The Tripwire » Blog

Pablove Across America Vlog, Part 1

Maia Stern — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:43:45 +0000

We’re very jazzed to inform you that we linked up with Dangerbird Records co-founder Jeff Castelaz recently, just as he was riding his bike across the country to raise funds for the Pablove Foundation. Along the way, Jeff recorded some video blog entries for us, talking a bit about what he was up to and what he was jamming. Check out the first installment above and if you’re in LA, maybe try and catch a celebratory show at the Avalon tomorrow night as Jeff pedals back into LA.

Band of Horses are headlining, Shirley Manson’s going to be there… it should be a great time. You can snag tickets here.

Titus Andronicus’ Stickles on Vice Party: “Kids, we are blowing it.”

Michael McGregor — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:13:37 +0000

Anyone familiar with The Airing of Grievances (no, we are not talking about Festivus) knows that Titus Andronicus’ Patrick Stickles is not kidding around. At times, he’s a bit tormented, and possibly crazy, but honestly, a very logical, good-hearted and extremely bright young chap. So when the cool kids at VICE decided to throw an irony-fueled, 1994-themed Halloween party at a warehouse in Williamsburg and asked Titus to perform Weezer covers after Bad Brains and Jesus Lizard played, it’s safe to say it was going to be a pretty good night.

Wrong. At least according to Stickles, who wrote a very lengthy rant on the event, which, through his account, was an absolute disaster and a glimpse of a troubled generation. Exactly what you’d expect from a VICE party in a warehouse in Williamsburg on Halloween with free tequila. To be honest, no real “good,” can come from this, save another Doc Marten to the dome courtesy of Jesus Lizard’s David Yow, who always seems to be in tip-top shape. According to Stickles description of the night, Jesus Lizard was hard to enjoy due to swarming Arab Parrot wannabe’s constantly photographing every inch of cocaine/tequila debauchery—the hedonistic, depraved aesthetic that VICE has long championed in its publications, and to some extent, lived themselves for years.

While coke, annoying people, lame security, irresponsible management, phoned-in performances (courtesy of Bad Brains) and complaining from Patrick Stickles is what some people actually go to VICE parties for, the real question is why? Why do we play into this shit? We, the current youth, are a generation constantly advocating change, yet we consistently short change ourselves by playing into these moronic stereotypes, ideas that we are merely over-educated, over-privileged, irony-obsessed idiots desperately hoping to land a picture of us doing blow off one another on a party site. Sure, that sounds fun, but why limit ourselves to this when we could be doing anything, literally ANYTHING, that may, someday, to someone, make a difference. If there is one thing we should learn from the misguidance of our parent’s generation—those who set to change the world, but fell prey to dirty bank loans and scheming investments, preferring quiet comfort to making the world a better place—it’s to not do what we’re doing. If we don’t stop acting like children, we’re always just going to be children.

Stickles closes his note with a few strong words for the youngsters. “Kids, we are blowing it. Everything they say about us is true.”

Take this as a call to arms: Don’t fall into the trappings that so many have fallen into before. It wouldn’t be ironic. It would suck.

On The Sublime Reunion, Trademarks And The Legacy of a Dead Legend

Adam Daniels — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:09:13 +0000

The statement that Sublime hasn’t played a show in 13 years is a bit of a misnomer for two reasons. One, the man (Bradley Nowell) who registered the Sublime trademark passed away thirteen years ago, meaning in a sense, Sublime would never play again. And two, the remaining Sublime posse, which is a very similar group (with less members and new singer Rome Ramirez) to the one that performed at Cypress Hill’s Smokeout Festival Saturday, had performed several times under the name Long Beach Dub All Stars and used Sublime material until they disbanded in 2001. However, a band billed as Sublime played said music festival this weekend, and if they just called themselves Garden Grove or something a.) everyone would assume they were a tribute band and b.) this story wouldn’t be in the news.

YouTube videos from the festival seem to prove that at least one large mass of people support this pseudo-reunion. But to be fair, if we were blazed at an event called the Smokeout Festival and some dude that sang pretty well crooned over the bassline of “Santeria” and “April 24, 1992″ we’d be pretty amped, too.

The whole situation gets touchy when Bradley Nowell’s family comes into play, who are taking legal action against bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh for using the moniker. Says Brad’s family in an official statement:

“Out of respect for Brad’s wishes, we have always refused to endorse any group performing as ‘Sublime,’ and now with great reluctance feel compelled to take the appropriate legal action to protect Brad’s legacy.”

It seems unforunate that with all the cell phones and minute-by-minute e-mail checking in this world, these legacy-tarnishing matters so often come to legal action. But thus is the world we live in. The potential lawsuit brings up much larger questions about musical legacies. But in the individual case of Sublime, it seems these questions may not necessarily be answered right away.

Wilson and Gaugh have already responded to the lawsuit with a statement. “Brad’s heirs apparently do not share this vision and do not want the band Sublime to continue and tried — unsuccessfully — to file a temporary restraining order to prevent the band from carrying on. Despite those objections, we are pleased that the United States District Court has allowed us to perform as Sublime for all of our fans,” read a statement signed “Sublime.” And in another note Gaugh even directly hinted at this being a hopefully effective coping mechanism for the band to move on in a sense, musically and personally.

Legally, obviously the trademark is binding. But a band is obviously not just a trademark, and while this obviously tackles a much greyer area, Wilson and Gaugh were just as much a part of the Sublime movement as Nowell was. However, Nowell had achieved a sort of cult-icon status that made him a ubiquitous face of the movement and era.

Therefore, while the legality of the matter may continue to be debated (Nowell’s family attempted to have them disallowed from playing the festival under the name, but a U.S. district court ruled to let the band play), the decision of the fans seems like it might logically come from what Wilson, Gaugh and Ramirez do with the name. If they just form a sort of reunion tour and play some festival gigs, it hardly seem different from the Long Beach Dub All Stars project and could easily lead to the cash grab arguments. But if they take a less common path or create new musical material (which yes, would also create more controversy and debate) then it could be seen in a different light. They seem to be approaching the whole situation with a requisite amount of earnesty, but while their words seem to act as a defense and celebration of Nowell’s memory, the actions and music in the near future will surely speak much louder on the matter. (Via: SPIN)

A Band We’re Falling in Love With: Braids

David Bevan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:43:00 +0000

One week and change ago the Tripwire flew to Montreal. We weren’t there for the usual reasons (hockey/steamy, French-Canadian love affairs) but rather Pop! Montreal, the very same festival whose always excellent lineup we’ve helped you watch grow longer and longer over the past few months. And instead of telling you a heap of late night tales that take us from bar to bar, band to band and one Poutine spot to the next (there was only one and thats actually a pretty good story,) we realized you’d hate us less if we told you about the one band we saw that made the trip most worthwhile. You know, a band you’re going to want to hear when you shower or drive tonight. Their name is Braids (formerly Neighborhood Council) and they are a loosely “experimental” boy girl four-piece who made their way to Montreal via Alberta. What do they sound like? This decade distilled: the psychedelic Shiatsu of Animal Collective, the expansiveness of Broken Social Scene and bit of the primitivist snap-a-longs of High Places and the Blow. They’re only wee, but this isn’t at all precious stuff. Somehow they’ve manage to sound colossal and timely all at once.

Download EP jams “Lemonade” and “Liver and Tan” below, wait for a full-length to land in early spring 2010.

Braids, Lemonade

MP3 Download

Braids, Liver and Tan

MP3 Download

A Trip Through Indie Rock Fashion Circa ‘95

Michael McGregor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:40:12 +0000

Sometimes in our RSS-haze we forget that “indie rock” wasn’t always so fashionable. In fact, if you go back to early nineties, the style was a lack of style, and not in some “I’m going to wear this because no one would think that I would actually wear this” sort of way. (Look at you Mom jeans.) Rather, it was earnest, as if all indie rockers of the ’90s merely woke up, saw their jeans and put them on. It was honest. It was real. Often, it was pretty ugly. While the slacker style has surely come back into play by kids whose first CD was Bush Sixteen Stone, it just doesn’t feel as “authentic” as it did back then. Times have changed kids, but the classic t-shirt, Levi’s and All-Stars will never die. It just will never look as cool as it did on these dudes.

You could even be a fat dude in shorts and that was cool…even in Europe! (Fun fact, pretty sure Ira Kaplan has been swapping between the same two t-shirts since Yo La Tengo began in 1984.)

As Pavement demonstrate, your clothes did not have to “fit,” let alone be “form fitting.” Also note, white long sleeve tee. God I miss the ’90s.

Sonic Youth wear coats. Long leather jackets, black and purple nylon ski parkas and denim jackets with leather collars.

As for video fashion, Chavez may have put it all out on the table when they shot their video for “Break Up Your Band” on a trans-gender hosted talk show featuring suburban moms, stripping firemen, kimono clad rickshaw drivers, loin cloth covered dudes in bear masks, and a bevy of gigantic collars.

Something tells me Veruca Salt will opt against the floral crop tank top when they inevitably reunite. (Notice the gold microphones. Oh, Glastonbury.)

Lou Barlow in Germany in 1995 looks like my fifth grade Earth Science teacher in Germany in 1995.

On the other hand, J. Mascis looks pretty much exactly the same.

Introducing TweetRelease: Your (Dear Readers) Chance To Review New Music

Adam Daniels — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:09:43 +0000

Ever read an album review of your 14th favorite band online and thought “Whoever wrote this is a flaming pile of monkey turds. I could burp out a better review than this.’ Well burp away, my friends. Or in more technical terms…

It’s possible that over the past several weeks you’ve noticed the reviews slow to a trickle around these parts. We had our reasons! Cookies weren’t involved! Okay, maybe they were! All of us at Tripwire HQ are pleased to introduce to you today a new chapter in our “take” on music criticism—by handing over the keys. Starting this week and every Tuesday hereafter, we’ll be posting a full album to stream through our friends over at LaLa. What we’d like you to do is lend us your brainwaves and tweet us whatever crosses your mind while listening. Maybe there’s a riff you can’t get out of your head. A lyric? A moment? An image? If you’re feeling ambitious, spend your 124 characters reviewing the record as a whole. Just toss those tweets over to us at @thetripwire and by the end of the week, we’ll cobble together and share the beautiful mess of a madlib it creates. So without further adieu, we give you… Tweet Release.

So not only do we have this sweet announcement that puts you fine folks in control (well, as much control as you can establish in 140 characters), but we’ve got the new project from Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) and Collection of Colonies of Bees, Volcano Choir’s Unmap, to stream, just released today. Here’s the stream and here’s our Twitter in case you forgot. Now listen to the album and start tweet-tweeting.

Unmap

David Bevan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:16:57 +0000

It’s possible that over the past several weeks you’ve noticed the reviews slow to a trickle around these parts. We had our reasons! Cookies weren’t involved! Okay, maybe they were! All of us at Tripwire HQ are pleased to introduce to you today a new chapter in our “take” on music criticism—by handing over the keys. Starting this week and every Tuesday hereafter, we’ll be posting a full album to stream through our friends over at LaLa. What we’d like you to do is lend us your brainwaves and tweet us whatever crosses your mind while listening. Maybe there’s a riff you can’t get out of your head. A lyric? A moment? An image? If you’re feeling ambitious, spend your 124 characters reviewing the record as a whole. Just toss those tweets over to us at @thetripwire and by the end of the week, we’ll cobble together and share the beautiful mess of a madlib it creates. Or, if you’re a complete Luddite, you can just leave a review in the comments section. You’re the boss now. So without further adieu, we give you… Tweet Release.

This week’s album is Unmap, full-length debut from Volcano Choir, a gnarly new collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Collection of Colonies of Bees.

Unmap – Volcano Choir

Greatest Songs At This Moment — The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”

David Bevan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:33:02 +0000

Greatest Songs At This Moment–The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” The White Stripes’ “We’re Going To Be Friends,” and Rufus Wainwright’s “Foolish Love.”

First, an apology, which is always a great way to start these articles: time has slipped away from me completely. I am only a month away from becoming a father, and to say it occupies my mind more than a musical obsession would be an understatement. The realization that I not only have to deal with another person’s sock drawer from scratch, but have to manage that sock drawer for close to a decade is one of the many small mind explosions which have crossed my path since last Christmas. So I haven’t been able to play, think about, or otherwise obsess over a single piece of music like a normal adult without a hint of epic responsibility. So that means this week’s entry lacks the subtle nuances I have treated “Smell Yo’ Dick” and the like. Nevertheless, I still have some thoughts on the song that has been rumbling around my soul for the last week, and I’ll treat you all to those now between laundry loads (you have to wash all the baby clothes before they can put them on because their skin is so sensitive, and you have to use a special detergent. How did children survive in the past?).

1. “God Only Knows” is one of the songs Paul McCartney lists as among his favorite, just as he names Pet Sounds his favorite album. This marks the semicolon of one of my favorite musical history lessons. The story goes that the Beatles wanted to make music that was more folksy than their usual rock ‘n’ roll, and they took a cue from the Beach Boys. The resulting album was “Rubber Soul.” Brian Wilson heard this album and felt the ante sufficiently upped in the musical texture department and pushed his group to create “Pet Sounds.” And THAT album showed such unity of artistic vision that the Beatles eventually retaliated with Sgt. Pepper’s. When this sort of incredible and enormous coincidence happens in movies (I’m looking at you, “Walk the Line”), it feels like the script is moving faster than reality. When it actually happens in reality, it feels like magic.

2. “God Only Knows” was our first dance at our wedding. It made my father-in-law tear up and it was agreed by all in attendance that it was a sweet, non-sappy, beautiful choice. However, when I think of the response to the song choice, I often think of a friend of mine criticizing us for picking a song that starts with the line “I may not always love you.” Yeah, because the song stops right there and doesn’t change a single thing. Some people need every line to be 110% positive on their own with no surrounding context at all, and others are willing to listen for more than 10 seconds to a single song. The lesson is: never criticize someone’s first dance song. At least not to their face. It’s just as bad an idea as asking if someone’s pregnant: it can only end poorly. These are lessons I will pass on to my child.

3. I haven’t been replaying the song in the traditional sense (as traditional as a guy with a 1-year-old iPod Shuffle can be). My wife and I have recently become infatuated with the show “Big Love,” and “God Only Knows” is used for their title sequence.

3.a Don’t have a title sequence that goes for ninety seconds. It’s a bad idea. One of the only special features on the Season One DVD set is a making-of featurette for this title sequence, and they talk about how HBO apparently asks a lot of their shows in the world of title sequences. But for the rest of the DVD-watching human race, you see it once, enjoy the song, get the point and then you always, always, always skip past it to get to the story.
The power of the song, however, carries through and lingers with me for a couple reasons (not the least of which is the sentimental reason listed in #2). They only play 90 seconds of the song, cutting out the instrumental bridge and the repeated last verse. This sticks the song even further into my conscious brain. If you’re gonna go for 90 seconds already, it feels like you might as well play the whole damn song. Maybe it speaks to the quality of the entertainment I watch, but many times when songs I enjoy appear on movies and TV shows, many times I just wish the story would stop and we’d all listen to the music. And while the lyrics of “God Only Knows” are certainly one of its top qualities, you cannot discount the Beach-Boys-y-ness of the production, which is that wonderful mix of Christmas carol and melancholy. I imagine every band after 1965 being created in the “Bump-a-bump-a-bum-bum…” section, and it’s all lost in the actual opening for “Big Love.

4. I don’t know if “God Only Knows” is my favorite Beach Boys song, or even a song I’ve ever turned up to hear better, but I always listen to it top to bottom. Enjoy.

—Phillip Mottaz

Greatest Songs At This Moment — The Hives’ “Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented”

David Bevan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:21:33 +0000

Greatest Songs At This Moment–The Hives’ “Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented”

I guess I’m a little off in my timing, listening to a song about the beginning of school during the time of year when school is letting out. Like listening to Christmas songs in August, my obsession has more to do with my fixation on the Hives themselves and their weird logical leaps than with actual calendar-backed facts. Even though I am married to a teacher, have retired teachers for parents and I hang around schools many times during the year (not like that), I still find that this point in time most perfectly suits “Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented.” Even though the message of the song is — on the surface — anger at returning to school, the mood of the song is joyful, and what’s more joyful than the beginning of summer? Paradox? Sure, but it works.

I have no excuse for loving the Hives as much as I do, and I therefore offer little apology. They are like a hybrid of my two favorite bands, wedding the Ramones’ style and humor to a Mick Jagger-like front man. I never stood a chance at resisting, but I doubt I would have fallen as hard in love with the band if not for the strange underlying insanity that is the Hives’ artistic voice. This voice could be simply chalked up to their mishandling of the English language (”The Hives are law! You are crime!”) along with their reckless abandon with which they use their second language. But as I’ve dug deeper and deeper into their catalog — yes, there’s room to dig — I’ve become more convinced that they’re either so smart they’re dumb or so dumb they’re smart and then dumb again. If you followed that, you have my pity. Your world will soon be consumed by another paradox of Hives logic, heretofore known as “logic,” with sarcastic quotation marks in tact.

“Fall” was written for Cartoon Network, presumably as a kids’ song for their commercial tags. Outside of just making a cool song for a cool commercial, I’m not sure what the marketing scheme was behind this decision. Was Cartoon Network selling Fall? It’s not unheard of, as Fall is the time for traditional premieres of new shows. But the sentiment of the song implies that we should be upset it’s Fall (or, in the present, will be some day). Unless you’re MTV, you have a hard time selling something while telling people they should hate it. Fortunately, MTV and Cartoon Network are owned under the same company, so maybe this works. However, it raises the very core idea that makes the song problematic and charming: the idea of fighting an idea.

It makes “Fall” a perfect kind of kids’ song, dealing with abstract ideas which are crystal clear, yet fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. Of course the idea of inventing a season is as ludicrous as launching a war against the feeling of terror, but it’s a fun idea. In a way, the Hives have provided children with a safe kind of conspiracy. Normally the Swedes sing about how giant corporations are programming us into consumer robots who don’t think for themselves. To a kid, the biggest corporation around is adults, so to vilify them is not only easy, but essential.

The fun part of the song comes in the fact that singing along removes yourself from the titular group, even if you’re a 33-year-old grownup father-to-be 15 years out of high-school. With this song, you (who are we kidding here–I) can still be pissed at the adults who made up time period of every year I most hated. I hated school. I loved college, but something about the organization of education always rubbed me the wrong way. I think I was scared of teachers because my parents were teachers (I had my own mother for not just one but TWO English classes throughout my high school career). I knew what my parents were capable of, and I assumed the same powers upon other teachers no matter how incapable they were. We had some pretty ridiculous teachers at my high school; some were as oblivious to mischief as Elmer Fudd during Duck Season. Yet I never misbehaved. It would come back and bite me in the ass eventually. I couldn’t fight City Hall. My problems wouldn’t be solved by messing with this one teacher. I needed an entire system to change.

Obviously, I’ve hung onto these feelings for quite a while. It’s a strange brand of nostalgia where you allow pissy feelings to linger so much that you’re happy you have a way to let them go two decades after the fact. That’s probably just the power of music in a nutshell; I haven’t thought about these feelings for years, but once I’ve been allowed to feel this way again by way of a song I love, here they are again, not only resurfacing but being spit on. This justifies loving a “kids” song containing the phrase “Halloween is the ass” and not getting upset. While the content may not be 100% kid friendly, the spirit feels kid inspired.

Even though it’s a technique they’ve used more and more as of late, I love the way “Fall” starts with the slow lamenting tune about how we’ll all be returning to school again. “We?” asks the older fan, feeling threatened. As an answer by way of changing the subject, the song picks up the pace while Pelle Almquist “teaches us” about the truth of the matter while borrowing from the most rock ‘n’ roll line ever: “So I better do it now before I grow old.” The rest of the band kicks in for the first half of the chorus, then drops off for the punchline, and I use that term specifically. This is a joke in execution, not just material. It’s not enough to simply say that Fall was invented by devilish, fun-hating grownups; The Hives make it a full on kid-sized conspiracy. And that, to me, is even funnier. Children don’t enjoy many conspiracies of their own, so to not only deliver one but deliver one on par with a fake moon landing feels huge enough to reach comic proportions.

This is what the Hives do better than any other band. They aim high and then reach even higher and pretend they want to go even higher than that. Any reasonable person will tell you that a rock band, no matter how powerful, cannot change the world, yet we like to believe it’s possible. The Hives play on that mentality. They act like they’re enormous stars even though most people don’t take them seriously or know they exist. They take that B-List status and carry themselves like the Dukes of Music. THEN they act like they — the royalty of rock — will survive nuclear explosions and impending global catastrophes by way of their ability to play really loud. They get more ridiculous, and then more serious, and then more serious, which becomes even more ridiculous. They are then free to make wild declarations like “Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented.”

THE POINT OF ALL THAT IS… the title and chorus are a punchline. When we hear it, the music and “Oh’s!” hit us in full glorious effect. Out of the silence comes the tidal wave of punk rock with a snicker behind it. That riff feels like a crowd laughing with an insult comic. They just told a line on someone’s mom, and the crowd responds. I respond. By the end, I chant along with their chorus chants, wishing that I had something to rebel against for real but not really.

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Greatest Songs At This Moment–Sinead O’Connor’s “No Man’s Woman”

David Bevan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:18:18 +0000

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included CCR’s “Ramble Tamble,” Beethoven’s “Pathetique,” and The Electric Six’s “Improper Dancing.”

I think I’m here because of nostalgia. I have no other explanation for the feeling I woke up to a few days ago when I thought to myself, “You know what song I’d like to hear today? ‘No Man’s Woman’ by Sinead O’Connor.” I haven’t heard the song in years and years, and probably would have never heard it in the first place if a friend of my wife hadn’t given her — not me — a copy of “Faith and Courage.”

She is more famous for doing crazy things than she is for her songs. I would imagine people 20 years from now will be surprised to learn she was a singer primarily and not just some upstart. If you think about it, the only two songs anybody ever thinks of when they think of Sinead is “Nothing Compares To You” and “The Song She Sang On SNL That Nobody Actually Remembers Because She Tore Up A Picture Of The Pope.” That was Bob Marley’s “War.”

I feel like I know way more about O’Connor’s personal life than her musical career, and that might be to her benefit. It’s like “Plastic Ono Band,” an album that only works emotionally if you know who John Lennon is and what band he was in, but who doesn’t know that? Even if you can’t list off the specifics of O’Connor’s life, you can ballpark the whole thing into one lumpy “she’s often emotional and upset” bag. Off the top of my head and with no research, I want to say that she fought to become a Catholic priest and was a lesbian for a stint, but I might be way off. What I do know is that she had a bald head for a while, and that was the first straw in herf controversy barn. Whether my facts are straight or not, the real truth is that I hang onto them, and they make her career more vivid in my imagination.

This is what I’ve longed to cling to all week. To be perfectly honest, the GSATM’s recently have fallen off my obsession radar, and that might have more to do with my own personal distractions than the quality of the music (”Smash You” deserves the title, for example, just as the Houston Rockets deserve to be NBA champs during those two years Michael Jordan wasn’t playing; just because the NBA wasn’t as interesting or as competetive doesn’t mean the winning team shouldn’t win–though I have probably argued for an asterisk). I’m hustling for work, turning down horrible looking jobs (yes, they still make jobs where you drive for an hour plus to sit in a windowless room smelling like old paper only to TEST for the job to see if you QUALIFY for an interview. An interview that won’t happen until the next day, by which time you will have realized you won’t take it even if they upped the offer to–get ready for it–$13 an hour), and preparing for our family’s first baby. I’ve got a lot on my mind, and the brain space that would normally be dedicated to repeat play dissection and obsession has to figure out where to get a will made and how to build a dresser with a changing table. So I need something more than just music. I need power.

Which brings us to “No Man’s Woman,” a the sonic equivalent of victory and the 1990’s. It’s the song I need at this moment, even if the context of the lyrics don’t relate to me/call into question my sexuality. “No Man’s” was clearly made in the post Alanis period of angry-musical-women production, but it happens to come with the context that has plagued and actually helps O’Connor’s career. Like I said earlier without any research, O’Connor has tried to become a priest. She’s a very spiritual person, and the song appears to be about her relationship with God. By the end.

Before the end, we get a trip down production memory lane, where sort-of dance beats walk us into the declaration that Sinead doesn’t wanna be no man’s woman. She’s giving up on guys. I don’t blame her. The lyrics border on hacky but stay just short of that perjorative by ringing true. What made “Nothing Compares To You” such a hit was that tear she cried during the video. It’s a sad song (or, at least, a sad sounding song), and that tear was validation. O’Connor’s career has been largely in support of that tear–seeing her protest the Catholic church, and speak out about any atrocity she wants to has all proven what we believed from that video: this girl takes it seriously. She can sing the hell out of these songs because she believes them.

This might technically qualify her as crazy if she weren’t a celebrity. Since we know who she is, this makes her a serious artist, one with little tolerance for compromise. As Viv Savage says, without a stage to perform on Sinead might get a bit stupid and go crazy. As it is, she’s a one-hit wonder everyone knows with a fantastic singing voice.

More on the relationship with God: maybe this is how the song transcends being weird that a straight guy like me would enjoy it so much. The song really about a person who’s sick of being betrayed and depressed (I get that) and finding the one thing that makes her feel great (I’d love that). It’s not that she doesn’t want a mate; it’s that she only wants to be her own person, which is pretty much the whole of O’Connor’s career.

I’m an emotional listener when it comes to songs like this: if the music and singing sounds like triumph, then I feel triumphant, forgiving all betraying lyrics there might be. This song starts kind of down and bitter. Just by having “No” in there, I get the negativity and I don’t think I’m wrong. By the end, O’Connor has used this title to describe what she wants to be by way of defining what she never wants to be. I really get this. I struggle with what I want to accomplish, but I know exactly what I don’t want to do. This is because I’m a negative, suspicious person. I must have hope that there’s hope for people like me, and the musicality of “No Man’s” provides it. Around the 1:45 mark, we get the first truly joyous synergy of Sinead’s voice and the instruments, when she describes the one who “Never does me harm/Never treats me bad” (implying there have been others who HAVE treated her bad and done her harm). We get one more half-chorus until we return to the final beautiful chorus-mantra. The production kicks in strings and drums and becomes everything “Rent” wanted to be without the Broadway shmaltz. O’Connor could have described the song’s that way: “I don’t know what it is, but it’s not ‘Rent.’”

—Phillip Mottaz

Greatest Song At This Moment – The Ramones “Smash You”

Phillip Mottaz — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:59:43 +0000

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend,” Led Zeppelin’s “C’mon Everybody,” and M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes.”

The active ownership of and listening to demo cuts acts as a barometer for fanship. You might love a band or an album, but do you love a band or album so much that you need to hear alternate versions of the songs you’ve already memorized? Since the CD revolution, the tagging on of previously-unreleased material to old albums only attracts the super fan. I like Elvis Costello, but I can honestly say I only have the demo tapes attached to the Special Edition of This Year’s Model because it came that way. On the other hand, it turns out that I love the Ramones more than I realized, and I knew that I really loved them. The demos attached to their re-issued material are not just bonus features to me; they’ve become essential tracks. I’m tempted to call Ramones demos “cheating” since most of their material (save for the less-produced cuts from End of the Century) plays like demos to begin with. They weren’t big on thinking. They were more about catching lightning in a bomb and exploding.

“Smash You” is one of those quintessential discoveries among the Ramones’ previously unreleased treasures. It sounds exactly like every other Ramones song (like they all do) and it rocks as hard as every other Ramones song (like they all do). From the count at the top to the effortless way they coax a sing-along out of the listener, the song’s true power is in its relentlessness. Like their greatest songs before it, “Smash You” feels like a full-speed horse race that never lets up. The only switch up comes at the perfect 3/4 moment where, nearing the final turn, we stay in one key, get everyone to sing the same thing twice, remount, and repeat.

I’m not gonna solve all the Ramones’ problems, in music or otherwise. But I can’t help lamenting the fact that “Smash You” — representing such a higher-than-normal high for one of the greatest bands to walk the Earth — is underrepresented. This happens to many bands of course, but it seems to be a habit for the Ramones. Despite glories in sound, songs like “S.L.U.G.” never found a proper home. “Babysitter” isn’t technically part of the album “Leave Home” and “Please Don’t Leave” never stayed around and now “Smash You”. The deck is stacked against these guys.

I’m thankful that I was the right kind of lazy — the cheap kind — when I purchased Too Tough To Die — on iTunes instead of buying the CD used. It’s a constant war, my battle with laziness; sometimes I avoid the pricey end of stuff and win, sometimes I indulge and lose. It was a difference of ONE dollar between a used original-version CD and this extended edition. The coolest part about “Smash You” in the context of the album is that it serves like a second album closer. I can only assume they didn’t include the song in the original release because Ritchie had a hand in writing it, and they were all kind of dumb and jealous and mean that way.

Not that it would have made much difference in the world. It still would have been one more song in a long list of ignored-by-the-planet songs from a prolific, unapologetically awesome band. And, yes, that’s been lamented a million times before (and, yes, I’ve even called myself out like this before about another band)… but this time it seems particularly apropos. The Beatles are the most popular band ever, so it’s less difficult to find a cut song from one of their less popular albums. Listening to a song so perfect — so obviously excellent — inspires me to write columns complaining about why people don’t profess their undying devotion to this perfect, obviously excellent music. What blows me away now is that with 20/20 hindsight on our side, the Ramones don’t have any radio play on classic rock stations. They wrote pop songs. They wrote songs you could sing to. They wrote songs that rock. It’s all right here in “Smash You”.

Like “Smash You”’s exclusion from the album, it’s gotta be about money. With Ritchie writing the song, and the band’s notoriously tight purse strings, the powers that be must have excluded the song to hog a little cash. The only other possible reason for depriving the world of this song could be that “Too Tough” was already full of great songs anyway. But you still had “Animal Boy” and “Halfway to Sanity” with Ritchie, and they certainly aren’t as wall-to-wall great as “Too Tough”. I mean, I love “Go Li’l Camaro Go”, but I’m not an idiot.

Then again, perhaps society is to blame. Again. “Too Tough To Die” was the group’s eighth studio album, and fifth “greatest” album. Prior to 1985, they had pumped out substantially fantastic music that was largely ignored by the mainstream world, and that has to do something to the band’s selection process. Perhaps by the time this song came around, their assessment of what’s “good” was way out of whack. At some point they must have thought, “If ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ can’t get airplay, what chance does this song have?’”

And maybe it’s the burden of being uncompromising pioneer morons that holds the truth. The song technically deals with lurid subject matter: a guy is so pissed at his pill-popping girl that he wants to smash her. But it also seems pretty harmless. He doesn’t want to cut her up and throw her in the trunk. He wants to “smash” her. The vocabulary seems childlike, tied more to the Incredible Hulk than an actual abusive relationship. There’s sadness and humor walking hand in hand in this song, especially in the line “you’re the best girl that I’ve ever had.” It comes after 3 previous verses of steam-from-the-ears fury, and portrays more relatable truth that anyone cares to admit. This guy is settling, even if it means fist fights on the street and dealing with her mood swings.

As a kind of tribute, I’m attaching a video of a demo for this song with Ritchie singing. The guy managed the impossible, being an outsider who wrote a song more Ramones than the Ramones were playing, and he deserves more credit for it. The studio cut has a bit more Ramones magic, but as you can hear in this early cut, the components were there.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

Derek Evers — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:52:26 +0000

Unfortunately, this week was dominated by the very sad news of Jay Bennett’s passing. So while we spoke to Maria Taylor, Ladytron, Mastodon, Landmine Marathon and Torche, and premiered the video for These United States’ “Honor Amongst Thieves”, this week our thoughts are on Jay and his family. Here is The Tripwire week in review.

FEATURES
Lady Luck: An Interview With Maria Taylor

Five Questions For Ladytron

Bombshell – Mastodon, Landmine Marathon, Torche

LISTEN
Mew – “Introducing Palace Players”

Glasser – “Learn” (YACHT Remix)

Pygmy Shrews – “Shame Canal”

Free Eneergy – “Dream City”

LIVE
White Rabbits, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Antlers @ Bowery Ballroom | NYC

Vandaveer @ Sycamore | Brooklyn

BLOG
The Greatest Song At This Moment – Prince & The Power Generation “7″

The Singles Collection – No Talk, Inmates, Smart Cops

Bombshell – Mastodon, Landmine Marathon, Torche

New Music Thursday – Twin Crystals

TV
Cass McCombs – “Dreams Come True Girl” (Featuring Karen Black)

Exclusive Premiere – These United States “Honor Amongst Thieves”

Royksopp – “The Girl & The Robot” (Featuring Robyn)

Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

NEWS
R.I.P. – Jay Bennett 1963-2009

Dan Deacon & Ensemble Blog About First Tour As A Band

Rivers Cuomo: “Snuggies Are Totally Legit”

Lady Sovereign Walks Off Stage In San Francisco

American Idol’s Adam Lambert To Front Queen?

Full Glastonbury Lineup Announced

Scarlett Johansson Has A New Pete Yorn Album On The Way

Beastie Boys Announce New Album Details While Mike D Gets Fined

Dear Hip-Hop Press, Please Stop Interviewing Spencer Pratt

South Carolina Judge Settles The Case Of James Brown Estate

Bueller? Bueller? Cameron’s House Up For Sale

Micachu And The Shapes Are Coming Back For More BBQ

New Jay Reatard LP, MP3

Listen To David Byrne Give You A Guided Tour Of His Office

Screaming Females Tapped As Main Support For Dead Weather Tour

Previously On Lost To Record For ABC

Want To Hear What Remastered Sounds Like?

Jay Bennett’s Family Issues Letter To Fans

Depeche Mode Tour Of The Universe Is Back On

Fox News Is Getting (Even More) Fucked Up

The Populist View – 05.28.09

Chris Brown Allegedly Sued For Administering A Wedgie

Guitar Hero 5 To Include Sonic Youth, Elliott Smith Among Others

Subtle’s Dax Pierson Awarded $183 Million Settlement Against Ford

Wavves Crash At Primavera

Kurt Vile Signs To Matador

Tone Loc Collapses On Stage, Rushed To Hospital

Yet Another Reason Why Spencer Moody Is Awesome

New Music Thursday – Twin Crystals

Derek Evers — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:50:33 +0000

Yup, we did it. We were able to find two new Crystal bands in consecutive weeks. Last week it was the Euro-dance Kitsune product Crystal Fighters, this week it’s Vancouver’s psychedelic-punk-pioneers Twin Crystals. But don’t be scared off by the name.

Like every good “crystal” band, they have a synth-aesthetic, but the stereotypes stop there. They add a bit of the synth-punk made famous by bands like The Death Set or Team Robespierre to a dissodent backdrop of psychedelic fusion more akin to fellow Canadians DD/MM/YYYY. Featuring members of Modern Creatures, they are part of a burgeoning Vancouver punk scene that includes bands like Shearing Pinx, Nu Sensae and the Defektors, yet embody more of a universal sound that would also go over well with the bong tokers (hey, it’s Vancouver) and the dance kids in addition to the punks. That’s marketability baby!

Their self-titled LP was recently released on Needs More Ram Records and is getting critical praise abound, while their split 10-inch with Night Wounds is quite possibly one of the coolest vinyl releases we’ve seen (they were cut on acetate blanks from 1941). This track, “Two Girls”, actually comes from their Separated Birth EP. We recommend them all.

Twin Crystals – “Two Girls”

Bombshell – Mastodon, Landmine Marathon, Torche

Zeena Koda — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:35:50 +0000

Bombshell is Tripwire contributor Zeena Koda’s monthly metal column. In this, her first installment, Z sits down with Troy Sanders of Mastodon, Grace Perry of Landmine Marathon and the men of Torche.

Metal wouldn’t exist without three core things — intoxicants, babes and the BOOM. In this edition of Bombshell we have the trifecta for you; a legit babe who slays the mic with intelligence and beauty, as well as two seminal intoxicant heavy bands that have carved out a mark for a generation of new metalheads to adore (see: they bring the motherfuckin’ BOOM). In preparation for the onslaught of summer tours, check out what some of my current faves are getting into and get your pink ass out to the pavement to see them in full glory. I promise, with all the female advice you’ll get from this column, you’re one step closer to getting laid.

Metal has always been a domain consumed with masculinity, for better or worse there is an inherent testosterone burst in every metal laced musical endeavor. As a musician and a commentator, I have always been intrigued with other females in heavy music. In an almost voyeuristic fashion I’ve connected with many other females in metal and despite my power-dykish disposition, have realized in the end we’re all just ladies who love the music. Meeting with Grace Perry from Landmine Marathon was quite a surprise; tall, fit and well-spoken she could easily step off the pages of a Prada ad. But what impressed me most was her genuine personality and love for music. Librarian/student by day, death metal/sludge goddess by night, Grace has been upping the ante with her Arizona-based band for over five years. Recently signing on with Prosthetic Records in late 2008 the band released Rusted Eyes Awake a raw and cathartic throwback to the days where production was minimal and the doom sandstorm was king. Sizing up with a heavy dose of charm and intelligence, Grace’s stage presence and demeanor leaves her untouchable, the girl oozes a rare brand of sexuality, one any gal or strapping young lad can get into. Although classic ovary driven bands like Girlschool set a precedence for the caliber of female fronted metal, bombshells like Grace have reshaped the way non-metal elitists view ladies in the genre — with equal respect and fascination. Grace was on hand last weekend as part of the Maryland Death Festival and word on the street is she had a little something brewing connected to the event, so keep your peepers peeled and check out my hangout with Grace here.

*****

Thunderous. The minute I heard “March of the Fire Ants” from Mastodon, I knew that I had stumbled on something purely Earth shattering. Part 90s post-hardcore, part progressive meltdown, all the while remaining wholly booming, Mastodon has perfected the formula of a hook-laden metallic rock conquest. Forming out the the ashes of the upstate NY-based Lethargy, bassist/beard master Troy Sanders linked up with Brann, Bill and Brant (must be lonely being the only non B guy) in Atlanta, connecting together to fuse a definitive southern rock feel with crushing metal/doom undertones that sticks to your ribs. Graduating to the big leagues, Mastodon’s second major label release Crack The Skye is looming positively on the tongues of both fans and critics, drawing in listeners with unexpected harmony, finesse and careful song craft, all filtered though the ears of mastermind producer Brendan O’Brien. Mastodon’s swift rise to the top of the metal world can clearly be attributed to hard work, extensive touring and plenty of perseverance. I sat down with Troy Sanders before a sold-out headlining show at NY’s Fillmore at Irving (Irving Plaza always in my heart) to talk about the new album, a possible Crack the Skye movie and many more debauchery filled behaviors.

*****

Torche are a quintessential summer band, perfect for jumping into your fathers beat up Chevy, lighting an overstuffed spliff and cutting loose. The first time I saw Torche was at an Isis show in 2006 and, in all honesty, was not totally sold. Retrospectively, my apprehension made perfect sense — they were a but a budding baby at the time and needed some saucy metal breast milk! Since that time, Torche has swiftly grown into a sneak-attack band, offering listeners a fresh melting pot of doom, post-hardcore driven vocals coupled with dynamic structuring. Offering rock-driven metal in the way Cynic bless prog metal — tight, appealing packaging with attention grabbing elements that keep listeners coming back for more. Their 2008 release Meanderthal topped Decibel Magazine’s top-records of 2008, probably much to the surprise of their deaf metal lovin’ core audience. Torche have been grinding hard since Meanderthal’s release and have been spending most of their time on the road, planning to conquer Europe with the legendary Coalesce and Kylesa, as well as return to the US late summer to trek with Harvey Milk. Genre defying and poised for glory, I had a chance to sit down with them on their recent US tour with Dredg — don’t let the soft spoken demeanor fool you, these men all all business when they hit the stage.

The Singles Collection – No Talk, Inmates, Smart Cops

Jason Jackowiak — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:19:21 +0000

The Singles Collection is contributor Jason Jackowiak’s weekly column focusing on rare and essential 7″ releases. We gladly accept all types of 7″ for consideration.

We’re still a bit woozy from our Memorial Day celebrations here at the singles club, but rather than take it easy and talk about Captain & Tennille or Air Supply records, we’re diving head-first into a grip of blitzkrieg hardcore bangers. Since the tinnitus from last week’s list probably still hasn’t subsided, we figure that this week’s crew should either finish the job, or prove, once and for all, that you truly are one tough S.O.B. Onto the mayhem…

We batter down the door this edition with volatile Houston trio No Talk and their “Confusion” b/w “Outside World” single on Going Underground Records. Limited to a scant 150 copies on clear wax, this two song stinger hits like a loogie to the face, or an “X”d out knuckle to the chin. These boys like to keep their releases scarce and brief, and the pair of stumbling scumfuck punk tunes they deliver here are no exception, which, for what it’s worth, ain’t so bad. Not sure if these are still around or not, but if they are, Puke ‘n’ Vomit will be the folks to get ‘em from.

Our second batch of vagrants this week are none other than Cleveland’s infamous Inmates, with their new-ish Now We Talkin Hardcore EP on Kangaroo Records. Fronted by the legendary Paul E. Wogg, these boys only release a record every once in a while, but damned if they don’t do skull-splitting punk rock just as well as anyone on the planet. They race through a clutch of obnoxious, nihilistic and just plain offensive tracks here, with Paul’s trademark fake cockney snarl leading the charge over a steamroller drum charge and guitars that spew vomit and vitriol. It’s all completely off the rails, not stopping until Paul smashes his head into a brick wall, with the others following suit soon after. These should still be around at some distros, but last we checked, Fashionable Idiots definitely had a few.

The final blow to the skull of good taste this week comes courtesy of Italy’s Smart Cops, with their Cominciare a Vivere EP on Sorry State Records. Formed from the ashes of hardcore behemoths La Piovra and Ohuzara, the Cops are less abrasive (and screamy) than either of those outfits, and have mastered the fine art of writing a decent hook. The follow up to their self-titled EP, Cominciare a Vivere tells the tale of a woebegoten officer of the law that, in an attempt to find himself, become addicted to heroin. All of this is delivered at a rocket-fire pace in an abrasive-yet-tuneful ’80s hardcore style that should please fans of Negative Approach or gutter trash punk rock in general. Still available from the label as far as we know.

We’re crawling back into our cave to nurse our perpetual hangovers now, but not to fear, we should be ready to see the sunlight again by the time next week’s collection rolls around.

Greatest Song At This Moment – Prince & The New Power Generation “7″

Phillip Mottaz — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:40:36 +0000

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included The Ramones’ “Indian Giver,” R.E.M.’s “Me In Honey,” and Van Halen’s “Beautiful Girls.”

I have to stop being dumb about lyrics. Or I need to stop paying attention to old songs I thought I knew well, only to discover I don’t understand a thing. I wish I could say that I came to obsess over “7″ by way of a spiritual awakening, but that’s not the case. My wife and I were walking a dog named Seven, and a small debate was held over whether she was named after the song or George Costanza’s potential son. The answer was never learned, and another mystery was borne unto the world. But I spent the whole hike humming what I remembered of the song, and upon returning home I played it again for the first time in years.

I like Prince. I think he’s incredibly talented. And by this point in the paragraph, you must realize I’m qualifying a lot to cushion an upcoming blow, so here it is: Prince is a weird dude. Weirdness generated out of contradiction. He’s a strange walking dichotomy of overtly over-sex and Jehova’s witness, if rumors are to be believed in the latter case. He signed a roughly 500 billion dollar recording deal only to immediately complain about it, thereby changing his name to a symbol, which is the official title of the album in containing the song in question. And on that album, Prince kicks things off with “My Name is Prince” — ironic since soon after, his name would actually not be Prince — and then “Sexy M.F.” containing the lamest lyrics in the world because they’re so one-dimentionally “sexy” only to eventually land on the religious intonations of “7″. I didn’t even get into the whole completely straight gay guy wearing ass-less pants and quirky up-do’s who slept with Kim Bassinger and wrote songs for Sinead O’Connor, or that he was the only pre-texting adult to actively use “U” when writing “you.”

I don’t think I’m ever as conscious of the writer’s relationship with God as I am when Prince deals with it, mostly because it seems foreign to me in a rock ‘n’ roll connotation. I tend to believe that fiction writers and book writers must believe in God by the very nature of their profession. They themselves create worlds and inhabitants and lay out “a plan” for every move in that world, so it seems like a natural fit that they would envision themselves as the characters in someone else’s story. This ties more to the ego of the writer than anything else (”I am God of my world, so there must be a God of his own world in order to validate my world”). Obviously music has been closely related to religion, but often times my favorite “religious” rock songs are ones which create spiritual feelings, not the songs which, say, predict the end of the world in great detail.

As I’ve lamented both here and in other cases, Prince’s strong suit is not his lyrics. He’s lucky that his musical strengths are so far beyond most mortal humans that his lyrical sins gain absolution. So maybe I’m not dumb about lyrics; I just get more easily suckered in to the great musical elements that I don’t pay as much attention to the words. I’ve always had a good grip on the chorus, which out of context with the rest of the song just seems like more non-sequitur rock BS, throwing in “savoir-faire” for rhyming purposes alone. But in the context of the verses, it doesn’t explain too much, except that he mentions other “7″ things. After inspecting the lyric sheets more closely, I’m happy to discover he doesn’t actually say “giant spider” but “surely die in spite of” as in “And every evil soul will surely die in spite of their 7 tears.”

More comforting, right? Immediately before that line he speaks of the plague and a river of blood with the kind of casual speech even Dethklok would notice.

I suppose it could be commended that someone as popular and prolific as Prince can so boldly stand up for his beliefs and preach to legions of his fans in the context of a pop song, but doesn’t his message get a little muddy with the spooky cackle under the first instrumental stanza? And at the same time, I would argue that a song like “Raspberry Beret” is more “Heavenly” simply because it does not invite any direct comparisons to Heaven. Maybe I’m holding too much against the artist for infusing an otherwise catchy, innovative and fantastic pop song with ideas beyond boy wants girl, but that’s what I can relate to. The best sermons are those that make the unfathomable relate to our daily lives. In some regard, Prince has done that with “7″, because I’m now considering these ideas. When they’re taken out of the context of the music — as I did by cold quoting them earlier — they seem weird and kind of crazy. When they’re combined with great music, they become something else.

Inevitable Video Note: I can’t find a video for this song. I can think of many reasons why…

1. Prince guards his music like a Swiss bank. Remember that video of him at Cochella doing “Creep?” It’s like he’s the Memory police–What video of him doing “Creep?” It was never there…”;
2. Prince has weird song titles, so looking for something called “7″ gets a lot of random crap;
3. Prince’s name is sort of weird, so looking for something with “Prince” in the title gets a lot of random crap;
4. Prince hates the internet and all its glory.

Some or all of these is true. Whatever the case, look it up yourself, then realize you can’t find it, then go to iTunes and support the guy’s mansion castle.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

Derek Evers — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:30:30 +0000

This seemed to be a week of a lot of big names getting involved in various acts of celebration and controversy. We spoke to Chris Cornell and celebrated the reunions of The Libertines and The Strokes, while sadly celebrating Joey Ramones Birthday. Radiohead entered the studio again, Jack White and Alison Mosshart were part of a rumored scrummage, Trash Talk e-mailed Us, Gonzales broke records at masturbatory speed, and of course we premiered new music. Sharon Van Etten also sang to us in her kitchen; that was nice. Here is The Tripwire week in review.

FEATURES
Sharon Van Etten Sings In Her Kitchen

Five Questions For Chris Cornell

Record Shopping With Awesome New Republic

LISTEN
Phoenix – “Lisztomania” (Holy Ghost! Loves Paris Remixomania)

Nisennenmondai – “Destination Tokyo”

HEALTH – “Die Slow”

Passion Pit – “The Reeling” (wallpaper. Remix)

Crystal Fighters – “Xtatic Truth” & “I Love London”

Cassettes Won’t Listen – “Into The Hillside”

Seven Sunny Memorial Day Weekend Songs

LIVE
No Fun Fest (Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Blank Dogs, Yellow Tears & More) @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn

St. Vincent, Pattern Is Movement @ Webster Hall | NYC

BLOG
IM Solipsist – Are You Reading This?

The Singles Collection – Ancestors, Fresh Meat, Young Widows, Melt Banana

Greatest Song At This Moment – The Beatles “She Said, She Said”

New Music Thursday – Crystal Fighters

TV
Crystal Stilts – “Love Is A Wave”

Suckers – “Easy Chair”

White Rabbits – “Percussion Gun”

Beirut – “La Llorona”

The Libertines – Winter Hours

Pulling Teeth – Paranoid Delusions Paradise Illusions

Brimstone Howl – We Came In Peace

NEWS
Celebrating Joey Ramones Birthday

Trash Talk E-mailed Us

Radio Head Enters The Studio

Strokes Members To Reunite For Mercury Lounge Gig

The Libertines Reunite At London Gig

Do It Again: Boston Globe’s Geoff Edgers’ Quest To Reunite The Kinks

Jeffrey Lewis: “Inspired By” Is Sometimes Known As “Illegal Infringement Of Copyright”

Gonzales Has Nothing On Chronic Masturbator

Tommy Ramone, Handsome Dick, Lenny Kaye And Chris Stein = Loud Fast Jews!

Someone Other Than Pete Doherty Addresses The Logistics Of A Real Libertines Reunion

Eighth Grader Attempts Suicide After Marilyn Manson-Related Altercation With Teacher

Ponytail’s Dustin Wong To Drop Solo Record

Pearl Jam To Be First Musical Guest On Conan’s Tonight Show

Introducing… The Hipster Helmet

The Wrens Post New Demo On MySpace

Details Revealed On Paul Banks’ Julian Plenti LP

Did Jack White Really Punch Alison Mosshart

Au Revoir Simone & Savoir Adore; Two NY Bands With French Names Who Want To Give You Free Music

Michael Stipe Endorses Fischerspooner Cover Of “Fascinating”

UPDATE: Alison Mosshart Addresses “Grotesque” Rumors

HEALTH Reveals Details Of Get Color

Want To Buy Albert Hammond Jr.’s Apartment

Iggy Pop To Reunite Raw Power-Era Stooges

Twilight Heartthrob To Portray Black Metal Icon Varg Vikernes Of Burzum In Upcoming Movie

Want To Buy A Poem Bob Dylan Wrote When He Was 16?

Mike Patton To Collaborate With “Watchmen” Author Alan Moore

You Can Hang Out With Nine Inch Nails And Jane’s Addiction For A Small Donation

Vampire Weekend Is Hanging Out With Goths, High Schoolers And Ra Ra Riot

UPDATE: Bob Dylan Poem Up For Auction Was Plagiarized

New Music Thursday – Crystal Fighters

Derek Evers — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:19:09 +0000

Bringing a progressive agglomeration of Basque-influenced folk, electronic synthetic beats and unparalleled vocals to the forefront of European music through their infamous live shows and rigorous tour schedule, the East London-based five-some of fury Crystal Fighters are absolutely killing it.

With their first single official “Xtatic Truth”, released on Parisian powerhouse, Kitsune, last week, the band is gearing up for more brain busting to come, especially with the release of their first full length later this year. Last year, the group gained fame with their Internet smash “I Love London”, voted in Mixmag’s Top 100 Records for 2008 — the only unreleased single in the top 100 — and with a stellar session at Radio 1 Live Session for Rob da Bank. If these tracks don’t make you want to rip your shirt off and dive into a sweaty sea of beautiful people and glistening gems, I don’t know what will.

Crystal Fighters – “Xtatic Truth”

Crystal Fighters – “I Love London” [via Pinglewood]

By Sarah Zellweger

The Singles Collection – Ancestors, Fresh Meat, Young Widows, Melt Banana

Jason Jackowiak — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:20:47 +0000

The Singles Collection is contributor Jason Jackowiak’s weekly column focusing on rare and essential 7″ releases. We gladly accept all types of 7″ for consideration.

After a brief hiatus last week (we were, as Bill Murray says in Caddyshack, “Unavoidably Detained”) we’re back with a selection of decidedly anti-summer anthems. Now, we’re not anti-summer, far from it, but seems we’ve largely been rotting your teeth out with sugary pop confections for the past few months, so it’s time to get that tinnitus rattling around again, just in time for yr spangly Memorial Day festivities. Onward then, into the murk.

We stumble out of the gate this week with Ancestors’ II on Youth Attack! Records. McCoy’s proper vinyl pressing of a hyper-limited (100 copies) cassette, this virgin white slab is a flailing piss storm of schizophrenic BM that’s utterly despondent and horrifyingly toxic and, at times, sounds like it’s being interrupted by shortwave radio blasts from WWII. While not exactly free-form, each side (composition?) is essentially structureless, meaning there could be one song or 45 and you’ll never know the difference. Their harsh malevolence rains down like battery acid as a completely blown-out morass of humanity struggled to find shelter from the pain. Limited to 333 copies and (surprisingly) still available at YA!’s site.

Dredged from the sewers of somewhere is Fresh Meat’s “Saw Her” b/w “Man or Woman?” on Breathing Problem Productions (Rusty from Total Abuse’s label). What you get here are two sides of ultra lo-fi shit-core that sounds like the brainbombs being given a lobotomy in a dumpster, or someone running Poison Idea through a meat-grinder whilst they are still playing. The whole mess sounds like it’s being held together by cheap apoxy (as much for the high off the smell as anything) and fueled by even cheaper beer. People have compared them to Drunks with Guns, but in reality, this sounds more like actual drunks huffing aerosol fumes, unable to tune a guitar and puking on the 4-track; so basically, it’s fantastic. Still available here but who knows for how long.

Perhaps the least abrasive thing we have this week is the new Young Widows/Melt Banana split on Temporary Residence Ltd. The second volume of YW’s split singles series pits the Lousiville noise-rock heroes against Japan’s three-headed spazz hydra. On the A-Side, Young Widows are at their AmRep-aping early ‘90 best here with “Long Live the New Weight”, cranking out a terse, bottom-dwelling rocker that makes liberal use of ear-scrambling distortion. On the flip, Japan’s Melt Banana take things in a more Boredoms-centric direction than we’re used to with “Pain in Ash”, creating a dense, poly-rhythmic foundation for their twisted melange of supersonic sound and toning down their frenetic grindcore in favor of gurgling, organ-stabbed understatement. Head on over to TRL’s website to pick up a copy (or subscribe to the series if you are so inclined).

Just like Dr. Dre we’re keeping heads ringing this week, and while we can’t promise we won’t next week, we do have some lighter fare coming up in the weeks ahead, so make sure to stay tuned (and hydrated).

IM Solipsist – Are You Reading This?

Michael Cranston — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:10:46 +0000

In his opening column, Michael Cranston — the IM Solipsist — voices meta-concerns of how to be interesting in a market already grossly oversaturated in blogs and opinions to Tripwire Editor Derek Evers.

Are You Reading This?

I don’t know if I would be.

In 2009, how does one offer an over-saturated musical blogosphere another column worth reading? How does one differentiate themselves from the legions of blogs offering the same imitated or emulated musical opinions as the next? Can we expect a Darwinian effect that will see the demise of websites and blogs that have no sustainable reason for their existence? Or can we expect a continued influx of under-qualified and over-spoken neophytes wanting their own site on Wordpress? I voiced my online-existential anxieties to Stuart Berman (of Pitchfork Media and Eye Weekly) a few months ago. “Where is there left to go? What’s left to offer when there’s already a Pitchfork, already a Rolling Stone, already a BBC, etc.?” I asked, knowing full well the impossibility of actually addressing such inquiry in a casual discussion. He was unbothered. “Honestly, good writing is good writing. At the end of the day, that is the stuff that will make it.” Touché, Stuart. Cynical Me wanted to say, “Well, easier for you to say when a part of wildly reputable organization with a cult-like following.” Reasonable Me stops Cynical Me from actually saying it.

I talk to Derek about this.

mcranston: How does a music blog sustain itself?
derek: realistically, or theoretically?
mcranston: both …
derek: theoretically, it’s through ads and sponsorships, etc
derek: but realistically, it’s traffic
mcranston: isn’t that more realistically?
mcranston: theoretically, i think blogs sustain themselves through constant updates, contemporary relevance, and expositions of new bands.
mcranston: realistically, it’s obviously just about money.
mcranston: and site traffic is intrinsically linked to money.
derek: yeah, i agree
derek: ultimately good content will bring people in
derek: or i should say, keep them there
derek: but honestly, that’s not so true
derek: it’s really about luring them in
mcranston: Exactly.
mcranston: and that’s the question I’m trying to ask.
derek: it can also mean a big exclusive story or MP3
mcranston: okay …
derek: the first site to post an Animal Collective MP3 is going to get a ton of traffic, so it’s a game a little bit. bit then a pfork or fader they have a built in audience, so they can kind of expose new people and not worry about whether they have enough “big” content on their site.

We don’t get very far and my queries subsist. How does any music blog sustain itself? Berman’s right: patience, trust in quality writing, patience, a unique voice, patience and some sort of cohesive/organized body. Granting these elusive qualities, what then is the ultimate aspiration of the Music Blog? Perhaps to present a mode of thinking that allows the reader of any genre to appreciate a sound or style to which he or she may not commonly gravitate (I guess?). Successfully articulating why an artist is worth listening is no easy task. Most websites don’t accomplish this feat, and few writers come close. Besides, this presupposes the reader is willing to read past the rating.

Being Jaded Is Easy

The torrent of information has already flooded and we’re bored and stagnant. The stories on Stereogum take two minutes to read. Pitchfork’s precise numerical grading system renders a careful reading of the actual review completely extraneous (i.e. an 8.1> is worth getting when you have time, an 8.8> should be downloaded within the day). Hipster Runoff is the absolute pinnacle of a frighteningly self-aware (and self-referential) media that has come to realize the ridiculousness of its environment. It’s like a fish being aware he swims in a fish tank. William Bowers, under the Puritan Blister pseudonym, recently explored Twitter’s insidious effect on the written word. To synthesis his article (though his distinctive prose should encourage a close reading): Bowers worries about the ADD of today’s technological culture and its affect on aesthetic taste (and cerebral development). Is the 140-character limit Twitter all we have to say? Whereas Bowers worries about the macro state of reading and writing, I worry about being read at all. Sure, I post the occasional link on my Facebook page when an album is really fucking good, but familial support via social networking sites only goes so far.

It’s tough not to worry I’m the journalistic equivalent of a Pitchfork echo. What am I to offer other than further confirmation that Animal Collective reign over indie-rock, or that TV on the Radio are the celebrated post-Dubya era band, or that Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay? Hell, even further, how do I strive to not become a Pitchfork-related derivative while simultaneously lauding Deerhunter, Fucked Up or Okkervil River?

Attracting Readers

I’ve given great thought how to attract more readers to The Tripwire, particularly in the vein of new sections. But most of my suggestions were predicated on sensationalist or dumbed down journalism: giving a ranking system to our album reviews, offering 250-word controversial opinions that would at least “get people talking” or just writing trivial details on our favorite bands (you know, like, who Sufjan’s dating). Inevitably, the question comes down to site credibility and reputation. Do we want to be the Perez Hilton of music journalism? After all, Hipster Runoff is as nauseating as it is funny. Actually no, the question comes down to attracting a large and consistent reader-base. How do I get you to read our site more? Is it a matter of venerability?

mcranston: okay, so with the sites that don’t necessarily have the fortune of a “built-in audience,” how do they establish one?
derek: that’s the “game.” one is persistence. doing something well and doing it over time. the other, which is easier for sites that specifically post news (like us and Daily Swarm) is SEO-friendly titles and the kind I like to consider “yellow journalism” that help lure people in
derek: but yes, also having a unique angle like hipsterunoff
derek: oh, and social networing assets, but that’s a whole other conversation

I can only hope it’s venerability. After all, my blog created this past summer, In The Gnar, joined the landfills after just one entry (but what an entry it was).

Effable Solipsism

Can I talk my shit again?

I suppose it takes the most vain (and dubious) of solipsists to open a column with self-referential concerns. It’s very Klosteran-esque to be reviewing oneself in the first place, let alone with such scrutiny. But my considerations are not ill founded. I honestly don’t know if you’re reading his. I don’t receive feedback. I don’t know how many of you there even are.

mcranston: Puritan Blister by William Bowers of Pitchfork is one of the best columns I’ve read on a music website
mcranston: he’s wildly erudite. his prose is unique. he’s complicated. a very fascinating read,
mcranston: so why do you think his column isn’t a staple among p4k readers?
derek: you just answered it
derek: he’s wildly erudite. his prose is unique. he’s complicated.
derek: people want simple and easy to understand
derek: Filet Mignon is amazing, but more people eat MacDonalds
derek: I guess what I’m getting at is it’s so broad and generalized (his topic that is) that people don’t really understand what Puritan Blister is until you delve into it
derek: which is why it’s so great
mcranston: Yes.
mcranston: so with that in mind, what lessons do we take for this column here
mcranston: – simple idea?
derek: I think the answer is talking to these people who’s opinions we take as “experts”
derek: because that allows you/us to delve into these very broad and expansive topics under the veil of a very simple concept

Or maybe I need a change of scenery. Writing in Starbucks is too cliché, too rom-com-esque, too “You’ve Got Mail”-ish. I need to start smoking, and get a type-writer, and probably grow a better beard. I bet that’s how Pitchfork does it.

Greatest Song At This Moment – The Beatles “She Said, She Said”

Phillip Mottaz — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:30:32 +0000

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included New Order’s “Age of Consent,” Radiohead’s “Optimistic,” and Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglova’s cover of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.”

‘Oh, great,’ you’re thinking if you’re like me. ‘Another tribute to The Beatles. Just what this planet needs.’

‘And wonderful,’ you sarcastically continue. ‘It’s a non-single from one of the cool albums, so he’s proving how cool he is, even though he’s still writing about the most written-about band of the last two centuries. Bravo, free thinker.’

I know. I have problems. Let me lay it all out for a second:

I do not hate the Beatles at all. I only mildly pretend I do in my weaker moments to present an air of worldliness and musical study that would otherwise not be present. I used to be way into them in high school, which was perfect for high school. But as I aged and explored outside of that seven year period from 1964-1970, I developed a weird resentment toward the band not just for being so good, but for being so unquestionably good. This week’s song is from Revolver, which holds the title of “Best Beatles Album Ever” in current circles, probably because A) it somehow has the fewest number of over-played singles and B) we went through 20 years of Sgt. Pepper and 20 years of Abbey Road, so this is just Revolver’s turn. The forgiveness of a world of fans toward the band’s faults boggles my mind. It makes me kind of sad to think that for some music lovers, their best days are 40 years in the past, and they know it. Or won’t change it. I always think of the line from Field of Dreams as Ray, while discussing his 60s experiences, mentions how he even tried to enjoy sitar music. That’s what Beatles fans remind me of; people still trying (or maybe pretending) to enjoy sitar music. Experimentation is fantastic, but it doesn’t consume your day’s listening experience. Great songs, however, do, and that brings us to “She Said She Said.”

My wife had recently gone to a Mother’s Day brunch, and they had a singer performing a bunch of songs. “Some Beatles songs were in there,” she relayed. “Of course,” I sneered, then added with a completionists fever, “Which songs?” Through an arduous memory-regaining process, I finally learned the names of the songs, one of which was “Here, There And Everywhere”. A request was put forth to hear the song again, and I allowed it with only the tiniest bit of hesitation. It’s as though I could see this article coming toward me like a freight train. Somehow I knew I would end up writing about the Greatest Band Ever and, consequently, throwing my column onto the growing pile of praise articles (for a good example of this, check out the comments at the bottom of the attached YouTube video. 108 as of May 17 on this song alone*). I hadn’t heard Revolver in a long while, and knew there was a song shortly after “Everywhere” that I remembered loving. After skipping a few tunes, I landed back in “She Said” land, and that’s where I’ve stayed, renting a place next to a long line of disciples.

But now I’m stuck. What am I possibly going to write about this song that hasn’t been written, sang, dreamt or painted by 600 other people already? Here’s the “review” from All Music.

“One of the key tracks on Revolver, ‘She Said, She Said’ is John Lennon’s major contribution to the album (apart from the magnificent closer, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’). It’s a vital, scathing track, reputedly inspired from a conversation Lennon had with Peter Fonda. With it’s clearly Acid-inspired lyric, Lennon sneers ‘She said she said/I know what it’s like to be dead’ with a contempt that is rare within his work with The Beatles. Harrison’s guitar is similarly jarring and brittle. The song is quite different to anything The Beatles recorded previously, yet there’s no denying its brilliance, and enormous importance in the development in Lennon’s song writing.”

I appreciate the effort, but what makes this review different from any other lock-step Beatle praise outside of the trivia? Brittle guitar, Lennon’s acid tongue, important to his song writing… heard it. At this point in modern history, I defy anyone to string two Beatles songs together that aren’t important to the band’s growth as song writers. When your greatness is omnipresent, then importance becomes part of your every move. There cannot be critical discussion about an unquestionably great anything because it introduces criticism, and criticsm introduces the potential for negative notes. And when you’re writing something for the acolytes, you don’t tell them that their idol has faults.

Sometimes you love something so much you will take any path just to discuss it. As a fan digs deeper and deeper into his lovely world of nostalgia, he searches for any angle that could possibly get him closer to the actual intangible art itself. Sometimes this works, and sometimes you just end up with yes men re-writing another “It’s Great,” and sometimes — as it appears would be the case with this week’s column — you get a mostly negative person who attacks a beloved entity from another side.

This presents a disservice to the song itself, which — as I’ve proven again and again with this column — is mostly just great because it sounds like Greatness. I posses no poetry to describe how bad-ass the drum fills are, or how that breaking down on the chorus feels emphasized like an apostrophe in a dictionary (”And she’s M’aking me F’eel like I’-'ve never been B’orn”). Or how this group of four human beings are responsible for some of the most perfect sounding noises we as a race have ever created or manufactured. I want to get closer and closer, but I’ll never reach it.

*As another point on fanaticism and the internet, I also wanted to point out how there is one video for a 45-second demo for “Help!” that has 80,000 views and 133 text comments. And not just short “This is great” either.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

Derek Evers — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:06:20 +0000

So, how many times can we get updated on the Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, David Lynch Collab album Dark Night Of The Soul in one week? Not once, not twice, but three times. Wilco was also on the non-humble tip this week, Brian Williams padded his indie cred with Deer Tick and we just might have found the next Wavves before he even hits puberty. All that, while we premiered a ton of great music, chilled with Trash Talk and got our hair cut with King Khan. Here is The Tripwire week in review.

FEATURES
Photo Feature – Backstage With King Khan And The Shrines

Five Questions For The Whip

Celebrating 4/20 With Trash Talk

LISTEN
Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

Cause Co-Motion! – “You Lose”

Wolf & Cub – “Seven Sevens” (BFAM Remix)

Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk – “Picnic At Zug Island”

Grooms – “Dreamsucker”

Nisennenmondai – “Destination Tokyo”

LIVE
Animal Collective, Grouper @ Terminal 5 | NYC

Animal Collective, Grouper @ Terminal 5 | NYC

The United States, Vetiver, Papercuts @ The Bell House | Brooklyn

BLOG
The Greatest Song At This Moment – Rufus Wainwright “Foolish Love”

Notes From Middle America – Factory Workers

The Tripwire Crossword 003 – Famous Firsts

New Music Thursday – Grooms (Formerly The Muggabears)

TV
Bon Iver And My Brightest Diamond – “Flume” (Live At Radio City Music Hall)

Clues – “Haarp”

The Mae Shi – “The Lamb And The Lion”

Black Lips – “The Drop I Hold”

Vivian Girls – “Moped Girls”

NEWS
Guitar Hero Van Halen Announced

FAIL: Junior Boys At Webster Hall

UK Government Propses £26 Million Stimulus For The Music Industry

Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk To Drop Four Cassettes, Two 7-Inches And Tour

Watch Brian Williams Interview Deer Tick

Dead Weather Announce Release Date And Supporting Tour For Horehound

Modest Mouse Releases New 7-Inch, Better Late Than Never

Blondie And Pat Benatar Announce Co-Headlining Tour

Animal Collective Box Set Now Available (Or It Was)

Boy George Released From Jail For Good Behavior

Amanda Palmer Writes A Musical To In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Ten Things You Don’t Know About Bjork And Dirty Projectors Show

Download The Prefuse 73 2003 Tour Mix

Arcade Fire Releases Extremely Rare Signed Deluxe Versions Of Miroir Noir DVD For Charity

Chris Martin’s New Best Friend Plays LA For First Time In 33 Years

Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, David Lynch Collab Album Details Announced

Listen To Wilco (The Song) On Wilco (The Album) By Wilco (The Band) Now

Is The Next Wavves A 13-Year Old From Indiana

John Lennon NYC Exhibit To Include Bloody Clothes He Wore On Night He Was Killed

Peter Gabriel Continues To Rule; Wins Polar Music Prize

Listen To Telepathe And Effi Briest Cover Each Other

Sunny Day Real Estate To Reunite At Bumbershoot?

John Lennon NYC Exhibit To Include Bloody Clothes He Wore On Night He Was Killed

Depeche Mode Cancels More Tour Dates Due To Gastroenteritis

Stream The Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse Dark Night Of The Soul In Its Entirety Now

Ticketmaster Oversells Bruce Springsteen D.C. Show

Duff McKagan Takes Over The Village Voice

Pearl Jam Bassist Jeff Ament Attacked And Robbed While Working On New Album

Ex-Guided By Voices Tobin Sprout Pens Children’s Book

Maximo Park Robbed Of Joe Strummer Guitar, Reward For Return

UPDATE: Dark Night Of The Soul To Be Released As A Blank CDR Due To Legal Reasons

Watch Rare Footage Of The Rolling Stones At Altamont

Noel Gallagher Five Songs Into Writing New Oasis Album

New Music Thursday – Grooms (Formerly Known As Muggabears)

Derek Evers — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:28:51 +0000

[Photo by Angela Hodgkinson]

We got an e-mail this past week from one of our favorite Brooklyn bands who used to go by the name of Muggabears, maybe you’ve heard of them? If you have, forget it, because they’re now called The Muslims. No seriously, as awesome as that would be, they’re actually now called Grooms, and they have a new record they want you to hear.

The band formerly known as Muggabears have been floating around the Brooklyn scene for the past 5 years, but given the name change, we’re calling them new. And while we could fill you in on the details of their new album, we’ll let the Grooms’ very own Emily Ambruso fill you in.

We just finished up mastering a full-length record and I wanted to send it to you guys. The album is 10 songs and called Rejoicer. We recorded at Civil Defense studio and mixed at Rare Book Room. We’re really happy with it!

Well Emily, so are we, and because of that, we’re posting the first song from Rejoicer — “Dreamsucker” — so everyone else can hear it too.

Grooms – “Dreamsucker”

The Tripwire Crossword 003 – Famous Firsts

Derek Evers — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:03:59 +0000

[The Tripwire Crossword Puzzle 003 written by Derek Evers and JENZ, photo by Nate Dorr]

The third Tripwire crossword puzzle takes a look at some of our favorite first records. The clues are the title of the infamous debuts while the answer is the name of the band. Obviously we did not include self-titled albums, that would be cheating.

Remember, in order to switch between the “across” and “down” clues, just click the coinciding location on the puzzle. And like last week’s puzzle, we did not include the word “the” in any of the band name answers. And as always, please let us know what topics we should try to conquer in subsequent puzzles and if we use your idea, we will credit you and maybe even include your name within that week’s crossword. Good luck!

Notes From Middle America – The Factory Workers

Danny R. Phillips — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:26:08 +0000

Notes From Middle America is contributor Danny R. Phillips’ monthly column. You can read past installments here.

Being a long jaded follower of many musical genres, it’s hard for me to be leveled by a new live band; rare is the evil smile on my face or the slow climb of a shiver up my crooked spinal column. Since I’ve become a “professional” music critic as opposed to just another wiseass amateur arguing about music with anyone within earshot, few acts have issued a response in my mind higher than “they’re ok.”

Within the first seconds of The Factory Workers opening slot for two bands that are now erased from my memory, the long absent grin glued itself to my face and the warm electric shock of a supercharged amp rattling across the concrete floor straight through the top of my skull…. Holy Skipping Moses! “Yes Virginia, rock ‘n’ roll does exist!”

The Factory Workers (Al Amador and Justin Brooks) were something explosive. Prior to our interview an hour before the show at Lawrence, Kansas’ The Replay Lounge, I honestly knew very little to nothing about them; just the home recorded songs on their MySpace page and a shared appreciation on the blues. Even in those songs I could hear the lingering beast, a wicked two headed monster ready to fry amplifiers and devour drum kits. During the course of their all too short thirty minute vaporizing set, I became thoroughly convinced that I, along with a decent size Friday night crowd at The Replay Lounge, had just witnessed a giant step forward in Blues Evolutionary Theory.

But the blues rock duo from Kansas City, Missouri are more than just a blues band; they incorporate the sounds of The Black Keys, Son House, the punk rock brutality of Mudhoney and sprinkle in the laid back slyness of Lightnin’ Hopkins. On top of that they add in moments of electric blues like those made famous by 1960’s groups Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer to create a rattle both wholly familiar and entirely their own. It is a music in lock step with their working class name. “I would drive by this factory everyday on my way to work or class and think, I bet those people are working really hard,” lead singer and guitarist Alheim “Al” Amador told me. “I want to work as hard at my music as those people in the factory are working at their job. I wanted to be respected like I respect them.”

The blues have been a part of American music culture for generations. Long before Robert Johnson had hellhounds on his trail, before Willie Dixon was your “Backdoor Man”, years before Leadbelly was singing of murder in the pines, hell, even before there was an America there was the blues. The blues are a human reaction to the hardships of life not a exclusively American reaction. The Factory Workers prove that.

What makes the band’s cohesiveness and blistering live set even more astonishing is the fact that they’ve only been playing for two years and this was to be their first show ever in a proper venue. As Amador tells it, “We started playing in the garage and the basement just having fun. We thought it sounded pretty solid for a two-piece, so we decided to play some shows just to try it out,” A exchange student from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Amador came to the states at 17. Justin Brooks, the group’s drummer is squarely Midwestern. “I was born in Springfield, Missouri, moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, graduated high school there, went to Kansas City for college, met Al and there you have The Factory Workers.”

I spoke to the duo shortly after they finished setting up their gear. It was the perfect Lawrence spring night for a show; nice temperature, nicer looking college girls in shorts strolling by, a Lyle Lovett-fashion-obsessed street musician playing for money nearby and pizza furnished by one of the guys’ girlfriends… It was the calm before the proverbial storm.

People usually work their way up to the blues. What did you listen to on your way there?
Al: When I was younger I listened to a lot of Credence, stuff like that; my dad was a big fan of rock music.

Justin: For me, it was Nirvana.

A: Yeah, Nirvana definitely. As I got older I started playing guitar to Nirvana, but that was back home in Mexico. When I came to the States, I started digging into different stuff; Junior Kimborough, Robert Lee Burnside… You know, all the people that were doing the rawer, Memphis style stuff. I just picked it up from there. I just try to make a collage of everything.

What about you? You’re being awfully quiet.
J: Oh, sorry. [laughs] I’d say some of my big inspirations as a drummer are probably Buddy Mills from Band of Gypsys, I kinda started listening to him when I started playing music with Al and really got into it. I really like Abe Cuddingham of the deftones a lot and Dave Grohl.

Al, Who’s your all-time favor guitar player? Remember, I’m looking for a “right answer.”
J: Steve Vai!

A: Yeah, right! [laughs] I couldn’t really tell. I don’t focus on one player, ya know.

J: Al, I’d probably say Burnside.

A: Yeah, Burnside is pretty awesome. I guess I’d have to go with that.

So, how do you feel about your first record? Is it an EP?
A: Yeah, it’s pretty much an EP.

J: It was our first time working with real recording equipment and not just a laptop.

What was the studio experience like for you guys?
J: It was good. We got to play at the same time together instead of laying down our parts at different times, which was great. Since it’s blues and pretty raw we just laid it down together; it turned out really well, Josh (Thomas, of High Diving Ponies) recorded and mixed it.

What was it like working with Josh?
J: Oh, it was great man.

A: He’s very relaxed and will tell you like it is; he’s straight forward but cool about it, ya know? No BS, really an awesome guy to work with. Josh has been around the scene for a long time so he knows what’s going on.

What’s the scene in K.C. like for a band like The Factory Workers? Are they on board or do you not really give a shit?
A: I don’t really care, I just really like playing live, we haven’t been doing it for too long but it’s definitely a lot of fun.

How long have you been playing together? Do you know the exact date?
J: It was April 16, two years ago.

How did you discover each other as musicians? Did you know some of the same people?
A: I would see Justin hanging with the hipsters at school and I thought “Man, I just wanna punch that guy.”

J: It’s true, He really did hate me.

A: But then we meet through a common friend at a birthday party and we hit it off from there. I was like, “Hey, you play drums? You wanna hang out and play music?”

J: Once we started jamming it just clicked. I had never played drums before but he stuck it out for 6 months or a year for me to pick it up. Now I think we have something really solid. I don’t have any formal training but I’d like to get some someday.

Who is the main songwriter in the band or do you share the work?
J: No, he writes them all. I don’t write a single thing. [laughs]

A: The songs are old ones I’ve had for a long time and some come on the spot. But yeah, I do most of the songwriting. He just beats the shit out of it.

What’s the EP going to be called?
A: I think we’re just going with The Factory Workers.

When is the album going to be “officially” released?
J: We just finished the final edit so it’s out now.

A: With some more time and a few more songs maybe we can add to it and release a full album.

How long have you two been playing together?
A: A couple years; We started to get some momentum going, had shows booked than I fell and broke my collarbone and we had to sit for like three months so that slowed us way down. It’s hard to play guitar with a broken collarbone, ya know.

Last question, you both play in High Diving Ponies with Josh Thomas. What’s it like splitting time between HDP and The Factory Workers?
J: It’s cool but it’s two completely different style.

A: I play bass in HDP. It’s taught me a lot because I do bass a lot when I’m strumming cords with The Factory Workers.

J: I’d say we’ve seen a lot of improvement in each others playing since we started doing both. There’s a bit more aggression in Josh’s songs so it give me an excuse to go crazy on the drums.

A: I’m pretty mellow when I play the bass, I stick to one bass line. With The Factory Workers it’s more freestyle. The main part of the song always remains the same but there is room to dance up and down the song.

Discussing music with Al and Justin and witnessing their annihilating set at The Replay Lounge further cemented in me the feeling that the blues, and rock for that matter, are part of the same universal language. It is not English, Spanish, Arabic or Pig Latin. It is language with no barrier. It’s words and an alphabet that we all can understand.

With the closing notes still bouncing off of the pinball machines, I gladly gave the guys $5 to replenish their thirsty gas tank. As I headed out the door, the smile returned to my face and a thought popped into my ringing head:

“If they are this great live after just a few shows, then how killer are they going to be a year from now?”

Greatest Song At This Moment – Rufus Wainwright “Foolish Love”

Phillip Mottaz — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:42:39 +0000

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included ‘Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry,” The Groovie Ghoulies’ “I’m Doin’ Fine,” and The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Bold As Love.”

It’s getting warm here in Southern California. A stint of chilly Spring is giving way to Perpetual Summer, and everyone’s very excited. I’m often reminded of that Baz Luhrmann “song” “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”, where they advise the class of 1999 to live on the East Coast, but move before it makes you hard, and to live on the West Coast, but move before it makes you soft. Too late. I’m soft as a pillow made of kitty dreams and Muppet babies. A few weeks of temperatures in the 60s and I am ready to freak out. Why are we even bothering to kill the ozone layer if we can’t manage some decent weather around Hollywood?

As our weather perfects itself, cool breezes have become more common on my neighborhood walks, and those breezes deserve a soundtrack. And for whatever reason — but mostly desperation for a song on which to fixate — that soundtrack has come via Rufus Wainwright’s track 1, side 1 of his album #1, “Foolish Love”. I have no precedent in my catalog for this CD. I remember buying it after I saw a “CBS Sunday Morning” story on Wainwright and dug his style. But I’m not a retro-sound guy, really. Make no mistake: I love nostalgia, and dinosaur rock, and all that sort of thing. But I have no patience for (most) music made of this era, but sounds like a past era. The whole Big Band craze fits in this category. Yeah, Brian Setzer had an energized Orchestra; but I can’t music giving me a history lesson. Even though it may cost me my membership card to the indie world and dark-rimmed glasses club, I have similar problems enjoying the Decemberists, and you may send me as many nasty comments about the feces in my ears as you like. Some music feels natural and others feel completely cerebral; it just so happens that I respond best to the natural type, and I get that vibe from Wainwright’s music. Listening to “Foolish Love” — an immaculate recording of brittle production and sassy performing — nothing could feel more matter-of-fact.

For all his Tin-Pan Alley longings (am I even using this reference right?), something about Wainwright’s style sits well with me. It soothes, calms and engages me. His vocal style come so close to being horrible that it’s great, and there’s nothing more rock ‘n’ roll than that. Isn’t the search for that blurry line separating greatness and terrible disaster the essence of every artistic endeavor? If music expresses what words fail to articulate, and if that same blurry line does exist somewhere but we just can’t quantify it, then it is only discovered by the actual creation of art. Whatever the case, Wainwright’s singing rests just this side of awful and annoying, and the effect is invitation. Harry Caray used to say that the charm of having a bozo like him sing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” was it got everyone in the stadium to think, “Well, if he can do it…” and then join in. Same thing here. We’ve all got a moaning whine living in our nose. Have had it since age three. “Foolish Love” provides an adult theme for that childish whine, and even though the topic might not be so appealing (mourning a failed love affair), the style of the song is immensely invitational.

Almost all of the lyrics are memorable and perfectly hung on or around the song. Almost. It’s just me; I never seem to get lyrics right. If I really work at it, sometimes I manage to scrape out a bit of accuracy, but I’m usually too lazy to care. If I don’t like a song, no amount of lyrics are going to help. What’s even more embarrassing is when I love a song, sing along with it for years, and still don’t get the lyrics right. I have made up my own, and often times when I learn they’re wrong, my Lyrics still resonate better with me. This says a lot about my ego. The fact that I misheard “Why can’t you last?” in “Foolish Love” as “Why can’t you laugh?” says even more about my personality. I always got that this was a mellow and melancholy song, so I must have equated a lack of laughter with the kind of misery being portrayed. I’ve been humming that bit incorrectly for ten years, and it’s only this week — after subjecting myself to a strict listening regimen — that I finally heard the “-st” at the end instead of a “–ff.”

I’ve mentioned before that a sad song can make me feel great, and that’s the case again with “Foolish Love.” I think this has more to do with my relationship and reactions to beauty in any form rather than the content of that beauty. “Foolish” is a song about denial and putting on false smiles and pretending not to care when really you cannot let go of the thing you should let go… and it makes me feel great. This great feeling, my friends, comes from songwriting. Simple, clear, precise songwriting. A perfect example can be found in the two notes — TWO NOTES — played before the “peppier” middle section (the “denial movement”). True, they’re mostly there for a transition between keys in the song, but they act a greater purpose in being a low note followed by a high note. I’m sure there’s endless papers and essays from top scientists I could find and quote, and make tons of links to their experiments and historical data that prove that a low note followed by a high note translates in our basic human souls as “up beat,” but I’m not going to. And not just because of my firm embrace of Fox News style journalism, and not just because I’m lazy (mostly though); it’s because it’s clear as day if you just listen to it. There it is.

By the way, just a live version today. A great one, but the studio cut is gorgeous.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

P. Elizabeth Cawein — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:48:49 +0000

Swine flu wasn’t nearly as big a topic this week, but it still reared it’s ugly head to make sure we didn’t forget about it. Still, we were able to step outside to speak with M. Ward, Antlers and Local Natives as well as release some exclusive music. But probably the biggest highlight was getting to see David Byrne, Sharon Jones, Feist, Bon Iver, The National, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond and more at the Dark Was The Night event. To see what else you may have missed, here’s the Tripwire week in review.

FEATURES
Careening Through The Mountains: An Interview With Local Natives

Five Questions For M. Ward

Concept & Catharsis: Antlers’ Peter Silberman On Hospice

LISTEN
Jonathan Enigk – “Life is too Short”

Hatcham Social – “Murder in the Dark”

Burial + Four Tet – “Moth/Wolf Cub”

Exclusive Premiere – Annie & The Beekeepers “Like A Dog”

Akron/Family – “River”

TRIPWIRE TV
Flaming Lips – “Borderline” (Madonna Cover)

Starfucker – “Medicine”

Ponytail – “Celebrate The Body Electric”

Cause Co-Motion – “Which Way Is Up (Live At Monster Island)”

The Gossip – “Heavy Cross” (Unofficial Video).

BLOG
New Music Thursday – Best Hits

The Singles Collection – Naked On The Vague, Nice Face, Timmy’s Organism

The Tripwire Crossword 002 – Second Time’s A Charm

Sounds Of Goodbye: The “Voice” Vern Gosdin

Greatest Song At This Moment – The Rolling Stones “Prodigal Son”

LIVE
King Khan and the Shrines @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn

Kurt Vile, Sightings @ Silent Barn | Brooklyn

The Kills, The Horrors @ Webster Hall | NYC

A Place To Bury Strangers, Dinowalrus, Crash Diet Crew @ Less Artists More Condos | NYC

Dark Was The Night (David Byrne, Sharon Jones, Feist, Bon Iver, The National, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond & More) @ Radio City Music Hall | NYC

REVIEWS
Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware

A Camp – Colonia

Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care

NEWS
Coldplay To Stevens And Satriani: We Didn’t Copy You!

Graham Coxon To Release Limited Edition Prints With New Single

The Who Unplug For Cancer Charity Gig

Call Him Professor: Wayne Coyne Goes Back to College

Daft Punk Score French Film Premiering At Cannes Festival

Fever Ray Is Coming To America (And Canada)

Pete Doherty Takes Aim At Oasis To Make Babyshambles Britain’s Best

John Doe Waxes On Technology & The Music Industry

Swine Flu Sets Its Sights On Next Potential Victim: Glastonbury

Stream Big Business’ Entire Upcoming LP Mind The Drift Now

Lucky Fans Find Bonus 7-Inch With Unreleased Tracks In Check Your Head Reissue

Stephin Merritt Makes Crazy Piano Music For Coraline Musical

Shooting Cancels Santigold, King Khan Concert

The Shins Make Modest Line-Up And Label Changes

The Specials Cancel First Brixton Academy Reunion Gig

Jack White Teams Up With Dex Romweber, Duo To Produce New 7″

Woodstock Confirms 40th Anniversary At Original Location With Original Performers To Headline

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon Talks New Material, Being Awesome

Kylie Minogue Announces Dates For First Ever North American Tour

Fever Ray, Telepathe Among Those Added To Loop Festival Line-Up

Interpol’s Paul Banks To Release Solo Album As Alter Ego Julian Plenti

The Award For Worst Advice Ever: Radiohead’s Managers Told Them To Split Before In Rainbows

Don’t Heckle The Musicians: Kills Singer Jamie Hince Assaults Fan

Wilco vs. Wilco: Jay Bennett Sues Jeff Tweedy Over Royalties

Mike Skinner Cares About You And Swine Flu

Mastodon In Talks To Make Crack The Skye Into A Feature Film

Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber Doesn’t Make The Time 100 Cut

Clutch Announce Release Date And Tour For Ninth Studio Album

Wayne Coyne Waves The White Flag In The Battle Of Indie Egos

Meg White Getting Hitched To Patti Smith’s Son

Philip Glass, Incarnate Lama Among Speakers At Jewel Heart Benefit

William Fitzsimmons To Release Live EP in June

The Forty Sexiest Frontmen In Rock History

Torche Release Video For Across The Shields, Tour With Harvey Milk

Panda Bear Track Featured In Award-Winning Short Film

Not Again: Coldplay Now Accused By Cat Stevens Of Plagiarism

Tupac Lives, Or At Least TMZ Says So

New Music Thursday – Best Hits

Derek Evers — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:11:25 +0000

[Photo by Nate Dorr]

Have you ever wondered what would happen if High Places and Dan Deacon had a love child? Aside from the hotly disturbing picture this thought paints (no offense to anyone), it would probably sound something like Best Hits.

We first heard Best Hits at a show on April at New York’s Cake Shop where they played alongside fellow freak, dance-electronic outfit dANA. A three-piece (two guys, one girl), Best Hits take the calypso-meets-jungle aesthetic of High Places and adds the increasingly popular 8-bit acid house glitch to create something that is equally at home in both the noise/avant continuum and a straight up glo-stick waving dance party.

After catching their incredibly fun set at Cake Shop, we approached them and asked for recorded material. Later that week we were hit up with an e-mail letting us know they recorded the entire set and made it available for download. So here is their entire set from that night with track listing below. And if you like what you hear, you can download the entire set here, or go to their MySpace to hear more.

Best Hits live April 10 @ Cake Shop | NYC

Best Hits April 10 set list @ Cake Shop | NYC
1. Queen Reade
2. Hot Water
3. Finally
4. Cheriol
5. Tons of Eyes
6. Like Dat
7. Secret Miami

The Singles Collection – Naked On The Vague, Nice Face, Timmy’s Organism

Jason Jackowiak — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:30:13 +0000

The Singles Collection is contributor Jason Jackowiak’s weekly column focusing on rare and essential 7″ releases. We gladly accept all types of 7″ for consideration.

Ok, after a few snags and some schedule wrangling, we’re finally ready with our latest all-Sacred Bones edition of the Singles Collection. We’ve made no secret of the fact that we love this label, and true to their ever-stellar form, their latest batch of singles are all absolute must-owns, both from sonic and aesthetic points of view. Since you’ve undoubtedly heard us sing their praises in the past, let’s just get to this latest batch of killer tunes.

The first thing to blow speaker cones this week is the latest from Australia’s Naked on the Vague, “Chitty Chat” b/w “Goodbye Dark Cliche”, their first single since last year’s awesome Poltergeist Palm on Skulltones. The A-Side is a slow-creeping dirge that shatters into a billion splintered pieces, voices stumbling over one another, guitars backfiring and a clattering tribal ruckus holding the whole thing together for the duration, only to have it meltdown in its final moments. The ominous clouds roll in on the flipside, a macabre synth-war that sounds like someone shooting angels out of the sky with an AK-47 and gleefully shrieking as they plummet to the pavement. We’re not certain, but if it’s possible for something to be both utterly genius and totally horrifying at the same time, we think NOTV have captured it on tape here.

Next up we’ve got the third single (and second on SB) from Nice Face, “Mnemonic Device” b/w “Situation is Facing Utter Annihilation” and for as good as his HoZac single was, this one really takes him to the next level in terms of pure songcraft. The A-Side rides a wobbling, warbling bassline and pinprick synths into a strange pop nirvana, a splattered lo-fi realm where everybody is obsessed with Bee Thousand and constantly prays to altars constructed solely of Fall albums. Once you make the turn, “Situation is Facing Utter Annihilation” is, bar none, the best thing he’s ever put to tape. Far more aggressive than we’re used to hearing, this searing brace of manic scum-punk is as instantly addicting as heroin bubblegum and twice as sweet. That it manages, at points, to recall everybody from Marc Bolan to Jim Shepard is a testament to both its audacious versatility and shit-caked pop perfection. The single of the year may have already landed.

To end things on a decidedly Beefheartian note, we’ve got the double 7″ offering from Timmy’s Organism, the “solo” guise of Human Eye frontman Timmy Vulgar. Definitely the weirdest platter(s) that the label has released to date, Squeeze the Giant is four sides of guitarded weirdness that drips sky juice from every pore and, in some instances, sounds like several different bands jamming over the top of one another. As you run through these deep grooves you’ll hear mutated blues slop, LSD-addled skronk-rock, a barely discernible vocal harangue and, in the form of “Tree Thirsty Earthquake”, something resembling a gentle torch song, only far more obtuse and ultimately unsettling. Members of Tyvek pop their heads into Mr. Timmy’s Keyhole Wonderland briefly, and even they seem weirded out of their skulls. Heroic and awesome, just not for the faint of eardrum.

There you have it, another batch of stunners from Sacred Bones. All of these releases are still available from their website, and if you act real quick-like, you might even be able to snag one of the limited editions. Thanks for scraping the sky with us this week, and make sure to check back next week when we dissect some of the new(er) offerings on Goodbye Boozy, Regal Select and some others we can’t think of right this second.

The Tripwire Crossword 002 – Second Time’s A Charm

Derek Evers — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:21:51 +0000

[The Tripwire Crossword Puzzle 002 written by Derek Evers and JENZ]

The second Tripwire crossword puzzle takes a look at bands whose primary members came from other popular bands. Whether they sprung from the ashes of a group that broke up or are merely a side project, all of the answers in this week’s puzzle are the culmination of such unions. And you guessed it, the clues are the bands they came from. This time there’s no excuses about the difficulty of the puzzle, it’s time to find out if you know your favorite band’s origins.

Couple small things to note about this weeks puzzle; as per your comments, we made it so you no longer have to scroll in order to read the clues. To switch between the “across” and “down” clues, just click the coinciding location on the puzzle. Secondly, we know that some of the bands in the clues have spawned multiple side projects, but only one will fit. Please don’t fill our comment box telling us The Strokes have more than one possible answer.

And of course this is not a perfected science, so we would like you to fill our comment box with your thoughts. Please let us know what topics we should try to conquer in subsequent puzzles and if we use your idea, we will credit you and maybe even include your name within that week’s crossword. Good luck!

Sounds Of Goodbye: The “Voice” Vern Gosdin

Derek Evers — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:07:18 +0000

Remembering Vern Gosdin by David Rothblatt

Sadly, once in a while one of my favorite musical artists dies. It doesn’t happen often, let alone one of the most important figures in Rock ‘n’ Roll history.

It affects me in different ways each time, ranging from “Oh, that’s too bad” to the way I feel right now, which is really, really sad. News that Vern Gosdin had passed away from a stroke on April 28 at age 74 — peacefully as I understand it — put me in that place. I am glad to have an actual venue to write an obituary for him because in those rare cases I usually write one anyway, just for my own self-exploration.

I guess the last one was Zevon, with its rather obvious “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” theme, which was how he legitimately had lived in the first place. Too much so, in fact. I am pretty sure some tears welled up when I listened to “Carmelita” that day.

When Wally Tax, the near-destitute lead singer of the [Dutch] Outsiders (not the “Time Won’t Let Me” group, who were from Ohio), who had been riddled with severe health problems and died at age 57 in April of 2005, it literally changed my life. It hadn’t been so easy to write his obituary since most of the details of his life were in Dutch, but instead was restricted to my feelings, which were worsening by the day leading up to a planned tribute webcast wherein all of the members of the original Outsiders played song after song in a three hour event on a stage covered with flowers and ribbons. The song of his which still gives me the gooseflesh, as they say over there, is “You’re Everything On Earth”.

My first web funeral.

As I sat by myself and watched the webcast, I cried like a baby but was happy that a man who had died penniless, in ridiculously acute ill health, and in relative obscurity to be forever damned to the mistaken tethering to frat/psych nuggetry, had in fact received a decent sendoff in his home country, which incidentally is part of my absurdly complex ethnic heritage. Better we don’t get into how I took the deaths of Muddy Waters and Junior Wells. Or Epic Soundtracks. What is it about these deaths that gets to me?

I think it’s “The Voice,” which just so happened to be Vern Gosdin’s nickname — quite an honor in itself, don’t you think? It was also the title of his final album. I think that is the answer for me, which is the intimacy and nuance that we share and share again with the voices that we allow into our homes, cars, pods, heads and ultimately, into our hearts.

Vern Gosdin will have died with his share of accolades in the world of country music — nearly twenty top-10 U.S. country hits, including the chart-topping and hooky “I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You’re Gonna Love Me Tonight)”. In fact, I don’t think Vern would have liked to go without a nod to the different lyricists he worked with over the years, including the incredible Max D. Barnes, his brother Rex Gosdin or Vernon Reed and a special nod to the music of Albert E. Brumley (”I’ll Fly Away”), but somehow I also feel like he meets or exceeds the threshold of amusing country music lyrics — you know the ones — you play ‘em backwards and you get your house back, your girl back and your dog back. His song titles like “Weekends Were Made For Cheatin’”, “If You’re Going To Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)” and the relatively famous ones like, “No One Calls From Vegas Just To Say Hello” and “This Ain’t My First Rodeo”, gives an insight into the abundance of his obligatory countrified whimsy and yet his range of emotional depth was remarkable. I cannot recommend highly enough his gospel album, entitled “The Gospel Album”. His constant cycle of inveterate cheating and devastating loneliness are somehow a potent, if not untrodden, source of true musical magic.

To be honest, I am not very knowledgeable about such matters but I hope and somehow expect that Vern will someday make the Country Music Hall of Fame (whatever that is).

Smitten though I am with nearly the entirety of his Country output — (be wary of the commercial Chiseled In Stone (the title track was 1988’s CMA Song of the Year), 10 Years of Greatest Hits – Newly Recorded, and I think that if you can even find them, the albums Alone and the Silver Eagle sessions are for fans only) — I came across Vern’s music in the same backhanded way that is not only fairly typical, but which actually illustrates his stature as literally one of the most important figures in U.S. Rock ‘n’ Roll history as well.

A native of Alabama, Vern moved to the LA area in 1961, where he met up with his brother Rex to reunite The Gosdin Brothers, who had performed as a four brother outfit on the radio as teens back in Birmingham in the 50s. Instead, the brothers fell serendipitously into a bluegrass group called the Golden State Boys led by Chris Hillman, later to become a Byrds founding member. It wasn’t long before the group changed its name to The Hillmen and recorded an album under that name in Hollywood around 1963, which already included the involvement of Byrds mentors Jim Dickson and John Delgatto. Different from the pure folk/bluegrass coming from the East Coast or such “progessive bluegrass” acts as The Country Gentlemen — as everyone at that time had cut their teeth on the Harry Smith collection — The Hillmen used a mix of traditional numbers, songs penned by Vern and Rex and also employed the soon-to-become-familiar formula of songwriting source Bob Dylan for their album. It wasn’t long before a threesome of Gene Clark, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn had their serendipitous meeting at the Troubadour, eventually to recruit Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke, all as founding members of The Byrds.

That part, as they say, is Rock ‘n’ Roll history, but there are a few footnotes: The Gosdin Brothers (Vern and Rex) released the sneakily fantastic Sounds of Goodbye album on Capitol in 1968, produced by Jim Dickson and ultra-rich with harmonies, which cracked the country chart at #39.

When Gene Clark, the principal songwriter (aside from Dylan) of the original Byrds line-up, elected to leave the Byrds quite early on in 1966 — due to some vicious internal politics and, ironically, after co-writing “Eight Miles High” (Clark had a fear of flying) — he called on the Gosdins and Hillman amongst a myriad others to help him put his legendary epic solo debut together. Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, released in 1967 is not only a great album (now available as the reissue Echoes with extra material), but is arguably the first evidence of what we now take for granted as West Coast Country Rock.

And thus, as requested in his song “Bury Me In A Jukebox”, we lay to rest Vern Gosdin not just as a Country Music legend but as a significant figure in the history of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

“Time Stood Still” (”when we said goodbye”).

Set ‘Em Up Joe…

Greatest Song At This Moment – The Rolling Stones “Prodigal Son”

Phillip Mottaz — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:33:47 +0000

Written By Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back,” The White Stripes’ “We’re Going To Be Friends,” and The Arctic Monkeys’ “From the Ritz to the Rubble.”

I have an addictive personality and this fuels the need I feel to deny myself happiness. That’s not to say I’m a particularly unhappy person. Rather I mean I consciously hold off on overdoing it. “It” being “things that I enjoy so much that I could spend seven hours a day re-experiencing them and the remaining ten hours fixating on them.” I deny myself these doses of happiness sometimes in order to stay productive, or at least in an effort to appear productive, even when I’m not doing particularly productive things. So when I feel like watching a movie, I’ll watch whatever Netflix movie I have instead of re-watching The Empire Strikes Back, even though I’ve been thinking about it every day since re-re-watching it a week ago. I may have inherited this self-inflicted denial from my parents, from a semi-conservative Methodist upbringing, or maybe I got it specifically from my friend Kurt who claimed he only watched the Star Wars trilogy on his birthday, so “he wouldn’t wear them out.”

I have a few pop-culture fixations, and then there are fetishes. Star Wars is one fetish. The Rolling Stones are another, and odd as it may seem the latter have disappointed me far less than the former in recent years. Such is the benefit of living after the prime years only to leave those great lost non-radio tracks for discovery, like some lazy archeologist who managed to find something wonderful by one of the most popular acts in the last 60 years. If I allowed myself the luxury, this column would turn into a testing ground for a book titled “Greatest Rolling Stones Song At This Moment,” and it would be a 700-page encyclopedia going song by song, examining such well worn territory that could only be enjoyed by other mutually fixated fans like “man, these guitars are awesome” and “can we please dedicate 10 pages worth of love for Keith Richards’ bass for ‘Sympathy for the Devil’?” It would sell seven copies, and it would become synonymous with the bargain bookstores as that Second City book.

So you see what a heroic figure I become by denying my more base instincts and forcing myself to deal with matters that might benefit society, such as washing the dishes or pretending I want to listen to Tori Amos. But, as the quote from Pulp Fiction goes, that ain’t the truth. The truth is I’m the weak. I fell off the wagon and went crazy this week and listened nearly exclusively to not just one particular era of the Stones (the Brian Jones one) and not just the music of one particular year in their catalog (1968), but two particular songs from that era and year: “Child of the Moon” and “Prodigal Son”. If I could’ve gotten my act together earlier, we all would have enjoyed a nice treatise on top quality hippie pseudo-intellectual lyrics and how this B-Side to “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” might have made for the greatest released single of all time. But I didn’t. Instead I got the car’s oil changed and so here we are, left with the only song capable of topping “Child of the Moon.”

If I would have denied myself the pleasure I sought, we wouldn’t be here either. I would have latched on to “Child of the Moon” and said, “That’s it. I’m un-clicking all of ‘Between the Buttons’ and anything else I just found out would work on the computer (my old Mac wouldn’t play those newer, remastered versions of the Abkco releases; but the new one? Damn right)… and I’m just focusing on this first song so I can get on with my life. My life of pretending I am a well-rounded, open-minded person who seeks new experiences because he hasn’t found the sound that perfectly fits his life and lightens his every step.” But I didn’t. I sort of did, but I didn’t. I allowed for “Child” to release its grip just enough to let another song from the same band sneak in there and nest. “Child of the Moon” was the gateway to harder stuff, and now I’m addicted to my addiction again.

The main reason I try to actively deny myself such pleasures is an attempt to appear cool, or at least cooler than I am. Do you know how many times I get asked about the Rolling Stones in an average day? Zero. Nobody’s asking. It’s all been said a million times before. There’s gotta be countless books on each album, each track, each guitar string so everybody’s sick of it. There’s nothing left to say. So if this week I opened my mouth every time I thought about this song or this band — which was a lot, I assure you — I would have repelled potential friends faster than if I’d been sharpening a bloody cleaver. And even if I had been going on and on about a band that my conversation partners enjoyed, I would still have gone on and on at a ridiculous level. This is fanship. It is blind and unwavering and socially crippling.

As with many of their catalog, I’ve loved “Prodigal Son” for quite a while, though I’d be lying if I said it was a love-on-first-listen track. It rests in an undesirable spot on Beggars Banquet; the six hole. In American League baseball, this might be where you’d park your .245-with-some-power shortstop. It’s also track two on side two. It’s on the back half of the album, but it’s not the closer. It follows one of the album’s singles and side openers (”Street Fighting Man”) and is book-ended by one of the band’s more erotic original tunes, whereas “Prodigal” is a cover of the Rev. John Wilkins song. But here we are. Deep in it.

If I could offer the Stones some late-in-their-days career advice, it would be to include covers songs on every album. True, I would make this recommendation to every band I could, but with the Stones it’s particularly apropos, because as great as they are at song writing, their true strength is in their song performing. They were never tremendously innovative — at least not at the level of some of their more prolific contemporaries — but they were always great at making rock ‘n’ roll. Something about those dirty Brits clicks when they’re channeling black American songs. You can feel a group smile in every one of their Chuck Berry covers, and if you look at their best album, work every one has at least one cover (with the possible exception of Aftermath, but who would really trade that for, say, Sticky Fingers?). For the Stones, these covers work to remind them more than anyone else of why they do what they do. These were the songs that inspired them a hundred years ago, and that reminder works for the listener as well. When utilized properly, they serve to push the agenda of each album, and on Beggars Banquet, that agenda was to get back to country-blues style music, and that’s just what “Prodigal Son” does better than any other song on the disc.

Free from the burden of artistic creation, the band can simply play the song however they like. This includes vocal work from Jagger unlike any of the band’s hits. There’s no bratty “Satisfaction” or whimpering “Wild Horses”. This is something else. And maybe I wasn’t paying close attention, but I only caught the clever build to “Prodigal” upon what must have been my 250th listen in the last two days. The song starts very delicately, with a pin-prick guitar lick over the rhythm strum. It’s very beautiful and precise, yet simple enough to serve as a motif for the rest of the song. That lick emerges all through the song, yet by the end everyone’s bashing rather than picking. This is a typical Stones technique — one starts, another joins and the rest all pile on — but I’ve never noticed it so little until this song. By the end, we still have everything we started with, but it feels like a completely different style of play. The theme of the title character and the song itself seems to be “How’d we get here?”

In a great lecture from the TED series, writer Elizabeth Gilbert discussed the history of human interpretation of “genius” and how it started as a communal channeling of greatness rather than the modern incarnation, which is placed on a single person. Basically, you have to be in the right place at the right time for good stuff to come through you instead of being a genius which means you have to always make the place and time you’re at the right one. A performance like “Prodigal” feels like that kind of channeling, and it might even explain much of the Stones’ career success: they were great rock interpreters, so they put themselves in positions to interpret greatly.

If it’s possible, I just wrote the world’s first spoiler for a song because I’m not sure anyone would’ve noticed this without my mentioning it, but if they would, then I’ve ruined it. But then who pays attention to these types of things like I do? This is what I do and who I am — I tie my favorite band playing a cover song to the writer of “Eat, Pray, Love” just so I can keep talking about them a little longer. By this point in my life, I must have thought about this song more than the men who actually played the song, perfectly defining my psychosis.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

P. Elizabeth Cawein — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:14:14 +0000

SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU. We also spoke to the Suckers and William Fitzsimmons and premiered music from Kevin Devine and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros this week. But SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU. Here is The Tripwire week in review.

FEATURES
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously: An Interview With Suckers

Music To Heal By: An Interview With William Fitzsimmons

LISTEN
Exclusive Download – Kevin Devine “The Weather Is Wonderful” (B-Side From Brother’s Blood Sessions)

Exclusive Premiere – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – “40 Day Dream”

Woodhands – “I Kissed a Girl” (Katy Perry)

Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings”

City Center – “Young Diamond

TRIPWIRE TV
Faunts – “Feel.Love.Thinking.Of.”

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – “Young Adult Friction”

King Khan And The Shrines – “Land Of The Freak”

Deerhoof – “Numina” (Directed by Kate Hall)

M. Ward – “Roll Over Beethoven” (Chuck Berry Cover at Coachella)

BLOG
New Music Thursday – Francis Harold & The Holograms

The Singles Collection – Gary War, Personal & The Pizzas

The Tripwire Crossword 001 – A Band By Any Other

Greatest Song At This Moment: Van Halen – “Beautiful Girls”

LIVE
The Faint, Ladytron @ The Variety Playhouse Atlanta

Simian Mobile Disco @ Highline Ballroom NYC

Starfucker, Guidance Counselor @ Mercury Lounge NYC

Mogwai @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn

Peter Bjorn and John @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg NYC

REVIEWS
Crystal Antlers – Tentacles

Dexateens – Singlewide

Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim

NEWS
Does It Offend You, Yeah? Broken Up?

Alice In Chains To Release New Record In September?

It Begins: February On The Cover Picks Screaming Females Get Notice By Jim DeRogatis

Coldplay Confirms Free Album For Fans

Just Another Victim: Cornelius Cancels Southwest Tour Because Of Swine Flu

Brandon Flowers Takes Break From Busy Schedule To Continue Being An Idiot

The Dears’ Tour Bus Stolen On Eve Of Massive Tour

Lennon’s NYC Years Go On Display At Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex, Yoko Mails Acorns

Shirley Manson On Paul McCartney’s Frightening Resemblance To Angela Lansbury

Neutral Milk Hotel Campaign To Save Historic Massachusetts Carousel

Swine Flu Takes Its First Concert Victims, Two Gigs Canceled

Amazing Baby’s Debut Album Set For Release

Iggy Pop Misleads Viewers With Insurance Commercial

The Budos Band To Release EP Of Unheard Tracks In June

Listen To The Black Lips And GZA “Drop I Hold” Collaboration

Liam Gallagher Hates On Uggs, Launches Pretty Green Fashion Line

Cave In Release Official Statement: Band To Reunited And Release New EP

More Photos From The Michael Jackson Auction

Is This Your Camera? Or Phone? Or Keys? Retrieve Your Lost Coachella Items

stellastarr* Announces Album Release And First Tour In Over 3 Years

Almost Ready Releases Eighth Vinyl Comp Featuring Times New Viking, Vivian Girls, Blank Dogs + More

Willie Nelson Gives Props To Phosphorescent For To Willie

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Announce U.S. Tour Dates

Village Voice Announces 2009 Siren Fest Line-Up

Peanut Butter Wolf Taking Label Out On Tour

Are These The Worst Lyrics Ever Written?

The Fiery Furnaces To Release New Album in July

Universal Licenses Music To UK’s People’s Music Store

Dan Deacon, No Age, Deerhunter Announce Round Robin Tour

Silversun Pickups, Eulogies To Perform at Benefit For Pablove Foundation

Nite Jewel To Play With Telephate On Upcoming Tour Dates

Watch Macy Gray Cover Radiohead’s Creep

Hulu Hot On YouTube’s Back For Music Video Streaming

Dim Mak Makes A Porno

Elfin Saffle Announces New Album, Tours With Sunset Rubdown

Johnny Marr Pierces Ears For The Cribs Too

Black Lips And Devendra Banhart To Appear On Rudo Y Cursi Soundtrack

WAVVES & Tv On The Radio Get Dissed By Psychedelic Horseshit

New Music Thursday – Francis Harold & The Holograms

Jason Jackowiak — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:07:54 +0000

This week, our never ending quest to find you the best new sounds takes us to the remote plains of Bisbee, Arizona, an old mining town that’s since blossomed as an unlikely artistic mecca deep in the desert. It’s here that pummeling death-punk quartet Francis Harold & the Holograms call home, which, given their penchant for ear-splitting noise and shredded songcraft, puts them at odds with the area’s picturesque views and generally calm demeanor. An inscrutable entity, the band never appear in public without their ghoulish masks, which, despite making you think of Slipknot, actually adds an air of the occult to anything they lay their sticky hands on.

They’ve been kicking around for a while, but have, until just recently, only released one 7″, a brilliantly brief (and rather limited) two-song eponymous EP on Going Underground Records. That all changes this month though, with the release of their first full-length, another eponymous effort that is being co-released by Going Underground and Square Wave Records. In addition, there will be a new 7″ on HoZac and a full-scale U.S. tour slated for this summer. So, if mind-shredding noise-punk and (potentially) getting kicked in the face by a guitar-wielding, be-masked psychopath sounds like the perfect night out, make sure to catch them as they steamroll their way through a town near you this June/July.

Francis Harold And The Holograms – “The Eagle Can’t Fly With One Wing”

The Singles Collection – Gary War, Personal & The Pizzas

Derek Evers — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:17:39 +0000

The Singles Collection is contributor Jason Jackowiak’s weekly column focusing on rare and essential 7″ releases. We gladly accept all types of 7″ for consideration.

We’re mega pressed for time this week at the Singles Collection, and not wanting to shaft our good friends at Sacred Bones, we’re going to bump them back one more week (we swear this time) so we can give them their due and proper. But, on the plus side, we do have at least one SB-related artist this week, so it’s not completely a wash. Anyway, so much time and so little to do — strike that, reverse it — let’s get onto the singles.

Getting us started this week is the new one-sided 7″ from perennial favorites Gary War, “Anhedonic Man”, on the venerable Hell, Yes! imprint out of Italy. Some might say that a one-sided single is a waste of time/space, and generally we would tend to agree, but HY! always has such ripping tunes that we’re willing to let them slide. This one is certainly no different, as “Anhedonic Man” is a slip-n-slide cosmic romp through a vast netherworld of analog synths, taut drumming and sandblasted guitars that sounds like it was recorded by the spirits of Eddie Hazel and Michael Rother in Berlin in 2018 and shipped back just to show us how fantastic our future sounds will be. There’s also a special edition of this release that comes with a bonus one-sided 7″ that’s the same track, only reverse-grooved so it plays backwards. Both versions are still available at the Hell, Yes! MySpace, or if you are in the States and the standard version is ok with you, then hit up the Sacred Bones distro page.

Also this week, we’ve got the first single from Hoboken’s Personal & The Pizzas, the self-titled EP on Gooc Entertainment. We’ve been enjoying the hell out of this slab for months now, but have waited due to them being out-of-print and unavailable for anything other than collector’s prices. But now that the repress seems to be making its way to stores and distros, we figure we’d include them finally. It’s easy to be put off by their 50’s greaser aesthetic — Personal looks like he was cast out of Lenny & Squiggy’s inner circle — but the 3 songs on this EP are fantastic, all rambling along the alleyway with shambolic, Ramones-like hooks and playing that feels shabby on its best days. “I Don’t Wanna Be No Personal Pizza” sounds like it’s being held together with duct tape and some old bubblegum, and that’s more than alright by us. They’ve since released a split 7″ with Bobby Ubangi on the awesome Rob’s House imprint, and copies of this original EP should start showing up in distros (check Florida’s Dying and Rocket Reducer any day now).

It’s a short week for us (the real world has beckoned and we must heed the call), but we’ll be back up to full steam next week, you can count on that. Until then, enjoy these couple nuggets, sit outside and enjoy the ever-improving weather and have a cocktail for us.

The Tripwire Crossword 001 – A Band By Any Other

Derek Evers — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:00:01 +0000

This is our first attempt at a music-inspired crossword. Whether it becomes the blogosphere’s music-edition of the NY Times crossword, or dissolves silently into the obscure nether regions of the internet never to surface again remains to be seen, but since we’re a group of game nerds here at The Tripwire, we figured to give it a shot. And what better topic to start off with than band names? So without further ado, the first — and hopefully not the last — Tripwire crossword puzzle.

Oh, and please let us know if you like it, hate it or have suggestions for future topics. And yes, we did all the clues ourselves, so go easy on us, ok?

Greatest Song At This Moment – Van Halen “Beautiful Girls”

Phillip Mottaz — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:28:13 +0000

Words by Phillip Mottaz

Dedicated to those songs that I can’t stop playing, humming, or thinking about; the 4+ minutes you fall head-over-heels in love with. Past instances have included Sleater Kinney’s “Rollercoaster,” The Stooges’ “No Fun,” and CCR’s “Ramble Tamble.”

Some songs live in my guitar. I have a very natural (read: “dumb”) style that’s mostly just strumming along, and certain songs from certain bands tend to dwell within my strings. Others do not. The space taken up by “Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground” and “Buddy Holly” have kept the well-known catalog of early Van Halen at bay. I like to think this has more to do with style than technical proficiency, and I’d be right. While my kind has neither the cranial capacity nor the opposable digits (name the episode!) to appropriately perform a classic Van Halen tune, I think the reason I’ll never play one of their songs well is because our styles are so different. I strum along with the tune, feeling the song. Eddie Van Halen’s style has never been anything less than cerebral. It’s all about exploding everywhere at once. It’s certainly interesting, but it’s also a little maddening. When you think of “Beautiful Girls,” what do you hum?

When most people in their late 20s or early 30s hear the opening strains of “Beautiful Girls” on their radio, the first image they conjure is a pool full of Speedo-clad men telling house sitters Adam Sandler and Chris Farley that they “look like they need to get wet.” The “Schlitz Gay” bit from early-90s SNL has the kind of legacy no one could have predicted, and much of that staying power has to do with this song. I find the choice to use this song in this commercial parody came about for a couple reasons. First, it’s a great song, and even in the lowest comedy, a great song is a great song is a great song. Secondly, its full-frontal late-70s machismo translates perfectly to a pool party for gay men. It’s cartoonish, thanks so much to David Lee Roth, in how “sexy” it is. For all the work one could put forth to the contrary, “Beautiful Girls” is completely harmless, light as a feather and therefore — to the mid-90s male sensibility — un-masculine. And finally, it’s funnier to have a song called “Beautiful Girls” about a bunch of men. The lessor comic would have played something from Culture Club or some other “gay” band. But these are supposedly beer-drinking gay guys, so they need a beer-drinking gay guy song. They’ve got a big beer taste and they’re gay, after all.

The impact and success of this commercial parody has done much to marginalize the overall Van Halen legend. It’s not solely responsible, of course; so much of that responsibility lies with the band itself. But there was a period where VH was The band, and The theme gong of The band needed to portray their voice, and no matter how many “Panamas” or “Jumps” followed, “Beautiful Girls” epitomizes The voice of The band. In his interesting commentary on OK Computer for the 33 1/3 series, critic Dai Griffiths claims that if you want to hear what 1997 felt like, you would play tracks 6, 7 and 8, a run from “Karma Police” to “Electioneering” that includes the weird spoken word non-song “Fitter Happier”. This claim is obviously pretty ridiculous (It might work if that’s what 1997 felt like to the writer, but I even doubt that’s possible. If it felt that way for him, how did he get his senses together in under a decade to write a book, let alone dress himself. Am I implying that he’s crazy for thinking 1997 felt like a weird spoken-word alien voice thing? Yes, I am.), however I like the balls it takes to make such statements. And while it might just be rock critic talk, I usually love that stuff, so I’ll reconfigure his hypothesis to fit my needs here by stating: “Beautiful Girls” sounds like what every teenaged boy wishes parties were like.

That was the entire appeal of Van Halen from the start. When those squeals, screeches and beats kicked in, fun was forthcoming. The feeling of fun transcends the music itself and lifts it beyond mere notes and guitar solos. A guitar soloist and weird vaudeville-style ring leader are coming to your ears, and there’s no way you should miss it. This blatant happiness has become less and less cool, especially since being the best 80s metal band remains as prestigious as being great at Wii bowling. The criticism remains that this music is fluff, and while that may be true, it doesn’t make it un-great. It’s the best fluff around, if that’s any kind of complement.

Touching back on the “harmlessness” of the song, I’m not saying that “Beautiful Girls” displays a pro-feminist stance, or that the band itself was anything but leturous. But “Beautiful Girls” is far superior to, say, “Girls Girls Girls” in the way most VH songs are better than those of their contemporaries because “Beautiful Girls” is harmless in the right ways. In a musical genre so reliant on style, the band or song with the most style takes the title of “best,” but they also made music that anyone could sing, hum and get. That’s not simple dumbing it down. That’s relatablility. In the song, Roth is a bum in the sun, having fun and all he needs is a beautiful girl. He doesn’t (specifically) need sex. He doesn’t (specifically) want sex. We all apply the Van Halen legend (which is to say, the legend of rock stars in general) to assume that Roth does specifically want to have sex with this and any other (non-specifically) beautiful girls. But the omission of this specificity changes the song from just another horny trip to the beach to the longing-for-love genre we’ve heard from Cochran, Petty and every other artist to walk the earth. In fact, by the end of the song, Roth doesn’t get the girl. He’s hitting on her, but she leaves (as evidenced by his outro riffing “What’s your name–hey! Where you going?”). So, in fact, through the harmlessness of their lyrics, “Beautiful Girls” becomes resoundingly feminist.

This is why Van Halen is brilliant, especially on the first couple records. They implied everything through the overall band package that they never had to actually say “let’s fuck.” This, in a nutshell, is cool. If we had all been so capable, high school would have been a breeze.

This cool remains so prominent in “Beautiful Girls” that you almost forget how — for a band built around the guitar prowess of Eddie Van Halen — there is very little front-line soloing. In fact, there are two, but neither one steals the show. They’re just there to help the song as a whole. The only real solo in the “go nutzo” style we can all hear since “Eruption” comes at the end, when everyone’s going nutzo. That’s one of the great elements of “Beautiful Girls;” it’s more than an Eddie Van Halen song. It is a Van Halen song. The Band, not the man. This distinction may illuminate the problems which tore the original group apart back in 1984. Eddie was obviously an extraordinary guitar player, and his impact among his followers is still being felt today. But people loved Vah Halen the band more than Eddie Van Halen himself. If this hadn’t been true, then David Lee Roth would’ve had absolutely no career following his departure and Eddie should have released solo albums. The song lives outside of any mere guitar or comedy bit. This week, it lives in my lungs.

Video Note: I searched and searched for the actual album cut and didn’t find one. Believe it or not, the recent reunion of DLR and Eddie doesn’t skimp on the chops for “Beautiful Girls.” Of course the original cut remains superior. It’s full of Class-A Roth clowning at the end that you miss out on in the live cut, though you do get plenty of Lounge-Lizard Dave, which may speak more honestly to the heart of the man’s charms. Furthermore, I couldn’t find the original “Schlitz Gay” commercial, so I’m sorts of screwed. So if you’ve got a big beer taste and you’re gay, do yourself a favor and drop $.99 and get the song from iTunes.

In Case You Missed It – The Tripwire Week In Review

Brianne Sullivan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:04:45 +0000

It got increasingly more difficult to pay attention to our work this week. The weather is finally starting to get better in New York, so bowling field trips and songs that make us think about summer have been filling our time. This after we spoke to Jon Hopkins, went to Coachella and celebrated Record Store Day. Here is The Tripwire week in review. Now, let’s go have a beer and enjoy this sunshine.

FEATURES
For The Record – A Video Interview With John Hopkins

Bowling With The Band – Telepathe

On The Cover – Eulogies

LISTEN
The Perfect Sunny Weekend Song: Music Is Magic – “Gupdegup” (Dan Friel, Animal Collective, Steel An’ Skin Mix)

Exclusive – Lee Fields “Money I$ King”

Basement Jaxx – “Raindrops”

Knyfe Hyts – “Screamin Love” (Brenmar Remix)

Sonic Youth – “Sacred Trickster”

TRIPWIRE TV
The Coathangers – “Stop Stomp Stompin’”

The Horrors – “Sea Within A Sea”

The Love Language – “Sparxxx”

Matt And Kim – “Lessons Learned”

Passion Pit – “The Reeling”

BLOG
New Music Thursday – Gary War

The Singles Collection – Record Store Day With Sonic Youth, Beck, Obits, Kim Phuc, Jay Reatard

The Brazilian Beat: Favela Funk, Part I

Greatest Song At This Moment – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova “Into The Mystic” (Van Morrison Cover)

LIVE
William Fitzsimmons @ The Canal Room – NYC

Middle Distance Runner @ The Annex | NYC

RATATAT, Tussle @ Terminal 5 | NYC

Of Montreal @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn

REVIEWS
Various Artists – Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm

Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing

Red Fang – Red Fang

La Strada – La Strada

NEWS
Throbbing Gristle’s First American Show In 28 Years Illustrated

The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” Rejected As State Song, Governor Pushes it Through Anyway

MGMT Settles With French Government And Are In The Studio Recording New Album

Devo Donate Proceeds From Custom Bike Auction To Livestrong Cancer Foundation

Weeks Away From Album Release, Chickenfoot Sells Out All Nine Debut Shows

Kills Cut Boulder Show Short As Singer Alison Mosshart Taken To Hospital

Gavin Rossdale Outed In In Touch Magazine?

Ear Pwr Announce North American Tour Dates

Beck Reissue Of One Foot In The Grave To Include 13 Previously Unreleased Tracks

The Specials Kick Off 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour, Hint At Glastonbury

Watch Billy Corgan Live From The Studio, If You’re Willing To Pay For It

Franz Ferdinand To Release A Second Record This Year

Insound Re-Issues Out-Of-Print Ramones And Replacement 7″, More To Come

Daft Punk Helmet-Less

MySpace Is Firing Your First Friend Tom!

Wavves, Crystal Stilts And These Are Powers To Play Free Topman Launch Party This Weekend

Hot Chip Cool Down For Next Album

Lee Mavers Of The La’s To Collaborate With Babyshambles On New Album

Jason Lytle Readies Solo Debut, Announces Dates With Neko Case

Bon Iver Jams With High School Kids At Alma Mater’s Benefit Jazz Concert

Clues Announce First U.S. Tour Dates In Support of Debut Album

Pixies Announce Deluxe Reissue Of All Five Classic Studio Albums

Sonic Youth Join John Paul Jones In Giant Metal Globe-Thing

Coachella 2009 – Sunday Photos

The Rumors Were True: Lollapalooza Line-Up Confirmed

David Byrne To Curate Bonnaroo Stage

Stream The Gorillaz Documentary In It’s Entirety Now

McCartney Previews New Beatles Rock Band Game During Coachella Performance

Explosions In The Sky Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary With No Age, Octopus Project, Jason Lytle And More

Coachella 2009 – Saturday Photos

Mountain Goats’ Darnielle And John Vanderslice Release Collaborative EP

Coachella 2009 – Friday Photos

Still A Major Player? Pink Floyd Sues Long Term Label EMI For Unpaid Royalties

Blur Announces Warm Up Shows

New Music Thursday – Gary War

P. Elizabeth Cawein — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:01:04 +0000

We recently featured him in our Singles Collection, and we’ve been giving love to the crew at Sacred Bones recently, so why not give a little more love to Brooklyn’s Gary War?

The music is pyschedelic, surreal, futuristic, snyth pop. Or something like that. Despite his low profile and minimalist promotion (note the photo), he’s quite the prolific man. Gary War’s got a new live tape just released on Blank Dog Mike Sniper’s Captured Tracks, a full-length, Galactic Citizens, coming soon and new 12-inch, Horrible Parade on Woodsist as well as a new 12-inch EP on Captured Tracks and a new 7-inch on Bad Press.

While you’re waiting for all of that to come out, take a list to “Don’t Go Out Tonight”, which is the B-Side to his “Zontag” 7-inch and you can also download the entire Gary War catalog for free, 100 percent costs-no-money, on his blog.

Gary War – “Don’t Go Out Tonight”

The Singles Collection – Record Store Day With Sonic Youth, Beck, Obits, Kim Phuc, Jay Reatard

Jason Jackowiak — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:45:50 +0000

The Singles Collection is contributor Jason Jackowiak’s weekly column focusing on rare and essential 7″ releases. We gladly accept all types of 7″ for consideration.

As is our want, we’ve flipped the script here at The Singles Collection and in the spirit of timeliness, this week we’ll be featuring seven-inches that were exclusive to last Saturday’s Record Store Day (our newest all Sacred Bones feature will now run next week). Now, some of you may be listening to these as you read this, others may have unfortunately been shut out, while other still may have no idea these singles, or Record Store Day for that matter, even existed. At any rate, we’re only scratching the surface of the exclusive platters that were available on the 18th (for a full list, go here), and we hear some stores may even still have stock on some of these titles, so if anything strikes your fancy, best get a googlin’.

To kick things off this week, we’ve got a pair of split singles from Matador featuring the kings & queen of the alternative universe, Sonic Youth aka Sonik You*h. The first split features another icon, Beck, in a mutual appreciation style love fest which finds them covering each others’ songs — SY tackling “Pay No Mind” while Beck takes on “Green Light”. As you might imagine, Thurston & Co. thoroughly rough up the Mellow Gold sleeper, injecting it with their patented off-key/kilter harmonies/harmonics and some skuzzy meta-ooze thrown in for good measure. On the flip, Beck takes the EVOL track and turns it into a lovely, acoustic cloudburst that, if you didn’t know better, you’d swear was one of his very own.

The second exclusive RSD jam from Sonic Youth is their split with Memphis’ favorite son, Jay Reatard. For his part, Jay’s track, “Hang Them All” is a scorcher, a blink-and-you-missed-it track that bubbles with skittering synth and a clap-trap rhythm reminiscent of the Blood Visions-era. It alone is worth the price of admission, and certainly bodes well for his upcoming full-length. The SY track, “No Garage” is a rehearsal space jam that, well, sounds a lot like you’d figure a Sonic Youth rehearsal would. Which isn’t to say it’s bad, but it’s essentially instrumental meandering with a nice, Kraut-y groove that eventually denigrates into their trademark squall of loping distortion and ear-piercing feedback. Both of these splits are, ostensibly, sold out, but stores with extra stock seem to pop up daily, so make sure to keep a close watch if you don’t want to pay eBay prices.

The Sub Pop stable did their part and released a handful of limited 45’s for RSD, the best of which is the Obits‘ “I Can’t Lose” b/w “Military Madness”. For those not already familiar, Obits are Rick Froberg from Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu’s new project, and while their sound doesn’t really deviate too much from either/both of those outfits, it’s still new Froberg jams so who are we to complain? “I Can’t Lose” is less dissonant/angular than we’re used to hearing him, yet it roars with a heads-down fury and undeniable hooks-a-plenty. On the flip, their take on Graham Nash’s “Military Madness” flips the original on its ear, injecting it with a venomous core that’s both touching and destructive in equal measure. Copies of this still seem to be kicking around places like Reckless Records, so if you need some more Froberg in your life, you know where to go.

Lastly this week, we’ve got one of the lost gems from RSD, the super limited Kim Phuc & Centipede E’est split on Dear Skull Records out of Pittsburgh. These were primarily only available in the Pittsburgh area, with some other notable stores (Permanent Records in Chicago, Academy in NYC) getting the remaining stock to give away to punters who came out early and purchased vinyl. We’re not sure if this is going to get a proper release or not, but it truly deserves one as the two tracks here are absolute stunners. On the A-Side, Kim Phuc’s “Rustbelt Noose” delivers all the spit-crusted-psych-punk power you’ve come to expect from them, and has now officially taken the mantle as the greatest KP song yet. Not to be outdone on the flip, Centipede E’est offer up “Stingray”, an epic space-rock jam that’s ebbs and flows with terse psych-grooves and sky-melting crescendos. These are absolutely gorgeous, all hand-numbered out of 200 and featuring fantastic screened covers. We’re not sure if they are still available anywhere or not, but we’d suggest trying Paul’s or Wicked Discs in Pittsburgh if you are trying to track one down.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our truncated look at some of the Record Store Day exclusives, and make sure to also keep an eye out for others like the Slayer “Psychopathy Red” 45 and the totally awesome Jesus Lizard 9×7″ collection Inch as they’re both totally worth your time and hard-earned loot. Also make sure to come back next week to read about the newest batch of gems from one of our favorite labels, Sacred Bones Records.