Mylene: Queen of Pop

This week in the fishwrap, Charles Taylor makes the case for French pop, through the lens of the latest Mrs. Johnny Depp album. Below, longtime Phoenix critic Michael Freedberg, whom we consider our resident expert on the topic, provides his own master-class in variete francaise -- one that is necessarily weighted towards Mylene Farmer, who is the Reed to his Bangs, the Kixx to his Eddy. In his commentary on these 17 "best-of-the-best" tracks, Freedberg elaborates on the spirit of liberte that infuses the best of Mylene; teases out the existential bark in Pascal Obispo's bite; and introduces us to a breadth of French pop that swings from the volcanic rock-n-roll swagger of Noir Desir to the tipsy modernist electro of Melissa Mars. It's the depth of feeling that Freedberg responds to in these tracks; at times, when we were recording this session about a week ago, the critic sobbed openly in the studio while the tracks played back.

DOWNLOAD: The Sphere Vol 12: Variete Francaise Part 1 [mp3]
DOWNLOAD: The Sphere Vol 13: Variete Francaise Part 2 [mp3]

Vol 12 Tracklist:

1. Madmoiselle Chang: France Gall
2. Fuck Them All: Mylene
3. Alice et June: Indochine
4. C'est une belle journee: Mylene Farmer
5. Lone Machine: Melissa Mars
6. L'au-de la: Jean Louis Murat
7. Mylene Is Coming: Mylene Farmer
8. Point de mire: Ariane Moffet

Voll 13 Tracklist:

1. Le Pretension de rien: Pascal Obispo
2. Chanson pour hier et demain: Marie Mai
3. L'enfant roi: Noir Desir
4. Raton Laveur: Jean Leloup
5. We'll Never Die: Mylene Farmer
6. Tu me corresponds: Francois Cabrel
7. Lonely: Mitsou
8. le grand incende: Noir Desir
9. Mylenium: Mylene Farmer

4/19/2008 10:51:57 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Last week we scooped the news about Radiohead’s August 13 concert date at Tweeter Center (tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m.) and set the music blogs abuzz. Today word from ye olde Inbox, via our friends at LiveNation, is that opening duties will be divvied amongst Grizzly Bear, whom Radiohead covered at their recent top-secret London gig, and Liars, who Thom Yorke raved about when he guess DJ’ed NPR’s All Songs Considered in February. So who’ll be gracing Mansfield with their Yorke-approved presence this summer? Grizzly Bear, those Brooklynite kings of fuzzy, buzzing, eerily quiet, then extremely loud indie rock. Their Friend EP was firmly lodged at the top of our "Most Played" list for a solid chunk of 2007, along with In Rainbows, to the point where we thought our iTunes might protest and throw whatever's at the top of their "Most Purchased" list at us instead. Which means that we’ve now progressed from excited about the show, to high on summer concert plans, Fitter Happier, Everything In It’s Right Place, shaking in our desk chairs excited. It’s notable that Pitchfork.tv launched today and, in a perhaps serendipitous, or perhaps expertly calculated move, posted some excellent live footage of Radiohead performing Disc Two’s "Bangers & Mash" in Nigel Godrich’s basement (that’s infinity times cooler than our basement, which mainly just has spiders and an old ping pong table). Of course that shit’s already on You Tube, so here you go:





And, to get you all in the Radiohead/Grizzly Bear combo mood, here's the video for Grizzly Bear's "Knife," made by the San Francisco-based duo Encyclopedia Pictura, who also just released Bjork's astoundingly trippy/picturesque video for "Wanderlust":




--Caitlin E. Curran

4/7/2008 6:02:02 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

The Ontario-born, London-dwelling, math-whiz musician Dan Snaith has been kicking around the electronic music world since 2000, when he released an EP called People Eating Fruit, under the moniker Manitoba. Originally, music was a part-time gig, pursued on the side while Snaith taught and pursued a PhD in math. Just before earning that degree, he was forced to abandon his musical claim on Manitoba, when former Dictators frontman Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba decided to sue... even though, you know, Manitoba is the name of a Canadian province, and not just Handsome Dick’s. Luckily, Snaith got over it, and switched to Caribou after a meaningful LSD trip, then ditched math to make music his full-time job. His excellent, multi-instrumental 2007 album, Andorra (Merge), saw Snaith confidently wading into the world of 60s-referencing psych-pop music, and not in a bad way. He’ll play the Paradise with Fuck Buttons tonight, and he chatted with us last weekend, from the snowy roads of Canada (we meant to post this earlier, but we were held back by technical snafus - bummer!).

When asked about his political preferences in a recent interview with XXL magazine, DMX admitted he didn’t know who Barack Obama was. Do you consider yourself well-informed, in terms of world news?

That’s definitely shocking to me. I’m not the most informed, but I definitely can confirm I’ve heard of Barack Obama. If he hasn’t heard of Barack Obama he probably hasn’t heard of previous political leaders in the past decade or so.

You may be sick of this question, but there’s an obvious transition from psych-electronica to psych-pop on your latest album, Andorra. How did this come about?

It was one conscious decision to switch styles. In the past my music has been made by building loops on top of one another. I wanted to make pop songs with big melodies and not just a hypnotic kind of music. The last 3 of the 4 albums have been psych influenced. I like the ambition and the scope, big headspace music, rather than the stripped down post punky kind of sound. Im kind of a record nerd, so I’ve got piles of obscure psych rock bands that I might only like one or two tracks from. This last record, the Zombies were a big influence – they do this baroque psych pop –  and they embodied a lot of what I wanted to do. That’s probably something that won’t continue. I’ve done what I wanted to do with that.

You studied and taught math for several years, but now you’re a full-time musician. Have you always juggled the two? Now that music is your full-time gig, do you ever miss math?

I‘m a nerd, and I just love learning about things so I ended up learning about both music and math. But there came a time when I had to make a decision. I’ve always wanted to be a musician. I don’t really miss math – I never do mathematics at all since I got my PhD. I grew up in such a mathematic environment -  almost everyone in my family has a math degree -  so I don’t feel entirely away from it.

Technically Caribou is your solo project; music created while you were holed up in your bedroom. But for live shows, you perform with other musicians. Why?

There’s four of us on stage. I do everything on the records myself. Doing it all day everyday is sort of something that makes more sense on my own, but the live thing is different - it’s better when it’s very much a collaboration.

Your albums are amalgams of instruments and sounds. How many instruments do you play personally?

I’d probably only say that I play piano well, but that’s an open ended question. Other instruments [on the album], I learn enough to get what I want out of them.

When did you start writing music?

I started playing piano when I was 5 but it didn’t really consume me till I switched teachers at 13 or 14, and they started to emphasize improvisation, and understanding how music fits together. It was a weird little town that I grew up in. The kids were into Rush and Yes, or the Grateful Dead so I was into that. But I was also into Aphex Twin, so my high school band was this terrible car crash of the two things. It sounded like a teenage misindulgence in music. But it was a good starting point in learning how to make music.

LISTEN: Caribou on MySpace

--Caitlin E. Curran

3/26/2008 6:02:57 PM by Will | Comments [0] |  

What goes around (goes around, goes around) comes all the way back around

We have no idea who pitched who on having the Stooges covering Madonna's "Burning Up" at the RNRHOF induction last night, but we want to have this person inducted into the Rock N Roll hall of fame, and quickly. Ironically, we missed this live last night because we were watching a rerun of last year's "Fashion Rocks," on which the Stooges play "I Wanna Be Your Dog" -- and, later on the same show, the Gossip turn the end of their "Yr Mangled Heart" into an impromtu disco cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog." (Beth Ditto, prefacing the song: "Madonna said 'Express Yourself'; Morrissey said, 'Accept Yourself'; and RuPaul said, 'You Gotta Work.'") There's no real musical irony here at all. Madonna's original demo version of "Burning Up" made it abundantly clear, even moreso than the official version, that it was more or less a punkish new-wave tune -- which is one reason that punks can't resist covering it. (Said punks include the man playing bass in the Stooges last night -- Mr. Mike Watt, who previously covered "Burning Up," as well as "Into the Groove," with Sonic "Ciccone" Youth back in 1986. Sonic Youth, of course, were also known to cover "I Wanna Be Your Dog.") More to the point, one of the revelations of Madge's return to touring a couple years ago was that she was learning to play guitar -- or at least learning to play just enough that she could sneak into the set a version of "I Love New York" that quotes explicitly from (wait for it) "I Wanna Be Your Dog," in which song she also tended to scream, Iggy-like, things such as "Fuck off!" and "Go suck George Bush's dick!" We hope someone gets a better clip of the Stooges' Madonna set on YT quickly. And someone should get the live tracks added to iTunes or something. Kthxbai!

Stooges, "Burnin Up (Live 2008)." (With Horatio Sans on guitar? And Madonna, in the front row, suddenly realizing that this is awful close to what she's going to look like in 15 years?)

Gossip, "Yr Mangled Heart/I Wanna Be Your Dog" (Live 2007)

Madonna, "I Love New York/I Wanna Be Your Dog" (Live 2006)

3/11/2008 3:19:39 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Today, YouTube has baptized itself as Sigur Róstube: all Sigur Rós, all day. The whole darn homepage is all Sigur Rós videos. So, you can take a break from watching Cat of 1000 Faces, Chris Crocker looking more and more bonkers, and that whole viral Yes We Can thing, and get all contemplative and dramatic with everyone's favorite Icelandic band (tied with Björk/The Sugarcubes, obv), staring into space and pondering life's worth to fan-made videos for "með blóðnasir." Take that, Barack! And you thought St. Patrick's Day was the next big holiday!

As an added bonus, if you missed the December Kendall screening of Heima, which Sigur Rós describes thusly: "Filmed over two weeks during the summer of 2006 when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in Iceland. They hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational," you can catch all 97 minutes of it on YT today as well. We'll get you in the mood with a few choice Sigur Ros clips:

3/7/2008 1:25:04 PM by Caitlin | Comments [0] |  

 

Thanks to Tia, our new obsession has a name, and it is LEMUR. Now you and your DJ friends can rock the same ridonculously fantastic super-futuro interface that Daft Punk rocks up in the pyramid, and that Thom Yorke is talking about buying. List price: a mere three grand. One device -- scratch that, one enormously fucking cool device -- that'll handle "sequencers, modular synthesizers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools and light control." Thunderdudes, what's really?

SEE: The Lemur, bitches.

2/19/2008 12:27:45 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Best of Both Worlds: Behind the scenes with Miley Cyrus's musical director

We caught up with our old friend Stacy Jones (Letters to Cleo, Veruca Salt, American Hi-Fi) at the tail end of his current freelance gig, which just happens to be the biggest pop tour in the universe -- let's just say he's now the Tommy Lee of tweenpop. Click above for the video; but note that our web-size screen doesn't even begin to convey the insanity of Hannah Montana's digital-3D movie. More soon on the film, which is legitimately ridiculous. (Our favorite pop critic weighed in with a pretty great review of the tour here.) For now, maybe it's enough to say it's a new high-water mark in hyperreality, and it's even more of a mindfuck to see Stacy and Kay Hanley in larger-than-life dimension-bending action. (Note: now extended for another week!) After the jump: the full text of the interview, plus links to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus tourblogs that Kay and some of the other band members kept.

Topics covered:

• How Stacy nearly fought Billy Ray Cyrus!
• What Miley rocks when she's playing Guitar Hero!
• Which reality-show band Stacy ghost-guitared for on TRL!
• Random other shit involving the Smashing Pumpkins, AFI, Cheap Trick, the rebirth of Hi-Fi, and, if you read between the lines, the realization that the secret thematic glue between Stacy Jones and Miley Cyrus is basically the Foo Fighters!

2/9/2008 9:48:58 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

It's official: Only Living Witness will play a reunion show at the Middle East downstairs on June 14. Support bands are still being finalized. Tickets are not yet onsale, we'll update as soon as more info becomes available. For a comprehensive history of the band, read James Parker's interview with frontman Jonah Jenkins here, on the occasion of Century Media's reissues of OLW's two studio albums.

DOWNLOAD: Only Living Witness, "December" (mp3)

2/6/2008 4:56:26 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

P&N: Putting the amp back in ampersand

DOWNLOAD: Pretty and Nice, "Grab Your Nets" (mp3)

Pretty and Nice? No and no, actually -- ugly and raucous is more like it -- but they've got "Your New Favourite Band" written all over 'em. This Boston-via-Vermont foursome (or maybe threesome? MySpace is inconclusive) infuses thrill-crazed power-pop with the mad-noisy, chimp-like energy of juvie-hardened teenage degenerates. Their sound is all action -- trebly downstrokes, wobbly sci-fi synths, a clobbering rhythm section that sounds about to run off the rails but never does -- and their songs are as subtle as a felony. "Holden," the singer, sports a fake-Brit accent and frequently veers into a yawlpy falsetto which can make him seem (like that other Holden?) a Moddish cynic one second, the next a wild-eyed, basement-punk naif. If these YouTube clips are to be believed, maybe they're about to transform into a cross between Daughters and Brainiac? In any case, probably the best band in town you haven't heard of yet. Peruse the right-clickage above, then catch the band January 26 at O'Brien's.

1/24/2008 7:46:35 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

The Fed this, the Fed that. Metal Americans know the real reason the Dow Jones took a jump yesterday: it was the dude ringing the fucking bell, yo. See?

We love Dee Snider. Here he is describing his qualifications for appearing on the new CMT reality series Gone Country:

And here he is putting his money where his mouth is: hosting this ridonculous benefit down in Providence for the families affected by the Station hair-metal fire, on a once-in-a-lifetime bill featuring half of Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Twisted Sister, Stryper, Kellie Pickler, Tesla, Twisted Sister, and the dude from Stain'd. Get your tickets now.

1/23/2008 12:08:08 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

The first time you hear the OUTBURST's "New York Surprise," you'll wonder if this is it, the one: the absolute worst song you've ever heard. By the 20th time, you'll be singing the out-of-tune chorus -- "You fucking did it/I know you did it!" -- to everyone you meet. In just over a month, the Outburst, a trio of teenage Dropkick Murphys fans from Quincy, have gone from anonymous MySpace geeks to 2008's first big worldwide web meme. Someone posted "New York Surprise" on the Tony and Pals forum; a week and several message board threads later, the song was getting a thousand plays per day on MySpace, had been covered a dozen times (in styles ranging from polished pop-punk to screaming noise, trip-hop to hip-hop, blues to folk), and inspired its own fan-made YouTube video (see above). Is it Boston's answer to "Chocolate Rain"? Maybe, but it's also a 21st-century heir to the ourve of the Germs, the Shaggs, and Crypt Records obscurities the Rats: these kids can't play to save their lives, but their sloppy, vindictive, unvarnished abandon is one of the most unbelivable music for your ears beautiful noises you'll hear all year.  

LISTEN: The Outburst, "New York Surprise" (MySpace)

DOWNLOAD: Ryan McGinty "New York Surprise" (mp3) [Pop-punk]
DOWNLOAD: Countess of Persia, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [Nick Drake-y folk]
DOWNLOAD: Dropkick Skully Rich, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [Oi!]
DOWNLOAD: Unfuckwithable, "New York Surprise (80s Rap Version)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Lusty Ghost, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [talkboxy videogame dub]
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Wholey, "New York Surprise (Downtempo Disco Dub)" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Evan Parker & the Sex Hallways, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [Indie-folk]
DOWNLOAD: Lucas Lewis, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [trip-hop]
DOWNLOAD: Jon Howard, "New York Surprise" (mp3) [screamo]
DOWNLOAD: The Rog, "New York Surprise (Acoustic)" (mp3) [Folk]
DOWNLOAD: N.U.N.N., "New York Surprise" (mp3) [Piano glee-clubbery]

If you know a better one, plz post in comments. Also: Someone plz make a better t-shirt than this one.

UPDATE: In the Bridge9 board thread devoted to "New York Surprise," it appears someone has finally solved the "sex hallway"/"six hallway" riddle. A member of the Outburst is quoted thusly: "Sixth hallway. its a hallway at north quincy high school that was closed off because there was no real need for it but kids go down it and smoke and have sex and shit during school."  

1/17/2008 2:05:21 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Kid Sister, "Pro Nails (Live in Boston, 12/20/07)

Belated big-ups to the Karmaloop dudes for doing a holiday party the way holiday parties need to get done: grab the biggest club-rap phenomenon of the year, bring her to town for her Boston debut, and allow her to play her Kanyeezy-approved underground hit not once but twice. (Well, more like once and a half, but you get the picture.) From the balcony, in sub-YouTube quality, here's KID SISTER performing her Fools' Gold smash "Pro Nails" at the Estate. We saw Karmaloop's cams there, so we expect there'll be some better documentation of this on their site soon. In the meantime, we recommend their man-on-the-street interviews about how dope The Wire is. Almost as good as the show itself.

CONSUME: Kid Sister remix single on iTunes. (Bag Raiders remix = essential)

1/7/2008 6:19:51 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Reeeeee-wind: this is where we scour our back catalogue and rate our favorite-of-favorites from the tracks we debuted this year. We've mixed in mp3-of-the-weeks with a bunch of the live sessions we recorded, and thrown a few videos into the mix . . . including at least a few that we forgot to mention. (Also check out the best of thephoenix.tv over at the Phlog.)

1. Drug Rug, "Tiny People" (mp3). In our neck of the office, these guys were the breakout Boston band of the year. Our new year's resolution is to get their unbelievable live show on tape before March.

2. Queens of the Stone Age, "In the Fade (Live)" (mp3 and video). Josh Homme, unplugged? You've got to see it to believe it.

3. Medicated Kisses, "Wolf Among Lilacs" (mp3). Our pick for the breakout Boston band of 2008: imagine Beth Ditto belting Paramore-sized emo-pop hooks and you've got an idea of what this grrrl-fronted R&B/punk group is capable of. 

4. Tegan and Sara, "Back in Your Head (Live)" (mp3 and video). The sisters' acoustic session at First Act ruined The Con for us, since now we can't help but thinking of these arrangements as the "real" versions of the songs. Way better than the new-wave studio versions.

5. Peter Bjorn and John, "Young Folks (Live)" (mp3). Exclusive unplugged edition: awesome, but they need to get that whistle part on DAT or something.

6. Brand New, "Oh Comely (Live, Neutral Milk Hotel Cover)" (mp3). Definitely one of the highlights of the First Act sessions this year: Jesse Lacey stopped by and played for about 45 minutes, whipping out old shit, new shit, long stories, an Iron and Wine cover, and then this: a spot-on, note-for-note version of our all-time-favorite NMH song.

7. My Brightest Diamond, "It's Over (Roy Orbison Cover, Live at the Museum of Fine Arts)" (video). We just dragged this out of the vaults last week: from November, MBD's stunning MFA show. The power-trio format felt like early-80s post-punk -- jagged, scraping guitars; sick drummer; dub bassist. Way louder, and far more visceral, than you'd expect from her records -- and yes, she's still singing like some Martian opera queen.

8. Sprained Ankles, "Randy the Rock and Roll Pizza Wolf" (mp3). Fast food, B-movie monsters, and rock and roll: It's been too long since we had a band like this in town. All hail junk-food garage punk.

9. Rilo Kiley, "Close Call (Live)" (video). See Tegan & Sara: another case where the stripped-down versions came off way prettier than the studio recordings. We recorded these versions live at First Act on Boylston Street back in September.

10. Organ Beats, "Dan Gilbert" (mp3). Damone's Noelle LeBlanc finally got around to putting out her solo album -- and, not surprising to anyone who knows her but perhaps a bit of a shock to Damone fans, it's low-fi, psych-folkish, experimental, and morbidly beautiful in places. This was merely our favorite melody, but if you can dig up the CD-R, there's a lot more to it than pretty songs.

11. Spoon, "Black Like Me (Live)" (video). Britt and his dudes played a short, sweet three-song set for us live at First Act -- unplugged, but only barely.

12. Say Anything, "People Like You Are the Reason People Like Me Exist (Live)" (video). From last summer's Best Music Poll concert, when Mr. Bemis and co were already previewing tunes from their double-disc opus. Bonus track: from earlier this year, "Alive With the Glory Of Love (Unplugged at First Act)" (mp3)

13. Shepherdess, "Not Gonna Be There Now" (mp3). Former Fuzzy/Count Me Outs singer/guitarist Hilken Mancini stepping out as frontwoman: about time.

14. Come, "Hurricane (Live at the Middle East)" (video). Reunion of the year? We love Dinosaur, Sebadoh, Burma, and the Lemonheads as much as the next dude who graduated from college in the '90s, but this one-night-only surprise was kick-in-the-balls nasty. The pre-eminent shoulda-been-huge end-of-the-century indie-rock band, right here: if they'd re-released this song in 2007, Brokaw and Zedek would be king and queen of the Bitchfork prom.  

15. Arctic Monkeys, "Bakery" (mp3). When the Monkeys stopped by Cambridge's New Alliance studios to play this exclusive acoustic set for us, this track hadn't even come out as a b-side yet. Before you consign them to the dustbin-of-NME-hype, check out what they sound like when they're not trying to out-clever themselves.

16. Tulsa, "Fill Her In" (mp3). Carter Tanton's ever-morphing solo project keeps transmogrifying into better and better incarnations, picking up blazing national acclaim with each iteration.

17. Deadly Sins, "Unpaid Bills" (mp3). Dropkick Murphys lass meets Black Flag-loving gutterpunx; candy-cane-sweet pop punk (in the manner of Crimpshrine and early Jawbreaker) ensues.

18. Noel Heroux, "I Don't Want To Get Over You (Magnetic Fields cover)" (mp3). By now you're surely on your eleventh or so listen to Mag Fields' leaked Distortion and fingering your tix to their Valentine's Day show at the Somerville Theater. Here, Hooray for Earth's frontman angled for pole position on the opening slot with a maximum-distortion run-through of one of our favorite Merritt classics.

19. Dead Trees, "Shelter" (mp3). That'd be shelter of the "gimme" variety, as former Pavement-worshipping Cape kids transmogrified into shambolic, Stones-signifying rockists . . . who then left town at the peak of their prowess. Damn, dudes.  

20. Clouds, "New Amnesia" (mp3). The last time we saw these guys, they got so worked up that one of 'em puked onstage. We always had Adam McGrath pegged as the quiet one in Cave-In -- a position for which he had stiff competition -- but that got throroughly blown out the door when he came blitzkrieging out of the stocks with the balls-deepest, boogie-metalest album of any Cave In alumnus. Rock and roll, no control.

21. Matters & Dunaway, "Control the Night" (mp3). Micro-techno goes macro, and the drum machines take back seats to human rhythm sections -- the last people on earth we expected to join the stories ranks of Boston space-rockers would've been this niche-market duo, who were far better known in, say, Belgium than they were in the Back Bay. But this track had us reaching back for our old Lockgroove tapes in a search for the last time local dudes got this far gone.

22. Wheat, "Move=Move" (mp3). Severely slept on since they've gone innocuous, but we predict that eventually they'll have cult followings and message-board threads as long as Squeeze's. The only question is whether that'll be 20 years from now or in time for their next album.

23. Magic People, "Laundry Night" (mp3). That girl: the one in the basement you run into every week when you're Cloroxing the skid marks out of your boyshorts. She's almost as big a headcase as you, Magic Person.

24. UV Protection, "Space Elevator" (mp3). We were pretty sure that UV Pro couldn't get any more perfect than their last album, until we saw Karen getting apeshit at the DJ Assault show. C440r dudes: UV Pro Ghettotech remix, soon, plz. Thx. Until then: this.

25. Pet Genius, "Mother Fucker" (mp3). Steve Brodsky in grunge-outlaw mode, making some of his most weirdly accessible music since Cave In.

26. Brain Failure & Dicky Barrett, Coming Down To Beijing" (mp3). Answer song to Dropkick Murphys' "Coming Down To Boston" gets outsourced to mainland China, with once-and-future Bosstone playing figurative second fiddle.

27. Bloc Party, "I Still Remember (Live)" (mp3). The intimate-club version, as Mr. Collipark would call it.

28. Silversun Pickups, "Lazy Eye (Live)" (mp3). Similarity #1,094,236 between Silversun Pickups and Smashing Pumpkins: the acoustic versions are as good as the electric versions. And in this case, closer to the original version, since their hit started out as a much slower, longer affair.

29. Oxbow, "Down a Stair, Backward" (mp3). We just saw that Eugene is coming back to town to read from his fantastic Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked For Asking. In case you didn't read it, James Parker elaborated on Eug (the Norman Mailer of Bouncer Lit) here.

30. Plain White T's, "Hey There Delilah" (mp3). Actually, we were sick of this song before we even heard it. But there are 13 year olds who need this in their life. So here it is, quiet-like, from the exclusive live session they did for us at First Act.

31. Tanya Donnelly & Girl Authority, "This is My Day" (mp3). Also for the kids: Belly/Throwing Muses mama Tanya hooks up with Rounder's answer to Kidz Bop for grrrl-powered tweenpop goodness.

32. Hats and Glasses, "Andrew" (mp3). Oddly catchy, genre-agnostic rock song matches all the requisite indie talking points. Deadpan Lou Reed-ish singer? Check. Obliquely personal lyrics? Check. Ambitiously evasive hit-and-run backing band? Yezzir. All of the preceding signifying that we know next to nothing about them but wouldn't be surprised if they showed up opening for an Arcade Fire tour or something.

33. Cold War Kids, "Hospital Beds (Live)" (mp3). The hit, as it were, from the set they played for us at First Act.

33 1/3: Aberdeen City, "Moving In Stereo (Cars Cover)" (mp3). From a charity CD, a rare stream-only treat that we never got around to posting as a download.

12/25/2007 1:02:31 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Yes, boys and girls, it’s time once again for Santastic!, the third-annual installment of holiday mix-and-mash-ups performed and compiled by the redoubtable djBC. (Fresh from snagging the BMA for “Outstanding DJ.”)

As always, this year’s edition is a corker. For kids who’ve been waiting for the red-suited man all December, Divide and Kreate’s “Velvet Santa” sets up a rendezvous between a pre-creepy Michael Jackson and a very naughty Lou Reed on some dingy New York City street. BC’s own “You Shook Me All Noel” has the Peanuts kids philosophizing over devilish Angus Young riffs, and his “A Wicked Hardcore Christmas” finds ska/punk dudes Big D and the Kids Table doing Jaeger bombs in Allston to jingle bells and swooning strings. King Of Pants “Alala Falala Hasselhoff” gets festive with the ladies from CSS and The Hoff himself. Meanwhile, DJ Flack’s “Hanukkah In Dub,” Voicedude’s “Dreidel All The Way” remind us that the holiday season is not just for the goyim.

But our pick for mash-up of the season — splendidly timed for the recent (and future?) Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham, Jr. reunion — is mojochronic’s “Yuletide Zeppelin” which seamlessly grafts all your timeless holiday favorites to Zep Set staples like “Kashmir,” “Stairway,” and “Dazed and Confused.”

It just makes too much sense: Didn’t we read in Hammer of the Gods that the band sold their souls to Santa?

 

On semi-related note: don’t forget that the New Year’s Day deadline is looming for the dj BC/Big D and the Kids Table collabo Strictly Mixed and Mashed remix contest — in which amateur bastard-pop auteurs are invited to download Big D masters and create their own chopped/screwed remixes.

More Santastic...

LISTEN: “Safety Bells “ - DJ Earlybird (MP3)
LISTEN: “Elvis Christmas Turkey“ - Go Home Productions  (MP3)
LISTEN: “Yuletide Zeppelin II “ - mojochronic (MP3)

12/21/2007 4:20:14 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

VIDEO: Christopher Guest and a bunch of bassists, "Big Bottom"

As you may have heard, Christopher Guest received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee last Friday. The musical event that followed the ceremony was, like everything we've been to at Berklee, professional and entertaining, with Guest performing songs from This Is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting for Guffman alongside Berklee faculty and students. On "Big Bottom" (above) he was joined by 50 bassists as well - someone (we don't remember who, sorry!) said it was every Berklee student who considered the bass as their primary instrument. There were no appearances by any of Guest's collaborators, like Tap-mates Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, but no problem: Jon Aldrich and Ken Zembello did an outstanding job as the other two Folksmen. You can see their version of the Folksmen's "Start Me Up" cover below, along with "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight." Also, as an extra-special bonus, Elvis Costello's pre-taped tribute to Guest featured a cover of "Penny for Your Thoughts" from Waiting for Guffman. We've got the mp3.

- Ryan Stewart

VIDEO: Christopher Guest, Jon Aldrich, and Ken Zembello, "Start Me Up"


VIDEO: Christopher Guest & Co., "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"

LISTEN: Elvis Costello, "PennyForYourThoughts" (mp3)

LISTEN: Christopher Guest's speech at Berklee (mp3)

12/7/2007 1:44:27 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

Eli Reed: Soul Brother Number One

DOWNLOAD: Eli "Paperboy" Reed, "The Satisfier" [mp3]

Even after tough woodshedding at Delta Blues Ground Zero -- Clarksdale, Mississippi, playing juke joints and the like -- and then further work in Chicago, running a weekly radio show and playing in a Southside holiness church, Eli "Paperboy" Reed suffered his detractors (including some at this very newspaper). But the truth is in the grooves. The kid from Brookline, now 24, is getting ready to release his second album, Roll with You, due March 8 from Q Division. On "The Satisfier," you can hear the sound that's bulldozed skeptics: the grit-and-groove from Eli's backing band the True Loves — dirty guitar, in-the-pocket rhythm section, goosy organ, rocking call-and-response horns, and female backing vocals that out-Ronson Mark Ronson — plus Eli's own testifying vocals, which smash-and-grab some of the hallmarks of house-wrecking '50s soul, including James Brown's almighty, mic-destorying "Please Please Please" scream. If half the insane rumors we hear about Eli's music future are true, then we think we know who the next Amy Winehouse is gonna be. Download the mp3, then catch the band along with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals tonight (Thursday the 6th) at the Paradise.

12/6/2007 1:23:39 AM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

From a recent, daringly honest (in an intriguingly refreshing way) interview with Antiquiet, here are three reasons why we love Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme - AKA the quotes don't lie!

Reason #1: Unabashed major label hate.

"Fuck the labels man, they suck. The last thing they’re stripping down is their own expense accounts and shit. I mean, Jimmy Iovine of Interscope records takes a private jet or rides first class to tell a band they don’t get tour support. You know what I mean? Fuck that shit, I’m tired of it. And I’m not gonna be quiet because the American label, not Canada, not Europe, but our American label’s fucking us like crazy, so fuck them. Why should I not say anything, what am I afraid of? I’m not afraid of them."

Reason #2: Total opposite of PR speak about Interscope.

"I THINK OF INTERSCOPE AND ALL THESE LABELS AS THE BIGGEST FUCKING IDIOTS ON THE PLANET. And print that in capitals, because they can’t do anything to me. That’s the difference. The reason is because finally, for once, the fact that this is just their job and this is my life does a flip flop on them because they can’t stop me from being me and from playing, but they can lose their jobs and have to fucking work at Shakey’s pizza like they should’ve all along."

Reason #3: Respect for the little people.

"All the kids, like the girl that hooked us up with this interview probably does more work than Jimmy Iovine because she’s in the nuts and bolts of what goes on in Interscope. The underpaid, overworked section of Interscope. The interns and assistants and people that are starting out."

Read Antiquiet's full interview, in all its awesomeness, here.

12/5/2007 12:05:18 PM by Caitlin | Comments [0] |  

If you're headed to M.I.A. at the Palladium tonight, get there early: Cool Kids have cancelled, but we're dying to see what C440R's monster party-rap duo have in store when they step in tonight as a last-minute opening act. Big Digits at the Palladium: who'da thunk it? For an idea of how much awesomeness is in store, check the video above to see what happened the last time someone offered TD and Mac Swell a nice big stage.

11/28/2007 12:06:17 PM by On the Download | Comments [0] |  

 
Come, "Hurricane" (Live at the Middle East, 11/10/2007)

Sure, it was only two songs. (Turns out they had a third ready to go, but decided against it. What, the applause wasn't loud enough? "Exactly," said Chris Brokaw.) But since this was the first time Come have performed since their 2 1/2-hour farewell gig at the MidEast's downstairs room back in -- what, 1998? -- well, this was pretty fucking rad. Brokaw, on loan from Thurston Moore's band and a zillion other projects, hopped up after Thalia Zedek's band played a more-blistering-than-usual set, providing the pentultimate thrill on the occasion of the Middle East's 20th anniversary as a rock club, which is not coincidentally Billy Ruane's birthday, and is also coincidentally ME booker Kevin Hoskins's B-day. Whew. Yes, Hallelujah the Hills and Helms and IV Diffusion and Drug Rug were great, but dude: Come played a fucking reunion show. And since you weren't there, we brought back this clip. We've got the other song in a holding cell, waiting for an encore, along with some awesome footage of Hallelujah the Hills covering the Beatles, which we haven't asked them for permission to post yet. More anon, then. Many thanks to Leslie McCleave for additional footage.

11/25/2007 4:41:31 PM by On the Download | Comments [1] |  

Dead Trees, "I Have I Want" (Live at Middlesex Lounge, 11/12/2007)


Viva Viva, "Heartbreak Sweepstakes" (Live at Middlesex Lounge, 11/12/2007)


Age Rings, "NYC" (Live at Middlesex Lounge, 11/12/2007)

We've watched those Dead Trees kids since they were but little pups playing far better Pavement knbockoffs than a bunch of 16-year-olds had any right to. So when we heard they were moving to Oregon, and throwing one last farewell bash with the best bands in town, we grabbed a couple of cameras and headed over to the Middlesex Lounge (a place where we haven't seen a live band since the Lot Six played the club's opening night . . . on a double bill with Hollertronix).

Show: pure awesomeness, with great sets from Viva Viva, Mittens, Age Rings, Tulsa, and a singer-songwriterly gal whose name we didn't catch. (Drug Rug were a late scratch.)Our video, however, suffers from a lack of candlelight. Darkness shrouds the documentation, yo. It really was that dark, which isn't a problem in the real world, but our cameras huffed and puffed to pick up shadows. We also had our audio recorder set on "Guitar Wolf," so everyone sounds more garage-punk than they perhaps are -- except for Viva Viva, who really are exactly that fucking raw. The Age Rings tune above (full disclosure: that's the Phoenix's Will Spitz on guitar) is a new one, from what they're hoping will be a full-blown double-LP.

Dead Trees played a relatively short set for a band that was about to skip town, opting to leave everyone wanting more -- the song streaming above is a new one that certainly leaves us anticipating the next record. Also, as they admitted, they were really drunk by the end of the night. Apologies in advance for the shadowy-land-of-shadows cinematography; we're already lobbying for a do-over next time the Trees come through on tour, which -- if bands like Frank Smith are any indication -- won't be too long from now.