Midweek Music News Roundup 12.2.09: It Was A Very Good Year, Part One

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 12.02.2009

An addendum to last week's article about live music, Neon Indian work with Grizzly Bear, All Tomorrow's Parties are in your house, Snoop Dogg is replacing Oprah (hopefully), Iggy Pop is live on the Internet, and there's new music from Garfunkel and Oates, Ted Leo, LCD Soundsystem and Oasis. Oasis? Yeah, Oasis. Plus, my top five songs of 2009. All that and more in the Midweek Music News Roundup!

Welcome one, welcome all, to the Midweek Music News. I hope your Thanksgiving went well. I'm going to start off with a quick postscript to last week's article. No, I didn't get any hate mail (though I will answer the confused replier and say, yes, the bootleg, as evidenced by the fact the sentence started with "another bootleg..."). However, almost right after submitting the article to our fine editors, my capacity as music director to a college radio station paid off once again, and I was sent a small sampler of Paul McCartney's Good Evening New York City. The band was tight, his voice was weird, overall it was just okay. Not interesting. However, the postscript I wish to add is to merely drop the names of Paul and Ringo in the section on the superfluity of live albums. I love them both, and unlike most, I really think they still have some good songs in them. But the live albums just aren't worth it. Okay, on to this week's news. By the way, there was *no* news from Wednesday to Sunday, so it's a bit skimpy.

- In a bit of beautiful indie synergy, Neon Indian have remixed two tracks for Grizzly Bear. Both are remixes of "Cheerleader." One is the "Sega Genesis P-Orridge" remix, the other the "Studio 6669" remix. Both are, shall we say, awesome. Always cool when two great artists come together and make more great stuff.



- What costume shall the poor girl wear to All Tomorrow's Parties? If this question plagues you at night, have no fear, cavalier! All Tomorrow's Parties are coming to you! In your house! So you can just wear sweatpants or whatever. To explain a bit more clearly, Warp Films are releasing All Tomorrow's Parties on DVD. As you may expect, the DVD will, well, document the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Artists featured include Daniel Johnston, Portishead, Sonic Youth, The Stooges, Grinderman, Grizzly Bear and many more. For more information, check warpfilmstore.com.

- Music can lead to some crazy lawsuits. You have the issues of artist rights, publishing, royalties...there's countless reasons a musician could end up in court. And there's also countless reasons why they should not. Like, for example, a kid suing World of Warcraft because it lead to his feeling of alienation. Where the music comes in? Martin Gore, songwriter of Depeche Mode, has been subpoenaed to appear as an expert witness on the topic of alienation. Because, you know, his lyrics are kinda downers. He also subpoenaed Winona Ryder because she likes the book Catcher in the Rye, also about alienation. No word yet on whether or not J.D. Salinger or Robert Smith of The Cure will be making appearances in this sadness parade. Kind of makes you want to come up with some fake lawsuit just to subpoena random people you want to meet, too, doesn't it?



- Have you heard? Snoop Dogg is awesome. Case in point, he wants to replace Oprah. He plans to do so with a late night talk show co-hosted by his wife, so men and women can talk and stuff. Or something. I really didn't understand the whole idea. But really, how awesome would it be if Snoop Doggy Dogg replaced Oprah?

- The Jesus Lizard frontman fell down and got hurt during a concert. He was crowdsurfing, I guess they dropped him. He was taken to a hospital and treated for broken ribs. Now, don't get me wrong, I wish him well in his recovery. But what happened to the days of like, Iggy Pop, getting on stage and beating the hell out of himself for our entertainment? Now we're going to hospitals 'cause we fell down? How lame. But seriously, I hope he's well.

- Speaking of Iggy and live shows, he appears to have taken it to a whole new level. Using Skype, the Internet's response to the video phone, Ig and eight New Zealand contest winners gave a live performance of "The Passenger." Way to stay innovative and cool, Iggy. And yes, he did this live performance shirtless, too, but he didn't cut himself.

- LCD Soundsystem is the next in the line of indie musicians scoring indie movies. His will be the new Noah Baumbach, Greenberg. It stars Ben Stiller, but it seems to be in the Royal Tennenbaums line of films that are good in spite of the fact they star Ben Stiller. Also it seems to steal it's general ethos from Office Space, which is oddly promising. Regardless of all that, at least the music will rock. It hits the big screen March 12.

- Before reading the rest of this story, get ready to rock. Okay. Are you ready? Ted Leo has announced a new album. On March 9 The Brutalist Bricks will be released on Matador. March 9: a day of rock.



- After releasing their technical debut, Music Songs, earlier this year, Garfunkel and Oates are already prepping release number two. They hope to finish in early 2010. Fan favorites "This Party Took A Turn for the Douche," "Weed Card" and "Sex With Ducks" will all feature, along with a batch of new songs. Fly like Jeff Goldblum, sweeter than the lives of Zack and Cody.

- a-Ha are in the news again, almost. Along with the bassist of Coldplay and Mew frontman Jonas Bjerre, a-Ha's Magne Furuholmen has formed Apparatjik. The new collective are prepping their debut album and have released a debut single, "Electric Eye." No comment. Yes, I'm just baiting a-Ha fans again. There was a brief period where I wasn't the first result on google when you searched my name, so I gotta get controversial again.

- Liam Gallagher is uncreative. This isn't really surprising. Quoth our kid, if he, Gem and Andy can't come up with a new band name by the time they're done with their technical debut as a Noel free collective, they'll simply release it under the Oasis banner. This doesn't surprise me either, but I was kind of hoping to see what drugged out crazy name Liam would come up with. Then again, nothing would be drugged out and crazy enough as it would, since it isn't 1997 anymore and he isn't as drugged out and crazy as I will forever remember him as being.

Star Power


This is not the cover of the album I'm about to write about. That album cover has tits on it. Cartoon tits, but I feel like it's kind of NSFW anyway. Whatever.

This Friday, I stumbled upon an album by Black Devil called Disco Club. It is approximately the greatest album of all times. Well, maybe not. But in the five days I've had this album, I've listened to it about twenty times. I'm not sure I've ever listened to an album that much in such a short time span. Granted, the album in whole is but a half hour long, and I had a slow week, but the fact remains. What does this have to do with modern music? Well, nothing, really. But I have what you call a deadline and I couldn't think of anything else for this week's Star Power. Unfortunately, that was about as far as I could get with it because, well...most of these lost albums are quite well lost. I still need to find them.

Whilst thinking about what I could replace this with, I remembered that on Saturday, I purchase The Rod Stewart Album. Also known as An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down, the album was Rod the Mod's solo debut. He'd just spent some time with Jeff Beck, so he didn't yet understand the concept of restraint, but at least half of the album is perfect. Listening to it, I couldn't help but think about the artistic decline of Rod Stewart. After all, it is perhaps the greatest artistic decline of all times. However, again, there was little to say on this topic other than the fact it made me sad, and I didn't want to go there for too long.

And then yesterday, we did the Top 5 Songs of 2009. You'll notice my list wasn't on it. I don't know why. But it does give me something to post here in Star Power. My top 5 songs of 2009! Perhaps this is a shorter than usual Star Power, but I feel it'll be more universally interesting, so things balance out. No videos here because I don't want to overdo it, and I can't decide which ones do and don't deserve videos.

As you will see, I have tons of honorable mentions. As such, I'm not sure this is really my top five. You know, like, not for real. It's as close as I could get, though. What a year it's been.

Honorable mentions (bolded honorable mentions are, uh, really honorable): Animal Collective - "My Girls," Brown Recluse - "Rotten Tangerines," Sonic Youth - "Sacred Trickster," Phoenix - "Lisztomania," Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - "Good Old Pig, Gone To Avalon," Brother Ali - "The Preacher," Casxio - "Seventeen," Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Wind Phoenix (Proper Name)," Dan Deacon - "Snookered," Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - "Dark Night of the Soul," Jay-Z - "Run This Town," The King Kahn & BBQ Show - "Anala," New York Dolls - "Temptation To Exist," Oh No Ono - "Swim," Owl City - "Umbrella Beach," The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - "Contender," Prince - "$," Tegan and Sara - "On Directing," Vitalic - "Your Disco Song," WHY? - "Even The Good Wood Gone," Matias Aguayo - "Rollerskate"



5. Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West and Common - "Make Her Say"

How can I list all of those up there and put this ridiculous number in the real five? Well, I really, really like it, that's how. "Poker Face" is an awesome song to begin with, and by stripping it down to its essence and playing with it as a beat, this song succeeds in spades. For the record, I don't think the whole '88 line is that funny. It's a trite cliche to be sure. But musically, there's nothing cliche about this song. It's the cutting edge that Cudi purported but supplied no where else. For bonus points, the track also proves the lasting appeal to pop like Lady Gaga, showing that she'll stand next to Kanye-sampled luminaries of yesteryear like The Jackson 5, Daft Punk and Ray Charles. Talk about instant gratification, getting sampled and making a new hit while the first hit is still on the charts.

4. Girls - "Lust For Life"

To the homophobic amongst us, be glad we don't include videos with these write ups anymore. But that's neither here nor there. Sometimes a good review can be a death knell, and it seemed like that might be happening with our Girls here. It's kind of hard to imagine, though, because as you listen to this track, you're forced to wonder about the kind of people that would disagree with this kind of pop music. Must be the curse in the chorus. You can't do that in guitar pop, just rap and punk and metal. But I digress. The song truly is wonderful, and in under two and a half minutes, one of the most instantly gratifying tracks around. Take all hype with a grain of salt, but do the same for the backlash all hype receives. Girls are still worth your time.

3. Neon Indian - "Deadbeat Summer"

It feels kind of unfair that I first heard this song in October. My summer was exceptionally deadbeat, and I was looking for the proper song to define it the whole time. And here it was, right under my nose. Oh well. It still held up in autumn, and as winter beckons, it continues to hold up now. Sampling a Todd Rundgren rarity, this track defines the newly created genre of "chillwave," which is basically exactly what it sounds like: a wave of very chill music. While I don't often use surfer dude terms like "chill," I have to admit there's nary a better word for the particular sensation brought on by this album or this song. I've heard complaints of the lo fi fuzziness the vocals and the overall quality of the song seems to take. Balderdash. That's what makes the song. And also it gave me an excuse to say balderdash.



2. N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, Santigold and Lykki Li - "Gifted"

The N.A.S.A. album got a lot of people apprehensively excited, and that line might help to explain why. For those not aware of the N.A.S.A. ethos, it was to combine artists that otherwise would never work together. Tom Waits and Kool Keith was the craziest combo, Kanye, Santigold and Lykki Li was the most successful. Released in the throes of the great Kanye West autotune debates of 2008 (which of course have continued through 2009), this track features 'Ye rapping with a confidence that his fans must have been glad to find having returned. Santigold and Lykki Li take singing duties for the bridge and choruses, doing a beautiful job at each. It amazes me that this didn't become the biggest club hit of 2009 as I had predicted it would. Well, whatever. That's why I'm a DJ, sometimes it's my job to make these things happen.

1. Kate Micucci - "Walking In Los Angeles"

I'm not from, nor have I ever been to, Los Angeles. So, you know, this isn't just really funny to me or anything. In fact I don't find it funny at all. But it reaches a beauty that I'm not sure I was aware existed. This is a year where it took me an hour to put my top five in its proper order and I'm still not satisfied with it, but there was never any question about number one. This was it. It's incredibly simple, just about two notes played on the guitar, a simple melody throughout. But everything about it is adorable. It could just be my infatuation with Kate Micucci, okay. But if you can hear her sing her songs to the meter maids and not think it's the cutest thing you've ever heard, then you must live in a world without bunnies. And that's just not fun at all, is it? And the vocals on this song, man. I don't know what it is, but they sonic distance you hear on the surface combined with the melodic warmth Kate supplies offers a brilliant combination that I can't describe. Listen to the song. You won't like it as much as I do, but I hope you at least like it.

Farewell Song

1981, and after a top five of this year, boy does that sound relevant. But it was a year that offered lovely singles and albums from The Time, Yoko Ono, New Order, The Replacements and Elvis Costello, amongst many others, so it's always okay to talk about. However, the real winner this year is the debut of my favorite songwriter, the lo-fi king, Daniel Johnston. It was his very first song that remains one of his best, and it's my favorite of 1981. Maybe it's the fact that he's been writing the same song with the same words all these years that makes this first attempt sound so powerful, but it doesn't matter. The song of 1981 is "Grievances."



With that, it isn't hard for me to add the fact that the album of the year was Songs of Pain. Danny would go on to make some more concise albums, but his first try was as valiant as any. His most piano heavy (and most poorly recorded) there are plenty of classic, beautiful songs on this. And despite what all the haters may say, there's not really any filler; every song hits.

That does it for this week, ladies and men. Hope to see you next time around for another Midweek Music News Roundup!