Midsummer Night's Soundtrack
St. Elsewhere Gnarles Barkley
I think I wanted this, and expected this, to be way better than it actually is. That being said, it's still pretty good, though I think it kinda pales next to Danger Doom, or the Danger Mouse/Gemini record, or the Grey Album. Some guy from My Morning Jacket wrote in a recent Sunday NY Times that it's evidence that one or both of these guys (Cee Lo from Goodie Mob and Danger Mouse) will go on to something in league with Marvin Gay or Al Green or somebody like that. Ok, Dusty Baker, slow down a bit before you hand the game ball out. Basically, it sounds like a lot of the Andre songs from Outkast records, just more concise and less annoying. If that's digital Motown then I guess the critics are right.
Rather Ripped Sonic Youth
Supposedly cobbled and formed from little instrumentals Thurston had put together for use in television commercials (according to Thurston in a recent Bust interview)...If that's true than by all means, get this guy some more work with Nabisco and Target. The media angle is that it's Sonic Youth's Terror Twilight, which is maybe the stupidest thing I've read in the last two weeks. It's really just a normal Sonic record, sans the 3 minute noise codas that usually bookend the songs, that just happens to be (in my opinion) maybe the most accessible thing they've ever done. Jeff Clark is right: "Incinerate" sounds like it could have been on Chronic Town.
"Song Against Sex" Neutral Milk Hotel You Tube
MB always talks about how amazing Jeremy Barnes was. I had kind of forgotten, as the last time I saw them, I think, was way before they started playing with like 50 people. Watch this and you may agree. Bonhamesque...man.
The Greatest Cat Power
Somewhat annoying Matador prodigy teams up with old, weathered, BBQeatin Memphis session guys. And somehow, it works, if you don't mind the fact that your dad would probably enjoy it just as much as that Norah Jones record he gave you for Christmas. I never really bought into the Cat Power myth but I thought this was as good a place to start as any.
Out Of Cold Storage This Heat
This Heat would have been perfect for that feature Vice ran a few years ago on "10 Bands who everyone claims to like but no one really does"...except for the fact that no one really claims to like This Heat as no one has really heard of them in the first place. Part of this may stem from the fact that NO ONE really sounds like This Heat, so it's difficult to really cite them as influences for bands you like. That being said, I would be shocked if any of the following (Yo La Tengo, The Slits, The Fall, Stereolab, Broadcast, Radiohead, Slint, Matthew Herbert, Antipop Consortium, Company Flow, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Matmos, Mouse on Mars, Tortoise etc. etc. etc.) have not listened and learned from the small but powerful collection of sounds the band produced from the late 1970s to early 1980s. This box set collects both of their LP's, a much-sought-after maxi single, an essential Peel Session, a less essential posthumous release, and a live record. Consisting of three players, two of whom played standard rock instruments and the third "tapes," and coming out of the same era that produced now radio worthy acts such as Gang of Four and Wire, This Heat sounds more machine than man, more Cage than Kansas, but reserves the right, at any time, to lay down the tightest, most angular, guitar, bass, drum interplay this side of Spiderland. If I haven't sold you on the box set, at least spring for one of the individual records, now in steady re-release.
I think I wanted this, and expected this, to be way better than it actually is. That being said, it's still pretty good, though I think it kinda pales next to Danger Doom, or the Danger Mouse/Gemini record, or the Grey Album. Some guy from My Morning Jacket wrote in a recent Sunday NY Times that it's evidence that one or both of these guys (Cee Lo from Goodie Mob and Danger Mouse) will go on to something in league with Marvin Gay or Al Green or somebody like that. Ok, Dusty Baker, slow down a bit before you hand the game ball out. Basically, it sounds like a lot of the Andre songs from Outkast records, just more concise and less annoying. If that's digital Motown then I guess the critics are right.
Rather Ripped Sonic Youth
Supposedly cobbled and formed from little instrumentals Thurston had put together for use in television commercials (according to Thurston in a recent Bust interview)...If that's true than by all means, get this guy some more work with Nabisco and Target. The media angle is that it's Sonic Youth's Terror Twilight, which is maybe the stupidest thing I've read in the last two weeks. It's really just a normal Sonic record, sans the 3 minute noise codas that usually bookend the songs, that just happens to be (in my opinion) maybe the most accessible thing they've ever done. Jeff Clark is right: "Incinerate" sounds like it could have been on Chronic Town.
"Song Against Sex" Neutral Milk Hotel You Tube
MB always talks about how amazing Jeremy Barnes was. I had kind of forgotten, as the last time I saw them, I think, was way before they started playing with like 50 people. Watch this and you may agree. Bonhamesque...man.
The Greatest Cat Power
Somewhat annoying Matador prodigy teams up with old, weathered, BBQeatin Memphis session guys. And somehow, it works, if you don't mind the fact that your dad would probably enjoy it just as much as that Norah Jones record he gave you for Christmas. I never really bought into the Cat Power myth but I thought this was as good a place to start as any.
Out Of Cold Storage This Heat
This Heat would have been perfect for that feature Vice ran a few years ago on "10 Bands who everyone claims to like but no one really does"...except for the fact that no one really claims to like This Heat as no one has really heard of them in the first place. Part of this may stem from the fact that NO ONE really sounds like This Heat, so it's difficult to really cite them as influences for bands you like. That being said, I would be shocked if any of the following (Yo La Tengo, The Slits, The Fall, Stereolab, Broadcast, Radiohead, Slint, Matthew Herbert, Antipop Consortium, Company Flow, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Matmos, Mouse on Mars, Tortoise etc. etc. etc.) have not listened and learned from the small but powerful collection of sounds the band produced from the late 1970s to early 1980s. This box set collects both of their LP's, a much-sought-after maxi single, an essential Peel Session, a less essential posthumous release, and a live record. Consisting of three players, two of whom played standard rock instruments and the third "tapes," and coming out of the same era that produced now radio worthy acts such as Gang of Four and Wire, This Heat sounds more machine than man, more Cage than Kansas, but reserves the right, at any time, to lay down the tightest, most angular, guitar, bass, drum interplay this side of Spiderland. If I haven't sold you on the box set, at least spring for one of the individual records, now in steady re-release.
posted by mcsquared at
2:20 PM
2 Comments:
on This Heat...
Amen, brother.
I just caught the Dusty Baker reference, man that was awesome.
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