Friday Rock City
by The Scene on February 29th, 2008
As we progress deep into the heart of Noise Pop, we think this may be a good opportunity to offer one of the least indie-rock songs in the Nothing Room library. Full On Flyhead’s “Little Man” is a heavy, prog-metal song that starts small and builds up to a fury of epic cacophony of rock that even Maynard would be proud of. Give it a listen as you shuttle between seeing twee-pop bands and blog-house dance parties and your balls will grow three sizes overnight, we guarantee.*
“Little Man” - Full On Flyhead
*Guarantee Not Guaranteed
SFTS’s First Annual Epically Non-Comprehensive Hung Over Noise Pop Coverage
by The Scene on February 29th, 2008
So we got to the Noise Pop party one day late. We would have made it to the Walkmen’s show at the Independent on Wednesday had we been paying enough attention to actually remember that it was happening far enough in advance to score tickets. But alas, our first Noise Pop show this year was the Blitzen Trapper/Fleet Foxes/Here Here/Sholi show at Bottom of the Hill yesterday.
Our memory of Sholi is fuzzy and we were out in the back not paying attention and trying to not smoke cigarettes during most of Fleet Foxes’ set, which is a shame because P4k just gave them a sloppy bj of an album review this morning so we feel like we probably should have been paying attention. We’d seen Here Here w/Holy Fuck (who is playing tonight, a show that all reasonable people need to attend) and the Super Furry Animals about a month ago and they didn’t impress us very much. They have a very big Arcade Fire vibe going on and we’re of the opinion that if your band has more than 7 people in it, at least one of those people should not be playing at least 65% of the time. If you seen the Arcade Fire, you know what we’re talking about. Anyway, Here Here were much better this time - quite enjoyable really.
The main event was Blitzen Trapper and they, as always, did not disappoint. We’ve harped on this a bit earlier and, after seeing BT again, we can’t help but be intrigued by the fact that they really seem like a country band. If you were to take the song “Wild Mountain Nation,” make a video of them playing in an empty warehouse with an upside-down American flag on the wall, you could put it on CMT and they’d be the country music Nirvana. You wouldn’t have to change a note.
The problem with this is that the whole world of country music has been completely ghettoized, granted its an enormous, highly profitable ghetto, but a ghetto nonetheless. There are probably a lot of reasons for this but we’re going to place the blame squarely on Garth Brooks. Brooks isn’t terrible, per se, but his astronomical success in the early 90s really change the county music game and turned popular country music into a genre of shitty, bland pop songs with the occasional slide guitar and fiddle parts sung by people wearing cowboy hats. Granted there’s alt.country but that’s kinda small potatoes at this point. The real issue at hand is that no self-respecting musician who came up from outside the country music establishment would want to be associated with it in any “official” way. Sure, band’s like Ween can toss of an album of great country tunes, but they’re still considered a rock band at heart. All of this is a damn shame because what country music could really use right now is a kick in the pants, however that’s probably only going to come from the outside but until country loses its patently “uncool” vibe, the odds of that happening are virtually nil.
We guess, what we meant to say was the Blitzen Trapper absolutely killed. Killed.
Writing Album Reviews For Maxim
by The Scene on February 29th, 2008
With the recent scandal over Maxim publishing album reviews with the writers never actually having heard the album, we figured, “hey we can do that,” and so we humbly submit to the Arts Editor of Maxim Magazine a selection of our finest reviews of as-of-yet unreleased albums that we haven’t heard yet.
Presidents of the USA “These Are Good Times People” – The Presidents try to recapture some of the magic of their self-titled debut but, alas, all that comes out is a bland re-hash of past material that, once the nostalgia-based goodwill has dripped away, is the absolute picture of mediocrity. (2.5 stars)
Gnarls Barkley “The Odd Couple” – Everyone knows that the team of Cee- Lo and Danger Mouse can produce some odd results, but a 72-minute polka concept album about stuffed otters is not at all what we expected. Odd couple, indeed. (2.5 stars)
Mariah Carey “E=MC2” – No one had the heart to tell Ms. Carey that the “MC” in this stands for “mass times the speed of light” and not her initials. Oops, we didn’t want her to find out this way. If you see her, please assure her that herself times herself equals energy. (2.5 stars)
She & Him “Volume 1” – After the revelations of John McCain’s unquenchable thirst for infant blood, this collection of pretty, uplifting songs is just the thing to help dispirited Republicans wipe the grump off of their faces. (2.5 stars)
Scarlett Johansson “Anywhere I Lay My Head” – This is actually pretty good, she has a pretty decent voice. Yeah, not expecting that. (2.5 stars)
Blind Melon “For My Friends” – Fronted by the undead corpse of singer Shannon Hoon, Blind Melon are back in top form – delivering the rock and demanding the brains. (2.5 stars)
The Roots “Rising Down” – The Roots’ deeply political new album, with its third party championing title track, has become interestingly timely as loads of disaffected Republican voters abandon the party after the revelation that their party’s newly crowned presidential front-runner, Mike Huckabee, also has an unquenchable thirst for infant blood. (2.5 stars)
Guns ‘N Roses “Chinese Democracy” – Every year we waited, hoping and wishing that what Axl was doing really was fine tuning every note to pop-metal perfection, and, for our patience, we have been richly rewarded with an album of songs that feel both familiar and iconic the instant you hear them. This is Axl’s masterpiece, the complete and total culmination of his grand vision; it is an album that will be placed in the pantheon of greats for generations to come. No, just kidding it kind of sounds like a shitty Nickelback album. (2.5 stars)
Buddy Miles, R.I.P.
by The Scene on February 28th, 2008
Buddy Miles was mostly known for his work with Jimi Hendrix but we were always bigger fans of his work with Carols Santana. Here’s a video of him laying it down six inches thick so everyone else on stage can go absolutely ape shit. Man will be missed.
In Fact , It’s Pronounced “Mill-e-wah-que” Which Is Algonquin For “The Good Land.”
by The Scene on February 27th, 2008
While we’ve heard their name tossed about now and again, until recently we never actually give much of a listen to What Made Milwaukee Famous, who are actually from Austin, TX and not where you’d think. We think it’s a rule of thumb that when an indie band’s name denotes an actual place, they can’t be from that place. We’re looking in your direction We’re From Barcelona. Anyway, this song is called “Resistance St.” and it’s awesome.
“Resistance St.” - What Made Milwaukee Famous
Buckley
by The Scene on February 27th, 2008
With the passing of conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr., it may be a bit uncouth to produce a video clip where he get his proverbial rear end handed to him by Noam Chomsky in a debate over American imperialism however the part of this clip that really blows our minds is that fact that a debate this intelligently argued and essentially reasonable was ever on broadcast on television. If anyone watched any of the debate coverage last night, watching this video may be enough to make your head explode.
LCD
by The Scene on February 26th, 2008
When LCD Soundsystem stops being awesome we’ll stop posting about every little thing James Murphy does. Since that hasn’t happened yet, here’s a new song called “Big Ideas” off the soundtrack to the upcoming movie 21, which is about math nerds counting cards and beating the house at Vegas casinos. It’s a little bit Kraftwerk, a little bit disco and 100% knowing exactly what makes us happy.
Blitzen Trapper As A Country Band
by The Scene on February 26th, 2008
High-powered Oregonians Blitzen Trapper just dropped an iTunes-exclusive live/acoustic EP called…umm…Live/Acoustic EP and color us impressed. When we last saw them live, the Trapper surprised us with how country their music is. On their previous records, the band only lets the occasional glimpse of their yee-haw side out but in this low-key release, a back-porch, finger-picking vibe is pervasive. It reminds us of nothing as much as the Jerry Garcia/David Grisman/Tony Rice Pizza Tapes jam session, although that might just been the last time we heard such a grin-inducing cover of “Shady Grove”.
You can see it all for yourself when Blitzen Trapper plays Bottom of the Hill this Thursday (2/28) for Noise Pop w/ Fleet Foxes.
Homework
by The Scene on February 26th, 2008
Tonight’s assignment is simple. Listen to this new track, “I Box Up All The Butterflies,” from The Boy Least Likely To. Dance around to it and tell yourself that the song isn’t awesome in spite of how twee it is, it’s awesome because of how twee it is.
Question: Is the term “twee” pejorative? If so, does it have to be? If not, on a scale of 1-10, how mad did it make you when Belle & Sebastian started writing happy songs about sexual harassment and having gay sex with Mike Piazza?
Secret Facebooking
by The Scene on February 25th, 2008
Even though it’s unlikely that your employer pays you to play Scrabble and stalk your ex-girlfriends all days, we’re pretty sure you spend most of your workday on Facebook all day. It’s cool, you don’t have to deny it, at least not to us. In fact, the only person to whom you may have to deny it to is your boss. But even the most sincere sounding denials are meaningless in face of cold hard proof if your goofing around, this is why this video on how to avoid getting caught on Facebook at work by your boss is invaluable.
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