Category Archives: Entertainment

CD Review: This Is Happening [2010]

Band: LCD Soundsystem
Release: 5/2010
Label: DFA

1. “Dance Yrself Clean” – A-
2. “Drunk Girls” – B-
3. “One Touch” – C
4. “All I Want” – B-
5. “I Can  Change” – B-
6. “You Wanted A Hit” – B
7. “Pow Pow” – C+
8. “Somebody’s Calling Me” – C
9. “Home” – B+

Comments: LCD Soundsystem is a pretty fun band. I didn’t think “Dance Yrself Clean” to be much fun until the electronics kicked in halfway through. It’s got some really catchy synths and keyboard fills. The song’s lengthy but not necessarily overly so. Are we not men? We are LCD Soundsystem. If only Devo took cues from Daryl Palumbo. “Drunk Girls” is a little obnoxious. It’s a finely constructed POP song, except it doesn’t really do much for me. It’s like a ThreeOhThree song minus the bullshit. If I must give Murphy credit, I will say the man is pretty freaking flexible. I mean, is it really that easy to go from sounding like Palumbo to sounding like Ian Curtis? See “One Touch” for reference. That’s like the Pussycats Dolls turning into the Dum Dum Girls kind of shit right there. Back to “One Touch.” It’s simple and boring. The boring factor continues.

Grade: B- (81)

I LIKE POP MUSIC!

…For the most part. About 80-90% of the music I listen to I consider catchy, pop numbers, one way or another. I agree with Jay, the pop master, that when you get away from the basic pop song, you lose people. I dig primitive, guerrila sounds, like the Black Lips and King Khan. Usually, most of my modern favorites are lo-fi to some extent or another and quite noisy, at that. Basically, it boils down to what are you going to do with pop music that makes you stand out to me. I suppose I have a few favorites here and there that lack this quality, but most are cutting edge, even if they’re not the most original cats around, try and wrap that around your dome. Quality doesn’t equal clean production. Far more often than not, it means some slick shits are doing the devil’s work and doing a fine job. The public overwhelmingly has been conditioned to eat up pounds of sugar coated mindless,souless,balless, garbage from the biggest corporate cocksuckers known to mankind. Some seriously sick motherfuckers that I’m surprised haven’t become extinct yet- due to overload of the stomach, having been pumped too much santanic sperm. I don’t know, what happened when, but it’s been decades, long before this radical nerd was even considered for existence, of horseshit ramming down our throats, perhaps they’re slipping roofies in the kids meals at Micky Dees? Anyway, if one were to take a quick paroozle (yeah, idk the spelling Glen!) of my album collection, mainstreamers if any readin’, would probably think I’m crazy, totally mad, fucked in the head, when I say I like pop music… with the likes of The Stooges, Ween, No Age, Big Black, etc present. I’ve streamed and screamed for too long, I’ll leave y’all with a poppy favorite of mine.

Chris

CD Review: Forgiveness Rock Record [2010]

Band: Broken Social Scene
Release: 5/2010
Label: Arts & Crafts

1. “World Sick” – A-
2. “Chase Scene” – C+
3. “Texico Bitches” – A
4. “Forced to Love” – B
5. “All to All” – B
6. “Art House Director” –B+
7. “Highway Slip Jam” – B
8. “Ungrateful Little Father” – B+
9. “Meet Me in the Basement” – B-
10. “Sentimental X’s” – B+
11. “Sweetest Kill” – B
12. “Romance to the Grave” – B
13. “Water in Hell” – B-
14. “Me and My Hand” – B

Comments: I’ve always heard about Broken Social Scene, but I’ve never given them a proper listen. “World Sick” is a solid foray into the band’s discography. It’s one of those under-the-radar epic songs, similar to a Dan Boeckner-led Wolf Parade jam. “Texico Bitches” has an awesome rhythm, personally reminiscent of Uninhabitable Mansions. Another thing…I would be a little shocked if Here We Go Magic wasn’t at least a little inspired by these guys. And another thing: the band’s tempo is little bit slow or else a lot of these B/B+ tunes would be A-/A range. It makes them a bit forgettable.

Grade: B (85)

An Ode To Sonny Bryans

Arish loves his Sonny Bryans!

For a good chunk of us living in the US of A, we will never get to experience Sonny Bryans. I never heard of it until two minutes ago. But but but but but. King Khan enjoys the restaurant so much that he wrote a little song available for listen on the Shrines Myspace page. Here: http://www.myspace.com/kingkhantheshrines

Chris will definitely listen to it because Khan name-drops Mumia Abu-Jamal.

“Sonny Bryan’s Barbecue
Burning hot in my gullet
Makes me want to shave my mullet
Sonny Bryan’s Barbecue
Free ribs, free cole slaw, free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Sonny Bryan, friend of Kobe Bryant
Missed and loved by us all.”

Walkmen On Thee Oh See

Sorry for the misspelling. I meant The O.C. I think I might have posted about this before, but I was never able to find footage on YouTube.

Go to 4:38 to see the first song and then 8:00 to hear the second. Side note: I’d love to kiss a chick during “What’s In It For Me.” Lucky bastard.

Little House of Savages (live version) The Walkmen At The Bait Shop, The Walkmen perform on camera as Seth works the door while Summer arrives.
What’s In It For Me (live version) The Walkmen At The Bait Shop, The Walkmen perform on camera as Seth admits to Summer why he got the job at the Bait Shop, then he kisses her.

Here is what lead singer Hamilton Leithauser had to say:

Singer Hamilton Leithauser enjoyed his experience filming the show, though he felt that the staged enthusiasm for the band was a bit much. “There were maybe two hundred extras on the set pretending to just love us, and I had to sing along with the music, and of course everyone else is fake playing — they’re not even plugged in,” Leithauser said. “So it was really an awkward scene for me, but I think you’re just supposed to stand there and look cool anyhow, so I just tried to do that.”

Leithauser, who was surprised the show allowed the Walkmen to play two songs, sees television performances as a solid, if ephemeral, means of promotion. “I don’t think we’ll gain fans,” Leithauser said. “I think people will buy the record though. I think a lot of people bought the record after we were on Dave Letterman and Conan, but I don’t think you can really gain actual fans who are going to really care about the band through such a mass-market thing.”

——

Just look at the fans, nobody goes that nuts over the Walkmen at shows. It’s like they are seeing Metallica or some shit hahaha.

A-L Recommendations

These are sort off-beat recommendations from bands you may or may not have heard of. Basically, these are songs that are in my library, but I hardly ever listen to them.

A
– Abe Vigoda – “Hyacinth Girls”
B – Big Japan – “Life Saver”
C – The Cribs – “Men’s Needs”
D – Down AKA Kilo – “Lean Like A Cholo”
E – El Guincho – “Palmitos Park”
F – Fuck Buttons – “Sweet Love For Planet Earth”
G – Growlers – “Swallowed Whole”
H – Her Space Holiday – “Tech Romance”
I – Inner Circle – “Sweat”
J – Jesus and Mary Chain – “The Hardest Walk”
K – Kraftwerk – “The Model”
L – Last Shadow Puppets – “I Don’t Like You Anymore”