am/fm

I'm finally catching up with all the CDs from February that I've wanted to listen to. My openness to new music waxes and wanes, and right now it seems to be waxing (which is the one that indicates that it's getting bigger, just to clarify).
"New Magnetic Wonder" is the Apples first record in five years. I had actually thought that the group was on permanent hiatus until I heard news of this album, so I was really excited to hear it. And I really like it. Their signature pop-psychedelic sound is still in tact, with shades of Beatles and Beach Boys.
Laced with >20 second interludes, the construction of the album is as playful as the album itself. And how can you not love a song called "Vocoder Ba-Ba," which is exactly what it says it is. The actual songs deliver as well, of course, otherwise this would all be one big gimmick. It's just quirky enough to keep it interesting without being too precious.

So Teddybears is another group that I've heard a lot about, but I haven't actually listened to .. well, except if you count hearing this song in a Cadillac commercial. Thing is, although I kind of registered the presence of Iggy Pop, I didn't even realize this was a real song. I thought it was just some sort of jingle (one that didn't make too much sense, because Cadillac and Iggy? Really?) Today, though, preparing the listings for tomorrow's paper, I went to Teddybears' site , 'cause they're playing Hiro Ballroom on Thursday and Studio B on Friday.
This video is streaming on their site, and I realized that I quite like this song. I always kind of absentmindedly tapped my foot along to the commercial, while doing whatever it is I'm doing to distract myself from commercials (usually a crossword puzzle). Now I'm dying to hear the whole album, but my desk is a crazy mess, and I just don't have the energy to sift through 100 CDs right now to find it. So I'll keep you posted.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Sometimes you hear about a band so much that you're sick of them before you even hear one track. This was the case with me and Bloc Party. So much praise was heaped on their debut, "Silent Alarm," [ETA: oops, I should fact-check the blog sometimes too.] ] that I jumped immediately to backlash in my evaluation of the group. This was most unfair of me, and kind of stupid. I just got around to listening to their sophomore album "A Weekend in the City," which was released earlier in the month, and it was a rare instance in which I loved it right away.
Their moody, electronic, neo New Wave is nothing new, but they do it well. And their lyrics are smart and passionate. I don't think sincerity is always an indicator of greatness, but these guys wear their hearts on their consumerism-hating sleeves to excellent effect. It helps that they're espousing values that I happen to agree with: anti-corporation, -conformity, -disingenuousness. It helps too that lead singer Kele Okereke successfully navigates the line between plaintive and preachy.

Check out "Hunting for Witches"

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

A marriage of two of my favorite things: indie rock and cartoons. Back before Cartoon Network became wall-to-wall "Family Guy," they had some interesting and weird things on. This video, they would sometimes play between commercial breaks.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I love that this song is used for commercials (it's "This is the Day," by The The). It's in this M&Ms commercial, and it was in a Dockers commercial a while back, and it was played over the credits of "Empire Records." The thing is, though the chorus goes "This is the day/your life will surely change./This is the day/when things fall into place," this is not actually a positive song. The "you" of the song is an unmotivated slacker that does nothing but sit around and wait for life to happen to him. The tone of the chorus is more akin to that part in "Loser" where Beck samples (from a film called "Kill the Moonlight") "I'm a driver. I'm a winner. Things are going to change. I can feel it."
But maybe in the end, this song is an appropriate one to score an ad: "Buy this candy. It'll change your life, loser. Whatever."

The full song (and a defense of "Empire Records"), after the jump.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Thursday night, I went to Lincoln Center's American Songbook concert featuring Jesse Harris, Richard Julian and Sasha Dobson.
I was initially attracted to this show because I recognized Jesse Harris as the author of "Don't Know Why," and a few other Norah Jones hits, but disappointingly, his set was the least compelling.
He played some sophisticated pop with a jazz undertone, but, frankly, it was just a little boring. And after my friend pointed it out, I just couldn't get past the fact that he sounds a lot like David Gray.
Fortunately, things picked up when Richard Julian took the stage. Looking like a folksier Johnny Depp, Julian took the energy level way up with his folk-rock ditties. His lyrics are smart and funny, and his music simple and straightforward. Thursday night, he introduced a new song, "Syndicated," which was a great exploration of living in America these days, and having a love-hate relationship with our homeland.
Then Dobson and Harris came out, for a three-way jam session. The three singer/songwriters are friends and collaborators, and that familiar relationship came out in their playing together. They did an fun, uptempo cover of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs' "Modern Romance," and it was interesting to look around the room and see who recognized it and who didn't. They audience was pretty evenly split between older Lincoln Center subscription holders and young hipsters.
One thing that turned me off, however, was that when they finished the song, Dobson told the audience only that it was the title track from her album, not that it was a cover.
The rest of her set was pretty cool. Her bassist was really talented, and totally stole the show with his solos. Dobson herself, who comes from a jazz family, has a cool, old fashioned (in a good way) voice.
The show, at an hour and a half, seemed a little bit long, but it was a nice night out.

I've always been fascinated by transitory, isolated places. I love hotel bars (even in my own city), days-long train rides, ex-pat communities; existing and interacting with people in a place that belongs to no one.
This Pitchfork interview sheds some light on another temporary community, the scientists working on Antarctica. They talk specifically about the music scene down there, which sounds surprisingly vibrant -- although it shouldn't be that surprising that a group of intelligent people finds a way to blow off some steam through art. The man they talk with, Sean Corkey has his own MySpace page, where you can here some of his tunes. Not bad. Give him a listen and pretend you're holed up in some shack with the other 125 winter residents having a good time and trying to forget the cold and desolate wasteland outside.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

He's a local boy, and he plays here a lot (in fact, he's playing Tonic on Saturday) so his name comes up often when I do the listings. Unfortunately, due to something that I call "too much music ear," I haven't actually listened to him until today. Whilst perusing Said the Gramophone, I found this track, "Mr. Disgrace." Pretty cool, huh?
Check out more at Luke's MySpace page.

... but this is pretty funny.

I've always thought Valentine's Day was kind of a silly holiday, designed to make singles feel inadequate and couples feel pressured to do something "extra special" to prove the worth of their couple-ness.
I'm not a romantic, you could say.
To that end, I made a special Valentine's Day mix, with songs about couples in dysfunctional relationships or people with unhealthy passions. It's funny and sad, for a day that's mostly pathetic.

1. Alone Again Or - Calexico
Yes, there's been a lot of these guys on the site as of late, but I'm really digging them right now, and this song (originally recorded by Love) is a great one about loneliness and wanting to be loved.

2. Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park
I liked this song the first second I heard it. Lead singer Paul Smith sounds so manic and so desperate.

3. Modern Romance - TV on the Radio
This is a cover of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs song, but something about TVotR's a capella version is all the more haunting.

More after the jump.

My sister and I have a joke that she's the hippie and I'm the punk of the family (or I have this joke, and she doesn't get mad when I say it); she's partial to music with bongos in it, and I'm partial to bands that have a lead screamer, but there is some crossover in our musical tastes. Years ago, she turned me on to a little band called Dispatch. This song specifically:

But they also have a lot of other great tunes (and a couple jammy duds). And, although they broke up three years ago, the members are still very active in the music scene. Here's where this post gets relevant. Chad Urmston is now in a band called State Radio, and they're playing Bowery Ballroom this Friday. AND! Dispatch is reuniting for a special fundraiser for Zimbabwe this summer (July 13-15 at Madison Square Garden). Learn more, and stream tunes from all of their albums here.

American Songbook: Calexico at The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Feb. 8.

(credit: atease)

Thursday night was not looking good. I was on my third day of a severe cold, and I had already had three beers by the time the show started (one was chugged in the lobby as the show was starting; they didn't tell us when we bought them that we couldn't bring them inside). Needless to say, I was more prepared for a 12-hour nap than a concert.
All that changed when we stepped inside the theater. This is supposed to be a concert review, but the room itself is worth a mention. The Allen Room has a modified jazz club setting, with two rows of tables set up in the front, and amphitheater style seating beyond that, which gives the room an intimate feel even though it can seat a moderate amount of people. The real dazzling feature, however, is the wall behind the performers, which is a two or three story glass window looking out onto Columbus Circle. Pictures cannot do it justice (and photography is generally not allowed), so if you have the chance to go see something there, go see something there.

On to the music, after the jump.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I've talked about this band before, but they really are one of my secret favorites. Meaning, every few weeks, I discover them and play their album non-stop for a few days, and then forget about them again.
So this weekend I rediscovered them when they came up in rotation on my iPod while I was walking around in Astoria. They are a great band to take a walk to; I like to pretend I'm in a foreign country while I listen.
Anyway, here's their video for "Festival."

Their new album, "Tio Bitar," is due out May 1.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

I interviewed Joey Burns of Calexico last week for a story to preview their gig tonight at Jazz at Lincoln Center. We talked for about half an hour, and about a third what he said made it into the story. That's just the way it goes sometimes. But he shared a great story, kind of epitomizing what it's like for the group to be on tour, that was just too good for me to keep to myself.

So after the jump, Joey talks about the band's lust for adventure.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

This is awesome.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

There was no one song that stood out this weekend, but on my way to work this morning, the Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right" came up in the shuffle on my iPod, which made me nostalgic for my radio listening days and Malibu Sue's Flashback Lunch.

So here's a little Flashback Snack.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Their website hasn't been updated in ages, there are no plans for touring anytime soon (especially since Janet Weiss just signed on as full-time drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks), but Quasi's 2006 album, "When the Going Gets Dark," is awesome. And the going definitely has gotten dark. It would be putting it mildly to say that Weiss and her partner in crime Sam Coomes are dismayed by the current state of affairs. The album is full of tension and dissonance. Coomes sings like he's either pleading for his life or has already given up. Droning, heavy bass and angry piano keep the music driving forward. It's a dreary but kick ass soundtrack for an apocalypse.

"Alice the Goon"

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com

Via stereogum, punker Ted Leo is looking for background actors for a video shoot in Williamsburg this Sunday. They're even promising free food. The song is “Bomb Repeat Bomb” from the new album, which is due in stores March 20.

-- Emily Hulme, www.amNY.com