http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/ 15 en Copyright 2008 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:47:27 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss That's the conclusion I reached after a weekend spent in Baltimore for Whartscape. (Read my review of Saturday's show here.) It's very much an "It's not you, it's me" situation. I just don't have the energy or enthusiasm to match what those Charm City kids bring to the table. But not many people do, and that's what makes their little scene so interesting. A quick rundown of some of Sunday's acts... The Girl Talk phenomenon is completely lost on me (maybe I should ask him to explain when he chats on the site next week) but I'm pretty sure there was nothing to be "got" about Greg Gillis's performance as Trey Told 'Em. It was 15 minutes of white noise and a vocal sample of Kurt Cobain shouting the word "Marijuana!" from the Nirvana b-side "MV." (Note: Definitely not the song to put on a mixtape for Mom.) I've already http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/whartscape_wrapup_i_think_i_mi.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/whartscape_wrapup_i_think_i_mi.html Live Last Night Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:47:27 -0400 We've sort of slacked off on the whole Summer Mixtape thing but what do you expect? It's summer, the perfect time for slacking. We'll start it back up today with a slight mood shift. Most of the songs featured so far have played to the hot and steamy summer vibe. But there's another side to summer -- the tranquility of the sun setting at 8:45, the carefree attitude but also the realization that it's temporary and fleeting. No song better captures those sentiments than this Jonathan Richman classic, which is absolutely on my short list for Best Song Ever. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_12_that_s.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_12_that_s.html Summer Mixtape Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:54:52 -0400 President for life in the daydream nation. Thurston Moore is in full-fledged flogging mode, making the rounds to talk about his new book, "No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980." He called recently for this story - but after 40 minutes of chatter about no wave's cacophonous, confrontational music and players, we moved on to some other topics. Here, then, is the no-no wave interview with Moore, indie-alternative icon, record collector, label dude, Starbucks compiler, Facebook member and all-around tall guy. There's another new book on my desk right now, "Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth." Is it on your recommended reading list? I read the galleys but I haven't gotten the real book yet. I did see it in the bookstore and saw the photos; that was amusing, to see the way we looked in 1980. I'm flattered that anybody would do a book on us http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_more_questions_with_thurst.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_more_questions_with_thurst.html Interviews Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:44:57 -0400 No shoes, no shirt, plenty popular. It's been a few months since we rolled out this feature by asking you, the Post Rock readers/ interlopers/ commenters/ hecklers, to explain the worthiness and appeal of My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless." Decent idea, apparently, as one of my favorite music blogs recently "borrowed" the bit. Today, Please Explain to Me returns to its proper home as I ask for your help in solving one of the great mysteries of the modern music business: How in the world did Kenny Chesney become so incredibly popular? He's country music's reigning entertainer of the year and one of the biggest and most consistent touring draws in popular music, filling big and bigger venues. Three years ago, Neely Tucker interviewed Chesney for The Post in advance of a show here. At FedEx Field! Chesney sold out Nissan and Merriweather on consecutive nights last summer, and this http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/please_explain_to_me_kenny_che.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/please_explain_to_me_kenny_che.html Please Explain Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:46:10 -0400 Time for a new Friday feature to replace the dearly departed Two-Minute Man. This concept is similarly simple, just using TV instead of radio. We've made it to the 1950s! There's certainly more variety than the 200 or so songs that populate 94.7's playlist as we get everything from the Hold Steady to Randy Travis to Shwayze this week. 1. The Hold Steady, "Sequestered in Memphis" (Letterman, Wednesday) Craig Finn, just listen to me for a second. It's time to give up the guitar. Just let it go, dude. You treat it more as an ornament than an instrument. You play it less than half the time. During this performance you strummed for maybe 30 seconds. And when you do play, it throws you off your vocal game and also prevents you from making those awesome, Joe Cockery hand gestures. (That might be the first time "awesome" and "Joe Cockery" http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/live_last_night_on_tv.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/live_last_night_on_tv.html Live Last Night, On TV Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:40:52 -0400 Some people call him Maurice. Ben Franklin said, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." If Big Ben was still alive today he'd surely add "hearing Steve Miller on classic rock radio" to his shortlist. Songs like "The Joker," "Take the Money and Run," "Rock 'N Me," "Jet Airliner" and "Fly Like an Eagle" will probably still be in heavy rotation during the third zombie uprising. (Admittedly, not that far off.) All that radio play means Miller has a new stream of fans every generation and is a summer touring regular. I talked with him before he left on his tour, which hits Merriweather Post Pavilion tonight. Actually, he talked at me would be more accurate. It was almost like a mini-history lesson over the phone as he talked (and talked) about his arrival in San Francisco during the height of the psychedelic '60s through his http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_and_really_reall.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_and_really_reall.html Interviews Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:42:55 -0400 Love as Laughter gets "Holy." Love as Laughter is one of those bands that are easy to root for. Over the course of nearly 15 years and six albums the loosely organized crew led by Sam Jayne has played loosely organized indie rock. They know the power of a one-note guitar solo and that you can never go wrong ripping off Neil Young. "Laughter's Fifth" in 2005 signaled a new peak for the band, featuring both their catchiest ("Dirty Lives") and most epic ("Every Midnight Song") tunes but this year's "Holy" might be even better. It's released on Glacial Pace, the new label run by Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and it manages to be a slicker affair while still maintaining the ramshackle charm that defined Love as Laughter up to this point. While many of Jayne's friends have gone on to big things Jayne is fine staying below the http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_for_love_as_laug.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_for_love_as_laug.html Interviews Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:13:42 -0400 The Hold Steady, not quite like the first time. I started my review of the Hold Steady's "Stay Positive" with a bit of a backhanded compliment. The gist of it was: This is probably the worst Hold Steady album - but that when dealing with the Hold Steady, "worst" is loosely translated to "least awesome." Because for the fourth consecutive time, Craig Finn and gang have delivered a winner. But for the second consecutive time, it can't compete with what came before. At least for me. In my mind, those first two Hold Steady albums - "Almost Killed Me" and "Separation Sunday" - stand as two of the best albums of the decade. "Boys and Girls in America" and "Stay Positive" are clearly by the same band, but with the rough edges smoothed out. The band deserves plenty of credit for being able to adapt and appeal to a http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/more_on_the_hold_steady.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/more_on_the_hold_steady.html Hold Steady Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:32:14 -0400 Hearing good music in retail stores has become such a regular occurrence these days that it's pretty much put an end to this feature. Some recent examples include: - Spoon's "The Underdog" in CVS (much better than that damn "Give Me the Beat Boys" Doobies song that makes me want to go on a killing spree) - Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" in Harris Teeter (complete with Ian MacKaye diaper-shopping sighting!) - Kathleen Edwards's "I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" in Trader Joe's (OK, this one actually makes perfect sense). Still, I was caught off guard yesterday when I walked into my favorite Starbucks and heard one of the handful of songs on my shortlist for Best Song Ever: "Can You Get to That" by Funkadelic. You don't usually get anything so funky in the 'Bucks, even if it isn't among the most groovin' Funkadelic tunes. But I http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/they_played_what_where_vol_1_n_3.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/they_played_what_where_vol_1_n_3.html Summer Mixtape Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:22:40 -0400 You remember L-Boogie, right? The Fugees centerpiece who became a solo star with the 1998 release of "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" album ... and then basically stopped making music, save for that raggedy MTV Unplugged session, a few appearances with the Fugees and a random track here (the "Surf's Up" soundtrack) and there (that "Passion of the Christ" compilation)? Back before she rebelled against the music business and went subterranean, Hill was pretty incredible - one of those rare commercial and critical juggernauts who seemingly could do no wrong. She moved units. She won awards. And she inspired a critical droolfest, even finishing second - behind Lucinda Williams and "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" - in the Pazz and Jop Critics Poll published in early 1999. (I had Hill as the clear No. 1 on my ballot.) Quite a few of her songs could work on a summer http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_10_doo_wo.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_10_doo_wo.html Summer Mixtape Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:54:29 -0400 Jad Fair of Half Japanese. One of the many great scenes in the Half Japanese documentary "The Band That Would Be King" finds brothers David and Jad Fair talking about playing guitar, and it perfectly captures the essence of the definitive do-it-yourself band. "Some people worry about chords and stuff, and that's all right, too," David says. "There's all kinds of music in the world. You might want to learn some other stuff if you're doing that kind of music. For what I was doing, that was the beauty of it, you could learn it that first day." "Well, you do need cords in order to plug the guitar in," Jad adds. "But that's pretty much it." And so it goes with Half Japanese. For almost 35 years the band has served as inspiration for every rock-and-roller who isn't blessed with the ability to effortlessly play a C# blues http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/a_couple_more_than_six_questio.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/a_couple_more_than_six_questio.html Interviews Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:00:30 -0400 Rhyl calling! It rained in Washington yesterday. In the summertime. Perfect! Because Mike Peters of the Alarm was calling, and as anybody who knows anything about '80s Welsh rock recalls, the Alarm had a hit 21 years ago - on both sides of the pond - with the anthemic, U2ish "Rain in the Summertime." (Weren't all Alarm songs anthemic and U2ish?) The Alarm lives on, via VH1 Classic, modern-rock radio flashback segments and beer commercials (Heineken licensed the Alarm's "68 Guns" for an ad campaign). It also exists again in real time: The band, which broke up in 1991, has resurfaced, with its frontman Peters leading a new configuration of musicians into the studio and onstage as the Alarm. A punky new Alarm album, "Guerilla Tactics," was just released via the band's Web site, and they'll perform tonight at the 9:30 club, as part of the "Rockin' the Colonies" http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_with_the_alarm.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/six_questions_with_the_alarm.html Interviews Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:14:01 -0400 Based on the old Young Rascals tune, "Groovin'," this is a delicious nothingburger of a pop-rap song about hanging in the park, drinking beer, grilling carne asada and bumping lowrider-worthy oldies with your homeys on a carefree Sunday afternoon - which may or may not make LSOB the Latin-rap equivalent of Loverboy. It's pretty much the perfect summer jam, particularly if you've ever cruised Whittier Boulevard (which I have, though I wasn't technically cruising - not in the '87 Toyota Tercel hatchback that I drove when I lived in the armpit of Los Angeles). As a bonus, LSOB's principals had pretty memorable stage names: Don't Try to Xerox and One Dope Mexican. !Órale! http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_9_on_a.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_9_on_a.html Summer Mixtape Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:38:14 -0400 Who were the geniuses who decided to release M.I.A.'s "Kala" on Aug. 21 of last summer? If any album was meant to be blasted at full volume during the hottest and most humid days of the year it was Ms. Arulpragasam's world-tour-de-force. As it was, it was almost an entire summer wasted. Songs like "Bamboo Banga" and "Bird Flu" get me sweating even in the confines of my freezing office, but I keep coming back to the trippy, gunshot-ringing, Clash-sampling "Paper Planes." I'll admit my love of the song has been renewed since it has been used in the trailer for what will hopefully be the funniest movie of the summer. But even before it got the Rogen bump, this was the song most likely to blow out the crappy sound system on my Elantra. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_8_paper_p.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/summer_mixtape_track_8_paper_p.html Summer Mixtape Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:47:14 -0400 I have a very special relationship with my Starbucks baristas. I go to the same store at the same time and order the same thing every day. They see me walk in the door and my drink is ready before I even get to the register. See, the "evil corporations" have a human side, too. Yesterday the customer/barista relationship took a new turn. As I was paying the barista said: "So, I have to ask, what are you listening to? You have those headphones on every day." It's true, I have headphones on every day. And not lame ear buds, some seriously big Sennheisers that block out all other sound. My death will surely come by getting struck by an ambulance that I don't hear because I was listening to Mclusky way, way too loud. Anyway, at that moment I was listening to an especially obscure band, even by my http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/adventures_in_hipster_profilin.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/07/adventures_in_hipster_profilin.html Randomness Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:22:52 -0400