Rebecca Stephens has a couple of things going for her: As RiotBecki, she had the best nickname of her polka-dotted pals in the 2006-era Pipettes (In blog years, We Are The Pipettes dates back roughly to the death of Christ) and she also took lead vocals on the group’s best song, “Tell Me What You Want.” Like fellow ex-Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall, Stephens now has a band of her own, the Projectionists, who I’ve been patiently following on various social networks for a year waiting for an actual release. It appears the group’s debut EP will land at last in January; if you liked the Pipettes, you’ll like this. It’s bright, clean, guitar-driven indie-pop, not jangly enough to be twee but certainly not lacking Stephens’ past group’s sense of fun. Judging by the new tracks, it’ll be a nice companion to Dougall’s more blustery, excellent solo efforts. Maybe they should start a band.
Here’s a worthy Kickstarter project: Heaven Adores You, a love letter to Elliott Smith and his lingering influence in Portland, his home for many years and the city that birthed his unparalleled early records. Kick in some funds on Kickstarter, where you’ll find a nice trailer for the film.
Nothing new to report on Searching for Elliott Smith, the other recent doc — hopefully it gets a home video/VOD release sooner.
An unreleased Smith track, “Misery Let Me Down,” has been making the rounds recently — it’s great, one of the better surprise Smith songs to emerge in the last couple years. Download it and the rest of the radio session it emerged from at WMUC’s Tumblr.
In which High Highs continue to remind me of Radiohead (this time, “These Are My Twisted Words”) and continue to be terrific. This is from the group’s SXSW 2011-closing set at the Velveeta Room during the festival’s final moments earlier this year. The group’s debut EP is out now on Small Plates.
New York rapper A$AP Rocky is pretty clearly positioned as the new face of hip-hop, some much-needed freshness after the Odd Future trainwreck, Watch the Throne‘s preening self-indulgence and a new Drake record soft enough to make Egyptian cotton blush. Perhaps the best sign that it’s worth your time are the indie-world controversies it’s managed to spawn: none. White people are staying pretty hands-off with this one, though there’s no reason to: the mixtape aligns the MC with worthy young producers, largely Clams Casino and Spaceghost Purrp, whose pillowy backdrops make Washed Out look as progressive as 1999 Moby (Washed Out also makes Washed Out look as progressive as 1999 Moby). That the decaying loops of a song such as “Demons” are the stomping grounds for any current MC is a mark of hip-hop’s continuing evolution, and throughout, the beats are the highlight.
Rocky himself has a stoned, athletic flow — #MichaelPhelps — but not much to say beyond throwaway lines considering drugs, money and “bad bitches.” The weaker tracks are still interesting curiosities, Southern rap syrup poured into Weeknd synth-hedonism, but they bog down a set that saves its finest banger, “Out of This World,” for last. (When he says “my bitch is the rudest” on “Out of This World,” is it an Achewood reference? Is he the first MC to rap about a web comic?) Rocky’s hardly the savior of rap, but it’s a solid effort. If you need a soundtrack for getting Taco Bell during 5th period, this is your jam.
DRA and a number of rock heroes (Britt Daniel, Craig and Tad from the Hold Steady, No Age, Jon Wurster, Dave Grohl, etc.) paid tribute to Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du) last night at Disney Hall, and it was as great as you would hope. I’ll spare you a full review since I’m frankly oblivious to most of the Mould catalog (the fiancee brought me along), but here’s Ryan sounding as spectacular as ever on “Heartbreak a Stranger.” That voice! (Via Stereogum)
On Freedom Wind, the Explorers Club showed off their Beach Boys bona fides, but those lucky enough to dig up the band’s debut EP knew their influences were broader than Brian Wilson’s sweet harmonies. The band’s sophomore release, 2012-due Grand Hotel, finds them looking to Burt Bacharach’s complex chords and Hal David’s witty lyrics for further inspiration, a sound evident on “Sweet Delights” — a track that nods back to “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.” The Explorers Club is releasing covers and rough mixes from the forthcoming album as a series of free EPs on Amazon; The Carolinian EP is out tomorrow.
Friday night was a very unusual night at Largo. Not that any evening in Los Angeles’ best venue is ever uneventful, but Friday felt strange from the moment I took my seat. Jon Brion’s usual set-up–a drum set, bass, guitar rack and his trusty piano on stage right–was transformed, the rhythm section replaced by a second, larger piano. His looping pedals were notably absent. He took the stage in a pinstriped three-piece suit and performed the only completely acoustic set I’ve ever seen him play, running through a handful of unreleased (LP2?) tracks such as “Please Stay Away From Me” and “The Love Of My Life So Far” (played gorgeously on a nylon-string guitar) as well as several that I’d never heard. He played one song — “It Should’ve Been With You,” perhaps? — that he said no one ever had, though its high piano melody seemed familiar.
All that would’ve been treat enough, but he was joined mid-set by Fiona Apple (!) for the duo’s usual jazz standards and an exuberant, if imprecise, version of When the Pawn... classic “A Mistake.” Largo is a place where it’s O.K. to make mistakes; it’s almost better that way. It reminds you that the geniuses you see on stage are still human, an epiphany I had for the first time ever during a Jon Brion set when he casually told Apple he didn’t know the harmonies on a particular song. I’ve probably seen him a dozen times since 2004 — the thought of him missing a page of his musical encyclopedia seemed about as likely as faster-than-light particles. It appears we live in the future.
It happened again during one of his several encores, when he worked his way through what he could remember of “Song for Caden,” from the Synecdoche, New York soundtrack. “I haven’t played that since I recorded it,” he told the crowd apologetically. Then he turned in a transcendent Thelonius Monk version of Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Night.” Brion may be a mere mortal after all, but he’s still the best one we have.
Here’s a worthy Kickstarter project: Heaven Adores You, a love letter to Elliott Smith and his lingering influence in Portland, his home for many years and the city that birthed his unparalleled early records. Kick in some funds on 
New York rapper A$AP Rocky is pretty clearly positioned as the new face of hip-hop, some much-needed freshness after the Odd Future trainwreck, Watch the Throne‘s preening self-indulgence and a new Drake record soft enough to make Egyptian cotton blush. Perhaps the best sign that it’s worth your time are the indie-world controversies it’s managed to spawn: none. White people are staying pretty hands-off with this one, though there’s no reason to: the mixtape aligns the MC with worthy young producers, largely Clams Casino and Spaceghost Purrp, whose pillowy backdrops make Washed Out look as progressive as 1999 Moby (
