MP3 Kings of Convenience - "Misread"
MP3 Kings of Convenience (f/Feist) - "Know How"

Hello, all. I hope people had a nice holiday weekend. Unfortunately, I spent the majority of the last several days half-way flipping out. Ugh. Anyway, as I mentioned in my christmas day post, I've been listening to a lot of Kings of Convenience lately as I try to get my head together, in particular these two lovely songs. Respectively, they are the first & third singles from this year's Riot on an Empty Street LP, and "Know How" features one of the album's two blissful guest spots by Leslie Feist (of Broken Social Scene).

FYI: Sean @ STG wrote about Feist's other KoC appearance back in June.

For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be bogged down with a project that I frankly haven't done enough work on thus far, so this blog may be kinda quiet for a little while. After posting on almost a daily basis this month (far more than usual) while compiling Mix '04, I'm also sorta blogged out. Besides, do you need yet another blogger's year-end "top ten" list?

Then again, I might chime in more often than I think. I'll see how it goes...

My only holiday-themed post this year, courtesy NYC's The Mosquitos:

MP3 The Mosquitos - "Missile Tow!"



It's snowing tonite here in Mpls.

I drove around earlier, listening to Kings of Convenience. It was very nice. Much nicer than the Vikes' loss to the Packers, anyway. Eh, screw 'em.

MP3 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "Walking To Do"
Ain't no big surprise, folks. If you've read this blog at all over the past nine months, there's a good chance you were reading about indie rock superhero Ted Leo, so he gets the last word on The Big Ticket's Mix '04. Ted's Shake The Sheets LP may not end up being my "best" album of the year, but it is my most important, my most played, and possibly my favorite. With its pop-punk hooks, progressive political content & balls-out enthusiasm, Shake The Sheets was simply the right record for 2004, or it was for me.

On November 3rd, TTIKTDA posted this track along with an insightful morning-after outlook on this fall's election that helped me keep my spirits afloat in those first few dreadful days of Dubya's second term. Keith wrote, "If we want to save this country, we've got to save it ourselves." And this song is just the optimistic theme to lead that progressive movement, to reclaim victory and the soul of America. It isn't enough to call Bush an "American Idiot" (even though that might feel comforting). People are going to have to come together if they want a better & more sane country, "quit their waiting on the Divine" & get to work. Personally, I have very little interest in getting involved in politics, but the current regressive state of the nation has demanded my attention more than I had ever expected. For the first time in my short life, I am actually afraid for the future of America.

But Ted Leo & "Walking To Do" give me hope.

So does Air America, and Kos, Atrios, Oveis & all the lefty bloggers. And that gives me a little something to look forward to in 2005 and beyond.



"Walking To Do" isn't the best song on Shake The Sheets, but it is the song I'm choosing to end this year on. If you want to hear more Ted Leo, there are several mp3's available at his website's audio page. For more info, check out the fan community that has sprung up over at Timorous Me. Ted's label Lookout! Records (who recently linked to me) has some new TL/Rx merch available. Ted never made it to my city this year, so if anybody wants to help me make up for my lack of TL/Rx gear, I usually wear a large, btw.



Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)
Track 14: Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"
Track 15: The Mountain Goats - "Palmcorder Yajna"
Track 16: A.C. Newman - "On The Table"
Track 17: Modest Mouse - "Float On"
Track 18: The Hold Steady - "Knuckles"

And thus concludes Mix '04. Does it work as a whole? You tell me. My pal Marc finished the mix artwork yesterday, so just click on the graphics below to download them for yourself (PDF format). I hope they print all right:

honorable mentions etc

Alas, there was only so much room on this mix & loads of great songs just missed the cut. My apologies to (in no particular order): Joy Zipper, Phoenix, Cut Copy, Chromeo, Calexico, Of Montreal, Scissor Sisters, Futureheads, White Magic, LCD Soundsystem, Feist, Sahara Hotnights, Delays, Ratatat, Nellie McKay, U.S.E., Rilo Kiley, Sondre Lerche & many, many others.



I also wish I could have included Norwegian popstress Annie, whose upcoming single "Heartbeat" was already named the top single of 2004 by Pitchfork. Annie's acclaimed debut album Anniemal has yet to receive stateside release, but hopefully that will change sooner than later.

Leave it to Matt @ Fluxblog to be first on the scene posting about Annie, featuring her 1999 track "The Greatest Hit" way back in February. Showing that he's usually three months ahead of the curve, Matt posted "Heartbeat" back in mid-July, long before Stypod did the same in October under the heading "Next Singles." My pick for the mix would have been the "Kylie-times-ten" song "Me Plus One", which Matt posted in September.

No wonder Pitchfork described her sound as "fluxpop."

Stereogum currently has a remix of "Me Plus One" up as part of his year-end top "catorce" that you might want to give a listen to. There is also a free download of a "Heartbeat" remix by original track producers Röyksopp that I haven't seen mentioned before. It doesn't come near the dancefloor bliss of the Anniemal version, but it's probably worth checking out.



Expect the tracks for Mix '04 to come down shortly after the new year, so get them while they're up. I hope people enjoy it. Have a happy holiday!

Are people still following along? Yes, tomorrow is the final day of The Big Ticket's Mix '04 (I've got to come up with a more clever title next time), just in time to burn that disc & slip it into the holiday stocking of your choosing. I've got my buddy Marc hard at work on some slip cover artwork, so it won't look quite so amateurish (as if I had created it). But anyway...



MP3 The Hold Steady - "Knuckles"
Another somewhat overlooked album this year was from Lifter Puller frontman Craig Finn's new Brooklyn-based band The Hold Steady. I picked up their debut cd Almost Killed Me when JRDN & I caught the second of their two nite stand at the Triple Rock back in March, from which I have a sweet Aesthetic Apparatus poster (shown below). Finn rolled through Mpls again in August, playing First Avenue's 25th anniversary show, but I was off seeing A.C. Newman the same nite, so I missed him. Normally, the Hold Steady would almost certainly get my repeat business.

JRDN is a long-time LFTR PLLR fan, so he's far more schooled in the oddball lyrical genius of Craig Finn than I am. It took me a little while to warm up to Finn's nasal voice and Mark E. Smith-like delivery, but I've definitely come around over the last year. I recall hearing "Knuckles" for the first time at the Triple Rock show & being suprised at how so much of the audience was singing along, as the Almost Killed Me had only come out a couple days beforehand. The diehards must have studied hard before the show. Of course, "Knuckles" is packed with typical Finn-isms ("people keep calling me [so-and-so]..." etc) that his fans treasure so enthusiastically.

Living here in Mpls, especially in this post-November 2 America, Finn's words about how "there's a war going down in the middle western states" seem eerily prophetic & now wholly appropriate. The culture warriors have been out in full force to reclaim "American values" for nearly two months now, and the over-hyped red vs blue conflict has become conventional wisdom. The midwest may be the battlefield on which we fight for this country's soul, and we progressives (you know, interested in "progress") can't sit it out. Despite all the Right Said Fred & Johnny Rotten references, this song can be heard as a sort of call-to-arms for the "heartland" in these unnerving, Dubya-second-term times. Craig Finn knows what's up.


Triple Rock poster by Mary Tyler Stout, Craig Finn @ North Six in Brooklyn 1/31/04

MP3 The Hold Steady - "The Swish"
Not convinced that these guys rock? Here's another track to push you into buying Almost Killed Me, courtesy the Hold Steady's official website.

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)
Track 14: Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"
Track 15: The Mountain Goats - "Palmcorder Yajna"
Track 16: A.C. Newman - "On The Table"
Track 17: Modest Mouse - "Float On"

MP3 Modest Mouse - "Float On"
On January 29 of this past year, Sean Michaels first posted this track on said the gramophone, and he had this to say about it at the time:

Forget the day-by-day schedule, I just heard this track and can't keep it to myself - Modest Mouse's "Float On." The new single from their upcoming album, and the best thing they've ever done, it seems to me. The guitars and drums jangle and flip in the background, happy to float on, with Isaac Brock squawking and rhyming in the front. It's like an amazing bird party that humans are never invited to, where there are strange bird drinks and strange bird rock'n'roll dances. And a river. And love. But you MUST TURN IT UP LOUD SO THE DRUMS AND BASS MAKE YOU CRAZY. holymoly! dan!!

It's worth noting that this post continued to collect comments through the summer, and that's not surprising given the rollercoaster ride that Modest Mouse has taken on their way to crossover success. The progression of the comments themselves is intriguing, beginning with the initial excitement over the song, the surprise turning to borderline backlash when it became a hit, and the evolving debate over the band in the wake of their newfound popularity. It's a textbook example of reaction to indie-gone-mainstream.

I owned a few Modest Mouse cd's prior to this year's "breakthrough" Good News For People Who Love Bad News LP, and I liked them all right. Good News wasn't exactly revelatory for me, but I've certainly enjoyed it. After four years, Isaac Brock & Co. had tightened things up & delivered a solid album, but I never would have guessed that it would get bandied about by Vh1's collective of fundits. But this anthemic-yet-breezy & carefree track proved that it only takes one song (and a big f**kin' record company) to take something underground & bring it out into the blinding light of media overexposure. Don't forget, they're coming soon to an O.C. near you!

MOV Modest Mouse - "Float On" video (23.3mb)

Of course, it helped that "Float On" had a friggin' amazing video to go along with it. Scott Stereogum posted about it back on April Fool's Day, which somehow seems very appropriate. Director Christoper Mills previously created a similar 2D cardboard-cutout fantasy world in Broken Social Scene's video for "Stars & Sons" as well as "PDA" for NYC's Interpol.

In Modest Mouse's video, the camera is on amphetamines, zooming around at a breakneck pace & barely giving the viewer enough time to figure out what the hell is going on. It's visually stunning, yet it maintains a kind of classic lo-fi aesthetic that makes it beautiful, despite all the imagery of slaughtered sheep. MTV.com has an informative little feature on how Mills made the video that is worth checking out, and the Quicktime video above is courtesy of Revolver Films, who I wrote more about back in September.



As 2004 comes to a close, "Float On" is of course on many year-end lists. It ranks #17 on Pitchfork's singles list, as Jason Crock explains:

Have you heard that new band Modest Mouse?" Statements like that twisted even the most non-elitist fan's visage as the universe burped and "Float On" somehow slipped to the top of Billboard's modern rock charts. But when they've written such a cheerful radio-perfect bounce without losing the quirks of the sound they've worked toward perfecting for years, why do anything but give credit where it's due? After all that the band went through to put out the Good News LP, it seems Isaac Brock is seeing some returns on his Karma Payment Plan, and optimism suits him well.

Stylus ranks it at #14, and according to Peter Funk:

Somehow or another, this one slipped by the gatekeepers. You know, the guys that wear charcoal grey suits with straight black ties over stiff white shirts that prevent all music with imagination from reaching the masses. Seriously, how did this become a hit? How did Good News For People Who Love Bad News turn Modest Mouse into a household rockin’ name? I don’t think anyone can argue that Isaac Brock has a traditionally beautiful voice or that the echo chamber honk of a guitar hook that “Float On” is built around is something usually heard on MTV. But there’s an irresistible charm to “Float On”, a bouncy beat mated to a sing-a-long chorus that makes you want to root for these guys to succeed. And, this time, they did.

ETA: More Pitchfork wisdom from today's albums list, via Michael Idov:

That Modest Mouse were able to bring "Float On" so perilously close to Summer Anthem status is, first and foremost, a fantastic f**k-you to the resilient "American Idol" notions of a proper pop vocal. Mr. Brock has a gloriously bad voice (there's one SNL appearance that wasn't lip-synced) but an amazingly brave and weirdly festive one; it's like vomiting confetti. It takes a lot to graze the top 20 with an album backloaded with gruff ballads and smuggling a hard-on for Tom Waits; it takes even more to back it up with a major push, so cheers to Sony or whomever.

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)
Track 14: Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"
Track 15: The Mountain Goats - "Palmcorder Yajna"
Track 16: A.C. Newman - "On The Table"

MP3 A.C. Newman - "On The Table"
My favorite (and most listened-to) album of 2003 was Electric Version, the sophomore LP from Canadian supergroup the New Pornographers. Not suprisingly, I was pretty excited for this year's solo debut from frontman (Carl) A.C. Newman, the 34 minute indie-pop gem The Slow Wonder. Here's what Pitchfork had to say (best new music, natch) back in June:

Newman worked through his more angular pop leanings in the mid-1990s with Sub Pop indie rockers Zumpano and is now the primary songwriter in The New Pornographers. To place The Slow Wonder's aesthetics in terms that The New Pornographers fans will understand, these 11 tracks blend Mass Romantic's clipped frenetics, Electric Version's spacious tenderness, and the agile twists and turns of Zumpano, effortlessly humbling all three. On The Slow Wonder, the hooks crack apart and multiply, accruing additional catchiness the way the pumped muscles of a spinach-stuffed Popeye give birth to crops of testosterone-filled goose bumps.

I was able to catch Newman & his new band play the Triple Rock upon my return from NYC back in August with Jim B from How Was The Show & good times were had. They opened with this song, which may be my favorite from The Slow Wonder (Jim emphatically thinks "The Town Halo" is the disc's best song). It's Carl Newman, the master or power pop, so of course it's catchy as hell, but it may be one short, simple, pointless lyric that really does it for me: "Do-re-mi innocent, AAAHHH!!!" I can't help myself.



"On The Table" is the third track on The Slow Wonder, and Matador Records is kind enough to also be hosting mp3's of its first two:

MP3 A.C. Newman - "Miracle Drug"
MP3 A.C. Newman - "Drink To Me Babe, Then"

I found the following list over on A.C. Newman's Matador page & decided to make it a little more interactive (aka clickable):

10/05/04 — Carl's October favorites
1) Arcade Fire - Funeral. So good.
2) The WB. They have been throwing thousands and thousands of dollars at me in the past few weeks. Best station ever.
3) Classic Pineapple and Coconut Juice from Voila Juice in Emeryville, CA. I can only find it at Mollie Stones on California St. here in SF. I couldn't feel that 6.0 quake near Paso Robles. I'm a little disappointed.
4) Stroopies. They're this Dutch syrup waffle trashy delicacy. They only have them at Andronicos.
5) Getting recipes online. It seems so obvious now.
6) The Croque Monsieur at Zazie on Cole St. & the gingerbread pancakes too.
7) Frog Eyes - The Folded Palm
8) Neil Hamburger live at the Hemlock Tavern.
9) Almost anything at Mama's on Washington Square in North Beach, but be prepared for some lines at this popular SF breakfast institution.
10) The Zagat restaurant guide, although they want a ridiculous $8 for the Zagat restaurant map. It's a pamphlet. Pamphlets are free.
11) "Butterflies Are Free" by The Free Design.
12) Sealab 2021. It's actually really funny. Laugh out loud funny.
13) Freaks & Geeks DVD box set.

It's Carl Newman's handy little guide to San Francisco, CA. Use it wisely.

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)
Track 14: Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"
Track 15: The Mountain Goats - "Palmcorder Yajna"

MP3 The Mountain Goats - "Palmcorder Yajna"
I have to plead a little ignorance today. I frankly don't know all that much about the Mountain Goats, except that I think I read that John Darnielle is the "finest songwriter in America" about fifty times this year - minimum. Now I won't go so far as to repeat that sentiment, though all the good word of mouth did prompt me to eventually buy their cd, We Shall All Be Healed.

Actually it was this track, which was a free download & got featured on several blogs, that truly lead to my purchase. As I listened to it more & more, I began to really dig its simple & organic feel, the rough-edge vocals, the odd-yet-clever lyrics about dreams & hooking "up with some friends at the Travelodge." I still don't know what it all means, but it leaves me with an uplifting feeling, somehow optimistic despite all the talk of "headstones."

ETA: John Darnielle's take on year-end "top ten" lists is up for perusal over at Last Plane To Jakarta (via today's edition of chromewaves). Go read.

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)
Track 14: Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"

McNulty (Dominic West) & Colvin (Robert Wisdom) hope to be back for season 4.

The Wire's third season finale airs tonite on HBO. I can't friggin' wait.

ETA: My post-finale thoughts, or at least the ones that first come to mind:

- Wow. I thought this episode would do more to set up season four, but instead it wrapped things up like it could be the show's finale (I hope not).

- Bunny really was the fall guy. Big time. The final shot was very sad, IMO.

- McNulty walking a beat reminds me of Santangelo thanking Jimmy earlier this season for getting knocked down to a similar position, and being much happier for it. But how long will Jimmy remain content w/that job? When will that itch for real policework need to get scratched?



- Daniels gets promoted, so will he get the western command Colvin leaves behind, or will that go to Bunny's #2 who assumed control at COMSTAT? Will Daniels leave major case behind, and if so, will Lester take over the unit's command?

- Seeing Marlo in court for Avon's arraignment was an interesting touch. In the end, Marlo respected & even looked up to Avon for going to war as they did. But will Marlo eventually see the same fate?

- Tough to see Poot get snatched up, but as-per-usual Bodie manages to sneak away clean, but now he's got nobody to report to. Will he go work for Marlo? Or will Briana & Slim Charles keep the Barksdale crew together?



- Slim Charles' speech to Avon about going to war on a lie: I wonder what that was in reference to. Hmm...?

- It was nice to Amy Ryan as Bea Russell again, though the folks down at the port need to clean off their bulletin board once & a while. I doubt Frank Sobotka (R.I.P.) is still up for re-election.

- McNulty seems to be cleaning up his act, while Kima is turning into McNulty. After all, he taught her all his adulterous tricks.

- All season seemed to lead up to Carcetti's speech. It got Watkins' respect, but was it for real? Or was it just a bunch of hot air, a meaningless stab at reform, one of this season's major themes?

- If season four happens, it will probably be an entirely new case like season two was, except this time without the added distraction of having to track the all previous season's characters (the Barksdales etc) at the same time.

- The shot of all the crushed beer cans on the roof of the western: priceless.



Great stuff. For those who are interested, executive producer & series creator David Simon has answered a whole series of questions submitted by fans on the HBO message boards recently in this year's Ask The Wire.

Negro Please also weighs in with eloquent thoughts on the final episode.

Decemberists' frontman Colin Meloy at work in the studio, laying down on the job.

Everyone has to head over to Sweet Blasphemy, who has two tracks from the Decemberists' upcoming Picaresque LP, one of my most anticipated releases for 2005 (due out March 22). Both tracks are great, especially "16 By 32" "Sixteen Military Wives", which I first heard played at the 400 Bar earlier this year IIRC. I can't wait to hear more (heads up via stereogum).

ETA: Sweet Blasphemy has just added another track: "The Sporting Life"

Sweet Blasphemy has graciously taken both posts down at Colin Meloy's request, though one of the tracks is still available from the stereogum link above, or at least it still seems to be for now. That could change soon.

My apologies for taking all day to get this post up. This is my twelfth straight day of updating the site, which is way more often than my usual frequency. So I'm a little tuckered out, I suppose. I likely will take the weekend off & be back next week to finish off The Big Ticket's Mix '04 (cover art & all).

BTW: I did some long-overdue updating on the blogroll/sidebar, removing a few links & adding some worthy new ones. Give 'em a looksee, if you like.



MP3 Apostle of Hustle - "Energy of Death"
Folkloric Feel, the debut album from Broken Social Scene guitarist Andrew Whiteman's new band Apostle of Hustle, has been one of my very favorite discs of this past year, though it has also gone woefully underappreciated IMO. I'm still a bit stunned that it has yet to receive a Pitchfork review, though Stylus & PopMatters managed to get around to it (as did Dusted, Splendid & JamBase). I raved about Folkloric Feel & posted tracks from it in both September (after its late August release) & October, and bars & guitars chimed in with this track in November, but the buzz just failed to catch on.

Sean from said the gramophone praised Folkloric Feel producer Dave Newfield, who also produced Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People, for his contributions to the album. Newfield is producing the next BSS record, due to come out in spring 2005. Exclaim! recently did an article on Newfield, and Pique Newsmagazine interviewed him about the film score he worked on with the band. I also stumbled across a 2001 interview he did with Wavelength Toronto in which he wishes he could have produced Smile, ironic now that Brian Wilson actually managed to re-record the whole thing.

For lack of creativity, here's what I orignally said about "Energy of Death":

"in the rhythm of this song
we drink, we fu** & we fight, we bring it on"

Now that's a kick ass opening line for a song. "Energy of Death" is probably the most upbeat number on Folkloric Feel, and not suprisingly it has several BSS members chipping in (notice Cranley's trombone work somewhere in the dense pop bliss). The lyrics may get a tad bit preachy at times ("the children of the dying earth, our possessions & our money have no worth"), but I'm too busy rocking out to get jaded & really care. This is the album's fourth track, and by the time I finished it, I was sold on the rest.

If you're too lazy to hunt down Folkloric Feel at your local record store, or buy it online from Amazon or directly from Arts & Crafts, you can also purchase & download it via the iTunes music store. Ain't technology dandy?



Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"
Track 13: The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Iceland" (single version)

MP3 Feist - "Let It Die"
To my surprise, this Leslie Feist song (from the album of the same name) was featured on last week's episode of The O.C. (kudos to Bolt for the advance heads-up). You remember, Seth & Summer were slow dancing to it. Anyway, I've been listening to Let It Die this week, and seeing as Feist is yet another member of the Broken Social Scene posse, I figured this was an appropriate inclusion. I also felt bad that I wasn't able include her wonderful "Mushaboom" on Mix '04 - I only had room for two BSS side projects.

ETA: I just noticed that this Feist track is also up over at chromewaves, as part of his top albums of 2004 list. Frank is wise - read, listen & learn.

MP3 The Fiery Furnaces - "Tropical Ice-Land" (single version)
The siblings Friedberger, Matthew & Eleanor, just won't let up. The bro & sis duo that make up Brooklyn's (by way of Illinois) the Fiery Furnaces first dumped their odd blues-rock debut Gallowsbird's Bark on the general public in the fall of 2003, garnering accolades & appearing on year-end "best of" lists galore. Then they returned in the spring of this year with this entirely re-arranged version of Bark's "Tropical Ice-Land" as a UK single, just a couple months before releasing the behemoth that is their sophomore LP, Blueberry Boat, with its 10 minute sprawling songs & innate ability to polarize listeners. And as I mentioned before, Pitchfork has reported that 2005 will see three, yup, three releases from the Friedbergers, including one recorded with their grandmother Olga Sarantos. Talk about prolific.

I originally downloaded this jazzed-up version of "Tropical Ice-Land" from iTunes back in the spring, and it was posted in the early days of this blog. But you will soon be able to get this track on disc stateside, as it is on the great new EP that will be released on January 11, which I wrote about a week & a half ago (scroll down). The Furnaces' label Rough Trade were extremely generous to send me an advance copy, a kind gesture that was similarly experienced by bloggers such as bradley's almanac (scroll way down) and WeirdCurves. Anybody else have this happen to them?

I absolutely love this single version of "Tropical Ice-land". The more quiet, guitar-strummed version that appears on Gallowsbird's Bark is lovely, bird chirps & all. But that Matt & Eleanor could take such a calm, soulful tune & turn into a frantically upbeat, catchy as all get-out, orgiastic circus-ride of a song just goes to show how utterly talented they really are. It's an all-out aural assault pop masterpiece, and certainly one of my favorite tracks of the year. It's too bad they had to do those weird backward effects over the lyrics about "hash or weed" & "Denmark", though it still sounds cool.



Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
Track 12: Metric - "Succexy"

MP3 The Fiery Furnaces - "Single Again"
This is the lead-off track on EP, which also was released as a UK single back in July, just before Blueberry Boat came out. I first heard this song when JRDN & I saw the Furnaces at the Entry in the fall of 2003. Fluxblog posted a live version (as part of a triptych) back in June & TTIKTDA followed up with the studio version the following month. Now Insound is nice enough to host it as a free download in anticipation of EP's upcoming release.

MP3 The Fiery Furnaces - "Evergreen"
This is the third track on EP, though it was also the b-side of the import "Single Again" cd single. It starts a little abruptly because it flows right out of "Here Comes The Summer" (track two), which TTIKDTA posted a short while back (still active as of today). This song was played during the Furnaces' 400 Bar performance that JRDN attended back in September (scroll down), which was one of the best shows I saw all year (during which I celebrated my 26th birthday). And this song makes me smile.

Just Concerts apparently has the Furnaces' September 12th performance from Toronto streamable via real audio, though I couldn't get it to work on my computer. Heads up from the outstanding Blueberry Boat fansite.

ETA: Listen up for a Har Mar song on tonite's episode of The O.C. (via Bolt).

MP3 Metric - "Succexy"
While it came out at the end of 2003, Metric's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? has been one of my favorite & most played albums of this past year. Frontwoman Emily Haines & bandmate James Shaw are also members of the Broken Social Scene collective, which would typically be enough to make them aces in my book. Metric creates a smart & thoughtful blend of dance rock, getting topical while still rocking your ass off & moving your body. It doesn't hurt that Haines is such an energetic & charasmatic lead singer, who it's hard not to crush on just a little. With her & Leslie Feist, Broken Social Scene sure knows how to pick the ladies.

Given my somewhat lefty leanings & constant frustration (to put it lightly) with the unfortunate element currently sullying the presidency, and the relatively lazy media that "covers" them, I was obviously drawn to the subject matter "Succexy" tackles. I vividly sitting around my apartment in Williamsburg on 9/11/01, thinking out loud that Bush was going to react to the WTC attacks the wrong way, bullheadedly attacking other countries with big military because it would be showy, just what the American public seems to like & logically an inefficient method to combat terrorism IMO.

Haines & company's lyrics perfectly zero in on the "mission accomplished" attitude of those in power & cowed press core that simply follows along, taking dictation. Of course "invasion" is "succexy" & nothing "beat[s] denial." The constant barrage of lazy 24 hour news, assisted by their obnoxious & ineffective punditry ("All we do is talk, sit, switch screens as the homeland plans enemies") has turned so much of the general public into zombies ("we're waking up so slowly") that this disaster of a president actually managed to get 51% of the November 2 vote.

During such a politically volatile 2004, I cued up "Succexy" quite a bit. Over the next four years, this song is likely to stay fairly relevant in regard to current events, so it's a good thing you can also dance & rock out to it.


Metric's Emily Haines struts her stuff during a May performance at the Fine Line.

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
Track 11: TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"

MP3 TV on the Radio - "The Wrong Way"
After the final quiet moments of track #10, the second half of The Big Ticket's Mix '04 blasts in with an unexpected horn & some serious guitar feedback. "The Wrong Way" is the opening track on Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, the debut LP from NYC's ahead-of-the-curve indie rockers TV on the Radio. This album seemed to be a bit of a letdown when it came out back in the spring, mostly because the band's 2003 Young Liars EP was so out-of-nowhere amazing that expectations for its follow-up full length were nearly impossible to meet. It took me a little while to warm up to the LP, but it grew into one of my favorite records of 2004 after repeated listening & catching their ear-shattering April performance at the Triple Rock.

Or maybe I just grew to love Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes because this track begins the album. And what a way to begin an album! TV on the Radio have a very unique style, and it's in full effect throughout the song, propelling it forward, sending the listener stumbling through a gravelly soundscape that builds & breathes & grows more & more dense. The pace quickens & the beats get intimidating, a controlled stampede.

But frontman (and NYU alum) Tunde Adebimpe's voice keeps it all together, focused & calm, but also soulful. The lyrics express a fierce anger toward Uncle Tom entertainers & politicians, as well as their puppetmasters, but manages to avoid turning into a bile-spewing screed through great writing & Adebimpe's commanding inflection, which is front center in the mix. It's damn powerful, to say the least, and the word "awesome" comes to mind.

TV on the Radio is on Touch & Go records, and they semi-recently opened a new merch section on their website. There's also a stream-of-consciousness blog written by somebody in the band (I believe) that might be worth checking out, along with the New Health Rock single, released this fall.



Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Track 10: Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"

Thanks to the ever-so-kind Jim B from How Was The Show (feel better, dude), I was able to catch an early screening of The Life Aquatic w/Steve Zissou last nite at the University of Minnesota's Bell Auditorium (since those of us non-NY/LA peeps can't see the movie until 12/25). Of course, I am a big Wes Anderson fan, as I have loved the offbeat sense of humor, attention to detail & compositional style that has been the constant throughout his previous films. While I have been aware of the general (mixed) buzz the film has been getting thus far, I have (for the most part) avoided reading what critics have been saying so I could have a somewhat fresh view of my own.



That said, I have to admit some disappointment with The Life Aquatic. Upon first viewing, the film's structure seems a bit weak, and I had trouble connecting with many of the characters. Bill Murray seemed vaguely distant in the title role, and Owen Wilson came off a little wooden (Dignan's enthusiasm was needed) while sporting an unconvincing southern gentleman's accent. A sequence using David Bowie's "Life on Mars" felt forced & kind of pointless, and Seu Jorge's portuguese renditions of Bowie songs, while lovely, came off more like a cheap joke IMO.

Anderson collaborated on the script with writer/director Noah Baumbach after having previously worked with Wilson, though I don't blame Baumbach for the film's shortcomings (I'm a big Kicking & Screaming fan). The two will collaborate again on Anderson's next feature, the reportedly animated The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and that may not be a bad thing. But there has been chatter about the difficulty of the film's shoot on the water & at Cinecittà in Italy, and I think those struggles may have effected the overall film. I can clearly see a transcendent Wes Anderson movie that could have been, but the pieces just didn't seem to fit together like they should.

But this isn't to say I didn't enjoy the film.

The visuals are beautiful & clever as always, and there are a number of fantastic sequences & laugh-out-loud moments throughout the film. Willem Dafoe is hilarious in his quirky role as Klaus, and Cate Blanchett is as delightful as ever as a reporter/single mother to be that's along on the voyage. The soundtrack is great as always, and I was excited to see one of my old film school professors, Criterion-contributor Antonio Monda, in a small but high-profile role at the beginning of the film.

I also saw the film on a relatively small screen, at the back of an crowded auditorium, with a terrible sound system - so my final judgement on the film is still out. In fact, I expect to see The Life Aquatic 2-3 more times once it finally arrives in local theaters later this month. My expectations for a Wes Anderson film are astoundingly high, so having some initial disappointment with this film is not necessarily a damning statement. Besides, his movies always do well on repeated viewing. In fact, they usually only get better.

BTW: Last week, Gothamist chatted w/the director. Read if interested.

I'd first like to welcome all the newcomers dropping by today through the new "free music" section over at the excellent & well-designed iPodlounge, who have an iPod year-in-review that's worth reading for any interested members of the iPod nation. The rest of us are in the middle of a mix.



Are you still paying attention, people? Today we reach the half-way point...

MP3 Belle & Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown"
The first time I heard this track, which I had downloaded along with a bunch of other stuff, I had to stop everything I was doing I do a double-take with my iTunes. I didn't know what I was listening to, but it was knocking my socks off. I was suprised-yet-pleased to see that it was actually Belle & Sebastian, who I've always enjoyed since my college days - when everybody I knew was gaga for them - though I never went full-on gaga over them myself. But "Your Cover's Blown" didn't exactly sound like anything I had heard of their's, what with its disco beats, fat basslines & generally bold strokes, not to mention the synths. If You're Feeling Sinister this wasn't.

I was previously unfamiliar with this side of Belle & Sebastian, but I liked what I was hearing. Clocking in right around six minutes, the lead-off track from the band's Books EP (it's third post-Dear Catastrophe Waitress EP) moves through several movements & manages to cover a lot of territory along the way. It blew me away the first time I heard it, and it still does - which is why it's both the mid-point & centerpiece of Mix '04.



Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Track 09: The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"

it's not tv, it's sunday nite tv

Last week, I began my attempt at some tv-related commentary, but never came back to it. Until now. I started with Tuesdays, so now let's move on to what I consider to be the best nite of the tv week, Sunday:


Just as The Wire's cops draw close, the noose tightens on Stringer Bell (Elba, right).

As HBO likes to boast, Sunday is their nite, and most of the time I'm watching their shows. And while it may not get the viewership of its HBO counterparts, crime drama The Wire is the pay-cabler's best original program, and the best show on television IMO (as I've said before, repeatedly). It may move slowly, but its storylines are gritty, its characters are real (as are its locations, shot entirely in Baltimore) & its storytelling is astounding, both patient & thoroughly engrossing. I can't praise the show enough, and it's hard to find the words to give it proper acclaim.

Last nite's penultimate episode of the third season was incredible. In striking parallel to season two's storyline w/port unionboss Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer), both the cops & the thieves were closing in on the drug crew's #2 man Stringer Bell (played by the emmy-worthy Idris Elba), and just as the police got their break, the "bad" guys got to Bell first. Holy crap, it was intense. This season has seen another strong performance from actor Robert Wisdom, whose outgoing Major "Bunny" Colvin's "experiment" at turning a blind eye to drug trafficking has landed the department brass & the mayor in a political disaster, despite reducing overall crime significantly. As next week's season finale approaches, his character has become the series' centerpoint for the law, the street & the hall, and the imminent shake-up throughout is going to be fascinating. Wow.

ETA: I'm not the only one watching. Negro Please has the lowdown.



The second best show on television (IMO) is also tv's best comedy Arrested Development, which appears on Fox just before The Wire at 8:30pm ET. Last nite's episode may have been one of the show's funniest (and that's saying a lot), featuring a storyline in which Portia de Rossi's Lindsay Bluth is made to seem like a tranny & a large portion of the plot ended up revolving around David Cross' balls. The episode was even entitled "Sad Sack"!

Despite being on Fox, AD has been hilariously satirizing the Bush administration this season. First, the screw-up-yet-charming eldest son Gob (Will Arnett) fooled the Bluth company board into making him president with a magic trick (or "illusion"), then he froze for "seven minutes" once he found the evidence of his father's treasonous business dealings w/Saddam Hussein ("half in English, half in scribbly"). Then a Michael Moore look-alike challenged Bluth matriarch Lucille (Jessica Walter) to send one of her children to serve in Iraq, and she immediately volunteered her panic attack-stricken youngest son Buster (Tony Hale), who is now in basic training.

This week saw the return of John Michael Higgins (a regular of Christopher Guest's crew) as attorney Wayne Jarvis, the new prosecutor in the Bluth case who "uncovers" photos of WMD storehouses in Iraq, thought to have been built by now-fugitive George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor). The US launches planes to bomb the sites, that is until the photos are revealed to actually be a close up of Tobias' (Cross) testicles, taken by accident while learning his new camera-phone. The fighter pilots are told to turn around, because they are "looking at balls" (The pilot's response: "Copy those balls, we're turning it 'round"). Fox even had to display a "coarse language" warning before coming back from commercial because of all the "balls" references.

Even better, Fox news broadcasted the balls photos, and issued an apology ("We Blew It!"). It was at least the third time I fell out of my chair laughing during the show. Oh my god, can you believe stuff this subversive (but funny) actually makes it on to network television? Brilliant! Sheer genius.

My other Sunday tv viewing includes The Simpsons (obvs) & Law & Order: Criminal Intent (I watch the late re-run of HBO's 9pm ET show), which has been a little disappointing this season (it was pre-empted last nite). After an outstanding season premiere, the show has been a bit dull thus far, which may have something to do with star Vincent D'Onofrio's recent health problems. Then again, I think I read somewhere that the producers were thinking of toning his often over-the-top detective Robert Goran down some this year, which would be a huge mistake IMO. I only watch D'Onofrio's L&O because of his performance, so I can only hope that things will get better.

Clearly, I have no time for Desperate Housewives, though my former NYU classmate Jesse Metcalfe (formerly of Passions) is on that show. I may try to catch up at some point, though I'm already watching too much tv as it is.