Two little playlists

Today I went wandering around Cambridge looking for a Halloween costume. Didn’t get one. Wasn’t ‘feeling it’, although I think I know what I’ll be. The question is whether to roll up my sleeves and go D.I.Y., or dish out the dollars.

It’s pretty chilly in Boston now, and I picked some music for the walk that was appropriately autumnal. I listened to Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Noah and the Whale, Wooden Shjips, and The Big Pink. All highly recommended.

Here is a sampling of their wares, in the form of an imeem playlist. Let me know if it works fine. You’ll need to sign up I think, but it’s completely free. (lala is also pretty good, but you can only listen to each song once for free.)

It’s amazing how the music in your earphones colours the scene you’re walking through. (It’s a neat analogy for the way our consciousness filters all experience.) It’s as if you find yourself in a movie, with the soundtrack clueing you in on what sort of movie it is. A dog running around in a park could make you feel vertiginous nostalgia or envigorating excitement, depending on the backing track. Elvis Perkins’s ‘123 Goodbye’ sounds to me like a song at the very end of a tragic-yet-uplifting American film. You know the movie is almost over. Someone’s driving off in a car, glancing into the rear view mirror. There’s a lump in your throat perhaps. You wish it could have ended differently. Nevertheless, it’s an end, and it’s time to say goodbye. Soon the credits will start rolling.

~

I’ve been listening to vast quantities of The Incredible String Band these days [listen!]. They’re a Scottish psychedelic folk band from the 60s. They capture hippie idealism, spirituality and humour perfectly. I love them, but it’s entirely possible that you’ll hate them. They’re fruity. (For instance: they have a song sung from the perspective of a flower. It goes “turn your quivering nose in my direction”.) They mix Indian and Middle Eastern music with English and Scottish folk, and American country and blues. I find myself increasingly drawn to their lyrics. They’re mystical and poetic. I’ll leave you with some quotes:

The Hedgehog’s Song

Oh, you know all the words, and you sung all the notes,
But you never quite learned the song, she sang.
I can tell by the sadness in your eyes,
That you never quite learned the song.

The Water Song

Water water see the water flow
Glancing dancing see the water flow
O wizard of changes water water water
Dark or silvery mother of life
Water water holy mystery heavens daughter

God made a song when the world was new
Waters laughter sings it is true
O, wizard of changes, teach me the lesson of flowing.

Maya

The great man, the great man, historians his memory
Artists his senses, thinkers his brain
Labourers his growth
Explorers his limbs
And soldiers his death each second
And mystics his rebirth each second
Businessmen his nervous system
No-hustle men his stomach
Astrologers his balance
Lovers his loins
His skin it is all patchy
But soon will reach one glowing hue
God is his soul
Infinity his goal
The mystery his source
And civilization he leaves behind
Opinions are his fingernails

Maya Maya
All this world is but a play
Be thou the joyful player

These songs can be found here.

Noughtpop – a mixtape

(click to enlarge)

It’s compilation time again! What fun. I was thinking of doing a sort of 2000s indie rock primer. However, the term “indie” is somewhat vague. I know it means music on independent record labels, but I think some of the bands that started out indie have bagged major label contracts. So I’m calling this mixtape “Noughtpop”. It’s pop and/or rock from the decade that will soon be behind us (!). Even the term “pop” is vague. These artists haven’t made much of an impression on the Billboard charts (though they tend to do a little better in the UK). So Noughtpop is not pop. But it has what music journos like to call “pop sensibilities”. I guess that means it’s catchy, with the possibility of choruses and/or dance-y beats. And maybe, as icing on the cake, intelligent and/or strange lyrics.

In college I became a classic rock type. I liked some music from after 1979, but in general I assumed that rock had died before I was born. (Top 40 Pop died in the early 90s.) I liked Nirvana, but rarely chose to listen to them on my own. In 2003 I started listening to Radiohead, and realized that modern music could be challenging, intense, and different. (I love Oasis, but they’re not the most original songwriters in the world, are they?) Those days hardly anyone had a computer, and downloading music was a mystery. I asked our very own Kaustubh to procure Radiohead’s The Bends for me. He duly did so. On the CD he gave me there was another album called Elephant, by a band called the White Stripes. I fell in love with the album almost immediately. Insta-classic. There was no doubt about it — new music could kick ass. “Seven Nation Army” became an unofficial Yearbook Room anthem. Meanwhile I started to go to internet cafes to check out the new music scene. Hard to remember exactly when all this happened, or in what order. I know that I first saw the “Mr Brightside” video in a Satyam Infoway in Indra Vihar. The sound quality was bad, so it didn’t leave much of an impression. (Tommy mentioned it later… by 2005 I was a Killers fan.)

I discovered Franz Ferdinand the old-fashioned way: through MTV. Nikhil Chinnappa hosted a show that presented new music. He said “Take Me Out” was the next big thing. And it was. Wow. What a song. What a video. It took me ages to finally get a copy of the song. (I asked my cousin in Kottayam to download it. He used Kazaa or Limewire — does anyone use that sort of thing anymore?) MTV introduced me to the Vines too (the lead singer’s crazy performance style grabbed me before the songs did). Muse happened around then too (I got a friend in Australia to get Origin of Symmetry for me)…but I’ve left them out of this compilation. (They don’t sit well alongside other bands. Don’t you think?)

Soundcheck 42 played a Strokes song in 2002. Not sure which one. They really knew their music, but at the time I just wanted to hear CCR and the Rolling Stones. I heard “Last Nite” in 2004, and quickly became obsessed with it. I downloaded it at home on a crappy dial-up connection. It took two hours. At the time, I didn’t get their other songs. In 2006, near the end of my IIT stint, I got into their 3rd album First Impressions of Earth. The Strokes are now an all-time favourite band. To use a corny phrase, they helped me through a difficult (or at least hazy) period of my life.

IIT was where my musical landscape really exploded. In the first year I was blown away by their ftp networks, and filled in various blanks in my rock history chronology. (Got into the Sex Pistols and the Clash around then.) That’s when I came upon the Libertines. Someone happened to have the I Get Along EP on their server. Fantastic. “Don’t Look Back Into the Sun” is one of my favourite songs. Sadly, I discovered the band just as they were splitting up. The UK media were quite obsessed with the antics of Pete Doherty. I’m told Pete & Carl were inspired to start a band after seeing a Strokes gig. The explosion on indie bands in the UK is generally attributed to the impact of the Libertines.

In 2005 I got my own computer, and quickly discovered music blogs. I cobbled together Franz Ferdinand’s debut album from mp3s found here and there. There were so many great (and not-so-great) bands. Youtube happened and Arctic Monkeys happened. (Not sure which came first.) I got caught up in the Arctic Monkeys hype — I downloaded every single demo and live performance I could find, months before the album came out. It was fun.

By 2006 my music collection didn’t look like a classic rock type’s any more. I didn’t even have the Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin discographies (gasp!). And then I moved to Boston. A few days after arriving, I picked up a free alt weekly and found out that the Strokes were playing in a few weeks. I immediately bought a ticket. I went alone (I didn’t know anyone yet) but it was awesome. Great way to enter the world of live contemporary music. (So much better than watching old fogeys fleece baby boomers.)

As it turned out, my music taste wasn’t so off-beat after all. Several of my new friends had similar tastes. So I had company for all subsequent concerts. Arctic Monkeys! Klaxons! Late of the Pier! CSS! I even had the pleasure of getting my American friends into new bands, notably MGMT and Yeasayer (both of whom I’ve seen live twice). When it comes to music I have the zeal of a missionary. I love it when someone comes back to me and says they really liked one of my recommendations.

And to think that I once worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy music as intensely as I had in college! If anything, my love of music has widened and deepened since then.

Eight years ago I could probably name all the albums I had heard completely. It’s been quite a decade.

~

So here’s the mix. You’ll find that the term “indie” or “noughtpop” doesn’t really convey any essential stylistic elements. It may just be an attitude. I’ve arranged the tracks chronologically (even though my discoveries occurred out of order). If you look at the progression through time, you might detect a move from the minimalism of the early ’00s New Garage Revival (the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Vines) through the mid ’00s rediscovery of synths, and into the free-for-all psychedelic kitch of the decade’s end. I’ve tried to pick the best or most iconic song by each act. I know I’ve left out a few, and we could argue over which songs/artists should have been included/excluded. This collection is predictable if you already like this sort of music. But the aim is to provide some context for people who have not yet dived in. (A few people have specifically asked for something like this.) So if you’re wondering where to start with noughties music, here are my suggestions:

Noughtpop

2001

The Strokes — Last Night

2002

The Vines — Get Free
Interpol — NYC

2003

The Libertines — Don’t Look Back Into the Sun
Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Maps
The White Stripes — Seven Nation Army
The Fiery Furnaces — We Got Back the Plague

2004

The Killers — Mr Brightsde
The Arcade Fire — Rebellion (Lies)
Franz Ferdinand — Take Me Out
Regina Spektor — Us

2005

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Ain’t No Easy Way
Arctic Monkeys — Fake Tales of San Francisco
Animal Collective — Grass
Tapes ‘n’ Tapes — Insistor
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! — The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
Wolf Parade — This Hearts On Fire

2006

CSS — Let’s Make Love (And Listen to Death From Above)
Hot Chip — Over & Over
Beirut — Scenic World

2007

Klaxons — From Atlantis to Interzone
MGMT — Time to Pretend
Yeasayer — Wait for the Summer

2008

Vampire Weekend — Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Late of the Pier — The Bears Are Coming

Noughtpop

New Roots: A Mixtape

The Bush era is over: it’s okay to listen to country music now!

How do you create a ’scene’? (A musical one, not a hysterical one.) I guess you group together some loosely related acts and/or songs, give them a label, and hope it catches on. Hence the “New Garage Revival”, the “Neo-New Wave”, “New Rave” and so on. The artists themselves probably have little to do with the grouping, other than sharing similar influences, or seredipitously capturing the zeitgeist (whatever that is!).

And so, without further ado, I give you New Roots. Or perhaps, the New Folk/Roots Revival. These (mostly) young artists tap into a strain of music that flickers in and out of mainstream consciousness every few years, tracing its heritage from the folk revivals of the 1960s and the 1930s, which themselves hark back to the semi-mythical antiquity of rural America (and also the British Isles).

It’s hard to define folk. It’s sort of like country, without the accent. It’s rootsy and old-timey, but it’s not the blues. It’s usually acoustic, but amplifiers don’t disqualify you. The lyrics don’t generally have to be of a political nature, whatever the leftists might say. In the 1930s they often cherry-picked the songs with political themes, and even reworked old tunes with new, radical verses. Lyrics-wise, I think the folk I’m throwing together draws more from the rich singer-songwriter tradition of the past fifty years.

So the songs I’ve picked are rootsy, maybe a little twangy, and might just feature introspective lyrics. Here you go:

Johnny Flynn  – The Wrote and the Writ  

The lyrics serve as a cold warning to people whose words speak louder than their actions. (I almost feel a finger wagging at me.)

Elvis Perkins in Dearland — Hey

“If it were up to me I’d leave it all up to you” — I know how he feels! Elvis Perkins in Dearland are quite something on stage. When I saw them last week they had a Sacred Harp group open for them, and later did a version of  a Sacred Harp hymn. Stirring!

Blitzen Trapper — Furr

A friend was into their first album — I remember smoking with the band members outside Great Scott. The new album sounds better, and this song is probably the best track on it.

The Leisure Society — The Last of the Melting Snow

This song comes with a story. The guy wrote it after bumping into an ex-girlfriend and realizing that he still wasn’t over her. Plus he’s a warehouse worker. The song was subsequently nominated for an Ivor Novello award. It’s sad and sweet and simple.

Findlay Brown — Come Home

Great voice. Not much else to say, really.

The Dodos — Fools

More hardwood than heavy metal…

Mumford & Sons — Roll Away Your Stone

They opened for Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn. It was at a little church parish hall, but it was one of the best concerts I’ve been to. It felt timeless. The tour was called the “British Folk Reclamation Tour”. I bought the poster.

Laura Marling — My Manic and I

One of my favourite albums of 2008 … and maybe even the noughties. A precocious little poetess. The lyrics are deep enough to warrant a little literary analysis.

Larrikin Love — At the Feet of Ré

Stomping, rousing, and vaguely celtic sounding. Wait for the soaring strings at the end.

Amy MacDonald — The Road to Home (plus bonus track)

Another bright young thing from the UK. Her debut album was fresh and straightforward and totally devoid of irony or jadedness.

~

Download the whole thing here.

Just a quick hello post

Greetings! I can’t muster up enough energy to do a post, but I’d like to direct everyone to blip.fm. I”m getting major kicks from it. Not sure why. I guess it beats youtube if you want to stream a song.

Happy listening! (If you need recommendations, try School of Seven Bells, and also The Brian Jacket Letdown.)

Fredo Viola

I discovered this dude just yesterday, and I’ve already heard his debut album The Turn half a dozen times. It’s quite … succulent.

Fredo Viola was apparently a choir boy once upon a time, which makes sense when you hear this tripped-out fusion of (self-)harmonized singing and electronic music. With jazz, blues, and a few other surprises thrown in. Mr Viola seems to be the latest in an ever-increasing line of Beach Boys -influenced acts (the most famous and annoying being Animal Collective), but I think he’s really taken these influences into previously uncharted territory.

For more musical dissection, go to The Guardian’s band of the day website. Now just listen to this glorious, hypnotic music.

Fredo Viola — The Turn (For this song especially, turn off the lights, lie down, and be transported.)

Fredo Viola — Friendship Is…

~

His myspace page has several good tracks too. (Listen to “Sad Song” and “Moon After Berceuse”.)

Yeah!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a new album out. Or rather, it’s been leaked. Funnily enough, Kanye West seems to have announced it.

I downloaded the new album. It’s okay I guess. They’re no longer the fearsome raucous band I discovered in 2004. Back then I was just about entering the world of new music. The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, and Radiohead dragged me kicking and screaming out of the stuffy confines of the Temple of Classic Rock. I used to go to an internet cafe in Indra Vihar to discover new music. I think I used launch.yahoo.com. I remember watching crap-quality videos on a weak connection. That was where I first heard The Killers’ “Mr Brightside”. The sound was so bad I didn’t realize how spectacular the song was.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs initially piqued my curiosity for visual rather than aural reasons. (As should be obvious from the photos!) Karen O was totally out of control in the video for “Date With The Night”, and showed a mysterious emotional side on “Maps”. I couldn’t tell whether I liked “Maps” or not, but I felt compelled to keep listening to it. It seemed as though it was building up to a climax, but the cathartic release was withheld. As I found out later, the album more than provides the soaring heights I thought were missing.

So here are some songs from their first album, Fever To Tell. Watch the videos! Spike Jonze (of Being John Malkovich fame) directed “Y Control” — a creepy but gripping bit of avant-garde weirdness. The music is pretty kick-ass — Karen O gets a lot of attention, but this three-piece features only two instrumentalists; they makes a most excellent racket.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Date With The Night [mp3]  [video]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Maps [mp3]  [video]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs– Y Control [mp3] [video]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Modern Romance (+ hidden track) [mp3]

(If you don’t like wild punky music, go straight to “Modern Romance”.)