20.12.06

For.Paris.Is.A.Moveable.Feast.



Out of all of the fresh stuff coming out of Paris lately, Para One really has just about the dirtiest sound of them all. Dudun-dun has been a guaranteed floor-filler every time I've heard it played out this year, and its been around for almost nine months already. This new remix from fellow Institubes label mate Surkin takes one of the strongest tracks from Para One's debut LP Epiphanie and somehow makes it even crazier by upping the BPM, further chopping the vocals, and adding some perfect elements of Chicago house: synth strings pads, harmonizing vocals, sirens, and enormous breakdowns.

Para One - Midnight Swim (Surkin Remix)


This video for Dundun-dun was in the "Pets & Animals" category on YouTube. I don't really want to read into that too much, but at least its not as bad as this. Then again, it's not as good as this, either.

Para One -Dundun-dun
Para One - Dundun-dun (MSTRKRFT Remix)

19.12.06

Drum's.Not.Dead.


Animal Collective's Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox) recently released a 12" solo effort that is a real stunner. Full of droning rhythms, Brian Wilson harmonies, and inaudible lyrics, Bro's is a track that might just lift you out of your seat into some sort of hallucinogenic, spiritual haze, if only for a few minutes.

Panda Bear - Bro's

13.12.06

I've.Seen.The.New.Face.Of.Pop.Culture. And.Its.Name.Is...


Alright, this Spank Rock joint has been popping up all over the place lately, but it is just too good, too hilarious, not to post. It represents the perfect union between trash and hip, high and low, maybe even LA and NYC, or better yet, LA and Philly. One big, beautiful pop culture deconstructionist mess.

Spank Rock - Lindsay Lohan's Revenge

6.12.06

Thunder!Lightning!Strike!


Lightning Bolt are a Providence, RI noise duo consisting of merely bass and drums, but with an absolutely monumental sound. Along with Les Savy Fav, Black Dice, and the J.Pereira Horror Mesh, Lightning Bolt were born out of the RISD scene and more particularly the Fort Thunder art space. Go here to see just how insane their shows are.

Lightning Bolt - Dracula Mountain

5.12.06

Make.Love.Not.Wolf.



The Skinny: Fox N'Wolf are an electro dance outfit hailing from Stockholm, Sweden. Comprised of Mirejam Shala and Magnus Engstedt, their tracks are being released through the Parisian powerhouse, do-no-wrong Kitsune label and their sound, although similar to a lot of new french hipster electro house blah blah, brings a newfangled female freestyle element that is both frenzied and melodious. Available mostly through 12" singles and Kitsune comps, their debut full length LP drops "soon".

Fox N'Wolf - In Yr Underwear (Jesper Dahlback Mix)
Fox N'Wolf - Youth Alcoholic

Supplementary Wolf:
Cat Power - Werewolf
Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
Wolf Parade - It's a Curse

Auxiliary Wolf:

30.11.06

Everything.Ecstatic



If Sydney's Modular Records were a film, a movie rather, they might be Tron, or maybe instead they would be the single frame when Peter Weller drives (at lightning, intergalactic speeds!) into the mountain (the 8th dimension!) at the beginning of the seminal, truly astonishing film of film of films: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. These neon loving Aussies have been releasing some of the best dance rock, post-post-post punk, and new electro since they started in '98 - all blessed with a cheeky sense of 80's retro and a die-hard love of partying. If you live in NYC, make sure to hit up their monthly (next on 12.9), while LA will be blessed with its first Modular party on the 6th. SF People - Modular's New Young Pony Club plays Popscene on the 7th. Support.

Modular Peoples:
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Van She Remix)
Cut Copy - Saturdays
Soulwax - Miserable Girl

Aw fuck it, they would definetly look like this:

28.11.06

Have.You.Ever.Seen.an.X-Ray.of.a.Hiccup?


Co-owner of Glasgow's Breastfed Records with Mylo, Linus Loves(aka Kevin McKay) has been dropping some really solid remixes over the last few years, and as a result his clientele seem to only grow more and more prestigious with each cut - J. Timberlake, Cee-lo, Scissor Sisters, etc. His style tends to be pretty reserved, but by no means are these simplistic house remixes of pop songs. Leaving the vocals intact, he tends toward bassy synth patterns that are just enough to kick a song out of the top 40 and into a set of bangin' electro house.

Mylo - In Your Arms (Linus Loves Remix)
Kelis & Cee-lo- L'il Star (Linus Loves Remix)
Justin Timberlake - Sexyback (Linus Loves Remix)
Husky Rescue - New Light of Tomorrow (Linus Loves remix)


Linus Loves - Stand Back

25.11.06

Jimmy.Crack.Corn


This reminds me of Ween. Ween is underrated.

Ween - Zoloft
Ween - The Mollusk

19.11.06

Crosseyed.and.Painless


Hot Chip swung through SF on Friday night and played to a sold-out and super energetic crowd at Mezzanine. Playing mostly stuff off The Warning LP, a lot of the songs were tweaked in interesting ways for a live setting - pacing changes, a few segues, and a lot of added percussion. They also dropped a new track from the upcoming album complete with a raging wordless shout of a chorus (read: Arcade Fire with beats). Also, another new track can be heard here. New album already? Aren't singles still dropping from The Warning?

Hot Chip - The Warning
Hot Chip - Over And Over

17.11.06

Embraceable.You



Paper Television, the debut LP from Portland, Oregon's The Blow is a gem of warm, lo-fi electronic pop that is partly so endearing simply because it wears its bashful, midi-produced, teenage club-house qualities so boldly. Consisting of Khaela Marichich (vocals) and Jona Becholt (beats), also of YACHT, The Blow's sound owes as much to traditonal R&B as it does the Northwest DIY attitude that has helped spawn countless amazing bands. It is the sound of holding hands and eating cotton candy and those blow-up bouncy things that you jump on at birthday party's and town fairs and stuff.

The Blow - True Affection
The Blow - Parentheses

The Blow-Knowing The Things That I Know

15.11.06

I.Predict.A.Riot.



Last Saturday the first Be the Riottt! festival took place here in SF at the Bill Graham Civic Center, bolstering a pretty amazing lineup to make up for its atrocious title. The more large scale "festival" type productions I attend, the more critical and also forgiving I become of them. Certain aspects of Be the Riottt really rubbed me the wrong way (read: Girl Talk below), and while I understand it takes a mind boggling amount of work to put on such a huge event, after attending such tightly produced events like Siren, Montreal Jazz Fest, or even Vegoose or Bonnaroo, you start to expect "givens" like no sound problems, accurate set times, etc. Anyway, music...



Stuck with a pretty early set time, I caught about the last half of the Toronto based four piece, Tokyo Police Club. They ripped through a bunch of short, high energy post-punkish garage rock songs and although they weren't exactly bringing anything fresh to the table, they did it superbly.

Tokyo Police Club - Shoulders & Arms



I was completely enamored with Asobi Seksu's latest LP, Citrus, over the summer so it was interesting to finally see their live gig. Some of the polished shoe gaze production(oxy moron?) was lost on stage, as was the perfection that is Yuki's voice, which in the end, made it one of those shows where you are merely hearing watered down versions of your favorite tunes. It just made me want to listen to the album on big headphones.

Asobi Seksu - Strings



Steve Aoki (Kid Millionaire, Dim Mak) and Blake Miller (Moving Units) brought some pure hot fire next with their DJ project Wierd Science. It seemed like Steve Aoki brought most of the magic to the decks (how did this guy become such a party icon?) and there was plenty of new electro house to go around with at least three Digitalism remixes thrown in.

Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (Digitalism Remix)



Sydney's The Presets fucking killed it - by far the best set of the festival. They made people do this...

Go see them as soon as you can. They are on tour supporting The Rapture and their electro dance rock craziness will make you jump up and down like you are at an eighth grade dance.

The Presets - I Go Hard, I Go Home


I was probably more excited about seeing Girl Talk
than any other act, so of course Metric went way over their allotted time with ridiculous, drunken stage antics that included chanting non-sensical free associations ("family is contagious! apathy is contagious!") which completely screwed Girl Talk. So Girl Talk comes on stage to a crowd going bonkers for him, says he only has half of an hour to play and jumps right in with his act (confetti, frantic dancing, stage diving, and mashups mashups mashups). Well any stupid promoter would know that Girl Talk always invites people on stage to dance, so that's what happened, and they cut him off after 15 minutes! 15 minutes is not a set. Then The Rapture of course take 45 minutes to come on stage - 45 minutes that Girl Talk could have been playing. It's not like his laptop was in the way of their soundcheck. Jesus. The whole thing left such a bad taste in my mouth that it was hard to even enjoy The Rapture's set. Bad way to end a good fest.

Girl Talk - Smash Your Head
The Rapture - Whoa!...Alright-yeah...uh Huh

All photos courtesy of Vaindeer. Check it.

3.11.06

Palais.de.Justice.



On Wednesday night the Parisian, Ed Banger duo, Justice, came and destroyed Mezzanine with a set of dirty electro house bangers. Less than fifteen minutes into their set, practically more than half of the audience was dancing on stage - absolutely losing their shit. When they dropped "We Are Your Friends," it was pretty humorous and a little awkward to see the people dancing on stage screaming the lyrics back at the audience on the floor - completely owning the moment. It was definitely a highlight to see Justice jump on the "return to rave" train and drop the Prodigy classic "Smack My Bitch Up," transforming a song that has always been a little campy for me into a complete rager that just killed it. MSTRKRFT opened and slammed it as well, playing a bunch of their remixes and tracks off of The Looks LP, and particularly nailing the crowd with an old Josh Wink acid track.

Justice - Waters of Nazareth (Erol Alkan's Durrr Durrr Durrrrr Remix)

The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up

MSTRKRFT - She's Good For Business

And in other related news - last night at the MTV Europe Music Awards, the brilliant video for the Justice vs. Simian track "We Are Your Friends" came out of leftfield with an upset win, causing Kanye "Winning a bizzillion Grammy's isn't enough and I want an EMA video award too , boo hoo" West to come on stage and act like an arrogant, egotistical asshole.



Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends

1.11.06

Boys.Don't.Cry.



I've been really keen on all things Junior Boys as of late. Their latest LP, So This is Goodbye, is fantastic from start to finish, and all of their remixes and side projects have exquisitely carried over their unique take on downtempo and minimalism. Besides the sleek production, it is Jeremy Greenspan's voice that really nails it here - meloncholy and aching and just about perfect for headphones on a late night bus.

Junior Boys - FM

Mobius Band - The Loving Sounds of Static (Junior Boys Remix)

Morgan Geist - Most of All (feat. Jeremy Greenspan)



Also, Todd Field's latest film Little Children is one of the best suburban, love-triangle dramas I've seen in a bit. Smart, precise, and wonderfully casted, it is a film that suggests so much about the parent/child dichotomy, ethical judgement, suburban America, movies themselves - it is about to burst.

30.10.06

Scissor.Sisters.



On Friday night the omni-female(almost), acronym party tag team of CSS and ESG hit the Mezzanine here in San Francisco. It was really interesting to see two female bands at totally different points in their careers share the same stage and audience so seamlessly. The influenced and the influencer, the newbie and the legend. Moments after they took the stage, CSS turned the audience into an energetic, dancing mess - opening with CSS Suxxx and slamming right into Alala. Lovefoxx is quite a frontwoman with the traditional antics of stage diving, dancing amidst the crowd, and spitting flumes of beer into the air a la Karen O, but regardless of performance, there is something so endearing about her shy, Portuguese laden comments between songs (dare I say "cute"). And then ESG - who are well, ES mothafuckin' G and if you don't know, then you better axe somebody. In all seriousness though, ESG were extremely tight as they bounced through their low-key, pulsing funk classics. It was ridiculously awesome to see twenty-something year old dudes screaming "I love you" and reaching their hands to get a quick touch of the fifty-something year old women on stage. CSS are currently wrapping up their tour of the states with a NYC show for the CMJ Marathon before heading to Europe where ESG will be touring as well.

CSS - Alala

CSS - Alala (Bonde do Role Remix)

ESG - UFO

27.10.06

To.Here.Knows.When.



The Norwegian band 120 Days has begun to blossom into the next buzz-worthy band of the moment with positive hype popping up all over the web. A little bit shoegaze, a little bit dance-rock, their influences worn clearly on their sleeves (Depeche Mode, New Order, U2), this band's sound is really rooted in lead singer Ãdne Meisfjord's soaring, anthemic vocals. I always hear this crap about The Killers really wanting to be the next "huge arena rock band," while a band with a sound as huge as 120 Days truly deserves the designation - atmospheric, layered synth lines, pounding Kraut rock drum patterns, and early Bono-esque vocals. Recent Vice Records signees, 120 Days are currently touring in the US, Canada, and Norway. Support.

120 Days - Be Mine

120 Days - Keep on Smiling

25.10.06

Hidden.Place.



After being so let down by Marie Antoinette, along comes the subtle and serene meditation of a film, Old Joy. Accomplishing everything Antoinette failed at, Old Joy reads like a poignant short story - surfacing the ambiguities and anxieties that hover over everyone. Focusing on two friends, played by Daniel London and Will Oldham(of Bonnie "Prince" Billy fame), who reunite for a weekend camping trip in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, the film really gets at the delicate, unspoken bond between two seperated friends and the paramount importance of human relationships in contrast with the world at large(most specifically, here, politics). Accompanied by an orignial alt-country score by Yo La Tengo, Old Joy has a deliberate pacing and simplicity that is hard to achieve and, in turn, is one of the finest films so far this year.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy : Cursed Sleep

Yo La Tengo : The Room Got Heavy

22.10.06

God.Save.The.Queen.



"Without daddy's money backing up her efforts, Coppola's emaciated screenplay would still be smoldering on her hard drive as the author worked the 10-4 shift at the Starbucks on Figueroa" Pete Vondor Haar, Film Threat

Not sure if the ad hominem is necessary(however hilarious), but at any rate, Marie Antoinette, the latest from Sofia Coppola, is a cinematic disappointment on just about every level. Although cinematographer Lance Accord(all Spike Jonze videos, Lost in Translation) does his best to capture some truly magnificently framed, drawn out takes, ultimately it is the preexisting architecture of Versaille and the superb costume design that do most of the work. Haar probably is correct in pointing the finger at Coppola's under-developed script. What this film lacks most, and where its true failure lies, is in its lack of any emotion, of any yearning. To me, it seems that if a film is to succeed at being slow, methodic, and for the most part, void of dialogue, it must also contain a yearning melancholy, a yearning for the sublime (read: every Terrance Malick film). Also I'm not sure if this type of film can also have the music video montage aesthetic as well - if it can, I suppose Lost in Translation is the example. Writer/Director David Mamet said, "You have to earn your montages," yet in this film, montages would pop in and out of the film, disrupting plot lines with quick visual pleasures that simply did not work. If you're going to make a revisionist bio-pic with a new wave and post-punk soundtrack, why not take it all the way? Why not be truly experimental and modernize everything - all of the dialogue, all of the soundtrack, etc. Can't people learn that making a biopic about someone's entire life is extremely difficult (Scorcese failed) - just focus on one section - the most intense section. Watching a film about a girl who is bored is boring.

21.10.06

Date.With.The.Night.


"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl" Jean-Luc Godard

“This CGI bullshit is the death knell of cinema. If I'd wanted all that computer game bullshit, I'd have stuck my dick in a Nintendo.” Quentin Tarantino

20.10.06

The.In.Sound.From.Way.Out



Finally got to see the much hyped Austin duo, Ghostland Observatory the other night at Cafe du Nord, and they did more than live up to all the positive press. This band absolutely killed it: a full set and two encores of thrashing lo-fi electro-pop and rock that had the cramped crowd going bonkers. Comprised of Aaron Behrens(vocals, guitar) and Thomas Turner (beats, synth, drums, vocoder), their sound drew from contemporary groups like The Rapture and Daft Punk equally as much as it did from the 70's rock aesthetic of The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. Watching frontman Behrens is a show within itself - Mick Jagger dancing back up for early 90's Janet Jackson. I seriously have not seen such an infectiously charismatic performer in a while, not too mention that he rocks pigtails and aviators, while Mr. Turner dons a vampire cape taboot. Go see this band. Now.

Ghostland Observatory - Move With Your Lover

Ghostland Observatory - Sad Sad City