Category Archives: Music

Music

Breaking Up With The Klaxons?

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Last night I saw the Klaxons for the second time.

The first show was fun but very short. I convinced two of my best friends to come with, and they were not very impressed. When the Klaxons rolled in to town again (last night) neither of them were interested in seeing them again.

Now I sort of wish I didn’t see them again, too.

The thing is, I absolutely love their album Myths of the Near Future and I love the remixes of their songs even more — and therein lies the problem, I think. My first experiences with the Klaxons were via the remixes that Van She (for “Gravity’s Rainbow”), Digitalism (for “Atlantis to Interzone”), and Simian Mobile Disco (for “Magick”) did for the Klaxons.

From the begining, for me, Klaxons were more of an electronic/dance band… but in reality, they are more of a pop/punk band. When you are expecting beeps and bleeps and glitches and loops, guitars and drums are somewhat jarring.

This really makes me sad since I’ve been saying since late 2006 that I thought the Klaxons were going to be The Best Band of 2007. They still might be, but probably not for me…

Music Reviews

So Easy

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I started writing this in May 2005. I had much more of it written but I forgot to save and my browser crashed or I accidently opened a new site or something so I lost everything and then got discouraged about the whole post and stopped writing it…

Last summer when it was really hot out (probably sometime around July or August), I saw Röyksopp‘s album Melody A.M. in the used CD bin at, I would assume, my favorite music store: Everyday Music. I’ve known that I’ve wanted this album for years (yes, literally, years — the album came out in 2002), but for whatever reason I put off buying the album, assuming it would be another disappointing attempt to re-capture the magic of Air’s Moon Safari (which both Zero 7 and Air themselves have failed to do), so I never went out of my way to buy Melody A.M. For whatever reason, I changed my mind that day.

Wow, was I lucky.

Now, whenever I listen to the masterpiece that is Röyksopp’s debut album, I will be reminded of baths, late summer nights, humidity, and vanilla candles… ahh nostalgia for summers past.

Here is a track-by-track justification for why I think Melody A.M. is one of my favorite albums:

  1. “So Easy”
    A.k.a. “Who are you?” What do the lyrics “Who are you?” have to do with the title “So Easy”? Good question. Nonetheless, this is a pretty good opener for the album. The first ten seconds of the song turn from a distorted, warbling fuzz into the clunk-clunk-clunk of a bell or something that turns into the basic beat throughout the song. That clunk-clunk-clunk sound (okay, so I’m not a musician, obviously…) remains as constant during the song as the “Who are you?” minimanlist lyrics. Despite these reptitious elements, however, the song is punctuated with that strange warbling noise from the opening of the song and other random bleeps and noises. What I don’t like about this song is how toward the end there is a little voice recording (which is okay), but then the song turns into “Eple,” which is a great song, but I don’t like that seemless-track stuff.
  2. “Eple”
    This was the first Röyksopp song I heard. I think next to “Poor Leno,” it’s their most successful so far. There aren’t any lyrics to the song, so just image drifting through clouds or something trippy and happy. This is a total happy and relaxing song. Seriously, it reminds me of skipping or something like that.
  3. “Sparks”
    A woman named Anneli Drecker does the vocals for this song. She’s Norwegian (like Röyksopp themselves). In this song, her voice quivers — especially when she sings, “It’s those tiny little spots” and “It may rain or it may shine.” This is a sad love song about being alone. When I first heard it, this was probably one of my favorite songs on the album because it was so emotional. The production totally reminds me of a trip-hop song, what with the slow beats and loops.
  4. “In Space”
  5. “Poor Leno”
  6. “A Higher Place”
  7. “Röyksopp’s Night Out”
  8. “Remind Me”
  9. “She’s So”
  10. “40 Years Back/Come”
Music

My Friend Goo

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I was going to write a review of Sonic Youth’s album Goo. It’s one of my all-time favorite albums and was re-released in deluxe edition so I was going to express my love for it… but I only got so far as writing down the quote that appears on the cover.

I stole my sister’s boyfriend. It was all whirlwind, heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road.

Music

Unreleased Madonna Songs

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Another reason to love our friend Wiki: an entry on unreleased songs by Madonna. I remember back in high school I used to love hearing about this stuff especially when it involved Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Unfortunately, Wiki doesn’t have anything about either of those bands, but a quick search for “unreleased songs” does turn up results about Mariah Carey and Limp Bizkit — two rather unfortunate choices, if you ask me…

Music Reviews

Tarantula

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I can’t believe The Stranger is hating on the new Smashing Pumpkins song, “Tarantula”!!! This is very likely my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song since Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. (Yes, I did love some of the electro-tinged stuff from Adore, but MCIS has always been my favorite…)

The song totally reminds me, in fact, of a cross between the MCIS song “Bodies” and the MCIS outtake/jam/collage “Pastichio Medley” from the “Zero” single.

Anyway, I’m loving it, and if this is a sign of what’s to come from their new album, I’m pumped.

Search for “Tarantula” on the Hype Machine and you are sure to find the mp3 somewhere…

Music

It’s Not You It’s the E(lcohol) Talking

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My post last night about Soulwax being the best concert ever was written in a somewhat drunken and hasty state. Now that time has passed and I am sober and more lucid, I want to add some additional details (in lazy list form)…

  • The opening DJs (JDH and Dave P weren’t as spectacular as I hoped (the tracklist on their first mix includes stuff by The Knife, Gossip, Joakim, Ellen Allien & Apparat, Vitalic, The Rapture, and others), but I gotta give ’em major props for playing “In the Morning” by Junior Boys and “Around the World” by Daft Punk. They also started to play the Emperor Machine remix of Royksopp’s “What Else Is There?” but got cut off when…
  • Muscles took the stage. This guy is some crazy Aussie but he was awesome. I would have to say that he was the best opening act that I didn’t know of prior to the show next to The Presets who opened for Ladytron at Neumos last year. The only thing that was annoying about him was how often he yelled “Whoo.”

So for the record, I still think that Soulwax was the best concert I’ve been to (next to Daft Punk at Coachella). It wasn’t really the alcohol talking!

Music

Best Concert Ever

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I just got back from the Soulwax concert and I have to say that it was probably the best concert I’ve ever been to.

After a “Soulwax Nite Versions” set including “E Talking,” “NY Excuse,” a cover of Tiga’s “Move My Body”,” and others, they did a DJ set that had songs like the Soulwax dub version of Klaxons’ “Gravity’s Rainbow” and Cut Copy’s “Going Nowhere.”

It was amazing and as far as I’m concerned it’s the best non-Coachella concert I’ve ever been to.

Music

The Music Sounds Better With You

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A long time ago my friend Kyle introduced me to a song called “The Music Sounds Better With You” by a group called Stardust. I thought the sound was catchy and went out to buy the single, only to learn that Stardust is comprised of basically the best names in French electronic music (most notably, Alan Braxe)!!

To make the whole situation even better, French music video director wizard/genius Michel Gondry did the music video for it. When Gondry’s DVD came out a few years ago, I was extremely disappointed that “Music Sounds Better With You” didn’t make the cut.

But now, thanks to YouTube, we can all catch the video in shitty low-res, captured-from-MTV format!