I think perhaps I have hit that point where "those damn kids need to stay off my lawn."
This is again a Facebook re-post rant in reaction to Adbusters recent hipster article. I am not even posting a link to it, that's how much I hate Adbusters. It's super vaguely music related, otherwise I would've left it on Facebook.
"Adbusters doing this article is about as relevant as them doing an article on those new-fangled "blogs."
I never thought my already low opinion of them could deteriorate any more. I don't even know what it is about this article except it's extreme irrelevance and pandering to demographics that wouldn't normally pick up their magazine except to bolster their own uniformed, and more than likely outdated (and seriously impressionable-very-much-in-need-of-sound-bites) opinion.
But you know I guess, really in the end, does Adbusters exist for any other reason?
Not that this is some weak defense of what some might construe as a "touchy subject," it's just more or less a "wtf? really? is this a powder piece by a local news affiliate needing to bump up it's ratings? oh wait no, it's an international magazine. huh. funny that."
but i also really hate adbusters, so i'm probably just being a dick."
As you may have noticed I may or may not have forgotten about posting here. After ranting on Facebook, Simon was kind enough to remind me. (The title works only if you do it in a Stewie Griffin voice, otherwise it's just sort of ok).
My dislike of Crystal Castles, mis-appropriation of art gets all mixed in with my love of the internet and calling people out.
So Crystal Castles gets busted appropriating another artist's music. In this day and age, is that really newsworthy? Yes and no. I am all for re-contextualizing works, and more often that not people's influences/sampling are worn fully on their sleeve (Girl Talk being a huge example, the whole b-more scene, Obey/Shepard Fairy, etc).
So what the dilly?
One "underground" artist is stealing from another underground, which is pretty shady in and of itself; one has some measure of commercial success over the other.
CC has stated in interviews they have no real interest in the Chiptune scene (despite their sonic landscape being so lo-fi, but that's neither here nor there) that their sampling source is hugely involved in.
Where large companies/artists/etc release their works it's copyrighted by the owner. They have huge legal teams to bust you the fuck down when you steal from them. Independent artists, not so much.
This is where Creative Commons comes in. It allows artists/IP holders who want to share their work freely on the internet for anyone to use and re-use, albeit with some licensing regulations and protection for their works. It allows an amazing flow of creativity back and forth which is awesome and fun but in the end it only works if everyone follows the rules and you'd think the rules are pretty easy to follow. It boils down to: I am going to say what you can and cannot do with my creative output and as a reasonable human being interested in furthering cultural endeavours you should respect it.
Example: I am releasing my MP3/screen play/movie online, you are totally allowed to download it and muck around with it all you want but you HAVE to do the following....
The following can be anything as simple as "please say where your original source material came from" to "attribute me, ask for my explicit permission, do not make an money off it, if you do anything you HAVE to put it online with the exact same Creative Commons provisions I had set forth for my source material."
It does not give you carte blanche to ignore the rules and do whatever the fuck you want with it.
Anyways, maybe it's sour grapes I am just being a curmudgeon.
In honour of my previous post, I have decided to change my theme music to the Stars' opening track from In Our Bedroom After The War. You can hear said post being read at the beginning of the show as my intro.
Stars, "The Beginning of the end", In Our Bedroom After The War Stars, "In Our Bedroom After The War", In Our Bedroom After The War Julie Doiron, "Ce Charmant Coeur", Desormais Magnetic Fields, "Book Of Love", 69 Love Songs Old Man Luedecke, "Quiet Creek", Hinterland Lou Barlow, "Royalty" Forest City Lovers, "Don't Go". Haunting Moon Sinking Ron Sexsmith, "Throughts & Prayers", Exit Strategy For The Soul Liz Phair, "Nashville", WhipSmart Coco Rosie, "Noah's Ark", Noah's Ark Sigur Ros, Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur", Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust Portishead, "We Carry On", Third Ann Peebles, "I can't stand the rain Wolf Parade, "The Grey Estates", At Mount Zoomer Dog Day, "Oh Dead Life", Night Group Bloc Party, "Two More Years" Modeselektor feat. Thom Yorke, "The White Flash", Happy Birthday Death From Above 1979, "Romantic Rights (Girls are Short Remix)", Romantic Rights EP Crystal Castles vs Health, "Crimewave", S/T Cut Copy, "Out There On The Ice", Ghost Colours Girl Talk, "Like This", Feed THe Animals Ghislain Poirier, "Blazin' (modeslektor remix)"
Even before he came out to sing, he came out on stage and looked at all of us. "Are you all alright?", we could see him mouthing. The roar told him yes.
And then they all came out. They threw red and white roses into the crowd.
It had been spitting rain for over an hour. We were all huddled towards the stage, wanting to see his antics, listen to her voice, watch their banter. The new romantic meeting the old guard, male and female, both transcendant. Together a synthesis of love, fantasy, lust, release and serenity
There has always been this sound, or rather, a feeling to the sound of Stars. In my head, listening to them has always been like travelling, moving into somewhere. The melody laying a path onto a trip, somewhere. The pont st champlain, a bedroom, or in my case, listening to a love letter in my best friend's car while driving along the eastern shores, our hands outside the car, waving in time.
When they began to sing, "Your ex-lover is dead", the lyric, "In that instant it started to pour", it did. We looked up the the skies and watched the rain through the floodlights. We didn't care. It was, if anything, a kind of watershed emphasis to how their songs made us feel: letting go. The crowd sang along. We swayed and swooned with the melodica sounding its familiar tune. We imagined the scar on the porcelain skin.
The last time I saw Stars was when they opened for Broken Social Scene in 2004. It was one of those cases where the opening act blew the main attraction out of the water. Vocalists Torquil Campbell was emphatic at his worst and beyond stunning at his best. Amy Campbell serenaded us over the hard guitar for "Ageless Beauty" and someone passed me a Heart shaped potato which I passed to Torquil. He told the crowd that after the show he would make a bong out of it.
I'm not expecting another one of those, but I am expecting a great show.
Speaking of shows, this week's edition of Moody Morning Music contains a few fun covers, as well as a few more tunes from my rapidly expanding collection of soul 45s, hence a new category for this blog, aptly titled, Give Me Some Soul. But more on that later. Right now, I wanna talk about girls with pretty voices.
The Watson Twins have released a full length album to follow up their teaser of an EP, "Souther Manners". The album includes a remarkably sincere cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven". Scroll down to the track list to hear the original.
So I'm digging through that infamous stack of 45s I just mentioned and I find one by some dude named Wayne Cochran. I drop the needle and all of a sudden, this crazy voice and rhythm ripples through the grooves. Holy Shit! Who is this dude? I google him and am confronted with a white guy in a crazy blonde pompadour. Once again, Holy shit! I need some more tunes. Check him out by scrolling down and clicking on the link in the track listing.
As for this week's dose of disco, a (somewhat)unlikely candidate who goes by the name of Gonzales.
After having worked with Feist, Peaches and Jamie Lidell and having released a critically lauded album, Gonzales has put out a love song to all things AOR Friendly, influenced by everything from Yacht Rock to french disco strings. The latter can be found in wonderful abundance on this week's download called "Let's Ride".
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Watson Twins, "Just Like Heaven", Fire Songs She & Him, "You've really got a hold on me", Volume 1 Ron Sexsmith, "Brandy Alexander", Exit Strategy of the soul Betty Harris, "I'm evil tonight", 7" The Joe Tex Band, "Chocolate Cherry", 7" Wayne Cochran, "Some a your sweet lovin'" 7" Duffy, "Mercy", Rockferry Gnarls Barkley, "Who's gonna save my soul", The Odd Couple Stars, "Elevator Love Letter", Heart Stars, "Your ex-lover is dead", Set yourself on fire Stars, "Ageless Beauty (Most Serene Republic Remix)", Do you trust your friends? Stars, "The Night Starts Here", In Our Bedroom after the war Stars, "Take me to the riot", In our Bedroom after the war Bloc Party, "She's Hearing Voices", Silent Alarm Architecture In Helsinki, "Like it or not (version 2)" Gonzales, "Let's ride", Soft power CSS, "Believe Archive", Donkey Crystal Castles, "Knight", S/T M.I.A. "Paper Planes (DFA Remix)", 12" Girl Talk, "Give me a beat". Feed The Animals N.E.R.D., "Everybody Nose" Swayzak, "Smile & Receive", Some Other Country
I remember the first time I saw the video for "Kennedy Killed The Hat". I was working in a dingy gay bar, it was mid-afternoon and I was watching MuchMusic.
Now, I had heard Buck's earlier stuff under the monkier Stinkin' Rich and a few pieces of his work with Sixtoo under the monkier of The Sebutones. I had loved his last album, "Talkin' Honky Blues", and I remember seeing him as a clerk at my local news stand. I even remember telling him I had found some bootlegg stuff of his online from an unreleased album. He thanked me for telling him and told me he would find out who leaked it.
To me, Rich Terfry was the face of Halifax Hip Hop.
And then he pulled out with Secret House Against The World. Gainsbourg references (both lyrically and musically), rough edged drum breaks, a cover of an old Halifax band and of course, my absolute favorite, Kennedy.
There he was, his shirt off, that rip roaring, DFA 1979 sounding guitar (whom one of its members, under another moniker would later remix), that delivery, and that chorus that just gets stuck in your head, the words points of reference to the strange world in Buck's head:
And we're surrounded by assassins fantomas mutantes and serpents werewolves and sex fiends New York New York City Lafayette Street Alright now Bang Bang London Paris shoot the lights out Come on now baby
That was in 2005. Three years, another record and all of a sudden, I hear another version of Kennedy, this time featuring CKDUers Mike Catano on drums and Laura Peek on vocals and other sundry musical items. Gone is the heavy drum beat, here is a melancoly dirge, accented by Peek's voice, supporting and lifting Buck out of the netherworld of his own deadpan.
Moody Morning Music for June 1st, 2008. Now with over 70% CanCon! Enjoy.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Sigur Ros, "All Alright", Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust Arcade Fire, "In The Backseat", Funeral Feist, "Limit to your love", The Reminder Jose Gonzales, "Love will tear us apart", Veneer Young & Sexy, "The city you live in is ugly", Stand for your mother Portishead, "Machine Gun", Third Islands, "J'aime vous voir quitter", Arm's Way Wolf Parade, "The Grey Estates", At Mount Zoomer Immaculate Machine, "Wo Xiang Tanbai (Dear Confessor)", 7" Broken Social Scene, "Windsurfing Nation", S/T Stars, "Take me to the riot", In Our Bedroom after the war Duchess Says, "Rabies (Baby;s got the)", Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs You Say Party! We Say Die!, "Downtown mayors goodnight, Alley Kids Rule", Lose All Time Gwen Guthrie, "7th Heaven", Padlock EP Crystal Castles, "Air War", S/T Gonzales, "Slow Down (Feat. Teki Latex)", Soft Power Cut Copy, "Out there on ice", In Ghost Colours MSTRKRFT, "Bounce (feat. N.O.R.E.)", Bounce EP Thom Yorke, "The Clock (Surgeon Remix)", 12"
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Buck 65 feat Laura Peek & Micheal Catano, "Kennedy Killed The Hat (acoustic mix) Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill (12" mix) Black Keys, "All you ever wanted", Attack & Release Wolf Parade, "Language City", At Mount Zoomer Sigur Ros, "Goddledigood", Med Sud I Eryum Vid Spulum Endalaust Bloc Party, "Tulips (Club Version)" Stars, "What I'm trying to say", Set yourself on fire Tokyo Police Club, "The Nature Of The Experiment" The Gossip, "Jealous Girls (NYPC Remix)" !!!, "Heart Of Hearts", Myth Takes Duchess Says, "Tenen Non Neu", Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs Danger Doom feat. Cee-Lo, "Benzie Box", THe Mouse & The Mask Zapp, "Dance Floor" Santogold, "Les Artistes (Molecule Mix)" Girl Talk, "Give me a beat", Feed The Animals Crystal Castles, "Vanished", S/T Cut Copy, "Heart's On Fire", In Ghost Colours
We here, at I wanna listen to this aren't just a bunch of blog and mp3 seeking hipsters. We often dig out old records, rediscover and reconsider stuff we dismissed earlier and dig deeper into genres we never thought we would care about (cosmic disco anyone?), much less write about. Here are some of our recent favorites, in no particular order.
Jeffrey Liberatore is disco elitist, music snob and wishes Gaspard Ulliel knew he existed.
Bubaiskull's re-releasing their stuff online has had me in some serious nostalgic bliss. Especially the Drive By Suicide EP The Does It Offend You, Yeah? album has been in heavy rotation for like 2 weeks now. I finally heard the rest of Santogold's album after killing the youtube video of L.E.S. Artistes, and I actually like it so much more than I thought. I was expecting more of the M.I.A. comparisons to continue, but it went in a way different direction that I expected. The MSTRKRFT remix of the j-pop star, Ayumi Hamasaki, makes me retardedly happy. The Presets new album, Apocalypso
