LCD Soundsystem on “The Colbert Report”

I was there

                In the midst of my favorite social peers. We were together, willing to celebrate the joyous event. Stephen Colbert smiled gallantly at the illustrious young audience. One could feel the love in the air. It was Valentine’s Day, and everyone sat in anticipation for the musical guest, a rarity for the Colbert Report. LCD Soundsystem was going to play, but first we’d have to play Colbert’s game, being willing participants in laughter, applause. Usually the musical guests tended to be bands less authentic, less hip. After the Daily Show had the Grammy-winning ‘Arcade Fire’ perform, Colbert had to step his game up. 

                I was there

                As Stephen Colbert made some funny jokes about Muburak. These varied in effectiveness. Honestly, I felt like all the jokes about Muburak had already been made as Colbert got ripped from my side last week. Feeling confused, scared, wondering why Colbert would just take off a random week like that. Thankfully it didn’t last too long. 

                I was there

                Listening to Colbert mention something I’d explored earlier. My article about Paul Wooten got mentioned, kind of. Originally the New York Times wrote about it, but my commentary on it was vaguely more humorous. Copying some of my questions, like how old is too young to sue a kid, was a nice touch. Part of me felt a certain kinsman ship to Mr. Colbert. He ‘got it’. 

                I was there

                Watching with eager anticipation as some 41 year old came on stage. This would be James Murphy’s last television broadcast appearance as LCD Soundsystem. Good thing I saw them at Terminal 5, before they started asking for mortgage down payments in order to pay for tickets. But I sat, quivering with pure uncut excitement as this disheveled mid-age man explained after LCD Soundsystem he wanted to follow his dream. Even at his old age, he felt he could still make coffee, could still run DFA Records, and still pump up the jams of varying degrees of intensity. 

                I was there

                Hearing the first bits of the song “I can change” I thought how appropriate. But really, I don’t want James Murphy to change. I want him to continue to have his awesome band until it dies an inglorious death. Each synthesizer makes it worth it, all 8 of them. Multiple drummers, random woman as a ‘romantic interest’, LCD Soundsystem had it all. Playing a short song bothered me a wee bit, as the audience began to get both ‘hot’ and ‘bothered’ by the intensity of their performance. We wanted a hit, but we knew he doesn’t do hits. Indeed it was tough, because we hadn’t had enough, but then he hit the road.

The Bucket List: People I’d like in my Facebook Profile Picture

               Bucket lists offer a peek into your soul. All that wishes, hopes, dreams are revealed in what appears to be an innocuous list of things. Usually people create it as a way of exploring their most suppressed sexual fantasies, but that’s not all there is.

                Facebook offers one the opportunity to look cool in front of their peers. Some seem to have misconstrued this to mean “Let me hook this up to my twitter and annoy my friends.” Others discovered that by posting and commenting on every political story that comes into their RSS feed. Yes, we get it. Aren’t you ever so opinionated? You get music nerds who post up youtube clips that make you shudder out of embarrassment. No one else shares your love of disco, sorry. Last but not least, there are the dreaded tech fans who get aroused at every new techie product they probably can’t afford or shouldn’t buy.

                The main way of looking cool on facebook: profile pictures. Without even having to read any of the lame quotes (oh, you quoted Nietzsche on your profile, poor tortured soul. Maybe you should read more than two sentences of the guy’s stuff, hmm?) You know how cool that person will be. I never have profile pictures with other people; they are always me, alone. Honestly, I’m not bothered by this, but I wonder how people would react if I had someone else, someone vaguely internet or nerd-famous standing with me. Below are some of the people who might give my humble profile a slight boost. They are categorized by my likelihood of actually meeting them. Let’s begin.

Fairly likely to meet them:

1.       The Hipster Grifter – She’s great. I’ve covered her before, and she goes all over New York City. A few of my friends have met her, greatly improving their respectability.

2.       IMBOYCRAZY.COM (Alexi Wasser) – She’s great. However, she lives in California, so my chances of seeing her in Brooklyn are slim. Plus, she does guerrilla-style interviewing with boys asking them about girls. I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be getting filmed and explaining my thoughts on love, since I have complicated thoughts on that.

3.       Tao Lin – I don’t live terribly far from him. As cool as it would be to meet him, most of my friends in real life have no idea who he is, despite my slight nudges that perhaps they ought to read his books. 

Unlikely to meet them:

4.       David Duchovny – Apparently he hangs out in Brooklyn a lot. Most of my friends would know who he is. When I’m fifty, if I look this good and am this well-read, my life will have been a success. 

5.       Thomas Pynchon – He lives in New York. Despite popular belief, he’s not a recluse, he just dislikes journalists. People can and do meet him, it isn’t particularly tricky. But you need the timing right and the correct vibe. Failure to have either one of these things results in a failure to meet him. What having him in my profile picture would be to simultaneously have a secret and a real scoop, though if he were there, he’d probably just look like some old intellectual dude?

6.       Kim Jong-Il – Yeah, I know this is a weird one. Hear me out. I’d try to get a visa to see the film festival there. Since he personally approves each visitor (they don’t have too many) I might have a fairly decent shot of going. I could claim to be an unpopular blogger who writes for a super-elite group of hipsters.  Oddly, my light poking of his stature could help me. When he saw “Team America” he wasn’t bothered by the obvious mocking of him throughout the movie. Instead, he was annoyed that his puppet didn’t get its own sex scene. So we’re dealing with an extremely strange individual here. Plus, as most of my friends are political junkies, they’d know who he was. Bonus would be to my weird cred, which is calculated by random trips and experiences. I’m ahead in this field. 

7.       Mayo Thompson – I adore him. This is the guy who was cool decades before you knew what he was doing was cool. Every music project of his is excellent, tastefully appointed and artsy as fuck. You can’t come close to this guy’s meticulous timing. A few of my friends would know who he was, since I have a lot of music nerd friends who are confused by him. Even the hippies were afraid of him and he did acid with the secretary of transportation. Oddly, our transportation infrastructure was much better back then, so I have an idea of how to improve it which wouldn’t cost much money at all. 

8.       James Murphy – Many of these people are older than me, at least the unlikely to meet people. I need to meet people older than myself, to convince myself that it is possible to be cool at a certain age, rather than falling into some mid-life crisis buying a red convertible problem. He’s a cool guy and knows way too much about music. Somehow, that seemingly useless information served him well. 

9.       You, dear reader – Sadly, I will never meet any of my readers. This worries me, as great deals of you are cool, hip, relevant people. You spread intelligence, humorous musings, and joy throughout the land. Most of you I imagine are around my age, which would help me get out of being the ‘baby’ of my workplace.

Any of these people could be perfect for that perfect profile picture. I hope someday they’ll grace me with their presence and make me a better, happier person. Who out of these people would you want a picture with? Did I leave out anyone who you think deserves greater attention?

Nurse With Wound List: The Project

I’m a tremendous music snob. Some see this as a never-ending problem of mine, my need to endlessly criticize popular music. But that’s not all I do. Another one of my goals is to help others understand that simply because something is obscure or abstract does not necessarily mean it is good or a high-quality product.

                Thus I come to the holy grail of music snobbery/avid drooling record collectors: The Nurse With Wound List. Packaged with Nurse with Wound’s first album “Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and Umbrella” and expanded on their second album, it served as a tribute to the artists who helped influence the Nurse with Wound project. Some of these artists are certainly worth hearing; I doubt you’ll hear much that sounds like AMM or Cromagnon. On the other hand, there’s also some serious filler or showing off at hand. Some of these artists’ inclusion seems like a precursor to James Murphy’s ode to the pissing contest “I’m losing my edge” with pointless name-dropping.

                Both opinions are equally valid. Steve Stapleton suffers from ideas in both camps. On one hand, he does produce an excellent product on occasion. However, as is the case with so many industrial/avant-garde artists, he suffers from being a poor editor of his work. Instead of being obsessed with creating a great product, a great deal of his releases take advantage of the rabid fan base that he’s accumulated over the years with his releases. In other words, he shouldn’t release limited edition runs of pure garbage for the sake of raising money to live in Ireland.

                What I hope to do as I go through this list is to point out the good, the bad, the indulgent, the repetitive, the unnecessary, and the sublime. Already I’ve done about two artists off this list (Red Krayola and Cromagnon). Hopefully this project of mine will produce some great fruits. I have no promise that this will be finished in a year or two. Rather, think of this as something going on in the background, as I try to sort through what’s worth searching out. Besides, I do try to give each recording I review multiple listens, to see if there’s something I might have missed the first time around. Any recording or artist from the list will be specifically tagged as “Nurse with Wound list” to allow you to better sort through the countless artists (well, 294 artists isn’t countless, but it is a lot). 

                People ought to enjoy music for its quality, not some perceived indie or street cred. One should be able to appreciate it on something besides its exclusivity or rarity. And some of the artists on this list are near impossible to find in print or even on the internet. Most are from an era of pure weird, when hippies roamed the Earth as actual hippies rather than whatever it is you’d call them now (sorry, the world isn’t as kind to idealism as it once was). So that means a great deal of creativity was unleashed, along with excessive amounts of indulgence.

                Hopefully you’ll be able to better sort through this so-called “shopping list” with a better idea of what to purchase/get rather than simply standing with jaw agape.

Best of 2010: Mix CD

Well put, Fabio.

Extremely influential figures have asked me to create a MIX CD encompassing all of the best material from the best albums for the whole year. I answered them that ‘I’m game’. 

                What you’ll see below is my attempt to try and pick apart each track. Some of these tracks readers might recognize from their inclusion in previous Mix CDs. To them, I say that repetition isn’t always a bad thing, and with EPs, I don’t really have a choice. 

                Hopefully you’ll enjoy the said items. I know it is a MIX but it goes on for a bit (two discs). Each one of these songs is pretty exceptional and close to my heart. Since I do have a somewhat strange set of bands here, I’ll try my best to set them accordingly. Enjoy!

Disc 1

1.       LCD Soundsytem: One Touch

I feel a lot of people quietly liked this album. Usually though people ended up talking about some of the other tracks before this one. Each time I got frustrated this year, this song instantly played in my head. Personally, it served as my internal freak out song, allowing me to cope with whatever ridiculous situation came up. The nervous vocal delivery is excellent, and the music feels like it is about to explode at all times. 

2.       Peter Gordon and the Love of Life Orchestra – Another Heartbreak/Don’t Don’t Redux

Yeah, this got released on DFA, so I figured it ought to be followed James Murphy’s project. Peter’s stuff tends to be mellower, slower but still possessing that funk that makes him a good fit for what’s going on musically right now. It bounces and even has a saxophone in a song that I actually like (full disclosure: Peter is a trained saxophonist). 

3.       Laetitia Sadier – Un Soir, Un Chien

This is a cover of Les Rita Mitsouko’s classic hit. Laetitia tightens up the sound a little bit, and gives it a faster tempo. Even though they are cosmetic changes, I like her version more than the original. Perhaps the old one lacks some of the urgency Laetitia adds, like Catherine Ringer’s singing from too far away. 

4.       Beach House – Lover of Mine

Most of the album is solid, so I had a bit of trouble picking the best song. But I think the little buildup over halfway through the song does it for me. After we have all that stability of sound, she breaks it down a little bit. It is a minor thing, but it really wins me over. 

5.       Ja Prawn – Soulja Boi

Ah yes, I liked these guys. Nobody else did, at least on the East Coast. Perhaps they received a warmer reception in California, where they are based. This one conjures up images of Add N to (X) if the anger got replaced by mellow depression. 

6.       Toro Y Moi – Imprint After

Chad is the man. He created the happiest music I encountered this year. My thoughts are if he released his album in the summer, it might have gotten a warmer reception. Releasing it so early in the year worked against him, I feel. I’m going back to my seasonal attitude in music. Anyway, here’s a sweet little number off of “Causers of This”

7.       Deepchord Presents Echospace – BCN Dub

Some people have a thing for short songs. I’m clearly not one of them. Rather, I enjoy burning through the long haul ones, so long as they are good. BCN Dub is the centerpiece for their album, and I’d strongly recommend the whole thing. It is just perfect dance music, well-done and in little danger of growing stale (something dance music is always in danger of).

8.       Outer Limits Recordings – Burnin’ Through the Nite

Part of me wants to apologize to you, since you’ll have this stuck in your head for about 8 months. But I see this one as a way of blocking out those bad, modern pop songs. Whenever I get some garbage music stuck in my mind, I put this on and immerse myself in its innocent charm. 

9.       Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round and Round

Pitchfork put this as their track of the year, so it must be good, right? I have this after the radio announcer has drunkenly signed off. It just feels right. Ariel Pink is having an awesome year this year, so I guess you can celebrate with him by imbibing this track. Going to a few concerts in New York, there seems to be a knee-jerk reaction against this song, like it got overplayed. Honestly I think it is impossible to overplay this gem. 

Disc 2

10.   VHS Head – Remote Control

Nobody I know even heard of this, yet when I played it for them they adored it. Released this year on Skam, he ended up being criminally neglected. Maybe I’m a bit of an Anglophile regarding this kind of electronic music, but he gets the pacing down perfectly. 

11.   Mark Fell – Multistability 10-A

People either love or hate this guy. I put this on here to see your reaction. Mark Fell goes through years without putting out anything, and then releases two albums in the course of a month. Oh well, I’m glad he’s on something of a roll right now. Here’s one of my favorites from his recent output. 

12.   Women – Locust Valley

Now we’ve moved away from the electronic for the most part. Women remain one of my favorite bands of the whole year. Actually their album is pretty moody, so I wanted to pick out a song I thought best embodied the darkness they seemed best acquainted. I tend to put their album on a lot, listening to it from start to finish, always finding something new to like.  

13.   Stereolab – Sun Demon

A real bright light of sunshine we have here. This is Stereolab’s last output, perhaps forever. I like the multiple sections, and all the classic hallmarks of their good stuff. Really their album has more gems like this, so I went through some trouble picking out a song. Listen to the whole thing at some point, it is truly grand. 

14.   Rangers – Deerfield Village

In case you want to spend a day doing nothing but staring at clouds, I could think of worse records then this to do it. Rangers embody that lazy Sunday afternoon feeling to me, that is, if I didn’t work on Sundays. To be fair, their material does take some time to grow on you but I’d put it up there with Ducktails in terms of quality. 

15.   Chris Weisman & Greg Davis – Hat or Night

Chris’s voice takes some getting used to, but once it clicks you’re set. Nothing raises its voice here, it is almost pure calm. Only at the end does it actually create a sing-along chorus, as if it had always been there. 

16.   Weed – Quilt

Lo-fi rocks at its finest here. Not only do you get the joy of the warm layers of fuzz, but there’s some great pop song-writing here as well. I have no idea why this guy doesn’t get paid more attention, especially once compared to the lackluster Wavves dude. 

17.   No Age – Valley Crush

Valley Crush comes closest to No Age growing up. Here you have a full-bodied song. A lot of that static and grime you knew has been partly polished away, to reveal that they were always pretty good song writers. 

18.   Harlem – Crowd Pleaser

Harlem did get some great coverage. I’m happy for that. Seeing them live is absolutely worth it, they have a sort of psychopathic energy that so few bands have. If I had to describe it, it would be like a bunch of kids not knowing the rules and doing whatever. Here’s one of my favorites of theirs. 

19.   Nerve City – Armory

Nobody talked about these guys. That primitive beat, the western twang, all comes together to form a real stomper of a track. How this forms into a great drunken chorus at the end it beyond me, but I’m glad it exists.

20.   Keith Fullerton Whitman – Generator 1

Listening to this, I’m reminded of a living, breathing organism. The patterns are as natural as possible; Keith’s intention for the pieces was to let the music create itself. Setting a few basic perimeters, he created pure ambient bliss. I guess you could taste colors listening to this or some other absolutely bizarre thing, I rarely hear anything this trippy or good. 

21.   Panda Bear – Count on Me

I really wanted Panda Bear to release his album. He didn’t. But the singles are fantastic, and I wanted this song to bid you adieu. Have a fond farewell and let the man in a Panda Costume give you a hug.