Dancing About Architecture 5.26.09
Posted by Ian Wright on 05.26.2009
Deerhunter are phenomenal live, Jay Bennett passes away, a new Scarlet Johansson album, Paul Banks solo and a Blur best of.
The bit at the start
Of all the latter day bands that I really like none have experienced as many lineup changes as Deerhunter. In the 4 or 5 times that I've seen them in the last 2 years I think I've seen 3 different combinations of members. What hasn't changed though is the consistent brilliance of the band both live and on record. Since releasing the follow up to debut album Turn It Up Faggot (or simply Deerhunter, either can be correct possibly depending on how confrontational Bradford Cox is feeling on any given day) the band have really hit a seemingly unbreakably prolific stride and produced a series of albums, EP's, afterthoughts and web only postings that in contemporary times maybe only Jay Reatard can come close to matching (OK, The Hold Steady went bang, bang, bang with 3 super albums in 4 years but where are the EP's Craig? Where's the songs you posted on your blog dude?). As for on stage, the only time I've not been blown away by how brilliant a band they are live was at Vicar St. last year when an unwell Bradford Cox struggled to make it through their set, that night I merely thought that they were good.
So it's saying a lot when write that Friday night's Andrews Lane gig was probably the best that I've ever seen them play. Despite my enthusiasm for the band I have felt a little that with the post-Fluorescent Grey material there has been a bit of a struggle to balance their poppier side with the washed out dronier parts, I remember seeing them play their last Whelan's gig and hearing many of the songs from Microcastle as it sounds on record for the first time only to hear them practically reconstructed at the aforementioned Vicar Street gig a couple of months later.
The bands' latest release the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP hinted that a balance may have been struck between the sound that got them noticed initially and songs "that the teenagers can dance to" as Cox put it and at ALT it all came together. The cuts from RCE sound much stronger live and throughout the night the band shifted seamlessly between songs for the kids and the kid at heart like "Nothing Ever Happened" and lengthy drone pieces like "White Ink" from Cryptograms which culminated in a lengthy period of pulverising volume that bore many of the hallmarks of My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise". Such was the quality of the overall performance it bothered not a jot to me that following discussion between Bradford Cox and drummer Moses Archuleta the band neglected to play Cryptograms standout and utter tour de force "Strange Lights" late in the set.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Drive By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera
Makes being an Alabama redneck sound not too bad.
You news, you lose
Jay Bennett RIP
Former Wilco multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett died over the weekend. He was 45.
Bennett was a member of the band from 1994 until 2001 when he left during the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions (incidents chronicled in the 2002 documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart) and was a critical figure in shaping the band's sound on Being There and Summerteeth before relations began to break down with Jeff Tweedy.
Since then Bennett released a number of solo albums and worked with a number of other acts such as Cheryl Crow. Earlier in the month news emerged that Bennett was suing the band for $50,000 over unpaid royalties due to him from the albums he appeared on and from the film.
In spite of that recent development and past bad-blood between them Tweedy made a very nice statement on the Wilco website about Bennett's passing earlier today:
We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will miss Jay as we remember him -- as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who made welcome and significant contributions to the band's songs and evolution. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very difficult time.
Jeff Tweedy
It's sad to think that many people's opinion of the guy were probably based on how he was portrayed in I am trying to break your heart (though I think that when I saw that I viewed him in a much more sympathetic light than some did, it seemed to me in it that he was in an unwinnable battle against Tweedy's unremitting passive-aggressiveness), even reading some of the comments on the viachicago forums as the story was transforming from initial whispers to speculated upon rumours to confirmed fact the things said about him personally made me shake my head a little.
Anyway, one of my favourite Wilco songs has never made it on to an album. It's a tune that did crop up on the YHF demo bootlegs called "Venus Stop The Train" and I think it probably didn't make the cut not because of quality but rather because it was more a Jay written song than a Jeff one. I understand it did appear eventually on a Bennett solo record, I must try to track down that version today.
Well at least she's not doing the Tom Waits thing no more.
Scarlett Johansson next musical outpouring will be a collaboration with NJ Anglophile singer-songwriter Pete Yorn where the 2 will release inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's duets with Brigette Bardot.
USA today are reporting that Yorn and ScarJo are working with producer Sunny Levine to record Break Up, "a song cycle that chronicles a tempestuous affair." Yorn wrote 8 of the albums' 9 songs, the final one being a cover of Big Star members "I Am The Cosmos".
The album is due out on September 8th on Atco/Rhino and first single "Relator" is now streaming here.
Julian Plenti.
As we've previously covered Julian Plenti is an alter ego of Interpol front man Paul Banks. Plenti will be releasing an album entitled Julian Plenti Is...Skyscraper on August 4th on Interpol's former indie lable Matador. The record will feature contributions from Ratatat's Mike Stroud, Interpol's Sam Fogarino, and Charles Burst of the Occasion. The tracklisting was announced last week.
01 Only If You Run
02 Fun That We Have
03 Skyscraper
04 Games for Days
05 Madrid Song
06 No Chance of Survival
07 Unwind
08 Girl on the Sporting News
09 On the Esplanade
10 Fly as You Might
11 H
A bit of a Blur
To coincide with their reunion dates there's a new Blur best of compilation on the way. It's called Midlife: A Beginner's Guide To Blur, it'll be out on EMI on June 15th and "has been designed as an introduction for those who may have missed out on Blur's prolific recording career." Not that that's special or anything when you're talking about best of's really.
Tracklisting:
CD one:
01 Beetlebum
02 Girls & Boys
03 For Tomorrow
04 Coffee & TV
05 Out of Time
06 Blue Jeans
07 Song 2
08 Bugman
09 He Thought of Cars
10 Death of a Party
11 The Universal
12 Sing
13 This Is a Low
CD two:
01 Tender
02 She's So High
03 Chemical World
04 Good Song
05 Parklife
06 Advert
07 Popscene
08 Stereotypes
09 Trimm Trabb
10 Badhead
11 Strange News From Another Star
12 Battery in Your Leg
The YouTube video of the week
I'm so excited about Thursday. THE JESUS LIZARD MOTHERFUCKERS.
This is how they started the first set of their reunion tour.
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Talk Radio
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
The bit at the end
Right I'm outta here for a couple of weeks. I'm going to the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona on Wednesday and won't be back till late on Monday evening. Maybe there'll be a fill in next week, maybe there won't be.
