L Bedford Station, Brooklyn 2013

There are times when moments of the present variety will be analyzed at a later time for it’s unique place in history. It can be good, bad, and at times both, considering the perspective of the particular person. I’ve been in the middle of the 1st, some say, failed modern gold rush of the late 90′s with the dot com tech boom/bust in San Francisco. And after that period, falling back on the world I tried to escape from, I was back in the mortgage world for that inevitable horrific destruction. I am now back on the colder coast, and in what I believe to be a wholly positive historical period which will be looked upon in the future as a moment where people will wish that they were here to experience it. An influential time that will have a ripple effect upon the people it will effect. What is it ? It has nothing to do with music, so I’ll share it at another time, and another place. Sorry. Here’s some music that will help you into Spring.

DOOM – Retarded Fren (Feat. Thom Yorke & Jonny Greenwood) – Until we get another Madvillian album, and with the spotty track record of Doom in recording, or in a live format, for sure, we get this gem from the two creative geniuses from Radiohead with the lazy slurry delivery of the masked man.

Atoms for Peace – Ingenue – Off of the second release from Thom Yorke’s solo venture, and this time with a band in tow, you get this moog-y water droplets in space tune. It’s probably one of the better songs from Thom in terms of melody in years.

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – Every Body – I used to volunteer at the after school tutoring program at 826 Valencia, and one of my friends pointed out Thao who was also volunteering there, which introduced first me to this special artist. Once she organized this incredible version of Jingle Bells with all of the kids providing percussion by banging on something. This track is off of her latest, and what I think to her greatest album, We The Common.

Bibio – À tout à l’heure – If the Instagram app could be turned into music, or if there was an artist that synced perfectly with the filters, it would be Stephen Wilkinson otherwise known as Bibio. It’s modern with that 70′s retro mustache feel. I guess some might say hipster with slurred speech and four clicks to the left of perfect vision.

Jamie Lidell – Blaming Something – Once again blending soul with credible beats. The entire album sounds like something I would have heard on pop radio in the 80′s, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but who else has these chops and the credibility with beats (see Warp Records). The Prince of electronic music……possibly.

Origamibiro – Sedimental Value (Aus Remix) – I need to do a post on some more abstract stuff like this track. It’s been awhile.  Aus is Yasuhiko Fukuzono, and this track is from ReCollected which is a collection of his remixes. Music for your pillows to lay on tonight.

Today, 12-12-12, is the concert for Hurricane Sandy here in NYC, and it seems that all of the relics of rock will be represented including a rumored reuniting of Nirvana with Paul McCartney in Kurt Cobain’s place. Since Eddie Vedder is on the bill, he would probably be the better fill-in choice, since they came up around the same time, and it would be completely ironic, not iconic. I don’t truly understand all of the fervor surrounding Nirvana. I had a chance to see them in college, and yes, they were good, and I’ve never seen such incredible mayhem for a band, but the artist that I am truly grateful of seeing while alive, and who I believe will have an ever greater lasting impact on music is Jeff Buckley. This guy was influenced by Bad Brains, Edith Piaf, Nina Simone, Cocteau Twins, The Pixies, Miles Davis and literally everything in between. His music shows/showed all of these influences. It was more complex, not as easily digestible as Nirvana which was essentially a pop band masked with distortion and Courtney Love.

This will probably be the last post for the year. No end of the year list, as I couldn’t come up with a list. I guess you can just go through my posts to figure out what I liked this year. Due to Hurricane Sandy, we missed the Grimes show which was one of the best albums of the year, but we have Jamie Lidell, and Sigur Ros coming up. Have a great end of the year and hopefully 2013 will be even better than 2012.

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Liars – The Exact Colour of Doubt  – Classics haze-filled Liars. The best song on their album WIXIW . When I’m dreaming, I believe this is the song to best accompany my journey.

Tame Impala – Be Above It – Seriously, it sounds like the Beatles, right ?

Dirty Projectors – About To Die – The melodies and the poly rhythms make this song great. Everything seems to be pushed up front in terms of the production.

Flying Lotus – Tiny Tortures – One of the more understated pieces from Until The Quiet Comes but it still has the multiple layers of strangeness that make him great.

Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built – A great pop/rock song and one I would have held my emotive balance on if I were still in college. I can still appreciate this song, but my angst is now expressed in other ways than music.

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – They Can’t Take That Away From Me – A great combo that produced a few albums. Two legends in jazz that would seem like an unlikely pair, but work great on the ears.

We are now transmitting as well as getting sweaty in all of the wrong places in Brooklyn, or what I like to think of as the San Francisco of the east coast. It seems that the packaging and the story have all been repackaged nicely in terms of location and food.  Here’s the new of our old.

Animal Collective – Applesauce – I found out that a bunch of these guys went to a high school near my high school in Baltimore. It was known as a progressive school, and maybe it did it’s job because these guys are making some of the most forward pop music today, and it’s not just for the retro 90′s set.

Fiona Apple – Valentine – The Nina Simone of our time ? Each of her last two albums work greatly as an album, and not just singles. It seems that she takes the less expected route musically which makes the music more interesting as well as more enjoyable especially after repeated visits.

Four Tet – Pyramid – This is probably the most straight forward track from Kieran Hebden. A four four techno hit that has a robotic voice intro that sounds like a New Order sample from either Blue Monday or one of their other tracks.

Micachu & The Shapes – Slick – More disjointed, bizarrely awkward pop music that somehow works in the same way that family members don’t always makes sense from a genetic, or environmental standpoint.

The xx – Unfold – Taking over the mantle for The Cure, in terms of moody, lighter driven music. It seems like this track and another one on their new album has a bit of what I call the “switch-blade” sound that Burial is known for.

Diplo – Butters Theme feat. Billy The Gent & Long Jawns – If I was somehow transported to a preposterously high DJ booth, and given instructions that my life would be permanently relocated to the suburbs where my only choices of dining had taglines that included, multiple locations to serve you and unlimited refills with purchase of, unless I was able to make a group of disinterested teenagers dance, I would play this song, maybe.

This past Monday, my better half and I got the pleasure of seeing tUnE-yArDs with full band as well as local guitar wizard Ava Mendoza play along with the following Buster Keaton shorts: One Week (1920), The Haunted House (1921) and with Fatty Arbuckle Good Night, Nurse! (1918) and The Cook (1918). It was at the legendary Castro Theater for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival Her music lent itself perfectly to the acrobatic and hilarious shorts.

The Rip Off Artist – What Kind of Blue ? – Off of the excellent blu Tribunl album, that take old blues numbers and adds an abstract electronic element.

Sly & The Family Stone – If You Want Me To Stay – Where is Sly ? He’s probably living in Golden Gate Park. What a great bass line intro, and probably one of my favorite Sly tunes.

The Black Keys – Everlasting Light – Off of their best album, Brothers. They always have one or two great racks on each album which is overplayed on some commercial for Target or insect repellent douche adhering body spray.

Alabama Shakes – You Ain’t Alone – An incredible live act, which doesn’t completely come across in their first LP release, Boys & Girls, but still has some great tunes that sound old, but new.

Morphine- In Spite of Me – I got to see Morphine a few times in Philly when I was getting my higher education, and Mark Sandman, the lead singer and sax player would play two saxes at once. They were a great live band, and I’m sure they will continue to get a following even after Sandman’s tragic death in 1999.

The National – Lemonworld – I’ve never been a fan of this band. All of the songs sound the same to me, but this track has a nice melancholy melody. The driving beat is contrary to the lyrics.

Escort – Cocaine Blues – After seeing the average movie, The Sitter which had a great old school rap soundtrack including The Pharcyde, this track by the Brooklyn based disco band stood out because you know, babysitting and NY makes you think of the powder, right ?

Patrick Watson – Lighthouse – Along with Rocco Deluca, a possible vocal successor to Jeff Buckley ? A new release off of Adventures In Your Own Backyard. The album has a Devotchka and Beirut vibe.

Beach House – Myth – From Baltimore, STD free, and still hazy and dream-like. I think all of their albums should come with a prescription to Xanax which wouldn’t be a bad thing for most people.

The incredible lighting as seen in the picture above is by Andi Watson (interview) who has been doing Radiohead’s lighting/stage design since almost the beginning of when the band first started touring nationally. Thank you W.A.S.T.E. for the incredible seats. One of the best Radiohead shows I have ever seen, and that’s mainly because of the lighting. ( More pictures: Flickr )

If you could travel back in time which at the rate of technological advancement (see: Technological Singualrity), we will probably see in the next 20 years, what one item would you take back in time. I immediately thought a cell phone/iPhone, but the infrastructure would not be in place for that to even work, as well as for most computer based devices. Depending on which era, I might take a compilation of Chris Cunningham videos especially the Windowlicker video. Rubber Johnny might be too disturbing as my wife still mentions that when we were dating, and I showed her this short clip, she was truly disturbed and knew that the peels of my onion were a bit dark and tattered around the edges.

Here are some tracks to help you to decide if a move from San Francisco to Brooklyn ( “Not just Brooklyn. A-list Brooklyn. Park Slope, Division II Manhattan.” -Noah Baumbach’s  Kicking & Screaming) is a lateral cultural move ? Well, not Park Slope, but the much hated, according to the interlaced-web Williamsburg, thankfully not the colonial variety.

Fink – If Only (Live @ The Red Roaster) – recorded at the UK version of Red Lobster (an all-you-can-stuff faux seafood establishment). Apparently they gave away free Fink bibs as well as Fink embossed leg crackers that doubled as a music box playing this song. Wow.

Soul Coughing – The Brooklynites – Taken from the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s Blue In The Face. Again, one of the greatest/tightest bands ever. Just listen to the drumming. Chance of a reunion – Nil ?

Battles – Toddler (Kangding Ray Remix) – If you read this site, or like the blip, crackel and pop, then you too love Kangding Ray. Battles, eh.

Squarepusher – Cryptic Motion (Mr. Oizo Remix) – He really does “Slappin’ da bass” on stage, and his soon to be released album brings back some melody and fright induced charm of his previous work.  He does look all Daft Punked out now. This is a fairly recent straightforward track with the signature bass work.

Jamie Lidell – I Wanna Be Your Telephone (Tiga Party Like it’s 19909 remix) – Since the Multiply album, Lidell has been sporadically good at best. Everything came together on that album, and even though he has the funk, the voice, and the beats, the songs haven’t been as strong. Here’s a remix from Mr. Hot in Herrrre which makes things interesting while you wait at the water fountain.

Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook (Gluteus Maximus Mix) – A one-off remix from the Kompakt people. They are playing this year’s Outside Lands Festival, and I hope they either get to jam with Metallica, or play a cover by them (joke). The Another Planet people put together the worst line-up each and every year except for the first year when Radiohead headlined.

Squeeze – Goodbye Girl – From the Spot The Difference release where they recreated all of their hits. My wife just discovered Squeeze and I still think they are one of the greatest Pop acts ever. It was one of the first concerts I saw in 1987 and still probably one of the best shows. Driving to high school everyday, I wore out the Replacements Pleased To Meet Me and Squeeze’s Argy Bargy tapes.