Melodic Motion

Daft Punk Afterparty in NYC, List Closed

2007-08-07T15:55:00.001-04:00

Mas Forever, the New York-based company putting on the nationwide Dafter Parties, said the venues have been having some capacity issues -- so much so that even Kanye West was having problems gaining entrance into the Chicago event. Of course, with it being NYC, Rapture being back in town, and the possibility of Daft Punk DJing, Studio B's entrance line just might stretch across the Williamsburg Bridge. (And you thought the CSS show was nuts.)

The RSVP list is officially closed, so if you want to guarantee entry, hit up Ticketweb.

DFA's New Sublabel

2007-08-06T18:01:00.000-04:00

DFA set out to show that the label -- and its acronym -- is more than the disco-rock mainstream media have pegged it as. Its new imprint, Death from Abroad, will release experimental dance records from the likes of Mock & Toof, Gucci Soundystem, and Altz. Looks like James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy are getting back to their roots.

Siouxsie Sioux's Solo Debut

2007-08-02T22:20:00.000-04:00

The iconic and arresting Siouxsie Sioux, who turned 50 this year, is just now releasing her solo debut, Mantaray, on October 2. But for fans and for the many she's influenced throughout her 20-year career, it's a welcome, if belated, gift. Her past projects' success, both before and after the Banshees, have rested nearly entirely on her smooth, deep vocals -- which, as you can hear on the "Into the Swan" single -- have not lost timbre.

Mantary tracklisting:
1. Into a Swan
2. About to Happen
3. Here Comes that Day
4. Loveless
5. If it Doesn't Kill You
6. One Mile Below
7. Drone Zone
8. Sea of Tranquility
9. They Follow You
10. Heaven and Alchemy

UNKLE's James Lavelle Certainly Has Some War Stories

2007-07-31T06:56:00.000-04:00

Last week, my review of UNKLE's latest, War Stories, was published in the Village Voice. I noticed not much has been published about this record, though. Then I saw this Guardian article (via Earplug) in which the author had apparently been thinking the same thing. We're not the only ones, are we?

Au Revoir Simone, Tres Bien

2007-07-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

After releasing The Bird of Music and touring with Peter, Bjorn & John, the girls of Au Revoir Simone are taking the top spot on the marquee. The girls hit the road August 10.

Here's an article I wrote, originally published in Amplifier.

As they wrap up a track on forthcoming album The Bird of Music, one of those complicated-looking ganja-vaporizing machines lies on the table in Au Revoir Simone’s studio. The three women in this dreamy, innocent-sounding tweetronica keyboard band are rule breakers who shun the idea of having an image, who don’t believe in playing minor roles in mostly male bands, and who have no idea what the hell this contraption is.

Heather D’Angelo claims to have asthma and Annie Hart says she was home schooled. Like their delicate sounds, the unfeigned pleas cause pause.

“We’re a real hardcore rock and roll band,” Annie laughs.

Au Revoir Simone make no qualms about nurturing their inner dorks. From hoola-hooping in venue parking lots to blushing when magazines name one of them a fashion trendsetter, they’re simply enjoying playing in a band they thought would be relegated to performing cover songs at birthday parties. Though expanding their previously lo-fi instrumentation, Erika Forster recognizes an element of silliness there, too. “In a lot of ways that cheesy ‘80s Casio sound is our music, we just kind of have to go with it.” And it’s working.

With a reissue of their first CD, plus remixes, and a UK tour ahead, ARS focus on finishing Bird of Music, without a US label. “We were very proud and happy with [Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation], but we want to accomplish a more lush, thick sound. Something more like a world you can go into,” Annie explains, gesturing with her arms. So actually mixing the tracks in a studio is really helping, and the fact that they hadn’t ever done that before sends them into fits of laughter. For the last release, they sometimes even recorded before songs were anywhere near completion, like “Stay Golden” — the Outsiders-influenced bitter-breakup closer about a boy nicknamed Pony. “The songwriting decisions are like one us will have a screwball idea that you expect to be totally shot down. But no,” Heather rolls, “not in this band.” When she wandered into the recording of the uplifting “Hurricanes,” she decided she wanted the tempo to abruptly quicken and this rallying almost-chorus to start up right in the middle of the song. “We were all cracking up,” Erika remembers, “because we were like, ‘Yeah, we can do that. We can do whatever we want!’” Agreeing that like their band name (a line from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure), they try things jokingly that end up being “pretty cool.” Clearly they’ve never been interested in orthodoxy.

Each member has a keyboard and a voice box and uses them to sweeping effect; their democratic studio debates seem more supportive than AA; at times, they don’t even verbalize to make group decisions. “There are no rules. Each of us can be so much more creative because there aren’t any specific roles,” Erika blurts excitedly. With no lead singer, no lead keyboardist, and no power struggles, Heather thrills, “We almost act together as one girl, one supergirl!”

08.10.07 - New York, NY (Seaport Music Festival)
08.13.07 - Boston, MA (TT The Bear's)
08.14.07 - Montreal, QC (Main Hall)
08.15.07 - Toronto, ON (Lee's Palace)
08.16.07 - Cleveland, OH (Beachland Ballroom)
08.17.07 - Chicago, IL (Abbey Pub)
08.18.07 - Minneapolis, MN (7th Street Entry)
08.21.07 - Seattle, WA (Chop Suey)
08.22.07 - Vancouver, BC (Media Club)
08.23.07 - Portland, OR (Holocene)
08.24.07 - San Francisco, CA (Bottom Of The Hill)
08.25.07 - West Hollywood, CA (Troubadour)
08.26.07 - San Diego, CA (Casbah)
08.29.07 - Denton, TX (Rubber Gloves)
08.30.07 - Austin, TX (Emo's)
09.01.07 - Baton Rouge, LA (Spanish Moon)
09.02.07 - Birmingham, AL (Bottle Tree)
09.03.07 - Atlanta, GA (Drunken Unicorn)
09.04.07 - Chapel Hill, NC (Local 506)
09.05.07 - Washington, DC (Rock & Roll Hotel)
09.06.07 - Baltimore, MD (Ottobar)
09.07.07 - Philadelphia, PA (Vacuum)
09.08.07 - New York, NY (Mercury Lounge)
09.09.07 - Montreal, QC (MEG Festival)
09.10.07 - Ottawa, ON (Babylon Nightclub)
09.15.07 - Morrison, CO (Monolith Festival)
09.16.07 - San Francisco, CA (Treasure Island Music Festival)

No lockpick required

2007-07-11T02:33:00.000-04:00

Take a peak inside a compilation of entries in Leslie Arfin's Dear Diary

by Melody Caraballo
published on venuszine.com

Everyone likes to read diaries, even parents, which is exactly why some people just won’t keep that kind of evidence around. Luckily — or unluckily as the case may be — for the reluctant-to-document population, Lesley Arfin lays bare enough of her insecurities, realizations, and addictions for us to vividly recall our own. Dear Diary is culled from her Vice column of the same name, in which she excerpts her diary entries and remarks on them with the wisdom of age and occasionally, the aloofness of, you know, a Vice writer (see her recommendation to teenage girls to do shots of Jäger before losing their “V”). For the book, she took it a step further by calling up (and sometimes calling out) old flames, repudiated BFFs, and even the ‘rents.

“It felt very uncomfortable to interview my dad. It was a really hard phone call to make, probably the hardest. It is also hard for me now knowing that he has read it, but we don't talk about it,” she says. While Dear Diary is a pretty light read and will in no way supplant Go Ask Alice in the annals of young adult literature, Arfin hopes that her publication makes a difference and explains to her father that “Another girl, somewhere in Minnesota, might be going through the same thing and feel the same way. Maybe if she reads this, she’ll realize she’s not the only one who goes through this stuff.”

“This stuff” is both the tribulations of the seemingly trivial and the undeservedly significant nearly all experience on that long journey from the preteen years to adulthood. It’s Arfin’s sheer honesty that is most strikingly potent, reminding us that people are not two-dimensional and that even when reading a person’s diary, true personality is an amorphous and slimy lil’ abstract. In one conversation she says, “It’s starting to occur to me that I wasn’t this innocent victim … and was, in fact, a self-centered and evil bitch who liked to fuck with people and then conveniently forget it. Oopsies.” Here too is what gives Arfin’s writing its flair, call it an ironic breath of fresh New York City air — she is not frontin’, no matter how shitty a statement like that might make her look to the less self-aware.

Arfin faces demons, both bite-size (grade-school goons) and mountain-size (black-tar bundles), with equal fervor, and it looks like her diary has helped her through those ups, downs, and further-downs. “It also helps in sobriety too because I've found that knowing the truth about something in my head and writing it down on paper have lead me to very different results,” she adds. With her drug-addled past behind her, don’t expect this to be the last you’ll hear of Miss Arfin. Typical of her funny endnotes, she says, “I think I have a few more stomach-knotting titles to come in the future. There are a lot of different kinds of knots, as I've been learning from my sailor’s manual.”

—
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Dear Diary (Vice Books)
By Leslie Arfin
231 pages
$20.00

Beth Ditto Interviews Yo Majesty

2007-05-16T21:54:00.000-04:00

My blog may be coming dangerously close to being a Beth Ditto fan site, but that wouldn't be soooo bad. XLR8R TV hands the mic to the Gossip's Beth Ditto to do something other than belt out that beautiful singing voice: to interview Yo Majesty. That's right. Ditto and the "Kryptonite Pussy" ladies talk "saggy titties and stretchmarks." Watch it.

The Blow's Tour Shortened

2007-04-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

Since Paper Television *was* one of the best releases of 2006 (see review at bottom of post), the Blow deserved to get the remix treatment for the re-release of 2004's Poor Aim: Love Songs. The CD marks Khaela Maricich's first collab with Jona Bechtolt -- who, by the way has a third Yacht full-length coming out May 8 called I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real. Now, not only is Jona a permanent member of Blow, but the band picked up a tour with the excellent Electrelane. Unfortunately, Electrelane later got a supporting spot on the Arcade Fire's tour; so the Blow have only a handful of dates left. So get out there and score some Blow!

Mon May 14 Annondale-on-Hudson, NY Bard College w/ Electrelane, Tender Forever
Tue May 15 New York, NY Irving Plaza w/ Electrelane, Tender Forever
Wed May 16 Boston, MA Paradise Lounge w/ Electrelane, Tender Forever
Sat May 26 George, WA Sasquatch! Festival
Fri June 8 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum w/ Electrelane, Tender Forever

The Blow*
Paper Television (K Records)

In typical K Records tradition, Jona Bechtolt and Khaela Maricich mold their creation from raw materials: lo-fi beats, a microphone, and a “Pile of Gold,” a song that positions them as a modern egalitarian duo who balance hip-hop’s rhythms with women’s studies-influenced lyrics; think of it as party music that thinks. After opening with a very familiar-sounding ‘80s keyboard riff, Maricich gets about as close to throaty as she ever will when singing “All the girls are sittin’ on a pile of gold.” Comparing ass to cash and sex to an economic exchange may sound like fodder for a debate on prostitution but the song makes no apologies for its feminist fair-trade analogies, reminding boys that they “should treat us good.” On “Parentheses,” Bechtolt’s bass lines bounce amidst handclaps and charming one-liners like “When you’re holding me, we make a pair of parentheses.” The song’s missive to the world is to never be afraid to show emotion and to be assured that someone you care for we’ll always be there for you; and when Maricich’s lilting speak-singing says so, you want to believe. No, the Paper Television’s song structures aren’t rocket science and the singing is hardly ranging, but the charm, wit, and observation far outweigh any such perceived shortcomings. And if disarming simplicity is their MO, then “True Affection” is their crowning achievement. The bulk of the song sounds like it could have been made by using only sounds effects from Pong and Maricich masters breathy, dispassionate and distanced vocals while the pain and intimacy bubbles to the surface of its underwater motif. Maricich’s single ability to craft smart and creative lyrics within and without samples, drum machines, and vocal play must have endeared the Blow to K in the first place, but the pop sensibilities of Paper Television will undoubtedly endear them to the thinking party kids at large.
*Originally published in Amplifier.

First Venus Piece

2007-03-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

I'm ecstatic to be writing for two of my personal faves, BUST and Venus. My first posted review for www.venuszine.com is on the Screaming Masterpiece DVD. Read it here.

Band du Jour Begins Tour

2007-02-06T01:06:00.000-05:00

Tokyo Police Club
A Lesson in Crime EP (Paper Bag Records)

These Toronto upstarts really work that whole brand recognition angle as David Monks shouts “Tokyo Police Club” over and over (most press photos display the name prominently, too). While singing your own band’s name in song is as about as cool as making up your own nickname, TPC manage to make pop twitchier than Parkinson’s and as sweetly infectious as the “kissing disease.” Their bass lines thump and slap imperiously enough to make you forget the overdose of handclaps intro’ing “Nature of the Experiment” while the song just chugs along, with docile, doom-laden lyrics and gracefully restrained keys. But from one song to the next, the CD seems only faintly to be the product of the same band, nailing the Strokes, Postal Service, and Thunderbirds Are Now! in turns. Though stylistically, the EP is verdant enough to leave grass stains on your eardrums, there’s ample solid songwriting and plenty iron-filled melodies to firmly anchor, and certainly to keep those ears clean enough to hear the full-length debut. -- Melody Caraballo*

*Originally published in Amplifier.

Stream the album here.

2/10/07 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza (PLUG Awards)
3/6/07 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater *
3/7/07 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave *
3/8/07 – Madison, WI @ The Annex *
3/9/07 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean *
3/10/07 – Columbia, MO @ Mojo’s *
3/12/07 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s *
3/13/07 – Tulsa, OK @ Bob’s
3/14/07 – Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Tea Room *
3/15/07 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s (Tag Team/The Onion SXSW Party)
3/19/07 – New Orleans, LA @ The Republic *
3/20/07 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder *
3/21/07 – Orlando, FL @ The Social *
3/22/07 – St. Augustine, FL @ Café 11 *
3/23/07 – Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl *
3/24/07 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge *
3/26/07 – Mt. Pleasant, SC @ Village Tavern *
3/27/07 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
3/28/07 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
3/29/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *
3/30/07 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East *
3/31/07 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street *
4/6/07 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
4/7/07 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
4/9/07 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
4/28/07 – Indio, CA @ Coachella
* w/ Cold War Kids

Real Women Have Curves

2007-02-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

Beth Ditto Nominated for NME's Sexiest Woman

After making it on NME's 2006 Cool List (which ran with a cover Lily Allen calls sexist in the latest issue of BUST), the fabulous Beth Ditto of the Gossip is nominated for an NME Award for Sexiest Woman. While I am not quite sure what that means, especially since NME is a music magazine, my bloody heart swells with pride. In a world that makes sense she would win out against the Swiffer mop that is Kate Moss. Ditto is a real woman, not only because she has curves, but because she is caring, kick-ass, and supremely talented. She was one of the warmest interviews I have ever had, probably because she knows what she wants, what she stands for, and she accepts herself and others for who they are -- and there is nothing sexier.

"Listen Up!" mp3

In Rotation, with Jason NeSmith of Casper & the Cookies

2006-11-14T23:25:00.000-05:00

Jason NeSmith (who is no relation to Mike NeSmith of the Monkees, but is a former Of Montreal member), sings in the '60s-pop-loving Athens quartet Casper & the Cookies. Their latest, The Optimist's Club, with its mix of saccharine and psychedelica, has drawn comparisons to the enigmatic Brian Wilson. NeSimth says it's time to prepare another album and some compilation tracks, but I wanted to see what a guy who sings like Simon and Garfunkel has bouncing in his brain all the daylong. "I'm listening to a wide variety of records that might influence our new songs," he says. "The mix seems to be leaning toward bubblegum music, 20th century classical and shit that generally just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end."

Here's what he's listening to now.

1. The Bicycles, "I Know We Have to Be Apart," The Good The Bad and The Cuddly

The Bicycles are a great band from Toronto that I hope we can play some US and Canadian shows with in the near future. Their debut record is a solid slab of bubblegum music. This band understands the usefulness of the pop form and the emotions it can render.

2. The Equals, "Let's Go to the Moon," Viva Equals!

Righteous integrated glam/ska/funk from this late '60s/early '70s powerhouse group featuring a young Eddie Grant. Check the futuristic sound fx.

3. Rockpile, "When I Write the Book," Seconds of Pleasure

Any number of Nick Lowe's songs could have gone here. This is the one that's been in my head today.

4. Ron Geesin, "On-Through-Out-Up," A Raise of Eyebrows/As He Stands

I seem to get into these artists that are easily categorized as eclectic, because they never stay in one stylistic place for too long and they use humor. Geesin weaves together absurdism, social commentary, found sound, modern classical, ragtime, electronic and improvised music. My hero.

5. Kim Fowley, "Animal Man," Impossible but True: The Kim Fowley Story

I think the Alice Cooper group is backing him up on this song, which is more than likely autobiographical. Scary and hilarious.

6. M Coast, "Sail Around the World," Say It in Slang

Gorgeous, smooth, well arranged pop from Andy Gonzales and co.

7. Sarandon, "Prove It," The Completist's Library

I'm sure these guys hear this all the time, but their music is like the best parts of the Minutemen and Wire. You won't wish you were listening to the Minutemen or Wire, though, while you're playing Sarandon.

8. Jonathan Richman, "That Summer Feeling," I, Jonathan

One of the more touching, introspective and psychologically effecting performances by Jonathan. Never fails to make me tear up.

9. Karlheinz Stockhausen, "Gesang der Jünglinge"

Dissonant, jarring cut-and-paste of kids singing children's songs.

10. Albert Roussel, "Impromptu for harp solo," op. 21

A meditative harp piece that uses Asian influences without being gratuitous. Beautiful melodies and wonderful use of silence.

Upcoming Casper dates:

Thursday, November 16, "Phoning It In" radio show, WMBR 88.1FM, Cambridge, MA 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 19, Bottletree Cafe Birmingham, AL
Thursday, November 30, Georgia Music Show, WRAS 88.5, Atlanta, GA 6:00 PM
Thursday, November 30, The Earl Atlanta, GA
Friday, December 1, TSI Jacksonville, FL
Saturday, December 2, The Gypsy Greenville, SC

Ear-Candling

2006-11-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

This morning, after yoga or vomiting last night's happy-hour drinks, get the shit out your ears and let the music in.

Tilly & the Wall, "Bad Education," Bottoms of Barrels (Team Love)
The Gossip, "Coal to Diamonds," Standing in the Way of Control (Kill Rock Stars)
Cold War Kids, "Hospital Beds," Up In Rags EP (Monarchy Music)
Lady Sovereign feat. Missy Elliott, "Love Me or Hate Me (Remix)"
Emily Haines, "Crowd Surf Off a Cliff," Knives Don't Have Your Back (Last Gang)
The Runaways, "Cherry Bomb," The Runaways, (Cherry Red) ***R.I.P. Sandy West***
Be Your Own Pet, "Damn Damn Leash," Damn Damn Leash EP (XL)
Blow, "Pile of Gold," Paper Television (K Records)
Simian Mobile Disco, New Rave Mix
Peaches, "Boys Wanna Be Her (Flaming Lips Eat Peaches)"

Still Reaching for the Ideal, Never Idle

2006-11-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

Since today is an election day, it is only fitting that I post something about one of the very people who politicized my mind at 14. Ian MacKaye, former member of legendary band Fugazi and ever a force in underground music and DIY inspiration, has completed touring with his new, mellow-sounding but no-less-political-critical band, The Evens. Their second CD, Get Evens, was just released today. Maybe he and drummer Amy Farina will begin to get some recognition. Gothamist thought they deserved some; check out the Q&A.

The Evens, "All These Governors," The Evens (Southern Records)

Don't judge a ...

2006-10-31T00:57:00.000-05:00

... band by its name.

For as many sincere artists seem to be rising from under ground -- or Minnesota -- we are still knee deep in irony: Some Girls are just some guys. But there are a few band names that convey such crazy notions one can't help but surmise something from it. So I picked some whack-ass band names from this year's CMJ lineup to see what I thought they might sound like and what they actually sound like (to me).

FYI: The bands are not listed in order of outlandishness, just good ole alphabetic order.

10 Ft Ganja Plant

Seems Like: Hope this isn't too obvious, but stoner rock with some major reggae influence. They sell glow sticks at their merch table in hopes of not seeming like a '70s throwback band.

Sounds Like: A total Marley ripoff as far as the vocal inflection goes. I don't know about the glow sticks, though; the production is much too clean sounding to be mistaken for anything recorded in the '70s.

Balthrop, Alabama

Seems Like: Small-town freak-folksters with hometown pride, wearing their hearts on their sleeves and capos around their wrists.
Sounds Like: Holy shit! I am almost pyschic. Well, I guess I'm not any more psychic than this band is freak-folk. But they defintely write acoustic guitar-based tunes with off-kilter male-female vocals that mix, country, rock, and folk with a bit of a twee-pop influence. Hearts and capos, be damned.

Complicated Shirt

Seems Like: A couple of simple guys who just want to "rawk" and be rid of all the artsy fartsy shite they are mired in, mostly because they actually go to an art school.
Sounds Like: The picture of White Teen-Boy America in the late '80s: guitar violence, too many cymbals, whiskey-shredded throats, and bitter pills. So that angst thang is definitely a Complicated motif.

Eastern Conference Champions

Seems Like: Debate Rock is totally the next big thing! It's somewhere between the pretentious grooves of Talking Heads after Eno interfered and the multimovement quasi-complexity of a Panic at the Disco song. Except, of course, every song is topical and each member sings a verse expressing his or her own strongly worded opinion.
Sounds Like: I know nothing about debating or the NHL, which holds both an Eastern and a Western Conference. Anyway, Eastern Conference Champions, the band, has a pedigree including members of CKY and Laguardia. They could get airplay if they can perfect their Muse and Radiohead-influenced big chorus tunes into a solid ECC sound.

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad

Seems Like: Noise terror to the Nth degree. Their videos feature fluffy lil' stuffed pandas with bloody teeth running around a cartoon rain forest in search of the quivering, naked body of Dubya.
Sounds Like: What a bummer, I really liked my idea better than this mellow and pedestrian dub lite. I think I slipped into a coma listening to it.

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds

Seems Like: Some genius guy on some crazy shit, making Arto Lindsay circa DNA teary-eyed proud. Vocals chase each other like butterflies and beats skitter around guitar notes that sound like stretched Play-Doh looks.
Sounds Like: Talk-singing guitar legend Kid Congo (of Nick Cave, Cramps fame) creates creepy rockabilly-lounge-like music cut lengthwise by sharp guitar anti-solos.

Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers

Seems Like: What the fuck?!@#?!
Sounds Like: So, Arthur Digby Sellers is the father of a minor character in the Big Lebowski. Like I said, what the fuck?!@#?! Had I equated this whole "prayers and tears" with emo, I would've at least been in the right ballpark. Perry Wright sings in an even, distant tone, though, while the warmth of the music is portrayed by violon and fuzzy electronics.

Uncle Jimmy's Dirty Basement

Seems Like: Both impressions of this name creep me out. Either it's four frat boys who think they're sensitive because they have not given up hope on Counting Crows and named their band after their dank and keg-strewn practice spot or it's a long-lost Riot band who thought the whole movement was about screaming on stage about their slimy uncle, whether he existed or not.
Sounds Like: First off, it's just astounding how much music is not only "out there" but "right here" in New York City. These guys have apparently been the house band at Mo Pitkins the last couple weeks and they look like a real spectacle. Puppets, costumes, makeup, dress suits, bright lights, platforms; the band playing classic narrative-based arena-rock a la Alice Cooper.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

Seems Like: A return to simpler times. Let's say fresh out-of-high-school teens playing spare, synth-driven pop with dreamy overtones gutted by sing-song vocals conveying apocalyptic scenes.
Sounds Like: "Let's All Get Fades" is a hilarious song about getting your name shaved into your head, with the band's Dead Milkmen meets Butthole Surfers delivery. These guys are very serious. No, I'm serious.

As an aside, I would like to request some tech savvy reader to record a mashup of governmental office bands: The Postal Service vs The Poison Control Center.

De Capo Best Music Writing 2006

2006-10-29T10:29:00.000-05:00

On October 25, after an introduction by this year's co-editor Mary Gaitskill, co-editor Daphne Carr moderated a selection of readings from De Capo Best Music Writing 2006 at SoHo's bookstore with a heart of gold, Housing Works. While the first half of the reading had the greatest number of of people sitting in folding chairs, on the floor, and on the beautiful mahogany spiral staircase, the second half featured spirited readings from Elizabeth Mendez Berry ("Love Hurts" in Vibe), Robert Christgau ("The First Lady of Song" in The Nation), and Jon Caramanic a ("Ghetto Gospel" in XXL).

As a writer, I sometimes read my pieces aloud to feel the cadence and to examine it in a new light, so it was really informing to hear these contributors read their works. This is especially true since what they write about isn't often a point of public discourse (that is discussion involving a face-to-face conversation, not the Internet or print publications). Sadly, when Daphne Carr asked the audience to begin a Q&A, we were all silent; all these people who interview other people for a living (or at least a passionate hobby), sat so quietly you'd think Nurse Ratched were around the corner. Hopefully, next time a bunch of writers are in a room together, we'll realize that no one is going to recommend shock therapy for starting a dialogue about the things we care about.

If yr so inclined, buy the book here.