KingEd

Insta-Review: Weird Hot, Casimir

Posted by KingEd

Jun 032011

Artists who followed in the stylish, world-weary tradition of British art rockers David Bowie and Bryan Ferry painted, or hair-gelled, themselves into a corner, including the leading lights of this style of music. Early ’80s New Romantics and the extended Bauhaus scene of musicians also come to mind. Once you’ve seen and done it all, rocking European-cut suits to boot, what’s left to reveal? Who buys modern-day Bowie in 100% unbleached cotton shirts and jeans? Bowie, who strikes me as a mature man who is as comfortable as he’s ever been in such garb, is forced to carry on a public persona that taps into his Thin White Duke elegance. What is the sound of an all-cotton Bowie, Ferry, or Adam Ant, for that matter?

[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/01-Mimeograph.mp3|titles=Weird Hot, “Mimeograph”] [audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/03-Jealous.mp3|titles=Weird Hot, “Jealous”]

Weird Hot, the latest band led by our very own Townsman Shawn Kilroy, may help to answer that question on their new album, Casimir. Kilroy and his mates deliver nine elegantly crafted, European-tailored art-pop songs that are unburdened by living up to some Kilroy legacy of jet-setting, high-life proportions. Without going “country” or resorting to any other deliberate stylistic device the band manages to strip down a sound rooted in UK art rock and deliver their goods in as straightforward and “grown up” a way as an artist working in a more “traditional” vein, like Nick Lowe, has manages to do. It as if the gently poppy undertones of a band like Love & Rockets figured out how to on with the times. On a song like “Mimeograph” it’s as if Spoon finally drops the self-aware pervasive smarm that annoys me and delivers the straight-up take on Bowie’s whiteboy-alien funk-pop that they have in them, complete with an appropriately ’80s-style guitar solo (a phrase I never thought I’d say). Then there’s “Jealous,” which drops the attention-grabbing, self-absorbed histrionics that marred even the best of Elegant UK Art Rock for hopelessly gimme-some-truth me.

I dig Kilroy and Weird Hot. It’s music that looks you square in the eye.

Insta-Review: KingEd’s Got a Brand New Bag of Stuff

Posted by KingEd

Feb 012011

Blame it on Samberg!

I’ve made a pledge for 2011 to listen to and comment on more NEW MUSIC. It’s important to listen to NEW MUSIC and see if any of it’s good, if any of it makes me want to continue to seek out more NEW MUSIC. Right? Without further ado, here are some very quick hits, to see if I can’t kickstart a year of NEW MUSIC reviews!

Destroyer, “Kaputt”

Destroyer, the band led by New Pornographer Dan Bejar, has a new album out called Kaputt. It’s getting a lot of feature reviews, all of which focus on synths, sax, and—one potential saving grace—late-period Roxy Music. I like Roxy Music enough to have dug their later period almost as much as their middle period (but not half as much as their first 3 albums). I associate Bejar’s typical sound as being “Bowie-esque,” so that should be close enough to make a venture into late-period Roxy Music gelatinous funk-lite worth checking out. Let’s see… Here’s the title track from Destroyer’s latest.

Analysis: This video is funny and ridiculous, but is this guy concerned with anything but outdoing the telegraphed video smarm of Andy Samberg? The lyrics are really stupid (and stupid for trying to be funny), and there’s little of musical value. And the song is over 6 minutes long! Ha, ha. This is a decent joke. Fuck you, Samberg. Continue reading »

Apollo Run: Craft Triumphs Over Personal Taste

Posted by KingEd

Jan 112011

I went to see an old friend’s band last week and ended up staying through the end of the night to see not only my friend’s band but the stylishly suited opener and the final band on the bill, a young Brooklyn outfit called Apollo Run. No offense to the first two bands, who delivered the kind of fine, traditionally rocking sets I’ve come to expect of them, but I want to focus on Apollo Run.

As they started their set with some mellow songs along the lines of the first YouTube clip here, loaded with rug harmonies, I was both impressed by the band members’ ability to harmonize on nonsense syllables and a bit bugged by the fact that some of the songs reminded me of that Fleet Foxes appearance on Saturday Night Live last fall. As with Fleet Foxes, I was impressed by how deftly and specifically Apollo Run bugged me that way I was bugged by rug pioneers like Crosby, Stills & Nash. I thought there was a point when I would live long enough to never have to hear a certain type of music again, but I was wrong. Rug harmonies are back.

Then the band began to loosen up a bit. Their opening song’s promise of some Police-like dynamics resurfaced along with more rocking dramatics along the lines of Queen and poppier late-period prog bands, like Asia or something (super-cute, engaging singer/keyboardist/guitarist/trumpeter John McGrew would have killed leading a progressive arena band from the late-’70s). More modern influences, surely, came to the fore, influences I could not identify if my life depended on it. They were so anthemic and “1980s,” at times, that I had visions of young, buzz-cutted Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer high-fiving over their soaring harmonies. It was terrifying, but it made me regret some of what I might have missed out on during my too-cool-for-school youth. Continue reading »

Keef’s Life

Posted by KingEd

Nov 102010

That's life!

Last week, as I set Keith Richards‘ memoir, Life, cowritten by novelist and friend James Fox, on my nightstand each night after an hour’s worth of reading I couldn’t help but reflect on the back-cover photograph of a gleefully shambolic Keef, in a pose very similar to the one atop this post. “It must be nice to see yourself in this way,” I thought, “and think, Yeah, that’s the shot for the back cover of my memoir!”

This is probably why I can’t stand having my picture taken. I’m nowhere near as comfortable in my skin as Keef is in his. His comfort with himself also comes out in the writing of this book, which is laid back, down to earth, sometimes rambling, a bit self-satisfied, and surprisingly sweet. Who would have thought Keef was so into cuddling? There’s a brief bit in which he discusses all the women of Mick Jagger who inevitably end up crying on his shoulder. He tops it off with something to the effect of, “No one thinks of me as ‘Uncle Keith,’ but that’s a side of me.” Continue reading »

2010 ALDS Rate-a-Record: Rays on Mute

Posted by KingEd

Oct 062010

Covering the Division Series in both leagues is too much for one man, so I offered to relieve Mr. Moderator of the burden of analyzing the walk-up music selections of the four American League contenders: the Tampa Bay Rays, the Minnesota Twins, the Texas Rangers, and the New York Yankees. In doing so, I also hope to steer clear of Mod’s Rockist NLDS analysis and pay attention to the relative strengths of the hip-hop and modern-rock selections that many of the sport’s contestants choose. I don’t want to harp on this, but it was probably Mod’s Rockist bent that caused him to overlook the threat of the Yankees against his beloved Phillies in last year’s World Series.

Let’s start with a team that was covered in depth through their 2008 playoff run, the Tampa Bay Rays, managed by baseball hipster Joe Maddon. Continue reading »

INSTA-REVIEW: Extended Play Edition

Posted by KingEd

Sep 142010

The EP, or extended play, had run its course in America by the 1960s, but it was an established part of the UK rock ‘n roll scene, offering artists a chance to leak out a little more than a single to tease fans for the release of a new album or, perhaps, to get a musical tangent out of their system without the pressure of constructing an entire album around a possible lark. As you probably know, The Magical Mystery Tour album that Americans grew up with and that was released in German True Stereo by our friends in Germany was initially released in the UK as a double EP. The EP format was revived to some effect in both markets in the punk (often as 7″ EPs) and disco (think 12″ singles) scenes, but the coolest format ever, in my opinion, the classic vinyl, 10-inch EP that Epic tried to revive with a series that included The Clash‘s Black Market Clash and a decent Cheap Trick platter, did not take off. Too bad! One of my unfulfilled musical dreams is the release of a 10-inch EP that somehow pays homage to Captain Beefheart‘s Music in Sea Minor.

In the digital age the EP release may make more sense than ever. Think about how long it takes artists to release a new album. Think about how few songs from that album ever get played on the radio. Think about the short attention spans of iPod-equipped listeners who may have only loaded the initially catchiest handful of songs, that is, if they even bothered to download an entire album. Why shouldn’t artists release a handful of songs at a time as an EP, cut down on the wait between releases, and possibly generate more reviews and opportunities for lead tracks to get played on air? I don’t know if two artists, relative newcomer Jump Back Jake and Friend of the Hall Martin Newell had any of this in mind when putting together their latest EPs, but we’ll take ’em – and review ’em…after the jump.
Continue reading »

VIDEO INSTA-REVIEW: Classic Albums: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes

Posted by KingEd

Aug 242010

The first thing that strikes me about the Classic Albums series’ making-of documentary of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers‘ Damn the Torpedoes is the British Invasion-era guitar porn that was on display in the early days of the band. There are all varieties of Rickenbackers, including the relatively cheapo one that Tom holds on the album cover and that John Lennon played in early Beatles’ shots. I came real close to buying one of those in high school, but I didn’t like the way it played. There are the classic Ricks, both 6- and 12-string variety. There’s Tom playing a Flying V and a Firebird. Mike Campbell plays some cool guitars, too, mostly along the classic Fender and Gibson lines, but nothing beats a shot of Tom playing a 12-string Vox! Now, that’s cool!

Early on Petty and his mates speak of the band’s mix of British Invasion and southern rock and soul. As Petty, Campbell, and producer Jimmy Iovine, the latter looking like a modern-day James Caan character in the best-preserved Members’ Only jacket on the planet, sit at the mixing board and breakdown the smash hits from this album it all seems so simple – too simple. You might find yourself thinking, “Gee, Petty’s whole bag is so simple why don’t more people make records this solid? Shoot, why didn’t I make this album?” It’s part of the magic of Tom Petty and his band that such a straightforward, traditional sound backing such straightforward, down-to-earth lyrics can work so well, especially on Damn the Torpedoes, which for me has always been the one Petty album (Greatest Hits excluded) worth spinning more or less from start to finish.
Continue reading »

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