DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Princeton – Cocoon of Love
Princeton are playing a four week long “Free Mondays” residency @ Spaceland this month. They’re from my home away from home, Santa Monica…so I feel I should support them. Beyond the Santa Monica allegiance their album actually happens to be pretty decent. Decent enough to garner comparisons to Vampire weekend by both The NY Times and Pitchfork.com. What I found interesting about these two reviews was how interchangeable they were. The NY Times on 09/11 made reference to the fact that the twin brothers who front the band grew up on Princeton Street in Santa Monica. They used this rather benign factoid to try and drive home the Vampire Weekend comparisons. I thought it was a bit silly, but as an amateur writer I could respect the need for a speaking point that could link two separate entities. All and all it was a fairly positive review that name checked (besides Vampire Weekend) The Cure, Leonard Cohen and “shoegaze”. If you were playing hipster review BINGO you’d be feeling pretty lucky. Pitchfork took their time in posting a review for this album. They waited till December 3rd of the same year when they also mentioned: Princeton St and used it as a tool to begin a forced comparison to Vampire Weekend. They also name checked Leonard Cohen and shoegaze. It reeked of classic late minute high school report cribbing. Pitchfork pretty much pulled a Cliff Notes on their review and moved the content around to give it a different look and feel. This might get past some people, but the old Crib and Switch was a patented move of high school Del. I was on to them. As we all know, from countless message episodes from the ABC TGIF block and real life stern lectures* when eventually being caught, cheaters only cheat themselves. …and in this case, you the reader. Instead of three separate reviews of Princeton you have 1) an original review, 2) a facsimile shamfest, and 3) a Del induced shamefest. To make up for my unfocused talk of Princeton I invite you all to Spaceland tonight for cheap PBRS and free music.
Highlights: “Sadie & Andy,” “Korean War Memorial,” “Shout It Out”
real life stern lectures*: How I was caught by Mr Hilliard in nine grade English class for more or less handing in a transcribed Cliff Notes report on “Of Mice and Men” sans the yellow and black cover I’ll never know. Perhaps I aroused some suspicions when I switched book review topics the day before the report was due. Not exactly a smooth criminal.
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Broken Bells – Broken Bells
- “What Are you Listening to?”
- “The Shins”
-”You know them?”
-”No”
-”You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life. I swear”
A bit of a stretch, Natalie Portman. What do you expect from a helmet wearing spazoid who falls for the king of all turd burgers, Zach Braff. That single exchange vaulted The Shins, a fine band, into a stratosphere that far exceeded their talents. Yes I loved “New Slang” and the rest of the Oh Inverted World album, but they were (are) hardly life changing. You know who was(is) life changing? Danger Mouse. Hear me out for a second. If it wasn’t for Danger Mouse’s 2004 The Grey Album we might not be enjoying such things today like Girl Talk, Mike Relm, and The Beatles Never Broke Up. Need more? Just last week multiple people sent me the genius Beatles/Wu Tang “Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers.” It is a fun mix-up that follows the Danger Mouse format and structure to a T. He re-invented the mash up into a sonic art form. Not wanting to be pigeonholed after that initial success w/ the Gray Album, Danger Mouse moved on to “legitimate” production of acts like the Gorillaz, Sparklehorse,and the Black Keys while also working with MF Doom on DangerDoom and with Cee Lo on Gnarls Barkley. All rousing successes. Danger Mouse’s new project w/ Natalie Portman’s favorite troubadour, James Mercer, would appear to be following the stellar track history of his past projects. Broken Bells tracks are full of beautiful synth pop spaciness mixed with the steady vocal stylings of Mercer. It is an interesting blend. At points when you feel like you’ve just been duped into listening to another Shins album (not necessarily a bad thing) a flowing organ or synth will come in to shake you out of your Shingles. Enough Shins bashing. I should really apologize to Mercer. I’ve unfairly punished his band for my hatred of Zack Braff. Did you know that he won a Grammy for more or less (read: more) making a mix CD?! I should have a stockpile of grammys by now..or at the very least a beautiful and quirky epileptic girlfriend.
Highlights: “The High Road,” “Vaporize,” “The Ghost Inside,” “Mongrel Heart”
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Spoon – Transference
Judging from the announced line up for Coachella months from now, you’ll be put in the awkward position of choosing between Day Three performers Spoon and Phoenix. A few weeks ago this would have been an easy decision for me. Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus. Phoenix had been the soundtrack for far too many parties for 2009. There’s no way I could not see them. Fast forward to this week and the release of Spoon’s Transference and shit just got real. Decisions will have to be made. There will be sacrifices. Tears will be shed. In a perfectly scheduled world I’ll be able to see both bands but it never works out that way. I’ll be sitting at Orbital like a jerk wondering why the hell the organizers couldn’t have tailored the set times towards my specific needs and interests. For now I’m going to remain sided with Team Phoenix but the more I listen to Transference the harder the decision will be in April. One song is swaying me. Spoon’s jangly guitars and funky bass grooves are great but I’m a sucker for piano ballads. “Good Night Laura” is a gem full of lush piano melodies and humming that can only be matched by the Crash Test Dummies seminal “Mmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmm.“ The rest of the new album’s tracks act as a sampling of sounds from the life and times of Spoon making it a great introduction for new listeners who ignored their previous six releases…or people who had sworn allegiance to Phoenix. Present company included.
Highlights: “Goodnight Laura,” “The Mystery Zone,” “Written in Reverse,” “I Saw the Light”
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
Question: How do you know when someone who recently moved to Silverlake has finally been accepted into their smug ranks?
Answer: When you ask them to comment on the Cold Cave CD that you’re thoroughly enjoying they answer you with a hipster snobbish reply of “Pssh, i feel like anyone could sing like Ian Curtis”
They say it like that is a bad thing! In defense of Cold Cave I hardly think they’re intentionally trying to be Joy Division copycats here. Having said that, I get where this person was coming from. If you start a band with deep low vocals mixed with ominous synths it’s just natural for people to make those comparisons. I guess if we have to throw labels on people consider Cold Cave the New New Order. My personal opinion is that if more bands sounded like Joy Division and less like Lil Wayne’s Rebirth the world would be a better place.
Highlights: “Love Comes Close,” “Life Magazine,” “Youth and Lust”
Siria’s November and December Playlist
What I fell asleep to November and December…
Since I skipped providing a playlist for November, I figured I’d let you in on some of the more mellow stuff
(not really so mellow) I listened to in the past couple of months. The following list includes a sampling of songs since I obviously couldn’t include every single song. However, these are all songs that I CHOSE to fall asleep to, not that MADE me fall sleep. BIG difference.
AA Bondy – “I Can See the Pines Are Dancing”
The performance in this video reminds me of the Firelight and Unlit house parties that IsGood Music puts on (definitely something you should check out at least once, it’ll allow you to see the LA independent music scene in a different more positive light)
The French Semester – “Backwards Rolling”
Great local band that I’ve played on Ammunition a few times, their latest effort Forces Afield was released in December where they shared the stage with friends (and Notes from Vivace favorites) The Monthlies during their EP Release Party a few weeks ago. This song is off of Good Friends Only I Could See. Their full length release Open Letter to the Disappeared, I also play fairly often.
Ryan Larkin and Avalon Peacock (Can You Duet?) – “Tennessee Waltz”
When I went home for Thanksgiving, I caught a re-run of this CMT American Idol type show where this performance took place. As a little girl I remember hearing the original by Patti Page and thinking how sad a song it was. This time around hearing the song and seeing the performance, I thought to myself gosh I wish I could just once look as demure as that girl performing in a simple button down dress. Thanks a lot mom and dad for all the t&a that I received from your combined gene pools that thus prevents me from ever achieving that look.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Stay Alive”
Here’s the video to “Come Saturday” (I actually like this song better although my favorite song of theirs would be “Teenager in Love”) (more…)