How Do You Think It Feels? And When Do You Think It Stops?

By Nicole on November 9, 2008 in mp3blog

In the variegated world of Lou Reed solo albums there are universally touted gems like "Transformer," and absolute duds like "Metal Machine Music." "Berlin," the 1973 follow-up to this aforesaid gem, has always been something of an enigma. The album is incredibly complex and firmly rooted in its time period. It tells the story of two drug-addled lovers set against the backdrop of an oppressive communist Berlin. Reed supposedly sought to make "the saddest album ever," and does so with the help of an expansive, histrionic backing band. "Berlin" lacks any real single and has ultimately been overshadowed by more accessible Lou Reed solo material.

Nonetheless, Reed has always carried a torch for this challenging work and in 2006 he embarked on a tour with an impressive group of friends in which they performed the "Berlin" album in its entirety. The tour also featured vocal assistance from the immensely talented Sharon Jones and Antony. Acclaimed art house director, Julian Schnabel
( Basquiat, Before Night Falls ) filmed two of these concerts and released a documentary on the subject last year. "Berlin: Live at St Ann's Warehouse" is the soundtrack for this film.

So how does the Matador release enhance or diminish the original album? For one, Reed plays electric guitar on this incarnation, which he did not do on the '73 release, and his talents and raw musicianship are nicely showcased. There seems to be a trend recently in live music of well-respected artists performing full-length renditions of their most "classic" albums. (See: the Don't Look Back dimension of Pitchfork Music Festival). I feel that Lou Reed has gained enough perspective and healthy world-weariness to add nuance to something that could easily feel old-hat. Even the zillionith version of "Sweet Jane" that closes the album feels exciting, and affecting.

Lady Day

How Do You Think It Feels

Sweet Jane

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Heaven Is a Place Called School of Seven Bells

By Nicole on November 2, 2008 in mp3blog

School of Seven Bells is a new group formed by ex-members of two well-regarded indie rock bands; Ben Curtis was the creative mind behind Secret Machines, and Alejandra and Claudia Deheza are the twins that anchored the now-defunct, On! Air! Library!. School of Seven Bells provides the best of these engaging sounds on their debut album, "Alpinisms."

Curtis's primarily role in Secret Machines was guitarist, and he brings his adept pedal-laden, neo-psychedelic style to this new group. Songs like "Half Asleep" glisten in lush reverb, and shoegazey cascading walls of sound. The Deheza twins bring an ethereal dimension to the group with their gorgeous, streamlined vocals and zeal for electronica-twinged keyboards. "Alpinisms" sounds most like the latest M83 release, and their musical heritage can be linked to the timeless recordings of Felt, Cocteau Twins, and even earlier My Bloody Valentine recordings. The entrancing power of School of Seven Bells certainly qualifies them as one of the best new groups of 2008.

Iamundernodisguise

Half Asleep

Chain

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LOCAL FEST IS TONIGHT

By Michael on November 1, 2008 in mp3blog

Local Fest is tonight! Come to the Cave (in the basement of Evans Hall) at 8pm for a night of local music!

The set times:

The Vignettes 8:00-8:30
Kitten Forever 8:45-9:15
Mc/Vl 9:30-10:00
Unicorn Basement 10:15-11:00
Baby Guts 11:15-12:00

Don't miss a single band!

Here are some final sample mp3s (and cool band photos):




Baby Guts - Tiny Cuts

Baby Guts - Dispelled



Unicorn Basement - Psionic Airwaves

Unicorn Basement - Operator

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Local Fest Preview: Mc/Vl

By Michael on October 31, 2008 in mp3blog

Mc/Vl is here to remind us that Local Fest is primarily a party. Mc/Vl is named after members Mighty Clyde and Vicious Lee. They are no strangers to the cave or KRLX, having played KRLX's winter rock last year. Mc/Vl model their sound after classic 80s hip-hop and pepper their rhymes with clever pop culture references. One only has to look at their song titles, "Moby Dick" "Ulysses" to understand that they a different kind of hip-hop with samples ranging from rare jazz to AC/DC. They are performing at 9:30.

I might have to borrow one of their lines for next years local fest slogan
Local Fest: "Minnesota, land of the breaks"

Check Them Out:

Land Of The Breaks

Moby Dick

Rock the Party Right

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Local Fest Preview: Kitten Forever

By Michael on October 30, 2008 in mp3blog

Local Fest, Local Fest; Perhaps you've seen the posters, heard me rave about it, listened to the promo, but in case your still wondering "what exactly is it?" I've provided an easy-to-read paragraph to lead you in the right direction:

Think of Local Fest as a cave show 2.0, the VH1-pop-up-video version of a concert. 5 of the best bands from the cities will play at the cave and the entire show will be broadcasted on KRLX -- meaning "local" fest can be heard anywhere in the world (provided you are within range of our 100watt tower or have internet access). Besides the fabulous live music from these great bands KRLX listeners get to hear interviews with the performing bands. In the 15 minutes between sets, bands will chat with KRLX live on air. Cave fans will also get a chance to share reactions to the show on air. Local Fest takes a Cave show to a new dimension. COME TO THE CAVE or turn your radio to 88.1fm this Saturday 8pm to 12pm. Music will start promptly at 8pm. These bands will rock the airwaves this Saturday; The Vignettes, Kitten Forever, Mc/Vl, Unicorn Basement, Baby Guts.

Now, onto today's featured band: Kitten Forever

Kitten Forever are 3 sassy girls. Consisting of just vocals, bass,and drums, they yell, pluck, and beat their hearts out to fast, minimal tunes that are part-riot-grrl part the gossip part punk. According to last.fm they are influenced by "feminism, baby animals, gut-wrenching depression, dark bedrooms, porches in winter, and cuddling." And we have all of those things at Carleton. Yet don't be fooled by the cuddliness of the above description, this isn't a cute, sugary band. There're loud and real; as if a K-Recs cassette showed up in Minneapolis; lo-fi, smart, funny about serious things, serious about funny things, dramatic, and filled with character and attitude. Don't come late and miss them. Their new album Born Ready gets 5 FUCKING STARS from me.


Third Degree

Fat Crush

Baby Teeth

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Motion to Listen to Brightblack Morning Light

By Nicole on October 26, 2008 in mp3blog

Last week I wrote of the Vivian Girls, who employ a simple formula to craft a timeless musical sound. Brightblack Morning Light, however; create music which is uniquely their own, that culls from dub, soul, neo-psychedelic, and folk traditions. The co-ed duo is based out of New Mexico, and the neatest categorization I can think of for their music is a southern-fried Spiritualized.

For me, the thing that is most appealing about the group is that they are impossible to classify. Their 70+ minute record, "Motion to Rejoin," is simultaneously understated and expansive, druggy and innocent, haunting, yet beautiful. The record sounds best when listened to on headphones in a quiet location. Tracks like "Hologram Buffalo," and "Oppressions Each," encircle you as they continually build up and fall back down. The album certainly leaves you wanting more, but the band is now signed to Indie powerhouse Matador Records, and I look forward to tracking the band's progression. Though, I wonder if the band can evolve any further - and I think it may even do them better to narrow the scope of their music.

Hologram Buffalo

Oppressions Each

Summer Hoof

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In Which Shitgaze Is Panned as a Name But Musically Praised

By Dan on October 20, 2008 in mp3blog

The biggest musical story of 2008 for me has been the raised profile of lo-fi garage rock. Today's hype cycle encourages a name for every nascent trend, and with the inexplicable "shitgaze" moniker, this one is no exception. My problem with "shitgaze": Besides the fact that it just sounds dumb, the word shitgaze makes it sound like these acts are simply ripping shoegaze acts and putting a lo-fi veneer on it, which is really not the case. In my mind, shitgaze evokes acts like Grouper, who has a kind of downsized Cocteau Twins thing going for her, before it does, say, the Hospitals, whose recent sound is as thick as shoegaze, for sure, but is also more way more art-damaged punk than it is blissful swirly pop. And plenty of these bands have shitty-sounding songs, but the "gaze" is lacking. But "shitgaze" bullshit aside, with the attention the sound garnering on blogs, message boards and in reviews, I think I'm not the only one to come across many great new lo-fi garage and punk bands this year.

Grouper - Opened Space

As David Berman pointed out in a recent interview with a friend of mine who has frequently blogged here, in the year 2008 making a lo-fi record is much more of an aesthetic choice an economic one. Professional sounding records can be made with pirated recording equipment and a half-decent microphone. Some critics have said that the lo-fi revival is a cop-out for shitty bands trying to hide the fact that they suck with their terrible-but-"authentic" recordings. I'm on the other side of the spectrum; I'm a total sucker for it. There's something about the lo-fi sound, in which the drums are way too loud, the guitars are screeching madly and the vocals are buried beneath stupid amounts of reverb, that can potentially make any brash three-chord act, hooks or no hooks, sound like something special

Bands like the Coachwhips, King Khan and the Hunches and other have been keeping the garage rock flame alive for years before it became cool again. But it seems that in 2007 and 2008, acts like these have reached a noticeable level of popularity among the general music loving population. Even if you haven't been feverishly scouring the punk underground for good stuff, the recent critical success of acts like Times New Viking, the Vivian Girls and Jay Reatard shows that this stuff has reached a level of crossover popularity.

Yesterday Nicole made mention of In the Red Records, which along with Goner Records has been the label home for this sound so far this decade. A glance at the In the Red discography includes releases by classic acts like the Country Teasers, Pussy Galore and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, along with more recent favorites like Human Eye and the Intelligence. In addition to re-releasing the mega-hyped Vivian Girls record, this year In the Red has released the Cheap Time's awesome self-titled debut, the much-anticipated Jay Reatard single compilation and a new album by old favorites the Dirtbombs, called We Have You Surrounded.

Here are some of my favorite In the Red-related tracks from the past few years. I say related because some of these (the Human Eye) are from bands that have released stuff on In the Red but come from albums that were not.

Cheap Time - People Talk
Cheap Time - Glitter & Gold
Cheap Time - Permanent Damage

The Hunches - Murdering Train Track Blues
The Hunches - Let Me Be
The Hunches - Peeping Tom Crawl

Human Eye - Car Was Alive
Human Eye - First Taste of Crime
Human Eye - Sly Glass Foam

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'Tell the World' about Vivian Girls

By Nicole on October 19, 2008 in mp3blog

The Vivian Girls unassuming eponymous debut album on the tiny Los Angeles record label, In the Red, has garnered some of the most critical attention of the year.

Should you believe the hype?

The Vivian Girls certainly don't break any kind of creative ground in their music - and albums you repeatedly want to listen to, rarely do. The group's sound is a highly enjoyable permutation of the guitar/bass/drum setup, with charmingly fuzzy, and always endearing low-fi production elements, and adorable, dulcet three-part vocal harmonies. This is a formula that has worked extremely well for decades, and the Vivian Girls prove that you don't need to tinker with an effective methodology to create a beautiful, timeless sound. Besides, in our "post-post-modern" society, isn't recycling and appropriating the most proven musical trends,the most evolved form of creativity?

The band is an ideal combination of the sweetness of sixties girl groups/ novelty acts like the Shaggs,the edgier, somewhat abrasive, occasionally atonal noise pop of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Beat Happening, and the Vaselines, and the no-frills femininity of nineties riot grrrl outfits like Sleater-Kinney, and the Breeders.

The Vivian Girls are no musical saviors, but I like their record a whole lot and I look forward to hearing any material they release in the future.


Wild Eyes


Tell the World


Where Do You Run To

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GROW, GROWING, GROW

By Michael M. on October 15, 2008 in mp3blog

Growing is a guitar-Duo from Brooklyn, NY. Although, unless you are extremely familiar with effects-processing, you'd never know it was two guitars. Growing is in the same school of noise as Fuck Buttons - tinkering between the edge of indie-mainstream and the black-hole that is the noise-rock scene.

Much of their album is ambient drones pierced by lazer-beam like modulation. Songs, such as "Innit," contain an ever so slight touch of a beat and melody that it almost delves into a dance song. Almost. And where Fuck Buttons might layer fuzz and feedback, the guys of growing favor a gentler drone that reverts back to the song's hazy start.

It's a captivating album that's a lot more expressive than one might expect from a pedal-based guitar band. For fans of Deerhunter, Brian Eno, Fuck Buttons, Spacemen 3, even Sigur Ros.

Their album is titled "ALL THE WAY" out on the Social Registry.

Growing - Wrong Ride

Growing - Rave Pie Only

Growing - Innit

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On a Trip to Venus, Mars, Pluto

By Dan on October 13, 2008 in mp3blog

I have John Olmsted, our former Record Library Manager, to thank for turning me on to electro. If you search through the archives of this blog, one of the earliest posts is a few electro-rap tracks from John's superb collection. Since then, I've always been stoked to come across class electro tracks, usually by hitting up the blogs or by checking out podcasts from Tim Sweeney's (of DFA fame) always enlightening Beats in Space program on WNYU.

The best slab of party electro to hit me in a long time is Captain Rock's "Cosmic Blast," which judging by the prices it fetches on eBay looks like an obscure gem. The song gains its cosmic gravitas from the spacy electro synths that are back in vogue today, but the backbone of the track is a hard-hitting snare that sounds incredible on speakers and headphones alike. The hook on this track kills it. Thanks to the aweomse dance blog I Spy Diamonds for the tip.

Captain Rock - "Cosmic Blast"

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