GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
“Any NY transplants who blew their noses the next day would instantly be taken back to Randall’s Island [Lollapalooza] circa 1994-1997.”
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FYF: The Experience: With it looking like The Detour Fest will never be returning, I find myself becoming more and more protective of the FYF Fest. Much has been written about the logistical snafus of Saturday’s 7th Annual FYF Fest and I’m here to weigh in.. Common complaints about water prices, set delays, and ungodly long lines have probably done enough to scare people off for next year, and that’s a damn shame. Let me try and put things into perspective for some people who are losing their shit. For $20 I was able to see a slew of my current favorite artists on a beautiful day in Downtown LA, mere miles from my house. Sure the lines were long, but with a little logic and some help from your wingmen and women you could work through the hiccups. Someone in your group wants a cheese-steak and you want beer? Expecting to be able to do both is unrealistic at any festival - Break off into groups and pick a spot to meet back up at. Also, don’t expect to rely on your cell phones or texts. You gotta work these things old school style. Maybe FYF is catching more grief because it was 90 degrees and we were sitting in a glorified dirt farm. It made many people miserable, but it made me feel a sense of nostalgia for the old days of the traveling Lollapalooza. Any NY transplants who blew their noses the next day would instantly be taken back to Randall’s Island circa 1994-1997. If anything, I wish it were not an all ages show because the longest lines of the day were for the beer tents and the VIP Cha Cha tent, but I understand the kids need their music too.
A lot was made about the lack of water access, but maybe I’m a hardened vet because I was throwing down R.B.V’s 2-3 at a time with no regard for hydration and I had a fantastic time. My trick: I had a quiet Friday night. All of those suckers who were blacking out on Friday night were wilting in the heat while I was feeling like gold. Gloriously drunk gold. My one true complaint, if I had any, is that perhaps the promoters took on more than they could chew, artist wise. I would have liked longer sets as I often felt like some bands were just getting into a groove when the schedule was forcing them off the stage. So there you have it, they offered me too much music. Those bastards.
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FYF: The Bands: We came for the bands right? Not for hot dogs, t-shirts, or f’n water. I was able to hit most of my mapped out artists (sans Wavves) and they were terrific as expected. My pal Tom (who took some fantastic pics, after the jump) labeled Wavves’ “King of the Beach” as the day’s highlight, even if a good deal of the rest of their set was mired in some bass sound issues. I can’t speak on Wavves behalf, so I’ll go ahead and split my nod between Titus Andronicus and Delorean. Both acts shined and had perfectly timed slots. Mind you when I say perfectly timed I am not referring to them being on time (I’m looking at you Delorean) but the marriage between their sound and the atmosphere surrounding their stage. The sun burning down on the crowd while dirt clouds kicked up when they kicked into “A More Perfect Union” was an awesome moment. Another friend who never spoke of his love for Titus more or less lost his mind and ran for the pit. This is a kid who usually rocks out to old school Snoop and Dre so it was a beautiful sight to behold. Delorean far and away blew every previous act out of the water. I feel bad for anyone who left early during the 30-40 minute delay between their set and School of Seven Bells. They owned the stage and the crowd in a way that no other act before them had. Their dance chill wave sound matched with the Boogie Nights screen back drop (Amber Waves never looked so good!), flashing lights,and the occasional passing train turned the National Historical Park into the coolest outdoor dance-club that LA has ever seen.
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Sep 09, 2010 | Categories: Del Says..., Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column | Tags: Angeles National Historic Park, Del LeFevre, Delorean, Deltron 3030, Downtown Los Angeles, FYF Fest, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment, Titus Andronicus, Tom Kenney, WAVVES | Leave A Comment »
GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
As a listener and collector of music I’ve never been a big fan of the EP format. It always felt like too much work for far too little music. Personally, I always felt as if I was getting force fed leftovers from someone else’s meal. On top of that if you purchased one of these EPs there was a good chance it would be full of remix filler. No one needs four different versions of the same song. That doesn’t scream EP to me That screams OCD. I held this anti EP stance for most of my adult life. Truth be told I’m still kind of standoffish towards them but once Radiohead announced they’d be pushing their future recordings towards an EP existence I felt like it might be time for me to embrace the EP temperament and attention span. Helping this transition was the stellar group of EPs that I came across in 2009. I now present them to you, in list form:
(Year end lists are like crack cocaine to me. I need this to stop. January 1st can not come fast enough!)
10) Yim Yames – A Tribute
I’m a sucker for George Harrison and for cover albums so this was an easy choice. Jim James of My Morning Jacket peels away the Phil Spector meddling and leaves you with the stripped down basics of Harrison’s key solo tracks.
Key Track: “My Sweet Lord”
9) Memory Cassette – Call & Response
On top of some great tracks this EP was home to the best video of 2009 and the coolest cover art.
Key Track: “Surfin’ ”
8.) Delorean – Ayrton Senna
I was willing to track this band’s EP down thanks to their brilliant remix of the Teenagers “No Love”. It was well worth the effort.
Key Track: “Deli”
7) Suckers – Suckers
I had to skip this blurb and come back to it at the end of the list like that annoying person who stares at the menu for an hour and then tells the waitress to come back to them after she’s gotten everyone else’s order. I hate that person…but I could relate as I didn’t have much knowledge of this band. What do you say about a band that is more or less a mystery to you? That’s when I realized that’s the beauty of the shortened EP form. You can go out on a limb and reach for a band you know nothing about at the lower price point. No one wants to drop $11.99 to experience an unknown album or artist. What if it blows. You’d feel like a real Sucker (no pun intended). People are crippled with fear when it comes to picking something unknown that they may not like. I once dated a girl who suffered from the crippling fear that she’d hate everything on a restaurant’s menu. It would usually end with us fleeing the scene and running to the comforting embrace of Subway. If only more restaurants priced their food under $5 maybe she and people like her would be more willing to roll the risk dice. I paid under $4 for this Suckers EP and was pleasantly surprised . This Brooklyn band sounded like part Modest Mouse part Clap Your Hands. Not bad. Not bad at all. Lesson learned: Embrace the unknown. After listening to these four tracks I found myself wanting more. Lucky for me the band signed with a major label last month and are currently recording their label major debut LP.
Key Track: “Easy Chairs”
6) El Perro Del Mar – Love is Not Pop
The way Sweden churns out beautiful blond moody songstresses one might think that they’re interchangeable Ikea parts. They’re not. El Perro Del Mar is the rich man’s Lykke Li. “Change of Heart” slays me every time.
Key Track: “Change of Heart”
5) Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind
It’s nice to see the darlings of the indie rock circuit not resting on the laurels of Merriweather Post Pavilion. Instead they released Fall Be Kind, an EP of songs that push even more sonic boundaries. Take that, Grizzly Bear, you good for nothing slackers.
Key Track: “What Would I Want? “,”Sky” (more…)
Dec 21, 2009 | Categories: Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column | Tags: A Tribute, Animal Collective, Ayrton Senna, Blood Bank, Bon Iver, Call & Response, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Delorean, Deltron 3030, Deltron3030, Drums, El Perro del Mar, Fall Be Kind, G.D. Hoarders, George Harrison, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment, Grizzly Bear, Jim James, KCRW, Life of Leisure, Love is Not Pop, Lykke Li, Memory Cassette, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Modest Mouse, Morning Becomes Eclectic, My Morning Jacket, No Love, Phil Spector, restaurant menus, Suckers, Summertime, Teenagers, The Middle East, Top EPs, Top EPs of 2009, Washed Out, Yim Yames | Leave A Comment »
GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
Filter just released their top ten album list for 2009 and this is what it looks like
1. Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
2. Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote)
3. Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest (Warp)
4. Miike Snow, Miike Snow (Downtown)
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz! (Interscope)
6. Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland (XL)
7. Cass McCombs, Catacombs (Domino)
8. Passion Pit, Manners (Frenchkiss)
9. The Antlers, Hospice (Frenchkiss)
10. White Rabbits, It’s Frightening (TBD)
While I agree with many of their selections I can’t get past two errors:
1) Not slotting The Antlers at number one. (OK it is official -They should go ahead and process that restraining order now.
2) Leaving off the XX.. The XX’s debut record is an amazing album that deserves a top ten slotting.
I don’t want to define this as a travesty against humanity because we should save that word for the abomination that is MTV’s Jersey Shore. Instead let us simply call this an oversight. Allow me to correct these mistakes now with my rushed top ten.
Del’s top ten of 2009
1 The Antlers – Hospice (more…)
Dec 13, 2009 | Categories: Deltron 3030 Recommended Albums, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column, Music | Tags: Animal Collective, Cass McCombs, Coconut Records, Dan Deacon, Dark Was the Night, Deltron 3030, Dirty Projectors, Elvis Perkins, Fanfarlo, Filter, Girls, Grizzly Bear, Jersey Shore, Julian Casablancas, Miike Snow, MTV, Muse, Neon Indian, Passion Pit, Passit Pit, Phoenix, Rain Machine, The Antlers, The XX, Top 10 of 2009, Top Ten, Top Ten CD's, We Were Promised Jet Packs, White Rabbits, XX, Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Leave A Comment »
GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
“Dru Hill, Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, Dan Deacon, Animal Collective”
Those were my answers when someone last week asked me to name famous bands to have come from Baltimore. A pretty sad sampling that got even worse after I referenced Wikipedia and learned that everyone’s least favorite pop punk twins, The Madden Brothers of Good Charlotte, are Baltimorons too. An odd topic of conversation but I felt the need to share because I was surprised by the dearth of music that the city has produced. Murders, yes. Kick ass bands, not so much. Honestly if not for Dan Deacon and Animal Collective we’d be looking at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack as the city’s musical treasure. The question they raised on their brain rotting one hit wonder is a good one for Baltimore:
“What Do I Do Right?”
Clearly the answer isn’t “Churn out tons of respectable bands”
Baltimore your music scene* is for shit….and Cal Ripken was a selfish bastard, but at least you gave us the gritty streets of “The Wire”…and the woozy dream pop of “Beach House”. Yep, they’re from Baltimore too. Who knew!?
Beach House is the perfect name for this band as it accurately conveys the sound that they present. A cozy warmth washes over their music like a lazy weekend @ Long Beach Island….far far far away from the mooks of the real Jersey Shore. Beach House is a welcome addition to the softer side of the itunes library. ….I just wish they chose a different title for the album. Typing “Teen Dream” just feels immensely wrong…but not as wrong as when I did a Google image search for the “Teen Dream” album cover.
People, think before you search…or make sure you have the safe search toggled on.
Highlights: “Norway,” “Walk In The Park,”
*As it turns out Frank Zappa was also from Baltimore, but screw it I’m sticking to my guns . As great as “Joe’s Garage” is Frank Zappa gets canceled out for bringing Dweezil and Ahmed Zappa into the world.
Dec 13, 2009 | Categories: Deltron 3030 Recommended Albums, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column, Music | Tags: BALTIMORE, BEACH HOUSE, BEACH HOUSES, CAL RIPKEN, Deltron 3030, Deltron 3030 Recommended, FRANK ZAPPA, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment, JIMMY'S CHICKEN SHACK | Leave A Comment »
GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
Last week I went to go see Deastro @ The Echo. He (Yep. Solo. His band quit on him mid tour.) played an uneven set of new material. Some tracks were good. Others not so much. Still a deal for the price. The pleasant surprise of the night was the headliner, Max Tundra. I’m using “headliner” here loosely because at most there were 36 people there. I’ve had more people watch me play RockBand. A truly pathetic showing. Having said that, I thought it was terrific show. I’m using that obvious Curb reference because, on stage, Max Tundra is the British love child of George Costanza’s looks..and Elaine Benes’ sweet dance moves. It made for a highly entertaining show. Beyond the spaz theatrics there were some really great songs. His sound is tough to pin down. Even he seems hard pressed to explain it:
“Each song contains many facets and genres, and the starts of songs are often stylistically extremely different to how they each end up, touring via a few styles along the way,” There are micro-melodies on the album – generally, layers and layers of stuff,” says Max. “Hopefully, the more you listen to it, the more new stuff will reveal itself, stuff you didn’t notice the first few times you played it. It’s intricate but that should mean it’s more rewarding over the distance, so that people can go back to it and hear new things each times
Did that help at all? I didn’t think so. Let me try: At its core it is layers and layers of spaced out swirling electro glitch beats with smooth Prince-esque R&B falsettos.
Give it a listen.
Highlights: “Will Get Fooled Again,” “Which Song,” “Until We Die”
Dec 07, 2009 | Categories: Deltron 3030 Recommended Albums, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column, Music | Tags: Deastro, Deltron 3030 Recommended, Deltron3030, Elaine Benes, George Costanza, Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment, Max Tundra, The Echo | Leave A Comment »
GIMME GIMME SCHLOCK TREATMENT:
09/09/09 was a special date for the Beatles. Not only did we get their re-mastered albums (in mono and stereo versions) and the Beatles Rockband game but, according to the website http://thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com/ , we also got a new Beatles album. Do yourself a favor and read the story behind the “new album” and then read the equally out there FAQs. As ridiculous as this story is it is fun to believe that there is someone out there crazy enough to have believed that he traveled to another dimension…and his sole focus in this alternate reality was the Beatles. I guess if people can believe in creationism there’s no reason why they can’t believe in a world where the Beatles never broke up, their 12th album sounded a helluva lot like Wings mashed up with solo John and George, the CD format “never caught on” and cover bands were outlawed.
This raises the question “If the Beatles never broke up does that mean Sir Paul would never write and record the title track to the “Spies Like Us” soundtrack? If so, that is a world I don’t want to be a part of.
I considered this story to be a fun quirky piece of original storytelling…until I saw he lifted the main constructs from “The Twelfth Album“, a short story published eleven years ago. I guess if you’re going to create a killer Beatles mash up CD you might as run the gamut of plagiarism and steal a back story to go with it.
Download this mash up if you love the Beatles/Post Beatles. It’s a good listen and it is always fun to hear treasured songs reinvented. Just ask GirlTalk.
Dec 04, 2009 | Categories: Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Column, Music | Tags: Deltron 3030, George Harrison, GirlTalk, John Lennon, Mashups, Paul cCartney, Ringo Starr, Spies Like Us, the Beatles, The Beatles Never Broke Up, Wings | Leave A Comment »
