The Tape

We try to keep you guys informed on the current state of music. But mostly we want to keep you informed about good music. It is with this in mind that we backtrack to 2004. A man named Michael Milosh puts out an album on Plug Research. The result is a beautiful symposium of found sounds, warm feelings, cold beats, off balance and soulful lyrics, and melancholy music. A melding of Dntel and Radiohead that works so well. And you just have to feel moved or at least intrigued when Michael’s opening track has happy and uplifting lyrics. You’ll understand why that’s something of intrigue when you hear it. I recommend hearing the whole album, because it has the power to captivate and guide your ears into the world of Michael Milosh. And it sounds really good.

Milosh - Your Taste

Milosh - You Make Me Feel

Mashups are dead. Mashups are back. Mashups are dead. Blah blah blah. Look I know everyones saying mashups are dead but damnit I still have respect for a good mix of music. Phoenix Jukebox is doing exactly that. He’s got an album/ep out and I’m not going to tell people what to think here but We Goin’ Down is great. Anyone sampling Digitalism, Chromeo, and Whitney Houston in the same song deserves props. Especially because it works.

Phoenix Jukebox - We Goin’ Down

I’ve been a fan of Ra Ra Riot since their EP’s debut last year. Something about the strings, the mood, and the subtle infectiousness of their songs got to me. The Rhumb Line marks Ra Ra Riot’s first full length and I’m doing the duty as a fan of reviewing it.

The album opens with a sense of urgency, “Ghost Under Rocks” a favorite from the EP sounds more menacing and pained. The strings almost seem devilish, lulling you in before they strike and stab you in the face with their spiked bows of animosity. The whole song carries a very haunting atmosphere which seems distilled from its first incarnation on the EP.

After the powerful opener Ra Ra Riot lays back and delivers another favorite in the shape of “Each Year”. I have to say I’m partial to the RAC remix of the tune but the original is splendid none the less.

The album moves on into St. Peter’s Day Festival, a song I had only heard in their live WOXY sessions. The song feels a bit off balance appearing so soon after two numbers so close to hearts by now. The song tries to endear itself by giving all of the Ra Ra Rioty goodness that Ra Ra Riot can. Lyrics like “C’mon c’mon let us in” pave the way for acceptance and by the end of the 3:36 duration St. Peter’s Day Festival has won me over.

“Winter ‘05″ begins with a very somber string section like the beginning of a shadowed symphony. The hihats begin to carry the song as the lyrics carry an aloof sense of sorrow. The song never dares to rise up, almost defeated, and then ends.

Suddenly “Dying Is Fine” breaks its way in. Another favorite from the EP which I expected to carry a more morbid tone since the seriously tragic death of Ra Ra Riot’s former drummer John Pike. I was wrong. The song is one of the most foot tapping, head bobbing ditties out of the pack. Still, I can’t help but feel a post mortem message and a little remorse in the lyrics “Death oh baby/You know that dying is fine but maybe/I wouldn’t like death if death were good”.

Another new song “Can You Tell” sounds familiar and even more at home once the drums and strings come in. This one is the most blatantly a love song for better or worse, and though it sounds like Ra Ra Riot it doesn’t strike home for me.

“Too Too Fast”, another new song, opens in the most unusual way so far with loud drums and a synth. Sounding more like their contemporaries (they did tour with Tokyo Police Club) the backing vocals of Too Too Too Fast and the upbeat chorus are sure to make this one a new favorite. It’s damn fun to hear strings so welcome in the upbeat bass+drums+guitar+synth combo. It’s damn fun.

“Oh, La” brings back Ra Ra Riot’s most folky sounds as if to reassure us that they still sound like themselves. The song is good but not them at their best, which is a bit sad since the chorus is pretty catchy. Alas.

“Suspended In Gaffa” brings a very circus like feel with the up and down nature of the song. Once again Ra Ra Riot succeeds at venturing a little bit out of bounds. The song, like the title, has a very suspended quality, almost acrobatic in its melody.

The final song in the 10 track album is “Run My Mouth” with a subject matter about “days ending too slow” and “where to go from here” the song reads like a meditation on the whole album and the future of Ra Ra Riot. As the song climaxes “when the only thing left to do is run my mouth” it lends a sober insight on the entire act of creativity. When there’s nothing left to do I guess the answer is to make a damn good album. RIP John Pike.

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks (mediafire)

Ra Ra Riot - Winter ‘05 (mediafire)

Ra Ra Riot - Too Too Too Fast (mediafire)

CHEW LiPS is a band of only 6 gigs old. They have 3 members named Tigs, Will and James. They’re playing soon in London and Paris. They sound pretty sweet. Their song Solo starts out with a favorite thing of mine, some 8 bit sounds! Tigs starts to sing over the chiptune beat, chanelling Karen O and her contemporaries. The song starts to pick up as the bass gives definition. The lyric “We don’t wanna wait there’s no time no time” repeats sounding more at home each iteration. The song finishes not much higher than how it started, its climax told the same way. But it makes sense, the song has few places to go, almost perfection on the first go. CHEW LiPS sounds like a band that can do great great things and since this only a demo I expect an EP to sound fantastic. Keep an eye on these guys lest they sneak up behind you and get stuck in your head.

CHEW LiPS - Solo (Demo)

This is the last post I shall make before heading off to Centralish America (Costa Rica) and Ima make it local. Afternoons is an L.A band who started about 6 months ago making tunes that sound like the choir leapt off the stage and joined the marching band as they romped through Los Angeles on a summery day. The standout track here of course is “Say Yes” which is exhilirating, catchy, happy, and uplifting and it’s also pretty good. So before I head off to some sun drenched beaches: brighten up your day with the Afternoons. (Yeah that was kind of cheesy.)

Afternoons - Say Yes

Above: Dramatic Dave needs your camera luvs

So due to some bad planning I can’t get the audio file from my phone up onto the blog which normally wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that it contains Tokyo Police Club singing Fergalicious. So that will hopefully come later. For now I present a partially abbreviated interview with Tokyo Police Club. All instances of the band refering to “I” are probably Graham.

Tape: How Many Handclaps Are On Your Album?

TPC: One. It’s you invoulantarily clapping along. Actually it’s Metallica’s clap. Actually we took the entire chrous from “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time At All”. It was an expensive album to produce.

Tape: How’d You Get Your Name?

TPC: Our song Cheer It On.

Tape: Do You Have Any Authority in Tokyo?

TPC: I’m  pretty sure we have diplomatic immunity because I was there last time and I hit a few people drunk driving. In a bulldozer.

Tape: What Albums/Song Have You Been Liking?

TPC: What’s the Sigur Ros song?

Tape: Gobledigook?

TPC: No the second one, I think it’s the title track…(we assume it’s Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur)

Tape: What is Your Favorite Pump Up Music?

TPC: The Hockey Song by Stompin Tom Connors. [Graham to band members] You know that song? [Graham sings] The good old hockey gaaaame. He has a board that he stomps on.

Tape: Is the board an instrument?

TPC: No I think it’s just instrumental. [Manager to Graham] Sounds like our version is Cotton Eye Joe. [Graham] Nahhhh…

Tape: What is the Best/Craziest Thing That’s Happened To You Guys On Tour?

TPC: [Interband Banter] Nah we gotta tell a new story. We recently got 13 [referring to the hackey sack they were playing with the whole time]

Tape: Have you guys been playing before every show?

TPC: Just when we want to.

Tape: What Happened to [Graham's] Bathroom Blog?

TPC: I ran out of things to say about bathrooms. Once you talk about a clean bathroom and a dirty bathroom there’s not much more you can say.

Tape: Good that you got to try out a different profession though.

TPC: Exactly.

Tape: What is Your Favorite Punctuation? (We like the Interrobanger)

TPC: [Internal Banter] Haha no. He said Oxford Comma. The semicolon is good because it if you use it and it makes sense you look really smart.

Tape: I heard there’s debate about the semicolon. Whether it should be discontinued or not.

TPC: Damnit, first Pluto now the semicolon. Kurt Vonnegut hated the semicolon. He called it a bastard hermaphrodite.

Tape: Flying Or Invisibility?

TPC: Uhhh flying. Because then I can spy on the girls washroom from above.

Tape: Nice.

Tape: Do You Guys Have A Guilty Pleasure Song?

TPC: You know that one thing…it goes like…Fergalicious. Oh right. But no one feels guilty about that. I’m loud and proud of my love for Fergalicious. You can do another one if you want I didn’t mean to- nahhh we don’t have any others. Remember we were playing and I tried to rap it and I forgot most of the rap. (Suddenly Graham, and shortly the others, launches into song) I’m the F to the E to the R G I the E/ain’t no other lady get down like me. Fergalicious. Baawnananananananana Baawnanananananana. I be up in the gym just workin on my fitness/he’s my witness Oooh Wee!/They be lining down the block just to watch what I got. Fergalicious.

We talk more about my new shoes and how my old shoes are Graham’s current shoes, whether wearing Keds has a stigma attached, Tristan’s crossword puzzle shoes, and Graham’s experiences using a carrier pidgeon  instead of a cellphone growing up. It kept dropping his calls everytime it saw a worm.

Thanks so much Tokyo’s Policial Clubbers for the interview!

Tokyo Police Club - Centennial (Dntel Remix)

Tokyo Police Club - Nature of The Experiment (RAC Remix)

Ben Sollee is a cellist/musician from Louisville, Kentucky and on his new album “Learning To Bend” he has succeeded in crafting a compendium of lyrically sharp, melodically moving, overall powerful set of tunes. The songs are acoustic works of art shifting from the simple and dry desire for honesty in “A Few Honest Words” to the bouncing tune of “Bury Me With My Car” it’s all there. I regret to inform you that I can’t summarize this album with 2 or 3 mp3s and leave it at that; you need all of this album and the piece in its entirety. This album is fantastic.

Ben Sollee - A Few Honest Words

Ben Sollee - Panning For Gold

Seriously why did the internet not inform me of this before.

Go Here Right Now Because It Involves Steven Colbert

Or Here

No seriously.

Maybe some of you guys are as behind as I am and might get a kick out of this.

Blastronauts have hit pimp slapped us again with some lovingly crafted rising/falling pop music. I Am A Ferriswheel moves from some determined guitar strums into a drifting storybook like narrative on the life of a ferriswheel. We get pulled back up by some drums and singalong vocals, and then we get a nice climaxing whoa chanting finale. The world is on fire and we like it. Now we don’t have an mp3 for you guys but maybe if everyone asks really nicely Blastronauts will hook us up.
Blastronauts-I Am A Ferris Wheel

Now see where asking nicely takes you in life. Yay Mp3s!

http://www.myspace.com/blastronauts

Compilations are a plenty, like a steady stream of parties no one attends but I’ve found a few recently that I thought I’d highlight.

http://www.buffetlibre.net/

Buffet Libre is perhaps the coolest one I’ve seen, the idea is simple: Tell artists to cover/remix their favorite 80s tunes and then release it all for free. The results vary from Frankmusiks super synth poppy take on The Police to Adventure Kid’s cute and jamming cover of A-Ha. And it’s all free so cop that yo.

http://www.pdxpopnow.com/

I stopped in Portland for a few days recently and at a local record shop picked up this compilation of Portland artists. You may recognize some names (YACHT, Chromatics, Blitzen Trapper) and mostly you may not unless you have ties to the scene. If you dig city based compilations and scenes you may not be aware of, pick this up.

http://www.45tribute.com/

The final compilation is by far the most touching. In August of 2007, Daniel Hansson, co founder and CEO of Elektron (they make really fucking awesome gear/instruments/tools of joy) was struck and killed by a car. As a tribute to him and his favorite number (45), 30 artists were assembled to give Daniel a gift of song using much of the tools he created. It’s only 5 dollars and even if you don’t know much about Elektron or the artists it’ll make you feel good about yourself.

Cheers