February 10, 2009
Hi Everybody!
Our blog has moved to a new location, and is now integrated into the main WVKR website. There will no longer be any new posts appearing at this location, so visit the new website today!
here’s the direct link to the blog: http://www.wvkr.org/category/blog/
or you can go to http://www.wvkr.org/ and click on “BLOG” in the menu bar.
Cheers,
-The WVKR staff
January 28, 2009
To those of you who waited in line for hours on Monday for Beirut tickets and left empty handed, today’s your lucky day!
Tune into the TWEE HOUSE on WVKR 91.3 FM tomorrow (Wednesday) night from 8-10 PM for your chance to win. DJ Pony Ride and DJ Tiger Toes will be giving away two (2) tickets to the Beirut show this Saturday. Listen in at 8 PM sharp for details on how to win.
Remember, these tickets are SOLD OUT, you can’t get free tickets anywhere else besides for WVKR.
Tune in for the tickets, stay for all your favorite twee-pop tunes!
-DJ Tiger Toes
January 11, 2009
Lists can be hard and not really capture the spirit of the year. For me this year was all about lo-fi garage/punk/post-punk/whatever. Instead of doing a “Best of 2008″, here are some of the more garage-y and rock’n’roll albums, EPs and singles that I’ve been really into this year.
Spider “EP” s/r
Spider put out one of 2006’s finest synth-punk singles on HoZac Records, full of weird and dirty hook-laden minimal synth tracks. Limited to 500 pressings, the 7″ disappeared pretty fast. Luckily for those who missed out the first time around, the band have pressed this EP, which features their debut single on side two. “Witch Cookie” sounds just as euphoric as it did the first time around, and the three new tracks on side one keep the sinister punk vibe going. As “Boozetown” shows, Spider doesn’t need much to craft a messed-up and addictive synth gem.
Nobunny “Love Visions” 1234 Go! Records
Nobunny doesn’t make any attempt to hide his influences– “Love Visions” starts off with a hook ripped from the Damned and even has a track called “Chuck Berry Holiday”. Still, this debut is an awesome collection of punk rock tunes with some rockabilly thrown into the miх. Sure it’s silly and dumb, but what else would you expect from a man who performs wearing a bunny mask and singing to a cassette? Nobunny knows how to have fun, and with tracks like “I Am A Girlfriend” and “Boneyard”, there’s no reason that you won’t either.
Black Orphan “Circuits” UFO Dictator Records
The only band might actually know what the aliens will be playing during the apocalypse. Thick vocals that you can’t even try to understand seap into heavily distorted synth lines, and a simple drumbeat in the back that rings out like the sole voice of reason in this glimpse of the future past or past future.
Children’s Hospital “Alone Together” Sacred Bones
Bizzare music that sounds like the perfect soundtrack to a 1930s car factory where all the workers are aliens. Slick and droning but with enough fuzzed-out weirdness to always demand your attention, this record could be your passport to another planet.
Eddy Current Suppression Ring “Primary Colours” Goner Records
This group from New Zealand sounds like protopunk meets post-punk– kind of like if Rip Van Winkle played garage punk and slept through 1977. This record, the group’s second, doesn’t try to be clever, but it’s sheer force and unbridled enthusiasm makes this one of the best listens of the year.
Blank Dogs “The Fields” FuckItTapes
The latest from Brooklyn’s anonymous and super-prolific one-man band Blank Dogs is much more catchy than past releases, while still maintaining his distinct lo-fi alien synth sound. Still, the mess of distortion layered on distortion can’t hide Blank Dogs’ love of melody, which comes through on each track on this release, and tracks like “Now Signals” even come across sounding like “Is This It” run through a flanger. At 6 tracks, this release is really just a teaser for 2009’s “Under and Under” on In The Red, but if that full-length is anywhere near as good as this EP, Blank Dogs will have trouble keeping such anonymity.
Other choice picks…
Thee Ohsees “The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In” Tomlab
Sic Alps “U.S. EZ” Siltbreeze
Catatonic Youth “Piss Scene EP” HoZac
January 8, 2009
DJ Olmec (a.k.a. Nick I.) is VKR’s RPM director and does a wicked show called “The Hidden Temple”. Check out his blog for playlists, mixes and musings: http://djolmec.blogspot.com/. Here are his picks from the year that was.
1) Mariah Carey – I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time (Designer Drugs Remix)
Everything about this is perfect.
Get it here: http://soquitcherbitchen.blogspot.com/2008/11/ultimate-designer-drugs-post.html
2) MGMT – Kids (Soulwax Remix)
Highly anticipated, Soulwax came through big with the heaviest “Kids” mix out there.
Get it here: http://batteryinyourleg.com/blog/2008/12/31/top-remixes-of-2008/
3) Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy, Hey Girl (Soulwax Remix)
Justice drops it in their sets so it must be good
Get it here: http://soquitcherbitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-thats-what-ive-been-missing.html
4) Hercules & Love Affair – Blind (Frankie Knuckles Vocal)
Vocal house gone wild in this classy big-room beat trip
Get it here: http://prettymuchamazing.com/mp3/pretty-much-amazings-best-remixes-of-2008/
5) Sigur Ros – Saeglópur (Crash Overdrive Remix)
How to improve on one of Sigur’s most epic tracks? Sidechain, sidechain, sidechain.
Get it here: http://www.sundtrak.com/2008/08/tokyo-fantasy.html
6) Justice – Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan’s Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr Re-Edit)
Erol proves he’s not just for candy-flipping Brit ravers.
Get it here: http://julioenriquez.blogspot.com/2008/12/justice-cross-universe-even-though.html
7) Kanye West – Love Lockdown (Chew Fu Small Room Fix)
Chew Fu hits the balance between growly bass and glowy treble.
Get it here: http://palmsout.blogspot.com/2008/09/love-lockdown-remixes.html
8) Lil’ Wayne – A Milli (Flying Lotus Remix)
Sheets of crackle-pop-grit coat this Madlib-esque grinder
Get it here: http://prettymuchamazing.com/mp3/pretty-much-amazings-best-remixes-of-2008/
9) Leona Lewis – Every Bleeding Breath (Divide & Kreate Mash)
Ask my hall-mates how often they hear this one being belted out from the shower. Incredible melody here.
Get it here: http://www.amfmpm.org/2008/07/also-no-more-inviting-divide-kreate.html
10) Sia – Buttons (CSS Remix)
I dare you to keep from singing along
Get it here: http://www.chromemusic.de/music/sia-buttons-css-remix/
January 4, 2009
What do novelist Haruki Murakami and singer Shugo Tokumaru have in common? Ok, yes, obviously they are both Japanese, but there is more to it than that. Murakami and Tokumaru share a markedly easy ability to be translated into English. Unlike other Japanese exports in recent years, say…the whole Harajuku Lovers phenomenon, Murakami and Tokumaru make sense when placed in a western—more specifically, American—context.
In the 1980s Murakami caused an uproar amongst Japanese literary critics for abandoning traditional structures of grammar in favor of a more English style. Accused of abandoning the great history and legacy of canonical Japanese literature (like the works of Yukio Mishima), Murakami’s novels were considered as controversial for their form as they were for their content. As this was going on in Japan, Murakami’s work was very quickly being discovered and translated into English. By the early 90s Murakami was well established as the “modern voice of Japan” in the U.S.
Fast-forward twenty years. 2008, and Shugo Tokumaru has released his X album, Exit. Like Murakami, Tokumaru has become emblematic of a “modern Japan” by American critics. In October, Tokumaru made a brief tour of the U.S. to promote his recent album. He was featured in the CMJ Music Festival accompanied by members of Beirut and alongside Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos. Tokumaru also opened for the Magnetic Fields for two of their tour dates. Exit was hailed by Brooklyn Vegan as “ingenious and genius” and the songs “Parachute” and “Green Rain” were featured on RCDRLBL,com. Tokumaru translates well, but why?
Aside from his style of writing, Murakami is a very accessible Japanese author from an American perspective. This is, in part, due to the fact that Murakami’s books are really explorations of self. His novels focus heavily on mapping a kind of universal interiority. In Murakami’s work reality is subjective, founded in an individual’s consciousness. This concept transcends barriers of culture, geography, and even language. Murakami explores the very nature, the very essence, of what it means to be human.
Similarly, Exit is a close personal work. Like Murakami, Tokumaru explores an interior landscape, that of dreams. All of the songs on Exit are based off of Tokumaru’s personal dream log. Though he sings mostly in Japanese, the close dreamlike world of Tokumaru’s songs are certaintly not lost in translation. The playful and skipping instrumentals—characterized primarily by a joyful tinkley xylophone—paired with Tokumaru’s gentle and sweet vocals synthesize themselves into a soft harmony. The sweet simplicity of Exit works to create an overall album that is intimate. The emotion and meaning of Exit’s ten tracks are easy to read. It is exactly this intimacy, this closeness, that enables an American audience to understand and appreciate Shugo Tokumaru.
January 4, 2009
I made this list a couple of weeks ago and have been taking my time to relax and reflect on each of these favorite releases from 2008. It was too difficult to put these top-10 in any definite order. I figured a brief reaction to each of these gems was even better, so here you go…
Ten ’08 favorites:
A Faulty Chromosome “As an ex-anorexic’s six sicks exit.” [s/r]
A couple of weeks ago I exchanged emails with our Music Director, Nick, where I told him that I wasn’t quite sure what Lo-Fi music was. He directed me to the wikipedia page for “Lo Fi,” which defined it the same way I probably would have if someone put a gun to my head and made me give a definition. Apples in Stereo, old Beck, Pavement. Just bands that have a signature, low fidelity sound recording. For me, though, that Lo-fi is really restricted to that specific time period. I would say over 50% of the bands I listen to know could be considered “lo-fi” under Wikipedia’s definition, but they are definitely not early-90s lo-fi. Fuzzed out, low fidelity tunes were huge this year.. and a band like A Faulty Chromosome is a perfect example of this new, more broadly defined lo-fi that I know and love (a lot more than Apples in Stereo, at least). Searching for comments of critics across the web, there is no agreement on how to classify this band: pop-rock, shoegaze, electronic, post-punk, 8-bit, but maybe most of all: “warm and fuzzy.” And it is, all the way through. This Austin, TX band has a lot of fun toys, and they are not afraid to play with them. In doing so, they craft one of the softest pieces of electro lo-fi pop I have heard in a long time. Experimenting with echoed vocals that on songs like “Bad Thing” recall the loud, peaking babbles throughout AC’s “Feels,” over alarming blasts of bass on songs like “Them Pleasures of the Flesh” that recall Joy Division or New Order, this album, way out of left field, completely blew my mind. The 8-bit movement in itself recalls early lo-fi, and this album’s reconciliation of those two periods makes for a thoroughly charming listen, especially with some really good headphones.
Brightblack Morning Light “Motion to Rejoin” [Matador]
Lined up against their self-titled LP on Matador, “Motion to Rejoin” may not be anything new for the folk-gospel duo from New Mexico. But that does not make it any less special of an accomplishment. The soft hymns are lullabies that lull the listener into a dreamlike state. The sound of their music is like experiencing sleep while awake, a sort of sensation that many rightfully attribute to a drug-induced hallucination. And while this music may feel like a hazy drug trip, each note and chorus is so elegantly paced and well articulated in a way that truly lacks comparison. Like any good soul album, the vocals articulate a feeling beyond words, and the listeners are asked to empathize, or at least hear it out. BML’s music starts with the dull drone of a featureless desert landscape, layering on sweet guitar lines for shadows and emotional keyboard melodies for movements of the fauna. The vocals convey cryptic messages from the outerspace beyond. “Motion to Rejoin” may not be a major progression from their last album, but why would anyone want that?
Ellen Allien “Sool” [Bpitch Control]
German electronic songstress Ellen Fraatz’s latest album is a narrative that opens with chimes and a spoken word: “Alexanderplatz.” We begin a journey through the streets of her native Berlin via the experimental uber-minimal compositions of Fraatz and producer AGF. Each song is made up of field recordings that build on each other, complimented by AGF’s seamless effects. What results is something as simultaneously minimal and dense as a Fennesz album. With the exception of a couple of tracks, none of these compositions could really qualify as dance music. This is electronic music better enjoyed in a pair of headphones or in the comfort of one’s living room. What is it about “Sool” that is distinguishable from other “IDM”, though? While many have tired of Berlin minimalism, “Sool” represents a movement toward what comes next: effects-driven minimal beats devoid of any human presence. The sounds that machines make or do not make as they migrate across a flat metallic landscape. As the synthetic rhythms build on each other in contrast, we realize how densely non-minimalist her post-minimalist project is. “MM” is my favorite example of this, as well as one of the better electronic compositions of ‘08. The track begins mid-thought with the repetitious sound of a marble contrasting with a danceable bass track, and then only seconds in, echoing sounds after echoing sounds are layered on top of each other, cascading, evolving and causing the listener to completely lose track of the marble until the very end, when the track regresses back to its starting point. It is so remarkably thoughtful, and certainly brings something new to the minimalist genre; although I do not know exactly what that may be, “Sool” seems so very fresh. It is not what I would have expected for Allien, one of the most popular techno artist/performers in the world, because it does not (and did not) initially please most techno enthusiasts. There are no techno or pop hooks; it is instead an experiment that totally compels and, I think, largely succeeds.
Flying Lotus “Los Angeles” [Warp]
I have returned to this album at least once a week for the second half of the year and I still continually ask myself “How did someone even conceive of this?!” With “Los Angeles,” Flying Lotus proved himself as one of the premier beat-smiths, if not of all musicians, around. His debut “1983” (on L.A. indie label Plug Research) was a masterpiece, and I questioned his capacity to repeat the feat on a much larger label, under a lot more pressure to produce. While I understand why all of his press notes his ties to his aunt Alice Coltrane, he is so much more than an heir-apparent. Steven Ellison can flat out make music, regardless of his connections. The weight of each individual track takes a long time to set in. At first I really admired the album as a collective whole, a jazzy, psychedelic beat tour with a little more L.A. and a little less Rio than his debut effort. With each listen, however, I have had the opportunity to pick it apart and become enamored particularly with Laura Darlington’s (wife of L.A.’s very own Daedelus, and ½ of the Long Lost on Alpha Pup) breathtaking guest spot, the spine-tingling “Camel” (of which Nosaj Thing did an excellent remix featured on “L.A. EP 2×3” just released on Warp), and of course the ever-so-sexy “Parisian Gold Fish” (google “Dance Floor Dale” if you need any further confirmation of this). Ellison’s music is incredibly versatile and varied, equally as weededed-out as it is dance floor ready. The fact that three follow-up EPs are being released on Warp featuring remixes and new interpretations of tracks on “Los Angeles” only strengthens that point.
Lindstrom “Where You Go I Go Too” [Smalltown Supersound]
This is the ultimate night drive album. It is really made for the vinyl medium, although I have yet to snag a copy of it. Three tracks… [side A] Track 1: 29 minutes; [flip to side B] Track 2: 10 minutes; Track 3: 16 minutes. It is a modern day manifestation of Moroder or Vangelis—maybe with a little more hype. It is too spacey for the dancefloor. Maybe, like a lot of Moroder’s tracks it is best fit for a soundtrack, whether set to a movie or a humid beach rendezvous. Discussions of the correct context aside, this synthy, flowing masterpiece is so much more classic italo-disco than Glass Candy or Sally Shapiro. Granted, it is hard to compare such acts with “Where You Go I Go Too” simply because they depend so much on the vocal instrument. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to hear a new disco album (not to knock DFA and Andy Butler, who really struck gold this year and are all-deserving of it) that is not as heavily reliant on pop hooks. These three tracks are clearly independent of each other, and are refreshingly aimless in their meanderings through synth land. Score a big one for Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound and Hans-Peter Lindstrom.
Mt. Wilson Repeater “Mt. Wilson Repeater” [Eastern Fiction]
Despite the fact that they hail from my hometown of Los Angeles, I had never really paid much attention to the Radar Bros. I was very ho-hum on their last release on Merge when it came out, and so I did not expect much from Jim Putnam’s solo project “Mt. Wilson Repeater” when it came to the station. But feelings of nostalgia overwhelmed me on first listen of this glorious pop record—and its not just because I live in the foothills below the antennas on Mt. Wilson. It’s sort of like the new Department of Eagles album—but a lot less British sounding (maybe that’s why this record wasn’t on a heavy hitter indie label, nor should it be). Some have called it “Americana” music, but what is Americana in 2008? If it is to be found in Putnam’s music, it is a serene optimism he seems to derive from the joy of songwriting (wafts of country guitar, handclaps, whistles and the rarer mellowed-out vocal) and recording (the impeccable mixing conveys a space-aged psychedelia). And maybe the landscape that surrounds him as well.. Songs like “The Conversation” invoke the movement of a helicopter ride over the California coast, with sounds like the sequences of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs that are beautiful in their repetition. This may, in the end, be all too glittery and jovial for 2008 Americana. It deserves a better title than that—but that is one that I cannot yet conjure up. This is a brilliant pop record all the way through—I could pick it up on any song and become totally enamored with and lost within it.
Osborne “Osborne” [Spectral]
This album was a breath of fresh air for dance music in 2008, after a year of ridiculously overpopular French electro outfits cranking out record after record and blog mix after blog mix. This is an homage to classic Detroit house music: old school dance straight up. Todd Osborn (that spelling is correct—his real name does not have an “e” at the end) apparently wrote these songs on his own software, and you can really tell how personal his music is. Fifteen hearty tracks with catchy piano and booming synth lines really do a number on your ears. However, you cannot help but be thrilled by these classic-sounding melodies each time they crescendo. It is house music that does not take itself too seriously, as demonstrated by Ed DMX’s repeated calls “to break it down” (the only vocals on the album). At moments the album is just plain hilarious, but in the end it is one of the more rich and rewarding dance albums of the year. Coming out a month after the Crystal Castles’ “s/t” marathon banger of an LP, this album helped me relax and remember that there was dance music before Daft Punk.
Paavoharju “Laulu laakson kukista” [Fonal]
This album is creepy, enchanting, schizophrenic but mostly beautiful—like much of what we’ve heard from Finland’s unstoppable Fonal recs. Every second of this album is different than the other. There are synthy moments that make you want to dance, there are ballad-y songs that make you want to sing along. This album is a collection of field recordings that really does not know what it wants to be, so music critics slap the “free folk” label on it. And that is maybe what is great about all this freaky stuff coming out of Finland: no one knows exactly what to do with it. Even though at times “Laulu laakson kukista” is so out there, it is so incredibly catchy—like a good pop album. But its not pop—its Paavoharju. This collective has been around awhile making strange fusions of sounds, and this album is one of their most honed in the group’s signature lack of focus.
U.S. Girls “Introducing..The U.S. Girls” [Siltbreeze]
Chicago’s Meghan Remy presents a project of blue-collar, industrial rage. [Is this the Americana of ’08?] To speak candidly, this DIY album, which at first comes off as bleak and bare and perhaps, for some people, forgettable, really affected me. There is so much feeling in Remy’s distorted vocals and their passionate interplay with the instruments and effects she deploys. “National Anthem” (if that’s not American enough for you…) kicks off the album transposing her sweet, echoing voice over the anxious picking of an electric guitar. “Outta State” features post-breakup screams over a ferocious tribal drum beat. And then there are the two covers, the two standout tracks on the album that subject Springsteen and the Kinks to her trademark minimalist project. She deconstructs these pop songs with reverb and echo and a lo-fi tape-cassette aesthetic that is really irresistible. The feeling of this densely packed 23-minute album is desperate, suicidal, alienated. I was thoroughly intrigued by her supersonic wails and stripped down aesthetic, used by Remy to engage the listener in the mystery of her psychology. This is why I returned to it over and over again, wondering what could have inspired someone to create something so enraged, juxtaposing the harsh noise of machines with the harsh noise of her own, washed-out voice and creating something entirely new, if not scary, to the DiY scene.
Zomes “Zomes” [Holy Mountain]
Each of Asa Osborne’s sixteen loop-based compositions on this debut solo project is pure poetry. Lacking a narrative cohesion in any way, these peculiar krautrock songs make for one of the headiest listening experiences of the year. Each track on its own inspires a different series of images that are deeply personal to the listener. “Crowning Orbs” recalls visible heat waves radiating off cars in the sun-baked rush hour traffic of Hollywood surface streets, the soft heartbeat and somber organ loops of “Black Magic Band” reminds me of the fear I once felt in a turbulent descent through an evening snowstorm over New Mexico, the sweet sitar sound of “Cosmovital Force” nostalgically invokes the memory of the neighborhood I grew up in: running through the sprinklers with my dog Casper and staying cool with cherry red popsicles. These specific recollections were obviously not what the Lungfish guitarist intended in creating this album; however, this album is a glimpse into the mind of a true musical poet. Each of these brief melodies has textures that will surely satisfy any fan of guitar, drone and post-rock. Moreso, each song hypnotizes the listener for usually no longer a minute, concentrating on a specific motif before quickly moving onto another one, completely disconnected from the one that came before. Despite the disjointedness, it is a remarkably relaxing listen that does not really get old.
Here are ten more that deserve to be mentioned but did not quite make the above list..
(in no particular order)
The Menahan Street Band “Make the Road by Walking” [Dunham]
Windsurf “Windsurf” [Pacifica]
Erykah Badu “New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)” [Motown]
Mahjongg “Kontpab” [K]
Atlas Sound “Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel” [Kranky]
Thee Oh Sees “The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night in” [Tomlab]
Alps “III” [Type]
Starfucker “Starfucker” [Badman]
Indian Jewelry “Free Gold” [We Are Free]
Syclops “I’ve Got My Eye on You” [DFA]
The Five Most Memorable Shows I saw in 2008 (in no particular order):
Black Hollies @ Cake Shop CMJ Earnest Jenning Showcase (N.Y.); 888 Boadrums @ La Brea Tarpits (L.A.); Tussle/Bronze/Death Sentence: Panda! @ Cellspace (S.F.); The Tough Alliance @ Beauty Bar SXSW (Austin); Fleet Foxes @ The Echo (L.A.)
Top 5 EPs (in no particular order):
Rainbow Arabia “The Basta” [Manimal Vinyl]
Crystal Stilts “Crystal Stilts” [Woodsist]
Antony & The Johnsons “Another World” [Secretly Canadian]
Ricardo Villalobos “Vasco” [Perlon]
Wavves “Wavves” [Woodsist]
Eight Compilations (in no particular order):
“Living Bridge” [Rare Book Room]
“Give me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted Baghdad 1925-1929” [Honest Jon’s]
“Perfect as Cats: A Tribute to the Cure” [Manimal Vinyl]
“BiPPP” [Born Bad/Everloving]
“Cosmic Baeleric Beats Vol. 1” [Eskimo]
“Don’t Stop: Recording Tap” [Numero]
“Victrola Favorites” [Dust to Digital]
“Bersa Discos, Vol 1.” [Bersa Discos]
December 16, 2008
December 5, 2008
Hello friends,
Do you love
????
Then you must love WVKR!!
You love the diversity of our programming, our eclectic array of genres, and quality, commercial-free shows.
We love all of these things too, and we want to keep serving it to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! The reason we’re able to provide you with such awesomely diverse, commercial-free programming is because we are an independent radio station. Independent means we don’t profit, and most of the funding that keeps us alive comes from YOU! The listeners! The fans!
Once a year, you the listeners show your love and support by donating during our annual pledge drive, but it doesn’t have to end there! This year we’ve implemented an online donation center and it’s so easy to use! If you love what you hear, if you believe in the dream of independent radio, if you love WVKR as much as we do, please give us a helping hand. We appreciate anything you can offer, $5, $10, $300! Every little bit helps, and 100% of it will go to maintain, preserve, and better the station.
The form looks like this (we accept Visa, American Express and Mastercard):
So if you love WVKR, donate today!
-Lauren, Your Faithful Finance Director
December 3, 2008
Thanksgiving, a time to sample all the culinary delights that our varied family traditions have to offer. This year at my house we had many guests, family and friends alike. I now invite you, dear anonymous blog reader, to join me as I lead you through the cornucopia of great new albums that I’ve heard this fall at the Plymouth Rock of a radio station that is WVKR.
Oral/Aural comparisons abound, so feast you eyes, ears, and hearts upon the banquet I lay before you:::
Appetizers: Jay Reatard – “Matador Singles ’08″, Various Artists – “Hallum Foe OST”
Some delightful, bite sized, finger foods. Enjoyable in any portion. Just press play at any point on these albums and you’ll be instantly drawn in to a series of short, tasty, ear d’ourves. But don’t ruin your appetite.
Spinach Squash Casserole: Benoît Pioulard – “Temper”
A complex and rewarding treat, and the perfect complement to any early winter’s day. Like the subtle intermingling of greens and sweet squash in this unique casserole, Benoit intertwines the ambient and the mildly poppy in a challenging yet supremely enjoyable work.
Cranberry Sauce: Marnie Stern – “This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That”
A tart endeavor, with a hint of sweetness to those who take the time to savor it. This album’s vibrancy stands out distinctly from the rest of the platter. Marnie serves up a bowl of in-your-face, guitar-shreddin’, shout-singin’ explosiveness. Though I can only enjoy it in small portions, there are many out there who devour it by the bushel.
Stuffing: Viking Moses – “The Parts That Showed”
Delicately seasoned bread, steeped in the blood and juices of the turkey throughout its hours of roasting; the stuffing is almost a parable for innocence lost – much like the dark yet redemptive tale told throughout Viking Moses’s sweet and melancholy musical fable. Brendan’s vocals resonate with a subdued power over a simple, reverby pudding.
Mashed Potatoes: Fight Bite – “Emerald Eyes”
Dreamy and ethereal, like the heavenly fluff of this classic well-whipped dish. Sure, it’s not exactly groundbreaking (They’ve got a very similar aesthetic to Beach House), but that doesn’t make “Emerald Eyes” any less delicious. Pace yourself though! This album flies by and you might end up finishing it before all the other dishes if you’re not careful.
Sweet Potato Mash: School Of Seven Bells – “Alipinisms”
A masterful blend of fluffy, heavy, and saccharine. The more complex of the starch mashes. Angelic female vocals drift through some yammy, earthy beats. All of this is smoothed out and spread even with dense shoe-gaze textures galore.
School Of Seven Bells – “Half Asleep”
Gravy: Of Montreal – “Skeletal Lamping”
This album has some of the sexiest, most savory songs my musical palate has ever encountered. It’s a whole gravy boat fulla lovin’. There are some bizarre lumps and specks in there, but just let the inconsistencies flow right by and you’ll find yourself all up in the rich, succulent, disco-funk mix of Kevin Barnes’ imagination.
Of Montreal – “Nonpareil Of Favor”
Pot Roast: Koushik – “Out My Window”
Get down into the mix of sumptuous potatoes, carrots, and beatz. Koushik serves up a varied platter of funky fresh grooves, simmered for hours in some old-school analogue sauce. If you dig The Go! Team’s famous stews, serve yourself a heaping helping.
Olives: Guitar – “Honeysky”
Why are these on the table? Who put these olives on the table? Is this really someone’s idea of a relevant T-give garnish?! A similar question could be asked of Guitar– did the Ace of Base aesthetic really need to be drudged out and force-fed Nyquil until it sounded like this trippy album? Well, that’s up to you. I think it’s enjoyable, but I’m not sure if I ever have been or ever will be in the right mood to really love it. Oh, and it was my mom. my mom put the olives on the table.
Turkey: Larkin Grimm – “Parplar”
This album ain’t no game hen, it’s a full blown meal. I envision Larkin herself having reared and slaughtered this 28lb fowl in the highlands of Appalachia – drawing it closer with her husky, irresistible lure; buttering it up with her earthen melodies; then BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERING IT. She says it herself: “Who said to you, ‘you’re going to be alright?’ Well they were wrong wrong wrong wrong…”
Larkin Grimm – “Ride That Cyclone”
Tofurky: Various Artists – “Perfect As Cats: A Tribute To The Cure”
Even if every bite isn’t delicious, the sheer volume and ambition of this imitation undertaking (24 different artists on this 2 disc compilation) ensures some delights scattered throughout. If only the same could be said of the lackluster loaf I’m comparing it to, which is mediocre through and through – even those cats are upset by it.
Cleaned your plate, ay? Time for some DESSERT!
Cheesecake: Shugo Tokumaru – “Exit”
A confection to be reckoned with. Sure it’s a pop-laden desert, but there’s more weight here than you might expect. After a giant dinner I could only take a couple bites of this creamy delight. “Exit” has a reliable crust of bizarre guitars/ukuleles, but warrants sampling at a time when you can dedicate some attention to the more delicate spiced flavors of recorder and boyish vocals meandering throughout. Also helping the metaphor is the striking resemblance of this slicing pattern to the Japanese imperial flag.
Shugo Tokumaru – “La La Radio”
Crazy Chocolate Cake: François Virot – “Yes Or No”
This is the sweetest of the sweet. A chocolately delicious treat. Virot’s child-like enthusiasm and energy almost matches that of my 5-year-old cousin when he inexplicably decorated this cake with Technicolor toothpicks and more confectioners sugar than this disc has vocal self-harmonies. Virot makes me giddy as a child with layered acoustic guitars and body-based rhythm tracks. Though the title leaves it vague, the answer is clear: YES!
What?? No Pumpkin pie?!
Too obvious, my friends, too obvious. How about a more relevant finish:
Paul has a new music show called “The New Contemplative Jive Hours” on Mondays from 10pm-Midnight.
December 2, 2008
I heard an anecdote from my friend the other day about Luis Bunuel, the surrealist filmmaker and contemporary of Salvador Dali. Apparently, somebody once asked Bunuel what he would do if he knew he had only twenty-four hours left to live.
His response?
“I would sleep for twenty-three of them.”
What a perfectly surrealist way to approach such an inquiry. My first question is, which hour would he spare? The first or the last? And so minimizing his waking time, how would he spend it? “Awake” doesn’t quite do it for me.
Sometimes I think Bunuel would get a kick out of WVKR’s new music playlists. So much of the contemporary-indie music out there seems to be taking his approach — escaping the conventions of normalcy by defying expectations, minimally, but in just the right ways. Twisting sense into nonsense into sense. An irrational sprinkling of dissonance here, a tap-dancer percussion section there. Swap the chorus for verse, the verse for a chorus.
Now why wouldn’t Bunuel just sleep away the whole twenty-four?
Because, of course, that wouldn’t be so interesting.
