Pearl Jam- Animal (Indio, CA-1993)
Led Zeppelin- Immigrant Song (1972)
AC/DC- Shot Down in Flames (??)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Just Because: Badass Live Videos
Resurfacing after months of silence; the slog of the school semester is over, and I'm feeling free. Thoughts on summer music coming soon, but for now, some badass live performances. Just because.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Free Dios Leaks from Buddyhead
One of my favorite under-the-radar groups, Dios (previously/alternately known as Dios Malos) is due to release their third album "We are Dios" in early February on West Coast record label/rock n roll tastemaker Buddyhead. At the end of 2009 they dropped a 4th quarter single, "Puttin it Down" via free download. Very solid stuff. This week they've given us one more appetizer; the 2010 1st quarter single, "Feather in Yr Cap," also free. I'm about to check it out, and you should follow my lead. Songs, some cool artwork, and some news on the upcoming release from Buddyhead--links below:
Friday, January 22, 2010
Resolution Rock
Mea Culpa: I suck.
6 months ago, I moved from Washington, DC to Charlottesville, VA. At the time, I expressed optimism that the change of music scenery would invigorate my writing and jumpstart this blog. That was not the case.
In fact, the life change proved fairly overwhelming and, despite my best intentions, I completely dropped off the map. I know how devastating this was to my loyal readership. I feel like a bad parent. Not, like, Leland Palmer-bad, but my trail of broken promises is a major let-down to the great ideas that inspired me to start this project.
And yet, we rock on. It's a (relatively) new year still, and in 2010 my resolution is to pick up right where I left off and bring it all back home. No more hand-wringing, no more apologies, no playing catch-up. Just a clean slate and Egan Caufield going full tweed ahead.
My informal sabbatical might not have been the worst thing in the world. I have been catching up on some old music that I've unjustly ignored, including Sunny Day Real Estate and Wilco's back catalog. Now that I'm a bit more settled in, I should have more regular time to write, not to mention a massive backlog of ideas on how to make the blog cooler for you guys. Shorter pieces, more C-Ville scene stuff, more links to good/new/unheard music, and maybe even a constructive use of the Twitter medium. Believe Dat!!!
Skeptical? I don't blame you. But the proof, they say, is in the pudding. So, stay tuned to this space for a solid helping of music...pudding.
Dig!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
(Belated) First Listen: Pheonix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
First of 3-part series catching up on Egan's Silver Summer
The first time I ever heard Phoenix, it was Spring 2002, and I was coming back from an all-night party outside of Boston. I had scored a ride back into town thanks to a friend who knew the band that played that night, and we squeezed into the back of the BMW with their gear. It was 5 a.m. when we left, starving, and stopped at McDonalds for some breakfast sandwiches. As we raced back toward the city, the sun began to rise over the Charles River, and the driver turned on the stereo, whence the first notes of Phoenix's "If I Ever feel Better" trickled out. The beat started thumping; he pumped up the volume to full blast. One of the catchiest songs of the past 10 years [seriously, click on that link!] oozed out of the speakers. I munched on my Egg McMuffin, crammed in between to amps and a bass guitar, let the wind blow through the open window, and took it all in.
It's a romantic memory, yes. But that's what Phoenix was built for. Their European electro-pop-rock sound is like some type of scientifically engineered emotional response generator. Set the dial to nostalgia! Crank up the pining! Tweak the sadness! More hipster! Less human emotion! It's Alive!!
But it’s 2009 and things have changed. I’m older for one; no longer finding myself in cars in racing through the suburbs at 5 in the morning. We've grown more closed in, I think, as I come home and settle in to dig in to Phoenix’s new Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I have said it before and I'll say it again: one of the coolest album titles in recent memory. Cover art not bad either:
As the first notes of the opening track Lisztomania play, I am inexplicably compelled to open the door, and next the shades; opening up the apartment to let the fresh air and light into this cave. The beat pumps, and polished, dancy guitars and bass bounce over the pulsing of the drum samples—I can see the dust lifting off my things with every drumkick. The music is expansive—it immediately fills my apartment, and Thomas Mars’ voice cries out over the catchy swell: “So sentimental/ Not sentimental, no!/ Romantic not disgusting yet/ Darling I’m down and I’m lonely/ When with the fortunate only/ I’ve been looking for something else.”
It’s an exclamation—of protest, passion, and persuasion—as all Phoenix lyrics seem to be. They come in short bursts, often repeating themselves insistently, as if engineered to invade your brain and make you into an indie pop dance zombie (the best kind). Lisztomania is a call to arms—“Think less but see it grow/ Like a riot, like a riot, oh!/ I’m not easily offended/ it’s not hard to let it go/ from a mess to the masses.” The lyrics plead, like a bored lover insistent on existential awakening, and the music begs the same of the listener. It’s a beautiful expression of feeling, with true energy. Ultimately, it is pop music. But this is what pop music should be.
The listener has no time to recover from the disarming first track before they are hit with the bombastic synthesizers opening the second song; the clear-cut standout, “1901.” This is an interesting strategy in terms of album design, leading with two obvious singles up front. The last Phoenix album, the defensively titled It’s Never Been Like That followed a similar strategy but left the listener disappointed with several indistinguishable tracks and an unfocused back end of the album. In this case, the 1-2 punch is stunning. 1901 is a work of art. High-pitched keyboards alternate with big, warm synths that absorb the listener. Guitar and bass stake out the middle ground while the drum beat pulses indefatigably, like an engine pushing some top-notch race automobile.
Phoenix has had great singles before. I mentioned “If I ever Feel Better”; there was also "Long Distance Call" from the previous album. These gems are usually the core of the album. But something feels different here, in the music, in the lyrics, the sound. There’s a confidence pervading the approach, not just the product. “I’ll be anything you ask and more/ going hey hey hey hey…/ It’s not a miracle we needed/ you know I wouldn’t let you think so.” It’s as if Phoenix senses an opportunity--their time--and are stepping forward to seize it. "1901" also explicitly states the setting implied elsewhere on the album: Summer. “it’s twenty seconds till the last call/ you’re going hey hey hey…/ lie down you know it’s easy/ like we did it all summer long.” I’ve spoken on this blog before on the convergence of seasons and music, and here it is.
The stellar “1901” is followed up by the slick, dancy “Fences” which seems to consciously reign itself in from the explosive poppyness of the leadoff songs. Then the album retreats subtly into a mostly-instrumental that spans two tracks, on “Love Like a Sunset.” Not only are the two parts of this composition complex and catchy enough to engage the listener, but they serve as a strategic breakup of the album, and reveal a seriousness that wasn’t there on previous Phoenix efforts.
Refreshed by track 5, the listener is roped in—get it?—by “Lasso,” quite possibly the third best song on the album. In reality, it’s hard to say: on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the band has created a wall-to-wall solid effort that exemplifies what good pop rock should be. That’s not to say every song is superb. “Rome” sounds like a generic song Phoenix has done before, demonstrating the dangers that face a band so intimately tied to a specific sound. But for the most part, Phoenix has mastered the art of fine-tuning that trademark sound—crisply sampled beats, giant synthesizers, longing vocals—crafting it into something that does not wholly depart from what came before, but undeniably improves it.
In the process, Phoenix has laid a strong claim of musical rights to Summer 2009.
The first time I ever heard Phoenix, it was Spring 2002, and I was coming back from an all-night party outside of Boston. I had scored a ride back into town thanks to a friend who knew the band that played that night, and we squeezed into the back of the BMW with their gear. It was 5 a.m. when we left, starving, and stopped at McDonalds for some breakfast sandwiches. As we raced back toward the city, the sun began to rise over the Charles River, and the driver turned on the stereo, whence the first notes of Phoenix's "If I Ever feel Better" trickled out. The beat started thumping; he pumped up the volume to full blast. One of the catchiest songs of the past 10 years [seriously, click on that link!] oozed out of the speakers. I munched on my Egg McMuffin, crammed in between to amps and a bass guitar, let the wind blow through the open window, and took it all in.
It's a romantic memory, yes. But that's what Phoenix was built for. Their European electro-pop-rock sound is like some type of scientifically engineered emotional response generator. Set the dial to nostalgia! Crank up the pining! Tweak the sadness! More hipster! Less human emotion! It's Alive!!
But it’s 2009 and things have changed. I’m older for one; no longer finding myself in cars in racing through the suburbs at 5 in the morning. We've grown more closed in, I think, as I come home and settle in to dig in to Phoenix’s new Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I have said it before and I'll say it again: one of the coolest album titles in recent memory. Cover art not bad either:
As the first notes of the opening track Lisztomania play, I am inexplicably compelled to open the door, and next the shades; opening up the apartment to let the fresh air and light into this cave. The beat pumps, and polished, dancy guitars and bass bounce over the pulsing of the drum samples—I can see the dust lifting off my things with every drumkick. The music is expansive—it immediately fills my apartment, and Thomas Mars’ voice cries out over the catchy swell: “So sentimental/ Not sentimental, no!/ Romantic not disgusting yet/ Darling I’m down and I’m lonely/ When with the fortunate only/ I’ve been looking for something else.”
It’s an exclamation—of protest, passion, and persuasion—as all Phoenix lyrics seem to be. They come in short bursts, often repeating themselves insistently, as if engineered to invade your brain and make you into an indie pop dance zombie (the best kind). Lisztomania is a call to arms—“Think less but see it grow/ Like a riot, like a riot, oh!/ I’m not easily offended/ it’s not hard to let it go/ from a mess to the masses.” The lyrics plead, like a bored lover insistent on existential awakening, and the music begs the same of the listener. It’s a beautiful expression of feeling, with true energy. Ultimately, it is pop music. But this is what pop music should be.
The listener has no time to recover from the disarming first track before they are hit with the bombastic synthesizers opening the second song; the clear-cut standout, “1901.” This is an interesting strategy in terms of album design, leading with two obvious singles up front. The last Phoenix album, the defensively titled It’s Never Been Like That followed a similar strategy but left the listener disappointed with several indistinguishable tracks and an unfocused back end of the album. In this case, the 1-2 punch is stunning. 1901 is a work of art. High-pitched keyboards alternate with big, warm synths that absorb the listener. Guitar and bass stake out the middle ground while the drum beat pulses indefatigably, like an engine pushing some top-notch race automobile.
Phoenix has had great singles before. I mentioned “If I ever Feel Better”; there was also "Long Distance Call" from the previous album. These gems are usually the core of the album. But something feels different here, in the music, in the lyrics, the sound. There’s a confidence pervading the approach, not just the product. “I’ll be anything you ask and more/ going hey hey hey hey…/ It’s not a miracle we needed/ you know I wouldn’t let you think so.” It’s as if Phoenix senses an opportunity--their time--and are stepping forward to seize it. "1901" also explicitly states the setting implied elsewhere on the album: Summer. “it’s twenty seconds till the last call/ you’re going hey hey hey…/ lie down you know it’s easy/ like we did it all summer long.” I’ve spoken on this blog before on the convergence of seasons and music, and here it is.
The stellar “1901” is followed up by the slick, dancy “Fences” which seems to consciously reign itself in from the explosive poppyness of the leadoff songs. Then the album retreats subtly into a mostly-instrumental that spans two tracks, on “Love Like a Sunset.” Not only are the two parts of this composition complex and catchy enough to engage the listener, but they serve as a strategic breakup of the album, and reveal a seriousness that wasn’t there on previous Phoenix efforts.
Refreshed by track 5, the listener is roped in—get it?—by “Lasso,” quite possibly the third best song on the album. In reality, it’s hard to say: on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the band has created a wall-to-wall solid effort that exemplifies what good pop rock should be. That’s not to say every song is superb. “Rome” sounds like a generic song Phoenix has done before, demonstrating the dangers that face a band so intimately tied to a specific sound. But for the most part, Phoenix has mastered the art of fine-tuning that trademark sound—crisply sampled beats, giant synthesizers, longing vocals—crafting it into something that does not wholly depart from what came before, but undeniably improves it.
In the process, Phoenix has laid a strong claim of musical rights to Summer 2009.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Up/Down: Industry Accoutrements
I'm back to my even-handed and judicious self this week, though I have noticed that these Up/Down columns tend to focus heavily on my opinion of new music. So this week I'm handing out disses and approvals for an assortment of things related to tunes, but not directly:
Big Ups
1. Yep Roc Records "Fun in the Summer Sun" Sale- One of my favorite means of finding new music is to identify a record label that has put out something I like, then scavenge their website for bands I haven't heard of. I urge you to try this. Set aside about an hour, check out all links, devour every sound clip, and hoard free downloads. If nothing else it should give you some tracks to use on mixes for loved ones. I did this with a small North Carolina-based label, Yep Roc Records, a few months ago, and signed up for their newsletter. This week got an email about a great sale they've got going on: 50 of their best Summer CDs on sale for $10 (+s&h), and they throw in a free sampler of Summer tunes for free. Check it out here; sale ends June 26th. Lots to choose from on the list, much of it Alt-Country. I went with Cities, who sounded like a good honest rock band. If you're at a loss, you can't go wrong with the Apples in Stereo, who are also on the list. Dig!
2. Rolling Stone- De La Soul feature. RS is featuring a track-by-track retrospective on De La Soul's 1993 debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. I could go on and on and on about the genius and significance of De La, but that would do no justice--just read the piece. One of the most innovative groups in hip-hop, and one of the few crews in that genre to grow and mature like a band. I have mixed feelings about RS covering this album in isolation, since at the time coverage like this made De La Soul feel so pigeonholed as "Rap Hippies" that they moved away from it on their next album, De La Soul is Dead. But, breakthroughs are breakthroughs, and it's great to see magazines doing this type of retrospective coverage that really digs into the music, especially Rolling Stone, which can't be bothered to write about music lately. You'll remember I posted about a similar piece on Nas' Illmatic featured in XXL a few months ago. This is music journalism!
3. Amoeba Music's "Music we Like"- My roommate just came back from a trip to the West Coast, where he paid a visit to one of the best record stores in the country, Amoeba Music. I've only been once: during a drive through L.A. in 2003, we stopped in and I dropped about $80 of my road trip budget on one of the best collections of new and used music I had ever seen. Literally, the money was just pouring out of my pocket, and I walked away with one of the best single-day music hauls in my life. At any rate, my roommate came back from the Amoeba in San Francisco with Amoeba's "Music We Like" guide, a self-published biannual 100 page, 'zine-style guide to their staff's favorite new music and movies. As someone who worked in a music store (Sam Goody! Yes!) this is the kind of power every staffmember covets, and the ultimate testament to Amoeba's independence. If you're in Cali, make it a point to go. If you see someone wearing an Amoeba Music t-shirt, give them a hug.
Big Downs
1. Pearl Jam's Accoustics on Conan- The L.A. Times were all over Pearl Jam's performance on the inaugural Late Show with Conan O'Brien, and the lead-up was definitely compelling. But did anyone else catch the first show last week? The song wasn't horrible, but the acoustics definitely were. Specifically the drums, which sounded like tupperware. Not sure who takes the blame for this one, but somebody's A-game was lacking.
2. Phish is Back- Hide your wares.
3. One-off Festivals- I was checking out the lineups for Lollapaloza and Bonnaroo this week, both of which are formidably awesome. Trust me, no one's happier than me that Lollapalooza still exists. But when I read about these festivals, I get sappy nostalgic for the days when festivals were more than static events where artists come together for a weekend and then disipate. It used to be that bands would sign on for the entire slate of shows, and the festivals would snake through the country like old fashioned circuses, stopping off in your town to raise hell for a weekend and then disappearing into the night. Back then, festivals were really the embodiment of a scene--where artists of all different stripes essentially toured together, and played together week in and week out, in love and hatred (I'm thinking of the infamous Breeders/Pumpkins dynamics from Lollapalooza '94). Nowadays there's no such drama, emotion, or competition--there's no scene--and static festivals reflect it. Now allow me to pour out some liquor in the form of Pavement's "Range Life" video, filmed during Lollapalooza '95. Isn's it glorious:
Big Ups
1. Yep Roc Records "Fun in the Summer Sun" Sale- One of my favorite means of finding new music is to identify a record label that has put out something I like, then scavenge their website for bands I haven't heard of. I urge you to try this. Set aside about an hour, check out all links, devour every sound clip, and hoard free downloads. If nothing else it should give you some tracks to use on mixes for loved ones. I did this with a small North Carolina-based label, Yep Roc Records, a few months ago, and signed up for their newsletter. This week got an email about a great sale they've got going on: 50 of their best Summer CDs on sale for $10 (+s&h), and they throw in a free sampler of Summer tunes for free. Check it out here; sale ends June 26th. Lots to choose from on the list, much of it Alt-Country. I went with Cities, who sounded like a good honest rock band. If you're at a loss, you can't go wrong with the Apples in Stereo, who are also on the list. Dig!
2. Rolling Stone- De La Soul feature. RS is featuring a track-by-track retrospective on De La Soul's 1993 debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. I could go on and on and on about the genius and significance of De La, but that would do no justice--just read the piece. One of the most innovative groups in hip-hop, and one of the few crews in that genre to grow and mature like a band. I have mixed feelings about RS covering this album in isolation, since at the time coverage like this made De La Soul feel so pigeonholed as "Rap Hippies" that they moved away from it on their next album, De La Soul is Dead. But, breakthroughs are breakthroughs, and it's great to see magazines doing this type of retrospective coverage that really digs into the music, especially Rolling Stone, which can't be bothered to write about music lately. You'll remember I posted about a similar piece on Nas' Illmatic featured in XXL a few months ago. This is music journalism!
3. Amoeba Music's "Music we Like"- My roommate just came back from a trip to the West Coast, where he paid a visit to one of the best record stores in the country, Amoeba Music. I've only been once: during a drive through L.A. in 2003, we stopped in and I dropped about $80 of my road trip budget on one of the best collections of new and used music I had ever seen. Literally, the money was just pouring out of my pocket, and I walked away with one of the best single-day music hauls in my life. At any rate, my roommate came back from the Amoeba in San Francisco with Amoeba's "Music We Like" guide, a self-published biannual 100 page, 'zine-style guide to their staff's favorite new music and movies. As someone who worked in a music store (Sam Goody! Yes!) this is the kind of power every staffmember covets, and the ultimate testament to Amoeba's independence. If you're in Cali, make it a point to go. If you see someone wearing an Amoeba Music t-shirt, give them a hug.
Big Downs
1. Pearl Jam's Accoustics on Conan- The L.A. Times were all over Pearl Jam's performance on the inaugural Late Show with Conan O'Brien, and the lead-up was definitely compelling. But did anyone else catch the first show last week? The song wasn't horrible, but the acoustics definitely were. Specifically the drums, which sounded like tupperware. Not sure who takes the blame for this one, but somebody's A-game was lacking.
2. Phish is Back- Hide your wares.
3. One-off Festivals- I was checking out the lineups for Lollapaloza and Bonnaroo this week, both of which are formidably awesome. Trust me, no one's happier than me that Lollapalooza still exists. But when I read about these festivals, I get sappy nostalgic for the days when festivals were more than static events where artists come together for a weekend and then disipate. It used to be that bands would sign on for the entire slate of shows, and the festivals would snake through the country like old fashioned circuses, stopping off in your town to raise hell for a weekend and then disappearing into the night. Back then, festivals were really the embodiment of a scene--where artists of all different stripes essentially toured together, and played together week in and week out, in love and hatred (I'm thinking of the infamous Breeders/Pumpkins dynamics from Lollapalooza '94). Nowadays there's no such drama, emotion, or competition--there's no scene--and static festivals reflect it. Now allow me to pour out some liquor in the form of Pavement's "Range Life" video, filmed during Lollapalooza '95. Isn's it glorious:
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