Skull Tape - The Invisible Hand

The Invisible Hand by Skull Tape Listen on Posterous

The new album from Skull Tape, The Invisible Hand and The Descent of Man, has been part of my regular listening most of the last month. I'm pretty sure these guys are my Surfer Blood for 2011 - out of left field pop songs that are catchy and I can't stop listening too. I fell in love when Pitchfork posted "Trans Anthro" and, well, you just read those two sentences so you know what happened.

The 12-track album flies by with a Tripping Daisy meets Parts and Labor fury of broken down Nintendo keyboard sounds, punk fast to psych slow and all in between rhythms with harmonies that often, for lack of a better example, sound like Blink-182 (not always, but enough that the thought crosses my mind several times throughout the album). 

All of that adds up to something that fans of Atom and His Package and the three aforementioned bands should be able to agree on. They should agree, of course, that this album is a new obsession. On their Facebook page, Skull Tape claims Sparks, Iron Maiden, The Wipers and YMO as their influences so hopefully my common man explanation doesn't offend them. To be fair, I can hear all those bands too. 

Brad Breeck, formerly of The Mae Shi, wrote these songs after that band broke up in between his work on commercials. According to the press release, The Invisible Hand and The Descent of Man was inspired by Breeck's obsession with a host of current events and it carries a loose theme of social darwinism, covering a wide range of issues the country is facing right now. Knowing this adds a whole layer of holy-fucking-shit to the album, which is catchy, personal and feels familiar from the first listen. I've got to say, part of me thinks that's a bunch of BS but, since this is indie rock and not some douche in a suit from EMI, I'll take the PR company and Breeck at their word.

There's enough punk rock on this album that I'm gonna qualify it as punk, and enough noise and jagged rhythms that it qualifies as art rock, the combination of which should bring it pretty close to perfect. Breeck has managed to craft songs just subversive enough that something beyond "here comes the girl" and "friendship is essential for life," themes that permeate many of these songs, might sink in when you're too busy bopping your head to pay attention.

Pre-order The Invisible Hand and The Descent of Man at Amazon.

Also, Skull Tape made a video for their cover of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair," which is a mash-up with the album track "Drowning In Blood." As you can see here, it's awesome.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

They got me for a donation. Helping people is a good reason not to work though.

And it's better than my usual excuse. :)

Posted via email from Stephen Feller

To anybody I know that thinks shutting the government down is an acceptable political tactic:

This comes from a friend in the military:

"Straight from the pentagon, if the government shutsdown, military will get 1 weeks pay instead of 2! You stupid F$&ks on capital hill better get your s@=t straight. You all go home every night to your families and never deploy....F%#K YOU!!! I don't go home every night and I spend months away from my family. Are you going to pay my direct withdrawals from my account and over the limit fees?"

Let's get this out of the way first - the last time Republicans shut the government down as part of some hissy fit to make a point, it backfired on them politically. So, from somebody who thinks you guys play dirty and don't actually have the best interests of the country at heart, thanks. This will help public servants who actually want to do something to move the country forward.

Compromise is not a one-way street. It's time for Republicans and conservatives to sit down and come to an agreement, rather than throwing a hissy fit when they don't get their way. Democrats and progressives in Congress do it over and over, angering their strongest supporters, in the hope that it will allow them to get more done. Unfortunately, that's never the way it works.

On the upside, the last time Republicans shut down the government, a Democratic President was reelected a year and a half later, the economy grew in unbelievable ways, and - shock - the federal budget was balanced as a result of all that tax revenue from the business success. Here's to hoping that the same thing happens now. 

But more importantly, shutting down the government hurts actual American families. Not just the economy, but it makes life harder for people. You may say they're government jobs, but those paychecks are spent at actual businesses and contribute to the actual economy. Most notably, as my friend points out, our men and women in uniform, who put their lives on the line and follow orders given to them with the intention (hopefully) of protecting this great nation, are affected by this. 

By shutting the government down you're hurting people and hurting America. Who's the real party of patriots now?

Posted via email from Stephen Feller

Nirvana - Drain You (live in Del Mar Fairgrounds, California in December, 1991)

Drain You by Nirvana Listen on Posterous

Today is the 17th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. I wasn't going to post anything, but after watching things float across my RSS feeds, Facebook and, strangely, on shuffled playlists, I figured it was worth considering. Until I reread Rolling Stone's 1994 story on his death and actually felt compelled to follow the herd.

Like most people in their late-20s/nearing-30/in-their-30s-or-early-40s, I had a serious Nirvana phase. How could you not? This was the band that ushered in the idea of labels signing bands that didn't sound like the crap they were already pumping out to the masses. Alternative culture - yes, I said it - defined the 90s and made the idea of being whatever you want the mainstream thought for young people. Cringe if you like, but that started with Nirvana. This is the stuff that defined children of the 90s, whether we admit it or not. And as I've seen pointed out on more than one post, Kurt, Krist and Dave talked about the music scenes they came from and the music they liked and brought with them all sorts of bands that MTV and the masses had never come close to. It's important, though a lot of "adults" still don't get it.

In making music that was often raw, something the mainstream had lost for the most part in the 1980s with the synth revolution, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" stood out - much more than "Mountain Song" or "Been Caught Stealing," despite the pointing out of many that Jane's Addiction beat Nirvana to the mainstream. Which is true, but inconsequential. Perry Ferrell represents a mischievous fiend inside us all. Nirvana, though, with the raging guitars, and the pounding from Grohl on the drums, and Kurt's scratched howl, matched a dissatisfaction and bewilderment that American teens and twentysomethings were dealing with after a decade of American greed and decline (sound familiar?) was exactly what we needed. Kurt Cobain and his band woke people up in a way nobody else did. 

I don't remember what day of the week it was, and I don't remember what I did that day - because I was 12 - but I do remember turning on MTV, which I had already developed a very strong obsession with, much like everybody else I knew at that point, and seeing Kurt Loder speak the words that were already crawling across the screen, interrupting Spring Break or something, that Cobain had been found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face. 

I've had all the albums on repeat for years. I read and reread Kurt's notebooks, published by his evil widow, out of prurient and selfish curiosity. I've read and watched interviews with him, the band, the scenesters... And still I don't get it. I don't think I'm supposed to get it. Something was wrong in his head, much more so than any lyrics, save maybe "You Know You're Right," could let on.

There's no telling what would have happened with Nirvana, or if he'd be on Twitter, or what elder-statesman Kurt would have done. Certainly, the music would be interesting and Mr. Corporate Magazines Still Suck would be biting the hands that feed him. We would be lapping it up though because he was the icon. He fired the first bitter shot. He stood on the essential, though flawed, MTV, which had made him a massively rich success, and pointed out that it kind of sucked. For many of us, it was all we had. Hearing the members of Nirvana tell us that there was more than we were being handed was a big deal. Again, at age 10 or 11 or 12, when they were on the VMAs and in interviews, spouting these things, it meant a lot.

His loss is just as infuriatingly sad now as it was 17 years ago. Maybe instead of Neil Young's "it's better to burn out than to fade away," Kurt should have ended that note with his own words, from the end of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," considering just how true they are: "I deny you. I deny you. I deny you. I deny you."

Buy the vastly underrated live collection From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (which the above version of "Drain You" comes from), or any of the other Nirvana albums you should already know by heart. These albums are among the bibles of a generation and are not to be underestimated. As always, I suggest Shockhound. For all sorts of EPs, rarities and physical formats also head over to Amazon.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

TV On The Radio - New Canonball Run

New Cannonball Run by Tv On The Radio Listen on Posterous

It took a listen and a half to decide that TV On The Radio's fourth album, Nine Types of Light, would be the best album released this year. Yes, I know that it's only the first week of April. I'm also well aware that several really spectacular albums have already come out this year, and several more are scheduled for release in the next eight months. The fact is, I'm pretty sure this race is over.

While anything could come out of left field, and despite just the greatness of the new Strokes and Foo Fighters albums, among others, this feels like Return to Cookie Mountain leaking eight months before it's actual release all over. I called it then, and I'm calling it now.

Dear Science, also known as album number three, was good. Something felt off, though. Like the boys from Brooklyn were trying to satisfy some kind of expectation. Here, it sounds as natural as Dave Sitek described the recording sessions to be in Rolling Stone. 

I can't find anything bitter about this album, and that's even with tracks about break-ups. It's all love and rocking out, which is kind of reassuring. You can hear the band finding a nice, happy place and doing what they do with the slow and mid-tempo grooves and the horns and the falsetto. Oh, that falsetto - it has to be the best thing in rock and roll right now. And when it runs atop what has now become the expected TVOTR harmonies, everything seems perfect in the world.

If this is the sound of one of the most adventurous and singularly unique bands of the 21st century maturing, we're in for a ride.

Nine Types of Light has enough range in it to go from a spoken opening on "Second Song," and slow building of "Keep Your Heart" and "You." "No Future Shock" is the wake up call on the first half of the album begging listeners to "blow your top." 

It's the second half of the album, starting with "New Canonball Run," that makes waves though. This track is the "Wolf Like Me" of Nine Types of Light, the one the band wants you screaming. "Repetition" works itself from completely still into a rolling frenzy that should work wonders in concert too. Maybe that's just cause I've found myself screaming at other cars while listening to it at red lights.  

The last two tracks on the album, "Forgotten," which could be the not-so-distant cousin of the classic "Young Liars," and second single "Caffeinated Consciousness," a positively INXS-influenced song if ever I've heard one, are polar opposites that literally bring together everything perfect about this band.

There were points on Dear Science that felt like overreach and made one wonder if they had stretched as far as they could and each album thereafter would just be a reworking of parts. I hate to make the comparison, but think about this: Nine Types of Light is reassuring, because if Radiohead just wants to mess with our robotic heads (and The King of Limbs, at the very least, does that), TV On The Radio clearly just want us feel something. Album of the year is an understatement.

Pre-order a crazy awesome Nine Types of Light special edition directly from the band (there's also an iTunes link there), or grab the deluxe edition with three bonus tracks on mp3 from Shockhound.

Buy the rest of TV On The Radio's discography from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop

FPG word of the day: I know a thing or two about this one :)

Posted via email from Stephen Feller

UNKLE - The Dog is Black (featuring Leila Moss)

The Dog Is Black (Feat. Liela Moss) by Unkle Listen on Posterous

It took a few years, but I've stopped expecting UNKLE to come up with an album that sounds anything like Psyence Fiction, the debut full length from Mo' Wax main man James Lavelle which, at the time, was a tightly wound collaboration with the visionary DJ Shadow. It didn't last beyond that one album which, admittedly, has turned out to be more a collaboration than many of us assumed at the time.

In 1997, it was easy to pin the whole thing on Shadow, because the man was in his effortless prime, and Lavelle was a visionary label head, but who could have predicted that, this long after the fact, UNKLE would continue to be putting out compelling music. Because Psyence Fiction is what it is, I (I'll speak only for myself here) have looked for that album over and over and been disappointed not to find it, despite how great Never Never Land and War Stories actually are.

Where Did The Night Fall, the epically mesmerizing album that Lavelle released in an endless stream of ever more clever and expensive formats, completely changed that. Really, the artwork and packaging is stunning. But that's not the point or the reason I spent all day listening to Only The Lonely, a new five-track EP due out Tuesday. I'm just looking for epic production and the right vocalist, because it has become apparent that UNKLE can do that every time out.

This EP, released pretty quickly after last year's triumphant full length, which felt like it didn't get as much attention as it should have, includes the much written about collaboration with Nick Cave, "Money And Run." I'd be writing about it too if Ms. Moss didn't catch me. The lead singer of The Duke Spirit howls over a dramatic pounding stutter for five minute track that makes me wonder if this is what the sirens sounded like in The Odyssey. I just think epic when I listen to this stuff, so why not go with the epic literature reference, right?

It's a good thing Lavelle turned out to be a lifer, because he's come back around to hit stride with a string of great releases. I'd say an EP like this every six months or so would create an army of worshippers but I'm sure he's got a way better plan then that.

Buy UNKLE's Only The Lonely EP from Shockhound on Tuesday, April 4.

In the meantime, buy other music by UNKLE from Shockhound.

Posted via email from One Stupid Mop