Sex, News & Violins 01.10.08

Posted by Jamie Buttineau on 01.10.2008

Radiohead still loves us over here, Broken Social Scene puts themselves back together, Swedish people love romance, and French people love to dance. Also, wanna hear what albums I liked the bestest this years? Cuz I'm doing one of those listy countdown thing a ma jiggers!

One day I hope to have one of these columns in on time. One day it will happen I'm sure of it. It has foretold that one day, a column will come, and not only be on time, but so on time that it will enrich the lives of all those who adhere to a very strict schedule. But until that day, we wait. We wait, and we hope.

So, that's the end of the holidays. Eh, I got some clothes, couple of video games, some books, and some cash so I'm happy for the most part. And I don't remember what I did on New Years but apparently it involved rum and a toboggan. So, it must have been fun.

Well at least we're back to the old days where news roamed the land and gave me something to write about. Ah, nostalgia.


Headlines!!

Radiohead Isn't Afraid Of Yanks After All

Radiohead has finally announced something in the way of a North American tour. Well, it's not so much a tour itinerary as it is an idea of what cities the band plans to perform in. But you takes whats you can gets. Here's the list of North American cities that Radiohead will grace with their prescence, alphabetized for your pleasure:

Atlanta
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Seattle
St. Louis
Tampa
Toronto
Vancouver

Yeah Toronto, a show I might actually be able to go to if I manage to get a ride and money and various other things! Hooray for unlikeliness! For now, we only have the itinerary for their European dates. And that makes for absolutely lovely column filler.

Tour dates falling into place:

06-06 Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
06-07 Dublin, Ireland - Malahide
06-09 Paris, France - Bercy
06-10 Paris, France - Bercy
06-12 Barcelona, Spain - Parc del Fòrum
06-14 Nimes, France - Arenes
06-15 Nimes, France - Arenes
06-17 Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
06-18 Milan, Italy - Civica Arena
06-20 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival
06-22 Scheeßel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-24 London, England - Victoria Park
06-25 London, England - Victoria Park
06-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Glasgow Green
06-29 Manchester, England - Lancashire County Cricket Club
07-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Westerpark
07-03 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07-04-05 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
07-06 Arras, France - Main Square Festival
07-08 Berlin, Germany – Wuhlheide

Also, Radiohead has announced that they will perform on the 200th episode of Later with Jools Holland on Februrary 2nd. Also performing will be Feist, Cat Power and Dionne Warwick. Man Jools Holland gets awesome musical guests.

All Together Now

After many of the group's members have found success on their own, Broken Social Scene is getting together and touring the shit out of…Well it mostly looks like Australia right now. I guess Kevin Drew likes kangaroos. No word on any other dates, so for all I know this could just be it. Bummer. They will also perform at the Explosions In The Sky curated ATP Festival in May. So that should be neat.

Jamie Buttineau Presents….Dates:

02-20 Auckland, New Zealand - King's Arms
02-21 Wellington, New Zealand - San Francisco Bath House
02-23 Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-24 Melbourne, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-27 Melbourne, Australia - The Corner
02-28 Sydney, Australia - Manning Bar
02-29 Brisbane, Australia - The Zoo
03-01 Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-02 Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
03-05 Osaka, Japan - Club Quattro
03-06 Tokyo, Japan - Liquid Room
03-09 Singapore, Singapore - Esplanade Theatre on the Bay
05-16-18 Minehead, England - Butlins Holiday Centre (All Tomorrow's Parties)

There's also a new entry in the Broken Social Scene Presents… series as member Brenden Canning will release some stuff of his own which should pop up on May 27 of this year. So keep an eye out for that.

He Should Bust Out The Suit Of Armor Again

Jens Lekman loves sunshine and smiles. He also loves us enough to come over and visit. He'll bring tales of romance and wonder and all the women shall weep. He also play the ukulele or xylophone, then afterwards he may gives a free show at the local Baskin Robbins. With Jens Lekman, anything could happen! He may turn into a duck and shoot laser beams that turn people into chesterfields! Who can tell?! Simply prepare yourselves for enrapturement!

Lekman loves love:

01-15 Sydney, Australia - Vanguard
01-21 Bangalow, Australia - The A & I Hall
02-14 Istanbul, Turkey - Babylon
02-15 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
02-16 Berlin, Germany - Lido
02-18 Turin, Italy - El Barrio
02-19 Ravenna, Italy - Teatro Rasi
02-20 Geneva, Switzerland - PTR-Usine
02-21 St. Gallen, Switzerland - Palace
02-22 Florence, Italy - Viper Club
02-23 Munich, Germany - Atomic Café
02-24 Frankfurt, Germany - Mousonturm
02-25 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Doornroosje
02-26 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
02-27 Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
02-28 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club
02-29 Antwerp, Belgium - Trix
03-01 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
03-02 Hamburg, Germany - Molotow
03-13 Austin, TX - Mohawk (Secretly Canadian SXSW showcase)
03-14 Dallas, TX - Granada
03-21 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
03-22 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club
03-23 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03-24 Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
03-25 Seattle, WA - Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room
03-29 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
03-30 Madison, WI - Music Hall
03-31 Chicago, IL - Logan Square
04-01 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts
04-02 Washington, DC - Black Cat
04-04 Boston, MA - Paradise
04-05 New York, NY - Webster Hall
05-09-11 Rye, England - Camber Sand Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork) *
05-16-18 Minehead, England - Butlin's Holiday Centre (Explosions in the Sky ATP)

* with the Hold Steady, Of Montreal, Hot Chip, Man Man, Les Savy Fav, Black Lips, Caribou, Dirty Projectors, No Age, Los Campesinos!, Glass Candy, Deerhunter, A Place to Bury Strangers, Yeasayer, Redd Kross, Marissa Nadler, Sebadoh, Ween, Meat Puppets, the Black Angels, Fuck Buttons, Wooden Shjips, Pissed Jeans, Apse, Shit and Shine

D.A.N.C.E. F.E.V.E.R.

Much like Britney received this past week, we will also get our own brand of Justice. Of course with ours there's a giant glowing cross and two French dudes making funky electronica. Justice will be embarking on a world tour to treat the world to more French dance music than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, try shaking a stick at Justice. It'll be quite a daunting task I'll tell you what.

D.A.T.E.S.:

01-23 Osaka, Japan - Big Cat
01-24 Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast
01-25 Tokyo, Japan - Yellow (DJ set)
01-30 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
01-31 Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgarn
02-01 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
02-02 Oslo, Norway - Rockefeller
02-07 Manchester, England - Academy 2 (NME Brats)
02-08 Middlesbrough, England - Empire
02-09 Sheffield, England - Plug
02-13 Nottingham, England - Rock City
02-14 London, England - Astoria (NME Brats)
02-15 Oxford, England - Academy
02-17 Bristol, England - Academy
02-21 Berlin, Germany - Huxley's
02-22 Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
02-23 Hamburg, Germany - Docks
03-03 Austin, TX - Stubb's Bar-B-Q *#
03-04 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom *#
03-06 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone *#
03-09 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *#
03-10 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory *#
03-11 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *#^%
03-12 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #^
03-15 Boston, MA - Paradise #^
03-16 Montreal, Quebec - Cepsum #^
03-17 Toronto, Ontario - The Docks #^
03-19 Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Music Hall #$
03-20 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre #$
03-22 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater #$
03-24 Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo #$
03-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore #$
03-26 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater #$
03-27 San Francisco, CA - Concourse Design Center #$
03-31 Los Angeles, CA - Mayan Theatre #$

* with DJ Mehdi
# with Fancy
^ with Busy P
% with Chromeo
$ with Diplo


RAPIDFIRE NEWS SMARTASSERY!!

So much stuff happened to Britney Spears, but it's entirely pointless to mention it all. Let's just say, that girl be done fucked up. Seriously, if therapists had a giant stamp that read "lost cause" they would just smack it on her forehead and be done with her.

Seriously though, talking in a British accent after locking herself in the bathroom with her kids after her rights to them were suspended and she was led to the ambulance by Dr. Phil? Everyone on the E! Channel has probably made enough money to put their kids through college and buy a solid gold killer whale on Britney news alone. That girl is a tabloid jackpot!

Jay-Z recently left his lucrative position as the president of Def Jam Records. Why you ask? Because he wasn't making enough money…That's right, Jay-Z left his position as the president of one of the biggest record labels in the country to go off somewhere else and make even more money. Even after earning an estimated $83 million dollars and being ranked as the second highest earning musician by Forbes magazine. Also, he gets to bang Beyonce and has his own private jet on which he undoubtably bangs Beyonce…Either he did something very good in life or something very very bad. Dear god that is a man to aspire to be.

Apparently Marty Crendall of The Shins is a girlfriend abusing jackass. Well, what say you now Zach Braff?

A feud may be forming between Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez. I'll have more on this development when I begin to care.

Amy Winehouse has died….her hair blonde switching from her normal dark hair. And somehow it makes her look even more cracked out.



Also, her husband is cutting himself in prison. Man, if this is the marriage someone is definitely dying in the divorce.

Details on The Fray's next album has been released, and you're reading the wrong damn column if you expect to find them here.

ACDC are making a new album. I wonder what it will sound like.

Apparently Eminem got fat and caught pneumonia. Well at least he has something new to bitch about-I mean rap about.

Apparently Bjork drinks a bottle of vodka every Friday. Yeah, so do I, but where's my fucking news story? WHERE?!!

Weezer has made a new album, but could this be the legendary good Weezer album? The legends foretold othat someday Weezer would return and release a good album that would reunite the disbelievers, but the prophets have denounced them as heresy. Only time will tell, only time, will tell.

Apparently Lindsay Lohan is close to being broke due to her cocaine addiction, or "party lifestyle" if you want to get all technical. She has reportedly had to resort to begging friends for money and hocking family photos for cash. Well, it looks like Lohan is nearly in the poorhouse. You know what that means? Time for another Herbie movie! JOY!



Now then, let's take a slight detour from our normal proceeding to do something quite expected I'm sure. Every columnist does it, it's almost our sacred right. Yes ladies and gentlemen I speak of….

The Sex, News & Violins 2nd Annual Top 50 Albums Of The Years Super Duper Fantasico Neato Torpedo List-Tacular!....According To Me Of Course

I like to keep these things right until the beginning of the new year, because you never know when a good album might sneak in under the radar just before the year is up. So without further ado, or any ado at all really, I give you my favorite 50 albums of 2007.

First, some honourable mentions that didn't make the list for various reasons.

Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City: I liked it, but I just felt that some songs felt limp and too whiny. I miss that edge that Bloc Party had on Silent Alarm.

Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam: I still don't quite get it yet. I don't know why but for some reason this isn't gelling with me. But then, the same thing happened with me and Feels and now three years later I love that album. So maybe something similar will happen here.

The Field – From Here We Go Sublime: I mean it's a decent collection of loops and samples but I really don't see why people are heaping so much praise on it. Maybe I'm missing something.

Bruce Springsteen – Magic: I haven't actually heard this one. But if I had it would have most likely made the list.

Liars – Liars: Same reason as Springsteen.

Now, for this week, here's #50-31.





50. Caribou – Andorra

Hooray for hippies! This album sounds exactly like something from the flower power ages. It's so syrupy sweet and fluttery that you would think it came right out of the 60's. You can see old fashioned Volkswagon buses and tie dye shirts all over listening to this album. Of course it came from Canada so it's to be expected. Us and our crazy free loving ways.



49. Menomena – Friend And Foe

Very jazzy, very airy, very nice. These guys make some very pleasant sounding music. It's a great album to just relax and chill out to. Of course you wouldn't figure that out from the freaky looking album cover but trust, this is a great chillaxing album.



48. The New Pornographers – Challengers

My, that is some fugly artwork. Certainly the weakest album they're ever made, but by no means a bad one. I just miss the power pop goodness of their previous work. Something about Challengers just seems so listless, like there's something missing. Maybe it needed more Neko Case. Still, it's The New Pornographers, so it's definitely worth checking out.



47. Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass

You know, I want to talk about the music, but my attention to drawn to that creepy fucking artwork. I mean look at that, what the hell is that? I don't know about you but it freaks me the fuck out. But that's pretty much Aesop Rock's goal in the first place so I guess that makes it a success. Aesop continues his trend of spouting nonsense in his paranoid and odd way and actually manages to score some pretty catchy tunes in doing so.



46. Chromeo – Fancy Footwork

I'll admit this is kind of a cheesy pick by me. I just really liked the pseudo 80's Prince-style funk pop that these guys were aiming for. In my opinion they full on succeeded in creating something that sounds like it would fit in perfectly in some danceclub in Scarface or a John Hughes film.



45. A Sunny Day In Glascow – Scribble Mural Comic Journal

With My Bloody Valentine making their return it seems like shoegaze is coming back into style. And A Sunny Day In Glascow is jumping on this possible reemergence early. This is an album meant for shoegazing (although when listening to this music I never feel the urge to stare at my feet. Am I missing something?), and it's a very solid debut from a group I hope to hear more from in the future.



44. Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release

Any band whose name means a portable dance club for monkeys has my eternal love. Think about, a dance club that goes anywhere. And it's for monkeys! And aside from that fun, it's also a pretty catchy record. Lots of danceable tunes with none other than Ninja from The Go! Team guest appearing on a few tracks. And if you ask me, I think every album needs a guest appearance from Ninja. Until the end of time.



43. Queens Of The Stone Age – Era Vulgaris

Ah Josh Homme, one of the best stoner rockers in the history of stoner rock. Unfortunately I would have to classify this particular entry in QOTSA's catalogue as their weakest. Some of the songs just don't work as well as some of their past work has. However, even a weak album by QOTSA is better than most crap out there and thus it earns my number 42 spot. When you want to rock you just never can go wrong with these insane drugged out psychopaths.



42. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position

If 2007 is remembered as anything in music, it'll be remembered as the year of the weirdass album covers. Sheesh. Patrick Wolf is an oddball to be sure, he's a 6'4" red head with a strange obsession with merry-go-rounds by the looks of it. But he's also very talented, and he's crafted a bit of a pop gem here with The Magic Position. Here he tackles every kind of pop he can get his hands on, from your cheery upbeat pop to your downbeat chamber pop. And he does it all with a voice that sounds like it's on the verge of tears the whole time.



41. Holy Fuck – LP

A lot of music these days gets used in video games, but not a lot of music seems like it belongs in video games. But I can safely say that the music of Holy Fuck belongs in a video game. They're an electronica band from Toronto who don't actually use computers to make their electric music. Instead of loops and programming beats they actually use low-fi instruments to create the sound of electric music. Which must be a pain in the ass such judging by the pictures I've seen their live shows seem to be nothing more than a wild and crazy mess of cables and wires. Still, listening to these guys reminds of the good ol' days of playing platformers on the Super Nintendo and dying just as time runs out.



40. Blonde Redhead – 23

So this is what a female Radiohead would sound like huh? Interesting. This album would have made the list for the song "23" alone, which is just a badass song. Luckily the whole thing is excellent with a great spacey feel. This is actually the first album I've ever heard by Blonde Redhead, but I've heard it differs greatly from their other work. If so, I think it's an interesting direction for them to continue in and might pay off in even greater work in the future.



39. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away

It takes a whiskey drink, it takes a vodka drink, it takes a lager drink, it takes a cider drink-Ahem, excuse me. This isn't The Shins' best album but it is an excellent introduction for anyone unfamiliar with them. Still I think I would recommend Chutes Too Narrow or Oh, Inverted World over this one. However The Shins' third album is without a doubt their most successful, nearly making it to the top of the Billboard charts. Who would have thought a few mentions from Natalie Portman would do so much for your career?



38. Les Savy Fav – Let's Stay Friends

A varied and unique album where each song seems to sound different from the next. At one point they sound like a punk band, then on the next song they reminded me of Bloc Party. It's all delightfully brash and loud yet with an artsy feel to it. If you like your loud rock music to have that little air of artsy indieness, then this would be a good choice for ya.



37. St. Vincent – Marry Me

A rather nice collection of indie pop from an unsung hero on the indie circuit. Annie Clark has been around for a while now hanging with superband/cult The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens. It's rather obvious judging by this album that she was influenced quite a bit by their music as she has a similar indie pop sound to Sufjan and many others on the circuit. But she seems to have a good sense of humour and I have a sneaking suspicion that she could very easily top this album if the inspiration hits.



36. !!! – Myth Takes

And the weird album art just keeps on going. I originally didn't like !!!, not because of their music but mainly because I hate the idea of having a name that is nearly impossible to say. I mean really, three exclamation marks? I know it's pronounced "chk chk chk" and it's a reference to The Gods Must Be Crazy but come on. But this album managed to get me to see past their asinine band name and enjoy the dance punk within. I love dance punk, and it even has a bit of a spacey disco edge at times. Well done you crazy punctuation loving bastards.



35. Stars Of The Lid – And Their Refinement Of The Decline

To be honest I only become familiar with these chaps a few weeks ago. They're a drone or ambient music band, their stuff seems to be made for atmospheres where incense is burned and there very likely is a lava lamp in the room. However even I enjoyed this, it is indeed ideal music to just chill out to and it's actually very well done. I would go as far as to declare it rather pretty. So if you need something to relax to, something good and calm just to throw on to help you fall asleep, I think this would be more than sufficient.



34. Dirty Projectors – Rise Above

Wow, this is a weird experiment. So, here's the gist of it, The Dirty Projectors are your usual indie type band, lots of instrumentation, lots of fluttery notes and airy little bits, a slightly off kilter and off key lead singer backed up by ladies with near perfect harmony, you know the drill. Now imagine a band like that tackling a hardcore punk rock classic by Black Flag. Yeah, that's right, an indie band basically remaking an entire album by Black Flag. I don't know how the hell it works, but somehow it does. It's all very nice and wonderful and considering the source material that is quite an accomplishment. It's probably one of the strangest ideas I've heard in some time but the important thing is that it succeeds and it deserves a listen just to see where these crazy kids went with it.



33. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity

Hehe, um, funny story about this album actually. You see back in February I didn't really have much to do so I thought I would start reviewing some albums. So this was supposed to be the first album I would have reviewed for the site. Unfortunately after I wrote my review I either forgot to save it or it was just got erased somehow but all I know is that it basically disappeared from my computer. And being the lazy bastard I am I never got around to rewriting the review. So that's how my illustrious career as a reviewer never got started. So consider this my little mini review if you will. This band has been around for a long time playing their own brand of noisy, incomprehensible indie pop for a while making albums based on weird milk people holding strawberries. But this time they decided to make something perhaps a little more accessible, although accessible for Deerhoof is pretty fucking weird for anyone else still. Still, it's a lovely poppy record, filled with Satomi Matsuzaki's lovely voice sounding fragile and gentle, if just a little on the odd side. It's actually a very friendly album, sounding almost childlike at times. I actually enjoyed this album quite a bit, and wish I had been able to review it properly. Oh well.



32. Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha

I like this album just for giving me a new word to add to my vocabulary. Apocrypha, now there's a word you sound smart using. That's probably why he used it too. Andrew Bird is a writer of rather fantastic indie rock, he's of course also the former violinist for the Squirrel Nut Zippers which is worth a mention for obvious reasons. He's a multi-instrumentalist, playing the aforementioned violin, guitar, glockenspiel and is a damn whistler as well. His music goes all the charted genre map, sound at times like Broken Social Scene to having a chamber pop feel to an almost latin jazz sound. Seriously, if you consider yourself in any sense an indie music aficionado then you should be well acquainted with Mr. Bird. And if you're not, well then what the hell man?



31. El-P – I'll Sleep When You're Dead

As you can guess from the title El-P is a very angry man. An angry political man at that. An angry political man who rap even moreso at that. So you can probably assume that he is no man of the Bush administration. He raps about the world is going to hell in a handbasket and all he can do is sit back and watch. If you need a shot of vitriol in your life then El-P has more than enough to spare. Dude's got some major league rage going on here. But it's all pretty damn great and the guests he brings with him probably help that out. He managed to get his running buddy Aesop Rock to make an appearance, along with Omar Rodriguez and Cedrix Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta, Trent Reznor, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, and somehow, some awesome way, Chan "Cat Power" Marshall is on here. This could very be a rap artist intended for the indie crowd with a guest list like that. If you're angry about the world and need to vent, I think it's best you just let El-P do it for you.


IT'S OVER

And that's it for the list this week. Next column we'll take a look at numbers 30-11 and then it's the top ten. Although if you read my part in the end of year wrap up that's probably going to be anti-climatic for you. But hey, who reads this column for a climax anyway?