Once Again, I Have Opinions About New Music
I’ve really been enjoying the entirety of Surfer Blood’s Astrocoast, and I’m stoked to see them play later this week. Pitchfork already made the appropriate Weezer reference, but they also remind me a lot of the (Neko Caseless) New Pornographers. The combination is a very, very good thing.
The new Spoon record, Transference, is also excellent — easily their best since, um, maybe ever? (Okay, maybe not, but usually when I hear a new Spoon disc, I think, this is great! Sounds just like the last record, which was also great! Transference, though, has a vibe that’s all its own.)
And I’m pretty sure that, so far, single of the year goes to Local Natives for “Sun Hands.”
(Certain tracks from the Gorilla Manor, like “Shape Shifter,” remind me quite a bit of The Snake, The Cross, The Crown, which is great, though perhaps not so much from the band’s perspective, seeing as I can’t recall ever meeting anyone else who’s even heard of that group.)
Various live versions here.
That “video” is pretty interesting. I liked how it ended with two minutes of silence. I also like the afro guitar. I wonder if american musicians are starting to integrating african guitar now. I can think of a few recent examples besides this one, but I wonder if it will become a thing.
Have you ever heard the song This Lamb Sells Condos by Owen Pallet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1kL568eg1w
If you haven’t, you might like that. SOmehow I made some connection between the two songs.
— cw · Feb 22, 04:38 AM · #
I have heard that song! I almost listed Owen Pallet’s new record here (his first not using the name Final Fantasy) — it’s really good — but it just hasn’t made it into the rotation all that often over the last few weeks.
— Peter Suderman · Feb 22, 05:05 AM · #
After this album, I really think Spoon are infallible.
— David Sessions · Feb 22, 03:36 PM · #
Yes, yes and yes to every word you write about Spoon. The new one is the equal of “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.” Wow!
— Bob · Feb 22, 04:25 PM · #
Reminds me a lot of Fleet Foxes.
— Pat · Feb 22, 09:09 PM · #
While I haven’t warmed to Surfer Blood— partly because Weezer never won me over— your observation about the influence of a Case-less New Pornographers is on the mark, and it hadn’t occurred to me.
Regarding cw’s comments, I think yes, the African sound has taken hold. In different ways, Vampire Weekend and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah exhibit it, and my impression is that early-era Talking Heads— from Fear of Music through Remain in Light, in particular— have served as middlemen. At different stretches, the Velvet Underground and Neil Young enjoyed periods of Godfather status to leagues of college radio bands. Now it’s the Talking Heads’ turn. Their exuberant, eclectic afro-absorbed music of the 1980’s hovers more than ever over an array of recent acts.
For a different, straightforward rocking flavor, try the latest from Reigning Sound:
http://www.last.fm/music/Reigning+Sound/Love+and+Curses
It’s not quite the mountain of terrific noisiness that was their third album, Too Much Guitar, but it’s a rough and rhythmic bastard nonetheless.
— turnbuckle · Feb 23, 08:31 PM · #
Turnbuckle,
Remain in Light was one of my favorite albums in it’s season. I jsut went to Wikipedia and read about how they made it and the african influence. I never realized it before. When I listent to now, it’s obvious. It’s kind of weird to me that they went from that to funk. I know Eno stopped producing, but it seems like a step backward to me.
— cw · Feb 25, 04:01 AM · #
Eno’s influence probably was pivotal. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, the album Eno and Byrne made under their names, was a truer successor to Remain in Light than was the next Talking Heads album.
I’d like to partially withdraw my comments about Vampire Weekend and Clap Your Hands. . . On second thought, Vampire Weekend sounds a lot more reminiscent of Paul Simon. So I guess a kind of African sound made its way in, but it’s so diluted and superficial, like Zulu tunes for characters in a Whit Stillman movie.
As for Clap Your Yeah, the Talking Heads influence comes across more in the herky jerky rhythms and the vocal delivery. It’s less the Fela Kuti-ish Talking Heads era than it is the earliest Talking Heads material— the 77 album and More Songs about Buildings and Food— that shapes their music. That, and a big dose of the Feelies.
So maybe I overstated the case about Talking Heads.
Anyway, cw, did you catch Byrne on his last tour? He was promoting his recent album, also an Eno collaboration and perhaps his best music in over ten years. However, he didn’t skip the classic material as he has on other tours. He performed a lot of Talking Heads, including much of Remain in Light. In addition to his cargo of musicians/singers, he brought along a troupe of dancers, dressed in all-white, who interpreted his songs on stage. While some spectators loved this, I was distracted, wishing he’d left them at Radio City Music Hall. Otherwise, the show was great. His voice seems unchanged, even if he now sports an impressively silver mane. He looks like Ira Glass’s dad.
— turnbuckle · Feb 25, 05:30 PM · #
I really don’t like David Byrne, especially after Remain in Light. Remain in Light remains my favorite TH album and that was the one that had the least imput from DB, as far as I can tell. Although I did like the previous albums and I did like his Braillian compelation (of 20 years ago). He kind of turned into a ethno-music vamipre, and more than that, I just don’t like the way he sings.
— cw · Feb 26, 02:12 AM · #