April 2005

I'm skipping town but if I weren't....

Filed under: Imported

Long story short, I couldn't write an A List for Emperor X's illegal basement show but I just found out they're also playing Big V's on Saturday night. Not that I can go but maybe you should. I don't know much about them except that they're from Florida and they play just the sort of spastic indie rock I have a soft spot for. Central Hug/Friendarmy/Fractaldunes [and the Dreams that Resulted] (I just lost 80% of you, right?) leads with my song of the week, "Right to the Rails." As with most spazzy bands, it's the lead singer who will make or break it for you. Each word is so overenunciated, it sounds lucky to be escaping his mouth without teeth marks. You've got a rrrrrighttt to the rrrrraillllls. While I completely understand how some people will find this highly irritating, it appeals to me nonetheless. There's just something about hyperactive kids feigning convulsions that turns my crank. Halfway through that first track they're yelping, "Go!Go!Go!Go!Go!Go!" and I just want to shake my little head like a sealed container of instant pudding.

On a related note, check out Keith's column in the Seattle Weekly about why he doesn't like the Arcade Fire. It got me thinking, since I love Win Butler's cracking vocals but can't stand some of the snivelers he's frequently compared to. Someday I'll be hauled away for aggravated assault and hundreds of people will say, "She did talk about punching Conor Oberst in the face every time his name came up..."

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 22, 2005 5:18 PM

The Rolling Stones and U2? Madness!

Filed under: Imported

Wait, might they also play Madness?!?

I'm always amused by hot! new! radio stations that sound like hundreds of others. This one's particularly good because they play up the "you have no say in our playlist" angle as if it's a bonus. But the question I desperately need answered is Will they still play Nina Blackwood's New Wave Nation? I'm serious.

______________________________________
JACK-FM "PLAYING WHAT WE WANT"
LAUNCHES IN THE TWIN CITES AT WXPT-FM

Diverse Play List To Include Music From The Past Four Decades Featuring The Rolling Stones, Prince, U2, Bob Marley And REM, Among Many Others

Infinity Broadcasting Minneapolis announces the launch of a new music
format, 104.1 JACK-FM, today at 9:00am CT, on what was previously known as WXPT-FM.  The new format features a play list of more than 1200 songs from the past four decades. Among the many artists that will be featured on the station are The Rolling Stones, Prince, U2, Aerosmith, No Doubt, Tom Petty, Cure, Dave Matthews Band, The Police and hundreds more.  The station has positioned itself as "playing what it wants" so no requests please!

"The Jack format has delivered a real WOW factor in the Infinity Markets its currently airing. It's time we Jack the Twin Cities up with an 'Out of the Box' fresh approach to radio." said Mary Niemeyer, Vice President and Market Manager of Infinity Broadcasting Minneapolis. "The incredible variety of music, low repetition and very little talk will keep this station on your dial for hours."

FM Operations Manager Phil Wilson will continue to serve as Program Director of the station. "JACK-FM is a natural evolution for a station that had an incredible run with 80's music." said Wilson. "We have more than tripled our music library and are taking on an irreverent attitude that goes after the true music lover. Jack is the IPOD on shuffle."

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 21, 2005 5:21 PM

Academia and I don't hang out anymore

Filed under: Imported

If anyone's wondering why the Billy Nayer Show canceled, Cory had laryngitis. No word yet on whether they'll be able to schedule a make-up date.

While a few of my favorite music geeks are tearing up Seattle this weekend, I'll still be in town. Not that I'm complaining. I fear all those panels and papers on "Blanking the Blank: the Something of Whatever" would only remind me of cultural studies classes. There's a reason I only have a cultural studies minor. But I'll try to be at my most pretentious as I attend the *sniff* Exclusive Members' Preview Party at the Walker. That's not true. If I wanted to be really pretentious I'd have a ticket to see Philip Glass the next day. I have a somewhat irrational hatred of Philip Glass. I say somewhat because it's a dislike based mainly on the opinions of people who I think know better than I do, namely my classically trained father and brother. I have similar aversions to Aaron Copland, anything from the baroque period, and Sleater Kinney. (I'm probably well-versed enough in indie rock that I should be able to decide on SK for myself now, huh?) Regardless, maybe someday I'll be able to welcome these musicians with an open mind but until then, Philip Glass, take your mind-numbingly repetitive avante crap elsewhere, you pansy-ass minimalist.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 14, 2005 4:39 PM

Find me in da club, come give me a hug

Filed under: Imported

Yeah, I know that's not how the song goes but I'm not too convincing as an X-and-Cristal-fueled thug. I'm more of a shawty. But this weekend I'm lending my full support to the smoking ban (go smoking ban! it's your birthday!) by spending the next four or five days at the corner of 1st and 7th. Here's what I'm thinking:

Friday, April 8: The Owls, Smattering, Aviette @ the Entry
The hermits in the quietly breathtaking Smattering say this is their last show of 2005. Sons of bitches. No word yet on when (if?) the new album will be out. My constant harassment hasn't seemed to help.

Saturday, April 9: STNNNG, Sicbay, the Blind Shake, Brick Layer Cake @ the Entry
I love how the Decemberists can call your mother a whore and still manage to come across as charming. But their show at the Fine Line is sold out and besides, STNNNG promise to be a more explosive live act. Who will get hurt? Who will get headbutted? Maybe you!

Sunday, April 10: The Billy Nayer Show, Martin Devaney, Aviette @ the Entry
The few people I know who are going to this are as excited as hell! The Billy Nayer Show wrote the music for The American Astronaut, a space western musical that's come through town a few times and developed a cult following. Cory McAbee who wrote, directed, and starred in the movie is also BNS's frontman. To be honest, I have no idea what this show will be like but if even the tiniest chunk of their repertoire provokes the same childish reaction I had to "The Girl with the Vagina Made of Glass," it will be well worth it. 

Monday and Tuesday, April 11-12: The Shins, the Brunettes @ First Avenue
You know these guys. They changed your life by convincing you to buy McDonald's hamburgers and watch the Gilmore Girls. But if you're feeling girlish and gossipy, check out Elyse Sewell's blog (thanks, Culture to Go!). Last I heard the brainy America's Next Top Model contestant had broken up with keyboard-playing goofball Marty Crandall for cheating on her. But check out the recent pics where they're acting all dorky together! I think geek love is just about my most favorite thing in the whole world.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 8, 2005 4:49 PM

George Lucas' new favorite band

Filed under: Imported

I don't think I'll make it to Ash's show at the Whole tonight but not necessarily because the album isn't good. Which it's not. Good, I mean. But it's not unlistenable either. I just can't help but marvel at how hard these poppy Irish kids have tried to pass themselves off as fierce in the last few years. Meltdown is chock full of songs with forboding titles like "Shockwave," "Renegade Cavalcade," and "Detonator." And just look at it, it's all flame-y. It's funny when you consider that the band named their first album after the year Star Wars came out and what is Star Wars if not an outlet for nerds who want to feel cool and dangerous? When it comes to Star Wars fans there are many, many Lukes and very few Hans. Hanses?

Anyway, the band and their sci-fi influence are now riding concurrent waves. Remember when Pitchfork announced that Ash was writing a "theme song" for Episode III? Actually it was just a song for a Star Wars video game (maybe I can't find the item in Pitchfork's news archive because of this mistake?) Regardless, the song is here and, holy Ackbar, is it bad. It screams in like a 93X promo and sneers, "Shame, shame, shame/ Shame that eveyone's the same/ I thought you stood alone/ Were different from the clones"  I'm sure Episode III and this track would've been very happy together.

But Meltdown's got its moments. "Won't Be Saved" and "Starcrossed" are the sappy sort of compilation fillers you'd expect from the soundtrack of "The WB presents: Romeo and Juliet" (not as good as Zeffirelli or Luhrmann, if only for the lack of nudity.) But as much as I like to make fun of this sort of overindulgent teenage treacle, it's what I was living for ten years ago, most likely while pining over some guy who was obsessed with Star Wars. I can't get away, I tell ya.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 7, 2005 5:28 PM

Some girls are less tolerant of Morrissey than others

Filed under: Imported

Geez, I haven't posted since last Friday. And what a horrible blogger I'd be if I did nothing but ply you with random iPod playlists. So what have I been doing instead of posting? Well, constantly checking (and maybe even contributing to) the new CP group blogs, reading too many critic-y accounts of SXSW, choosing names for my future kin from my daily spam intake (I like Sunscreen C. Web and Bounden A. Tojo but Pizzeria H. Podunk and Oxygenate M. Sickbeds are out), and listening to Star's Set Yourself on Fire over and over and over.

It's kind of strange because last year I overdosed on Heart as soon as I got back from Austin. At the time, I mentioned to a fellow pop fiend just how much I liked it and she said, "Oh my god, Lindsey! That album is terrible! But the first one's really good." So one of my closest friends had just told me that my taste in music sucks but whatever. At their 400 Bar show last month I picked up that first album, Nightsongs, and guess what? It's awful. Not the usual 'underdeveloped new band' kind of awful but a cloying 'early '90s French discotheque' awful. But I'll forgive them because, although the sappiness of Heart eventually wore me out, I still like the unabashedly romantic Set Yourself on Fire the more I listen to it. Torquil Campbell (stick a middle initial in there and it's totally a spammer name) is like Morrissey Lite, which doesn't seem like a compliment coming from me as I've always thought of the Smiths frontman as a punchline. (When I think of Moz, the first image that pops into my head is Mike Nelson's impression on MST3K: he mopes around for a while, then tenatively pets Dr. Forrester's arm, mewling, "Did I mention that I cry?") But seriously, Torq has a similar apathetic croon. The difference is that Torq's only makes me giggle when it's supposed to--like when he recounts a run-in with an ex: "All that time that you thought I was sad, I was trying to remember your name." Plus, during their live show they like to point out that not only do they have a lot of songs about fucking, they have a song about fucking someone with the intention of killing them. And, I dunno, that just sounds cool.

Now how about one of those Random Top Tens...
1. Yo La Tengo - "Yellow Sarong"
2. PJ Harvey - "You Said Something"
3. Radiohead- "True Love Waits"
4. Modest Mouse - "The View"
5. Imperial Teen - "Water Boy"
6. Blur - "To the End"
7. They Might Be Giants - "The Biggest One"
8. Frank Black - "Adda Lee"
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Tick"
10. Elastica - "Never Here"

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at April 1, 2005 5:19 PM

« March 2005 | Main | May 2005 »