Photographs: Atlas Sound / White Rainbow / Valet Middle East 2/26

Atlas Sound - "Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel

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            Over the past year Bradford Cox has been living the indie-rock dream.  In the early part of 2007, Cox’s band Deerhunter released Cryptograms and Fluorescent Grey EP – both of which received great critical praise.  Then Cox had a bit of an unnecessary lash out against Samara Lubelski, to whom he later publicly apologized via Pitchfork Media interview.  Adding to this reputation, the band was asked not to play a scheduled show with the Smashing Pumpkins because of an altercation between Cox and Billy Corgan.  Finally, in late 2007, Cox’s side project Atlas Sound was featured on the Friend EP of indie rock darlings Grizzly Bear, covering Grizzly Bear’s “hit” “Knife.”  After a whirlwind of fake blood and sundresses (Cox is known for his less than typical stage outfits) Cox now hands us the debut LP from Atlas Sound.

            The first thing that is established by Let The Blind is Bradford Cox is still the front man of Deerhunter.  Cryptograms built you up and broke you down with it’s driving, melodic noise switching on and off with dense and dissonant ambience – the ultimate ear fuck.  The Fluorescent Grey EP contained less of Cryptograms’ more inaccessible material and stuck to a more poppy and focused sound.  Cox seems to pick up where he left off after Fluorescent, but still develops something new.

            Let The Blind Lead’s opening track “Ghost Story” is a spoken word track, reminiscent of a classic Wu-Tang sample, over a backdrop of deep sonic layers, setting a tone for what will be a very desperate record.  Within the first minute of “Recent Bedroom” Atlas Sound distinguishes itself from Cox’s previous work.  The instrumentation is filled with layers of unfamiliar dounds, and Cox’s lyrics are more intelligible than ever before.  The sound is more subdued, but warmer as Cox’s vocals yearningly whisper with the perfect amount of reverb.  Album standouts “River Card” and “Quarantined” follow with eerily catchy hooks driven by the quiet, but ever present rhythm section.

            After the tone is set by the first four tracks, Let The Blind Lead continues to pepper quirky, but memorable phrases throughout layers of thick instrumentation.  “Cold As Ice” relies on a give and take between conventional guitar and a reversed keyboard sample to deliver a remarkably haunting melody.  Cox changes dynamics and instrumentation more often than changing musical progressions, which develops a unique song structure similar to his prior Deerhunter work.  The second half of the record features more experimentation and electronics, including instrumentals like “Ready Set Glow” and “Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel.”  “Bite Marks” incorporates a percussive electronic loop to push the song forward under a smooth bass line and more of Cox’s haunting murmur.

            Lyrically Cox is repetitive, but sinister; he fits the mood of the music perfectly.  On “Quarantined” he faintly whispers, “Quarantined and kept so far away from my friends / I am waiting to be changed.”  He keeps his imagery simple yet powerful, showing his capabilities that were previously hinted at through Deerhunter.

            As a whole, Atlas Sound delivers a frantically thick record, similar to a more electronic Panda Bear.  Cox’s desire to be unconventional sometimes leads to predictability on songs like “Small Horror” and “Scraping Past,” which didn’t move very far.  Let The Blind Lead makes a nice addition Bradford Cox’s catalogue, but doesn’t induce the sonic throbbing that Cryptograms did.  I guess we’ll have to wait a little longer for Cox to ascend to the zenith of indie rock’s Mount Olympus and join the gods of the genre.

"River Card"

"Recent Bedroom"

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Sounds like a lame video game.. however, in reality its the "new" Indiana Jones flick coming out May 22nd. Starring a 65-year-old Harrison Ford along side Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett.

More on the movie, after its released.

http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

"The Greatest Band In The World"

For the most part I try to subdue my Radiohead "fanboy" biases, but there are times when I'm less ashamed to listen to Pablo Honey or "The Gloaming."  Times like uh... now.  There has been way too much Radiohead news lately to pretend like I'm too cool for the biggest band in alternative rock.

I'll start with the most exciting news first:  US Tour!  Okay, it's only the south, ironically the most undeserving region that has received any dates, but that means that soon I'll hear news about Philly, NYC, and Boston.  Here are the confirmed US Dates:

05-05 West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheatre
05-06 Tampa, FL - Ford Amphitheatre
05-08 Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheatre
05-09 Charlotte, NC - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
05-11 Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge
05-14 St. Louis, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
05-17 Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
05-18 Dallas, TX - Superpages.com Center

Next: the rumored Amplive In Rainbows (Rainy Dayz) remixes have been allowed and published, featuring verses from Del the Funkee Homosapien (Ice Cube's cousin) and Chali 2na (Jurassic 5).  It's good too.

http://www.onesevensevensix.com/amplive/index.html

Most Discouragingly:

In another attempt to undermine the most subversive band in music, EMI will release a Radiohead greatest hits compilation coinciding with their tour this summer (Just to clarify: the band will be touring in support of In Rainbows not any compilation).  Although I'd be disappointed to see a live set that didn't include any of my favorite songs from the first six LPs, I would love it if the band stuck it to its former label and didn't play a single song off the compilation during the tour.  Hopefully they'll stay away from "Stop Whispering" and "Pop Is Dead" anyway.

Normally I wouldn't post about this, but:

Today Thom will be DJing on NPR today during the program "All Songs Considered."  Figure out when it's playing near you: http://www.npr.org/templates/stations/schedule/index.php?prgId=37&showNav=1

This also makes me happy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXUBE_wiPtU

Hopefully, this will make it on the greatest hits comp. Actually I don't really care.

Check this out:

Street Spirit Remix

"The Biggest Band In The World"

While I am well aware that I am playing into Nate's suggestion that "James Caron only likes old music like The Doors and Led Zeppelin," I find it necessary to point out that Led Zeppelin will be playing at Bonnaroo this summer. The group separated in 1982 after drummer John Bonham's died of alcohol abuse. Until that time, the group had created a unique sound; blending blues, hard rock, accoustic folk, and woozy vocals and rhythm into a synthesis of what can only be discribed as brilliant.

Their tour attendence broke records all over the US, culminating in a sold out 56,800 attendee show in Tampa Bay. Despite their tremendous popularity, they remained true to their roots and never changed the sound of their music to suit the needs of a record company. Soon they were dubbed "the biggest band in the world." They had become the ultimate rock band, and in my mind they still are.

When they reunite this summer, they will bring John Bonham's son Jason aboard as drummer. I find myself giddy with excitment in anticipation. Perhaps the best comparison would be to Nate's excitement if J dilla were to suddenly come back from the dead for one more tour. Anyways, you will all know where to find me from June 12-15, and I hope some of you will come out of your indie rock shells for this one too.

-James

Mind Expansion

After an intense weekend of experimentation with sex, drugs and alcohol, how about some indie rock to soothe your mind?

Listen this Thursday from 3-5 to hear The Norm Show- http://www.wzbc.org/listen.html
Also this Wednesday from 4-5 on the AM dial - http://www.wzbc.org/AM.html

Enjoy.

TGIF Enlightenment!!!!

Letter to My Parents

by Lyons George

Had t t too much

to drink last night

walked around the

city and felt real

fucking important.

Like I was the last

person alive,

dirty

and masturbating

and all the buildings

stuck

watching.

Ducked into a seven

eleven

and bought two packs

of cigarettes, as if

I was the first

of this kind.

As if it was

o k to be

barefoot

and stoned

at the end of the world.

It's Friday!

Here are some cool covers to pacify your yearnings for more posts during the weekend:

Vampire Weekend - Exit Music (For a Film) (Radiohead cover)

Xiu Xiu - Under Pressure (Queen Cover)

Glass Candy - Computer Love (Kraftwerk Cover)

Shortlist to honor Shortbus

What started out as a great year for music still has the chance to end as one if people can remedy one minor detraction caused by the lackluster judgment of several respectfully lackluster individuals.

Yes, I am talking about the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize listmakers which comprised off representatives from well established sellouts Snow Patrol and the Killers as well as well known coke addict Chris Douridas of KCRW's respectable "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show. The other two listmakers were Hunnypot and Rev. Moose who unfortunately have no record of ever existing on the internet.

It seems that while they managed to select reasonable finalists amongst the standout nominees (Arcade Fire, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Wilco) they found themselves unable to honor two-time nominees Arcade Fire, and Wilco, in favor of newcomer and self-proclaimed ipod sellout Feist, whose 'indie' status I find it hard not to question. It is important to note she still is officially signed to Cherrytree records which is a imprint of Interscope/UMG.

The winning album, Feist's respectable "The Reminder" still seems to pale in comparison to the collected works of several of the other artists which have yet to be honored.

From wikipedia: "Prior to the Apple iPod Nano commercial airing, The Reminder was selling at approximately 6,000 copies per week, and "1234" at 2,000 downloads per week. Following the commercial, the song passed 73,000 total downloads and reached No. 7 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100."

Also the song was named one of the top 10 of 2007 by Time Magazine.

When I first came across the Shortlist organization early last year it appeared to me as a 'by the artist, for the artist' awards service aimed at recognizing standout works by relatively unknown artists who had not found major mainstream success. The previous honorees consisting of Sigur Ros, N*E*R*D, Damien Rice, TV on the Radio, Sufjan Stevens and Cat Power. While "The Reminder" is a very precious reminder of Feist's able songwriting skills it seems to acoustically struggle living up to the experimentalism and sheer originality of previous Shortlist winners.

Overall I have to say I'm disappointed with the results of this years Shortlist Prize, however, I do have hope for Feist's future endeavors and I will check out her work with Broken Social Scene which hopefully will be a little more eclectic and adventurous than her polished rhythmic vocal-oriented numbers.

Exclusive Feist "1 2 3 4" Clip

Thoughts on "Super Tuesday"

Beefs:

1.  The American primary system: Why is this race narrowed down to four - realistically 3 - candidates after only a handful of states have voted?

2.  American voters: I'm glad we're concerned about things like "Hillary's ridiculous necklace" rather than policies.

3.  The Republicans: The only two people here that aren't amoebas are Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.  Unfortunately, most of America views them as insane (maybe they are).

Hopes:

1.  At least one of the nominations will be decided at the convention - that means my vote might count.

2.  Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination.

3.  Mike Gravel stays in the race.

Fears:

1.  As of February 6 we will have 9 months to decide a two person race between McCain or Hillary/Obama.

2.  The Swift Boat Boys come back to trash someone else and annoy the fuck out of me.

Rising Stock:

1.  Mike Huckabee: All signs point to a McCain / Huckabee ticket: Huckabee takes votes away from Romney and brings out the evangelical vote.  McCain should thank Huckabee for the former and take advantage of the latter.

2.  Barack Obama: Even though Hillary still leads national polls by a slim margin, Obama has closed the gap big time and seems to possess "the big mo."

Falling Stock

1.  Rudy Guiliani: Come on Rudy, just because you've switched from 9.11 preaching to licking McCain's boots doesn't mean you're anything more than the one line candidate you were before you dropped out.

2.  Campaigns with integrity: Even John Edwards paid for a ridiculously expensive hair cut with campaign money.

3.  The Green Party: As a party that wanted to raise awareness and change policy rather than actually win elections, where will the Green Party go with the trendy eco-activism in America?  And if they're done, will a new single issue party step up as the primary third party (not that it matters much) in the U.S.?  Of course hindsight is 20/20, but jeeze did they fuck things up for themselves in 2000 - ruining the election for the biggest name in environmental activism.

4.  My vote: As a Pennsylvania voter, I don't get a say until April 22.  My vote probably won't even be counted because absentees are only counted if the result is in question.  The only redeeming part is that Pennsylvania will (hopefully) matter in November.

5.  The Democrats: The general election should not be in question, but it is.

Cheers to Mike Gravel,

Ethan

Arrested Movie?!

Both Jason Bateman and Jeffrey Tambor have confirmed rumors of a potential Arrested Development movie.  Bateman told E! Online blogger "Kristen," "I can confirm that a round of sniffing has started," Bateman says. "Any talk is targeting a poststrike situation, of course. I think, as always, that it's a question of whether the people with the money are willing to give our leader, Mitch Hurwitz, what he deserves for his participation. And I can speak for the cast when I say our fingers are crossed."

If you were wondering, my fingers are also crossed.  Find the whole story here: http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=15a310d7-61f0-49b6-ba57-092e60c397cb&sid=fd-kristin#commentstart

Will post again after I go to Burger King for a soda

-Ethan