I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, in whatever form it took. If nothing else, I hope you were somewhere that didn’t feel like the inside of a vast furnace.
I think it’s safe to say that the wave of mid-year reviews has crested. I know some people have a distaste for such things, but I love ‘em. Maybe you do too? Here’s a good one, and a couple of others here, here, and here. Finding new records- or a new spin on one of my own faves- is always a delight, but I think my favorite part is that these lists invariably include the phrase “so far” in the title. Yeah, I know that makes sense, given where we’re only halfway through the year, but it’s also a signal that (maybe) the best is yet to come? That maybe our new AOTY is just around the bend, waiting for us to catch up.
Speaking of lists, through a combo of old age, provenance, and shifting priorities (read: not being able to stay up late, not wanting to drive more than 10 miles in any direction), there are very few bands I want so see play left on my bucket list.
Spoon was one of the few left standing…until this past Friday, when we got to see a stripped-down, mid-day set. It was only Britt and Alex Fischel, but it was fantastic and well worth the drive to Milwaukee. I also got to see Lake Michigan, some ships, and watch Cape Verde almost pull off the upset of the century, so it was just triple 7’s all the way down. We should all be so lucky.
KA—
On to the music…
It’ll be no surprise that this week’s list is extremely Spoon-coded, and a bit longer than usual (see also: 3 hours in the car on Friday). There’s plenty from them, but also new stuff from Kristen Hersh, Mike D, Milwaukee band SPF-150, and more.
Also, a few tracks from Wire’s Colin Newman. Nothing this time from his Immersion project, but they also have a record coming later this year. Having heard a preview, I’m pretty confident it’ll be on more than a few AOTYs come December.
This past week, I was on vacation. When asked, the easy answer would be “I didn’t go anywhere,” but that’s not entirely true. We went all over the place; we just never left the state.
I’ve mentioned it previously, but even after living here for over 20 years, I still don’t have to go too far to feel like I’m in another country (and depending on how “red” it is, another universe). Go far enough afield and even the radio stations can feel foreign in their own way.
Even where we were, there were plenty of choices, including one that seemed purpose-built for Parrot Heads that got lost on the way to living their best (salt) life and wound up on Lake Michigan instead. I like Buffett, but man, I heard more than my share.
You would also be (pick one: horrified/surprised/delighted) to know that Bon Jovi is still in heavy rotation in some spots.
Miss the Slippery When Wet era? NE Wisconsin’s for you!
But!
In an era of automated playlists and robo-DJs, these stations feel anachronistic…and like sweet relief. Yes, even the ones that are, in theory, talk radio, but in reality just an angry guy shouting into the void from the antenna on the horizon. No matter how much iHeartRadio (or Brendan Carr) tries to tell you otherwise, the airwaves still belong to the people, and there’s still some people-powered stations, too.
Stations like this are the last stand against the Telecommunications Act of 1996. These over-the-air Alamos holding the line against automation and misinformation are usually found on the left side of your dial, and traveling through their range is all the better because of ‘em—even when they play “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
KA—
On to the music…
No Bon Jovi, but this week’s human-powered playlist features brand new tracks from Hazel English, Office Dog, The Tubs, Wishy, and more. Wisconsin’s well represented (in a good way!) with sounds from Red Pants and Heavy Looks. Our friends Tamara Casey and Patrick Fellows are also here with “Bad Decisions” and “Seen it All” respectively.
100 lifetimes ago, I worked in a record store. The manager wouldn’t let us play Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, and instead tried to helpfully suggest…Shawn Colvin.
In hindsight, it wasn’t the worst choice. But at the time, it seemed kinda awful? Colvin just wasn’t writing stuff like this:
And the license said you had to stick around until I was dead But if you’re tired of looking at my face, I guess I already am But you’ve never been a waste of my time It’s never been a drag So take a deep breath and count back from ten And maybe you’ll be alright
Look, there’s no denying Phair’s talent, but when Exile came out, owning it felt like a very performative thing to do. Girls liked it because it represented the “f**k you” they’d wanted to say for years. Guys bought it ’cause they wanted those girls to… like them.
None of that is fair to Phair, whose only crime was putting together a record with an openness, vulnerability, and ferocity we’d never seen before. Lost in titillating lyrics about BJ queens and f’ing and running were a searing indictment (and mild hit) about the music scene (“Never Said”) and a track about the fine line between being friends and lovers and how that often becomes a tripping hazard (“Divorce song”). Not for nothing, Hrishikesh Hirway’s Song Exploder podcast did a great episode breaking down the latter.
We all caught up with her eventually, and Exile In Guyville long ago earned its rightful place in the alternative rock canon. The record turns 33 today and still seems a bit ahead of it’s time.
Tell me: what do you think?
KA—
On to the music…
Besides Phair, this week we’ve got a few old faves from VU, Material Issue and The Police. There’s also a ton of fresh tracks from the likes of Hawk and Steel, Kelz, Julia Jacklin and feeble little horse.
Today we’re taking a quick look at records from Unwound and Lovage.
Mike Patton contains multitudes. For every weird or abrasive track he’s been on (i.e. anything by Mr. Bungle), there’s been an equal number of straight up rockers, ballads, or smoothed out tracks.
He’s also no stranger to concept albums (see again: Mr. Bungle). Nor is Nathaniel Merriweather aka Dan the Automator, aka one half of Handsome Boy Modeling School. The two of them team up with singer Jennifer Charles and Kid Koala to record the one and only Lovage release, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By.
The record’s as low key as you might assume, with a lovesexy vibe, some sensuous beats, and Cinemax-level lyrics. It’s also a record that attempts to straddle the line between sincerity and comedic irony. You can’t go more than a verse or two without tripping over a double entendre. it’s louche all the way down, including the cover art inspired by none other that Serge Gainsbourg’s Nᵒ 2 LP.
Sometimes it works, sometimes the punchline fails to land. Did we really need yet another fucking record with skits in it? Long time readers may recall that this is a pet peeve of mine, and in the land rush to CDs taking place in the early aughts, somebody somewhere thought this would be a great way to fill out the newly available space on LPs (Spoiler: It’s not). “Love that Lovage, Baby” at least has Damon Albarn on it, so there’s that, I ’spose. And it borrows heavily from Donna Summer’s Love to Love You, which is great. Nevertheless…
(exhale)
Going the other way, the chemistry between Patton and Charles gets harder to ignore with each track. Is this a bit they’re both really committed to? Maybe it started out that way and blossomed into something real? Beats me, but it’s smoldering like lava the whole way through the record. Even at the end on “Archie and Veronica,” which is about (*checks notes)… banging a corpse?! Okay then.
All that aside, the record’s real superpower are the beats. When it comes to taking samples and building a soundscape, Dan the Automator is one of the best to ever do it.
Shame that Lovage was a one-and-done project. The premise only has so much runway, but these three (and friends along for the ride) are clearly in their element and having a good time. And with a title like this how could they not be? You were expecting a dirge?
You know that internet trend where someone’ll post “Don’t ask me to explain it, but…”?
Yeah. I don’t know how to explain it, but Leaves Turn Inside You couldn’t have come from anywhere but where it did. It’s extremely Olympia-coded and feels like the latest model to roll off the K-Records factory floor. That’s neither derogatory nor regressive.
I happen to like that sound and Unwound’s got it for days.
There is a certain melancholic detachment that comes with existing in a place where it rains a lot. I don’t mean the overt, back of hand on forehead type stuff. It’s just how a lot of PNW’ers are (I say this as a native). Whether it’s the minutes-long drone on “We Invent You” that kicks things off, or the icy synths (synths! from Olympia!) on “Treachery” that reframes things, that mood is all over the record and well, it fits.
For all the jangle (again: Olympia) and subtle vocals, there’s an undercurrent of tension that the listener can never quite shake—this is not something to play when you’re out on the water with the boys! But it is something you’ll want to have close by when you’re in the mood for something brooding and engaging in equal measure. It’s heavy without feeling oppressive.
In ’01 I was in a dead era as far as going to shows, but I could swear I’d seen them before. there was an time where I basically lived at the X-Ray Cafe and they had a ton of shows there in ’91-’92. Surely I’d been there for one of ’em? I wish I could remember! Time seems to have faded my memory (along with my hearing). No matter. Unwound is a great PNW band and Leaves Turn Inside You is an easy record to fall in love with. Just don’t ask me to explain it.
Bottom Line: After a few days of records not quite landing, we’ve arrived at what’ll be a tough call for me. Lovage strikes me as the sort of band we’d listen to on the way to see Unwound. On my bracket I cheaped out and went for the latter as they’re the higher seed. My vote today? I honestly don’t know. It’s gonna be a game time decision…
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my take? Sound off in the comments!
A Monthy Python castmate, Elvis, and several world cup soccer players all walk into a $100 million cage…
It sounds like the start of a bad joke, doesn’t it?
If I told you they were there to play in a 3v3 8-team single elimination goal tournament, all to the sounds of a (then) 34-year-old song remade by a Dutch artist best known for working on Tomb Raider, it’d just get weird, right?
The Scorpion KO tournament was part of an award-winning ad campaign, with star players competing in a secret tournament onboard a ghost ship.
Former Manchester United Star Eric Cantona was more emcee than referee, and the entire thing was directed by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam.
That tournament spawned local versions worldwide, with an estimated 1–2 million kids participating worldwide.
The campaign was a huge success, with Nike president Mark Parker commenting, “This spring’s integrated football marketing initiative was the most comprehensive and successful global campaign ever executed by Nike.”
The game might’ve come easy, but the soundtrack? Not so much.
“The music was a real monkey wrench. We just could not land the right track to pull it together. If you turn the audio off and try to follow this thing, it’s pretty hectic beyond the colours of the jerseys. There was just no obvious tone or tenor. We tried rock, metal — dark, intense stuff — but it didn’t really underscore what we were seeing.
“We talked to all sorts of music producers, contracted a band, some hot producers. They brought in stuff to play, and we were very polite, but I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is a disaster’.
Somehow it all worked out in the end, with the song’s remix charted in dozens of countries, hitting #1 in several.
Do you remember this commercial (or the 2002 World Cup)? Who ya got for this tourney?
KA—
On to the music…
This week what’s old is new again with a killer remix of New Order’s “Spooky.” We’ve also got some (actually) brand new tracks from Wishy, Vienna, The Mountain Goats, and Boston’s Good June. A great setlist to either liven up your commute, play on a road trip or soundtrack your next soccer tournament.
Today we’re taking a quick look at Ruby’s Short Staffed at the Gene Pool as it faces off against Missy Elliott’s Miss E: So Addictive!
Imagine, if you will, a world where, instead of venturing to America’s Dairyland, Shirley Manson decides to make a record with, say, Tricky or Thievery Corporation. Feel free to substitute Curve’s Toni Halliday here if you prefer.
If you squint hard enough, you can see it—and when you do, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Short-Staffed at the Gene Pool sounds like. Instead of Manson, we get Lesley Rankine, late of Silverfish (instead of Angelfish…another parallel?).
In case that didn’t work, the short version is this: full-voiced female vocals, sometimes chanteuse, sometimes vixen, pouting and preening and snarling over synth grooves and post-party sounds.
The sounds? They’re as varied as the vocals they support. Together with producer Mark Walk (Skinny Puppy), they hit on everything from trip-hop to rock to Latin-ish grooves (“Lamplight”), which, to torture the analogy, feels like a slinkier version of Garbage’s “Queer.”
Some of it delves a little too far into the bleeps and bloops for my taste (“Cargo”), but the good far outweighs the bad here. Indeed, the very next track, “Sweet Is,” reminds me of the poppiest sides of Stereolab or even Pizzicato Five.
Really, whatever genre they venture through, they never forget to bring along a groove. Prioritizing the hook (writ large) takes this from a record that “forces you to pay attention” (read: not very good, but I hope there’s something in there) to something equally at home soundtracking the after-after party, your commute, or a dinner party with the coolest people you know.
Maybe even one in the Dairyland.
I’d never heard a Ruby record before just now. Oddly, I’ve heard Missy Elliott countless times. Yet the score for Short-Staffed and Miss E was a 0–0 tie.
“Get Ur Freak On” was—and is—an inescapable anthem, but I couldn’t name a single other track on the record. And fair play to Elliott—I had to laugh when I heard her let us all know about giving us “some shit that you never heard before.” I mean, it works on so many levels.
Anyway, I don’t know enough about hip-hop to speak on it intelligently, so I’ll just say this: Elliott and her partner in crime, Timbaland, come out of the lab with a very distinct sound each time they work together. I’d say when they get back to what they know, that’s when the record works best. When Elliott tries to veer into ballad territory, it stumbles.
I don’t know if it represents the Hampton Roads scene broadly speaking, or if they created it and everyone followed. Probably the latter. Whatever. She’s got bars for days, and there’s no shortage of beats here to make you scream “Hollah!
Bottom Line:Short Staffed… is the sort of record I like to root for, and anything can happen, but I think it’s going to be Missy Elliott in a rout.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my take? Sound off in the comments!
Kevin Sent 