No, this isn't high-igh-igh-igh-igh. |
8/30/10
THERE'S NO LOVE WITHOUT ACTION
8/18/10
WE CAN LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF THE OCEAN SWELLS
High tide, high tide. |
As far as I can tell, Tennis don't really tour much, and their set last night was part of a brief stint that will take them to New York in a week, so it was gratifying to see that they've got it together a lot more than you might expect from a band at this stage (though there were still the occasional kinks of feedback to work out). They seem to have a realistic view of internet hype-- "Even though everyone wants us to take it really seriously, at the end of the day this started as a hobby for us," Riley told The A.V. Club-- and that carried over to a set that was modest and sort of innocently earnest in a way that really appealed to me. "Did that sound OK?" asked Riley after an early song, when Moore stepped away from the mic; at the end, when the (surprisingly big, both for a Tuesday night and for such a relatively new band-- I wonder if Joe Lawler's Juice coverage helped?) crowd kept asking for more, Moore apologized, saying they'd only been a band for a few months and don't have any more songs. Fair! I've been listening a lot lately to DirecTV's "College Rock" music channel, which has this weird selection of songs-- both super-current, like that new Washed Out thing with Caroline Polachek, or a few years old and not exactly what I'd expect, like the Dandy Warhols' "Smoke It"-- and Tennis' hugely catchy "Marathon" airs at least daily, somehow. Sounded great live; they couldn't do the female backing harmonies with this lineup, obviously, but it didn't matter. Before another song, Moore asked us to slow dance, like in high school; Mrs. Des Noise did, with our friend Shane, who I like too much to beat up (as if I would/could anyway). I bought a tape.
Hallelujah, by and by. |
Labels:
maid marian,
show review,
tennis,
the seed of something,
vaudeville mews
8/11/10
IT'S NEVER BEEN LIKE THAT
Somewhere up there is a band called Phoenix. |
That's based on the French pop group's show here last night. Phoenix's rise to TV soundtrack and commercial-break ubiquity has been another tale of triumph for internet indie-music geeks, and getting a band with their level of cachet to Des Moines was a pretty huge deal, one more sign of a small Midwestern city's ongoing revitalization. The 1990s alternative rockers you might hear alongside these guys on Ames-based 105.1 FM (The New Rock Revolution) definitely weren't coming to town in their own day, you know? When organizers switched the venue from 7 Flags Event Center in Clive to the smaller People's Court downtown, I was ready for another sad, Devo-esque lack of ticket sales. Turns out I shouldn't have worried: The band was the only real disappointment.
Labels:
delta mirror,
fashion,
golden veins,
people's court,
phoenix,
show review,
toro y moi,
vaudeville mews
8/5/10
I'M RIGHT OVER HERE WHY CAN'T YOU SEE ME
Happy summertime.
Long-overdue quarterly report for stuff that came out (or, in the case of tracks, hit the internet) from April 1 to June 30. I'm never on top of these kinds of posts like Tom Breihan, and I'm not even gonna pretend to be ready to write blurbs about all of these, but we do what we can, right? I promise my third-quarter report will be more prompt. Potentially.
ALBUMS
Robyn: Body Talk Pt. 1 (review) (interview)
Sleigh Bells: Treats
ceo: White Magic (interview)
LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
The Poison Control Center: Sad Sour Future
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today
The-Dream: Love King (review)
Caribou: Swim
Allo Darlin': Allo Darlin' (review)
The Drums: The Drums
(Apologies to Tracey Thorn, Tame Impala, the Radio Dept., Delorean, Crystal Castles, Drake, Flying Lotus, Chemical Brothers, Janelle Monae, Julian Lynch, Wild Nothing, James Blake, Josh Ritter, Beach Fossils, Big KRIT, Emeralds, Race Horses, Wiz Khalifa, Foals, etc. etc.)
TRAXX
Robyn: "Dancing on My Own"
Robyn: "Cry When You Get Older"
Katy Perry [ft. Snoop Dogg]: "California Gurls"
Josh Ritter: "The Curse"
Ciara: "I Run It"
Big Boi: "Shutterbug"
Best Coast: "Boyfriend"
LCD Soundsystem: "I Can Change"
Salem: "King Night"
Gauntlet Hair: "I Was Thinking..."
(A haphazard, incomplete, probably embarrassing-in-six-months assemblage of other 2Q tracks for your consideration: Aeroplane: "We Can't Fly", Allo Darlin: "Kiss Your Lips", James Blake: "CMYK", ceo: "Come With Me", the Chemical Brothers: "Escape Velocity", Crystal Castles: "Baptism", Crystal Castles: "Celestica", The-Dream: "Florida University", The-Dream: "Love King", The-Dream [ft. T.I.]: "Make Up Bag", Flying Lotus: "MmmHmm", Japandroids: "Younger Us", Kendal Johansson: "Blue Moon", JTJ [ft. Sophia & Sanchila]: "It's You", Alicia Keys [ft. Drake]: "Unthinkable (Remix)", LCD Soundsystem: "Dance Yrself Clean", LCD Soundsystem: "Drunk Girls", M.I.A.: "Born Free", MNDR: "I Go Away", Kate Nash: "Don't You Want to Share the Guilt", Sleigh Bells: "Tell Em", Sweater Girls: "Do the Sweater")
LIVE SHOWS
- Love Is All, with Tyvek. April 8, Vaudeville Mews.
- The Poison Control Center, with Christopher the Conquered, Mynabirds, Wolves in the Attic, Derek Lambert. April 30, Vaudeville Mews.
- Coyote Slingshot, with Wheels on Fire. June 9, Vaudeville Mews.
- Damien Jurado. June 6, Vaudeville Mews.
- Julian Casablancas. April 23, People's.
- The Twilight Sad, with Mono. May 18, Vaudeville Mews.
- Woodsman, with the Autumn Project, Statocyst. June 30, Vaudeville Mews.
- The Beets. June 10, Vaudeville Mews/April 23, Beechwood Lounge.
- Harlem, with the Jitz. May 5, Vaudeville Mews. (Ben and Travis will not agree on this placement.)
- Canby, with Golden Veins, Skypiper. May 1, Vaudeville Mews.
- The Love of Everything. June 24, Vaudeville Mews.
- Pearly Gate Music, with Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, Land of Blood and Sunshine, Seed of Something. June 9, Vaudeville Mews.
I woulda posted the 9/19/71 Stonybrook version but it's not on YouTube.
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