, a parliament of owls, a flock of seagulls, an exaltation of larks [ok, i dunno about that penultimate one]. now you know more than you ever wanted to know about what a particular group of birds is called. me, i most like 'an exaltation of larks.' apparently dot allison did to. so much so, in fact, she made it the name of her newest album.
dot's been slugging out it ever since she fronted the very excellent, but very short-lived, one dove. one dove released a a single album, 'morning dove white,' then went splitsville. dot carried on, releasing a rather tepid album, 'afterglow,' [1999] then a electro-stomper, 'we are science' [2002]. i had no clue she even had a new album out until my friend tipped me off the other day [it was out sept 10 in the UK, no US release date yet]. wow, it's a much more stripped down affair than anything's she done before. it reminds me a lot of hem, in fact. i think it speaks a lot to her diversity as an artist -- she's yet to release two similar albums, unlike, say, u2, who's been releasing the same album the last 10 years. so thank heavens for her.
��� dot allison: thief of me
��� dot allison: tomorrow never comes [from the 'afterglow' l.p.]
��� dot allison: strung out [from the 'we are science' l.p.]
��� one dove: white love [radio mix]
so i know i said i was going to devote this week to new TV shows, but i was too busy last night watching my dodgers get mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. there's always next year, but i've been saying that every end of september since 1989. it's now been twenty years since the dodgers won the world series. TWENTY years. it's not like the dodgers are the bloomin' kansas city royals or san diego padres. but whatever. i had a good cry about it, but you know, i don't feel any better. oh well, there's always next year...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 4:21 PM 0 shout outs
Fall TV
forget the changing leaves. forget the pumpkin pie. actually i love pumpkin pie more than life, so i can't forget it. forget mulling spices. forget bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils. nothing says fall like a crop of new TV shows, and i can't remember being more excited about a new crop of shows than i am this year. chuck! bionic woman! reaper! pushing daisies! so i'm devoting the rest of this week [at least planning on devoting the rest of this week] to some thoughts on the new fall TV season as the shows happen. so, here we go...
CHUCK
mayhem, hijinks, and hilarity ensue when chuck bartowski [who works at the 'nerd herd,'a geek squad-type outfit, at a store called 'buy more,' a tv-land style 'best buy'] opens an email from his former standford-roommate-turned-rogue-spy, bryce larkin, and in doing so subliminally aborbs just about every single military and goverment secret in the form thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of pictures. the CIA and NSA aren't too happy about it, of course, and some nefarious, vaguely ominious goverment-types send CIA-agent, sarah walker, and NSA agent john casey after chuck to retrieve all their dirty secrets. in the process chuck becomes their unwitting, reluctant pawn and secret crime-fighting weapon.
zack levi is absolutely great as chuck. chuck bartkowski is this year's jim halpert with his aww-shucks-look-at-my-cute-disheveled-hair-and-crooked-smile. i mean, shoot, I have a man-crush on him. he's just so cute. it's really not hard to see levi making the jump to feature films in near future. i'd bet my bottom dollar on it, in fact. the supporting cast, adam baldwin as john casey [sing with me: the man they called jayne! three cheers for browncoats!], and yvonne strzechowski [say that three times] as sarah walker are pitch-perfect in their roles as chuck's persuers-turned-handlers. baldwin is delightfully snarky and strezdsfsdho is drop dead sexy! and limber. wow! kudos, too, to josh gomez who plays zack's nerd-herder-in-arms, morgan, who provides a lot of the comic relief, particulary the scene where chuck comes back to work at the nerd herd after accepting his new identity as super secret spy. it involves morgan and a stereo and it was hilarious.
yes, the plot is absolutely absurd, but the writers and actors know it. they know it's an escapist dramedy and they play it as such. sure, there are some harrowing moments, but there are also moments of complete ridiculity and over-the-topness. 'chuck' is a nice balance of humor, charm, romance, tension, spy stuff, and gadgetry. of course it helps that the cast comes from a genetically superior gene pool. i'm just sayin'. there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments for an hour-long show [i initially thought it might work better as a half-hour show, but i was wrong] and plenty of jim-pam, er, chuck-sarah budding will they/won't they romance moments [should we just start calling them 'chucrah? that's kind of like chakra. and that's really lame. nevermind].
the pilot is great and i'll definitely tune it next week. my only concern is that the story will lose momentum after a dozen episodes. at the outset, 'chuck' does seem like a bit of a one-trick pony, but josh schwartz managed to make 'the O.C' really entertaining television for a couple of years, so here's hoping he and his team manage to build on what appears to be one of the new season's top shows and ride all the way to season five. will you have to suspend disbelief a bit? yes. will you be glad you did? absolutely you will.
if you missed it last night, you can catch it here. or you can just come over to my house. i tivo'd it.
spinto band: spy vs. spy
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 12:34 PM 0 shout outs
Labels: TV
SONG OF THE DAY (#198)
'stop me,' by mark ronson & daniel merriweather
'running up that hill,' by chromatics
'pretty in pink,' by purplespace
it's been a couple of weeks since i've thrown up some cover versions, so here are few to whet ye olde appetite. the first, 'stop me,' is a cover of the smiths' classic, 'stop me if you think you've heard this one before.' it's a great version, but at the same time i revere the smiths so much that part of me feels they shouldn't be covered, no matter how well-intentioned and no matter how successful a particular cover might be. let's face it, the smiths are holy. they are untouchable. do you want someone covering the smiths? hmmm. but having said that, if someone is going to cover the smiths, it better be great. thankfully, mark ronson's version resembles the original only in the melody. as he often does, ronson turns 'stop me if you think you've heard this one before' into a a great motown-inspired. daniel merritweather also does a nice job invoking the mozfather without aping him entirely.
the second is chromatics icy cover of the kate bush classic [i also heartily recommend placebo's version]. if nothing else, it's a testament to the quality of the original that it translates so well into so many different styles. i love this version.
lastly, purplespace continues the trend of covering classic 80s songs. i'm still not entirely sure how i feel about this trend, but i don't see it ending anytime soon. part of me feels like it's cheating to announce yourself to the world by recording someone else's song. is that harsh? purplespace's version is of the psychedelic furs' classis essentially non-essential, doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but it is a competent, well-produced version that stays true to the original. there's no shame in that. [i couldn't find a decent picture of purplespace, so you'll have to go without]. i'm sure it will drift into obscurity before too long, so enjoy it while you can.
what do you all think of covers? good thing? bad thing? speak your mind....
��� mark ronson & daniel merriweather: stop me [original version] [smiths cover] / video
��� chromatics: running up that hill [kate bush cover]
��� purplespace: pretty in pink [psychedelic furs cover]
Posted by matt lohrke at 8:00 AM 3 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#197)
'into a swan,' by siouxsie
yes, that siouxsie. yes! yes! yes!
whether it was with the banshees, the creatures, or the glove, siouxsie was always an undeniable star, as palpable as she was untouchable, as inviting as she was mysterious, and as beautiful as she was mysterious. there's just something about all that eye shadow. know what i mean? what 16 year-old boy isn't at least mildly attracted to goth chicks, hmmm? [how else do you explain evanescence's popularity? you can't tell me it's the music.] and it was always a great time dancing to 'peek-a-boo' at the ivy tower in provo circa 1991. any other ivy tower vets out there? but it's been a while since we've heard anything from her, other than when she received the mojo icon award in '05 and appeared in ads for false eyelashes earlier this year. so i was a bit surprised when i saw she had some solo stuff out. surprised, but very happy.
so how does solo siouxsie fare? answer: fabulously. her debut album, 'mantaray,' isn't necessarily a stylistic divergence from established siouxsie blueprints [that wonderfully expressive voice of hers is still intact], but she's never sounded as fresh, confident, and vital as she does here. 'into the swan,' the first single, is an absolute corker that should, in a perfect world, inspire legions of new fans to adopt siouxsie's trademark style. that would be really, really, really...really awesome.
you can call 'into a swan' whatever you like, but in the immortal words of l.l. cool j, don't call it a comeback [l.l. cool j references are always awesome. always.] it's nice to hear from you again, siouxsie. we missed you....
'mantaray' drops 10/2. now go put on some heavy eye shadow. i said now.
��� siouxsie: into a swan
��� siouxsie: about to happen
��� siouxsie & the banshees: peek-a-boo
��� siouxsie & the banshees: kiss them for me
Monday, September 24, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 8:00 AM 2 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#196)
'passchendaele,' by goodbooks
i really don't know where a bunch of 15 year olds get off writing songs this skilled. i really don't. when i was a teen i was writing two-chord songs about playing basketball, mexican food, 1950 chevys, and some guy called 'big bad bill.' don't ask. [but in the interest of full disclosure, those songs are awesome!!]
ok, i don't really know that they are teenagers, but they sure look like it. but i guess age is completely irrelevant, or at least should be. what does matter is that goodbooks is a really great and promising band from kent, england [why is this not even remotely surprising?]. judging from the quality of the tunes, goodbooks looks like a force to be reckoned with for some years to come. i don't think it's a stretch to put them in the same league as editors. they're sort of editors with acne. their debut album, 'control,' hasn't seen the light of US soil yet, but you can find reasonably priced used copies on amazon. check it out.
here's something for your gee-whiz collection: passchendaele [passendale in the modern flemish], a belgian village, was the site of a major, four-month WWI offensive by coalition of british, canadian, anzac, and south african troops against the germans. during those four months the brits lost a staggering 310,000 troops. if handful of kids wrote a song about it, it obviously still resonates some 90 years later. so there's your context...
and who says spitcake isn't educational?
��� goodbooks: passchendaele / video
��� goodbooks: passchendaele [dekko remix]
��� goodbooks: leni / video
��� goodbooks: the illness [teenager's mix] / video
Sunday, September 23, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 9:35 AM 2 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#195)
'annabelle,' by hail social
i think head hail social dayve hawk may have invented a new genre of music: casio funk [hey, if the shortwave set invented 'victorian funk,' why can't hail social do the same? and as a former and current purveyor of all things casio -- i own one, the tone bank ct-670 -- i take every opportunity to extol its virtues to anyone who'll listen]. hail social's debut, 'modern love and death,' is an album full of said tunes -- prince and m.j.-inspired romps that dayve hawk says 'sound like 80's roller-skating music played by a metal band.'
so it's a bit of a surprise that the album's best track [in my opinion, of course] is 'annabelle,' which sounds neither like prince or m.j., nor roller skate music played by an 80's metal band. instead it's a charming little 'indie-pop' ode to one annabelle, a girl who never knew the words to any songs, made them up as she sang along, and who led the neighborhood to draft a new set of laws. i don't know about you, but i want to meet annabelle.
but the best part of the song is only having to wait 41 seconds for the chorus--and what a great chorus it is. it's also easily dayve's best melody [he sometimes seems to struggle to find a hook and some songs are so cheesy you might well just spray cheese whiz directly into your mouth]. so here's hoping that head social's next album, which is already in the can, er, hard drive, gives us more great pop songs like 'annabelle' and fewer songs that make me wanna spray cheese whiz into my mouth. if it does, we'll all be hail socialites. believe it.
��� hail social: annabelle
��� hail social: one u love
Thursday, September 20, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 11:31 AM 0 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#194)
'on the aventine,' by damon and naomi
damon krukowski and naomi yang have been making their own brand of pastoral folk rock ever since the tragic demise of their previous band, galaxie 500 (damon says that while he and dean wareham have recently started emailing each other after years of taciturnity, don't expect a galaxie 500 reunion anytime soon, meaning never).
it's been a couple of years since their previous album, 'the earth is blue,' and those years, it seems, have brought a little pep to the band. though it's still a quintessentially damon and naomi album (damon's wonderful vocals, naomi's walking basslines, lots of reverb, and acoustic guitars a-plenty), the addition of some good old-fashioned jazz brass (namely the sax and trumpet, as evidenced on 'on the aventine') gives their trademark sound a new depth and expressivity and sounds so at home that you wonder why they've not done it before.
it's been about twenty years since galaxie 500 first hit the scene and damon and naomi, once they rhythm section of one of the most influential bands of the last quarter century, have gracefully embraced mid-adulthood, crafting songs so lush and lovely that as i get closer to that stage, i'm feeling much better about spending some time there.
damon and naomi are set to release their newest album, 'within these walls,' sept 25 on their own label, 20/20/20. check it out.
��� damon and naomi: on the aventine
��� damon and naomi: lilac land
��� damon and naomi: the mirror phase [from the l.p. 'damon and naomi with ghost'].
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 2:24 PM 0 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#193)
'hide and seek [unofficial strings remix by ciaran hamilton],' by imogen heap
i'm sure you've all heard the original version of this song -- it was everywhere a couple of years ago. but here's a nice remix [i guess it's been around for awhile, but i didn't hear it until recently]. sure, it's completely unnecessary and doesn't necessarily add to the original, but that doesn't mean it's not without merit. so enjoy....
��� imogen heap: hide and seek [unofficial strings remix by ciaran hamilton]
Saturday, September 15, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 6:04 PM 1 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#192)
'swing your heartache,' by young galaxy
i'm out of town at the moment, but here are a couple of songs from arts & crafts latest signees, young galaxy. it's a pretty solid debut full of some really smart tunes. this is a band with all the promise and potential in the world and i hope they reach it. arts & crafts now has enough feathers in its cap now to make a pretty impressive head dress.
��� young galaxy: swing your heartache
��� young galaxy: outside the city / video
��� young galaxy: searchlight
Thursday, September 13, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 8:45 PM 0 shout outs
SONG OF THE DAY (#191)
'all the world' by fauxliage
it's been awhile now since leigh nash first burst on to the scene with sixpence none the richer. and it's been a while since the went they way off all the earth. i have to think this is a good thing 'cos sixpence was, let's face it, about a pinch of sugar away from being just way too cute for their own good.
but it was also a good thing 'cos it gave leigh nash the chance to hook up with bill leep and rhys fulber, those doods from delirium, to form fauxliage. they released their eponymous (i can't believe i just used that word) l.p., 'fauxliage' on august 14. it's a nice, downtempotronica (did i just make that up?) not too far removed from morcheeba's and zero 7's best moments and i'm 99% sure that if you were to walk into any starbucks in the country, 'all the world' or 'rafe' would playing over the sounds of espresso machines and pseudo-intellectual literary conversations/debates about noam chomsky and ferdinand de sausurre. yep. in fact, i'm more than 99% sure. more like 99.2%. you can take that to the bank.
so, is fauxliage fake, like, fake leaves or sumpthin'?
��� fauxliage: all the world
��� fauxliage: rafe
Tuesday, September 11, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 3:27 PM 0 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#190)
'you've no clue do you,' by king creosote
kenny anderson [not the former nba point guard] has very quietly released four consecutive and uniformly excellent albums since king creosote's debut album, 'kenny and beth's musakal boatrides' in 2003 [it was followed by 'rocket diy' in '05, 'kc rules ok' in '06]. well, i should say three albums because the forth, 'bombshell,' drops 9/17 in the UK. and as is the case with all too many albums from the other side of the bomb, there's no US release date...yet.
the first thing you notice is the accent -- yes, he's scottish [don't all folks from the british isles sing with american accents? hm, guess not] and his accent lends considerable charm to king creosote's own brand of pastoral scottish folk rock. it's not hard to imagine kenny at the pub on a saturday night, guitar in hand, a pint at his side, singing songs that sound both fresh, new and vital and as though they've been passed down from father to son for generations.
one of the few songs that doesn't fit that particular mold is 'you've no clue do you.' it's a bit of rocker (well, as rocking as bearded scottish doods wielding acoustic guitars get). listen carefully to the lyrics of this song. in a word: brilliant. a song featuring the characters from a classic board is, by default, automatically awesome. there's no other way around it. and the video? brillianter. king creosote? more like king clever [and hee-larious]. man, i hope this song is HUGE. i have a feeling it just might be...
library, lead pipe, pro-pro-professor plum is yet another wrong guess....
��� king creosote: you've no clue do you / video
��� king creosote: home in a sentence
��� king creosote: cowardly custard
Monday, September 10, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 10:07 AM 0 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#189)
'how to swim and live,' by little name
so, take all the best of belle & sebastian, camera obscura, and burt bacharach and then give it murray lightbottom's vibrato and you get something like little name.
every song from little name's debut album, 'how to swim and live,' is like pulling out sun-faded photographs from boxes hiding in the corners of cobwebby attics. it's where the contemporary meet the nostalgic and have a nice laugh over a cup of team. it's where all the girls have bobs and all the boys wear turtlenecks and burberry scarves. it's where everyone has impeccable taste, still buys vinyl, and dresses up for a night on the town. and right now, that sounds like a pretty nice place to live. little name inhabits such world and has invited us along.
the party begins now...
��� little name: how to swim and live
��� little name: for the attention of
��� little name: nobody loves you
Saturday, September 08, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 11:43 AM 1 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#188)
'one more chance,' by candie payne
if you not heard candie payne's album, 'i wish i could have loved your more,' by now, you really need to yourself a favor and get on that. i've listened to it a couple dozen times and wow, what a record. she's doing for blue-eyed sould what amy winehouse is doing for old-skool r&b. the difference seems to be that while ms winehouse embraces her darkside and demons, candie payne is pure class. it's the kind of class apparent in pretty much everything she does and the way she carries herself. in the age of the indulgent rock star, candie payne is a breath of fresh air AND a complete joy to listen to.
i really thought 'one more chance' should have been the first single from her album. 'i wish i could have loved you more' is a fine song, even a great song, but 'one more chance,' in my opinion, is a superior record. mark ronson, who seems to take all sorts of flak--why i don't know--does a bang up job on the remix. i can only hope that we'll see ms payne stateside soon. the country is hers for the taking.
��� candie payne: one more chance / video
��� candie payne: one more chance [mark ronson mix]
��� candie payne: ordinary fool ['one more chance' b-side / bugsy malone cover]
Friday, September 07, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 7:03 PM 0 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#187)
'umbrella,' by rihanna & 'umbrella,' scott simons
every once in a while i like to break out my inner homie (is that how you even spell homie? meh. who knows). i get my crunk on, my bling on, my pimped out ride on, my kristal in the cooler on. if i'm feeling super gangsta, i try to wear a grandfather clock around my neck so i can out flavah flav flavah flav. know what i'm sayin? (it's actually more like a pocket watch. who says size is everything?)
so, 'umbrella' pretty much gets my vote for top song outside of my preferred genres of music. the song's power is pretty undeniable. and you know, hip hop and electronica are more like siblings separated at birth. the only difference is that one grew up in europe and the other in the inner city. i mean, really. that's it. so it's not really surprising that the song has some serious crossover potential. and it's not really surprising that someone would cover it indietronica style. granted, i didn't think it would happen this soon, but hey, might as well strike while the iron's hot. and that's exactly what scott simons did. it actually sounds like aqualung covering rihanna, which ain't no bad thing. it also shows that a great song will work in just about any genre. enjoy...and go buy the scott simon version off iTunes. it's only a $1 clam. good deal, that.
��� rihanna: umbrella / video
��� scott simon: umbrella
��� rihanna: umbrella (zax extended remix)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 7:08 PM 5 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#186)
'monster,' by you say party! we say die!
i'm the first to admit that the whole post-punk-dance-alt-rock-party band is pretty much a dead genre. or least it should be. but hey, i'm just a guy with a blog. what do i know? there are some great P-P-A-R-P-Bs bands out there (franz ferdinand, for example), and some really crap ones (the bravery, for example). i'd say that those crazy canucks, a.k.a. you say party! we say die! fall somewhere in the middle. they have some really rockin' tunes and some that just leave me scratching my head and thinking 'why?' but i'll gladly take a couple of doozies for a couple of killer tracks. it's a fair trade, methinks. 'monster' happens to be one of those great tracks. it's a three minute and thirty eight second party.
and apparently the band is banned from the USA until 2011. how did this happen? apparently they tried to cross the border after their visas had already been denied. then they lied. a lot. mr. border patrol didn't take to kindly to that. so they have a petition set up. if you want to type your name on the petition, you can go here and do so. you can also get the full 'banned in the USA' story here.
��� you say party! we say die! monster / video
��� you say party! we say die! poison
Tuesday, September 04, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 7:38 PM 3 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day
SONG OF THE DAY (#185)
'at least i'm honest,' by tiger baby
a bit of free, unsolicited advice: if you find yourself amongst the rhythmically-challeged, here's a simple solution: listen to tiger baby's sufficiently-awesome-to-move-you album, 'noise around me.' results guaranteed after one listen. operators are standing by.
tiger baby is really one of the few dance/synth bands out there who completely manage to avoid all of the cheesiness inherent in the genre, whether it be the music or the image. 'the noise around me' is a lesson in seductive, icy-cool, sophisticated pop. i'm not lyin'. every song (and i mean every song) so-good-it-should-be-a-single. vocalist pernille pang (the second coming of saint etienne's sarah cracknell. which, of course, is nothing but awesome) and keyboard noodlers benjamin teglbj��rg and nikolaj gregersen are, for my money, one of the best things that has happened to synthpop this century. instant fantasy concert proposal: tiger baby opening for goldfrapp opening for saint etienne. sheee-oot! i'd go anywhere to see that show. who wouldn't? (and honestly speaking, in terms of quality 'the noise around me' is every bit as good as goldfrapp's 'supernature.' i realize that's high praise, but it's true).
i absolutely adore this album. if you like your synthpop sleek, sexy and cool, then tiger baby is for you. (and between mew and tiger baby, denmark is racking up some serious cool points.) you can also check out the video for 'girlfriend' here. you can check out a live clips here.
��� tiger baby: at least i'm honest
��� tiger baby: parkova
��� tiger baby: prolusion
��� tiger baby: strangelove (depeche mode cover)
Monday, September 03, 2007 | Posted by matt lohrke at 8:00 AM 1 shout outs
Labels: mp3, song of the day