Confession time: I don’t own any other Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks albums. Okay, fine, I admit it. I’ve never heard a Pavement album in my life. Skye has already lambasted me for this unforgivable lapse in my musical knowledge, and yes, I feel suitably chastened. So if you’re eager to find out how “Mirror Traffic” stands up to Stephen Malkmus’ previous work, I can’t help you. Go read something else. Nothing to see here.
Anyway, is this record any good? I say yes. It kicks off with the chirpy guitars and summery vocals of “Tigers”. “I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks / A scary thought” is one of the more memorable opening couplets I’ve heard. Good choice of single, Mr. Malkmus.
The Edinburgh indie faithful descended on the colourful environs of Electric Circus last Sunday evening, lured by the prospect of a rare acoustic set by The Twilight Sad. Adam Stafford opened the evening with a set of experimental songs constructed from guitar and vocal loops. R.M. Hubbert’s flamenco-tinged acoustic guitar came next, his instrumental pieces redolent of melancholy summer nights and loss.
At ten past nine The Twilight Sad sauntered onstage to a sold-out crowd and opened with “That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy”. Andy MacFarlane’s spare fingerpicked acoustic guitar and Mark Devine’s wheezy accordion proved that the band’s songs retain their peculiar beauty even when shorn of their trademark effects and distortion.
Pretty much every time I see the name and title CarlomanI think of the Broch at Dun Carloway on the Isle of Lewis. And yes, yes, I know that this isn’t even appropriate; Carloman’s aesthetic and atmosphere is Mediaeval, not prehistoric; and telling the tale of Carloman I, King of the Franks, sufferer of mortal nosebleeds and brother of that famous chappie, Charlemagne, it’s a world away from the windswept Hebrides. Still, it’s a musical world which evokes kings and feudal warlords, so maybe this is apt after all; moreover, it’s music that manages to evoke a spirit of something past without ever being hackneyed or nostalgiac.
Sunday, the final day of Pitchfork, arrived with a lot of anticipation. It was the only day of the festival to sell out. It was also the day of the festival with the fewest lower-rung up and comers. It was also the day of the much-hyped performance by Odd Future. It would be a tale of two festivals. (Read the article)
On the day with seemingly the least star power, there were some CLUTCH performances.
At 1pm, performances began with two choices. On the main stage, vocal-looping composer Julianna Barwick, likely the festival’s most quiet show. On the smallest stage (Blue) across the park, local party monster Chrissy Murderbot, a dj specializing in bass-heavy, hybrid-style party cuts. He was accompanied by MC Zulu, freestyling and hyping. Why in THE WORLD these two acts were booked to play simultaneously is a mystery. You can imagine the difficulty Barwick had in putting on her delicate show.
After a forever trek from Knoxville TN that featured an unplanned stop in a Pentacostal Worship Service, I find myself in the far less holy Union Park for the Pitchfork Music Festival’s first day.
The first act of the day, electronic duo GateKEEPER, hit the Blue Stage (the smallest stage, a cross the park from the other two) at around 3:20, just 20min after the gates to this year’s festival opened. While they were mostly boring, I have to say that their “Unsolved Mystery” vibe is almost enough. Every song, I found myself wondering “who went missing?!” But after that, the Blue Stage was totally unstoppable. I rotated around the park some, but found myself returning to the Blue. Starting immediately after GateKeeper, tUnE-yArDs delivered such a magical, stirring performance, that I can still hear people TALKING about it from where I sit. That girl is a force, and is heavily beloved. Many, many showed up wearing her signature “warpaint” and her set saw the days far and away most enthusiastic audience.
Writing pop songs is walking a thin, dangerous line. Especially when trying to talk about such sugary topics as ‘how much you like rock and roll’ or ‘how much you like your kids.’ This is the slippery slope that for many, many years, songwriter Matt Pelham (of Tennessee’s long-running, still going pop/rock darlings, The Features) chooses to create upon. And, somehow, he has managed for years and years to say the right things, and keep it all fun, while avoiding the most seemingly-inevitable eye rolls. (Read the article)
The Kooks took the stage promptly at 9:30, looking typically disheveled for the sold out Troubadour audience. Opening with “Always Where I Need To Be” to an exuberant crowd, the band breezed through many of the Beatles-esque crowd pleasers from from their first two albums. Highlights included “Do You Wanna” and “Shine” to which the crowd sang back at full force “Safety pins holding up the things that made you mine.” It was enough to make you feel like we were seeing The Kooks in London. New tracks sat alongside the classics well. If anything, the band was more energized playing the new stuff. In particular “The Saboteur” and new album title track “Junk Of The Heart” were standouts.
Athens, Georgia’s Witches play a crunchy, pop-smart rock and roll. Yesterday, they released their debut LP, Forever (Bakery Outlet Records). The album has a raw energy. It almost sounds/feels like a live recording, but only in the good ways. Singer/guitarist Cara Satalino’s vocal performance is marked by compelling deliveries and an important level of composure. Musically, Witches compliment their strong vocalist with an equally strong rhythm section, highlighted by Jared Gandy’s motivated but tasteful bass-lines. It is true that Witches are not inventing or reinventing anything, but it doesn’t make a difference. Their take on this 90′s tinged rock is as good as anything happening then, and better than a lot of it. Highly recommended. (Read the article)
You might have gleaned that from my enthusiastic post on the album stream last week.
(Clap!)
It’s possible to run hot and cold on Sons and Daughters, but I don’t think it’s possible to be ambivalent about them. Since bursting out of Glasgow with the PHENOMENAL Love the Cup and its undoubted highlight “Johnny Cash”, Sons and Daughters have somehow managed to be on and off my radar. First full length The Repulsion Box had some amazing highs (“Medicine”, “Dance Me In”, “Choked”, “Rama Lama” – oh, fuck it, the whole bloody record), but I was less impressed with This Gift. It might be my own fault: iTunes tells me I’ve listened to it a whole lot less than The Repulsion Box, so I dunno, Sons and Daughters. Mebbe it was you, mebbe it was me. But darling, does Mirror Mirror bring us back together.
