Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Sound of Silver - Wednesday Listening


my willful shortsightedness and defensive reaction to anything hyped often means that i wait years before hearing a band that i end up loving, which means that on one hand i missed out on months of listening to some great music but on the other hand means that i won't beat that album to death until years after everyone else. bringing me to the album i've listened to most this week, Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. originally i was so put off by all the stuff that Murphy himself was probably put off by -- horrible words like "electroclash" etc -- that while i thought the DFA logo was really good i didn't hear anything for a long time. finally got Losing My Edge and loved that song, still never got the first album. this history is fascinating, no? anyway the new album is awesome and somehow reminds me of lots of bands that are favorites from youth til now -- The Fall, New Order, some others i can't quite place -- but exudes a specific warmth and personality and sense of humor i didn't quite expect. it's an emotional record. the song "all my friends" is my current favorite, but the whole thing works really well as an album and it's in heavy rotation, where not many things are.

other albums on the wednesday pile:

Dosh - The Lost Take Dosh records always have a nice homemade feel to them, it makes me want to get out the 4-track
Andrew Hill - Mosaic Select Box disc 3 i really want to hear the Nels Cline album of Andrew Hill music, but i don't have it so i got this out instead, disc three has Sam Rivers on it, awesome.
Neil Young - On the Beach i'd been listening to that new Live at Massey Hall album a lot so i was ready for some more rocking out style Neil this week...the Massey Hall set is great though.
Fujiya Miyagi - Transparent Things super "lite" but moves along under its own power nonetheless...pretty music.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Portastatic at Primavera! (date correction)


Portastatic is going to Barcelona, one of my favorite cities, to play the massive Primavera Sound Festival on FRIDAY JUNE 1st, and we'll be rocking full-band style....should be a crazy weekend in Catalunya...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Train from Austin, TX


only spent two action packed days in Austin last week but it was enough, and aside from all the fabulous merge artists who played (multiple shows) i got to see a couple great things outside of the merge sphere....ok firmly within the merge sphere and perhaps the most affecting thing i saw all week was Lambchop -- down to two members for this show, Kurt and William Tyler -- with the Tosca String Quartet. odds were against this working: outdoors, incredibly quiet and competing seemingly with 3 or 4 other nearby shows featuring flailing drummers and chest-thumping drum machines, the stripped down 'Chop not only pulled it off but had folks weeping in the tent off 7th st.

beyond that, an afternoon set by Robyn Hitchcock with sideman Pete Buck and guest vocalist guy-from-Harvey Danger was a welcome diversion and i went out and got a latter period disc at Waterloo that i didn't have. also, got to see Mary Weiss of the Shangri-La's (see bad phone pic) play later that night at Red 9 (what do all these clubs do the rest of the year!?) after, and with, the Reigning Sound. this show was great! i'd never seen the RS and they played some of my faves including "If You Can't Give Me Everything" and then after a break Mary Weiss came out with the band and did some songs from her new record, and then they played "Train from Kansas City," one of the greatest girl-group moments of all time. she was cute and mom-ish but also seemed pretty comfortable after what i take it to be a long break from "the stage". she took a drag of Greg's cig and after "Train" i felt like my SXSW was complete.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Is there anyone who DOESN'T have a showcase?

down in Austin, TX for South By Southwest, yearly love/hate billion-band blowout...looking forward in particular to the Merge show tonight at Antone's, also hoping to see a few other acts before the week is out as well, squeeze in a few basketball games, and i may try this "beer" i've heard so much about, apparently they sell it down here...

Friday, March 09, 2007

Art, Music


well i wasn't in SF for Noise Pop but the aforementioned art show apparently went well, and they have pics of all the pieces in the show now up at the Park Life Store gallery page

things pretty busy around Merge this week what with the Arcade Fire album hitting stores and all. along those lines there's a touching short movie someone made about some lost souls looking for AF tickets, check it over on the Merge blog .

TGIF listening pile....
The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional and Calenture
Rosebuds - Night of the Furies
John Coltrane - Meditations
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Jarvis Cocker - The Jarvis Cocker Record
Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block

you'll notice there are no links in this post. that's because Blogger forced me into their "updated" mode and so far it sucks. this is mainly because i only know how to do a few things with this software and now they don't work, but it sucks anyway and looks worse. sorry! there are links to most of the things i mention (park life store, merge gallery, arcade fire) in other posts or in your brain already. have a great weekend!