Photo by David Greenwald
I’ll have some more, ahem, accurate photos of Tindersticks‘ excellent Friday night show here in a minute, but I had fun blowing out the exposure on this one. Think Steve Jobs would be down?
The last time Tindersticks brought their nocturnal noir-pop to Los Angeles, I was a sophomore in college — and not yet a fan. The L.A. Times’ Todd Martens has an excellent feature on the band today for those not caught up on the act’s recent trials and tribulations, which have included the exit of three members. They’re playing the Henry Fonda Theater tonight and hopefully will perform “Ballad of Tindersticks,” which name-drops a certain swingin’ bar a few blocks up and over. I’ll be at the show as well as Asobi Seksu and Bell‘s gig at the Troubadour tomorrow. Spring tours, guys!
(Photo by djenvert)
Once a nerd, always a nerd, I guess. This probably explains my lingering fascination with both superhero movies and male-sung indie pop, in which I can usually hear puberty and Magic: The Gathering peeking out from behind the vocals. The City and Horses are a textbook case, which also probably explains why dorkstress extraordinaire Charlyne Yi (girlfriend of our hero, Michael Cera) tapped them to help soundtrack her lovey-dovey sorta-doc Paper Heart. “Little Finland” hits all the right notes: teddy bear lead guitar, wind instruments borrowed from Belle & Sebastian, and wistful lyrics about a girl who’s “not innocent.” “Oops, I Did It Again” this ain’t, but you may find yourself dancing anyway. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find my Shivan Dragon.
The City and Horses – “Little Finland”: mp3
(The City and Horses’ debut album, I Don’t Want To Dream, is out now on White Shoe Records)
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Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming 2009 releases or visit the MP3-filled Album Release Calendar.
The double-edged sword that is the ’80s nostalgia train has its obvious pros and cons: On the one hand, sweet synthesizers, melodramatic vocals and squelchy rhythm sections free of the mandatory reverb that prematurely aged much of the decade’s output; on the other, well, Flashdance. On its debut EP, Moscow act Tesla Boy sometimes gets too close to “Maniac” for comfort, but for the most part, the band is in line with Cut Copy, Justice and other maximalist revivalists. Which is to say, thumping, obliviously absurd and probably too much fun to listen to outside of the obligatory PARTYTIME block of your weekend. Which is starting right now, obv.
(The Tesla Boy EP is available via the band’s MySpace)
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Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming 2009 releases or visit the MP3-filled Album Release Calendar.
Photo by David Greenwald
The National‘s new song, “So Far Around The Bend,” returns to a number of singer Matt Berninger’s favored subjects: a bowl of cherries, a mysterious woman, New York. The consistency is comforting, as the track finds the band snuggling deeper into the bear rug of Boxer‘s forays into woolly chamber-pop — not a bad path for them, especially on a one-off track, but hopefully one their next full-length livens with another “Lit Up” or “Mr. November” or two. Or seven. Hopefully we’ll find out in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s true, folks — a month after announcing their engagement, Ryan and Mandy tied the knot yesterday. Congrats, you crazy kids, and as Tim Gunn would say, make it work!
Previously: Ryan Adams’ Next Book: Hello Sunshine
Related: All Ryan Adams Posts
According to The Playlist, Broken Social Scene covers a bit of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in the Eric Bana-starring The Time Traveler’s Wife. Unfortunately, we won’t get to hear it until February 2010, unless the film’s release gets moved up. Where’s LP4, guys?
Previously: Live: Kevin Drew and Broken Social Scene at the Orpheum
If the album art wasn’t enough of a hint, Middle Cyclone is fun. For Neko Case, iron-clad country-noir songstress, this is a bit of an adjustment — and a big success. While one won’t mistake “People Got A Lotta Nerve” for “Miss Teen Wordpower,” some of Neko’s moonlighting time with the New Pornographers seems to have seeped into her approach for Middle Cyclone, her fifth studio album and easily her most relaxed. At first glance, little has changed: her vaunted voice remains a beckoning bell surrounded by the dusty evocations of brushed drums and simmering guitars, and the songs would be right at home on 2006′s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood or 2002′s Blacklisted. That is, if they weren’t goofier than a neon tumbleweed. Opener “This Tornado Loves You” sets the tone with a ode to a lost lover pursued, literally, by narrator Neko as a tornado “65 miles wide.” On “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” she sings about being a “man-eater”; I keep waiting for Timbaland to come in on the hook. Placing these songs in the time-tested context of a Neko Case Album ought to ignite a little cognitive dissonance; luckily for our neurons, it’s just the sound of the singer letting her hair down. I’m sure none of the gentleman in the audience will want to complain about that.
Neko Case – “People Got A Lotta Nerve”: mp3
(Middle Cyclone is out now on Anti-)
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Looking for new music? Click below for more recent and upcoming 2009 releases or visit the MP3-filled Album Release Calendar.
