Interviews galore

I'm calling David Yow from Qui/The Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid later today. It's a rather intimidating proposition, but I figure I'll just ask him about his bartending prowess to start, and go from there.

The new Qui album (due out Sept. 11) is one of my favorite records of the year by far. When I interviewed Elisa from Magik Markers the other day the album came up and she asked me what it sounded like and I told her Jesus Lizard fans would be happy, the band could tour with huge bands like Tool and be fine, but it could also tour with Magik Markers and wouldn't seem out of place. It's powerful, heavy, and brutally intense. What else would you expect from David Yow?

Elisa and I chatted about her favorite out of print records for DIW, and then chatted about a bunch of other random shit for a while. She's really, really nice. Her band's new album, Boss is coming out on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label comes out in September too (I think) and it rules. They've gone from being total noise psychos to the second coming of Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane, with noise taking place of psychedelic indulgences.

Speaking of Thurston Moore, Sonic Youth is playing an Urban Outfitters store tomorrow in Santa Monica to support L.A. institution KXLU. I'm pretty stoked, because I've a.) never seen them and b.) am on the VIP list.

Two days ago I spent an hour on the phone with Tim Harrington from Les Savy Fav chatting almost exclusively about their new album Let's Stay Friends. The album features guest vocals galore, tons of hollering and plenty of goth-y guitars. Oh, and Fred Armisen (Trenchmouth/SNL) on drums. I'm piecing the interview together for Geek, and will have to cut extensively. If I don't find an outlet for the Q & A, I'll probably just post it here.

In other news: Jen kicks my ass at Dr. Mario. (We inherited her gramma's old Supernintendo).

Waiting for Elisa from Magik Markers to call Ipod list (#4)

1.) "The Second Part" By The Dears (No Cities Left): Is it Murray Lightburn's fault that his voice sounds so much like Damon Albarn's that nearly every one of his melodic epics sounds like a noirish variation on "Coffee & TV"? Probably not, but he's treated pretty poorly, pretty regularly in the mainstream press. (That may or may not be because he's a dick.) This track's most intriguing selling point is its jazzy interlude that sound like what porn music from the 1930s might have sounded like. Oh, and the second part of "The Second Part" also sounds a lot like Pulp's This is Hardcore, which is pretty fun.

2.) "Talk of the Town" By Shoplifting (Body Stories): The perfect boy/girl Northwestern post-punk band needs to come out with a new album, but I think they might be breaking up or something. Anyway, this forceful blast cryptically examines body image (fancy that...given the album title) and empowerment. Riot, Girls.

3.) "Boycott" By Shellac (Excellent Italian Greyhound): The shortest track on Shellac's latest album, "Boycott" is pretty lo-fi and rageless, especially for Steve Albini. Albini even sounds a little bit like Kurt Cobain on Bleach, which is a total mindfuck. Obviously the instrumentation here supersedes Kurt & Co.

4.) "Flying Saucer" By Dmonstrations (Dmonstrations): The post-punk theme continues as Tetsunori Tawaraya screams about God-knows-what over the top of loud fast dirges from Nick and Aaron. Though it barely tops 2 minutes, the funky bridge between vocal sections breaks the album into two firecrackers.

5.) "Chivalry" By Abe Vigoda (Sky Route/Star Roof): I think this record currently is out of print, but I'm not sure on that. I know the first Not Not Fun pressing is. Anyway, Abe Vigoda are one of L.A.'s brightest stars. Here they muffle the vocals, a la Lightning Bolt and fall in love with their cymbols. Like the above Dmonstrations track, there's a nifty breakdown that recalls everyone from Big Black to Throbbing Gristle. Love the sound of steam escaping pipes.

Ipod Songs post #3

1.) "Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through The City Walls And Everyone Reveled In Their Ignorance" By Red Sparowes- Not being a musician, it's hard for me to discuss instrumental bands. When a band's got a vocalist, lyrics and such, it's easier for me to try to make sense out of what they're all about. However, Red Sparowes use their song titles not only to describe the sounds they create, but also to tell a story. The stories they tell typically speak of the apocalypse--foreboding, intense and all-consuming. This track's from At the Soundless Dawn, which pales in comparison to their latest, but I still like getting swept away in their tidal waves. Even if they're over 10 minutes long.

2.) "The Valley" By Oxbow- A theme's developing here. I'm sitting here hoping for some pick me up, and I'm getting Red Sparowes and Oxbow. Where the former talks about the apocalypse, Oxbow talks about the horrors of the here and now, of which there are many. "The Valley" is a largely acoustic beast, and Eugene Robinson moans over the top. Someone recently called Oxbow contemporary blues, and this track goes a long way toward proving the theory--even though these blues bear the burden of suicide and drugs more than being po' in the south. Surprisingly delicate for Oxbow, this song is probably the least scary on their recent "greatest hits" collection, Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic & Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow.

3.) "Secret Heart" By Feist- Closer to what I was looking for, Feist here explores why a lover won't reveal his inner self to her. This is one of those times where the music almost betrays the theme of the song. Her lover obviously is hiding on something, yet the music is playful and spritelike. Not sure what to make of that...maybe Feist has her own secrets?

4.) "You & I" By Jeff Buckley- Where's the razor? Shit man. I should have put my hip-hop folder on random. This shit's killing me.

5.) "Symphony of Light" By Orko the Sycotik Alien- Finally. This dude's elusive as hell and only really releases his music as CD-Rs. It's sad, really, because his shit blends reggae, hip-hop and supreme beat-making into some of the best underground hip-hop around. If only his stuff wasn't so hard to get ahold of...though www.accesshiphop.com has most of it, just at a pretty steep price for CD-Rs. Oh yeah...this dude has made beats for Saul Williams too...

Oh, yes he did. Ipod post #2

1.) "I Don't Want to Die" By The Unicorns- A penultimate Unicorns track, featuring delicate melodicism, strange electronic bleeps and Nick Diamonds singing his heart out.

2.) "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" By The Beatles- Since this is off the Love album pieced together by former Beatles producer Sir George Martin for a Las Vegas Cirque Du Soleil show, I'm not sure whether or not I should call this a "Beatles" song. Much cleaner, bolder and "perfect" than the originals, I actually like this stuff better. I don't know why. Maybe I'll get to see the show some day.

3.) "I Travel" By Free Moral Agents- Trip-hoppy grooves from the keyboardist for The Mars Volta open the track before guest MC J takes over. For a minute. Then we're back trip-hoppin' through Ikey's mind.

4.) "Point #1" By Chevelle- The bridge between Christian rockers P.O.D. and mewithoutYou, Chevelle actually used to be good. So good, in fact, STEVE fucking ALBINI produced this record. Not that he really turns anyone down, but it gives some indication into the fact the Loeffler brothers didn't always play generic alt. rock. Melodic post-hardcore at its finest, the intensity of "Point #1" made me fall in love with them. And, hell, we all do need healing aloe plants from time to time.

5.) "Jambi" By Tool- 10,000 Days isn't an album I listen to a lot, but "Jambi" is one of my favorite songs from it. Tribal percussion, A Perfect Circle-ish Maynard vocals and some Pink Floyd-y guitars and seven minutes almost sound like a recipe for disaster, but Tool know what they're doing by now.

Ipod Songs post #1

Stolen from Nick Dean. Let's see if I can keep it up longer:







1.) "Orange Spider" By mewithoutYou- From their newest album, Brother, Sister, this minute-long track barely gave me enough time to write about it. It's a goofy, intimate folk song that's part 2 in a trilogy of spider-themed songs. It surprised me the first time I ever heard it. It also made me realize that mewithoutYou absolutely has invigorating moments to share with the world, and anyone who doesn't give them a listen simply because their singer's a religious nut who dumpster dives is sorely missing out.

2.) "Wind Up" By Foo Fighters- I'll blame Jen for this one. I don't even really like the Foo Fighters all that much. Some of their hits are great songs, but I don't always like listening to "songs." She does. Our brains just work differently that way. Anthemic, but also brutally heavy, I have little love for this song. It's hard to buy someone screaming over ridiculously generic pop rock riffs/drums, etc...

3.) "In the Backseat" By Arcade Fire- God, what a gorgeous song, even though Regine has trouble staying on key more often than not. When she sings "My family tree's losing all it's leaves," given the backstory, it's absolutely heart-wrenching. And the driving metaphor as a metaphor not only for coping, but living? Expected in theme, but not in this sort of delivery. The song also ends Funeral much in the same way an actual funeral ends...there's a sense of catharsis, but also that pitted emptiness signified by the weeping, muted orchestra that ends the song.

4.) "Dr. Strangelove" By Blonde Redhead- Not going to lie to you. 23 is the first Blonde Redhead album I've ever heard (blasphemy, I know) and I've really only listened to it once or twice. With little frame of reference, I have a hard time figuring out anything constructive to say about the song (or the album for that matter). To these ears, it's pretty, indie rock sung by an Asian lady named Kazu. It does, however, make me curious to hear their more primitive albums.

5.) "1992" By Blur- For a while there, before I actually started trying to diversify my musical tastes, Blur was the first band that made me realize there's more out there than just what I selected from the radio to like. The other great "ballad" from 13 besides "Coffee and TV" blended the shoegaze-y fuzz of Blur with more traditional melodic rock. The main difference here is that Damon Albarn's vocals--of which there are few--aren't treated. If I shot up heroin, or even smoked pot, Blur and 13 would be among my first choices to get high with.

Well that was fun. My brain's kind of burnt, so I didn't really say anything of substance above. Oh well.

For the record, song 6 was "Each Other's Futures" by Year Future.

Wedding Shots