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.
New Maximum Donkey Two Ways
I’ve decided to try something a bit different this week. I’m going to write an overview of the New Maximum Donkey show I saw at the Scene last Friday (two Fridays ago, by the time you read this). But as an experiment, I’m going to do it two different ways: first the way I’d normally write something, and second in the manner of a “regular” rock writer/blogger. Who knows? Maybe the way they write things is just more effective at conveying this sort of thing, so I’m willing to try it out. Here goes: (more…)
Siria Recommended: Breakfast at Sulimay’s
As I was driving back into town yesterday, I tuned into NPR’s “All Things Considered,” which is one of my not-so-guilty pleasures, and was highly amused and intrigued by the focus of their segment: Breakfast at Sulimay’s.
Breakfast at Sulimay’s: The backbooth at Sulimay’s (a Fishtown diner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is where three senior citizen diner regulars – (Bill Able, Ann Bailey and Joe Walker) turned-music critics blurt out what comes to their heads while listening to new music. From their videos I see that they’ve “reviewed” Ghostface Killah, Animal Collective, Yo La Tengo, Raphael Saadiq, Coldwar Kids, Common, The Ting Tings, Kings of Leon, Young Jeezy, etc.
It appears they’ve been at it for at least most of this year, with over 25 YouTube episodes under their belt. Aside from that NPR segment, they’ve been featured on Pitchfork, Philadelphia Weekly, Stereogum, etc.
Some of the stuff they blurt out reminds me of the stuff my parents used to say about some of the music my brother and I used to play around the house, “How can you even understand what they’re saying?!“
You know, with as many music aficionados that I’m surrounded by I could definitely see some of them as this trio personified in their old age.
If you have time to kill, you should definitely check this out. Click here for a little more background on the trio and the show.
Behind the Music or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Documentaries
(to get the most of this week’s Gimme Gimme Schlock Treatment Experience don’t forget to listen to the Deltron 3030 music player above as you read)
Usually my first site to hit in the morning is Met’s Blog . I have a sick obsession with my Mets. After that it’s Pitchfork. A few days ago as I wiped the sleep out of my eyes I found out the Mets were planning on signing Gary Sheffield and The Arcade Fire were offering up their documentary “Mirror Noir” for free for seven days via Pitchfork.TV. I had mixed feelings about Sheff dawg but I had zero reservations about seeing “Mirror Noir” for free. Free documentaries “in this economy”? Kudos to you Win Butler and Company. Win is definitely just trying to make up for the time he stole some kid’s basketball. The Arcade Fire has churned out two amazing albums so they can steal whatever they want. If the documentary is even half as good as Neon Bible or Funeral it will rank in the top five of my favorite musical documentaries. …and there’s the cue for another list:
Del’s Top Ten Musical Documentaries
10.) Eddie and the Cruisers – Not really a documentary but it deserves credit for constructing the general template used for VH1’s “Behind the Music“. It also doesn’t hurt that “On the Dark side” happens to be the best song by a fake band in the history of film.
9.)Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten – A kick ass documentary that if nothing else introduced me to the song “Keys to Your Heart” by Joe Strummer’s pre-Clash Band, The 101’ers. Strummer doesn’t come off to well in this film. I’m sure if you told him so he’d simply tell you to “piss off!” and then he’d rip through some power chords.(more…)