JEFFREY MARSHEK doesn’t know where the time goes. He has been so busy listening to music that he didn’t realize it was already May. Soon it will be summer and you know what that means? Getting a tan? Going to some concerts? Or maybe, just maybe, it means having some friends over for some lemonade and little dash vodka ( a dash) and listening to the latest and greatest in your music collection!
This month, the latest and greatest happen to be at the top of their game (MGMT), are getting better with every album (LCD Soundsystem), waiting in the periphery (Beach House) Or are doing whatever the hell they want with whomever they want to, just because they can (David Byrne & Fatboy Slim).
Plus Friendly Fires re-invents that overplayed Kings of Leon song and Hot Chip cover Shakira.
MY- POD: THE SOUND-TRACK:
MGMT: Managing risk, maneuvering stardom
Partway through MGMT’s second LP, comes the single ‘Flash Delirium.’ The time warp rock anthem paints a picture of a distraction addled culture, obsessed with consuming, looking to escape.
It’s a sound we haven’t heard since The Who’s Tommy and the Rocky Horror Picture show. Not the sound of a major label band recording their follow up to a wildly successful debut. It’s than that you start to wonder, perhaps, if even MGMT themselves are suffering from a case of flash delirium.
Their first album, ‘Oracular Spectacular’ put them on the map and fast, catapulting the band to ‘IT’ status fast. Grammy awards, fame and invitations to open for the biggest stadium names soon followed (Coldplay, Lady Gaga, U2 and Radiohead.)
Intent on the career trajectory motivated by art and amidst internet backlash, the band turned away from it all, went into the studio and came out with the, risky surf inspired album ‘Congratulations.’
‘It’s Working’, the opening track, is pure California pop, complete with 1960’s style instrumentation and harmonies.
‘Dan Treacy’ is a summer groove detailing a writer in a fantasy world waiting to fall in love with the perfect song.
And ‘Someone’s Missing’ is a beautiful eulogy, short and sweet, complete with a disco-funk finish.
‘Flash Delirium’ is a contemporary spin on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, a soundtrack for the Obama era of economic crisis.
And by album’s end, the boys are “looking down from their own temple” measuring their success and giving themselves a lovely dedication, ending with the sounds of their own applause on the title track ‘Congratulations.’
Well played, MGMT. Well Played.
BEACH HOUSE: Love’s a Beach…and than you fall in and out with one…
They have been called Chamber pop, Dream pop and sometimes baroque pop.
Baltimore’s Beach House has been on a slow rise over the last few years and recently released ‘Teen Dream’, an LP laden with the above type pop sounds the band has become synonymous with. The third album for Beach House is nothing more than a collection of tunes to make out to, as well as a few songs to underscore your next break-up with.
Recorded in a converted church and sounding like an indie soundtrack for summer, the album conjures up images of amusement parks, cotton candy, cool breezes and a blazing hot sun. And all the while, you are falling in and out of love.
‘Zebra’ is an airy homage to authenticity, the millennium B side to Billy Joel’s ‘Just the Way you are.’ ‘Silver Soul’ is a lugubrious reconciliation and ‘Norway’ is a lush, breathtaking ode to vulnerability.
‘A walk in the park’ is devastating; a catchy heartbreaker, with slow dance appeal.
And by album’s end, you are negotiating the specifics of a relationship, slowly falling in love to the mesmerizing ‘Take Care’.
In and out of love, wistful and haunting, ‘Teen Dream’ has me hooked: Is it too soon to call this one of the best albums of 2010?!!??
DAVID BYRNE & FATBOY SLIM: A Talking Head, A D.J and IMELDA MARCOS?
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, 2 names synonymous with risky and unconventional work, have teamed up for a very specific high concept album. Together, they have composed a double disc set that features a soup to nuts laundry list of songstresses (from Santigold and Natalie Merchant to Kate Pierce and Sia to name a few). The end result is titled ‘Here Lies Love’ a song cycle inspired by the first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos.
The title track ‘Here Lies Love’ finds Florence from Florence and The Machine invoking Imelda’s love declaration. (Don’t cry for me, Imelda.) Candie Payne and St. Vincent add a touch of calypso feel to the seductive ‘Every Drop of Rain.’ And Tori Amos cunningly maps out Imelda’s life vision to the kids in the quirky tango ‘You’ll Be Taken Care Of’.
‘How are you’ is Imelda’s clever Berlitz to English via Nellie McKay.
There are even surprising contributions from Cyndi Lauper (an electro tarot card reading of ‘Eleven days’), Martha Wanwright’s folk carnival ‘The Rose of Tacloban’), Sharon Jones(old school R&B swagger on ‘Dancing Together’) and Shara Worden of My brightest Diamond(futuristic falsetto on ‘Seven Years’)
Best of all is Santigold and David Byrne’s eccentric unexpected duet ‘Please Don’t’.
But it’s ‘A Perfect Hand’ for Steve Earle. The legend breaks up the girls club, bringing his down home country feel and stealing the show on this 2 disc set.
Not always the most effective history lesson, ‘Here lies Love’ relies heavily on groove and quirk. Something both David Byrne and Fatboy Slim carry in spades.
Bzzzzz: Party Music for The Lower East Side, NYC
When James Murphy co-founded DFA records almost 10 years ago, bands like Hot Chip, The Juan Maclean, Yacht, Holy Ghost and The Rapture were signed to the label, generating the dance punk genre to a more contemporary place. The label also quickly became home for his Murphy and his Band, LCD Soundsystem.
Their latest and third effort is the aptly titled ‘This is happening’.
The title may suggest something for those fans who were obsessed with the last 2 albums, longing for something new in their musical rolodex.
But upon further inspection, it is the insistence that LCD Soundsystem will have its way.
It’s a big punk disco tantrum with Murphy at the center, being the biggest baby.
And it’s never been more becoming.
‘Dance Yorself clean’ is an epic purge that begins as a waltz of passive aggressiveness and erupts into pure disco rage. ‘Drunk Girls’ is lower east side bar room mating call (“I believe in waking up together so, that means making eyes across the room.) And ‘One Touch’ entrances with Murphy having an aggressive dance hall fit, recalling the industrial sounds of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails.
Murphy does a bit more with his voice on this album, especially on songs like ‘All I Want’, where his version of a frank plea for sympathy is his best Thom Yorke impression, begging you to take him home.
But it’s on ‘I Can Change’ where you really feel Murphy. Here he tells you whatever you want to hear, need to hear, to help you fall in love. “Never change/ this is why I fell in love.” Oh LCD Soundsystem. You’re preaching to the choir.
You Tube: Under the Covers
Devendra Banhart covers Lauryn Hill “Doo Wop (that thing)”
(for some reason, embedding has been disabled on this video, but you can follow the link and watch.)
A hippy dippy take on the song that made Lauryn Hill a star.
Rare footage of Devendra Banhart in Paris.
Frankincense and crystals sold separately.
Editor’s cover Gorillaz ‘Feel Good Inc’
All the bells and whistles from the quintessential Gorillaz hit have been sparred down and stripped away on this brooding acoustic cover.
The Editors cover is a winning combination of melancholy and irony.
Friendly Fires cover Kings of Leon ‘Use Somebody’
One of the most overwrought, over rated and covered to death songs of the last year receives a complete makeover from an unlikely source. Friendly Fires take the song out of a despondent last call, hole in the wall bar and into a kitschy club, where true love awaits.
Chip covers Shakira ‘She Wolf’
Electro geeks Hot Chip takes on Latin Pop princess Shakira?
The radio friendly ditty is transformed into an edgy, futuristic dance party.
When Hot Chip declares that they are ‘sending out an S.O.S’, just try to keep your toes from tapping.
Css covers Grizzly Bear ‘Knife’
The Brazilian rockers Css bring their fresh, energetic take on the Brooklyn rockers Grizzly Bear for an updated, synth tastic version of ‘Knife’.
From moody to groovy!
