Rose-Noise

NEW BLOG

2008-01-08T14:30:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! My new blog is at emilyrlogan.wordpress.com, so please go there! Thanks much. -Emily

Who's the Hypocrite?

2007-08-13T11:45:00.001-07:00

I hate to be political, but I find it absolutely disturbing that the mainstream media has not picked up on this.

DIY or Die, Stitch-n-bitch, CraftyBitch - Crafties are hard core.

2007-08-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'll be at this awesome event this Sunday, parading around in my home-made T-Shirt and getting way too excited about the latest uses for felt and yarn. I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo not too long ago and got completely sideswiped by all the amazing things that crafty people can come up with. My favorite was the guy who was simultaneously knitting and playing the drums. That was awesome (I have a picture somewhere...I'll find it and post it). There are so many great ideas that are just waiting to be tapped, and if only I could think of ONE. Sometimes it's all about ripping someone else off and changing the idea just slightly. But anyway, it's always fun to meet the tattooed crafties of my generation. Stitch on.

Stole this from St. Vincent

2007-08-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Music Bloggers go to a Ballgame!

2007-07-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

For my first baseball game in maybe ten years I was lucky enough to share it with six other Bay Area music bloggers as Avery and I represented The Deli. Adrian from ipickmynose planned this Giants extravaganza, and I have to say it was a blast.

Literally, the first eight innings were pretty dead. After the Marlins got three runs in one inning, I lost a little of my optimism. And though Barry didn't do his thing so the Bay Area bloggers could be a part of baseball history, it was fun to see how crazy the entire stadium got every time he came up to bat.

I did demonstrate my baseball ignorance to the boys from The Bay Bridged by saying the word "point" instead of "run" and asking how often Bonds will be coming up to bat (that was just a blonde moment, really). But all in all, baseball is the one sport that I can understand and favor. Football – never.

I also came home with a copy of The Passionistas' God's Boat, which I have playing on my computer as we speak. It's great to hear it all the way through – it's quite a different experience than listening to a MySpace page. That's thanks to Will from New and Used Records.

I unfortunately didn't get to talk to Oz from Hearya, but hopefully I will get some airtime with him at "Bay Area music bloggers go to a museum." ;)

Halou Blog

2007-06-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite SF bands, Halou, is working on a new record and taking full advantage of the internet by video blogging about their work. I think it's a fascinating look into a band's process.

Lead singer Rebecca has thus far hosted two videos - the first about choosing a microphone and where and how she records vocals. The second was about her song inventory and how she catalogs which songs are finished and what needs to be done to the rest. For us musicians and music nerds, this is a real treat. I'm sure other bands are doing this as well, so I'll be keeping the look out.

For now, visit Halou's Website and check it out.

Pip (Tori Amos) Sticks it to the G8

2007-06-08T19:07:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow, Tori Amos has some guts. Watch this clip of Pip singing to the G8 leaders:

Sticking it to 'em

2007-06-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's quite ironic that a popular daily email like Daily Candy would advertise San Francisco's most exclusive new art gallery -- but I guess it just adds to the fascination. Our beloved Rykarda Parasol has created a Warhol-esque art gallery called The Hive that only accepts art by recommendation and holds invite-only shows. Though I love my dear Parasol's music, this kind of snobbery is (in my humble opinion) more akin to New York, and the fact that it's popping up in San Francisco disappoints me.

On their website, however, it appears that they may be opening up their doors, at least for a while. Next Friday, June 15, The Hive will host an open-to-the-public show featuring Parasol herself and her Tower Ravens with Caves of Vision. I'll probably try to pop in ... if I can find it. Apparently there is no address, just a description of where to go. I'll let you know if I run into Edie.

Bjork, Newsom, GhostDigital at That Crap Venue

2007-05-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

Luckily, Bjork can rock a live show so much that it doesn't matter if she looks like an ant on the stage. Complete with pyrotechnics, the "Ten Icelandic Brass Girls" in florescent gowns, Mark Bell in-the-flesh, and costumes that looked like a bad 80s joke, Bjork's show was one of the best, most polished shows I've ever seen.

The great thing about Bjork is that her voice is so amazing that she could essentially be recording an album track at any time. I really wonder how many takes she records before getting it right, because her live show is just as good as the album tracks. Not to mention, she is 41 years old and can still shout like she's 21. Her vocal cords have certainly not aged badly.

I had only begun to get into Volta when I went to the show, and it definitely helped me get psyched about it. She opened with "Earth Intruders," which also opens the album. It was exciting and clean and a great start to a great show. Throughout the set, she played maybe 5 songs from the new album, but included a lot of great older songs, like "Pagan Poetry," "I miss you," "Mother Heroic," "Unravel," and even "Army of Me."

She ended the first set with a riot -- an even more hyped-up version of "Hyperballad" followed by one of my favorites, "Pluto." Her encore ended with "Declare Independence" from Volta, which left a crowd of people around me complaining that she didn't end with "Big Time Sensuality" or something more familiar, but I think it was the perfect song to end with. It was raucous and exciting, and Bjork clearly believed the message, so I think it was ideal.

Going back in time that night, Joanna Newsom was also amazing. But Shoreline being what it is, I had a lot of trouble hearing her due to the hundreds of people around me who didn't seem to know or care who she was. I ended up standing in the front of the lawn with the 20 other people who were fans, which wasn't ideal. But in general, Newsom is incredibly dainty and fearless at the same time. Her mouth moves in strange ways to create the sounds that only she can produce, and her squeals and squeaks are endearing. Accompanied by a violist and a mandolin player, which I thought were quite unnecessary, but a quaint touch, Newsom succeeded in filling the massive space without being at all rowdy.

Back even further, Ghostdigital was first. I don't have much to say about them except, I laughed the whole time and I hope that is what they wanted. Apparently made up of one or more member of the Sugarcubes, this Icelandic duo had created extremely fun music with almost Zach de la Rocha-like impromptu vocals and gibberish on top. All I have to say is, go check them out.

All in all, it was a fantastic show. I'm so glad I finally saw Bjork, even if she was an ant.

I am Spoonbender and potential heart attacks

2007-05-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

Bet you thought "potential heart attacks" was a band, eh? Not a bad band name, I'd say, but in this case I'm referring to the potential heart attacks from the "concealed and stroboscopically encoded information" that was present at the I am Spoonbender show at the Mezzanine last Friday. I am still not convinced that it isn't a joke, but there were definitely some bomb-in-the-building sounds during their set and their openers' set. There were fliers like this one all over the building and I stole one because it was so bizarre. If you can't read the bottom, it's my favorite part: "Neither the group nor this venue will be held responsible for your perceptions." Ha!

In general, Spoonbender is a band to see. They've got it all -- costumes, light shows, dancing, singing into old telephones, guys with flower faces -- it really doesn't get any better. They have a fantastic mix of utterly strange and completely entertaining.

I have to mention that the second opening band was possibly the worst I've ever seen, but fortunately I don't know their name so I can't be accused of band-bashing. But if anyone knows who that was, don't ever go see them.

Michael Zapruder at Rickshaw Stop

2007-05-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Michael Zapruder played with Rykarda Parasol, The Harbours, The Caves and The Golden Messenger String Band last Thursday. It was the first time I had seen Zapruder and his Rain of Frogs live, so it was exciting. Aside from some tuning and capo problems, it was an excellent set, even with just four members present. Zapruder has a great, raw presence and his band is enthusiastic and blends together well. I unfortunately didn't stay for Parasol, but i you scroll back far enough on this blog, you'll find another entry about her...

Read my story for The Deli on Michael Zapruder and the Rain of Frogs.

Reznor Ruckus

2007-05-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Trent Reznor ripped apart his own record label on his blog this Sunday, citing the ridiculously high price of NIN's latest album and adding, "I guess as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off," and "No wonder people steal music."

Juliana and (insert name here) sittin' in a tree

2007-05-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

Some indie-ites or popular music lovers might hate me for loving Juliana Hatfield, but I am SO not sorry. Ever since the Blake Babies I have adored her. And then when she played an angel on My So Called Life, I melted and learned the song on guitar immediately. I still play it.

So she's back with a new album, a collaboration with Frank Smith, called Sittin' in a Tree. You can hear a song on her MySpace page, or visit her website to buy an advance copy. I'm excited to have her back.

Austin City Lovin' It

2007-05-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, have you all seen the lineup for this year's Austin City Limits festival? It's the most amazing festival lineup I've seen since Woodstock. Technically I can afford a trip to Austin, so I just might consider forking out the $145. Go here to check out the full lineup. Here's a sample (pardon the exclamation marks, but I just can't contain myself):

Bob Dylan!
Björk!
The White Stripes!
The Killers
Wilco!
Arcade Fire
Muse!
Queens of the Stone Age
Bloc Party
Arctic Monkeys
Gotan Project
Joss Stone
Damien Rice
Lucinda Williams!
Spoon

The Decemberists
Regina Spektor
Crowded House
Ziggy Marley
Kaiser Chiefs
LCD Soundsystem
M.I.A.
Ben Kweller
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Andrew Bird!
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Ghostland Observatory
Pete Yom
Peter Bjorn and John
Yo La Tengo!
Blonde Redhead!

From my headphones

2007-05-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sample of what's on my playlist right now:

Guther - Sundet: I heard pieces of this album from a friend last year, and knew it was on Morr Records, but I never ordered it. Finally I found a copy in Streetlight, and it's as good as I thought. Not quite Lali Puna or Ms. John Soda, but damn good still.

Asobi Seksu - Citrus: This album was huge last year, but I've revisited it and am constantly noticing new things. It's a bit noisy at times, but generally has amazing melodies, and Yuki's vocals are high and sweet.

Console - Pan or ama: This album is a re-release of the first album by Console (primarily the fabulous Martin Gretschmann, also of The Notwist and many others), from 1997. Parts of it sound like 1997, but it all hints at the brilliance of Gretschmann's compositions, which would later come together in my favorite album, Rocket in the Pocket (buy this if you like electronic music at all -- it's amazing).

Blonde Redhead - 23: YAY! I am so excited that this album is out and that I am able to enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed their other albums. 23 is mature, spontaneous, and just plain awesome. Get it.

The Velvet Teen - Cum laude!: I've been waiting for another Out of the Fierce Parade from The Velvet Teen, which I think is one of the best albums of 2002 and beyond, but it looks like I'm not going to get it. However, Cum laude! is a great album, though different. The band recently lost their drummer, Logan, and is on hiatus until members figure things out, but I'll be keeping tabs on them.

Oops! Tori's new album

2007-05-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

It really makes you feel oblivious when you find out that one of your favorite musicians has a new album that you had NEVER heard about. But that was the case for me with the new Tori Amos album American Doll Posse. I ended up buying it at Fry's Electronics, which was the first place I ever heard about it...yikes. It must be my lack of recent exposure to mainstream music publications, as I have lost faith and interest in Rolling Stone and Spin.

Anyhow, the album so far is fascinating. Once I listen to it more, maybe I'll write something about it, but on first glance it seems that she has reverted back to her most rock and roll side, as opposed to the softer side that The Beekeeper brought out. Lots of the reviews about The Beekeeper criticized this and made the assumption that this could be attributed to the fact that she had just become a mother. Well, man has she proved them wrong with American Doll Posse. This album kicks those critics' butts. Go buy it.

Missed Coco Rosie

2007-05-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

So, I totally missed Coco Rosie at Bimbo's last night because I got lazy, so as consolation I am giving them this lame post...link, photo, praise, etc. Go visit their crazy website and buy their CD. You get the idea.

VAST and... some others at Slim's

2007-04-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

I went to just about the strangest show I'd ever been to on Friday night. Each band felt like a different night - like I was in a totally different place with completely different people. Here's what I saw:

The first band, August House, was a typical Orange County band, on the verge of "emo" but they'd probably hate me for calling them that. They were all 5'4" boys with skinny jeans. I must have missed this trend, but the lead singer was also wearing suspenders hanging down on his legs. The music was fun at times - the band flung around and you hoped they wouldn't bang each other in the head (or that they would...). The lead singer had a typical voice for that style, with exaggerated enunciation. And one of my biggest (and stupidest) pet peeves - he always said "thank you" before anyone started clapping or cheering. Man, that bugs me.

The second band, Point One Blank, was the most bizarre of all. The guitarist was a typical heavy metal guitarist, with pointy guitars and a, let's face it, disgusting short mohawk. But the lead singer was the fascinating one here. He looked just like Brendan Frasier's basketball character in the movie "Bedazzled" (don't ask why I've seen it - I couldn't tell you) - huge and with bleach-blonde hair. But here's the kicker - he was wearing a Bjork t-shirt. Now, maybe I put her up on more of a pedastal than she should be on, but anyone who wears a Bjork t-shirt is A-OK in my mind. But this guy had THE heavy metal voice. I mean, he could growl. But he was tall and lanky and awkward in his movements, which made me hope that he would later realize his potential for good music and go off to do some amazing post-Bjork project in which he didn't have to feign uber-masculinity. But with lyrics like "You're my oxygen," I had to just hope that he wasn't the one writing the lyrics. Throughout the performance, the guitarist pulled out all the easy-but-looks-hard guitar tricks as I pulled out my toilet-paper-ear-plug tricks. At the end, he took off his shirt. I really didn't need that. But luckily, what was about to come made it all worth while.

VAST was amazing. That's all I can say. This was a band that I had heard of literally about a week before the show. I liked what I heard, so I decided to check it out and hang out with a friend. But I wasn't expecting to attend one of the most well-done live shows I had seen in a long time.

I'll start with my only problem with VAST, which is that it is technically a solo-act. Jon Crosby calls himself VAST and is the mastermind behind the music, which in itself is an amazing feat. But I always have a bit of a problem with someone being a "solo" artist when there are clearly many musicians who make that music happen. But in this case, the songwriting was pretty spectacular, so maybe that warrants it being just him. The show was apparently being recorded for their upcoming DVD, or so a fellow concert-goer told me. The band was all dressed fairly nicely. Every band member was relaxed and comfortable, and they all were clearly immensely talented. It was such the antithesis of the previous bands because there were no theatrics. There was an occasional movement by the guitarist or the bass player, but they didn't have to hide behind tough facial expressions or spastic moshing. They were just GOOD without that. And the lyrics were intelligent ("I didn't want to hurt you, but you're pretty when you cry"). For the music nerds among us, there was a song where they alternated between a 10 measure beat and a 3 measure beat (10/4 and 3/4?), which was so fun. At the end, a violinist and cellist came out to give even more depth. The songs flowed one into the next with very few breaks, and VAST's voice glided smoothly through every transition. In short, a beautiful show.

Here is a TERRIBLY CRAPPY video I took at the show. The sound is the worst, but the picture will give you an idea of the "relaxed and groovy" vibe:

Radio on the TV?

2007-04-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

So, I usually don't care about anything on television enough to write about it in any way (unless I'm quoting Ralph: "My cat's breath smells like cat food!"), but I had to write about what I think is an absurd show. Sarah and no name 'after dark'. I mean, I know Howard Stern did it before, but that had a target audience of idiot men who just wanted to look at women's breasts. Now, there is a show on network television that is basically filming talk radio DJs doing their work. Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with DJs (although I'd much rather hear music on my drive to work than someone else talking), but I would not in a million years want to watch them. I used to be one - it's not that interesting. Occasionally something silly happens - you laugh - you accidentally spit on the mic or something - but really, nothing worth watching happens. So anyway, there's my negative post for the year :)

Bjork VOLTA Tour

2007-03-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! I finally get to see Bjork. All the other years, I've either been totally oblivious (i.e. in college) or too young to take the initiative to go. It sucks that the local show is at the Shoreline -- I really hate that venue. The sound is terrible and it's to big to even feel like anything is happening. I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs there and it was SO the opposite of a NY club. It was hard to get into it, even though Karen O is freaking awesome. But hopefully this will be cool either way. Here are the tour dates, for all you international folk:

04/01 - Reykjavik, Iceland - Forma At Nasa
04/27 - Indio, CA - Coachella
05/02 - New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
05/05 - New York, NY - United Palace Theater
05/08 - New York, NY - Apollo Theater
05/12 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre
05/15 - Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
05/19 - San Francisco, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
05/23 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Deer Lake Park
05/26 - Gorge, WA - Gorge Amphitheatre
06/22 - Pilton, England - Glastonbury Festival
06/28 - Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07/01 - Gdynia, Poland - Open'er Festival
07/05 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07/25 - Nyon, Switzerland - Paleo Festival
09/08 - Toronto, Ontario - Virgin Festival

2007 Better be Better

2007-03-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

So, I promise I'm going to TRY to post more because I know I would be annoyed with this sporadic posting. I've just been reading Under the Radar and got very excited about some new music in 2007. Here are the ones I'm totally excited about:

Blonde Redhead - April 10
The first time I heard Blonde Redhead, it didn't hit me. But after delving into Misery is a Butterfly and going from there, I feel I will never get sick of this band. Their songwriting is amazing and Makino's voice is raw and amazing.

Electrelane - May 7
Imperfection is beautiful! This band is raw, sings out of tune sometimes, accidentally picks the wrong string when they play live, but it's so damn good that it all blends together and becomes part of the magic. Reportedly, this new album is more lyrics-based, which I am looking forward to. Their instrumental singles album didn't do it for me as much as The Power Out.

Iron and Wine - ?
My partner always says, "I don't want to like Iron and Wine, I just do." I guess that's the "manly" impression is of a band that is so tender, they could make The Hulk cry. I'm all for music that relaxes me while at the same time igniting every subtle emotion in my being. So, yes. Can't wait for this one.

Metric - ?
I love Emily Haines for making a solo album, but Metric still has more of a soft place in my heart (hard place?). I'm excited to see if they rock out or take a softer approach.

UNKLE - Summer
UNKLE has actually continually disappointed me for years...I think I had a completely wrong idea of what kind of band they were ever since they joined with Radiohead for "Rabbit in Your Headlights". But I'm determined that they will come out with something that I love because it's so close. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I love Al Gore

2007-03-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

'Nuf said.

Live Earth Music Festival

Sarah Vowell at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center!

2007-03-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

Sarah Vowell, my absolute favorite author, is coming to the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 pm. I've seen her twice already and it is SO worth it. Her essays are painfully funny and her high-pitched vocal inflections make them even better. Tickets are a little expensive, at $32, but if you're a student you can get them for half price! What a deal...
Sarah Vowell Tix HERE!

map

2007-02-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

I found this cool feature on Google and decided to put in all the places I've been in the world. Although, it makes me feel less well-travelled than I thought I was :) For some reason you have to zoom out to see the whole thing. Check it out...

For the Annoyance of all...

2007-01-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

This guy is totally nuts, but I LOVE him. Be warned, this first song is a total ear-worm...you'll be saying "shoes" with a valley-girl accent for days.

Andy and Edie

2007-01-29T19:37:00.000-08:00

Just found this picture from Halloween and thought it was fun...This is me and my friend Lindsey doing the photo of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick by the Empire State Building. Not exactly right, but hey, it was a spur-of-the-moment pose. :)

The Finches album release show this Wed.

2007-01-29T19:08:00.000-08:00

The Finches will host their release party for the new album "Human Like a House" at Cafe du Nord this Wednesday at 8 for 8 bucks. Joining them will be the Mantles, Colossal Yes, and the Moore Brothers. It should be a rad night, so come on by! I'll be there...

My interview with The Finches for The Deli SF, "A Place Called Home."

The Finches website

Pics: Rykarda Parasol, French Disco, Elephone at Cafe Du Nord 1/5

2007-01-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

My favorite act of the night was actually Elephone. They totally rocked...their female drummer is amazing. Rykarda clearly has talent, but I felt like her set lacked energy. French Disco was great. Review to come...somewhere.

Myrian de la Jara of French Disco

Ryan Lambert and Terry Ashkinos of Elephone

Rykarda Parasol and Wymond Miles

Group Hug! So excited...

2007-01-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

So, I just heard about Michelle Blade's group hug, scheduled for Sat., Jan. 27 at noon in Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park. It's a performance art piece and a video of hundreds of color-coded people hugging. It should be amazing. Cookies and brownies will be provided, and people should bring food to share, too.

It reminds me of Spencer Tunick. Have you ever heard of him? There's a documentary about him--he gets hundreds of people together in cities all around the world, has them strip down completely nude and photographs the crowd. They're really breathtaking photos. I just signed up to participate in his next local shoot at his website.

More info about the Group Hug here.

Rock Stars! Part deux

2007-01-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

I've officially started writing for The Deli SF, a great local music 'zine. I've added a link bar on the right side of the page for stories that I've had published there. Hopefully there will be at least one a week. Here's the first one, and after this I won't post them in the blog body, just in the links bar.

The Finches Live Review

Reindeer, The Knife caught one of your horns

2006-12-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

HOLY COW, this is the hippest Christmas song I've ever heard. I never thought The Knife to be the type to do a song about reindeer. I know it's past Christmas, but this is too great not to post.

Christmas Reindeer!

Rock Stars!

2006-12-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

So, amidst applying for jobs all over the Bay Area, I'm writing for The Deli SF, a great independent music 'zine that started in New York. I've just done an interview with the fabulous band The Finches, whose new album Human Like a House comes out on Jan. 30. Soon to come: Dodo Bird and The Curtains!

Check it out, and let me know if I suck :)
The Deli SF

For show previews and random other stuff, you might see me on Mesh's blog:
Mesh

Otherwise, keep reading here for links and other tidbits.

Shows!

2006-12-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

Only a week until I am officially moving to the Bay Area and I already have a handful of shows I want to go to! Hope to see you there:

Joanna Newsom (Sold out, but check Craigslist if you want to spend lots of money for a ticket)
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - December 18-20
Great American Music Hall - 895 O'Farrell St.
8 pm, $19

Silversun Pickups
Thursday, December 21
Pop Scene - 330 Ritch St.
10pm, $10

Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton
Monday, January 22
Great American Music Hall
8pm, $18

Deerhoof
Tuesday, January 30
Great American Music Hall
Details to come!

More to come...

AIR Aplenty: Charlotte Gainsbourg, 5:55 and Darkel, Darkel

2006-10-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Air is going to take over the music world as the chill-music version of Timbaland. This year, they've started plotting. Two spectacular albums released within two months have made the duo, Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, emerge yet again as standard names in ethereal music.

On August 28 came 5:55 from Charlotte Gainsbourg, the famed daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Responsible for the music on this moody album, the Air team, with help from Jarvis Cocker (former Pulp frontman), Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), Canadian composer David Campbell, Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen and the prolific Nigel Godrich, created the ultimate in relaxation albums. With a collective like this, the album better be damn good. And it is.

5:55 is exactly what a collaboration should be--recognizable elements of each one of the participants that come together to create a varied whole. While maybe not so much of a "solo" album as it proclaims, it is still woven together magically, and Gainsbourg's voice is the fairy dust. For this project, she stuck to a French label--self-proclaimed "independent" Wagram, which owns more than 4% market share in France.

Gainsbourg is also in the spotlight for her role as Stephanie in "La Science des RÃÂªves" ("The Science of Sleep"), Michel Gondry's latest endeavor. Stunning, dainty and incredibly hip, Gainsbourg effortlessly controls the screen as her soft, sexy voice does the airwaves.

The album opens with the title track, cataloging the common affliction of staying awake in a dream-like way: "A cinq heures cinquante-cinq / awake with open eyes / a drift upon the night / and miles away from land." Nothing is harsh in this first song as piano and strings match the fluiditof Gainsbourg'sss voice. "The Operation," unfortunately associated with the TV drama Nip-Tuck for some, is a clever dance tune about operating on love: "Now I can really / mess around with your heart / and fill it to the brim with broken dreams / our love goes under the knife / two lives may be saved."

Track five, "The Songs that we Sing," is fuller musically than much of the album and addresses common problems in a fascinating, almost comical way: "I read a magazine / that said by seventeen / your life was at an end / I'm dead and I'm perfectly content." (See video below)

Other songs like "af607105," "Little Monsters," and "Jamais" are just as beautifully crafted and tug on another one of the many heart strings this album reaches. "Morning song," a quiet but dark ghost story, ends the album on a rather disquieting note: "To get to the morning, first you have to get through the night."

Next, on September 19, Dunckel released his solo project Darkel on Air's label Astralwerks. The album was written at night at his 17th arrondissement apartment in north Paris, hence the album's name (along with the fact that his surname means "dark" in German).

The album is recognizably Air-like, more so than Gainsbourg's. But this is not a bad thing. The music sounds like Air cut in half, as Godin's absence creates a dearth of the composure that Gainsbourg's album radiates. Perhaps that's the idea. If 5:55 is the Earth's musical manifestation of Parisian leisure, Darkel is such from the eyes of an other-worldly being. Comparatively, it is much more electronic, more upbeat and more...schizophrenic.

Songs like "Be my Friend" and "Pearl" stay close to the relaxed but funky Air sound, with Dunckel's thick accent adding familiar flair. "At the End of the Sky" combines a fun-loving groove with lyrical playtime: "I go and I sit upon a rainbow / Shining like a spiders web / Flashing blue and flashing red." (See video below)

"TV Destroy" is a punk rock anthem, complete with sex sounds and a catch-phrase, "Destry your TV." Conversely, "Some Men" is a strikingly tender song, both musically and lyrically: "Some men wait for Jesus and god / Some men have stopped waiting / I've been waiting for you for so long."

The sore thumb of the album is "Earth," a somewhat strange attempt at hip-hop with Wizard of Oz-style voices floating above the moderate beat. Dunckel proclaims, "We belong to the Earth, doesn't belong to us." As a whole, the lyrical topics are varied and create an album that is serious but more fun than many artists could ever produce.

Live to work

2006-10-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

A short post to let everyone know I'm still here, but I've been getting busy with my last quarter of school. Senior project is looming, and I am working for YouTube's "Underground" competition. So here's my half-assed post -- check out YouTube Underground. If you have a band, post it man. And if you don't, watch some of the videos. There are some pretty amazing ones and some totally hilarious ones, too. Russian rappers, eighties glam rockers, loud punksters. I guarantee you'll be entertained.

YouTube Underground!

Download Festival: my ears weren't even ringing...

2006-10-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

The bands at the Download Festival this past Saturday gave the audience their money's worth. Unfortunately, the sound crew didn't. The main stage's sound was pathetic for the people sitting out on the lawn for nearly the entire concert. This affected the sets of Rogue Wave, TV on the Radio (or TV on the Road according to the genius who neglected to edit the thousands of laminated schedule passes that were handed out upon entrance), The Shins and the Yeah yeah yeahs. Strangely, Muse's set, which came between The Shins and the Yeah yeah yeahs, was plenty loud and definitely the highlight of the show as a result. But I did make some general observations: Matthew Bellamy may be the coolest man in rock, Karen O the coolest woman and the Yeah yeah yeahs are definitely the happiest band I've ever seen live.

The sound problem was strange, really. I was looking forward to seeing the Yeah yeah yeahs the most because I knew their live show was supposed to be energetic and rockin'. And it was. Or at least, it looked like it was. And it almost sounded like it, too, when we could hear Karen O's voice, which was not even half the time. The Shin's set was similar. A friend commented that it was the first time they'd ever been to a concert and complained about it being too quiet.

Maybe it was just their glam rock distortion and Matthew's Broadway-power voice, but Muse was plenty loud and that made the crowd happier than they were until Beck. For a three-piece, they made a lot of noise. But their energy was unparalleled at this show and it seemed like everyone had come to see Muse as the venue was filled front to back during their set. Matthew played guitar like he was trying to bring back the Guitar God and the vibrato on his voice sounded almost like he was running it through a volume pedal, it was so precise. But the energy was what made this set and captivated the audience, making me and my cohorts that much more disappointed that we couldn't hear Karen O in the following set.

The second stage's sound was great, being that it was considerably smaller. I fell in love with The Like during their set, particularly Tennessee (drums) who looked like she was beating the crap out of her drums as she whipped her wild long hair around. Z (vocals, guitar) sounded like she was drunk when she talked between songs, but when she sang, she was strong and clear, not to mention her punk-rocker guitar playing. Charlotte (bass), hot pants-clad and mellow, was solid and actually playing the bass without a pick, which seems to be a dying breed. But I think I'm the only one who noticed that, as all the guys in the audience were using her as eye candy.

As expected, Beck's set was full of fun and unexpected oddities. It began with "Loser" piped in as the large screens displayed marionettes of Beck and the band mimicing the music and lyrics impeccably. Finally I realized there was a tiny stage set up on the real stage with four men operating the marionettes from above. These men continued to make the puppets sing every song, with the lips moving to every lyric and even the puppet drummer hitting different cymbals along with the real one. It was a true performance, for the band and the puppeteers. As Beck sang some solo acoustic songs, the rest of the band sat at what looked like a dinner table in the front of the stage. When the cameras zoomed in, it became clear that they were playing wine glasses with utensils and making a variety of percussion sounds on the table. It was like nothing I'd ever seen at a show.

Unfortunately my $50 camera demonstrates its cheapness at events like this, so I only got two reasonable photos, which are displayed here. Obviously they are pretty pathetic, but I'm sure there are other photos of the event elsewhere online to satisfy your visual needs.

So, was it worth it? I guess so. It was freezing and the sound was bad, but to be able to see so many amazing bands in one place is still pretty damn cool. But as for the Yeah yeah yeahs, I'd prefer to see them at a dingy New York club any day, where Karen O spits water in your face and you go to bed with your ears ringing.

Sigh, no Wolfmother

2006-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well, a friend had told me that The Shins droppped out of the Download Festival at Shoreline this weekend and I was totally bummed. The good news is, he was wrong. The bad news is, it was Wolfmother who dropped out, and I heard they put on a mind-blowing live show.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2006/09/download_festiv.html

But oh well, babies happen. I'm still looking forward to the great lineup of Beck, Yeah yeah yeahs, Muse, The Shins, TV on the Radio, Coheed & Cambria, Kinky, RogueWave, The Like, Sean Hayes and Mutaytor. This will almost make up for my not having enough money to go to Bumbershoot...

LoveFest . . . and wishing I had a hot butt

2006-09-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

Walking around to the various booming booths at LoveFest last Saturday, my companion and I bobbed our heads and shuffled our feet while watching the dancers displayed on top of the speakers. My apt partner soon noted, "Aren't the people up there supposed to be the good dancers?"

Aside from the fact that we weren't in Berlin, where all the girls wear sunglasses even if it's dark and dance with a mechanical pulse that entrances everyone present, the party was long, loud and luscious.

As we rode BART to the festival a little late, after the parade had already marched down Market St. and up to the (only moderately trashed at this point) Civic Center square, a couple boarded wearing sequins and capes. The woman's shiny shorts covered only half of her butt that served as a nice eye-level exhibition for the crowd of young children that walked by to disembark at the next stop. Our eyes bugged out a bit at the spectacle, but it was nothing compared to the bold and (well, sometimes) sexy displays we were about to experience as we stepped out into the sun and into the crowds.

The center abounded with naked men, mostly older, girls in hot pants on stilts (the perfect height for passing men to stare at their asses) and various other colorful, high-booted, breast baring, costumed dancers. My favorite was a flamboyant African American man dressed in null but bright pink hot pants and suspenders.

All this talk about the sartorial displays aside, the music really made the day. Standing between booths was a titillating sort of limbo, with both beats so loud that neither pulled more than the other. Each booth attracted a different crowd. Bay Area Drum N Bass amassed a huge pulsing mass of people as the day went on, spinning fast and constant, with fewer of those annoying "breakdowns" that really just make the crowd wonder if they are supposed to keep dancing. Other booths, such as neighbors The Masked Cat and Drive the Frisky Pink Mammoth, had smaller crowds, but much more room for passion and unlikely scenes, such as the three children we encountered breaking it down HARD. (see photo) Opel's popular 1 Love, Many Beats float attracted a large crowd with its funky and VERY loud progressive techno and house for dancers holding signs promoting "clubbing happy hour" Qoöl.

After many hours booth-hopping, but too lazy for the craziness of the after-parties, we left in the evening to relax and rest off our day of dancing. I did vow to return next year if the tradition continues, definitely wearing a costume. But no hot pants.

Cat Power

2006-09-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

She's a little nuts, yes, but I love her. Here's a great video interview (I wish I could post it here, but it's NYT.)

"Talking With Cat Power" -Winter Miller and Erik Olsen

Here's the accompanying article:
"9 Lives and Counting: Cat Power Sobers Up" -Winter Miller

I love her because she uses words like "enwounded."

MySpace killed the video star

2006-09-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Same old debate, I know, but for some reason I think MySpace is pretty unbeatable at this point. And while I don't care much for Murdock and his MySpace, YouTube is a pretty fun way to waste time...
"Sour Musical Notes on YouTube, MySpace" -Olga Kharif from Business Week
Just out of j-nerd curiosity, since when is it okay to use "a person familiar with the matter" as a source?

Now, Sept. 19, let them be one...aww...MySpace is left out, how SAD:
"Warner Music Makes Licensing Deal With YouTube" -Jeff Leeds NYT

Putting a face on feminism Bitchfest makes it all-inclusive

2006-09-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I attended a reading of Bitchfest, Bitch Magazine's 10-year anthology. I wanted to write something about it just because I left feeling uplifted, optimistic and excited. For many women, I'm sure thinking about the state of our rights and our place in society is a tad depressing, but this reading made me so happy to be a woman, simply because we are so willing and able to gather, speak and discuss. Not to say that all men are unwilling, of course. There were even two amazing male speakers at the event, and this was what was so exciting. The term "feminism" has had such a bad rap. When I used the word ONCE while telling a friend about the event, he exclaimed, "Ugh, I'm SO glad I wasn't there." But what stood out to me at this reading was that a feminist is not just one kind of person. Yes, there are many militant feminists still out there, I'm sure, but any woman or man who cares about the issues affecting women can be, effectively, a feminist. The reading was attended by tattooed, vintage skirt-adorned women, studious women, stylish and intelligent gay men, concerned and attentive straight men, the list goes on. Because of the universality of the issues that are addressed in this book and the humorous delivery with which many of the contributors share their thoughts, I have to recommend Bitchfest to anyone who reads this blog. Yes, all three of you.

Bitchfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine
Edited by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler
Foreword by Margaret Cho
Farrar, Straus and Giroux / New York
$16

Punk carriage from an indie queen Feist at the Fillmore, 9/8/06

2006-09-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to imagine Feist as the screaming lead singer of a punk band called Placebo, particularly after seeing her concert demeanor. Her voice is fairly soft. But she offsets any illusion of timidity with an occasional gut-powered growl that sounds, well, kind of painful.

That’s the beauty of Feist. She’s been around the block a few times, with different styles, instruments and collaborators. By now, she’s holding her own. Her album Let it Die was released in 2005 and has earned her Juno awards for new artist of the year and alternative album of the year. Even though it was her second album, Feist made it clear at this show that she'd rather not be marked by her first release, Monarch, from 1999 (“We can forget about that,” she joked in a half-singing, high-pitched squeak).

The success of Let it Die aside, Feist has quite a musical resumé, most of which falls in the "indie" category. After Placebo, her voice was shot from all the screaming, so she learned guitar, becoming a guitarist for By Divine Right. As a vocalist or guitarist, she has worked with Kings of Convenience, Renaud Letang of Manu Chao, The New Deal and Chilly Gonzales. She was a founding member of Broken Social Scene and even made a sock puppet rap in Spanish as "Bitch Lap-lap" for her friend Peaches’ “Teaches of Peaches” tour.

Feist's most recent album, Open Season, is an album made up mostly of remixes and alternate versions of the songs from Let it Die. Her show at the Fillmore was the one-year anniversary of her current band’s formation.

The simplest way to describe Feist live is "refreshing." She didn’t just go through the motions for each song to appease those in the audience who like to sing along to radio versions. Some songs were slower, some were faster, some started slow with blues-style rambling over one chord, but every song brought out a new character; a new persona for Feist to play with. And as she released herself into these roles, even that of the raucous guitar-god was not overtly masculine. They all exuded pure, unabashed femininity.

After two underwhelming but satisfactory opening acts (ok, I’ll name them: Rubies and The Long Winters) and a half an hour wait for the stage crew to set up and tune guitars, the lights went down and Feist nonchalantly traipsed on stage. She picked up her big red Gibson guitar (which, compared to her small frame, made her look almost like a munchkin) and began with a slow version of “When I was a young girl.”

As soon as the second song, a surprising addition to the set added variety and freshness. Feist began alone with “The Build-Up,” a song she co-wrote with the boys from Kings of Convenience. On the album Riot on an Empty Street, the song is a duet with Erlend Øye and a starkly beautiful end to the collection. Live, the song was stunning with three-part harmonies and drums entering as the second verse began. (blog-aside: This happened to be the first song I had ever heard by Feist.)

Feist’s love of melody was clear and embraced by the crowd. She caressed it, changing a few notes, holding some and chopping others short. This improvisational technique was something that made her stand out from many other singers. Her voice was an instrument, not just a tool that went through a mixer and came out in tune and acceptable on the album.

Feist then asked the audience’s permission to sing some new songs, not that "no" was an acceptable answer. “It’s a matter of life or death,” she said, “Our lives and nobody’s death.” Seven or eight new songs populated the set and added a mystery imperative for an artist who is essentially promoting one album.

Her punk roots were clearest when it came to her guitar playing. It’s nice to hear a woman who can roar. She was rough with it, beating it up like a proper rocker while contorting her lips, flipping her hair and getting on her knees for a guitar solo. She was comfortable with just herself and her guitar, whether it was kicking the electric's ass or fondling the acoustic.

The remainder of the show progressed something like an offbeat dream: a guest audience member singing "secret heart" and hamming it up, a tap dancer on the side stage, a girl passed out in the front row, an obnoxious British girl screaming “I love you,” a chorus of a seemingly drunken backup band, and Feist completely forgetting the words to “One Evening.” When she requested raised lighters during a slower version of the Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out,” there was a pathetic turnout--thankfully not to the ruin of the song.

Of course, “Mushaboom” received a raucous yowl from the crowd, but the live version was refreshingly different—-slightly longer and requiring all the energy of the entire band: trumpet, saxophone, percussion and all. An encore of “Gatekeeper” and a new song followed. The show ended with a breathtaking “Let it Die,” during which Feist clearly did not slack, regardless of how tired she must have been from the nearly two-hour set.

Like others before her, Feist took control of the daunting Fillmore stage--as both seasoned rebel and ravishing debutante. Her picture well deserves a spot on that hallway wall.

-Photos courtesy of Rachel Nash (Thank you!)

Dirty indie: 'Professor of indie rock' Wendy Fonarow explains how 13 years of gig attendance spawned Empire of Dirt

2006-09-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

For most college students, seeing a professor at a gig would be like being caught drinking beer at a high school party. But the students of Dr. Wendy Fonarow, anthropology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, are used to it.

Ben Lee Handler, “master of ceremonies” for the Blood Arm dubbed Fonarow the “professor of indie rock” on the band’s blog, and the name stuck. Though she doesn’t actually teach classes on indie music, she has written a textbook-style analysis of the this very phenomenon. “Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Music” is an anthropologist’s detailed analysis of the illusive scene.

Generally, the term “indie” refers to bands that are signed to smaller, less corporate record labels and play gigs in small, personal venues. But as Fonarow addresses, it is a term that is laden with ambiguity.

The term was coined as an abbreviation for “independent,” having to do with the record label, so inevitably indie begins at this business level. But indie can be defined based on various other terms, such as the heavy use of guitars, the lo-fi recording quality, the thrift shop style or even the behavior of the band members on stage. As indie is defined, so is its audience, and in the process of this definition, a culture becomes apparent.

Fun tidbits like the “Are you a groupie?” quiz and analysis of the indie fan’s placement of a festival pass appear in the work. But Fonarow digs deeper, comparing the indie community to Puritans and analyzing the value of emotion in stage performances. The only irony is that many of the concepts she addresses have probably never crossed most indie fans’ minds, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fascinating.

Fonarow draws many comparisons throughout the book that demonstrate her understanding of society as a whole. To substantiate her Puritan analogy, she writes, “Within indie, we find a Puritan distrust of authority, a preference for non-corporate, independently owned commercial operations, an avocation of simplicity in musical form, production, and style, a promotion of high moral standards regarding issues of sexuality and conduct, an emphasis on education, and an underlying theme of austerity and abstinence.”

indie etiquette
Fonarow attended concerts long before she decided to write a book about indie. After seeing a fan jump on stage to get around a crowd when she was reluctant to do such a thing, she realized that there was concert etiquette involved in the indie scene and that the behavior of indie fans conformed to an unspoken standard. After deciding to write about the scene in Britain, she began making connections at gigs in LA.

Written from the perspective of both an insider attending concerts and an outsider observing and analyzing behavior, the book grew from a description of the British indie gig’s ritualism to an overall analysis of indie and its cohorts.

“It’s really a labyrinth of interpersonal relationships,” she said, “and I had become connected with those through shows in the U.S.”

As she developed the topic of the book and began to organize her ideas, she found more and more issues to explore.

“Just the description of the behaviors is useless -- there has to be a bigger why,” Fonarow said. “…I had to go into the history and West African origins. You really get the idea that this is a syncretic phenomenon—a religious ritual that turned into a form of entertainment.”

What zone are you in?
Back in high school, going to a concert meant getting beaten and bruised by fellow moshers. As time goes by, many of us decide to move back--to observe the musicians, dance a little, but generally stay out of the madness. Fonarow groups these areas into three “zones of participation” and describes the general behavior of each. For instance, zone one is the zone closest to the stage, where “mosh pits” usually take place. Zone two is the middle zone, where people stand to be close enough to see but not to be knocked over. Zone three is the back, sometimes where the bar or sitting area is. This zone is often occupied by journalists, record cronies and even people looking to get a date.

Fonarow moves on in the next chapter to describe the stage antics of indie artists and the importance of emotion: “The central illusion of musical performance is that it allows the audience to believe that the performers are actually experiencing the sentiments they perform. This allows the audience to stop being an audience and become participants instead in the larger play.”

In the final chapter, “Sex and the Ritual Practitioners,” Fonarow delves into the role of the groupie in indie culture. While the groupie can be threatening to the modest attitude of indie, he or she represents a distinction between indie and other forms of music, as many of the mainstream stereotypes break down.

“Babes in Boyland”
The concept of the book did face its share of critics. Fonarow said she would frequently have members of the indie community try to test her knowledge. But what she realized was that while she could be both an insider and an outsider in most respects, there were some who simply weren’t interested in her academia.

She attributes this mainly to differing personalities and interests, but also to the idea that while the British scene is very “sexually egalitarian,” the American scene may not be ready to accept a woman knowing about the workings of the indie lifestyle.

“Indie is supposed to be a province of musical respect for women,” she said. “But the American indie scene is still a lot more like Babes in Boyland.”

Regardless of any critics or dodgers, Fonarow has amassed plenty of supporters. Even before the book was officially released on July 1, it was all but sold out on amazon.com. Also, taking advantage of the popular online community “MySpace” by creating a profile for the book itself has drawn many supporters. The profile begins, “I am a book…,” perhaps overshadowing the weirdness of members creating profiles for their cats. The book has multiple indie bands on its friends list, as well as dedicated students and others who have read the book and been inspired by it.

In the afterword of her book, Wendy describes her personal connection with music in the context of the title of the book, with declarations such as: “Dirt is noise, the sounds that don’t make sense to us. But if you listen, you can hear it pulling you toward the chaos of possibility of the world outside our own. The creative and destructive possibilities of dirt are endless.”

Fonarow described this afterword as her own personal views—where she has taken the time to interject her own ideas about indie music and her reasons for being attracted to indie in the first place, long before “Empire of Dirt” became a reality.

"Empire of Dirt" by Wendy Fonarow
Wesleyan University Press
Available at large book stores or online
$25.00
http://www.indiegoddess.com

Jolie Holland, Springtime can Kill you

2006-08-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

I do believe Jolie Holland's accent just keeps getting thicker. But as one of the many aspects of Holland's vocal character that makes her so entrancing, on her new album, Springtime can kill you, it becomes that much more endearing. If you think about it too hard, you may think it's accentuated and extreme, but if you let it seep through you, it's like she's from another world.

With ten songs written by Holland and two ambitious covers, the creation pushes Holland into the ever-revered realm of the successful second album and solidifies her position in music genealogy, even if that position is crazy southern cousin.

The album is musically simple, with more southern charm and class than a night at the opera. Each song is based on a simple chord progression with short piano or guitar riffs interjecting repeatedly. The repetition stays fresh and by no means bogs the songs down.

The opening song, "Crush in the ghetto" is an innocently sweet ditty about love in the most unromantic of places: "I'm floating with the birds / I'm talking to the weeds / look what you've done to me." Holland's voice is airy and drifts through the light drums and guitar. A delicate brass section is hardly noticeable, but adds depth. This brass sound reappears throughout the album, and each time it sneaks up like a light fog. "Crush" is a calm, collected springtime love song sprinkled with adorably fresh lyrics.

The third and title track is a sparse drums, bass, piano and fluttering guitar, with a soft trombone solo after the verse. At just over two and a half minutes, the song feels like a quick visit with friends--just enough time to cheer up. Holland advises her listener to, "get out of your house" as the spring flowers bloom: "You can't be too shy / You know the reason why / If you don't go get what you need / Something's going to break on the inside."

Track five, a cover of Riley Puckett's "You're not Satisfied," is a duet with David Dondero that sounds like a drunken lament to a lover after returning from the pub. Lazy trombone and trumpet play the melody as Holland and Dondero take a break mid-song, probably to splash their faces with water.

"Please don't" shows Holland's vocal versatility. We've heard her voice express the giddiness of love earlier in the album, and now we hear it cry as she experiences a deep and low emotion: "It's unseemly how I hate myself / I don't want anyone to see / Least of all someone like you / Who knows so much about me."

Holland makes her voice bluesy in the ragtime piano-accompanied "Mehitabel's blues," transparent in "Ghostly girl" and sultry in C.R. Avery's "Crazy Dreams." In "Stubborn Beast" her melody is quick and flitting, like a restless bug covered with ink ran across the musical staff.

The last song, "Mexican Blue" is inundated with lyrics--a detailed journey Holland leads us through. It is, luckily for those who hate to be left sad, an uplifting and fresh tale of love: "When the moon is as clear as an opal / And the amethyst river sings a song / I'll remember all your dreams and the mysteries / You have borne in your crystalline soul." Less an Appalachian folk song than a bonafide rock ballad, the song is changes the musical flavor of the album, adding diversity and adaptability. It is modern instrumentally and traditional vocally, a combination that turns out to be white on rice.

From the Be Good Tanyas to solo songstress, Holland doesn't disappoint new rock nor her roots.

Thom Yorke, The Eraser

2006-07-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

With news that Jonny Greenwood has been feeding his fervor with guitar, it's nice to see that Thom Yorke is able to get his electronic ya-ya's out. The Eraser, a familiar-sounding album with added glitch and click, prevails as a solo project as well as an advert for Radiohead's talented line-up of musicians.

The opening title track has little going on aside from Yorke's penetrating voice. Even the harmony is created with vocals, as a choir of Yorkes floats above the melody and ends the song raw and quivery. The lyric is simple and yet potent: "The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear." I don't know who's trying to erase him, but at this moment in the song all I want to do is trace him with a permanent marker.

Though the beats throughout the album are ducky and even fresh at times, they would hold up a very short time without the vocals. Whether it's Yorke showing off his make-the-Nightingales-jealous falsetto in "Atoms for Peace" or just ooh-in and ahh-ing above the beat in "The Clock," there is no doubt that Yorke is one of the great male vocalists of his generation.

Different themes trickle through the songs. "Skip divided" portrays Yorke as a lovesick puppy, with not a dearth of confusion: "When you walk in the room, everything disappears. When you walk in the room it's a terrible mess." With a funky guitar riff as a start, "Harrowdown Hill" changes into a dark exploration of the controversial death of British weapons inspector David Kelly, with Yorke taking on his character: "Don't walk the plank like I did. You will be dispensed with," "Did I fall or was I pushed? And where's the blood?"

The album wraps up with "Cymbal Rush," a Nintendo sounds meets Pure Moods trip through desperation: "Try to save it but it doesn't come off the rock. Try to build a wall that is high enough. It's all boiling over." It's a perfectly cryptic end to an album of lyrics that make you feel, yet you don't quite know why.

While Yorke's insistence that the album not be called a "solo" album is all in good taste, it's hard not to classify it as such when it's filed under his name. But what you realize, even if you don't know that the album was put together from old Radiohead tapes, is that there is somehow very little disconnection between Yorke and Radiohead--that they are one and the same and they seem to like it that way. But what Yorke proves here is that he can take matters into his own hands and produce something equally as brilliant as a Radiohead album. And personally, I think the same would be true of the other members of Radiohead as well.

The biggest mistake here would be to imagine the album as it would have been with the other members of Radiohead present. What The Eraser brings is a narrowed glimpse into what Thom Yorke can do, musically, lyrically and vocally (With the help of Nigel Godrich, inevitably). The simplicity of it all should not be a reason to disregard it, but a reason to bask in Yorke's ability to manipulate what may have been Radiohead's musical table scraps.

I've succumbed...

2006-07-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

So, putting the millions of times I've bashed people with blogs aside, here I am. I decided it might just be a good way to start writing music criticism (and whatever else I can) and getting my writing out there. I mean, hell, myspace works for bands, right? So here we go... This is my entrance into the world of music journalism. Let's hope I don't fall on my ass.