Wanna See It Now

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Life ain’t nothin but a dream
Realistic as it seems

Built To Spill @ Outside Lands 2009
One of the most well known indie bands is still relatively unknown to many of my friends. It’s necessary to get back to the original goal of this blog and to attempt to change that.

Boise is not just college football and potatoes. It’s the home of the band Built to Spill.

The band has just released a new album and it’s amazing. Although, you could pick up any one of Built To Spill‘s 7 albums and get your mind melted.

Doug Martsch is the driving creative force of the band. Initially he intended to be the only static member of the band, promising to rotate musicians for each and every album. I always think this is a great idea, but I imagine this hardly ever works out. When you spend so much time touring and traveling in the back of vans and buses, friendships grow strong. Doug’s plan didn’t work out, but he now records and tours with some amazing talent that have become permanent members of the band.

I’ve been listening to the latest album, There Is No Enemy on constant rotation. Even while I sleep. It’s woken me up in the middle of the night…holding my face amazed with the beautiful layering of guitars and the distinctive voice of Martsch and his amazing lyrics.

I have come up with many different ideas about the meaning of Martsch’s songs. I am not going to share them with you. Why? Well let me share a quote from Doug’s wife that sums it up:

Built To Spill @ Outside Lands 2009

I once overheard Doug on the phone being interviewed. He sounded almost stand-offish in not “telling” an interviewer the meaning of a song or describing its origin. Doug and I have speculated about this sometimes: meaning (whether intended or not) is not inherent in lyrics or in any art. Listening, looking closely, and responding with one’s feelings, thoughts, and senses transforms. Doug simply does wish to disrupt any meaning someone else has found.

With so much work behind the band, the record is here. Now comes the album’s journey into the world. This venture Built to Spill does not map out. The record is yours to respond to.

[Editor’s Note from The Little One: I think that sometimes people get one meaning for a song, but then they hear the next line and that throws them off. That might be what makes fans ask artists what the song was written about. So I am going to ask you now, just be OK with your interpretation of the song. Doug writes so many decent verses that you can take just one piece of the song and let it help you realize or reveal some truth or epiphany in your own life, your own understanding of love, politics, society, friendships, nature…]

Download Built To Spill – Life’s A Dream

Amazing track. That guitar work is so layered and stunning.

The thing about Built To Spill is that EVERY album is so DAMN good.

The Little One and I trip out when listening to the discography of Built To Spill. There Is Nothing Wrong With Love, for example is something we would have loved. It’s such an epic and perfect album. Yet, it was a decade before I had heard it. What the fuck were we listening to in 1994 that we missed this gem?

Listen to this song off There Is Nothing Wrong With Love and prepare to play the shit out of it for months on end:

Download Built To Spill – Car

I’m glad that I will never miss another Built To Spill album. Seeing them live really solidifies my love for the band. You must listen to BTS and you must catch their live show. They are heavily touring in support of their latest effort. Check the tour dates on their myspace page to see if they are making a stop near you.

A little happy stuff to make everyone feel good

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So I’m writing this feeling quite under the weather right now. And I would’ve loved to have posted a song that sort of fits that theme. The Edmonton band Shout Out Out Out Out just released their second album earlier this year, and I heard the track “Bad Choices” while leaving work last night. And loved it. It reminded me of their track “Chicken Soup For The Fuck You” off of their debut Not Saying/Just Saying. Hence the sick stuff reminding me to maybe post that song.

Well, I unfortunately couldn’t find the latter, but the former, on their new album Reintegration Time, serves to help expose the band to more people, just as well. It’s a beautiful track that reminds me a bit of Holy Fuck’s “Lovely Allen” from 2007. Synth heavy and chugging along, you can’t help but feel uplifted and afterwards happy by the continual upbeat feel. It’s a winner for this year, for sure!

Download Shout Out Out Out Out – Bad Choices

Next up is a track I’m not really sure about. Julian Casablancas – frontman for The Strokes – is set to release his debut album Phrazes For The Young next month. The first single, entitled 11th Dimension, is a catchy, but overall a pretty empty track. The solo careers by so many of these niche rock bands always seems to fall flat. It’s not a bad track, but it’s overly simplistic while trying to be a bit phony about some purported complexity to the song. Bad synth stabs can’t really save this one in the long run. I want to like this track, but am very much on the fence on it.

Download Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension

Last up is a cover of a track I ran across a few years back, and am not sure what reminded me about it, but it could be due to all the talk I’ve come across involving Arcade Fire. This is a cover of “No Cars Go” by fellow Canadian Bryce Kushnier, otherwise known as Vitaminsforyou. I’m not sure what it is about this cover I love so much, but it could be that it is done in a very original fashion while still maintaining the original to an extent that doesn’t trample all over the original. A great cover, and a rather unknown one to most, at that! Take a listen and see if you also like it.

Download Vitaminsforyou – No Cars Go (Arcade Fire Cover)

That is it for this week. Again, please support these artists! Buying even one song you like sends a strong message that you really do support what they are trying to bring everyone!

Put the needle on the record…

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If you checked out my post here, you know that I have been busy ripping vinyl like a mad man. It’s not a ton of fun…but one good thing that has come out of it is that I am rediscovering my music collection.

I have DJ’ed in Seattle, Orlando, and Las Vegas. While going through my tracks I think I’ve found tracks that remind me of each city or specific gigs.

Well it’s some angle to share some of this music with you. It’s important for me to share this music for a few reasons. With all the amazing electronic music I have procured from the blogs over the last few years…it’s important for me to do the same. To give back in a sense.

When I check hypem.com for the music I am about to rip, I see that a lot of my own great records are nowhere to be found on the interwebs. Some of them must predate blogs…so I want to get some of this quality music out there for you! Although these tracks are old, I can say confidently that I still think they are relevant and will get your crowds fired up!

Fex – Last Train (Marine Parade)
It’s a record I picked up while record shopping after some gigs I had in Orlando. Breaks are King in Florida and this record never goes over that well in the West…but it’s hot and I will continue dropping it.

Download Fex – Last Train

Brett Johnson – Somewhere Between Here and ThereBrett Johnson, Deep House Master
This track reminds me of the fantastic Deep House scene in Las Vegas. The underground electronic scene in Vegas is almost exclusively Deep House and can be heard in many of the long running house parties. If you are looking for a place to check out Deep House in Vegas I suggest Soul Kitchen or Sound Bar. I am sure I picked up this gem at the now defunct Liquid 303 in Las Vegas and it got a lot of spins in the also defunct Utopia Patio.

Download Brett Johnson – Somewhere in Between Here and There

Haitras – It Was (Screw Loose Mix)
Seattle’s Rave scene is second to none. I’ve played to raves up there and they know how to party. I am sure I have played this track there, or something that sounds like it. It’s dark yet energetic. Just how they like it. This song would totally fit into any electro house set even today. Don’t sleep on this one…again.

Download Haitras – It Was (Screw Loose Mix)

Support all of these artists by buying more of their amazing work.

Lord lift up these lifeless bones

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Tried to brace myself
But you can’t brace yourself when the time comes
You just have to roll with the blast

“A certain amount of suffering has to be done internally and just accepted as a normal and universal part of life. A bit o’ sadness and anxiety is the price of living. This is a subject I deal with quite often on my radio program. I find myself telling more and more callers that what they are experiencing simply needs to be endured-and that there isn’t necessarily a solution or pharmaceutical prescription to eradicate every human emotion and reasonable reaction to life’s challenges.”

I hope we’re all in crash position when we hit

Is there a book that you can reference that helps you to discern or distill situations and scenarios that present themselves to you throughout your life? Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps for you, it’s more like a music album that provides your perspective.

For John Darnielle, the singer/songwriter who leads The Mountain Goats, The Bible manages to provide the source by which to put life, death, and memories into context. And he plucked a dozen passages from it to create his latest album, The Life of The World to Come. Each track is given, simply, the name of the passage that inspired it.

Say what you will about the content in The Good Book, however, which other piece of literature has provided the foundation and backbone for endless other works of art, matters of law, references of morality, songs of praise and sorrow, and just really good stories?

Of course, customs and anthropology of the times created passages that lead to confusion when translation to modern life is required. This often leads thinkers to write off the entire works. Much like the writings of one controversial Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I tell you what, though. I have seen much adversity and great challenges in my personal life. And I have hated the way this has eaten away at my insides. One of her books, “Stop Whining, Start Living” was on a discount rack outside Borders and I picked it up recently. I will take my inspiration anywhere I can find it. And maybe, Darnielle’s fans who weren’t previously interested in The Bible will find a reason to find a their own [insert inspirational-themed book here, such as Chicken Soup for the Art of Happiness and Small Stuff].

The passage I shared at the top comes from the controversial talk radio host but it’s true isn’t it? We want to hide from pain. We want to experience tragedy in a medicated haze. Matthew 25 shares two of Jesus’ Parables, and it appears that Darnielle found comfort in the Parable of the Talents as he dealt with his mother-in-law’s death from breast cancer. The song is titled, simply, “Matthew 25:21”. What Will You Do With What You Are Given, is the question someone willing to move forward from the tragedy is willing to ask themselves. How Do I Get Closure From The Pain is the question so many call Dr. Laura to ask, and many times, the answer is… You Don’t. Sometimes there is no cure for the reality and magnitude for what happened. You can dance with the pain or you can endure and move past it.

“‘You have done well, good and trustworthy servant,’ replied his master; ‘you have been trustworthy in the management of a little, I will put you in charge of much: share your master’s joy.'”

It is true that much of this album is more melancholy and downbeat than many of The Mountain Goats’ other albums. Track One, in context, is quite an attention-grabber and it’s poignant how well Darnielle can grasp the admonitions of idolatry from 1st Samuel to create a metaphor for how in life, we sometimes give ourselves a bit too much credit for our achievements and our own relative greatness.

Not every source of inspiration is easy to nail down. In “1 John 4:16”, it would be easy to assign hundreds of meanings to the lyrics contained, but based on the passage, I believe it’s again his simple but poignant way of saying, life is going to sling some shit. God loves me, and this gets me through.

Download The Mountain Goats – 1 John 4:16

If you appreciate the more passionate side of the Goats, you may find that Psalms 40:2 satisfies your need to hear him belt out lyrics through clenched teeth in the way only he can do so well. Because that shit that gets slung? Damn, it’s still HARD to deal with.

Download The Mountain Goats – Psalms 40:2

The Mountain Goats has an ENORMOUS discography. Get it. From each album to EP you will go on a new journey. And love it.

Phoenix….not Arizona

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So we have yet more! They seem to be possibly the most remixed guys this year, and it’s quite a mixed bag of remixes that have come out. So today has me writing about two more remixes from the Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album that will most likely win just about every indie award that is out there (with apologies to Animal Collective).

In order to sort of find out where the remixers – in this case Passion Pit’s drummer Nate Donmoyer as Shuttle and also by Animal Collective – you would need to hear both parts one and two of the song remixed. In this case? It’s “Love Like a Sunset”. To keep some space on our own webspace, I’ve gotten a youtube vid that combines both parts here for you.

Pretty epic, eh? So now imagine how the powers that be in remixers are going to handle this one. What you end up hearing are two vastly different ways to go about it, and that’s what I personally love about music. Everyone hears something different in songs, and that difference is also what helps to bring people together. So after hearing the aforementioned original, and after listening to these two remixes, tell us which of the two you prefer! What would you do differently? What elements of the original would you use and leave out? Enjoy!

Download Phoenix – Love Like A Sunset (Shuttle Remix)

Download Phoenix – Love Like A Sunset (Animal Collective Remix)

500 Words of Pleasure and a Few More of Pain

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I’m hoping to sell my house and find a new one. The market has made my home a bad investment. It’s too bad. I do love this house and its location, but knowing that I can find a better house for a better price makes it the right time.

One of the bummers of thinking about moving again is the giant vinyl collection I have already lugged through two different moves. The thought of doing it again makes me wanna just leave it here for the next owner to deal with!

I am a “bedroom” DJ. I have been for much of my life. I have “gigged” out, but being a DJ doesn’t pay my bills, and I don’t like alcohol enough to bother playing for an open bar tab anymore. The art of making a mix tape with two turntables isn’t something I can give up. Especially with the excitement that Serato brings me. Serato just enables such a creativity that it makes DJing more fun than ever before.

The plan, then, is to digitize as much of this record collection that I can and then to sell my children…I mean my records… before I move.

This plan stresses me out though. For many reasons:

1. It’s time consuming.

2. It’s like scaling Mount Everest.

…and maybe most importantly:

3. I stress that I am not getting the best quality of my rips from Vinyl to MP3.

I have spent some money on gadgets that promised to make this task easier, to only discover that it either complicates the process or the quality just plain sucks. There are many things to consider in ripping as far as quality. Where do you keep the gain and EQs at? Do you need an archiving needle? Does running it through a particular mixer affect quality?

One issue is that in the current configuration of my studio I have my decks/mixer right on top of some computer equipment. I feel like I can hear some noise on the rips because of it. I am debating on reworking my studio to just make this easier and cleaner to rip vinyl. /sigh

Then there is just the sound of vinyl. The warmth and depth of a needle on a groove comes with its pitfalls and perils. Pops and hissing is inevitable on a piece of vinyl. Especially if it’s an older record like the one featured in this post.

I guess I am using you all as guinea pigs. I ripped one of my favorite house records for you to listen to. Do you think the tracks sound good? Good enough to play in a club or for a mix set? Listen to the following tracks and please let me know in the comments?

Download Nathan Drew Larsen – Five Minutes of Pleasure Two Minutes of Pain

Download Nathan Drew Larsen – Mirari

Nathan Drew LarsenThese two tracks are from the label Simple Soul Records. The label might be defunct now. I can’t find much info about the label on Google, and the website for the label seems to be down. The artist is Nathan Drew Larsen. He is a DJ and producer from the home of house, Chicago. He has a few AKA’s: House of Black Dress; Mise En Place; Emile Coue; Red Shift. Nathan started DJing in the early ‘90s at loft parties in Chicago. Nathan currently records exclusively for Fresh Meat Records, the label he and Mazi, another Chicago house producer, own and operate. Nathan’s 10 years of production draws from the traditions of Chicago’s early deep house scene as well as from his regular use of vintage instruments and effects, his focus on improvisation and live performance, and the clear influence of disparate musical forms including psychedelica, motoric, and pop.

A few more things to note.

For one thing, it might not make sense to rip your vinyl copy of Spiller’s Groovejet to MP3 if some one has done it for you. You could find that track at mykunk.com. It might be a good idea to search the interwebs or hypem.com for the track you’re planning to rip from your collection. You already bought it, so I suppose you can even do this guilt free!

Keep in mind that some of the problems with ripping vinyl can still be found in the MP3s to be harvested from the many music blogs out there. I’ve downloaded tracks from blogs that actually had a record skip make it into the MP3 copy!

The last thing I want to mention is the use of a post-ripping tool that I’ve used to do some cleaning up of the audio files. It’s a tool I use on all my music that I play through Serato. It’s called Platinum Notes. On the software company’s website, they say this about the software:

Platinum Notes makes your tracks sound incredibly smooth. Designed by professional DJs and musicians, Platinum Notes improves your files and gives them warmth, perfect volume, and correct pitch. It removes distortion and clipped peaks.

It’s used by many “superstar” DJs and bedroom DJs alike. I recommended it for any DJ playing digital media.

Lemme eject

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I don’t think Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young had this much fun making a record or performing on stage. Maybe they did. But they didn’t genre-bend like Monsters of Folk, who by the way even has a better name.

Monsters of Folk came to be when members of Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, and She & Him began playing together on tour, participating in jam sessions, and experimenting with different sounds and different personas onstage. And yeah, I am not the first one to compare them to that early 70’s folk “supergroup”.

As for the different sounds and personas on this self-titled album, which was released September 22 and sold enough records and digital downloads to hit #15 and #7 on Billboard’s respective charts… You can hear some classic rock, folk, artsie bullshit, groovy blues, country twang, and oh yeah, folk. In addition, every member contributes on every instrument.

Say genre-bending with me again, and check out track 5, “The Right Place”:

Download Monsters of Folk – The Right Place

Wouldn’t it be nice to be in the right place? To like where you live, what you do, what you see when you look at you, what you’re sayin’ when you open your face…

I don’t think I will ever get there. What about you?

Anyway, none of their lyrics make much sense for long, and I guess today I am OK with that. “Baby Boomer” does a good job of encapsulating this “I have a stand, I don’t have a stand, we all stand for something, none of us agree” sort of attitude.

Do any of us know what the fuck we are doing?

Download Monsters of Folk – Baby Boomer

Buy it on itunes

More Johnny Cash…..but not for the purists!

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So I am sure a lot of you have seen the commercials for the new flick starring Woody Harrelson, Zombieland. If you’ve been stuck under a rock? I’ll give you all the trailer.

Well, I was curious about the song in the commercial. I had yet to hear anyone really have the balls to do a remix of a Johnny Cash song. Well, there’s a full album of this stuff. Is it any good? Well, the iTunes store has the album averaging only 1 1/2 stars. And honestly, I can understand some of that. I mean, this is Johnny Cash we’re talking about! But Cash’s son and Snoop Dogg (yes, Snoop Dogg) took up this project. Wonder how hard up Cash’s son was for cash?

Well, the song in the commercial is for Cash’s song “Country Boy” and is remixed by Sonny J. I must be honest, most of this guy’s music is trash. It’s like the big beat music Fatboy Slim made popular had a baby with a crack habit. This remix is pretty tolerable, at least.

Download Johnny Cash – Country Boy (Sonny J remix)

Now, the next couple I can actually kind of like. The first one is a remix by hip-hop guru Pete Rock. I’m not sure how, but he made Folsom Prison Blues sound pretty good. I’ll let you guys decide.

Download Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues (Pete Rock remix)

The last one for today is a remix of a pretty much unknown Cash song by me. “Rock Island Line” was originally done by Leadbelly, but done again by Cash in 1957 on his debut album. Well, it was remixed by an artist named Wolf, and it’s more a frenetic track that keeps gaining steam throughout. Not terrible, but I really am not sure what to think of this.

Download Johnny Cash – Rock Island Line (Wolf Remix)

As a whole, this album unfortunately deserves the criticism it has taken. The old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” certainly applies.

Progressive Pop

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New. Well not to the music scene.

Miike Snow is a new band from Sweden. Two of the band members, Pontus Winnberg and Kristian Carlsson as Bloodshy & Avant, co-wrote and produced Britney Spears’s Grammy-winning 2004 hit Toxic.

Don’t give up on them yet though!

With added member Andrew Wyatt, they have become something of what I want to dub Progressive Pop. (™ bitches) Imagine pop star Prince (…or formerly known as) collected animals. No wait. I got that wrong. Miike Snow is Prog Pop because they sound like Prince and Animal Collective! I mean if Progressive Rock is essentially a genre that pushes rock’s technical and compositional boundaries past what is traditionally called Rock, then how is Miike Snow not Progressive Pop?

Case in point? Let’s dissect one of my favorite tracks off the album. A Horse Is Not A Home:

[Download Miike Snow – A Horse Is Not a Home]

Progressive rock typically has lyrics similar to its musical ambition, tending to avoid typical rock/pop subjects such as love or dancing. If you listened to the lyrics of the above song, you will notice the imagery and symbolism.

Oh god I think I’m dying,
And our drinks were just poured,
Look outside someone’s waiting,
With a yellow horse

With a hole in the heart I was forced to ride
in morning traffic.
With a golden hand by your fortress side
but without magic.

Did you notice how catchy that song was? Piano and guitar driven pop. The music is light and approachable. Comfortable and accessible.

Probably one of the most blogged about songs on the album is Silvia. Check out the band performing this live on KCRW:


Another amazing song is also the bands first single. Watch the video for Burial here!

The group has roots in DJ and remix culture, so I have collected a remix by the band and for the band for your perusal.

[Download Miike Snow – Black And Blue (Capsa Remix)]

Loving the remix? The original is beautiful as well.

Here is a remix the band has done for another band you might know. Check out this remix of Peter Bjorn and John’s song Don’t Move Me.

[Download Peter Bjorn and John – Don’t Move Me (Miike Snow Remix)]

Please pick up this album. If you already have it, leave us a comment and tell us what you think too!

But I just wanna love you dear

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If you fall asleep down by the water
Baby I’ll carry you all the way home

OK. You can sing that to me all day and all night and I will swoon and smile and love you forever.

Because it’s just that simple.

“That’s why we love the 1950s. It was the beginning of basic pop music. They did it from scratch and pulled these amazing, timeless melodies out of thin air.”

The Drums is your new favorite feelgood postpunk summer music. Because summer is over and you hate to see things go. Floridans Jonathon Ecklund and Jacob Graham started this band just over a year ago, self recorded and produced around fifteen songs while living in central Florida and “with big dreams and a batch of songs they believed in” spent the beginning of 2009 saving money to move to New York City. Add a bassist and a drummer, and now they sound a little something like this:

Download The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing

Down, down baby
Down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby
I’ll never let you go

Yes! Take me down by the roller coaster! I will follow you anywhere when you sing to me like that!

“Let’s Go Surfing” is the digital single released by the band prior to the recording of the Summertime EP. The boys say they are influenced by The Smiths and The Wake. Even though The Drums claim that some of their music is about being “alone forever”, really I don’t get any sort of alienation and desperation from this music like the feelings that The Smiths helped us cultivate in the 80’s. Then again, naming your band “The Drums” is about the most plainjane name (a la The Smiths) you could come up with during this the tale end of the ought-ten decade where google searches for anything but the most unique of names will gather far too many results.

Just try it! See what you find. If you want to get any information or buy their stuff you’ll have to go to wearethedrums.com or their myspace page.

The Drums make me happy even when they’re trying to be sad. My very favorite song is “Down By The Water.” About their music, they say: “We only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you’re walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever.”

Visit their sites to get a hold of this music. In the meantime, check out some other feelgood or feelshitty music…Your choice.

And while you’re there buy me this: